Updated: August 1st, 2014 7:37am
By: Daniel House
Scott Crichton isn't afraid to get after the quarterback, in fact, he doesn't know how to do anything different. The Vikings drafted Scott Crichton out of Oregon State in the third round of the 2014 NFL draft. Crichton, a player who had first or second round grades on some draft boards, platooned to the Vikings third round selection in May. Mike Zimmer is salivating at the thought of having an athletic specimen like Crichton as a rotational piece on his defensive line. Crichton is excited to take his talents to the field for the Vikings, but everything seems very surreal at this point.
"It's just unbelievable, it's just unbelievable man," Crichton beamed.
Crichton has been working extremely hard and during my interview with him, offensive tackle Antonio Richardson interrupted him to call him a 'baller.'
"I've just been working hard, we're all balling right now. I'm blessed, I can't complain," Crichton smiled.
Crichton is looking forward to playing in Mike Zimmer's system and he loves seeing his head coach get involved with the defense. He knows the defensive pedigree Mike Zimmer has established and he wants to soak in all the information he can from his head coach.
"Mike Zimmer is a genius; a defensive genius. Hearing him coach us in the meetings is just unbelievable. I've been paying attention to him and he knows a lot, so we've got to definitely listen to him. It's a different scheme from what I played in college, but I think I will adjust pretty quickly," Crichton explained.
I asked Crichton about entering the game on third-down and rotating in to rush the passer on a frequent basis. He is very willing to rush the passer on any down and he will be ready to be inserted into the game at a moments notice. His ultimate goal is to be playing with the Vikings in February this season.
"I'm down for whatever, first-down, second-down, third-down, I just want to contribute to the team and help this team get to that Super Bowl," Crichton said.
Scott Crichton has had the luxury to work with defensive line coach Andre Patterson and is working towards making the transition from college football to the professional level. He knows the learning curve is steep at this point, but he is filtering all the information and is trying to bring it onto the field for each practice.
"[Andre Patterson] is an unbelievable coach, him and Coach Akey, they have been teaching me everything that I need to know. I'm slow on the learning curve right now, but I think I'll be good," Crichton added.
The biggest difference for Crichton has been the level of competition at the NFL level. He knows that every player is going to be a competitor and that it will take hard work and determination to reach the top in this league.
"Just the competition level, everyone's good, it's the NFL, the NFL is the best of the best. I guess the competition above everything is the biggest difference," Crichton concluded.
The audio version of this interview is available below:
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