Holding a degree from one of the most renowned academic institutions in the world, Jacob Sykes will have no issue landing a job after football in the future. But as he climbs the depth chart with the Seattle Seahawks, he has other plans in mind in the present.
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00:00 I've been really excited to talk to you.
00:01 I used to teach AP Economics before I got into reporting,
00:05 and then I saw Harvard in your background,
00:07 and then applied mathematics.
00:09 So I want to talk about that first.
00:11 The experience of playing at an Ivy League school,
00:14 where obviously football is kind of on the back burner
00:17 compared to, say, what you're doing in the classroom.
00:20 - Yeah, so I mean, I had the wonderful opportunity
00:22 to go to Harvard University for football.
00:24 You know, we like to think of it as
00:25 that you're going all in on football
00:26 when you're at the football facility,
00:28 and then outside of that, you're going all in on school.
00:30 So like you said, I got a degree
00:31 in Applied Mathematics and Economics.
00:34 Was very happy with that degree, you know,
00:36 worked hard for it, and hopefully it shows up in the future.
00:39 - Why Applied Mathematics and Economics?
00:41 I guess I didn't know you had an economics background,
00:43 so now I'm extremely intrigued by it.
00:45 - I did Applied Mathematics and Economics.
00:47 One, actually, I started off in computer science.
00:49 And the computer science course, although it was fun,
00:53 there was two classes that I have to take concurrently,
00:55 in-season, and I didn't want to do that
00:57 because I take like 24 hours a week.
01:00 So I switched to, so I always loved math
01:03 since I was a little kid.
01:05 I went to Applied Mathematics and Economics
01:06 was a field that I think that like is booming right now,
01:09 and you know, you can get some lucrative opportunities in,
01:11 and also like you can kind of have control
01:14 over your career path.
01:16 So I decided to get that in my second year.
01:18 - So you were at Harvard,
01:19 and then you go all the way out to UCLA.
01:23 That had to be a little bit of a culture shock at first,
01:26 making that transition.
01:27 - Yeah, it was a little different.
01:28 I mean, already I'm from Kansas City, Missouri,
01:30 so I'm in the middle of the country.
01:31 For first college, I go to the East Coast,
01:34 and second college I go to the West Coast,
01:35 so I just kind of--
01:36 - You've been everywhere.
01:37 - Yeah, I learned to kind of adapt and overcome,
01:39 and kind of assimilate into different cultures,
01:42 and figure out from there.
01:44 - What was the biggest lesson that you learned playing
01:46 at UCLA, 'cause that's obviously a big jump
01:48 going from Ivy League.
01:49 There's been other Harvard players
01:50 that have gotten chances in the NFL.
01:51 Let's see all the different players from there,
01:52 but it's a different animal when you're playing
01:55 in a Power Five conference.
01:57 - Yeah, I would say outworking people is invaluable.
02:01 A lot of guys are gonna have more talent than you.
02:04 A lot of guys are gonna be more innately gifted than you,
02:08 but it seems like, and Coach Carroll talks about this
02:10 all the time, but people who keep working consistently
02:13 every day, day in and day out,
02:14 they somehow find a way to stay around.
02:17 - How did playing in a program with somebody
02:19 that has coached, has a head coach in the NFL, Chip Kelly,
02:22 how did that prepare you for this experience,
02:24 especially if you were coming from Harvard and playing here?
02:28 I would think that that would be
02:29 a significantly different experience for you.
02:32 - Yeah, absolutely.
02:33 It was phenomenal.
02:34 His background, his expertise,
02:36 just knowing how to train athletes,
02:38 knowing, getting on a NFL routine,
02:41 learning how to take care of your body,
02:43 all this stuff is invaluable to you
02:44 when you go to the next level.
02:46 - How'd you feel about the way you played
02:47 in your first preseason game?
02:49 I had a 22% pressure rate from you in that game.
02:52 How'd you feel about it?
02:54 - I felt like I had a lot of room for improvement.
02:56 Obviously, I hold myself to high standards.
02:59 I wanna be the best all the time.
03:01 Everyone should go on the field thinking
03:02 that they're the best player on the field at that time.
03:05 I saw a lot of areas where I can improve in.
03:07 Some things I did good, but I try to focus on
03:09 how I can do better for the next game.
03:11 That game's kind of behind me now,
03:12 and I just wanna put all my attention
03:14 on being the best version of myself in the first game.
03:15 - So what were you not pleased with
03:17 with your performance in that game,
03:19 in particular, when you jumped out to you?
03:21 - Just a lot of different areas.
03:24 I wanna make every play that comes to me.
03:26 I don't wanna play outside of my frame,
03:30 but I wanna make sure that I dominate
03:32 everything that is close to me.
03:33 So everything that I can control, I wanna control.
03:36 - How does the role that they have you playing
03:37 in the defensive line compare to what you did
03:40 in UCLA and Harvard?
03:41 And I'm not sure I haven't seen any Harvard,
03:44 all 22 I've been trying to get my hands on it,
03:46 but I did see some of your UCLA tapes.
03:47 So how does it compare to what the Seahawks were asking you?
03:50 - Yeah, it's very similar.
03:52 I like to, I'm confident in my versatility
03:55 that I can play kind of everywhere on the line.
03:57 And kind of all the teams that I've been on so far
04:01 have complimented me with that, which is really good.
04:03 So I can kind of play anywhere from shade
04:05 to three to four to five to whatever.
04:08 It's more just like, whenever you're in,
04:11 you go in, you play hard,
04:12 and you handle that job assignment.
04:14 You go back in, handle that next job assignment.
04:16 - What's the toughest adjustment
04:17 that you've had to make coming to the NFL,
04:19 going against offensive line
04:21 and playing all those multiple positions?
04:23 - That's a good question.
04:27 Maybe just kind of the tricks of the trade,
04:32 if that makes sense.
04:33 The technique here is, takes a step up from college.
04:36 You know, everybody's savvy in their technique.
04:38 Everybody knows what they're doing.
04:40 And just understanding that they know what they're doing,
04:42 and they're gonna try to show you things
04:43 that you haven't seen before
04:44 and that you have to be ready for is kind of what it is.
04:48 - I'm gonna finish off with this.
04:49 What has it been like getting to play with
04:51 Jaren Reed and Draymond Jones,
04:53 two guys that are not necessarily
04:55 the big bodied guys in the middle,
04:57 but they have the athleticism.
04:59 They play with similar styles to you.
05:01 How has that benefited you,
05:02 having players that have been in the league for a long time?
05:05 - It's invaluable, you know, seeing them every day,
05:07 seeing how they move, how they operate.
05:09 It's like a free class
05:10 of how to be the best version of me every day.
05:13 So I try to take everything they say to heart
05:15 and take everything they say as like an extension of myself
05:18 and kind of learn how to play like them and continue the legacy.
05:21 Yeah, I know you love them.