A Conversation with Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich at the 2022 Senior Bowl (2/1)

he will become in the NFL. But definitely the the highest regarded guys, the guys that potentially could go in the first round, there's not as many of those guys for whatever the reason, you know, maybe that's agent influence or um, whatever the case may be. But a little bit less of the premier first round most hyped up prospects aren't necessarily here that Other than that, it's it's it's football, you know, And and I think it's in this whole build up to the draft, there's gonna be

all these opportunities to assess these players. You know, we go to the combine, we see him run, we see him jump, arm lengths, the whole deal, you know, And then Obviously, the scouting department's got four years of of evaluating the character of the man and you know what they're all about. Um, but this is like a real opportunity for us to assess the football part, you know, and and run football drills, run uh for us, you know, defensively, run an NFL defense and um get our hands on them.

So in my opinion, this is invaluable, especially for a team like like ours, that is that is you know, I wouldn't say rebuilding, but we're definitely um in the starting point of building something special. What did it mean for you coming out of Hawaii when you got here in that week? And can you talk about the personnel

that it was actually assembled here? Yeah, it was I want to say that, and I might be wrong, but it was like thirty of the thirty two first round picks the year that I came here played in this game. You know. Just my linebacker group alone was uh, Brian er Lacker and John Abraham and LaVar Arrington and the list goes on and on and the guys that participate

in the game. But it was for a one year starter out of Hawaii that never thought that you know, obviously had the dream of NFL, but never thought that it would, you know, really materialize, you know. There was so much doubt, you know, and and all of a sudden you're thrown into this, this group of players that you know, I'm a huge fan of football, you know, just like I played it. So I was a huge fan of a lot of these guys and and um,

so it was really exciting. It was just you know, it was an amazing opportunity to see can I do this or not? You know, And and for myself it was without this game, I don't get drafted in the third round. I absolutely believe that. And I absolutely believe

that's the truth. Gave me an opportunity to show him that I could play, and I could play with the top guys, John Abraham at two Great Jets, two Great Jets, four first round picks in two thousand, John Abraham and Sean Allis of course, ye, Pennington, Anthony Back that was I think Pennington was in the game as well, and Beck was in the game as well. There you go, Yeah, he was in the game. So when you look around at the guys today assembled here for the first time,

what do you see in the rides? There's obviously like a high level of anxiousness and nervousness and um. And then you've got the other guys that some of it's real and authentic, the confidence in the swag, some of it is just posturing and trying to you know it. It's so different and and I don't want to like go off on a tangent here, but the but the agents have prepped these guys at such a high level

nowadays too. The football stuff that's obvious, that's always been part of the preparation for Senior Bowl Draft, the whole process. But now I mean they're getting taught how to how to carry themselves, when they eat, when they um, you know, when they get their laundry to everything is being assessed and analyzed and and the agents have done a really good job of prepping these guys for everything, you know,

So it's there. It's it's it's uh for us as a challenge, you know, because you're really trying to filter through what's real what's not real. Um. And for the teams that actually get an opportunity to coach it, I think it gives us a huge advantage because we get to absolutely like we get to uh get a relationship and develop you know, as much trust and and and

regard that you can get within a week's time. But it gives us a little bit of a window into the world who they who they really are, not who they're being coached to be, you know, by an agent or by ever. So for us, it's it's huge when you heard, when you you heard you guys have been selected to coach down here. What's the initial reaction because you like to have a little bit a downtime. I know you love ball for sure, you got family, for sure, you want to get away from it. But your reaction

because you said the Jets are building something special. You do have nine draft picks in the two thousand two draft, two in the top ten, a pair in rounds one, rounds two, rounds four, rounds five. Yeah, it's it's imperative that we we hit on all of them, you know, So every bit information that we can gather is huge. You come here and um. A lot of times it's people think it's just an opportunity to assess, and that's part of the process. But I think it's just as

important to eliminate people. You know, maybe the personality, the character isn't quite right for us. The learning style doesn't meld with the way that we teach. Um, whatever the case may be. So you you find guys for sure, and you um and you really like you. You you find guys that you want to target and you want to you want to become part of the organization. But just as important as you eliminate certain people to This

is fascinating this year because there are staff evaluations. You are the defensive coordinator, but you're not at the defensive coordinator this week? Who is the Jets defensive coordinator? Mike Grutenberg? And can you tell us about Rudy? Yeah, Rudy is excellent coach, excellent teacher. He coaches the linebackers for the Jets. Um, I got definitely qualified, has all the experience the knowledge to be a great defensive coordinator in this league. And

