NFL DRAFT CLASS OF 2021 INTERVIEW: ISAIAHH LOUDERMILK | WISCONSIN | DEFENSIVE TACKLE
What are your goals or hopes for the draft? I mean, training's been going good. I felt great. Prepared for it. I was out in California at Sports Academy getting ready for it, and I feel like I did a great job. They did a good job preparing me for today. I felt great today. I feel like my numbers were where I wanted them to be, position work went good. I feel like I was able to kind of show a couple of things there, a little more athleticism, a little more flexibility there, but overall, I feel great about the whole process. I'm glad, and happy where I'm at right now.
Could you just kind of expand on how the field work went and kind of what you thought went well with it? You know, I felt like I was able to kind of show parts of my game that I didn't really show while I was here, a little bit more of some pass rush, kind of bending the edge. We did a couple of bags drills where it was pass rush moves, and I feel like I did good in those and, was kind of able to show my explosiveness and real ability to kind of get low from my height and be able to bend around edges. So I just felt overall good about how the position work went today.
As you've been talking to NFL teams throughout this process, have you had discussions about potentially playing end in a 4-3 defense versus what you've been doing in a 3-4 in college and what do you think some of the challenges might be for you if you were to make that adjustment? You know, everyone I've talked to so far, we've kind of talked about a little bit of both of that, kind of playing all along the line. It’s still kind of a toss up where exactly I will be, in where a lot of teams would want me, but I feel like I was able to, to kind of show that I'm able to play all over the line here, from five tech to three-tech to shade. So that's kind of what I pitch to people, that I feel like I'm a versatile player. I'm a three-down player, you can put me anywhere on the line. I feel like I can do a great job anywhere.
What did you mainly focus on improving this offseason while preparing for the NFL Draft? My main focus was kind of my athleticism and speed. I feel like I put on tape kind of how I can stop the run and be kind of a powerful person inside. But I didn't really show a whole lot of my athletic ability, kind of my get off, speed off the ball. And so that was kind of my main focus, kind of cutting a couple of pounds, feeling lighter, and explosive. So that was my main thing that I wanted to accomplish. I felt like I was able to do that, kind of cut a little bit away. I felt extremely explosive. And in fact today.
What's the training experience been like during a pandemic? I'd say, it kind of makes training easier. I was able to really focus on just training there. There wasn't kind of any outside things that I could go do because of COVID. So, you know, just kind of stayed inside, trained whenever was needed, but there are certain things, kind of meeting with teams, we weren't able to really talk to them today, which kind of sucks, but it's been different kind of talking to teams online and texting them here and there. But I feel like for, for training, it just kind of made it easier to focus for me.
QB | RB | FB | WR | iWR | TE | LT | RT | OG | OC | DT | NG | 3-4 DE | 4-3 DE | 3-4 OLB | 4-3 OLB | ILB | CB | iCB | FS | SS
