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2020 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Dylan Giffen, OL, Western University

Dylan Giffen the massive Offensive Lineman from Canada’s Western University has NFL skills and NFL teams will be all over him.
  • Name: Dylan Giffen
  • Height: 6’8
  • Weight: 335
  • Position: Offensive Line
  • College: Western University

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

  • I grew up in the small town of Strathroy Ontario. I loved the small town feel of knowing everyone and everyone knowing you. The support from my family and friends back in Strathroy has been ongoing ever since I played my first down of football.

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

  1. I think that all three of these make up the most important part of football. I believe that at certain points in the year, one of these may be more important than at other times. For example, in the off-season when practice isn’t as frequent, the weight room becomes more important.
  2. Practice is most important because I believe it is where you apply your skills and refine yourself into a more technical football player.
  3. Strength and Conditioning is a very important part to football . In my mind,strength and conditioning changes and molds throughout the year to fit where you are in the season or off-season.
  4. Film study: I believe that film is the third most important but still one of the more important aspects of preparation because the more you know your opponent, the better you will be able to be ready for everything they might throw against you. As an offensive lineman, it is important to look and find tendencies in a defender to see if they have tendencies that give away what they are doing pre-snap.

What do you worry about, and why?

  • I worry about not being able to reach my athletic goals of playing professional football. I’ve loved football ever since I started playing it and want to continue to play it for as long as I can. I hope that I can work hard enough everyday to make sure I get to where I want to go.

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

  • I know that sometimes failure happens, but I would rather try my hardest in something and learn from the failure should that be the outcome. School was challenging at times for me in early stages of my university career because I hadn’t yet found the studying strategies that had best worked for me. In order to overcome a couple of bad grades, I stayed late in class and asked for additional help.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

  • My teammates say that I am an accountable leader who can always be relied on for support whether it be within football or in another aspect of their lives.

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

  • Mathieu Betts a defensive end for Laval, he was the most explosive player I have ever played against.

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

  • If I could not play football, I would be a police officer. Ever since I was a kid, police officers were always people I had admired and looked up to. To be able to serve and protect my community as an occupation, would be an incredible honour.

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

  • Room, Desk, Car

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

  • Family member because my family has been there for me again and again and I would do anything for them.

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

  • Captain America because he is a very well-respected leader who does things based on his own moral compass.

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

  • I’m going to be honest and say that I know that I have been extremely lucky in my life. I’ve had the opportunity to attend an incredible school, I have my family behind me, and I’ve met lifelong friends on my football team. As things come up, I know that if I tackle them with a good work ethic, everything will work out.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

  • When I first got my drivers licence, I slid into a street pole very slowly in my Dad’s truck. Once he learned that I was okay he was quite upset, and I was pretty embarrassed.

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

  • One of the most memorable plays for me was our first touchdown in the 2017 Vanier Cup Game vs Laval. I remember blocking my defender and then looking up to see our QB Chirs Merchant had ran it in.

What song best describes your work ethic?

  • Hustling by Rick Ross

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

  • Effort. Sometimes things will happen outside your control, but you can always control your effort. To succeed and get to the next level, putting in time and effort every day, consistently, means everything. Effort never gets wasted.

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

  • My grandfather, I would want to see him again and tell him about my university football career, he helped me a lot early on in my football days and passed away before he could see me playing at western.

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

  • Dyl’s Disco

Who is the most underrated player in the NFL?

  • Jacoby Brissett, everyone thought the world was ending for the Colts when Andrew Luck retired but he has been holding his own

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

  • I would like to be respected, you can’t always please everyone, but even if they disagree with your decision and don’t like you, they will respect you.

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

  • When I think of a player whose career was derailed by their off-field issues, I think of Ray Rice. It was terrible to see all of his hard work and potential wasted because of off field issues—that being said, his behavior was inexcusable and should have never happened.

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

  • Winning football games is a happiness that cannot be matched, when your QB takes a knee to end the game comfortably you know that you and your teammates did your job. I don’t play to not lose I play to win.

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

  • My parents have always been in my corner telling me I can do anything I want to ever do as long as I am willing to work hard for it. They have not just told me this, but they have shown me in their own work ethic, and it continues to amaze me and give me drive every day.

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