Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot com. I am Mike Spofford. He is my partner in Crime West and Hodkowitz. We're coming to you from different locations at lambeau Field and West. Speaking of different locations, you are in a brand new spot. My friend, tell me, tell me what sent you from whence you are now coming?
Well, Duke Bobber is the one that sent me from whence I'm now coming. When you use your boss's office too much, eventually he just kicks you out. So I think actually the format of the show now moving forward should be I just end up in random parts of the building for Packers Unscripted today, we are coming to you live from the fifth floor suites or the hallways right outside of it. I'll be honest with you, Mike,
this is pretty nice. It's my first time seven years is a Green Bay Packers employee, my first time ever being on the fifth floor, and uh huh.
I could get used to this, okay.
I like the I like the nice, nice new look. I like the background looks shark well at.
The feel I think is what Tyler Gayeski calls it depth Okael.
Okay, Well, that would yes, that would be Tyler. Tyler, our meticulous photographer in our in our uh video department. Well, we're here to talk about the happenings of this past weekend at lambeau Field, and specifically I'm talking about the annual Rookie Mini Camp, the introduction of the draft class, the undrafted rookies, also several tryout players who were taking a crack at making the ninety man offseason roster, and we'll talk about that a little more later on in
the show as well. But Rookie Mini Camp has come and gone now for twenty twenty three. And what were your impressions, Wes? What what sticks with you? As as now? The next time we're going to see these players on the field will be during OTA's got our first look at him this past weekend.
Yeah, as always, Mike, I mean, you take the Rookie Mini Camp with the grain of salt, because on these guys are just trying to understand the process here in Green Bay. They're trying to teach him how to practice, what the expectations are. In two it's really our first time getting in front of these players in the locker room. So those are always the biggest two takeaways from this weekend.
But I'll be honest with you, in my now ten years twelve years covering rookie mini camps, I don't know if I've ever seen anybody more physically impressive than Lucasfanas.
Uh he. It's one thing.
When you and I are sitting here writing these bulletin reports and during the draft and doing the stories and asking the questions afterwards. It's one thing to look at six foot five, two hundred and seventy two pounds, eighty one inch wingspan, seventeen size shoe, as he told us in the locker room on Friday, But when you actually see him out on the field, and even look at some of Evan Siegel's photos, Lucas fan asked for a twenty one year old man, is a pretty impressive physical specimen.
And as important and as as deep as this draft I feel was for Green Bay in terms of finding the guy that getting off the bus is going to strike fear into opponents. I think the Packers hit the target with Lucas Fanas. Yeah.
It is interesting, how because we spend so much time both pre draft, during the draft, the you know, the heights and weights and all the measurables, and you know, the numbers are just the numbers, right, And then suddenly you see you see these these young men in person, and it's like, oh, the numbers, the numbers actually mean something, They represent something, and they do make a physical impression on you.
I was.
I was also impressed, not not in the same way in terms of just overall stature, but in watching the two tight ends, Luke Musgrave and Tucker Craft. Now granted this is just you know, running around in shorts and helmets, you know, no no pads or anything like that, but you can see why the packers are so high on the athleticism of these tight ends and the potential different
dimension that they could bring to the offense. Obviously, there's, uh, there's a long way to go in terms of them, you know, learning the playbook and and you know, the coaches figuring out exactly what their roles are going to
be and and and what they do best. But when you see a couple of tight ends that are six five sixty six and look like you know, they're maybe a half step slower than the wide receivers so to speak, you know, not not that much difference in terms of that off the off the line of scrimmage speed and and breaking into routes and and whatnot. It does, Uh,
it does make an impression on you. And it'll just it'll be interesting just to watch these players develop now through OTAs and then into training camp and put the pads on for the first time. It's a h I don't care whether you're Tucker Craft coming from South Dakota State or whether you're Lucas van Ness coming from you know,
Iowa and the Big Ten to the NFL. It's a it's a big it's a big step physically and mentally and uh and quite frankly, these young men don't have a whole lot of time, especially if you're going to be counted on to play and contribute early. They don't have a whole lot of time to get ready for it and prepare for it. But you know, but they're going to be asked to They're gonna be asked to do everything they can to be ready for week one.
Yeah.
Especially you know, if if Mercedes Lewis isn't back, you have two guys at six foot five, six foot six in that ballpark of two hundred and fifty five pounds.
That are the I don't want to.
Say only inline traditional tight ends on the roster, but Josiah Deguara obviously more that Swiss army knife, that h back type of role. Tyler Davis is still you know, has the frame to be a really solid tight end, but you know was a former college quarterback, had had to make that transition to tight end. Luke muskrat in Tucker Kraft, I mean, these guys have been tight end since birth basically. I mean when you look at the way they're built and the way in which they can accelerate.
