North Carolina
Tez Walker shares what NFL teams are asking him during NFL Draft process
Former North Carolina wide receiver Tez Walker reflects on his journey to the 2024 NFL Draft following his Pro Day on Thursday.
Sir, I feel it went real good. Uh Everybody out here working out was able to show a lot of great things running around, catching the ball and things like that. Um I'm really impressed with my performance out there. I feel like I showcased a lot of things that scouts had questions about. Um So, you know, I feel very good about everything there. How much is this, uh a realization of a dream or you see it before your eyes? Yeah. Um Yeah, a year, a year ago at this point wouldn't tell you. I've been in this position, uh, last year, I was in a position where I didn't know if I was gonna be able to play that year or not and be, you know, be here in front of hundreds of scouts. So, uh, feel, feel really good to be in this, in this spot. What kind of questions have you gotten from NFL teams in your interviews or, you know, when they were here today, meeting with you? Um A lot of things just watching the tape, uh seeing if I can break down ball and things like that with the offenses. I've been in at Canton at Carolina. Um They say a lot of guys come out of those type of offense that spread tempo offenses, uh don't usually translate well to the league. So being able to talk through ball, go break down NFL offense coverages and things like that. Um Those type of things, you know, they throw at me in those meetings. Um Like what, like what you mean. Yeah. Um just so I just show, uh decided to showcase a lot of things I showed on film. Um A lot of mishaps I had like throughout this process, your ball, things like that don't want to showcase, you know, sharing hands, able to catch it comfortably and natural catching and things like that, uh showing that, you know, Drake can get the ball downfield and um I'm able to run under another player to run under his passes and things like that. So I think I did real well, real impressed with my performance, getting in and out of break smoothly, uh catching the ball naturally and things like that. So I'm really impressed with, um a lot of scouts love the way I'm able to stretch the field vertically win over top of any defenses, things like that. Uh They really impressed how, how I'm able to break down of coverages and things like that. Uh I'm uh they, they were very impressed how I'm able to break down, also break down a lot of my flaws and things like that in my game so that I'm studying my game, uh, so that I'm watching, you know, NFL cutoffs, other receivers being able to break down their game, what they do best and what they do, um, badly and things like that because there's a lot of teams in the NFL that have paired the college quarterback with his receiver. How great would it be if you got to do that? Oh, yeah, it'll be, it'll be real good. Drake talk about it all the time. Um, be great if we, we go on the same team. I mean, if not, I wish him all the best like, I hope he goes as high as possible. Uh, that kid deserves it. Uh He's done everything, he's good for this program and um things like that. So, um no, just all, all the work he's, he's, he's done, um, be, be one of the greatest quarterbacks to come out of here. Um People, you know, people just see what he does on Saturday. They don't see him sometimes like it was a throw. He for like love all he was like, dang, like I wish I had that back but, you know, he did a real good job, Drake's intangible like his leader and his toughness in. What way have you seen that? Yeah. Um you know, everybody sees that stuff on the field. I see a lot of it off the field just, you know how he, you know he, how he takes time, talk to anybody throughout the city, throughout the campus. Uh I see how he interacts with people and I, I can see why everybody gravitate towards him. It just shows that natural born leader, he is, you know, and things like that because obviously people are, is that what you want to, I want them to focus on speed, but I also want them to focus a lot that I can run the route to get out of those brakes smoothly. You know, those um those speed cuts, those no intermediate short to intermediate routes, things like that. And so that I want a one trick pony to run the deep ball in the post and things like that. I feel like I, I saw a lot of good things in that area that you feel like there are more eye on you in a moment like this. Yeah, definitely do. Uh definitely hearing when it was gonna be on ESPN all the other day. They were like, oh damn, I didn't think, you know, it was gonna be all that. So, uh you know, kind of similar to the combine, you know, all eyes on you. So pretty much you got, you know, just, just continue to be, be doing what you've been doing. Um Just calm down out there. How does your experience? Yeah. Um It's kind of the same, you know, all, you know, all the scouts here, the same as the combine, a little, a little bit more fans. So, uh I had a little more nerves to combine, but I say the combine, you know, kinda, kinda prepped me. Well, for this moment, things like that. I was a little more calm in this, you know, in this space. So, uh when, when, when Drake does Mr you guys to, what's his attitude like when you get back with us? And it seemed like he went back to you right now. What does it say about him? And it was just so how competitive he is. Uh dude never wants to lose. You can see it, you know, in his eyes, in the huddle when we out there in games and things like that. Um You know, when we miss on a lot of stuff, we're able to go to the sideline, he's able to come up to me while as I'm able to go up to him and just talk about it and go through what he's seeing. Uh how can we make adjustment? How can we do this better, do that better? And like I said, it just shows the leader he is to be able to, you know, be able to, you know, communicate those things to me and his other receivers. So, um yeah, he does a real good job in that area, but he's, he's very competitive. Like one of the most competitive dudes I've been around don't like, you know, don't like messing up, he's like perfectionist. So, you know, that's what, that's what you want out of your quarterback. Um, so that he'll be a great fit for any team, he'll be able to lead any team in this league. How does he? Yeah. Um I said like he's like him, like self come for him. Yeah, he's, he's hard, he's hard on himself. He feel like every throw is a bad throw. So he, he comes up to us ask us, how can he do something better? How can he be better for us? And um that's, that's like I said, that's what you want out of, out of a guy like that. We came in a little late. But what's, what's your evaluation of uh Dr how do you think he did today? Yeah, I think he did did real well. Um Compares with he, he, like I said, he's the best player back in this draft. Um The leadership of the arm time, things like that. And then he's just great to have around the facility. He's gonna be a guy, everybody gravitates toward the facility and want to play for. And that's why I think um any team will be blessed to have him on in their franchise. You just talked about him being so competitive. Drake's talked about being competitive and things like pickleball. I haven't played pickleball with him. So we used to go out in the summer, we used to go play uh a little mad ball volleyball thought like he used to get so competitive like he starts talking to everybody. I was on his team. He's talking, you know, he's talking crazy to me. So, um like I said, you want that out of your court back, you can see it on the field like he's talking, you know, the team telling them what's about to happen and those type of things happen and it just shows the competitive nature of him never likes to lose and you want, you want that out of your quarterback. And I know he grew up around, you know, a lot of brothers, uh dad as well. It was very hard on them. Um when it came to sports so well, when it comes to sports, he's one of the most competitive dudes out there.