NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Owen Gilbert, LS, Marian University

• Name: Owen Gilbert

• Height: 6’1

• Weight: 230

• Position: LS

• College: Marian University

• Twitter: @owengh5

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

• My hometown is Brownsburg, Indiana. A suburb on the westside of Indianapolis with good schools, great residents, and very competitive youth sports. The thing I love most about Brownsburg has to be the support that the community shows toward the high school athletics. I had the opportunity to play baseball and football all four years at Brownsburg High School and got to experience the outpouring support first hand.

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

•  Strength and conditioning, practice, film study.

What do you worry about, and why?

• Tough question, but I have to say the thing I worry about most is the shower in the college house myself and four other teammates rent out on campus. At the beginning of the year it was like any other shower- great water pressure with consistently hot temperatures. Now, water pretty much drips out of it and the temperature will bounce back and forth from scorching hot to freezing cold. Since showers at my house have become such a hassle, I sometimes just go to the football locker room.

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

•  This past summer I was a ticket sales intern with the Frisco Roughriders (AA of Texas Rangers). I quickly realized the grind of minor league baseball ticket sales and it took over two weeks of 75+ cold calls a day to make my first sale. I studied our product book and became more comfortable on the phones. It was awesome to make that first sale.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

•  On and off the field I am accountable, reliable, trustworthy. If you need me to do something, I’ll get it done.

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

• Nick Ferrer, former QB for USF. We lost seven games in my four years at Marian and two of them were to Ferrer.

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

• If I couldn’t play football, I would definitely still pursue a career in sports. I completed a semester long internship with the Indiana Pacers in their marketing office as a sophomore, then interned at USA Football’s HQ in Indianapolis summer of ’17, and had the opportunity to live in Dallas while interning for the Frisco RoughRiders last summer. I’m very passionate about sports, I love the atmosphere of gamedays and I would still love to be a part of the business side if I could not play.

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

•  Room, desk, then car.

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

• In a spur of the moment decision, I would go with my gut and save the family member.

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

•  I would be Tony Soprano, from HBO’s The Sopranos.

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

• During my 2^nd week of freshman year high school football, I shattered my right hand and wrist at the same time in a weight room accident. I had just played two games as the freshman team’s long snapper, so I cut a few chunks out of my cast for more wrist flexibility and to slightly grip the ball. I somehow snapped with a cast on for 3 months then was able to get back to using two hands.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

•  I did synchronized swimming for a high school talent show as a joke. I still cringe when I think about it. 

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

• My most memorable play of my collegiate career came this season when we played at our rival, #1 (at the time) USF. We were down 13-14 at the start of the third quarter with the ball back and they forced us to punt from our own 28. They rushed everyone besides the returner. After a clean operation and a 42 yard punt, the returner muffed the catch and we recovered the ball at their 30 yard line. We ended up scoring on the following drive and maintained the lead for the rest of the game, which ended our rival’s 28 game win streak on their home field.

What song best describes your work ethic?

• WIN- Jay Rock

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

• I believe the most important trait to help my succeed at the next level is my ability to keep my poise. As a long snapper, you have to be ready to execute your job at a moment’s notice and you cannot let the mood of the game dictate your performance. Football games can be an emotional rollercoaster and I have proven to keep my poise in all situations.  

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

• I would bring back JFK to see if he actually wanted to pull the troops out of Vietnam.

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

• Interesting question. If I were to open a dance club, I’d want it to be on the top story of a tall building with a huge balcony/deck. I’d leave the name to someone else. 

Who is the most overrated player in the NFL? 

•  I do not think anyone in the NFL is overrated.

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

•  I would rather be respected because you have to earn it.

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

• Hate to lose.

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

• My parents have been the biggest influence on my life. They have supported me in every possible way and have been so encouraging through this process. I am who I am because of them.