I forget who was saying this to me after the rookie mini camp got done, I believe on Saturday, looking at them running just some of the routes on air, and there was a period where there you know, it's the quarterbacks, and then some of the assistant coaches are throwing passes. They're doing like five wide type sets, and both Craft and Musgrave took passes underneath and the way in which they not only caught the ball in rhythm
but then accelerated upfield. Again, there's no pads, there's no defense. You always want to add these caveats, but Yeah, you can just tell that these guys are different type of athletes and in that same vein you know, Jaden Reid I thought very much came as advertised. The conversation I had with Larry mcchaern about this was he's just a smooth, smooth football player. He gets in and out of his brakes.
And it's one thing to be successful when you're cutting and you're you're doing change of direction stuff, but when you can do it with fluidity, I think that's where you see these Tyreek Hills of the world sort of separate themselves. And in that regard, I think Jayden Reid has a lot of intangibles that you look for and this next generation of receivers. So as far as those first two days of the NFL Draft were concerned, I felt like watching those four players perform on Friday and Saturday,
they are what they are supposed to be. From an athletic standpoint.
Yeah, I would totally agree. We also get our first chance, obviously to meet these players, to talk to them, you know, try to try to get a sense of their personalities and whatnot a little bit. And over the next you know, week and a half, two weeks Wes and I'll have some some follow up stories on these draft picks based on some of those interviews and other things that we
dig into. But in terms of those impressions, I just I have to say I have to give Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford a heck of a lot of credit because the media, you know, the media comes in for the open locker room session to do interviews, and what's immediately noticed by everybody, of course, is that Sean Clifford is sitting in Aaron Rodgers old locker and you know it's it's his name played up there, Clifford number eight,
but it's where Rogers has been forever, right. And as the media in waves, you know, come up to Clifford to to talk to him, he's you know, asked by you know what, maybe at least a dozen different reporters, Hey, did you know that this is Aaron rodgerss like, yeah, yeah, I think somebody informed me of that along the way.
And he, I mean, to his credit, he uh, you know, he even made a joke about it that that you know, he was he came to Green Bay on a pre draft visit and saw in the locker room where Aaron Rodgers locker was and then now when he comes back as a draft pick like that was his locker, I'd imagine that that is something that that feels a little overwhelming. But to Clifford's credit, you know, all he's you know,
all he talked about. All he's focused on is to is to learn the playbook, to get the offense down to to uh to play whatever role the coaches need him to play relative to Jordan Love while also competing, you know, with Danny Ettling for the backup quarterback spot, and that competition will really get going, you know, a little bit in OTAs, but even in a more full fledged sense in you know, training camp, in the preseason games.
But the first impression of Sean Clifford is this is this feels like a very grounded young man who has has quite the head on his shoulders. And you can just tell he's an experienced guy. You know, forty plus starts at Penn State, thirty plus victories as a starting as a starting quarterback in the Big Ten, and I think he's going to be an interesting guy to get to know as as his rookie season goes along well.
And I think the same thing of like a Stetson Bennett, right, Like these guys that have played in big moments in football hungry cities, in college campuses. They come in as Day three picks, but in reality they kind of have a Day one mindset in terms of how they approach the job. When you look at Clifford situation, and again, a kid that beat out Will Levis for Penn State's job, he rotated with him the first year there and then ultimately Levis decided to transfer and then was the man
for the next what two and a half years. So the other thing too, that I think people have to understand, like, well, why would they give away Aaron Rodgers locker with the thirteen player draft class. This isn't like the Mike McCarthy era ten years ago where seventh round picks were just kind of thrown into the Green Mile with all the other undrafted guys. The Packers give lockers to all their
draft picks in the main area. If you don't make the team, then they'll transition you back to the practice squad or the Green Mile. So with a thirteen player draft class and as many returning players they have, I think there's like maybe three lockers in the entire main area right now that aren't spoken for, and one of
them is directly next to Jordan Love. And if you know anything about the way that we do press conferences here in Green Bay, you absolutely do not want to have a locker immediately directly next to the starting quarterback. So you need to have some room there for that individual. But all that being said, I thought Clifford took it and stride in. To be honest with you when you're
talking about this. I had a conversation with Sarah Quick Or assistant director of PR on Saturday after Grant two Boys got done, and I'm a really interesting conversation between my among myself and Grant and Jason Wilding Cassidy Hill, and I said, I was like, man, I've just been blown away by you know, Grant in a lot of these prospects. And Sarah even mentioned she's like, yeah, I think all the guys are really good last weekend, and
I have to agree. I mean, I thought if I didn't get to everybody but watching between watching the videos and participating in these interviews, I just I mean, you could see why these players jumped off the page to Green Bay, regardless of whether it's a Lucas van S or a kid, you know, like Quarantine Carenton Valentine from Kentucky, twenty one years old in the seventh round. You can just sense that fire with them and just that professionalism and the idea that I, hey, I'm striving for something
more here in Green Bay. And for that reason, I think once training camp comes around in July, this is going to be a very exciting year to be covering the Green Bay Packers.
