Hi, everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trust in colleague West Hodkowitz. We're coming to you hear from our studios at lambeau Field, Wes with a little bit more to talk about regarding Green Bay's draft class, and specifically one draft pick whom whose story you dove into a little bit deeper. He was a great story that we already talked about, the fourth round pick, Baron Surrell,
defensive lineman out of Texas. But you talk to some other folks behind the scenes part of his background. There's a really well written profile piece that is now posted on packers dot com. Congratulations on all the hard work you put into it. But tell us about some of these folks you talk to and what you learned about a young man whom Packers fans are already kind of starting to fall in love with a little bit.
No, thank you, Michael, that's very kind of you to say, And obviously a lot of the credit goes to Baron. His mom, Selena Gibbons, was very accommodating with the amount of time she gave me. Obviously, the number of photos she had. I think in all my years doing this, I don't know if I've had more options as far as illustrating a story with outside photos than what Selena gave me. And then talking to Mike Brandle's econ professor at Texas. It just gives you a really strong idea
of who this guy is. Because I think my number one thought when we came out of draft weekend is who is this human being that decided to come up to Green Bay, Wisconsin and spend the week here when he was probably going to be a day two, day three selection and then suddenly gets selected by the team that the draft is being held at. And when you start to understand the way that Baron is wired and where he comes from down in Louisiana, New Orleans, and
why he's always been so motivated. Again, this is a kid that was asking for speed ladders for Christmas. He was asking for concussion helmets with the latest technology to protect himself. He was a dude who, no matter what it took in the classroom, he wanted to make sure that he was going to be able to tie the academics to the athletics with it. And at the end of the day. I mean, what an incredible life he's
already led in twenty two years. I mean, he had offers to Northwestern to duke, he ends up settling on Texas. He always wanted to play in the SEC. His senior year of college, he's able to play in the SEC, makes it to the College Football Playoff back to back years. But more than anything, understanding his wiring and what motivates him and Selena had a tremendous anecdote about when he was little, saying to his mom, you know, I want
to make you a millionaire someday. And this guy is willing to do whatever it takes to excel in his chosen profession, and it just so happens to be that he's a football player. So I also want to give a quick shout out to Mike Brandle, who was the professor that very generously went on Twitter after the draft and really expounded on how special this guy is. Three and a half years he graduates from Texas, He's in an introduction to macroeconomics class spring of twenty twenty two,
doesn't do well on the first exam. His brother, Avery's the one that's kind of telling him, hey, maybe check in with the professor. Brandle Off opens up his office
to him. They end up having weekly meetings and next thing you know, a few years later, Brandal, who was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, UW grad got his master's from Milwaukee, goes down to Texas and he's sitting there scrolling through the internet and he finds out that Baron Serrell not only got drafted, not only showed up in Green Bay, but then also got taken and selected by Brandell's childhood team.
It's those type of things that sort of show you how small the world can be sometimes and also just the power of motivation. And I think there's so many of us that at nineteen twenty years old, we didn't have it all figured out. And this is a kid in Baron Cerell, who since basically he could play football, since he could play sports, he's had a very clear vision of what he wants to accomplish.
Yeah.
I was really drawn into a lot of the academic details that you had in the story. First the piece about his folks ponying up the money to put him into a private school for high school. But with the caveat that, you know, mom and dad aren't paying for c's.
This is it.
You got to get your a's and b's here, if we're going to do this, if we're going to make the sacrifice and put you on this path. And then you follow that up with Professor Brandle, the econ professor at the University of Texas, where Sorell doesn't do well in the first exam, as you said, so he's looking for some extra help. And then he's starting to have these weekly zoom meetings with his professor to get you know, to get better explanation, to try to get the material
down better so he can succeed in the class. And it's a handful of sessions into this thing before Professor Brandle even knows this is a football player on the other side of the screen, because you think normally in those situations, a student athlete is going to go to the professor and say, hey, let you know, it's like I've got my sports practice and my schedule is super busy and I'm not doing well in this class and I need you to, you know, do you have some
time to help me. However that might go, cREL just went to him as any other student who needs help. This wasn't about him being a football player. This wasn't about seeking any special treatment because he was on scholarship for with the Texas Longhorns, and he got the grades turned around and he was successful in the class with the extra help from the professor. So it's things like that when you find out those when you find out those other pieces to a player's background that aren't necessarily
about sports. They're about the other things that they need to dedicate their lives to in order to create that successful path into sports. Those are the types of background stories, the background details that draw me in and quite frankly, I can't wait to get to know Baron Currell even better here as he begins his NFL career with the Packers.
