Patriots draft pick Taylor Price speaks to the New England Media via conference call on Friday April 23, 2010 .
Q: What are your thoughts on joining the Patriots?
TP: Excitement. I couldn't ask for anything more. [It's] a great organization and I'm just happy it happened today and happy I got the phone call. I can't wait to play some football and make the most of the opportunity.
Q: Did you have any idea of the Patriots' interest?
TP: I did. I worked out with them earlier in the month. I thought it went very well, so I took from it what I was supposed to take from it. I knew there was a possibility of them drafting a receiver and so I was just hoping that it could be me.
Q: What were your expectations heading into the draft and when did you think you might go?
TP: Today – Friday – anywhere in the second or third round. It didn't happen in the second round, but I stayed patient and I knew it was going to happen eventually, so I just waited around for the call. When I got the call, like I said, I was relieved and so excited. This means so much to me and to the people that have supported me and my family who are here celebrating it with me, so we're all happy.
Q: Did you work out here or in Ohio?
TP: In Ohio – in Columbus.
Q: I was reading an article about you that said you appreciated the big-time atmosphere of the Senior Bowl with all of the fans there. This will be a slightly bigger atmosphere. I know you didn't play in a big-time college atmosphere, so what do you think this will be like and are you looking forward to that aspect of it?
TP: Yeah, I think I always have. The NFL is the best you can get and so once you step in and you're a part of the NFL and what they're a part of, you've got to be ready to go. I think I stepped up at OU [Ohio University] when we played bigger opponents – Ohio State, Tennessee, and some other bigger, big-time opponents. You've just got to live off the crowd. You've got to feed off their energy, and when it comes down to it, you've just got to play your game. You've got to be focused and you've got to be on your game and just do your job to the best.
Q: You played in a mostly run-first offense. How much were you utilized and if you weren't used as much as you could have been, were you worried about not getting noticed?
TP: Being the X receiver, I was the No. 1 receiver, so they did try to get me the ball as much as they could. We started from the option when I first got there as a freshman, and it evolved every single year into more spread , into a spread option and then into a spread option with some passes in it, so it's evolved every year. I think we just didn't get [enough] consistent play out of some of the positions on the team to really make our offense go, but it's evolving. Coach [Frank] Solich has done a great job there and he's continuing to put Ohio [University] on the map.
Q: Who else did you work out for?
TP: The New England Patriots were the only team.
Q: Did that disappoint you in any way?
TP: Yeah, I thought about it. I talked to my agent about it and basically what we thought was that I went to the Combine, I preformed at the Combine, did everything at the Combine. I went to the Senior Bowl, did everything at the Senior Bowl, practiced all week and played in the game, so there were a lot of opportunities for teams and scouts to get an eye on me and watch me play and interview me and talk to me, so I didn't take it as a negative. I just took it as I was and I just made the most of my one workout that I had.
Q: Do you consider yourself a fast learner, because it sounds like there is going to be a big jump in the play book coming from a run-first offense to a pretty complex NFL scheme here?
TP: Yeah, I think I'm pretty coachable. I can be coached on the run. I've had one of the best receiver coaches in the country coach me the past three years in Dwayne Dixon. He coached a lot of good receivers at Florida and N.C. State, and he played some ball himself, so he's really taught me a lot. He's been there mentoring me, talking to me, just showing me what I should expect. So I think he's done a great job – him and coach Solich have done a great job of preparing me as much as they could for the next level.
Q: What do you think about coming in and working with Randy Moss, Torry Holt and eventually Wes Welker?
TP: They're veterans. You've got to learn from the veterans and those are guys you look up to. You walk in the locker room and you've got to just do anything you can to learn anything off them that you can. They've been around for so long and had so much success, so you just try to learn as much off them as possible.
Q: The NFL is obviously a fast league and you basically have 'wow' speed. Is that something that you've always had?
TP: Yeah, it's always been natural. The speed has always been natural. Catching, running, the hand-eye coordination has been there. I was a baseball player growing up, so the hand-eye coordination was there playing outfield and lead-off batter. So yeah, I think it's going to make it a little bit easier for me to translate into the NFL, being that I do have good speed. So I don't think the speed will be too big of an adjustment, but it certainly will be [an adjustment].
Q: Are there any receivers you have kind of modeled yourself after?
TP: There are. Different receivers have different qualities that kind of make up what I have. I like Greg Jennings form the Packers. He does a great job. That's kind of who I look up to myself. He has a lot of great qualities – smart, fast, he plays the game well, comes from a MAC school. He has a lot of the qualities that I think I have, but we're all different and so we bring to the game a different set of qualities than everybody else.
Q: I read that you're a hard worker and very diligent. Where do those traits come from?
TP: Self discipline. I knew football was what I wanted to do, so I wasn't going to let anything deter me from that path – hoping to get to the NFL draft, and so I did everything I could all through high school and all through college to make sure that I didn't have any regrets and got the most out of everything I did. So seeing this opportunity in front of me is a payoff for that hard work.
Q: You didn't play baseball in college did you?
TP: No, just high school.