Yeah, well, do keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks, Wes, and I'll have follow up stories based on some of those interviews over Rookie Mini Caamp Weekend on the Draft Picks. Some interesting stories to be told there and another story and interview I want to get to in a moment, Wes, But I will take care of some sponsor business. Serious XMNFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty four to seven, three sixty
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All right, a.
Story that you wes have already posted on our website. Earlier this week, the pack were allocated a player for the first time in what the NFL calls the International Pathway Program, and it's a young man named Kenneth Odemegu from Nigeria. Has a very interesting story and you've already written about it. It's on our site for anybody who wants to check it out. I will just say six ft six, two hundred and fifty nine pounds. He is quite the athlete, and you meant used to use the
phrase physical specimen earlier. He certainly falls into that category. But this is you talk about literally learning the game of football from scratch and trying to go from being being an athlete and a very impressive looking one, to all the way to becoming an NFL player as an adult, you know, a as a young man. This is going to be a very interesting story here, and he certainly has an interesting story to tell.
Yeah, he definitely does, Mike, and it's funny to me too. You're mentioned the physical specimen. Well, much like Lucas Vaness, who has the nickname Hercules Kenneth Dumagu. He actually also has the nickname Hercules, so those two are gonna have to kind of banter and battle over this thing. But you can see why, I mean the most impressive thing about him. In addition to just that, you know, it was such a fun interaction he had with the media and just kind of telling a little bit of his
story and where he comes from. When Odemagu actually said a year ago, I didn't even know what a line.
Of scrimmage is.
To today, I mean now being in a position and he's grateful for it. To learn the game at the highest level from some of the best coaches and practitioners of the sport is going to be very exciting for him. For as much as he didn't know, though, I really give him a lot of credit for the amount of time he spent really diving into the sport first and
foremost oc Yu Manura. You look at the International Pathway Program, everything they've done out in London to try to grow the game internationally but also give people opportunity that maybe not otherwise would have had them to play this sport. Odemegu is a perfect example of that, because this is a kid that grew up in Nigeria playing soccer.
He outgrew the sport. I mean, you don't see a lot.
Of six foot six, two hundred and sixty pound, you know, soccer players, midfielders out on the field. He transitioned to basketball and ultimately working through educational basketball program out in Nigeria. They felt like, hey, his best spot potentially could be football. Oman Eura looked at him, said, hey, you're a defensive end. Brought him into his camp at the NFL Africa camp in Ghana. He won the Defensive MVP award there. As he said, he still has yet to actually play an
organized football game. All of this has been training and combines and all those things. But he's been staying up, you know, since coming to the United States in January. In addition to his physical training he's been doing, he's been reading about this sport. He's been watching videos on YouTube, which is something omen Eura kind of suggested to him to do. And he talked about the decision he made with his parents iding to try to make a run at the sport, and there was a really good quote
in there that I tweeted it afterwards. That was one of my favorite bits just one little simple line where he said there was something inside of me, something inside my heart that made me feel like this is possible. And here he is chasing the dream. He already had a chance to meet with Shan Gary. He'll be working in that outside linebacker room with Preston Smith and Jason Rebrovich.
And a neat moment.
Two on Saturday, you know he's going out there, he's stretching, and Matt Lafleur, who actually wasn't here on Friday because he was down in Madison for Greg Guards cancer charity, you know, fundraiser. Just a little bit of a fifth step from Matt Lafleur to odemagu at the beginning of practice, and it's just like those are the little moments that you know, to the onlookers you might not quite understand
what that means. But for a kid like this that is basically dedicated his life to the past year towards being one of these eight players that did get allocated to an NFL team, eternally grateful for and as he said, he wants to be a pioneer for the sport. He wants to and not only try to excel in this and learn how to play it in the NFL level, but also bring it back to his home country and give kids the same opportunity he's been afforded now in Green Bay.
Yeah.
Well, it's a story that starts out as you know, the longest of long shots, right, So it'll be really interesting to see how this unfolds and the Packers will. As an International Pathway Program player, he essentially is guaranteed a spot on the ninety man offseason roster all the way through training camp, and then if he doesn't make the fifty three man roster, which is the most likely scenario, there is a practice squad exemption for him to be
able to stick around. So the Packers if they want to keep him on the practice squads, he becomes the seventeenth practice squad player and you still have your normal allocation of sixteen in players in that regard. Go ahead.
