On whether he knew he was on the Eagles radar: "I met with them at the Senior Bowl and I met with them at the Combine. They came and worked me out in Austin (Texas). I could definitely sense a lot of interest, and when I met with the coaches, I felt really comfortable and knew that was a place that if I had an opportunity to play, I'd be really happy. Throughout the draft, that was a team that every time they came up to pick the last couple of rounds, I knew it was a possibility. The power actually went out in my house five, ten minutes before the actual pick and then my actual phone rang and it was a Pennsylvania number. I was pumped."
On his pre-draft meetings with the Eagles: "I did get a sense that they were interested, and I met with pretty much every single coach on the offensive staff. I met with (head) Coach (Andy) Reid, and he was the greatest as far as meeting with him and he's a guy you can just sit down and talk to. He's just such a successful coach and such a great person throughout his career. With meeting with the other coaches, everyone just wants to find out everything about you with transferring and everything throughout college. They found out what I was about and I loved the organization."
On his mentality as to where he fits in with three quarterbacks already on the roster: "It's get in there early, leave late, work my butt off like I've done my whole career, and learn. I know it's such a great opportunity to learn from such a great staff. I know that Mike Vick is the starter there and he's a guy that's a heck of a player and an amazing athlete. He's a guy to learn from. As far as the other quarterbacks with (Mike) Kafka and (Trent) Edwards, I've gotten to know Trent throughout the years and have a lot of respect for those quarterbacks, all three of them. It will be a great opportunity to go in there and learn and work my butt off like I've always done and just continue to progress as a player."
On whether he has been told what role he will play: "It's way too early for that. I just got drafted and became a part of the Eagles. I have to go in there and learn a whole offense, earn my stripes, work my butt off, and prove to them that I'm a winner and what kind of player I am. That's going to take a lot of work. I'm going to go in there and work my butt off and just be the best quarterback I can be and the best teammate possible."
On scouting reports that say he is slow footed: "I'm an athlete. I'm a basketball player, too, and I feel that I can play against anyone in basketball. Football-wise, watch film – I'll break tackles, throw on the run, show escapability. I'm not a Mike Vick by any means but I'm able to extend plays on my foot and throw from awkward angle. I'm not a track athlete if that's what you're asking me. You're not going to put me on the track and I'm going to blow by you in a 100-yard sprint or even a 40. I have functional speed where I can move around and make plays with my feet and extend plays with my feet. I think that's important to get the ball into the playmakers hands like the running backs and the wide receivers and help the o-line out by moving around and working their pocket. I'm going to continue to do that and work on that every single day and get better at that as long as I play this game."
On how being a basketball player translates into quarterbacking: "I think just the ability to move around and extend plays with my feet. In basketball, and even in basketball passing, I'd be able to grab a rebound, go full court, and gun it. Then, you're moving around finding seams. When you're scrambling around, you find the running back and throwing from different angles. In basketball, you're moving around running, jumping, shooting, doing all sorts of things. Just the functional movement of playing a sport. When you're playing football as a quarterback, you're dropping back and passing but sometimes the pocket breaks down and you have to make a play. That's why I look at being an all-around athlete comes in handy in just moving around and moving the chains and making plays."
On the process of staying positive playing in front of an inexperienced offensive line: "We had a young o-line and I knew that going in. My junior year we had all seniors and it was a group I was with for two seasons and they were a great line. We were rebuilding the line the next season and we had a couple of redshirt freshman and some sophomores and two juniors on the line. Between five guys, there was one guy who was in our bowl game the previous season in our center Kyle Quinn. I knew it was going to be a re-doing year and that came during the workouts in the summer. We did different things to excel them right along.
"They did a good job and we started the season with 3-4 games against top 10 opponents and those were those o-linemen's first time being in a college game, so it took for them to learn the speed of it and it was different for them. Sure, I was hit a few times but when you look at the film, those guys worked their butt off and they picked me up off the ground. Every game they excelled and by the end of the season, they were doing a really solid job. I couldn't have been more proud, and they did a really solid job. They hated when I got hit and they really did grow throughout the year, and they're going to be a heck of a line next season."
On how much he has seen from WR DeSean Jackson and RB LeSean McCoy: "Just watch ESPN. I've watched those guys all the time on the highlight reel. I know they are some explosive players and the Eagles have such a great tradition. (LB) Britt Hager who played for the Eagles several seasons ago is a great family friend of mine. I grew up with his son so I know all about the Eagles tradition. Then with (TE) Brent Celek, I roomed with his brother at Michigan State so we would always turn on the Eagles while we were in college there. It's really a blessing to be with the Eagles."
On whether he played Britt Hager's team in high school: "We didn't play Odessa while I was at Westlake but we played Abilene in West Texas. I haven't seen the movie but I read the book and it's pretty much all Texas high school football. It's intense and it's crazy man."
