INDIANAPOLIS—Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy hopes to be the No. 1-overall pick in the NFL draft on April 22. Sporting News Today’s Clifton Brown and other reporters spoke with McCoy at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Sporting News: What are your thoughts about possibly being the No. 1 pick?
Gerald McCoy tries not to show a preference for where he’d like to begin his NFL career.
Gerald McCoy: I’m just happy to be considered to even play in the NFL. To be a possible No. 1 pick is a great honor.
SN: Is it important to you to be the No. 1 pick?
GM: It’s not very important to me, but it would be an honor. I just wanted to be drafted as high as I can.
SN: The Lions hold the No. 2 overall pick. How do you think you would fit with the Lions’ defense?
GM: They’re an attack defense, a get-up-the–field, penetrate defense. That’s how we played at Oklahoma; that’s how I play. So I think I fit in well up there.
SN: The Rams hold the No. 1 pick. Which defensive system is a better fit, the Rams’ or Lions’?
GM: Both of them attack. Either one would be fine with me.
SN: What are your strengths?
GM: I have a strong work ethic. I try to outwork the opponent. I hate giving the person I’m going against an opportunity to say, ‘I won.’ That’s anything I do. If we’re playing cards, I don’t want to give you the opportunity to say, ‘Oh yeah, I beat you.’ That’s just the mentality I have; my father instilled that in me.
SN: Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh had 12 sacks last year and you had six. Why did Suh have higher sack numbers?
GM: The guy had like five sacks in one game (4 1/2 vs. Texas in the Big 12 title game). That helps. Up until then, the sack numbers were pretty much neck and neck. He wanted to win the Big 12 championship. He went out there and dominated.
SN: Do you and Suh have a rivalry?
GM: No rivalry. Me and him are real good friends. Everybody is expecting us to be bumping heads. It’s not like that. We text each other back and forth, wishing each other the best here every day.
SN: Is there competition between the two of you?
GM: Definitely. I am not saying I am not competing to be No. 1, but there are no hard feelings. He wants to be the best, and so do I.
SN: What is your relationship with Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford, the other guy vying to be the first overall pick?
GM: I love Sam, since we were kids. His Little League team ran from mine. We were No. 1 and we wanted to play Sam, but he ran from us.
SN: What do you think about playing against Bradford in the NFL?
GM: I’m going to kill Sam (smiling). I kid you not. In practice, I’d go to Sam and they’d blow the whistle. I’m going to kill Sam.
Clifton Brown is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at cliftonbrown@sportingnews.com.
INDIANAPOLIS—Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy hopes to be the No. 1-overall pick in the NFL draft on April 22. Sporting News Today’s Clifton Brown and other reporters spoke with McCoy at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Sporting News: What are your thoughts about possibly being the No. 1 pick?
Gerald McCoy tries not to show a preference for where he’d like to begin his NFL career.
Gerald McCoy: I’m just happy to be considered to even play in the NFL. To be a possible No. 1 pick is a great honor.
SN: Is it important to you to be the No. 1 pick?
GM: It’s not very important to me, but it would be an honor. I just wanted to be drafted as high as I can.
SN: The Lions hold the No. 2 overall pick. How do you think you would fit with the Lions’ defense?
GM: They’re an attack defense, a get-up-the–field, penetrate defense. That’s how we played at Oklahoma; that’s how I play. So I think I fit in well up there.
SN: The Rams hold the No. 1 pick. Which defensive system is a better fit, the Rams’ or Lions’?
GM: Both of them attack. Either one would be fine with me.
SN: What are your strengths?
GM: I have a strong work ethic. I try to outwork the opponent. I hate giving the person I’m going against an opportunity to say, ‘I won.’ That’s anything I do. If we’re playing cards, I don’t want to give you the opportunity to say, ‘Oh yeah, I beat you.’ That’s just the mentality I have; my father instilled that in me.
SN: Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh had 12 sacks last year and you had six. Why did Suh have higher sack numbers?
GM: The guy had like five sacks in one game (4 1/2 vs. Texas in the Big 12 title game). That helps. Up until then, the sack numbers were pretty much neck and neck. He wanted to win the Big 12 championship. He went out there and dominated.
SN: Do you and Suh have a rivalry?
GM: No rivalry. Me and him are real good friends. Everybody is expecting us to be bumping heads. It’s not like that. We text each other back and forth, wishing each other the best here every day.
SN: Is there competition between the two of you?
GM: Definitely. I am not saying I am not competing to be No. 1, but there are no hard feelings. He wants to be the best, and so do I.
SN: What is your relationship with Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford, the other guy vying to be the first overall pick?
GM: I love Sam, since we were kids. His Little League team ran from mine. We were No. 1 and we wanted to play Sam, but he ran from us.
SN: What do you think about playing against Bradford in the NFL?
GM: I’m going to kill Sam (smiling). I kid you not. In practice, I’d go to Sam and they’d blow the whistle. I’m going to kill Sam.
Clifton Brown is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at cliftonbrown@sportingnews.com.