Yeah, And if I made too Mike, when you were talking about the longest of long shots, I want to make this point because it's not like, oh, they just found Odemega and it's like, yep, you're gonna come to the NFL. Well, there was a pretty long process for him to make it the camp in Ghana him going to the combine. Thirty eight players were invited to the combine in London, which was I think five days before at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, five days before the Packers played
the Giants. From that, only eight players were selected to be allocated. It's two NFL divisions. I believe it was the NFC North and I want to say it was the AFC West was the other one. Those are the only two divisions this year that have this allocation process. It's not like, okay, well they had thirty eight players and they just pushed them all around the league.
Only eight guys got to do this.
So it tells you exactly how high both the Omenyurra is on this but also the NFL to give him this opportunity.
Yeah, and the Packers have already switched him, so to speak. He was in the original announcement. He was announced as a defensive lineman at six six, two fifty nine. The Packers have decided to to try to craft him, mold him as an outside linebacker in you know, with that that Preston Smith sort of size and frame and uh and hey, if oc Umnyura can do something for the Packers, aside from break the fans' hearts in those some of those uh bosses previously. Yeah, maybe uh maybe something uh
something good to come out. I kid, of course, oc Umnyora is a tremendous, tremendous ambassador for the NFL, even though uh he was the the enemy to Packers fans on the wrong side of things in some of those postseasons.
But we'll close close on this one west. As far as the news over the weekend from Rookie Mini Camp, there were fourteen players who were invited to the Packers rookie Mini camp on a tryout basis, and in that respect, they're you know, essentially trying to earn a contract as an undrafted rookie, as an undrafted free agent onto that ninety man offseason roster, and the Packers ended up signing three tryout players, Broughton Hatcher, a long snapper from Old Dominion,
William Hooper, a cornerback from Northwestern State, and Antonio Moultrie, a defensive lineman from Alabama Birmingham, u AB. And on the news side of things, other than obviously watching these players to see if you know who might be the next you know, Lucas Patrick the you know, the tryout that player nobody had ever heard of, who maybe ends
up becoming a regular player in the NFL. But Hatcher, the long snapper from Old Dominion, has replaced Jack Coco on the roster, and Hatcher is now the competition for Matt Orzich, the long snapper that the Packers signed, the veteran long snapper who was signed as a free agent,
one of the packers few free agent acquisitions during the offseason. So, as we talked about many times, Rich Bassaccia's you know, stamp is all over this this Packers roster and and everything with regard to special teams and the Packers leaving no stone unt earned in that regard. Here already a change in terms of the competition that will be setting up at long snapper as the Packers move into the spring and summer.
Yeah, and obviously for the Green Bay Packers that continues that that cycle they've been going through with long snappers since making the decision to have Steed and Word will replace Hunter Bradley midway through I believe that was the twenty season. Listen, this is going to be a situation where you know, you knew with Matt Orzik that he could be the guy, not only because of the contract, not only because they signed him as an unrestricted free agent.
The Packers had interest in him going back two years ago. It just so happened that the Rams when they tried to claim when the Packers tried to claim him, the Rams had a higher waiver claiming were able to get him. And then obviously he went won a Super Bowl there. So he is the incumbent. Now, I think you would say he is probably the favorite for it. But Hatcher, there's a lot to like about him when you look
at the fact. I believe when I was reading his bio he was like the fifth or sixth top recruited, top rated long snap when he was coming out of high school. Played thirty five games for Old Dominion. Old Dominion says that he was never credited with a bad snap during that time. Missed the twenty season because of COVID, missed all but one game in twenty one because of an ankle injury. But you know, br Hatcher is a kid that has been doing this at a high level
for a number of years. Whereas Jack was making that transition, he was kind of a tweener between tight end and long snapper Hatcher. This has been his preferred position going all the way back to high school. So he'll be the one that comes in and pushes or chick or sick excuse me for the job. And unfortunately for Jack, I felt terrible. I sent him a little message after the news came out because I really did enjoy the kid.
I have so much respect for what he did and being willing to really put everything he had into becoming a long snapper last year. I think it was a success. The fact that he went from being a tryout, being a guy that hadn't been a long snapper on punts since high school as far as an in game setting, and he put himself in a position to be a long snapper here for an entire season, all seventeen games.
My hat goes off to him, and obviously the Green Bay Packers as they begin these renovations on special teams and with the specialists. They have two new candidates here for the job in twenty twenty three.
Yeah, well, it'll be interesting to see how that competition unfolds, especially when we get to training camp in the preseason games. You know where you imagine, you know, both of those guys getting a chance to snap in game action with their Packers' uniforms, So with that, we will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on packers dot com for wes. I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, and we will see you next time.