NFL DraftProspect Interviews

NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Joe Conner, RB, Concordia University- Ann Arbor

Joe Conner of Concordia University is a beast 

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: Joe Conner

• Height: 6’0

• Weight: 220

• Position: RB

• College: Concordia University- Ann Arbor

• Twitter: joeconner_13

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

  • I’m from Flat Rock, Michigan. The thing I love most about it is the small town atmosphere, everyone knows everyone its a family type atmosphere. 

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

  • For me Strength and conditioning come first, if you’re not strong enough or durable enough the rest don’t even apply because you won’t be able to play. secondly film study is key, it allows you to play fast and play smart. Lastly practice where you perfect the craft, that’s where you use the information you learn in film and apply it. 

What do you worry about, and why?

  • One thing I worry about is being overlooked coming from a small school I don’t get a lot of respect or exposure. 

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

Once I didn’t do well in my anatomy and physiology class I got a passing grade but it wasn’t high enough to count for graduation points so I had to retake the class, during the retake I utilized my resources much more appropriately meeting with the professor weekly and signing up for study tables even though I wasn’t required to do so.  

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

  • My work ethic, I push everyone to go as hard as they can including myself. knowing I’m giving everything I have forced those guys to step up and it showed this past season. 

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

  • The best player I’ve ever played against would have to be Piercen Harnish from St. Francis Indiana, world-class guy, and a really smart football player. 

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

Strength and Conditioning if I wasn’t playing football I would want to train guys to be the best football players they could be. 

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

Room, have to have a clean room it makes my life feel less cluttered. 

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

Personally, I would save my family member, I don’t think I could ever live with myself if I didn’t save my blood. 

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

I would probably be Adonis Creed from the Creed films I think those are the best kind of movies, a guy who defines all the odds. 

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

The biggest adversity I’ve had to deal with would definitely be losing my mom, I struggled with that for a while but I found comfort in my teammates and my school pastor who helped me overcome those circumstances. 

What is your most embarrassing moment?

My most embarrassing moment came last season when I took a shot below the belt in a game and everyone in the stadium knew and I was done for quite some time trying to regain myself, I had to go to the locker room to check myself. 

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

To me the game-winning touchdown against St. Francis to seal our schools first win over them and to knock off the back to back national champions was something special. 

What song best describes your work ethic?

The song I would say describes my work ethic has to be Nonstop by Drake, that’s the kind of player I am and the mentality I take into everything I do. 

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

Resilience, you have to be able to overcome the bad situations you might be dealt nothing is guaranteed but that doesn’t mean you quit, it means you find a way. 

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

Martin Luther King Jr. I’d just want to talk to him and ask him how he was able to be so influential and so resilient despite all the bad that came his way. 

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

Club Lit. 

Who is the most overrated player in the NFL?

Tom Brady

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

Respected, because being liked isn’t always going to get you far but people who respect you will follow you and trust you. 

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

Kareem Hunt and because he made a mistake a costly one but a mistake that could’ve been dealt with differently had he surrounded himself with the right people to help him choose wiser. 

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

I love to win, there’s no better feeling than putting your all into something and coming out with the result you wanted. losing to me is a hard pill to swallow it can eat you up for a long time. 

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

The biggest influence in my life has been my adoptive dad and former high school coach, Joel Stapleton. He raised a kid that wasn’t his and made sure that I always made the right decisions and made sure I was doing things to secure the best result for my future. He could’ve let me fall to the waste side but he didn’t he stepped up and that man changed my life for the better. 

Damond Talbot

NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com

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