I wish Sample had called me at a different time, but he called right when the news was breaking about Keon Coleman choosing Michigan State and I was distracted. I should have asked him about the potential of Angelo Anderson and company and what he thought about the defensive coordinator change, but I didn't.
Here's the interview:
CAM SAMPLE
On how Senior Bowl week went
"It was a solid week. I did a good job of staying mentally sharp throughout the week. A lot of people don’t know this, but our schedule was pretty hectic. Things were going on all day, and apart from that I did well in the interviews and showed my talents on the field."
On what he is doing to get ready
"I’m down here training in Fort Lauderdale at XPE (Sports) working out every day doing position drills, interview prep, all that stuff, so it has been a pretty busy time just getting ready for the next couple of months."
On voted as best DL by OL at Senior Bowl
"It is definitely a great compliment when the guys that you are going against give you that kind of recognition, but honestly it’s all fueling me. It’s just extra motivation to keep going on. I’m very thankful for it."
On game performance (team-high seven tackles, 1/2 sack)
"I did good. They should have given me credit for the whole sack, but it’s all good. It was fun going out there playing one more college game before the professional thing. I actually got pretty close to some of the guys."
On what learned about himself at Senior Bowl
"Definitely going out and playing against great talent at the Senior Bowl and doing well definitely adds some confidence, but it’s also fueling that hunger. I’ve got this chip on my shoulder. I’m just a hard worker who puts his head down and works. My main goal is to take it one day at a time."
On goals in terms of draft
"Honestly I just want to do my best in the pre-draft process and run as fast as I can. I think I check the boxes at the Senior Bowl. I just want to go as high as I possibly can for sure."
On where will be for draft
"I’m probably going to be back home and do something with the family out there. Nothing’s official yet, but that’s pretty much what we’re leaning to."
On Pro Football Focus rating as MVP DL in country
"When you work this hard for something, it’s really good to see the recognition, so I’m thankful for that."
On not playing in Potato Bowl
"I definitely talked with the coaches. Coach Fritz and the rest of the staff said of course they’d love to have me play in the game, but if I decided not to, they understood 100 percent. I told them the big thing for me was should I decide not to play in the game, I still wanted to travel with the guys and still be around for the practices and help coach them up and all that. Coach Fritz was 100 percent behind that. He wanted me to do that anyway, so I was happy he was on the same page."
On future plans for working in front of scouts
"They are not doing the physical testing at the (NFL) combine, but they are doing some type of medical evaluation and stuff. I don’t have all the details on that yet, but I’ll definitely be taking part in that and whenever Tulane decides their Pro Day is, I’ll be there working out showing my talents again. Those are the two events coming up for me."
On what will remember the most about Tulane career
"I’ll remember all the highs and all the lows as well. That’s all part of the experience, but that first bowl game we got, the Cure Bowl, was huge, especially Tulane not having a bowl game in I don’t know how many years before that. That last home win against Memphis was big to send the seniors and everybody off for the right now for the season."
On Tulane’s level now compared to when he arrived
"I think Tulane is looked at very differently than it was when I got there. Honestly I felt like we’ve had the pieces there for a while and I think they are reloading and are going to have some stuff. I feel like when Tulane puts a complete season together in all phases of the ball, the world will take notice of them. I’m just waiting to see when that comes around."
On lingering disappointment about not doing more this year
"Yeah, definitely. We had a bunch of games we lost that were very close. We lost twice in overtime this year. You kind of go back and think if I would have made this play here, it might have been a different game, so it definitely was a tough pill to swallow, but it’s something you learn from and keep going."
WILLIE FRITZ on Sample
On thoughts
"He's an awesome young man. I went over there last Thursday to practice and because of COVID restrictions they wouldn't allow the coaches to go out on the field like they normally do, so I was up in the stands. I knew he was having a good week because a bunch of these scouts were trying to find me to come over and talk to me. That was neat. I followed him around in all of his drills, and when I got back I talked to a couple of our coaches and they asked me how he did and I said I know I'm biased because I love Cam, but it looked to me like he was dominating, and I guess he was."
On guys barely laying a hand on him in video
"They do a half-line drill and he dominated that. They got in team (11 on 11) and he dominated that. The thing about it is they were playing him inside. That's not the best spot in my opinion. He was playing 3 technique and he's 275-280. He can play in there. What helped him is they saw that God, this guy can do everything. I think he's a four-man front defensive end. He just has got really strong hands. He gets on guys and gets off blockers. We call it a block destruction. He's just excellent at that, and he was doing it there. There were a couple of these big, old dudes and they were blocking back on him, and he'd patch across and get on the other side of them. He did it against everybody."
On if he had played his way into second day of draft (second and third rounds)
"Gosh, I hope so. I've heard higher than that from some people. The one thing about him is he's got every character intangible that you could possibly have. He was practicing harder than everybody else, too. I was proud of that because we talk about that every day, and he went out there and did it. To me he's a first-round pick, but I'm very biased."
On not playing in Potato Bowl
"That was a conversation between him and me. If it hadn't have been this year with all the crap going on with this year, we would have had him play in the game and he would have played. It's just a different year. There was so much uncertainty all year and heck, he's a Tulane guy. We talk about that all the time and he's the epitome of that."
