 Hello everyone and welcome back to the fourth episode of Falcons in focus. I am joined by Michael Walker aka the pride of Fresno State as he's wearing his Fresno State football shirt. Also 2020 draft pick also starting inside linebacker. Also also I would say the person who has the most consistent hat game on this team. I do love your your hats your number three hats were those chance the rapper hats or like were those you're like you know what that's my number that's what I'm going to use. Definitely the number. I like chance the rapper too but it's really for the number. Okay that sounds good. Now I was you were recently mic'd up and I was watching your mic'd up and something that struck me as being very interesting and I've seen y'all do it do this a few times. It's your inside linebacker like huddle break where y'all slide and then you do a jump shot. How did that come to be. What's the story behind that. All right so the original break but I don't know. I can't touch on here but the original break. It's called a BMF you know bad mom you know so and but it also stood for Bo. Bo Mike and foe. So that's really where it came from you know so you know we do our little break we'd always break off of that. And so one day I'm just kind of messing around I just did like a slide with it. And they're like oh I kind of like that. So then they just kind of evolved and next year know we would like slide and then foyer thinks he's the next you know rage on rondo basketball player. So you know he had always like you know do a little jump shots of stuff so we're like oh I'm like well what if we just put it all together. So we'd always break off of that. We would slide and then you know act like we're doing a little jump shot. Nice. And that's just kind of where it came from. OK who's the best basketball player on the team right now currently. I mean I would normally I would say myself but looking at Drake you know probably Drake. Maybe if this is 2021 you know maybe it's you. Yeah that's definitely Drake. I've definitely seen his like 360 dunk. It's it's all over the Internet. So I'm glad that you actually brought up foyer because I think y'all's relationship was something that I loved witnessing while he was here now he's with Jacksonville and got that bank so good for him. But for you what was it like coming into this linebacker room in 2020 with foyer and Debo and and kind of who they were to you in that first year that you were here. Yeah I mean just my whole time been to leave those guys like my big brothers you know they took me in immediately. I mean Dan Quinn called me it was like yeah like you know we're looking for you to take his job you know we're looking for you to be the next starting linebacker here you know. And foyer like when I first got here because of COVID restrictions like he helped me you know train like he would take me with him to go train and stuff like that. Like he didn't care that I was here to try to beat him out like he wanted me to be the best I could be because he had that confidence in himself that doesn't matter how good I am he's going to start and that's something I took you know like no matter who it is I think I'm going to start without that confidence but I like those guys built that in me you know just just of how I saw them operate every day and I try to do the same that they did for me. Yeah it's funny because Fresno State Bulldog foyer I think also a Bulldog Yale as someone who's also a Bulldog Georgia Go Dogs DAWGS I'm sure you're going to say Fresno State is the superior DAWGS definitely yeah definitely I mean Yale is not I mean I didn't even know Yale was a Bulldog but at the end of the day you know Georgia they they got a good good case but you know Fresno State. So this is something that I get so I know the answer to this before I ask you but something that I get asked all the time by the fan base in general is why you spell your name the way that you do that is a question that I get asked all the time and they're like that's an interesting way to spell the name Michael so please tell people so that they can stop asking me please tell people why your name is spelled M-Y-K-A-L. So the reason why my name is spelled like that is because I have a twin brother and his name is spelled M-A-L-Y-K so you just take the words and move them around to spell M-Y-K-A-L or M-A-L-Y-K his name is Malik so it's Malik and Michael and that's why my name is spelled like that. Thank you everyone you've heard it here I do not have to repeat this I'll just play this clip back for everybody now I I love that you have a twin brother and please tell me. I don't know what's it what was it like growing up with with the twin because I have sisters but there are a few years apart from me so for you having someone a brother nonetheless kind of just go to going through life together was that experience like I mean it's amazing I think being a twin is like the best thing you could do in the world because like you're never by yourself you know we always you know we shared a room for the longest time I mean you learn the same things at the same time you place I mean even though you guys have different likes and stuff like that you guys are together 24-7 so I mean just much me and my twin brother couldn't be closer I mean call each other on the phone like six times a day so like we talk all the time you know we still we still hang out talking you know later in life we still want to live next to each other so I think just having a twin for me was so good because he just pushed me in different ways you know like he's super smart school and everything like that and obviously I'm here in the league so like you know we've just been battling and pushing each other our whole life. Yeah now is twin telepathy a real thing? I think when you're a baby you know because you know babies communicate and stuff I got my son now and he does some weird stuff but like I think when you're a baby they can communicate but I'm going to get older. You're two different people at this point okay I understand that. Did you guys get into trouble a lot? I mean you're two little boys like growing up with each other I'm sure you got into some some messes. Yeah all the time I mean when you're a twin and then somebody gets in trouble you both get in trouble so it doesn't matter who did it you're both getting in trouble. What's your favorite story from growing up and what's something funny that y'all used to do? Maybe you still do I mean heck y'all are in your 20s still still could be crazy. I mean they always separated us you know growing up at school we never got to we were never the twins in the same classroom. We never got to be in the same class so we never had like you know we didn't get to change you know we don't look alike but we did a little bit when we were younger. Yeah you know we never got to do like the little switcheroo or anything like that because we never were in the same class so just never worked out. I love it. Now it's really interesting because I think when I was sitting down to prep for this podcast something that just kept coming up all the questions that I wanted to ask you were the thought of like family was woven together through all of the