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+---- Thread: *Owen Isaac Interview (/showthread.php?tid=31188)
*Owen Isaac Interview - oji3001 - 03-29-2021
Yearly Interview with Owen Isaac of the Austin Copperheads
Interviewer – So welcome back again Owen. We have come to the end of your 4th season and the end of your debut season in the ISFL ranks. How has the transition been to this level?
One word …. Brutal. Haha no I mean its coming up from being the big fish in the small pond to now being one of the smaller fish up in this league. It certainly took me a little while to adapt. I mean im still using my equipment from my college days, I think it will be about time for me to upgrade soon I think, they served me well back then but they are starting to take a beating.
Interviewer – Coming off the Defensive End of the year last season in the DSFL, you were asked to move into the interior of the defensive line to help your new side at Defensive Tackle, how did you find the change, in terms of style and physique?
Well style wise the change is more of a mindset, when your on the edge you can focus on trying to beat your man so that you can to the opposition QB, whereas in the interior you’ve got normally a couple guys in your face an not much room either side to make moves, so you have to try to disrupt the guys in front to hopefully get a dominant hit in, or hopefully aid one of my line mates to get through.
Haha and with the physique, I went through a lot of chicken and steak last offseason to bulk up and try to get my strength and size where it needed to be in the middle.
Interviewer – Coming into the season what did you view as your strengths?
Well coming in I always felt my Strength was going to be one of my clear positives, I spent a good amount of time getting into shape last offseason, so thought id be in good stead with that. I also like to make sure I have good speed for my size as got to be able to keep up with the smaller guys around us. We may be big but there are always a few guys I feel I can take in a race haha.
Interviewer – Any areas where you feel you need to work on this offseason to impact your performances going into the new season?
One thing I have been extremely disappointed in myself is in my one v ones this season I feel like I was missing a little bit of my edge against these guards. As I need to try to make a bigger impact in the Tackle game and see if I can blow my way through these Offensive lines sometimes.
So I have spent lots of time doing some boxing drills as really want to get the hand speed up try and make sure I can clear out these Guards. Been really good working with a few of the guys to help motivate and push us on, so I really want to make sure I can compete with the guys around me.
Interviewer – Obviously not the best of seasons for the Copperheads this year, any idea of why that is, and what do you hope for the coming season?
Yeah man, a real bummer this season I just don’t think we ever got started, at the beginning od the season we were hit and miss, and then got caught in a rut. We were conceding too many points and not putting enough on the board I think that’s a disappointment to us all really.
I think we ranked 13th in points scored and 12th in points against us, that is simply not good enough. I think we would all agree on that and we need to do more if we want the next seasons to be any different.
We go into any season wanting to reach the playoffs and win the title, so obviously the first thing you need to do is get a good start to the season and get a few wins on the board to build momentum. I saw down in the DSFL momentum is crucial, you can go into playoffs as no1 or no6 seed and you’ve got a chance, so its about getting the team spirits high and having form at the right time. I think it is on us the Defense to really go out and make a statement in the early games try to shut teams down to give our offence the chance to flourish this season, and I think we will surprise a few teams, who maybe take us lightly after last season.
Interviewer – Now more personally what are you individual goals for this season, do you try to set yourself targets?
Well for me personally it is about being better than I was last year, its really all about helping the team push on. Amongst the defensive tackles in the league I only ranked 18th in Tackles, I was joint 3rd for Tackle for loss, but disappointingly didn’t get a single sack or forced turnovers this season, and man that is not good enough. I look at the guy next to me and he had 3 sacks and a forced fumble, these are the plays that can give you a chance to win games so I need to work on this and hopefully with the off season training I can put into action and change this.
So hopefully I can aim for 10 tackles for loss and 5 sacks/forced fumbles. It’s a big target but you have got to aim high if you want to win championships.
Interviewer – Well thank you for the interview today, and we wish you all the best for the coming season, and hope to catch up with you during the season.
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