Will Anderson Jr. explains what makes him a true leader
Yahoo Sports NFL Writer Charles McDonald is joined by Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. to talk about his experience through the Draft process, what makes him such a good leader, and his ‘Welcome to Alabama’ moment.
Will Anderson Jr. joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Old Spice Swagger.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
CHARLES MCDONALD: This is Charles McDonald with Yahoo Sports NFL, joined today with the very special guest, Will Anderson, former pass rusher for the University of Alabama. Today, he is with us on behalf of Old Spice Swagger, and we'll get to that in a minute. But first, Will, I want to ask you, how are you doing today? How's this week been, and how is the draft process going for you?
WILL ANDERSON JR: Yeah, the draft process has been going great. This week has been going good. My process hasn't been bad at all. I had like three visits, a couple of Zoom calls. But I really just got time to focus on my body and learn my body more and get it in the best shape possible and spend some time with my family.
CHARLES MCDONALD: You only had three visits? That's a pretty quiet trip for most draft prospects. Only three, that's not bad. That's a fair amount of whatever downtime constitutes during this time of year.
WILL ANDERSON JR: I guess they say it's a good thing. I asked a lot of people. I asked my agent and I asked on the team, and they said it's a good thing. Just saying that teams, they probably know everything all about you. You know what I'm saying? So I don't complain. I was like, OK, that's fine.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Especially for defensive linemen and offensive linemen, everyone has a welcomed to college football moment where it ain't what you were doing a few months ago when you were messing around, going to prom, and hanging with your buddies in high school. Will, I need your welcome to Alabama moment from freshman year.
WILL ANDERSON JR: Probably-- OK, so his name was Deonte Brown. And he was--
CHARLES MCDONALD: Oh, he was like 350, right?
WILL ANDERSON JR: Yeah, he was a guard. And like the regular guards I used to play, they were a little bit smaller. They're not as big. And all I remember is he was pulling, and I had to take on a block. I'm like, OK, this is just like high school. I'm going to go [INAUDIBLE] And when I tell you-- I went to go try to get in there, and he was just like pow.
And I had the biggest like stinger in my neck, and I walking up the sideline like this. And he was like, you good? You good? I was like, oh, no, I'll be good. And that was just one of the biggest welcome to college life. Oh, yeah, we got to hit the weight room real hard. You're gonna be going against guys like this. But after that, I had no more problems.
CHARLES MCDONALD: From your time at that moment to where you are now, how have you developed as a leader for this program? And do you see some of the personal skills that you learned at Alabama helping you in the next level?
WILL ANDERSON JR: All those guys-- I just see the way I approached everything that I had to do at Alabama. The guys respected it, so it kind of just made it easier for me. Because I feel like they always was like, OK, he's probably going to be a leader. You know what I'm saying? I did everything in the right way, kept my head down, I worked really hard, and I just want to show my teammates that they can trust me.
I'm a freshman out there with a whole bunch of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. And I just want to show them that this freshman can play with y'all, and he can go out there and do his job at the highest level, just like y'all. And I think once they seen that, they were like, oh, yeah, he's going to be one of the next greats.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Will, you're joining us thanks to Old Spice Swagger. Can you tell us a little bit about your partnership with them today?
WILL ANDERSON JR: For me, it's just like nobody's going to tell you you smell bad. So Old Spice is going to cover me this week and make sure, with their Swagger, it's lasting 24/7 freshness. You know what I'm saying? So I got to go out there and smell good, and it's gonna give me confidence on Thursday knowing that I'm smelling good, my hygiene is good, and not have to worry about smelling bad in front of everybody.
CHARLES MCDONALD: Will Anderson, edge from Alabama. Good luck this weekend. I hope no one tells you you smell bad because [INAUDIBLE]
WILL ANDERSON JR: [LAUGHS] Well, I've got Old Spice, so we good.