Senior Bowl Introductory Press Conference – DJ Fluker from Alabama

This is an excerpt from OL DJ Fluker’s (from Alabama) Press Conference, which was part of the Senior Bowl’s Introductory Press Conference on Sunday night:

Question:  DJ, what’s the reason you now decided to come out to NFL?

Fluker:

Me and Coach Saban, last season we had a talk, I was thinking about coming out last year and I had some big decisions on top of that. As far as this year, I got my degree, graduated, that was the main thing to get my degree. I’ll tell any guy that, because you never know when your last play could be. That’s kind of my main influence on that.

Of course this year when I talked to Coach Saban, after the Bowl game, we had a good conversation about it. Far as they say, hey, I support everything you do. I appreciate your hard work you gave us for the last four years here. He told me, I’d love to have you back for one more year though. I told him that I had to support my family, and that was kind of my main choice right there.

Question:  Do you have any favorite teams?

Fluker:

Right now, you know, my favorite team is far as that, I grew up in New Orleans for half my life. And then I moved to Mobile, AL, and met some nice people down here. Far as my favorite team, that was the Saints right there. But right now, well, its the team that has that winning mentality, that’s wants to win championships, that wants to go to the Super Bowl, and teams like that. And just have that mentality that I would not be denied.

Question:   Was your family relocated here after Katrina?

Fluker:

Yes sir, we have located and live here in Mobile.

Question:   Can you talk a little bit about that Katrina experience, and what that did to you and your family?

Fluker:

You know, as far as Katrina, it displaces our whole family. My auntie, she took us in. In Mobile, I started to go to school at McGill-Toolen High School. I started my high school career there, as far as that, it kind of took off from there.

Question:   What do you hope this week will do for you?

Fluker:

Hopefully to prove to everybody that I can play. To power like a physical tackle, that’s kind of what people are looking for, can I move, how does he try to improve in all the little things.

Question:   Are you going to be able to play in the game?

Fluker:

That’s kind of questionable right now. I’m trying to see how I feel today and tomorrow, and see how we go from there.

Question:   What’s the injury?

Fluker:

Calf sprain and little bit of a groin injury for right now.

Question:   Outside of the National Championships, what’s your favorite moment playing at Alabama?

Fluker:

Playing in the SEC Championship, that was probably one of my greatest moments. I look back at that time right there, that’s probably one of the greatest comebacks of all time I believe. To play on a team that even though we were down, you got to be able to be a leader, even with things going wrong, be able to bring a team back. You know, that was the main thing. To feed them energy, and that was the main thing that brought us back in the game. I told the coach right there, I said, run the ball behind me, I’m going to take you home.

Question:   DJ, how more mentality prepared are you for this now than you were a year ago?

Fluker:

I’m a lot more mentality prepared this time, physically I have the physical gifts right there. But I’m more mentally stable.

Question:   In the 80s and 90s the Redskins had “The Hogs”, at Alabama did you guys have an internal nickname?

Fluker:

Five Horsemen. But we just took pride in our job, that was the main thing.

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