If you've ever watched Pardon the Interruption with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, you are probably familiar with the segment titled "Five Good Minutes." Today, I got to spend 10 good minutes talking with Denver Broncos wide receiver and return man Eddie Royal, who is also a former Virginia Tech Hokie standout (2004-2007).
I asked you, the Hokie fans, what questions you would ask Eddie if given the opportunity and actually got a couple of good ones that I added to the mix. Keep in mind that I literally got 10 minutes with Eddie on the phone, so I only got to ask a select number of questions. But Eddie was great and very accommodating.
Gary Cope: Coming out of Virginia Tech, did you think you would see this level of success so early in your NFL career?
Eddie Royal: I was hoping I would, but you never really know. You never know what type of role that you're going to be asked to play. I wanted to come in and help my team out in any way that I could.
GC: You had 118 catches and 1,778 yards in four years at Virginia Tech. In your first season and a half in the NFL you have 122 catches for 1,262 yards. Looking back, do you think the coaching staff at Virginia Tech got the most out of your abilities or were your talents underutilized?
ER: We had a lot very good football players on our team [at Virginia Tech] and we spread the ball around a lot. We had four or five receivers that had NFL potential, so we all spread the ball around. Plus you add in a very good running game with a loaded backfield, so I knew that it was going to go that way and that's the way we needed to go to win games.
GC: Virginia Tech fans are known for their fierce loyalty to the Hokies. Have you seen the same passion in NFL fans?
ER: With the Broncos, yeah. That was the thing I liked about coming to Denver; it reminded me of Virginia Tech with the family type atmosphere, the fans and how much they got involved in the games and it's been a good experience so far.
GC: How is the pro passing game different than what you did in college?
ER: Every [NFL] defense you play is very good. There are no real weak spots on the defenses in the NFL. The corners are top notch, so are the safeties, and linebackers can run, so it's a little bit tougher to get open; the schemes are little bit more difficult to run; the playbook is a little bit bigger than the college playbook; and you gotta make more adjustments on the run I would say. Like I said, everybody on the defense is good. There are no real weak spots on defense in the NFL.
GC: We always hear NFL rookies talk about the incredible difference in speed at the NFL level at almost every position, did you see that and if so, how were you able to adjust so quickly and make the transition from college to the pros look so easy?
ER: The main thing was how much faster the linebackers were, the safeties and actually the lineman. We catch a screen pass and the majority of the time we have to make a defensive lineman miss. There's a lot of fast corners in college so that adjustment wasn't too bad, but it was the overall speed of the defenses in the NFL.
GC: In your first NFL game you caught nine passes, a Broncos rookie record, for 146 yards and a TD. Your second game, you caught the touchdown pass with 24 seconds left to cut the Chargers lead to one before you caught the game-winning 2-point conversion. Do you think you might have set the bar too high after those two games?
ER: There's still a couple of plays in those first two games I wish I could have back and that's what's gotta push you. You always gotta want to be better and always want to push yourself to be better. That's what this league is all about. You gotta prove yourself week in and week out.
GC: This interview took about four weeks to make happen. How demanding in your schedule as an NFL player?
ER: You really don't have much free time and that little bit free time you do have, you spend in your playbook or you spend sleeping or you spend getting a massage or something, trying to take care of your body. During the season, you really don't have much free time or down time to do anything but football. With that little bit of extra time that you do have, you normally spend that watching film or studying your playbook. It's really a job that takes a lot of time at practice and in meetings, but you also have to spend a lot of time outside of that preparing for the games.
GC: Is there one particular player who took you under his wing when you arrived in Denver?
ER: I would say Brandon Stokley. He kinda helped me with adjusting to the league and that goes for on the field and off the field because you have to take care of off-the-field things so they don't become distractions. He helped me out with that a lot and that goes from getting people to cut my grass, getting someone to fix my garage door, I mean, little things like that actually make a big difference.
As far as on the field, he's one of the best wide receivers to ever play this game so I've been learning from him how to get open in the slot, the way to read film, a lot of little things he's been able to help me out with.
GC: Were you surprised that someone who plays your position was so willing to help you out?
ER: No, it's never been anything like that with this team, and that's been a good thing. Guys are willing to help, they want to win, guys want to win and they want to do whatever it takes to help the team win and it was great to have a guy like that to be able to offer up as much information as he did to me. And I'm going to try and do the same. We have a couple of young receivers here that I'm going to try and help out as much as I can and tell them the things that I learned in my first year and the things to expect. Stokely taught it to me and I'm trying to pass it on.
GC: You were considered small in college and certainly by NFL standards. In an NFL era where players continue to get bigger, stronger and faster, do you think smaller playmakers like yourself are overlooked sometimes?
ER: They [NFL teams] do so much intense scouting and they've got so much involved in that stuff now, that it's hard to be overlooked. People do pay attention to size and everything, but I think at the end of the day it's about football, it's not about height or speed, it's about what you can get done inside the lines and sometimes the smaller guys are able to do that, but you also see the big guys having success, so it kind of goes both ways.
GC: How much did training in the Virginia mountains (Blacksburg is 2,080 feet) prepare you (if at all) for playing in Denver (5,280)? Alexandria is only 30 feet above sea level.
ER: [Laughing] When you come to Denver, it was hard to walk up the stairs without breathing hard when you first get here. It has an effect on everybody. It takes a little while to get used to, but it's definitely an advantage working out here and then going to away games and playing, you feel like you got an extra little boost with you and it's a nice play to train. It takes a little while to get used to but in the end it pays off as an advantage.
GC: When you arrived at your first NFL training game, what expectations did the coaches lay out for you as a second-round draft pick?
ER: I've always kinda set high goals for myself and wanted to exceed any expectations that anybody had of me. They wanted me to be the best player I could be. They threw things at me quick and that's what you do with rookies, you throw a lot at them and see how much they absorb and you gotta take it as a challenge - they drafted you and you don't want to let those guys down, so you work as hard as you can and I try to do everything in my power to be the best player I could be for the organization and my teammates.
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