Chief concern? Jenn Brown discusses NFL Draft with Luke Joeckel

Jenn Brown Interview with Luke Joeckel

On last season…

“It’s always nice to look back and be able to go out of A&M with the kind of season we had, going 11-2 our first year in the SEC is such a blessing. The Outland Trophy, Johnny winning the Heisman, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

On if he thought the team could be that good…

“We always thought we were going to be good. The best thing about our coaches and our team is they brought so much confidence to us. We went from a 6-6 season the year before, giving up halftime leads, to Sumlin and the rest of the coaching staff coming in and giving confidence to us and there was no doubt in our minds we were going to be good.”

On the change of style from the Big 12 to SEC…

“They were just total opposites. I went to Texas A&M because of Sherman and his offense, playing in that pro-style attack with my hand down and stuff, blocking for a pro-style QB. With last year’s team, we were a total opposite. We spread it out, we had the most mobile QB probably in NCAA history with Johnny, and blocking for him. I liked the change, it worked. We went 11-2 and great things happened from it.”

On the adjustment from blocking for Tannehill to Manziel…

“It was tough. That first Florida game was a hard game, because you can’t see his mobility in practice where it’s a quick whistle and no contact with the QB. He gets out there and starts running for his life, you’ve got to change the way you are blocking. You have to hold on to your block longer, you have to get your blocks downfield, but that was a lot of fun. We got to go out there and it was almost like playing backyard football, it just brought me the fun of the game again.”

On winning the Outland Trophy…

“It was a huge honor, even though they did mess up on my name and all that. It was a huge honor, and such a blessing. I have known about the Outland my whole life. My dad was an offensive lineman, my brother was an offensive lineman, we grew up in a fat guy offensive line family. Matt (Joeckel) is the only athletic guy in the family I guess. Growing up, that’s something I’ve always looked to, something I’ve always wanted, just accomplishing it was a huge blessing.”

On what his dad said to him after winning…

“He couldn’t be any happier. They showed a little clip of him after I won it and he had his mouth open the whole time. Everyone jokes around with him for having the biggest smile with his mouth open. He was just so happy and he was finally able to say that I’m a better offensive lineman than he was.”

On advice for his dad at the draft and beyond…

“My mom, that’s her job with the draft, is to make sure he has his mouth closed. She’s already taken that responsibility, I’m sure she’s going to do a good job.”

On the decision to go to the NFL…

“It was hard, a lot of thought went in to it, a lot of prayer. Talking to my family a ton and the coaching staff, Coach Sumlin and Coach Anderson, it was hard. I was dead set on coming back for the longest time because you go to a school and being there 4 maybe even 5 years, it’s hard to leave such a great school like A&M early. With the season we had, and the season we could have next year, it was hard to leave but I felt like I was ready and had to jump on the opportunity.

On who will be at the draft with him…

“We’ve got 25-30 people total. The whole family, pretty much everyone who is involved in my life, and maybe even some more people, people who wanted to tag along for a good trip to New York City, can’ t complain about that.”

On who he idolized growing up…

“Definitely my father. In high school, as an NFL player I always looked up to Joe Thomas. He got drafted my freshman or sophomore year. I always thought I was too athletic to play offensive line when I was little, but I always ended up on the offensive line because I was the biggest guy on the team. My sophomore year is when I really started to buy into being an offensive lineman and getting bigger, putting on weight for the position. I definitely looked at Joe Thomas to form my game after.”

On his first memory of wanting to play in the NFL…

“Oh man, I was the corny kid when the teacher asked ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ that always put NFL football and stuff like that. My first memory, my first ever play of tackle football, I was at linebacker and I tackled a kid and broke his collarbone and nose. That kid is now one of my best friends, he plays up at Tech now. That’s my first memory. I think my dad after that realized ‘my son might actually be a good football player’. When he was proud of me, that was probably my first memory.

On where his work ethic comes from…

“Definitely from my dad and my mom. You’ll talk to her and she’s the sweetest lady ever, but she was always the one in me and Matt’s face about acting up. She was always chewing us out. When we were little, she was the one that was harder on us about not hustling in basketball games and stuff like that. Most of it comes from my dad, he’s intense when it comes to football. He loves football, he just passed on his love for football to Matt and I, and I’m so thankful for that. He was the guy in peewee football in 4th-6th grade and we’d go home after a game and watch film of the game we just played. He never got on to us about football, it was just about not hustling, hands on your knees, showing weakness, and things like that. It worked, I still love football to this day. He never burned me out on it and I think it was pretty good parenting.”

“Yeah, definitely. That was one of the hardest things, to leave him here. I went up to Bradenton, Florida to train for 8 or 9 weeks and that was my first time being a long distance from my brother for more than a week or so. It’s different, but it was kind of nice not having him around talking junk to me all the time. It’s going to be different moving apart, but I’m sure he’s going to come visit a ton, and I’ll come down to A&M to visit him a ton.”

On meeting Richmond Webb…

“It was a huge honor just to be able to meet the guy that kind of paved the way for Aggie offensive lineman. He’s the guy I heard about my first day on campus as a guy I had to live up to. Being a bigger recruit out of high school and stuff like that, they expected me to be great when I came in. Looking up to him, and knowing that he was Marino’s left tackle for a long time. With every great quarterback, there’s a great left tackle protecting him. It’s a huge honor just to be able to meet him and to talk with him for a little while at the spring game. It was fun.”

On the experience of traveling around the country…

“It’s been good. It’s been a great process so far. Doing the combine, still working out a ton, and getting ready for football season. But doing that extra stuff, commercials, media, trading cards, I never thought I’d be doing any of this stuff. I don’t know why they’d ever pick me and my ugly face for a commercial, an offensive lineman. But, I’ll take it. It’s been fun. I’ve usually been a background guy, so it’s fun to be in front of the camera for a little bit. I can’t complain at all.”

On if he’s gotten advice from NFL players on the draft…

“A little bit. I had lunch with Ryan Tannehill when I was down in Miami for the National Championship game. He gave great advice about when you get to the NFL team (that drafts you). I still hadn’t picked an agent yet, and he was helping me with what agent I should pick. He talked about the draft, and rookie camp and all that. He gave me a bunch of great information about it all and it was a good lunch.”

On what he’ll be thinking when his name is called at the draft…

“It’s going to be the most exciting moment of my life. It will be the greatest moment of my life so far. I haven’t had any kids, I haven’t been married, or anything like that. None of that big stuff yet. This will definitely be at the very top. I’m so lucky to have my family there with me. I’ll have a ton of friends that will be there too, and to share it with them will be really special. Just going up on stage, being there for it is just a huge honor. I can’t wait for that moment. I’ve just been sitting around for way too long.”