On his emotions being selected by the Ravens and how much pre-draft contact he had with them: "I had my [Top] 30 visit with [the Ravens], and it was an amazing time, and you always think it in the back of your head, but, especially coming from a small school, it is almost surreal. You think it's going to happen, but you never really know. So, I saw the Baltimore number pop up, and everything kind of slowed down a little bit. It kind of slowed down. I said, 'Let me answer this call.' But it's just been a blessing. I don't know if it's even hit me yet, but I can't put into words how much I'm blessed to be put into this position."
On the positive feedback he received from teams and where he feels he needs to improve the most: "Yes, sir. The biggest thing with me is I bring tenacity, and I'm an athlete. Those two things I really hang my hat on, and a lot of things that the Ravens organization can help me with, other things that I need to work on, is my technique. [Offensive line] coach [George] Warhop, he's a great coach. So, there's a lot of things like that where I feel like I'm in the perfect position to be the best player that I can be."
On his familiarity with the Ravens organization and T Ronnie Stanley: "Yes, sir. Ronnie Stanley, he's great. He's a guy that I watched a lot of tape on because I feel like me and him have a lot of similarities and stuff like that, so I watched a lot of tape on him. And when I think of the Ravens, I think of fast, physical players, and getting up and down the field, and that's really who I am as a person. I'm fast, I'm violent. That's really what I do. So, it is a blessing made in heaven, and I just can't thank you guys enough."
On how he viewed the possibility of potentially coming to Baltimore: "It is so crazy because my agent – and he's going to love it – because my agent, he literally texted me before the draft, and he said, 'I can literally envision you in a Ravens jersey,' and it happened. So, I guess he's the man. This process is a long process, but I was able to get up there for a visit, and it really felt like home, it really felt like a place where I can live, [where I can] grow up in. So, it's amazing feeling for me."
On being the only HBCU player to be invited to the Senior Bowl and how that helped him in the pre-draft process: "Yes, sir. I really think it was. That Senior Bowl was able to put me on a stage where I could really prove myself against the best-of-the-best athletes, especially when you come from a smaller school. That's one thing that a lot of people have questions about is if they can translate to a higher level. So, the Senior Bowl was a blessing to get the invite and then to prepare myself to play well at – it was just the icing on the cake."
On what it means to have the chance to represent HBCU programs at this next level: "Being from an HBCU, it is so special because over this entire process, when HBCU guys get past our space, we have our rivalries, and we have the teams where we go at each other. But after, when we get past it, we're all one big family. We're all one big thing. So, I've gotten support from every single HBCU [team], especially after I got the Senior Bowl invite. After games, they'll say, 'Hey, you're going to do great things,' so it's all one big family. And with the transfer portal, and the way things are, a lot of guys feel like they have to transfer up to go to where they want to go, but it's really important to me that I stayed at Alabama A&M for all four years, and it was the best four years of my life. And you can go anywhere you want to from the institution that you're at. So, it was really important for me."
On being the first player to be drafted from an HBCU program in nearly 30 years: "Football is just an amazing sport [in] that there are people from all walks of life. That's why football is the ultimate team sport. There are people from all walks of life, every single background, and that's really the thing that brings the sport together. So, being from a small school, it was so amazing. Just the family feel that I got from there, and then they built me up, because everything I am right now is what Alabama A&M built. So, [I give] credit to them and my coaches and the training staff. They got me together, and it's really a big blessing that I can not only come from those institutions, but when I get to where I'm at, I can give back, because one of the most important things, too, is giving back."
On his decision to stay at Alabama A&M and why he feels he wasn't heavily recruited: "Yes. I'm from Cary, North Carolina, and NC State is right here. Duke [University] is right here. [The University of] North Carolina is right here. None of them wanted me. None of them wanted me, and I slipped through the cracks. But, Alabama A&M, they found me. They found me, and they took me in with open arms. So, especially when those schools came back around calling, I grew up a North Carolina fan, and I wanted to go to [North] Carolina, and they came back calling around my junior [or] senior year, and I wasn't going to go because [they] didn't want me out of high school. So, it was really just a chip on my shoulder that I took throughout college. And then I said, 'OK, I'm going to do it from the school that wanted me first."
On how he hopes to give back to HBCU programs: "Yes, so I want to pour into [HBCU programs]. When you get past your HBCU, it's really important not only just to give money – anybody can give a check – but it's really important to be there and be hands on, because a lot of times, when we make it from these spaces, we might give a check back or might give some money back, but I really want to go back to my institution and be there where they can see me, because it's important. I know when [former NFL defensive end] Robert Mathis came to practices, when we had [Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver] John Stallworth come to practices, it's really easy when guys say, 'Ok, this guy did it, this guy did it.' But, when you see them in the flesh, it becomes real. So, I knew it was real because I've seen Robert Mathis in person, and he went to the same institution as I did. I've seen John Stallworth. So, it's really important to be there, and that's how I really wanted to give back. It's about me being hands on."
On his impression of new Ravens teammate OLB Mike Green: "Man, that dude's a dog. We didn't get to match up at the Senior Bowl, but I saw clips now, especially the viral one that everybody was talking about. That man, he's an animal, he's a dog, and he's going to help our organization. We're going to win the Super Bowl."
On how he felt playing against SEC teams Vanderbilt and Auburn: "Yes, those are amazing experiences, because you really see how you match up against those guys, and you really see what you're made of. And those are great experiences for me. Those are games that a lot of scouts and a lot of people wanted to see from me. So, it was just an amazing experience to play against those players and really show that I can do this. And then you go to a space at the Super Bowl, which is the best of those best, and it is just exponentially better."