his time will come for sure. So what a great opportunity to come out here and kind of have a dry run for him. You know, he just um, he just had his first unit meeting, did an excellent job. So take us behind closed doors. What can you tell

us he didn't take well? He he put his own style style onto kind of what we talked about within our defensive unit meetings that i've you know before, but definitely put his own spin on in his own uh, you know, his own style which he has, and um, it was fun, it was It's it's just it's a great opportunity for these guys, like I know Rudy, some guys, you know, they they don't necessarily take it as seriously

as as as others do. But I don't know if it really took a day off these last two weeks, Like he was really excited about this opportunity, taking very seriously and and put a lot of time in preparation into it. And um, these kids will will value from this for sure. What's it like playing for you? Because everybody talks about juice. Whenever you hear the name Brick, people say he brings the juice on the field in the classroom. You'd have to ask others, you know, like

I do love this game. Um, it's absolutely you know, it's it's been a huge part of my life playing coaching. It's it's afforded me so many opportunities, not just financially, but um, it's exposed me to to people that I would have never known otherwise, you know, from every walk of life, from every part of the country, from every from every everything, you know, and it's just enriched my

life at such a high level. And I have just such gratitude for the game that i'd to say that you feel that when I coach and teach and and try to motivate, and that you feel my authentic love and passion for this game and and a real genuine give back for me, you know, and give back for all that it's given me. What do guys have to do under you to be successful? What are things you're

not going to tolerate for a player because you played yourself. Yeah, to me, it's just emptying the tank every day, like the all gas, no break, which is Roberts you know slogan that this organization is absolutely embraced. Um, that's absolutely

how I operate, you know. So, uh, whether it's meetings, whether it's walked through, whether it's night before prep, whether it's your film study, what what, whatever it is, just go for it at the highest level and turn every stone, empty your tank every single day and you're gonna be You're gonna be golden with me, you know. Like, to me,

that's the process. As long as we're committed to the process and you are on turning every stone and you are emptying the tank and you do live by this mantra of all gas no break that I can absolutely live with whatever those results. So are you know, do you bring teach tape out of yourself? Absolutely? Not ever bring any clips out, No way, too embarrassing. Absolutely they and if they did, some of the guys, it's funny.

Raheem Morris. When we were in Atlanta, he would do that every once in a while, and it was the guys would love it and they get a big laugh. The best part of it was when we remember we first got to Atlanta and I preached leverage and I and I brought out the shoot where we would shuffle under it for just days and hours and it was just endless and and and I just this mantra of stay low, play low, over and over and over again. And then he finds this clip of me standing straight

up and just did I make that? I made the play, you know, But but he definitely got a laugh at it. But I was like, the honest truth is, and it's not me trying to be humble or anything like that. I was a very average player. You know, like my my tape, I could maybe show you what strain looked like, you know, but as far as um skill and technique, nobody was average. You played ten years in the National

Football League. Wind bet is not live in New Jersey and they're bringing the excitement of win Las Vegas to online sports betting. Get in on all your favorite teams, players and sports from boosted parlays to live in game odds on every major sport. They have what you need to win. Sign up today to receive a special offer risk free five hundred dollar sports Beat. Download the wind Beat app now or visit w y and and bet

dot com to start winning. Wind Bett an official sports book and gave me partner of the New York Jets office up to the change in terms of condition that wind bet dot Com must be twenty one or older in president of New Jersey. If you are someone you know has a gambling problem called one seven zero seven one one seven yea. Can you talk about your career, your directory, how you came in as a starter and that at the end of your career you actually went

into that inventorship role and became a reserve linebacker. It was it's the opposite of most. You know, most come in as a reserve and and you know, they earn their stripes on special teams and ultimately they became a starter.

And I was kind of the opposite came in and I was when I came in, the forty niners were in the transition of of moving on from those those like the greats, you know, like I the one year with Steve Young, and one year with Jerry Rice, And one year with Ken Norton Jr. And one year with a lot of these tall more than one year with heal.

But there are a lot of the great players that were a part of those those great Super Bowl wins and those World championships, and and then my second year, um they really started over for all intensive purposes, and um so I had a great opportunity to start early and off in my career and and uh actually didn't really get involved with special teams until my eighth year, my eighth, my ninth, and my tenth, which is it's kind of you know, it's some dudes wouldn't do that.

