NFL DraftProspect Interviews

2020 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Myles Adams, DT, Rice University

Myles Adams the physical defensive tackle from Rice University recently sat down with Draft Diamonds owner Damond Talbot.
  • Name: Myles Adams
  • Height: 6’2
  • Weight: 290
  • Position: DT
  • College: Rice University
  • Twitter: @ItsMylesJ

Tell us about your hometown, and what you love most about it?

• I was born and raised primarily in Arlington, TX, in between Dallas and Ft. Worth as a piece of the DFW Metroplex. Arlington is home to the AT&T Stadium, the Texas Rangers Ballpark, Six Flags Over Texas, and many more great attractions. I love how suburban Arlington is in comparison to the two fairly large cities it sits in between, but also how convenient of a drive it is to get to either of those two cities when needed.

List these three in order of importance and why: Film Study, Strength and Conditioning and Practice?

• 1. Strength and Conditioning: As a Kinesiology major with a focus on sports medicine, I believe the first step to ensuring proper preparation in your role as a teammate and player is to make sure your body is in shape and ready for the task, and any task. 

  2. Film Study: Studying film is just as crucial as strength and conditioning, because it prepares your mental approach to the game. Most individuals usually find it as a competitive advantage when they are both physically and mentally prepared to take on the task at hand. 

  3. Practice: Although it feels contradictory to place practice as a third priority, I believe that the first two must be effectively considered prior to practicing to ensure proper preparation to have the most effective practice possible. 

What do you worry about, and why?

• I try my best not to worry about things, because many things in this world are outside of my control. However, my worries, because I still have them, come from my feelings toward my perceived level of preparation for whatever task is in front of me to be completed.

Give me an example of when you failed at something. How did you react and how did you overcome failure?

• Throughout my athletic career at Rice University, I have strived to create and sustain a winning culture with my teammates and coaches. My seasons with Rice went as follows: (3-9), (1-11), (2-11), and (3-9); we weren’t seeing success in our hard work and it obviously took a negative toll on our overall spirits. Primarily, my focus and approach to leadership  was to lead by example, similar to how I led my high school football team. What I kept failing to realize was that every individual is different, as well as every team and their dynamic. I took my role as Team Captain critically, and made efforts to understand our team better so that I could learn different methods of how to approach and motivate players and even coaches. I give a lot of credit to adversity, but also the Doerr Institute who provided myself with a leadership coach so that I can better understand my own emotional intelligence and leadership qualities so that I can translate my knowledge and experience to our team. Even without making a bowl game, which was a personal and team goal, I personally feel that our team took a major step forward in our competitive mentality, as we finished out our conference schedule on a 3-0 win streak to finish the season after going 0-9.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

• This question was initially hard for me to answer, so I asked my teammate and roommate, Anthony Ekpe, to provide his perspective from the outside looking in. Resilience. While being at Rice you obviously had to adapt to change through new staff and their standards, operations, etc. In addition, you dealt with the rigors of Rice academics, prolonged injury, and unfortunate team seasons that did not turn out the way you wanted to. While others quit, you remain true to the process. You continued to set a personal standard of resilience and what it means to be an optimistic teammate during times of adversity. This is the reason why the Rice Football team decided to elect you as team captain, because they knew you were not only the right person to depend on during critical times, but on a regular basis.

  After reading this, I correlated it with my answer on handling failure. I strive to be the best version of myself because I believe it to be less effective to try and aid people when you aren’t leading yourself first. I try to ensure my solidarity with my coaches and teammates with everything I do and also don’t do, and I feel this is one of the best things I can contribute to an NFL team.

Who is the best player you have ever played against in college?

• Either Tarik Adams (Marshall 19’) or Phil Haynes (Wake Forest 18’)

What would your career be if you couldn’t play football? 

• I have two perspectives for this question, one being if I couldn’t play football at all and the other not playing any longer.  Football and my passion within the sport has opened many doors and avenues for me and has allowed me to experience and appreciate many great things and people. I feel that I would be more on an artistic path if I couldn’t physically play football, specifically within music or visual arts but there’s a possibility I would look into coaching the sport or aspects of it (strength and conditioning).  If I couldn’t currently play football any longer, I would continue down the path of my passion of team-driven activities, whether sports-related or not, or possibly consulting for organizations or any other concept looking for a second opinion on how to efficiently progress toward their goals.

