I had the pleasure of interviewing NFL Draft prospect Dalton Risner recently from Kansas State. Risner, a senior, is a top OL prospect in this upcoming draft & is a projected first round pick.
Q: What are your expectations for yourself this season?
A: The biggest goal of all is to be a reliable starter in the NFL, you know? A guy that can get plugged in at any position
Did you have a favorite player growing up? (Past or present)
A: Tim Tebow. I really looked up to Tebow. I’m not really dead set on football. I love the game of football, but the type of person I am off the field means a lot to me & I think Tim did a really good job of portraying that. I look up to the fact that Tebow realizes that there’s more to life than the game of football. He realized that he has a big platform & he uses his platform to impact other people, and he still utilizes his platform.
Q: What do you want to do after football?
A: Whenever the game of football ends, there’s a lot of different ways that I would like to spend the rest of my life, and a lot of it depends on how my career goes. But a lot of avenues that I’m looking forward to are sports broadcasting, I wanna analyze the game of football through the offensive line prospective. I would also like to do public speaking, and maybe an offensive line coach/Highschool football Head Coach. I would like to retire owning a resturaunt called Big Ds tavern, maybe a burger named after me. I want to open a really nice italian resteraunt, I love good italian food.
What’s 1 motto/quote that you live by?
A: I live by a ton, I’d say that one would be the Golden rule, “Treat others the way you would like to be treated”. I catch myself doing that a ton. When it comes to football, I live by the quote “There’s no better feeling in the world than moving a man from point A to point B against his will”.
Q: How important are player/coach relationships during the season/off-season?
A: Extremely important. I think that some of the best teams are the teams that have the best relationships. Having a good relationship with your coach/position coach throughout the season is instrumental for a suceeding program. a Head Coach that relates to his players and gets along with them is when he gains the trust & gets guys to buy into his program. And when you get buy in from kids in his program, that’s when you start playing extremely well. Bad teams are teams that have individuals, not a bunch of teammates, that’s a huge difference. Having that relationship with the coach in the season/off-season is so huge because I believe in the success of a team.
Q: What’s one coach that you would like to play for in the NFL?
A: I went to the Senior Bowl and was coached by Jon Gruden of the Raiders on the North team & just from the week I had with him, I’d love the chance to be able to play with him.
What’s one of the hardest Defensive Lineman or Line Backers that you’ve faced in your college career?
A: I would say that Daniel Wise from KU is one of the better players I’ve blocked.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
A: I see myself getting ready to sign my second contract in the NFL, hopefully attending Pro Bowls, and becoming a vet in the NFL for whatever club I’m at.
Q: What’s the biggest accolade to you in the NFL?
A: The Walter Payton Man Of The Year award. I think that would be a tremendous dream come true, that and the Super Bowl. Team awards are always better than individual awards in my eyes. I believe the off-the-field work & being a great ambassador for your club & a great man off the field is 10x more important than your work on the field. Getting recognized as the man of the year for the NFL would just show my commitment to impacting the lives of others and would just mean a lot.
Q: What’s one of the hardest Defensive Lineman that you think would be to block in the NFL?
A: I would probably say Von Miller or Khalil Mack. I’m playing tackle right now, and both those guys are extremely powerful, quick, and agile, and great pass rushers in the NFL.