It's backwards. Yeah. I was fortunately had enough self awareness that when you when you draft a guy like Patrick Willis, you know, that he's better than you, you know. And I knew that that the writing was on the wall, and it was either I really embrace a special team role and and embrace anyway I can help this team, or I would get cut. And that you know, that

was self awareness, but it's also the honest truth. And and uh, and it let me get three more years in the NFL, which had I not like, probably wouldn't happen. What made Will so unique? What didn't make him? The guy was explosive, He was fast, he was violent, and he was instinctive. Um, he had a thirst and hunger

to learn the game at the highest level. Two, which is and that's where you came in, right, Yeah, And I'd like, I'd like to say that that that we built a good relationship from that standpoint, and um, whatever I had, I gave him, you know. And and uh, although like i'd like, you know, the truth is he probably didn't need need much, you know, but um, yeah, we definitely built a relationship that way, and and it it gave me my first kind of itch to to do the coaching thing, you know, and and see it

kind of materialized. So mobile Alabama played a huge role in your playing career a huge role in your coaching career. So take me through down here when you have a conversation with Pete Carroll and John Snow what happened and and how did that change the course of Jeff all

Brick's career. We uh, you know, you play, And um, I'd like to say that as I played, I was a student at the game, so I would get those comments as coaches do and say, man, you make a great coach or you know, when when you decide to coach, give me a call. And and what I found was and this is no, this is not saying anything about anybody, but like made those calls and and what I found out right away was in coaching, if there's not a position, there's not a position, you know. Like I wanted to

be a linebacker coach. Initially that was the dream. And there's thirty two of them in the world, you know, and and they're hard to come by, you know. So you know, for whatever the reason, when I retired, there wasn't something open from that standpoint. So, um, like I gave a lot of coaches calls and I got the same advice from a lot of different coaches said they just go down with the Senior Bowl and kind of

put a face to a name. You know, I was fresh from from playing and and um, I gotta send my unique last name, so you know, i'd like to say people kind of remember me a little bit, you know. And I played quite a while, so just you know, shot myself around and got to know as many people as I could, coaches, personnel, guys, executives, the whole thing. And and uh happened to be in the like I hate to say this because I know we have a

contract with dv Sport. I don't know if it was ned S for exos, but whatever, it was, Like they have their little expo set up and a lot of the coaches that weren't coaching the game, we're down there and they're watching practice, and um, I happened to be at the same spot. And all of a sudden, Pete Carroll and John Schneider are next to me, and I have no connection to them prior to this, and uh, and we get into a little bit of a convertation

get to know them. UM. Spent some time with them, which led to them getting my contact number and um, and then I come home from from O Bill and and um, not quite certain. I had met Raheamorris, that was my first time with him, and and had met uh Rich Pisaccia, who was a special team coordinator at the time, and I felt like that was going to be an opportunity. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Pete Carroll calls me. And I'm at dinner with my family, my young family at the time. My uh, my kids

are not young anymore. But the we, uh, we get to talking and before I know, it's like an hour and a half to our conversation, like you know that they're done with dinner, like looking at me, like come on, dad, and uh. We get off the phone and and I don't know what to make of the conversation, like it was just we're just kind of, you know, we're just

kind of talking. You know, We're talking about football, philosophy, family life, a little bit of everything, you know, as people that know Pete know that that he is that way, you know, and and uh and he's like, yeah, just look out for an email I'll get I'll send you an email from mc parole the next couple of day, who's like our scar you know, are the guy who runs our building and Michael, Okay. Then I get the email a couple of days later, so I'm thinking maybe

it's a follow up interview. It's something. And I look at it and I see a flight and I'm like, cool, all right, And then I see, uh, a rental car. I'm cool. And then I look at the hotel and I'm like and then I look below it and it's like ninety days stay. So I'm like, it's right there a job offer. Yeah, I guess I got the job, you know. You know, So that was it from Afar.

It seems like you and Pete would be long lost brothers. Yeah, because you have that connectivity in terms of you love teaching, you all energy all the time, both of you guys, the passion for the game. Um, it seems like that was a natural fit. Yeah. He uh. I was just from the outside looking and I was so intrigued by his approach and the way he did things and and

just had such admiration for it. And obviously it had had tremendous success at USC and this was um he was just transitioning, so this would this would have been his first year in Seattle, so um I joined him for the first year that he was there and uh, everything I thought he was and more like, um, it wasn't just random juice and energy and passionate. It was such focused energy, focused passion. It was so calculated in the best of ways and so deliberate and all that

he did and um really helped me. And just like here's this guy that he has no connection to prior to us meeting, and all of a sudden he would give me opportunities to speak to the team and and uh, night before games, speak to the team, all all sorts of just really cool opts. And it would be like you'd follow me up afterwards and and give me feedback that was good, Maybe work on this. And it was just for a young coach, it was just the perfect situation.

