Sunday, April 25, 2010

Eagles' Nate Allen press conference transcript

On whether he has caught his breath yet:
“I think I got it now.”

On what the last 24 hours have been like:
“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been a good experience and it’s a dream come true. I’m just taking it all in and just enjoying every bit of it.”

On when he realizes that it’s time to get to work:
“Today. Especially when I got in and was looking a little bit at the playbook, just a small bit of it, and I realized that it finally came to me. It’s my job now. I have to get going and learn as much as I can and just get ready for camp next week.”

On how he will deal with the fact that most of the fan base will refer to him at the beginning as the guy the Eagles got for Donovan McNabb:
“It’s an honor to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Donovan. I’m just going to come in and be myself and just try to help the Eagles win in whatever way I can. [I will] play whatever position and just help them win a Super Bowl.”

On the wisdom that defensive quality control coach Mike Zordich passed down to him:
“Take every bit of this and enjoy it. Just learn as much as you can.”

On whether he knows former Eagle J.R. Reed well:
“He was my GA down at South Florida. He had coached me a little bit. I actually haven’t talked to him since I got drafted. He texted me, but I haven’t gotten the chance to call him, but I’m going to make sure I get on the phone with him and talk to him a little bit. He knows [defensive coordinator Sean] McDermott really well and everybody.”

On his ability to cover at his position:
“I definitely feel confident with my cover skills. Whatever I’m needed to do, I’ll do it. Whether it’s to come down and cover the slot guy, tight end, I feel confident enough to do it.”

On whether he was concerned that not running the 40-yard dash would hurt his draft stock:
“I was a little bit, but my big goal was to just make it to a camp; make it to the rookie camp. I didn’t want to pull it and then set myself back even more and not be able to come in and get to work right away and still be worrying about my quad.”

On whether he pulled his quad before the combine:
“Yeah, like two weeks, a week before the combine.”

On whether he feels that he will be ready for camp next week:
“Definitely, definitely. I think I’ll be ready to go pretty much, do mostly everything.”

On the possibility of moving to cornerback:
“Definitely. I worked a little bit at South Florida at corner. I didn’t play in any games at corner, but I definitely feel like I have the ability to play corner and wherever they need me.”

On whether he has followed the career of Brian Dawkins:
“Oh yeah. He’s Brian Dawkins. You don’t need to say much. They said something about it, and it’s an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence as him, too. I’m just going to come in and be myself and play my game and just try to help the team win.”

On whether there are any safeties that he patterns his game after:
“I don’t know, not really. I like the way Darren Sharper plays. A few guys, but I just try to play my own game and just be myself.”

On whether he played special teams early in his career at South Florida:
“Yeah, that was actually my freshman year, that’s all I played was special teams, started on everything. South Florida, mostly all the [defensive backs], we were on all the special teams. So, I’m real comfortable with playing special teams.”

On coming to a team that is very young:
“That’s definitely a positive. I was talking to coach [Andy] Reid this morning and that’s what he said. He’s trying to get a youth movement in here and I definitely think it will be a good thing.”

On whether he has talked to any of the other Eagles draft picks:
“Not yet, I haven’t seen any of them yet. I was hoping to see them around, but I haven’t seen them yet.”

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