Here's the interview:
CAM SAMPLE
On how Senior Bowl week went
"It was a solid week. I did a good job of staying mentally sharp throughout the week. A lot of people don’t know this, but our schedule was pretty hectic. Things were going on all day, and apart from that I did well in the interviews and showed my talents on the field."
On what he is doing to get ready
"I’m down here training in Fort Lauderdale at XPE (Sports) working out every day doing position drills, interview prep, all that stuff, so it has been a pretty busy time just getting ready for the next couple of months."
On voted as best DL by OL at Senior Bowl
"It is definitely a great compliment when the guys that you are going against give you that kind of recognition, but honestly it’s all fueling me. It’s just extra motivation to keep going on. I’m very thankful for it."
On game performance (team-high seven tackles, 1/2 sack)
"I did good. They should have given me credit for the whole sack, but it’s all good. It was fun going out there playing one more college game before the professional thing. I actually got pretty close to some of the guys."
On what learned about himself at Senior Bowl
"Definitely going out and playing against great talent at the Senior Bowl and doing well definitely adds some confidence, but it’s also fueling that hunger. I’ve got this chip on my shoulder. I’m just a hard worker who puts his head down and works. My main goal is to take it one day at a time."
On goals in terms of draft
"Honestly I just want to do my best in the pre-draft process and run as fast as I can. I think I check the boxes at the Senior Bowl. I just want to go as high as I possibly can for sure."
On where will be for draft
"I’m probably going to be back home and do something with the family out there. Nothing’s official yet, but that’s pretty much what we’re leaning to."
On Pro Football Focus rating as MVP DL in country
"When you work this hard for something, it’s really good to see the recognition, so I’m thankful for that."
On not playing in Potato Bowl
"I definitely talked with the coaches. Coach Fritz and the rest of the staff said of course they’d love to have me play in the game, but if I decided not to, they understood 100 percent. I told them the big thing for me was should I decide not to play in the game, I still wanted to travel with the guys and still be around for the practices and help coach them up and all that. Coach Fritz was 100 percent behind that. He wanted me to do that anyway, so I was happy he was on the same page."
On future plans for working in front of scouts
"They are not doing the physical testing at the (NFL) combine, but they are doing some type of medical evaluation and stuff. I don’t have all the details on that yet, but I’ll definitely be taking part in that and whenever Tulane decides their Pro Day is, I’ll be there working out showing my talents again. Those are the two events coming up for me."
On what will remember the most about Tulane career
"I’ll remember all the highs and all the lows as well. That’s all part of the experience, but that first bowl game we got, the Cure Bowl, was huge, especially Tulane not having a bowl game in I don’t know how many years before that. That last home win against Memphis was big to send the seniors and everybody off for the right now for the season."
On Tulane’s level now compared to when he arrived
"I think Tulane is looked at very differently than it was when I got there. Honestly I felt like we’ve had the pieces there for a while and I think they are reloading and are going to have some stuff. I feel like when Tulane puts a complete season together in all phases of the ball, the world will take notice of them. I’m just waiting to see when that comes around."
On lingering disappointment about not doing more this year
"Yeah, definitely. We had a bunch of games we lost that were very close. We lost twice in overtime this year. You kind of go back and think if I would have made this play here, it might have been a different game, so it definitely was a tough pill to swallow, but it’s something you learn from and keep going."
WILLIE FRITZ on Sample
On thoughts
"He's an awesome young man. I went over there last Thursday to practice and because of COVID restrictions they wouldn't allow the coaches to go out on the field like they normally do, so I was up in the stands. I knew he was having a good week because a bunch of these scouts were trying to find me to come over and talk to me. That was neat. I followed him around in all of his drills, and when I got back I talked to a couple of our coaches and they asked me how he did and I said I know I'm biased because I love Cam, but it looked to me like he was dominating, and I guess he was."
On guys barely laying a hand on him in video
"They do a half-line drill and he dominated that. They got in team (11 on 11) and he dominated that. The thing about it is they were playing him inside. That's not the best spot in my opinion. He was playing 3 technique and he's 275-280. He can play in there. What helped him is they saw that God, this guy can do everything. I think he's a four-man front defensive end. He just has got really strong hands. He gets on guys and gets off blockers. We call it a block destruction. He's just excellent at that, and he was doing it there. There were a couple of these big, old dudes and they were blocking back on him, and he'd patch across and get on the other side of them. He did it against everybody."
On if he had played his way into second day of draft (second and third rounds)
"Gosh, I hope so. I've heard higher than that from some people. The one thing about him is he's got every character intangible that you could possibly have. He was practicing harder than everybody else, too. I was proud of that because we talk about that every day, and he went out there and did it. To me he's a first-round pick, but I'm very biased."
On not playing in Potato Bowl
"That was a conversation between him and me. If it hadn't have been this year with all the crap going on with this year, we would have had him play in the game and he would have played. It's just a different year. There was so much uncertainty all year and heck, he's a Tulane guy. We talk about that all the time and he's the epitome of that."