You know. One of the most interesting things I think about your background. It's not only excelled at football. You're a wrestler. What wait one es was my my senior year weight But I didn't make it very often, you know, I was. I probably lived at about two oh five. So you were in the sweatsuit on the bike. Goodness,

I was. You know, you're eighteen years old, Like you have no body fat, you know, you have nothing to know was probably two or five pounds with nobody fat so to get to one eighty nine, which ultimately became one ninety one at the end of the year. But it was hard for me, so I would wrestle heavyweight every time I didn't make it. How much did that help you? Playing ball? It helped, you know, Like the

biggest thing is the mental strength that it builds. You know, there's the mental strength obviously from the training, which is excruciating and it's one of the hardest things that I had ever done, you know, the running and the and the sparring and all that you do to prepare to so it's just it's brutal. It's it's it's harder m from a conditioning standpoint than anything I've ever done in football.

So from that standpoint, built great metal strength. But it's also the the emotional strength of stepping out there and

there's no one to rely on. It's just you and you and uh and excelling in those moments when it's just you and you, which is you know, it's imperative in this in this game, you know, for because there's there's so many moments where, yeah, it's a team game, and you absolutely have to rely on your teammates and you gotta be a great team at from that standpoint, but there's a lot of stuff that you have to do in individually to be successful. You're such a team

oriented guy. How much did you enjoy last year calm plays? Not your first time calling plays in the National Football League. We know your experienced in Atlanta taken over interim DC duties, but last year was the first time wire to wire, Yeah, it was. It was. It was awesome. You know, um where the results awesome not always obviously, UM, but I felt like, uh I grew. I felt like our defense grew. I I was really proud, especially absorbing some of the

injuries that we had. I was really proud of that last four game stretch where I felt like you started to see the fellows start to turn the corner from the standpoint of really learning this system and learning all the little, the finer details that really make the difference between it working and not working. Um. Like I've said many times before, like we're not the we're not the

type of defense. And this is not me saying our defense is better than anyone else is, because there's a lot of ways to do this thing, and there's every there's a lot different ways that have been successful. But what we believe in is that it's not the player the play call. It's not me, it's the players, you know. And it's being great at your fundamentals and the principles and and being a really technique based defense as opposed to a lot of trickery and deception and like we're

not about that, you know. And and um, the great thing is when you get it, you become really hard to deal with because they have no answer because they're not going to deceive you either, you know. And our predictability makes offenses predictable as well, because we get attacked the same way from week to week, you know. So from from that standpoint, um, it's really good. But it's also hard because it takes time. Like I could, honestly

I could. I could have drawn up four or five defensive band aids in the back half of the season, and we probably would have been ranked overall, um, rather than thirty one or saying whatever. And that's absolutely right, because I would have I would have deluded the teaching of the front, I would have deluded our coverage stuff. I would have all these principles and fundamentals and techniques that we're trying to master. All would have been deluded with all these prophet calls. Um at the end of

the day are going to help us, you know. So I really felt that that last four games stretch, just the level of confidence, the turns, the time on task that we've had, you started to feel it a little bit, you know. So win bet is now live in New Jersey and they're bringing the excitement of win Las Vegas to online sports betting, getting on all your favorite teams, players and sports from boosteap partlays to live in game odds on every major sport. They have what you need

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of New Jersey. If you're someone you know has a gambling problem, called on seven zero seven one one seven you speak to that last game in Buffalo, Yeah, it's closed the regular season, and and obviously again the results, the final results not there in terms of winning, but I believe there's a stretch there. Seven out of eight possessions, force and punts and keeping your team in a one possession game against one of the league teams and the NFL one of the most explosive offenses. What did it

say about your group? Yeah, that that they they're starting to get it. You know, they're starting to learn it, um, starting to apply it. And and what's really cool is they started to, like with them starting to understand at a higher level, obviously, they started to have a little bit more success and you started to finally feel the confidence in what we were doing, you know, and how we're doing it. So um, it was just a glimpse of just a glimmer of of what we can become

when we get better at this. And we had a few pieces obviously through the free agency, in the draft, and and uh, just stack another year of doing what we do and we'll add little caveats and some wrinkles and some some nuances here and there, but at the end of the day, we're gonna do what we do. You gotta go to the team met here in a minute. But let's go rapid fire on a couple of things. How good of a player can Carl Aweson be in

this defense? Because we were out there in the spring and the summer and I was telling people this guy was by far and away the best player in the football field. Yeah, I agree he. Uh, most fronts in the NFL are read are They react to the blocking schemes, They react to the man in front of them. So there's a level of hesitation no matter how you know the defense and how many reps and time and tests that you had. Um, this front is not built in