Yeah. I appreciate that, mikel I will say too. I said this to him on the phone. I will extend the invitation to him. Now, Mike Brandle, next time you come up to Green Bay, I mean, thenner on me come over to lambeau Field anytime you want. Like, I really enjoyed my conversation with this guy because he's an incredibly intelligent academic, I mean, a PhD in his field, worked at the University of Texas, Austin went to Ohio State.
I mean, he's done a lot in his profession and still has that Midwestern nice sort of like sure reality, just like you could sit down and have a an Arnold Palmer with him. But one thing I really enjoyed about his story he talked about how he's kind of an old school minded professor. Nice guy. You look at his rate for my professor page, which I did when I was doing my research. People talked about just how
one of the best professors they've ever had. But he's tough minded, like he's not just going to hand out a's and bes. He even said like he would love it. And it's not about athletes, it's just about any student in general, the people that don't attend class, that don't do well in the class, and at the end of the semester, like what can I do to get a BEE or what can I do to get an A? And he's like, the level of this is you know,
d's end at sixty, you're in the forties. There's not a whole lot I can do to get you up into the BES. And then here's a guy in Sorel who's literally his first exam of the course where he takes the time and says, hey, this isn't clicking for me. You got to understand Baron had a four point six
GPA in high school. And if you heard what I said earlier in the show, I mean he was getting recruited by major Division one colleges with huge academic you know backgrounds there, including the University of Northwestern University, which may or may not be in you know, a school that Mike Spofford went to be that as it may, it shows you the determination this young guy has. And if I may, I just want to throw this out
there as well. Looking at the draft day experience, there were two elements of this that I really enjoyed learning more about. Kudos to the Commissioner, Roger Goodell. The NFL could not have been more welcoming to Sorell. Once Chris Cabot, his agent, had said, you know, my client would really like to attend the draft. This has been a lifelong dream of his. The NFL made it happen. They made
him feel like any other top prospect. Roger Goodell's commitments After that first day, it goes a lot of different directions. There's relations enjoy he doesn't go up there. This isn't COVID anymore. He's not reading every single draft pick. But he made it a point at the end of day two to go back into the green room when Baron Serell, a wonderful three piece suit he had on, is sitting there with his family. Waited hours with his family to see will I get drafted? Will I get drafted? The
call never comes. Goodell goes back there and tells him, if you want to stay, I will be there for you. I will announce you on Saturday. Because Sorel and his family weren't sure. They were like, should we stay, can we stay? Do we need to leave? And they could
not have been more welcome in that regard. And then once it does happen, he has this Cinderella fairy tale type story that happens where he gets picked by the packers, he gets embraced by the fans, he does a Lambeau leap Mark Murphy is pushing the button down at the tunnel to bring him down.
Onto the field.
I mean, like just so much excitement that was going that was happening there, and Selena says to him, like, you know, make sure you stop and smell the Roses and as much as he appreciated all of that, baron telling her mom, I have it's time to work. Yeah, this young man gets it. It wasn't just about the NFL Draft. It's not about making his mom a millionaire.
It's about fulfilling his potential. Now he's with the Green Bay Packers, he has an excellent opportunity to contribute to this Jeff Athley defense and he wants to make sure he does it.
Yeah.
Absolutely, and his story will be followed closely every step of the way. Another piece of news with regarding the draft class also University of Texas. The first round pick Matthew Golden has signed his contract with the Packers. That is, that is signed, sealed, delivered, official. We are long past, you know, the era of extended draft pick holdouts and things like that the way things go. But the Packers at this point now just have one more draft pick
who has yet to sign. That his second round pick, Anthony Belton. Some interesting things going on with second round picks where there are a couple guys in that round who have already signed, who got one hundred percent guaranteed contracts, Which is kind of a new thing because because the one hundred percent guaranteed contracts were pretty much just for the first rounders. The way things have been going the last couple of years, it's yeah, it's it's something that
has been progressing. It's progressed through the first rounders, and now the one hundred percent guarantee is is creeping into the second round draft picks. So I think that's holding up some of the negotiations, you know, because really the vast majority of the draft pick across the league who have yet to sign our second round picks, that's what everybody is waiting on. But congratulations to Matthew Golden. He
got his deal. And this is a young man who obviously talked about his desire to buy back the family home, his grandmother's house, and now that he's gonna have some money in the bank, he'll probably start the process at whatever it takes to get that property back in his family.
