2021 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Shannon Warren, RB, Howard Payne University

• Name: Shannon Warren
• Height: 5’10”
• Weight: 215
• Position: Running Back
• College: Howard Payne University
• Twitter: @adwarren13

What is the best restaurant in your hometown city?

• My mom’s kitchen. When I tell you that mom’s got it going on….she’s got it going on.

When breaking down your film what will stick out?

• The way the defense switch up schemes in certain formations and noticing what players tend to do regularly on the field in certain plays.

If you won the lotto, what is the first thing you would do with the money?

• Both my parents gave their all for our country and they both retired from the Army. They gave so much of themselves to help any and everyone. They taught me to pay it forward. Knowing I would never when a lottery, but if I did, I would definitely create a foundation to help families/strangers/friends less fortunate. We don’t have much, but I have never had to go without it.

What has been your biggest failure?

• Not taking care of my academic business that I was sent to do during my freshman year. It cost me to work extra hard, and I am more focused now than I have ever been. I had and still have the athleticism to compete at the next level, but it means nothing without an education. I feel this is the only way I can get noticed since I don’t have all the network I don’t know why doors closed on me. I played in the “All American” games. I was invited to the IMG academy camp and was successful.

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

• They tell me that I am humble and shy, but when they see me on the field running the ball, no one would even notice.

Who is the hardest working teammate on your team?

• DunTayviun Gross

Check out NFL Draft Diamonds 2021 Small School Rankings

Have you ever had a nickname? What is it?

• Yes! Baby Hulk

What is your degree in, if you do not make it as a football player, what is your dream job?

• My degree is in Kinesiology.

What is your coolest life moment?

• I think the coolest moment was when ESPN came down and presented me with an award and I had no clue.

What song would you sing at Karaoke night?

• My Prerogative By Bobby Brown

If you could pick any actor to play you in a movie, who are you picking?

• I would choose Terry Crews.

Who is your favorite football team?

• My favorite team is the Seattle Seahawks, but don’t tell my mom. LOL, She is from KC and is a true die-hard Chiefs fan. Now if I were to get picked up by KC, all will change. I know Priest Holmes who has come to our house.

What is your biggest fear?.

• Not being successful in life. All I have ever wanted to do is please my parents who have given me all the tools I need to become a great person. If I mess up, it is my own fault. All they have asked of me is to go to school, get my degrees, and since I still want football, they support that as well. They have never missed a game, except when my mom was deployed overseas for quite a few times. I can’t ask for anything more. There are a lot of people in my shoes that don’t have near the support that they have shown towards me.

Who is the most underrated player in the NFL?

• Tarik Cohen

Take us through game day, How do you prepare?

• I watch film, analyze the plays, visualize everything I would do for each and every play, I pray before and after each game asking God to keep me safe from all hurt, harm, and danger and put on my headphones and listen to music. Once we are one the field with my headphones on, I look for my biggest supporters (my parents) and I zone everything and everyone out until game time.

Do you have any hobbies?

• Playing on my game and working out.

If you had to compare yourself to someone in the NFL, who would that be?

• I would compare myself to Saquon Barkley. We are about the same height/weight/size/build. No, I didn’t get the opportunity to go to a DI and it’s not because of anything I did wrong nor was I recruited. I look at his stats and compared them to mine. With my size and speed, I know, if given a chance, I believe it can happen. My parents paid for them and what did they do for me….nothing.

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

• My cousin Travis Dickerson…He was my role model and is the reason I am playing football to this day. He had so many college offers and I knew I wanted to be just like him. Unfortunately, he was killed in an auto accident. It was just a freak accident in the summer of his senior year. His mom had called him to come home so he could go and take his high school senior pictures. That was the last time she ever talked to him. He attended Allen High School in Allen, TX. The high school even retired his jersey and mounted plexiglass over his football locker. He was awesome and I still miss him. I want this for us.

What motivates you to work hard?

• To show all those that never even gave me a thought, I WILL make it to the league. I have faith that God will open the door for me that no man can close and close the doors that no man can open. I remember when I was being sought after in my Junior year by several colleges/universities and when I was invited to play in the All American games, I had to get my high school coaches signature and my principal’s. My coach as me, “how did you get picked for that?” After I played in the games, all of the college coaches stopped. I later was told by a college coach that my high coach told them they would not want ‘that kid’. I still don’t know what he meant by that because he stopped talking to me from that point on. Not to be mean or rude, I just want to show them what they could have had.