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Q: Hello, Rohan. How's everything?
RD: Everything's great. It's wonderful right now. Wonderful.
Q: Did you have a difficult Saturday night wondering what might happen to you today?
RD: Oh yeah, definitely. Not difficult, but just anxious.
Q: Had the Patriots had any conversations with you in the last few weeks?
RD: Coach [Charlie Weis] came down and worked me out and I had a good workout with him and I sat down and talked to him really well. I had a good feeling that if I was there and available that they would use the opportunity to take me.
Q: Which coach, Rohan?
RD: Coach Weis.
Q: I had read something that you showed up at the Senior Bowl a little bit overweight. Do you see your weight as any kind of a problem coming into the pros?
RD: No. I don't see it as an issue. I went into the Senior Bowl and that was right after the Sugar Bowl and I had injured my ribs and wasn't able to work out the way I wanted to. After I came back from the Senior Bowl going into the combine, I went into the combine at 240 or 242. That was a big improvement from when I was at the Senior Bowl and was like 252. So I don't see it being a problem at all and just coming in and being dedicated to what I'm doing, every time you take a step up, from high school to college and from college to the pros, your maturity level has to be increasing.
Q: You come into a situation where there's one Pro Bowl quarterback and another who has kind of an uncertain destination. Do you look at this as a difficult opportunity since there are three guys who are proven NFL players or is it an opportunity for you to learn from them?
RD: I look at it as an opportunity for me to come in and learn from both of those guys and also from my coaches and teammates around me. You have a guy who won a Super Bowl and a Super Bowl MVP and then you have a quarterback in Drew Bledsoe who's done it over the course of many years. All of them have the experience and all of them have the know how. I'm just looking to come in and work hard and do everything I can possibly do to fit in to the team and to help the chemistry.
Q: You were born in Jamaica.
RD: Yes sir.
Q: And you came to this country when?
RD: I came here when I was eight years old.
Q: So did you take up football late?
RD: Yeah, I started playing football my sophomore year in high school.
Q: Were you a quarterback then?
RD: A quarterback and a safety.
Q: what do you see as the strengths and the weaknesses of your game?
RD: I think my strengths are already noticeable as far as my leadership ability and the ability to make plays and the ability to learn and take it from the classroom to the field and from the field back to the classroom. The only fact that's been knocking me is that I've only played one full season of football. You can look at that as either a strength or a weakness. If you look at it as a weakness then I don't have the experience and I'm "inexperienced". But if you look at it as a positive, I'm like a sponge. I'm soaking up everything and I'm coming from some good coaching. I have good coaches. Everything that I'm learning, it's not like I'm saying that I know that already. I'm soaking it up because I haven't played the game for a long time and I'm willing to come in and learn everything I can.
Q: So what made you come out a year early?
RD: Who, me? I didn't come out early.
**Q: Oh, I'm sorry.
Q: You've been compared to Daunte Culpepper. I'm not sure if that's just a byproduct of you guys both being bigger quarterbacks, but is he a guy whose game you emulate or are there any guys out there who you would compare yourself to?
RD: I've never patterned my game after anybody else. But a few players who I do like in the NFL are Donovan McNabb and Rich Gannon. Those guys play hard and give everything they have every time they play. No matter what needs to be done, they make the plays that are necessary to win the football game, so that's who I would like to characterize myself as.
Q: Did you follow the Patriots' Super Bowl run at all?
RD: Yeah, I was down at the Super Bowl.
Q: What did you think of the story of the team, how they came out of nowhere to win it all?
RD: When the Patriots were playing in that game against the Raiders in the snow, there was a catch against the sideline where the ball was tipped by a receiver and the tight end ended up catching it falling out of bounds on a third down. When that play happened, we were sitting around watching the football game and I was cheering for the Patriots because I worked out with Tom Shaw, who was a trainer for the Patriots and Kevin [Faulk, also from LSU], of course I was rooting for him. When that happened I said, "Man, Kevin's going to be back home playing in the Super Bowl." It was kind of destiny the way things were going,
Q: Did you actually go to the game?
RD: No, I didn't actually go to the Super Bowl. I had tickets, but I'd rather watch it on television.
Q: How are you at playing in the snow?
RD: It doesn't matter what the conditions are because the conditions are the same for your opponent.
Q: As a guy who played in the SEC and is a recognized leader, you're coming into a situation where there's at least one quarterback, maybe two, who are probably ahead of you on the depth chart. Does it make it more difficult coming into a situation knowing that it might take a while?
RD: No, that doesn't make it difficult for me. I'm going to come in and soak up everything that the coaches teach me and I'm going to learn from Mr. Brady and Mr. Bledsoe and everybody else. If I just happen to be thrown into a spot where I have to play or need to produce, then that's what I'm there to do. So I don't look at it as difficult at all. I look at it as a positive because I'll get to learn from those guys.
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