NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: John Childers, DE, Ferrum College

NFL Draft Diamonds has interviewed some of the best small schoolers to make it to the NFL.  Last year our team interviewed over 750 players from NAIA to the FBS.  This year we went to NFL teams scouts for every question on this interview.  Ten NFL scouts who are avid readers of Draft Diamonds put this interview together for our reader’s pleasure.  We hope you enjoy this interview, with another potential NFL draft prospect.

• Name: Carl John Childers Jr
• Height: 6’2”
• Weight: 260
• Position: Defensive End
• College: Ferrum College
• Twitter: @Urijac95

Tell us about your hometown, and what you love most about it?

• My hometown is a big place but it’s a small town where everyone knows one another. This place has had an effect in my life I’m glad we had to move out of Baltimore to here. It’s brought me closer to my family, it’s brought me close friends, and it helped me win my first state championship in high school

List these three in order of importance and why: Film Study, Strength and Conditioning and Practice?

• Strength and conditioning, practice, film. I chose this order because if you are strong in shape, and you hone your skills through practice no one can stop you. So film is a necessity, but it isn’t entirely needed, when I was in high school for a while we didn’t watch film.

What do you worry about, and why?

• I worry about not making my mark in my family and my friends. I am a role model to my cousins and my brothers. I use every opportunity I get to continue football to come close to giving my family everything they deserve.

Give me an example of when you failed at something. How did you react and how did you overcome failure?

• I lost my starting spot this year once, I also saw why I lost my spot so I studied my weaknesses after that I spent more time perfecting my weakness until it was my strength.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

• My best trait would be that I never quit and I don’t take no as an answer when I’m trying to accomplish my goals.

Who is the best player you have ever played against in college?

• The best player I have faced in college was Jacob Wright. He is a quarterback from Averett University. He was really shifty, and he was real mobile. If he felt the pressure he knew how to get out and make a play.

What would your career be if you couldn’t play football?

• I would probably be a S.W.A.T officer working towards applying to be a hostage rescue agent in the FBI. Or I would continue my career in the military.

Room, desk, and car – which do you clean first?

• Room, cleaning your room is the most important part. Per se, if you went out and had a terrible day, you got a ticket, was late to work, did something wrong at work, and to top it off you maybe even cracked your phone. You go home to clean room and a made bed and you see that you can still do something right.

If there was a disaster and you could either save three strangers or one family member, which would you choose and why?

• I would always choose my family because you never leave family behind.

If you could be any television or movie character, who would you be and why?

• I would choose Batman because although he doesn’t have powers he shows me you can still be a hero without them. In the movie Doom he shows how he has a contingency plan to defeat the entire justice league in case they went rogue, an alien virus acquired the plan instilled it on the justice league and Batman had to save them all.

Tell me about your biggest adversity in life and how you’ve dealt with or overcome it?

• My biggest adversity would be not being strong enough to play defensive line. I would train as hard as I could in the off-season. My bench wouldn’t increase to the numbers I wanted so I worked on my explosiveness and speed. Those two traits helped me get awarded all-conference player this year.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

• My most embarrassing moment would probably be when my spandex boxers were to tight I was running through a parking lot and the sunlight hit them and you could see right through my boxers.

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

• It would be the last game of my college career where I made my first 2 solo sacks of my college career.

What song best describes your work ethic?

• The song that best represents my work ethic would be Breaking Benjamin I will not bow

What is the most important trait you can have (Physical or Non-Physical) to help you succeed at the next level?

• The most important trait I could have is to keep my mental toughness, without it I would have quite a long time ago.

If you could bring one person back from the dead for one day, who would it be and why?

• If I could bring anyone back from the dead it would be my cousin. When I was dating my ex I basically stopped talking to my cousin. Finally, I went to start getting back in touch with my cousin and he died in a car accident.

If you were to open a dance club, what would you name it?

• If I was to open a dance club I’d name it “a hole in the wall” because it would probably be some small town place.

Who is the most overrated player in the NFL?

• I believe it’s Joe Flacco. He did great when he had our receiving core in 2013. The problem was we ended up giving him to much money and we didn’t have enough money for all of the great defensive players or some of the receiving core.

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

• I would rather be respected, you can be hated and still be respected.

What player who had his career derailed by off-field issues do you feel for the most and why?

• It would be a kid I played against in high school who was going to go to the same college as me. He ended up crashing his car and left paralyzed from the waist down. It took his athletic career from him but he is prospering now he is earning his masters a VCU

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

• I hate to lose

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?

• My biggest influence is my parents I can’t just pick. One or the other because my parents have been through so much and they never complained they just found a way for it to work.