Tag: michael-penix-jr

Blessings Are Key for the 2024 Atlanta Falcons Draft Class

Allison Smith – May 16, 2024

Another awesome interview by the voice of the Atlanta Falcons, Dave Archer. Today, Arch had the first three draft picks of the 2024 draft with him. Talk about some impressive young men. After the interview was over, I texted a friend, “I am fully on the Super Bowl train again.”

Archer introduced the guys and asked a few questions before asking fan submitted questions.

Asked about being drafted to Atlanta, Michael Penix, Jr. from the University of Washington called out that being drafted into the NFL in general is amazing, he grew up wanting to play in the NFL and here he is. He’s very excited to be in Atlanta.

Clemson Defensive Tackle, Ruke Orhorhoro noted that his is very familiar with Atlanta and is happy to not have to move far and learn a new place. He is ready to “put my big boy pants on” and get to working.

Bralen Trice, also from the University of Washington is ecstatic to come to Atlanta.

Asked how he will handle pressure on the field and relationship with quarterback Kirk Cousins:

Penix said that he doesn’t feel pressure any more. He played in the National Championship game and felt no pressure. It is the game that he loves and played since he was 5 years old.  He prepares himself mentally and physically for everything, then just goes about his business. He is ready for any moment. As for Kirk, he is planning to lead the team to win. “I am going to do my part and play my role.” Kirk is a veteran and a professional, there is allot to learn from him.

With a deep defensive line and lots of rotation, how are you feeling about your part:

Ruke is ready to contribute to the culture , excited to bring new energy to the team. With a big smile and energy beaming, Ruke noted that when he steps on the field, his energy level goes up and he cannot wait to get to work on and off the field. He is ready to learn from starting DT’s Grady Jarrett and David Onyemata, then put his own spin on what they teach.

Trice said this may sound corny, but, “I let go and let God.” He knows that God will handle the stress and pressure and Trice just does his job and trusts his teammates to do theirs.

Ruke commented on his style of play. He said it is fast, physical and aggressive. He is always ready to put his nose into stuff, is not scared of anything, and is ready to do the dirty work. He tries to model himself after Kansas City DT Chris Jones, he is tall and good with hands. Jones always sees what he hits. Ruke is preparing to slow down in his head and see the bigger picture.

Trice on preparing to be an aggressive edge rusher. He began by commenting on many edge rushers that just focus on the passing game and are going after the sack count. Trice plans to focus on the rushing game as much as the passing game. He wants to be aggressive and take on any situation. He models himself after the Las Vegas Raiders’ Max Crosby, he is all effort, relentless. Trice had 16 sacks in his last 28 games, sounds like he goes after the passer quite successfully.

Things may change entering the NFL now, but they are already planning how to prepare on game day.

Penix prays, has a favorite gospel song “God’s Got a Blessing,” then kicks other tunes to pump up. Penix’s song ensures that he keeps his head up, through many difficult circumstances over the years, he realizes that there are no excuses, you have to overcome and help the team win.

Ruke starts his time on the field with a prayer, then walks around alone and visualizes everything he did in practice and what he plans to do on the field that day.

Trice has a good prayer the night before. Then on gameday, after meetings and prep, he tries to slip in a 30-minute nap to refresh. We will see if he manages nap time in the busy NFL Sunday.

Asked what it means to have played in front of their families over the years, Trice said that seeing his Mom in the stands nearly makes him tear up. His Mom did allot for him and his siblings and is so happy, that motivates him to be great for her and the people around him and God.

Ruke asked his family not to come his freshman year at Clemson as he did not play and was mad about it. Parents still came, they were just happy to see him in his jersey on the sideline. That gave him inspiration and now gives him extra energy to play.

Penix talked about the many sacrifices his parents made and he has to pay them back, on the field and as a man. He always looks for his parents in the stands and knows that it is a true blessing to be able to play.

Penix is excited to work with Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson and Quarterback Coach TJ Yates. They both have great personalities. Penix loves being in a QB room with coaches that can relate to you, your position and experience of being a rookie in the league. They are going to ensure Penix gets to where he wants to be.

Ruke is excited to play with Jarrett, he noted “it’s crazy, been watching film on him since freshman year and now I to get to soak up the knowledge from him directly.”

Trice played for new Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake when Lake was the head coach of U of W. Trice called Lake as soon as he got drafted saying, “Let’s turn it up.” Trice knows Lake’s style of coaching and how he leads a team. Lake knows how to flip the switch, be nasty and get everyone in same mindset.

