Indianapolis Colts – Julian Blackmon says he’s thrilled to be back with the Colts – and lead the DBs
Justin Blackman is one of the easiest guys to talk to in the locker room he’s very conversational very open very honest and very interesting here is Julian Blackman yeah it’s fun you know get back with the guys it’s been electric seeing the new guys and just getting back into it it’s a good feel how nice is I just going to say this can you see this defense taking a step and and what what tells you that it can just absolutely I think that just having the same guys being back um you know we just have better chemistry also as well as having on the same coaching staff I think guys are understanding the defense a lot more so it’s going to allow us to make a lot more plays julan where you’ve seen Nick’s growth over the last couple years um I would say verbally and just the understanding of football as a whole uh you know you come here as a rookie and you just try to learn your job I think it’s getting to the point where he starts to understand everything um you know just how to fit every piece of the puzzle together so he’s doing a really great job they were talking about how for Anthony they can sense a difference in the way he’s prepared you is it the same way for you with the young Corners the guys who rookies last year absolutely like those guys man they’re they’re very talented I’m not really worried about the corners if I see them impress I don’t got to worry about them just because they’re just competitors man those guys make plays and they did that last year so I’m excited to see the next step for those guys what’s the next step for you I guess as you coming off arguably the best year of your career man I think just consistency man um just trying to ultimately grow even more as much as I can you know you never got it that’s what coach always says and I agree with that um so for me I think the next thing is just understanding what else I can do like what more can I do and where can I put myself in better situations to make even more plays I know there was a situation where wasn’t sure you even be back here next year this year that being said and knowing what you guys did last year how excited are you to have the opportunity be to work with this group of guys to prove more to the league how good you guys could be man I’m so excited I’m glad everything got to work out um you know I love this organization I love the community um and so I love the guys man like these guys are my best friends and so it was easy for me to come back you know uh when you get to the business part of it I spoke on this earlier you know you start to see what it really is but um you you try to enjoy it as well so Julian what okay how different is it for Juju this year being out here this time of year I me you kind same thing as a rookie where you’re not able to practice a lot in the spring how different is your two it makes a big difference being out here being out here in OTA just because you get more of an understanding going into the training camp you kind of get a good grounding where you can start and then in training camp you try to build upon that so I think it’s really good for him to be out here he can only go up from here as long as he takes those steps that he needs to J do you have any opin in one way or the other about potentially changing the schedule of the offseason like the NFL PA would like to do you get the I guess longer break and all that man I haven’t looked too much into that right now so I don’t really have an opinion Julian it’s really such a young position group behind yourself and Kenny when did you realize that you’ve now become one of the Elder Statesmen you know one of the more veteran guys behind Kenny Mo I think it was probably last year when the rookies just started asking me a lot of questions I’m like why they ask me all these questions they were like who else I’m going to ask I’m I ask true well you should probably do this so I think it was just that because you know a lot of us we’re all the same age so I just forget that I’ve been here just a little bit longer Co kind of made things different so uh it’s it’s still fun though you know everybody gets along really well and I’m glad that they can come to me and trust me with telling them what to do so you have your leadership style is probably you know by example then I think oh 100% I I mean you see me out there all talk but that’s just trying to energize up the guys like I’m just talking as a talk ain’t nobody listening to that but uh for the most part I’d rather just do it correctly so that those guys can see what it’s supposed to look like right couple more guys Shane did mention though like you are like the kind of the quarterback of that defense so how much pride do you take in that and I guess what’s the balance of being like naturally like a lead by example guy but forcing yourself out to be vocal I think that’s just the next step that you have to take in order to be a leader you know on a team or regardless of what you do I think it’s being more vocal being vulnerable and just being willing to take that step and I was willing and also these guys you know they they told me that they respect the fact that I will talk to them and it helps them you know everybody’s better when everybody’s talking and knows what they’re doing when there’s uncertainty that’s when guys start to like question themselves so it just helps out a lot do you consider yourself a leader a natural leader some guys AR um yeah I would I would say I’m a natural leader but I we all lead in different ways you know what I’m saying so it just depends on how you lead thanks jul that’s Julian Blackman easy to get along with and easy to listen to and easy to ask questions of and and I’m guessing that he’s a lot of fun to play with as well we’ll see if at that strong safety spot Blackman can be the anchor of that secondary that it really really needs to be as productive as it needs to i’ take him as his word about the quarterbacks the quarterback’s big question marks uh of fans but it seems like when you talk to anybody whether it’s players coaches whomever there’s a lot of trust in Jaylen Jones and JuJu Brent and Dallas flowers they feel like those guys can play Kenny Moore obviously we’ll see when the fur flies for real in September those guys going to have to Pony up or it’s going to be trouble we’ll see if they’re able to do it but
Julian Blackmon is now an OG as a safety – and he is ready to help others reach their potential for the Colts which is the team for whom he was happy to return.
