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I want to be the best tackle ever
Posted: Saturday April 01, 2000 11:45 PM
Former Alabama offensive tackle Chris Samuels is expected to be the first offensive lineman taken in the 2000 NFL Draft on April 15. Samuels won the Outland Trophy in 1999 as the best interior lineman, and before the season he was named one of the "10 Players the NFL Wants Now" by Sports Illustrated. He was named All-American last season by CNNSI.com after his senior year with the Crimson Tide. This is the second in a series of draft diaries from Samuels. Check back weekly for another draft diary from him at CNNSI.com. Everything is going great for me leading up to the draft. I took a small vacation to Houston for three days last week, but right after that I came back to Memphis and I've just been training. I went to Houston to get away a little bit and relax, and I had a great time. I did my upper body workout Thursday, and Friday I started working on my endurance to get in football playing shape. In the past I've been working on running drills and technique, but Friday I started endurance and did a lot of conditioning. It's pretty hectic getting back into good shape, but you have to start somewhere. After my workout on Friday I weighed in at 315 pounds, so I probably sweated a lot out, and I'm probably actually about 318 now. I want to play at about 310 next year. It will take a good month for me to get in pretty decent shape, and about two months for me to get in great shape. I'm going to New York with my family and my agent for the draft. I'm excited about it. I can't wait. That'll be something that I will remember for the rest of my life, and a lot of people don't get that opportunity to go up there to the draft and be a top five pick. That's going to be something that I am will remember and I'm going to have a couple people taping it for me. If I had the top pick and couldn't choose myself, I think I would take Courtney Brown. He's just a great guy off the field, and I think he has a great personality. He's real quiet and humble, besides all the talent that he has. I think you have to look at the character of the person, and I think that's what hurts a lot of athletes right there. As far as being the top pick, on and off the field, you have to be a great guy all the way around. I've never played against him, but he's a great ballplayer. I'll have to face up against him one day. I'm always looking forward to a challenge, and he definitely is a great player. Just to go up against him one day, that would be a great matchup. He's a wonderful player. A lot of people have predicted I will go to Washington, and hopefully that will work out. I wouldn't mind playing for Washington -- I think it's a great program there -- but I really won't just set my heart with Washington because you never know what will happen. Hopefully they'll take me at number two or three, but at times, players think they're going to be this pick in the draft and they wind up dropping, so I don't want to set my heart on that one thing and then something doesn't work out and I'm all heartbroken. A lot of guys think they are first-round picks and then they wind up going in the third or fourth round and they're heartbroken on draft day -- they're just crushed. And I'm not going to fall into that situation. I believe that I'll definitely start my first year. I think I can develop into a Pro Bowl player in the near future, but I don't know about my first two years. But hopefully by my third year I'll have developed into that type of player. My goal, period, is to be the best tackle to ever play the game, so that goal of starting as a rookie is only in the middle of what I'm trying to do. I'm pretty sure at times I'll struggle in my first season, but I'm just going to dedicate myself to staying extra or whatever it takes to get it down mentally. Physically I know I can play on the next level. Mentally I'm probably going to have to work, because it's going to be different. There's going to be a lot more thrown at me, but I'm just going to work a little bit harder at that, and I know it's going to work out. I don't know what I'll do with my signing bonus when I sign my first contract. I'll probably just throw it in the bank, because I'm kind of conservative. I'll probably look at it for a long time and I really won't believe how much it is, but I'll probably just throw it in the bank. I'm probably going to buy myself a car, but I'm going to take care of my mother and get my parents a new house. Then probably I'll get a car, because right now I have a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that's on its last legs. I've had it since my senior year in high school, and when I start it up it shakes. Everybody has tried to push me to get a new car, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that yet. And I haven't made any money yet. I'm just going to wait until after the draft and I'll probably get something then -- maybe a Chevy Suburban. A big lineman can fit in that.
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