NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Zachary Franklin, DB, Washburn University

NFL Draft Diamonds has been bringing our readers Prospect Interviews over the past 3 years and this year we mixed up the questions and added some fun questions for our readers. Our questions are designed to give our readers a little more insight on the player. We hope to bring you more than 350 interviews of NFL Draft Prospects this season. You will be able to track them all on the front page of our website in the banner to the right.  Now let’s meet the prospect!!!!

What is your name?

Zachary Franklin

What is your Height/Weight?

6ft 195

What is your position?

Cornerback

Where do you play college football?

Washburn University

Football is about giving back, what is the coolest thing you have done off the field?

Talked to a group of high school seniors about the importance of school despite their upbringing.

What was the hardest college class you ever had to take?

Intro to Contracts

Where are you from?

Wichita Kansas

Who is your role model, and why?

My sister. She was always there for me and she worked hard to take care of herself.

Did you play any other sports growing up?

Track

Did you play any other positions in football?

Wide Receiver, Running back.

At your position, what separates you from others?

I’m a smart player. When I line up I already have a general idea of what is coming.

When you are breaking down film, what do you look for?  

First I determine whether this is a short pass or long pass team. Then I look at what each receiver does when he is given different leverages. If they have tendencies when running the routes or rise during their breaks. I check to see if they don’t like being touched and can consistently create space in press coverage. I also check if their route changes depending on what you give them. When I don’t look at receivers I study the quarterback and sees if he likes a certain side or receiver.

Who was the toughest player you ever faced?

A receiver named Copelin from Pitt State.

If you could compare your play to one player in the NFL who would it be and why?

Darrelle Revis. He is a silent assassin on the field. You don’t see him really talk trash or do any theatrics, he just lines up and does his job each play.

What was the biggest obstacle in your life you had to overcome, and how did you overcome it?

Learning how to take care of yourself. Although I am a student athlete I still have bills to pay and football doesn’t cover everything. So I always worked full time over the summer and part time throughout the spring. I had to actually learn how to pay bills, and keep everything in an organized manner just in case. And then when disputes came I had to be able to articulate myself well enough and argue why something was wrong and have evidence for such. Also with that I had to manage my time well enough to give both football and schoolwork the necessary amount of time needed to excel at both.

Do you have any pre-game rituals?

I always have Reeses before each game and listen to music.

What is your biggest strength?

My mind. If you are a smart player you won’t have to rely on your athletic ability as much.

What is your biggest weakness?

I’m too aggressive sometimes and put myself in bad positions.

If I were a GM and gave you a second to sell yourself, what would you say?

I will not be outworked. The beautiful thing about football is that you only have a limited number of opportunities to actually play the game and it won’t be cheated.   You only get out what you put in and for that reason you have to love the process. The running, the lifting, the months of preparation and getting better every day knowing that you are among the few in this world that get to play this game. Then if you are from a small school like myself you have to work that much harder just to get noticed. Already knowing that once you get noticed, they are going to question your level of competition. But football is football and one thing that they won’t be able to question is my work ethic.

Who was your favorite player and/or NFL team growing up?

Jerry Rice and the Colts

If you could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would you choose?

Darrelle Revis, Bill Gates, Jesus

What will be the first big item you buy once you are in the NFL?

Fix or move my family’s house.

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