It's one of the coolest things that happened a lot of times in the NFL draft. Super sad like you hate that, you know, for families, a lot of times this happens, but also it's emotional. I remember I think Eric Stokes when he got drafted in twenty one. I want to say it was Eddie bought a house for his grandmother. Yeah, I know Eddie Lacey did it. Yeah, in twenty thirteen he bought a house for his mom
and down in Louisiana. I believe it was. You could tell listening to Golden talk about this and what it means to him and growing up in that household and at times heaven to live in hotels with his mom having to you know, live in the back, you know, in the car of a Walmart parking lot in the area because they didn't have some place to go. And then he's living with different people as you know, his mom's trying to get back up on her feet. Life
can be really hard on people. But you know, as as Matt Lafleur and Brian Goodcuns Bull talked about, you do not want that to happen. You don't want young children to have to go through that. But there is a mental toughness that gets forged there that when you end up on an NFL team or you end up in a professional sport, you've been tested in a lot
of ways. This doesn't even compare to it the pressure that you feel when you and I might look at an eighty thousand seat stadium, or if you're looking at the you know, the SEC one hundred thousand seat stadiums, these venues where there's just people and noise and distractions. How guys are able to rise above that because a lot of what happened in their their formative years. Golden is a testament to that, in addition to the fact that the guy has elite traits for an NFL receiver.
And you know, I've been doing some interviews the last couple of weeks and people asking about, you know, how are the Packers going to incorporate all these guys, How are they going to be able to figure out what their path forward is and giving guys opportunities and targets and touches and snaps, And the way I look at it is, Yeah, it is going to be up to matt Lafleur in the coaching staff to figure out how they want to divvy that up. But it's also going
to be about that group earning it. And the more opportunities you're in, the more opportunities you're given. And I feel like Matthew Golden is coming in much like Baron Sorel different type of backgrounds, different types of upbringings. But this is a guy that is going to get that first chance to be in the NFL. Yeah, it's great to have that contract fully guaranteed. It's great to have
that money in the bank. But there's so much yet they're out for you and getting through that rookie contract and getting the unrestricted free agency and getting the possibilities of extensions. This is just the beginning. It's just the beginning of a much larger story.
Yeah, And I think coming up over the next few weeks here as the Packers get into OTAs in mini camp, we're just going to get a taste of what this rookie draft class is going to do on the field. And quite frankly, I think the coaches are going to be feeling out like, you know, okay, where are these guys comfortable?
What does it look like they can do best right away?
And then the coaches are going to sort of take that experimental information from OTAs and then figure out how to work them into certain reps and whatnot into training camp to build them up because you know, whichever side of the ball it is, they're just they're learning a playbook from scratch in the NFL, which is which is no easy task for anybody. That's actually a topic I want to get to as well in a minute, but
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years of better. All right, on the topic of the playbook, an interesting comment made last week when the media met with the offensive and defensive assistant coaches. I want to focus on some comments from the offensive coaches right now. Jason Brabel, the Packers passing game coordinator, previously wide receivers coach a couple of years ago, was promoted to passing game coordinator under Matt Lafleur. He actually referenced he was asked about a young rookie like Matthew Golden Saveon Williams.
These wide receivers that come in and they need to learn, they need to learn an NFL playbook, and how challenging is that versus, you know, what they learned in college. And and Vrabel estimated that that a college playbook is probably only about one fourth or maybe one third the
size of an NFL playbook. And that's one of those things you just have to you have to stop and remember that when it comes to these young players and when they're starting their their NFL journeys, the game, the game is played at a significantly more complex level at the NFL than it is at college, even at the even at the height of Division one, because you're dealing with absolutely the best athletes at every position, the best coaches at every position, the best coordinators in the sport.
And so the challenge for these guys learning an NFL playbook, it's it's a phrase that we use all the time, but you have to understand just how challenging it is because of how different it is from the college game.
Yeah, and I love Jason Vrabel. I've said this numerous times. And the guy, he's going to be a coordinator, an offensive coordinator some day. I really hope he gets opportun to be a head coach.