Having come from the latest national championship contender, Penix said the major change is that this is your job now. In college, you have classes and football, here, football is everything. While you have more time to learn, you need to watch the veterans, they won’t tell or teach you everything, so you have to notice the small things and better your game on your own.

Clemson and U of W have been pumping guys into the league lately and Trice and Ruke have many resources to reach out to for assistance and questions. Clemson being D Line U, Ruke reached out to former teammates like Dexter Lawrence and Christian Wilkins who are always willing to provide advice, no question is a dumb question and Ruke has appreciated that.

Although everyone’s time in Atlanta has been limited, mostly at Flowery Branch, Trice noted that the folks around are always so nice and welcoming and trying to have conversations vs. many places, people don’t even look up to speak. Ruke is very familiar and knows the lay of the land and is planning to take the guys to all the good restaurants, “I like to eat” he says with a big smile.

If they could be as good at another sport as they are at football, Penix would be a golfer. He just started playing recently and isn’t that good, but gets really happy when he gets the ball on the green. It is a good sport that you can play for a long time. Ruke said he is already good at basketball, so he would do baseball, that is where the big bank is. Trice played tennis for 6 years and was pretty good, so he would continue tennis. It provides lots of cardio and movement and is addicting when you are good at it. Arch is concerned about starign Trice down across the tennis net, but is excited to tell Penix about all the great local golf courses.

And finally, the big question….what is your WHY?

Penix has two younger brothers and they have been looking up to him from a very young age. He noticed at 14, his brothers would come home from school talking about what their friends had said about him. He realized that his brothers were going to copy him, so he needed to be great on the field and a role model off the field. He wanted to show them that you can be strong and overcome adversity. Even though they are spread across the country, he wants to show them, every time he steps on the field, what they can also become, that adversity comes to everybody, but adversity can’t stop you.

Ruke plays for the shear love of the game. He loves every aspect, when your “legs are heavy, drives me to grind harder.” “If love and respect the game, it will love you back.”

Trice does it all for Mom. She set him up for success, sacrificed for him. He wants to take care of her. He loves the game, but first, plays for Mom.

All of the guys are super excited to step into and out of the tunnel for the first time, come onto the field, see the fans, the stadium view. Penix said he is excited to see the fans, run on the field and WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP.

We are with you Penix, we are with you.

#RISEUP #DIRTYBIRDS

FALCONALLEY OWT

2024 Draft Night in Atlanta

Allison Smith, April 29, 2024

As a season ticket owner, we get a free party at the Mercedez Benz Stadium for opening night of the NFL draft nearly every year. This year was a disappointment on several levels. In years past, 4 to 5 photo stations were set up with 3 to 4 legends, 3 to 5 current players and a set of cheerleaders at each station. After an hour or so, another set moved in, so if you timed lines correctly, you could get a ton of pix and have good chats with players. Fans are scattered between all these groups and other photo opportunities, food, bars, games.

This year, only two photo lines were set up. One had Kirk Cousins as the headliner, the other Bijan Robinson. Other current players were in both sections as well, all in pairs. In total, you could obtain pix with 12 players. A few notable names, others I didn’t even know where on the team (no slander intended). The lines were super long because there were only two.

  • Kirk Cousins and Jovaughn Gwyn
  • Ta’Quon Graham & Zach Harrison
  • Micah Abernathy & David Onyemata

I went through the Cousins’ line, that was really a good option since he is the newest big name, QB1 and all. I met Bijan at camp, otherwise would have made it through that line as well. Again, in past years, there were legends from a variety of years as well as the last draft class with others mixed in. The pictures moved a little quicker this year because they had photographers taking your pix instead of you handing your phone over and back, then you checked in to have a link texted to you to receive your pictures.

Everyone was super nice and gracious. Kirko was all smiles, I really felt bad for him later. Likely he was still driving home when they called to tell him they were about to “pick a QB at 8…..but he is still number one.”

The roof started closed, but was opened at some point during the night. It was a perfect night for an open roof and always fascinates me that it opens or closes without any of us even knowing. Despite the draft party disappointment, we still have the best stadium in the league.

