Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. The Commander's first round pick, John Dotson has been turning heads this offseason. Santana mosson Logan Paulson broke down what makes Dotson so explosive. Okay, so we're celebrating the fourth of July. Now everybody likes to have the fireworks. I'll go off, But if we're talking about fireworks on the field, what is it, Santana that makes Dotson that kind of explosive player.
I think one of the things that stands out, especially from the wide receiver position, if you can have a guy running that top speed and still get in and out of his breaks at that speed, that alone is something different. You know, you have to be a rare breed to be able to do that. I was one of those guys that they gave that. You know, say, hey, that's one of the things that Tanna has gone for himself.
I see that with the hand. He's very deceptive in his speed, but when it time to put deaf Flynn the ground, he's in and out of those cuts and he's gone before you even get a chance to plain. How as open as you were even saying when you watch him at Penn State so far showing that as well here, Yeah, I think so. I think he does a really nice job of stacking routes, like using the big out to set up the post the next time.
And he just is thinking about football at a very high level, how to beat dbs, how to manipulate defenses, and to me that leads some of his explosive stuff. And again like his ability to accelerate when the football's in the air, you know, very DeShawn Jackson esque. So a fantastic skill set for a young man. A lot of girl he's so to do. But really excited about him. We heard head coach Ron Riveri even saying, how you know they look they're not going too hard against each other.
But while he was able to get the better of a couple of our dbs out there as well, just early on explosive plays hopefully will follow him throughout his NFL career, especially his rookie season as well. For more on what makes dot some special, I talked to Penn State wide receiver coach Taylor Stubblefield, who spent a few years with John in Happy Valley and coach Taylor Stubblefield joins us now had John for a couple of years at Pin State. Look, he gives high two is one
of his mentors helping him here. But when he was drafted you actually went to congratulate him and also made a point that he came back for his senior year for his brothers. What does that say for how it helps him maybe get even further ready for the NFL and also to the character of who he is as a player. Yeah, I think that, you know, Coach Franklin, we do a really good job here at the Penn State of giving our guys the best information that they have.
We outsource it third party. We get information from the teams around the NFL to see what his draft draft status would be. And yeah, after his junior year, we had had a meeting with him it would be best for him to come back to help his draft status. And he did that. He did it not own for himself, but also for the team because coach Franklin always says that if if somebody can get drafted as high as possible, that's better for them and it's better for Penn State.
And so he trusted the process. He came back, had a heck of a year and put himself to be with you guys, the Washington Commanders. One of the things that this team did very consciously is they went out they wanted to get players that would be ready to go, that you don't have to really kind of wait and develop. Where would you say or expect him to come in here and have an impact right off the bat. Well,
that that's going to be tough. You know, Johan is extremely competitive and that wide receiver room there at Washington is legit. And you know, coach Diaz is talked about our defense coordinator here. He talked about the best players can't have bad days, and Johan is going to make sure that he does not have bad days, and he's going to go in there and he's going to try to be as consistent as possible. And it sounds like
he is doing a pretty good job of that. Um and he knows that offense is about being where you're supposed to be, when you're supposed to be there. And then once you get that ball in your hand, then you know your your creativity, you're you're explosive in this. That's where that comes into play um. You're playmaking, abuilding and he obviously has that, so h, he's gonna be ready. I know he's going to be ready mentally. NFL it is fast, it is fast, fast, fast, so um, they're
gonna get him ready for U for the season. Over, what would you say is the least talked about the element of his game that folks might be surprised by how competitive he is because he's a quiet he's he doesn't have this flamboyant demeanor or or persona about him. He's gonna come, man, he got the little ball. He might have some little fancy backpack, but he's probably gonna wear some you know, old dusty birkin stocks and he's gonna uh coming there and he's gonna work. So I
think that is going to be surprising. And then his ability to work like his his catapult numbers um last year were offen. His his player load, the amount of ninety percent reps H that he was doing in practice, the amount of over yards that he was running was out of this world. And he never came up to me was like, hey, coach, I need one to day or can I relax today. I didn't have to motivate him to work hard. He chose to work hard, and I think that that can become an infectious especially as
he grows in his career in the NFL. We're already seeing that the coaches are commenting on it, and the fans are going to love to see the rewards from that on the field once we do get to it. A little bit of the break before we kind of get to same with pads On, but a lot of excitement already. We appreciate your time and for the work you put in to help him advance to be able to join us here at the Commanders. Thank you, coach,
Thank you for all your news and analysis. Be sure to tune into Command Center weeknights five thirty and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington, and if you miss an episode, they're always there on our YouTube channel and our website. And while you're at at follow up Commanders on all social media platforms for the latest on the team. Hail to the Commanders.