Because I think I think he's on his way.
From the media perspective already got it down. Yeah, I mean the way that he can talk, like where you know, he doesn't create questions for his receivers, but he addresses things earnestly and honestly. And then also the way he expands on stuff. Again, much like Jeff Hafley, There's just so much you learn from him in conversations like that.
And I think you and I to some degree would understand and know that the complex the complexity of an NFL playbook is going to be more than a college playbook.
In most cases, it's just the way the.
Game is played. It's the developmental system for the NFL at some level. It's going to get more complicated as you rise throughout that course. That said, when you put tangible numbers to that, you put comparisons to it, it really does drive home the idea that there is so much these guys have to learn coming into the National Football League. Yes, occasionally you're going to have dudes that come in and just blow the hinges off the door
right from day one. The Clay Matthews of the world exist right also first round picks, but at the same time, you're going to have to be able to learn to take all the tools that made you successful at the college level and figure out what translates and what works well at the NFL. The scouts project that can you fulfill those projections? Can you turn that potential into production?
And I feel like that's where as much as we want to perseverate on where those receivers are and what Matthew Golden's going to do and what's say E Williams is going to do right off the bat, you have to remember that these are investments in the future. Anthony Belton is going to be in an investment into the future regardless he's on the starting five this year, and
occasionally it's going to take a year or two. It's going to be the Sean Ryans that break into the lineup in year three and then become starters finally in a full fledged fashion. That's just the way development goes,
and that's the way the game is played. The exciting thing for me, though, as we talked about previously, the fact that Green Bay took a position where you and I talked about all the different skill sets and all the different types of playmakers they have, and they somehow found a way to make that even more dynamic.
Yeah, they created even greater variety to the types of players and the types of weapons that they have. I'm going to run down some other comments from the offensive coaches that that sort of caught my ear, and then I'll just I'll throw it to you if you have a reaction to any or all of them. Another comment that Jason Vrabel made is with regard to Luke Getzi, who is now back on the Packers coaching staff after a few years away. He's he's a senior offensive assistant.
He was back towards the end of last season in you know, a different type of capacity, not necessarily officially, you know, under contract on the coaching staff kind of thing. But Vrabel said towards the end of last season that when Getsy was watching practices, a guy that really jumped out at him was Dantavian Wicks. Yes, and I think with the season that Wicks had last year and some of the frustrations with the job, the drops and and you know, him putting a lot of pressure on himself
to succeed. Just the fact that that comment was made by Luke Getsy towards the end of last season, I think is something to keep in mind. With Dontavian Wicks. Luke Butkis the offensive line coach. He actually made the comment with regard to Zach Tom, the Packers right tackle, who is potentially headed for a long term contract extension here coming up, you know, maybe in the near future
or not so long term future. He made a comment that that Zach Tom was actually not all that happy about his season last year, and you're reminded when you hear that, you're reminded that as much as you know, it was sort of like, oh, Zach Tom's got right tackle lockdown, nobody's worried about over there. But he did have to come back from a torn pectorals a last spring, and he wasn't really back to full strength probably for quite a while even though he was back on the field.
But Zach Tom was working through a heck of a lot last year and yet was still a pretty darn solid right tackle over there. But it's a reminder of maybe just how much better Zach Tom could be in twenty twenty five if he is at full strength. And then another comment that caught my year coming from Ben Sermons, the running backs coach, and Ben Sermons is the last coach to stand up at a podium and try to create headlines of any kind whatsoever. But he actually said
that Josh. He thought Josh Jacobs looks better right now just in the offseason work and the training and whatnot that they're doing then he did last year at this time. That's another thing that just it kind of opens your eyes. It's like, oh, Okay, a guy with three hundred some carries and thirteen hundred rushing yard last year is actually looking even better. Not that I'm necessarily surprised by that, but anyway, those were some comments that caught.
My ear, just wondering your reaction to any of them.
Two things here, One with Josh Shacobs. Does it come
as a surprise, No, I get that. But also when you hear the way he talked at the end of last season, have you ever heard of another player that probably sounded as motivated just to play Week one of the following season as Josh Jacobs was coming out of Philadelphia, No kidding, whether it was his comments in the postgame locker room or even in the weeks after, you know, at the super Bowl and everything else that came this guy clearly's champing at the bit to get back at
this thing. And if you think about NFL running backs and where he came from, it took him five years, I don't want to say escape, but to find a culture in a team and basically be able to pick where he wanted to be. And now he's there, and I think this is a guy that doesn't want to waste that opportunity understanding what the clock looks like for him and making sure that he makes hey while the sun is still shining, as my grandfather would say.