that way. This front is based on everything is on our terms, and we are going forward and we are attacking. And I think it is absolutely Taylor made for call also because he is. That's how he's built. That's what his DNA is all about anyway. So, Um, for a guy to not have to read, not have to sit in a frog stance and and catch and step laterally and and react to the man in front of him, he's putting things on his terms. And when things are

in his terms. I thought this offseason, like you had said, for the guys that were out there and saw it and felt it like like I don't want to throw so much smoke at him, but it's like he looked unblockable at times. Mosley any surprised at all. You're a guy who played the game at the highest level and you've coached up a lot of very good players. But there are a lot of questions I think externally after Hey,

he basically hasn't played in two years. Um. He he is one of the most special football players I've ever been around. He is. His level of anticipation and his instinct is just it's just so unique. Like he's one of those guys that is consistently inching two plays before the ball snapped, like he just has inherent sense of where it's going. Um. And it's one of those things

that's absolutely earned. It's not like he just hoacaxed focused and he's just gonna got a feeling like he's put the time on the films, the He's just a relentless worker in that way. So from that standpoint, amazing. Um.

The level of toughness, like say what you want. Guys that really get paid in this league, and he's one of those guys that really got paid and well deserved every penny that he makes, they don't throw it around the same typically, you know, like they gained a higher level of consciousness for their their health, um which every human being can understand. He is not that Like this guy throws around his body like like he's a fifteen year old play in high school football, like and he's

he's trying to earn a scholarship. Like he is so hungry, so tough. That's the way you played though. Uh he he is ten times better than the player I ever was. But I'm not talking about athletically. I'm just saying, is that you that I tried to and and the best part about him is his level other than the playing that's obvious, but the level of humility and the teammate that he is is something that unless you're really around him, you can't appreciate because everybody's heard about it. I'm sure

the fans have heard about it. Me as a fan of him, I had heard about it when he was in Buffalo or when he was in Baltimore, and um, I was where it was at. But the the man is what you gained the strongest appreciation for when you're around him, because he's just he's so humble. He's such a great teammate, is such a good human being. You know, he's just he said, one of his proudest moments was changing the play. I've never been around something like that.

Like I've seen guys you build in audibles within the game plan and empty checks and information checks and we all have done that. Everyone's done that, and we do that. But he went completely off script, like it was not in the game plan, It wasn't even discussed on the sideline. Changed it, it worked, it was, it was. But you're such a competitor. Was there every moment where like what the hell are you doing? Hell no, Like I got He's one of those he's that he's earn that right.

He's one of those few guys that like, um, if you saw it, you felt it, like I'm right with you, and we believe in it a great like one of the billions of stories people have probably heard about him. But um, my wife she broke her ankle last offseason, like right before summer break, and she had to get a whole surgery on her plates. The whole thing was

it was and I'm I'm we're out. We're walking out the practice one day and I just told him, yeah, that she she broke her ankle, she's gonna be um, you know, she's gonna be off her feet for five or six weeks or whatever, like unsolicited, without saying anything. The next day, I walked into my office. There's a wheelchair sitting there, and he had brought her a wheelchair from home. I never heard that story before. It's just a small, little like window into his world and just

the man that he is. How about the young corners. Everybody said, you guys were crazy, but you go out there and play with them, and Bryce Hall really developed. In year two, Brandon Nuckles comes up with two interceptions, including a pick six. The number of past defenses you got, Michael Carter the second steps into one of the most

difficult positions all football. What can you say about that group? Yeah, it was really proud of the ways the guys progressed and what they had they had become at the end

of that season. I mean it, it is the maybe the hardest position in football to play as a young player, you know, without the without the reps, without the time on task, without the experience like which none of them had, you know, and um, and they ended up becoming NFL corners by the end of the season, which was really cool to see, especially for three guys that UM built in the same way that that that CJ is in that way just so humble, come to work every day,

work their butt off, UM and doing it without a real model of They really didn't have a vet in front of them to kind of show them the way, because they're kind of paving their own way as they went, which is gonna be a little bit more challenging at times. UM, But I really felt like like by the end of the season, I'm like, we can we can play with about anybody out there right now with this, with this group,

you know, so it's exciting to see. I think, you gotta get out of here, but I really enjoyed this. We gotta catch up again because I want to talk a little bit more about the Atlantic connection and Michael Fleur and you met the Scars before. Uh what a close group, and you guys carrying this on here with the Jets. But I really enjoyed Yeah, me too, enjoyed it. Thanks