The Lost DeMarcus Van Dyke Interview

What I posted earlier was not my entire interview with Oakland Raiders rookie, DeMarcus Van Dyke. However, it was the entire interview that I completed under the rouse of being a competent interviewer. You see, that is the point where I fumbled—turnover me; epic fail. My tape (yes I haven't gone digital) ran out and I had no clue. I was using a little hand held recorder and I have a new feature tip for them. They should send a shock to the user's brain if it runs out, or how about a voice that says, "Your tape just ran out stupid." Of course, I should probably just get a digital recorder. 

So my apologies to you faithful reader, to DVD and to myself. I am not going to try and quote him on the rest of this, but I'll take a stab at a brief summary after the jump....

DVD is excited to learn from Rod Woodson. He called him a jack of all trades and master of all. He mentioned Woodson's punt returning and said that was something he'd like to get back into. And I promptly told him he had to be half-crazy to want to be a punt returner in the NFL. He was unfazed.

I brought up the fact that along with his ball skills the biggest knock on him was his lack of bulk, and asked him if he thought that would hold him back in the NFL.

DVD is not worried about it. Among other things he mentioned the success of Samari Rolle as an example of a guy his size that has had success.

I let him know that while he may be skinny I was surprised to see in his highlights that he was laying some big hits, and that he certainly wasn't shying from physical contact. He made it clear that he was not afraid to mix it up, and at Miami they teach you that if you are going to tackle to tackle hard.

I asked DVD about how much man vs. zone coverage he played at Miami. He spent more time in man. He didn't let his demotion to nickel corner bother him, and he was on the field for 90 percent of the game anyway. He let me know that the Hurricane secondary was very talented and they all played.

In 2010, his Hurricanes went up against new Kansas City Chief, Jon Baldwin, and his Pitt Panthers. The Hurricanes blasted the Panthers and Baldwin was held to just three catches for 26 yards. I asked him if he spent any time one-on-one against the guy he is now set to see twice a year.

He said he actually had an INT while matched up against Baldwin. He then went onto say that Baldwin is a big, athletic receiver that plays hard, and that he is looking forward to seeing him twice a year.

We then talked a little bit about the NBA, and to no surprise, DVD picked his hometown Heat to win the finals. Inwardly, I started crying about the Lakers debacle, and then thanked him for his time and bid adieu. 

All in all, I came away impressed with DVD. He is energetic and confident. He didn't come across at all as over-confident, cocky or disrespectful. He is just sure of himself, his skills and his body. Others have mentioned him to be a hard worker and he certainly reinforced that impression in our conversation.

The thing that I took away most from our conversation is a sense that he really enjoys football. He wants to make plays, he is not going to shy away from contact, and I don't get the impression that he will have a hard time bouncing back if he struggles early.