Sure.
Secondly, the Luke Getsy comment might have been the most telling of anything that came out of the coordinator or coach's comments.
And just to be clear, Luke Getsy was not act out there at the podium. This is Jason Rabel talking about a conversation that he had with Luke Getsy toward the end of last season. Correct.
Yeah, because Luke and the senior assistant role is not speaking. But when you're saying what relaying what Jason Rabel was saying that Luke Getsy said, one thing that I immediately thought of is we focus so much on his background as a quarterback and as the quarterbacks coach for Aaron
Rodgers and then a two time offensive coordinator. You sometimes can easily forget that this is the guy that was the Packers' receiving coach when not only Jordy Nelson was the NFL Comeback Player of the Year, but also when DeVante Adams really broke out as a legitimate, bonafide, top shelf,
potential Hall of Fame receiver. Yeah, he's seen those traits up close and personal, both when you have an established wide out like Jordy that's doing well into his later career, or a guy like Davante who was a second round pick with everything in front of him. So when he says that about Dundwan Tavian Wicks, it again doesn't necessarily surprise me because of everything he showed his rookie season, but it does give you an idea that these guys
are all human. Things happen, but the potential is still very much there. Wix is gonna obviously have to work for it this summer. He's going to be in this competition again. As we just talked about, finding those snaps is not going to be easy. Finding those targets is not going to be easy. But this guy's clearly shown game breaking tendencies that can put you in a win column.
Yeah, I'm and we'll be talking about it a lot as the spring and summer goes along, go along the competition that is going to be developing here at wide receiver, and I guess I just wanted to point out that for all the excitement there is about Matthew Golden's Avion Williams and how the Packers are going to use them, and everybody knows Romeo Dobbs and Christian Watson who's coming back from the injury. They're both in a contract year and everything, and then you have Jaden Reid and don
Tavian Wicks from that next draft class. Don't be writing off any of those other guys. I mean, this is the theseus. There is not a single one of those guys that is a finished product in the NFL. Their their their story, their book has not yet been written.
And that's what I think is going to be so exciting here moving forward into twenty twenty five at that position, because the Packers have a ton of young talent, they're kind of shoved into one room and they're going to be out there fighting for snaps and fighting for targets, as you said, and the cream is going to have to rise to the top. And that's that's how this thing is set up, and we'll have to see how it unfolds.
Conjecture always for whatever reason in the offseason, Trump's context and I feel like, you know all the stuff that has been written about the receiver position and who's the wide receiver one, and how does all this thing shuffle out? What you forget is Christian Watson's not going to be there, at least at the beginning. How does that affect things. That's all hypotheticals if Christian Watson's healthy, and how the
Packers would approach their offseason. But we can't sit here and talk about how important Christian Watson is like we did last season and then not acknowledge when he's not there that the Packers have to make a move. There has to be a response. I mean that has nothing to do with the other receivers in the room. It has to do with the fact that Christian Watson is pretty darn good as a football player, and defenses have to handle the Packers differently when he's out there. That threat,
at least momentarily is on the shelf. So what are you going to do? You have to put more jars on the shelf. That's what Matthew Golden was, That's what Savian William was, and that's what Mkole Hardman was. So I've talked to you about this before. We'll continue to talk about it, especially once OTA's begin here shortly. This is as deep in terms of the way the Packers have structured their roster as my time on the beat
at all these various positions. They may not have as many proven assets at those positions, but there are so many different ways they can go. Why does that matter? Because when there is an injury, that means you have another guy that can step up into that. We do not set a depth chart. We do not set a fifty three man roster and say, okay, well this is how it's going to be the entire season. It rarely works out like that, right. The Packers at this point
they wanted options. Fans wanted options. Guess what, people, you got options?
The Packers are going to have plenty of them. We also did hear from the defensive assistant coaches last week, but we will get into some of their comments on our next show. For now, we'll 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, and if you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to click on Wes's in depth profile of Baron Surrell. You will not be disappointed for Wes, I am Mike.
Thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We will see you next time.