There was also less photo options around. The RISE UP sign was there as well as the Red helmet, but no wings or other opportunities. The letters were so spread out, you would never get a single, clean picture there. Freddie and Lil Fred were there, social as always. There were several corn hole games, lots of beer vendors and high top tables on the field. This year, over half the field was covered with panels making it easier to walk, so that was nice. Locker room tours were also available, very long line all night, so no sure if they were limiting numbers or scheduling time, but I’ve been through there so many times since before the stadium even officially opened.

I did have a fun time visiting with Falcon friends that I only see on game days for a few minutes because we all come from somewhere different and are headed to different seating locations or different events inside. The food and drink lines in the Delta club were not horrible, long, but didn’t seem as bad as previous years. They anticipated 8000-10,000, not sure how many attended, but seems like allot of people were everywhere all the time.

Carl Dukes and Mike Bell were wrapping up their pre-draft coverage and regular programming as the night kicked off. Then Dave Archer, Wes Durham, Beau Morgan, and Mike Conti provided draft coverage from one of the field suites for 92.9 The Game. Got to chat with all of them for a short time, so that was a definite plus to the evening. Not living in Georgia, I don’t have access to all these guys regularly or at local remotes, so excited when I do get a few minutes to chat and not just tweet them during the day.

There was music and draft coverage on the halo board, couldn’t hear well, but could see as each team as they made their picks. Music was cut for the Falcons’ pic, maybe should have kept that going to muffle the reaction and language from much of the attendees with a quarterback was taken at 8. Only Ovie Mughelli thought the Falcons were going with Michael Penix, Jr with their first pick of this 2024 draft. Ovie and John Abraham were in attendance and helped kick off the event from the stage.

Now….to the pick.  First, I have NOTHING against Michael Penix, Jr. From everything I have seen and heard so far, seems like a great guy, great work ethic, one of the best quarterbacks coming out this season. And another 6 year college guy. He has a longer story than most, with the COVID years, changing colleges, recovering from injury. Penix had 2 healthy, solid years at Washington, winning 20+ accolades and leading the Huskies to the National Championship game for the 2023 season. From an interview with 92.9’s Dukes and Bell, Penix talked about returning for a second year to Washington to show he was healthy by having that 2nd healthy college year. Sounds like he has quite an arm and is known for his accuracy. From that same interview, seemed very excited to be coming to Atlanta and learning under such an experienced Kirk Cousins.

With all of that said, several days later, I can semi get behind the selection, but when it happened, the entire stadium was rocked and mad and upset and all the things. I literally just met some new folks and we were talking about needs and I said “I don’t watch enough college to know all the names, but I am going to be really angry if we pick a quarterback, offensive lineman or receiver at 8.” So when it happened, of the 5 people I was standing with, 2 said words I won’t repeat here and walked off. The other 3 and I raged at each other in disbelief and confusion mixed together.

Later, we will find out that General Manager Terry Fontenot and Head Coach Raheem Morris decided that we will not be in this position again for years (with such a high pick) so we needed to draft the quarterback of the future now.  Even if “he sites for 3 to 5 years.” WHAT? With all the needs we have, we are going to waste that high of a pick on someone that is not planned to be contributing for 3 or more years? The recent deal with Cousins is $100 million over the first two years, $90 million of that guaranteed. Then you are going to draft and pay Penix another $22.8 million over his first 4 years…..when he MAY NOT PLAY. I get the “plan” is to be winning so much with Cousins that Penix learns from a legit quarterback, but he will be 24 this May, so he could be late 20’s before he ever actually plays?

If all goes as Terry and Ra think, I am all in. I am concerned about money, now and in the future, but smarter minds than mine manages more money than I do, so I am trying to have the faith I originally had with Raheem was named head coach.

I don’t know how you are going to evaluate a player’s ability in 3+ years with him as the practice QB, but hopefully we will have such good leads over the next several years, Penix will get good playing time to stay in playing shape while waiting to get the start. I know that we needed another quarterback to back up Cousins, run practice/drills and be ready for the future. I guess that Terry was too traumatized from the Marcus Mariotta/Desmond Ridder failed test that we didn’t want to grow a guy from farther down in the draft.

As I wrap here, I will go glass half full. I’ve had several days to calm down, lots of radio talking me off the ledge, and watched several interviews with Penix. The last time that Atlanta had a quarterback from Washington, Chris Chandler took us to our first Super Bowl.

Football is back!

In Ra We Trust

#RISEUP #DIRTYBIRDS

FalconAlley OWT