Room, desk and car – which do you clean first?

• I clean my room first as that’s the one answer choice that gets dirty for me over time. To explain, I have a maintenance perspective on my desk and truck and make sure those are clean and organized daily aside from exterior car washes. 

If there was a disaster and you could either save three strangers or one family member, which would you choose and why?

• I would choose a family member, as family is very important to me. Aside from a numbers aspect being helpful with three strangers in the case of a disaster, I feel better having the familiarity of a family member with me during that time. 

If you could be any television or movie character, who would you be and why?

• I would choose Bernie Mac’s character in the movie “Soul Men”, Floyd Henderson, primarily because it is arguably my favorite movie ever made and his character’s personality is very confident but compassionate and hilarious at all times. 

Tell me about your biggest adversity in life and how you’ve dealt with or overcome it?

• My college experience overall has been my biggest adversity in life. I chose to come to a top-tier academic institution while enduring the demanding responsibilities accompanied with being a successful student-athlete. Throughout my time in college, I suffered a concussion in my first fall semester that set me back in academics while also contributing as a part of the interior defensive lineman rotation as a true freshman, I was away from home for the first time in my life and dealing with time and priority management primarily on my own, I lost a dear brother, teammate and role model my sophomore spring a week before my birthday and shortly after his 21st birthday, I endured two consecutive off-seasons inhibited by rehabilitation of injury, I switched majors two years into my collegiate tenure, I endured the troubling hardships of four consecutive losing seasons after putting everything I had into the process of every one of them, and I championed the responsibility of being a player-elected Team Captain in my true Senior season. With all of these experiences, and some almost succeeding in breaking my will, I persevered to ‘bend’ and never to break to adversity and continue to remain focused on solutions to these matters rather than sulking in a harsh reality. I have progressed physically through each off-season despite initial limitations upon the beginnings, I have remained on track to graduate this upcoming May 2020 with an above-average GPA, and I have begun to establish myself as the man I plan to become in my future endeavors.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

• During the game against the University of North Texas in my sophomore season, I had completely cleared the offensive linemen attempting to cease my pass-rush and I had a clear vision of a sack on Mason Fine, the starting UNT quarterback at the time.  When I went for the tackle, he dipped down in an extremely low, squat-type juke and I flew right over him and my teammate then finished the job.

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

• I caught an interception during my junior season in our home season closer against Old Dominion off a tipped-pass. However, that play is only valid on film due to one of my teammates getting flagged for a defensive holding penalty. 

What song best describes your work ethic?

• Survivor – Eye of the Tiger

What is the most important trait you can have (Physical or Non-Physical) to help you succeed at the next level? 

• A hunger or willingness to always do more.

If you could bring one person back from the dead for one day, who would it be and why?

•  Blain Padgett, my late brother and teammate.  I would just like for him to be able to play football one more time, I know he would’ve made it to the next level. 

If you were to open a dance club, what would you name it? 

• “Town.”

Who is the most underrated player in the NFL? 

• In my opinion, Aaron Jones.

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

• Although being liked is relatively nice to know, I value respect more than admiration. If you’re respected, the admiration usually follows. 

What player who had his career derailed by off-field issues do you feel for the most and why?

• Shawn Oakman, he had what was supposed to be a blazing entrance to professional football halted by a sexual assault allegation where he was very recently acquitted and found not guilty. 

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

• Both. 

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?

• My father. Without him, and my mother, I wouldn’t be sitting at my desk typing this.  Without him, I wouldn’t have grown up viewing and retaining a clear and evident work ethic.  Without him, I wouldn’t have found the inspiration to aspire to be like and then become more than what he accomplished in football when he played. Without him, I wouldn’t have a role model that I could walk downstairs and talk to when I needed help, reassurance, or really anything.  Without him, I wouldn’t have the desired template of the man I try to model myself around, and I’m extremely appreciative that I have not only a dad, but a present father in my life.

Damond Talbot

NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com

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