questions that I wanted to ask. One of my favorite stories that I think you told it was like I think right after you'd gotten drafted to the Falcons and you were talking about your dad and you were playing Pop Warner and he told you then essentially like you're very special and I'm not just saying that because I'm your dad and then also you know he played at Fresno State he went to the league but he said to you when you're very very young I mean I'm literally reading it like you're going to make it further than I did. I mean to think back about one the influence that your dad had on you but also like what does this say about his like intuition because now I mean look at you now. Yeah I mean I think just as you know as he had multiple sons and stuff like that you can kind of see it you know sometimes some kids just have it you know and I think at a young age I just when it came to football like it was just my thing. That was just my thing I had I mean obviously I wasn't out there being on Sanders in 8th grade. We all did wish. Yeah you know I mean it's just something that he would always say to me you know and it just gave me that confidence to always go out there and try to be the best on the field at all times. I mean I really love that. And now you are a father which you know congratulations is he coming up on one year. Yeah so he'll be 10 months on the 8th. Okay. Oh wow. So how has that experience been I mean because you you become a father in the kind of the beginning middle of the year last year what was what was that day kind of like for you. Oh it was crazy. It was crazy so I actually went it was a Wednesday and so you know our first day of the practice for the week. I was up all night he came out in the morning and then it was like weird because you know they still kind of like COVID restrictions and stuff. Right. So like I was there for him to be born and then once he was there I basically only one person could stay in the hospital and if you stayed in there you had to stay for like three days. So I had to actually go home and her mom was staying with her so I really went to practice right after my son was born. I was about to say. I was like I don't remember because we always get like you know injury reports practice reports all that kind of stuff and it's all our Arthur Smith usually tells us like oh hey like Parker Hesse he just had his his daughter and you know that's why he's not here. But for you it was like I never remembered like you not being there. Yeah I really went to practice like right away like I just he was born I came to practice everything meeting said I'll just kind of lined up you know you practice in the afternoon. Right. I just came to practice and I'm going to tell you I was so out of it. They were just like Matt Matt and Bush like hey Mike come over here. You're OK to sit over here. It's fine. You've had a you've had a long a long day for you. What's it been like to to kind of enter into this part of your life and fatherhood and getting to kind of. I don't know like I know you talked about your father before and being like a role model for you. What's that like kind of now having a son on your own. It's incredible. You know I just come home like every day is a new day. You know when you have they've just experienced in life. You know he's so curious in life and he doesn't know anything. So like the little things he does it's just it makes you laugh and stuff like that. And you know when I get home from practice and I'm tired as soon as I walk through the door like he wants to see me. So I love him. That's nothing better than that. Yeah. Now is he a daddy's boy or mom. He is a mama's boy. True and true. As a daddy's girl I mean I kind of understand the whole separation and it makes sense. You know as much as as much as I feel sorry for you kind of makes sense. Now he actually is one of my and I was talking to Grady about this on our very first episode. But we one of my favorite parts of training camp this year is that families got to come for practice. I mean to be able to have him out there just kind of crawling around like what did that mean to you. It's just something I've always wanted. You know when you just when you're young and you think like I'm going to go to the league and everyone says you know I'm going to the league. You know you think I'm going to go to the league and my son's going to be out there with me. You know he's going to be wearing my jersey. It's just something I always wanted and like for it to actually happen sometimes. Like I mean sometimes I still wake up in the morning but I can't believe I'm in the NFL. Like sometimes I mean you know sometimes you just get hit with that. So just him being out there it meant so much to me. Yeah. Well was your welcome to the NFL moment. Oh yeah. Easy. I had I was you know I was playing defense and coverage and Julio Jones ran around and like in this coverage like I had to take him on a route and I was like there's no way that they expect me to take Julio. So I just like let him go. Did you really? I literally just let him go. I'm like there's no way I expect me to guard him. Did anyone say anything? Oh my God. I got ripped for so long. Because you know I knew what I had to do. Like you knew what you had to do. And I was like coach it doesn't even make sense for me to guard Julio. So just go ahead and send him on his way it's fine. Just keep just have him keep running. That's amazing. I love that. I always like asking people that question. Now we're going to wrap up here. But a little game that we play at the end of every Falcons in focus episode is we do a rapid fire round. It's five questions rapid fire and you can talk about them if you want to or we can just go boom boom boom. It's all up to you. So first question. Your favorite play as a Falcon. I feel like I know this answer. Is it the pick six? Definitely pick six. Definitely pick six. Cam Newton was my favorite football player ever. So that was definitely pick six. And that was the week that that was the same week that your son was born. That was crazy too. Like the fact also now knowing like that you were going off of no sleep like three days before is hilarious. All right. Last movie you saw. I want to well we watched devotion as a team. Was that cool. It was real cool. The movie right before that was Top Gun. So like right. Like they're good movies. Did you watch Top Gun on the way on the flight out to LA. I also did. I've watched it like five times. I think I've seen Top Gun three times. Three times. Yeah. I've seen it like once in theaters like twice in IMAX like now on the plane. Had to see the IMAX for sure. So good. Favorite restaurant. This is a hard one for me. I actually love Nacho Daddy right here. And so my favorite place was I found it in Vegas. My best friend was in Vegas for a long time. So like I always go there and he introduced me to Aaron. There's one right over here in Duluth and I go there all the time. Oh, that's awesome. I also like I think you're the first person that's had like a really specific answer like lined up when we talked to Grady. He was like, ah, and then he listed like seven Atlanta restaurants. And we're like, all right, everybody take notes. The Falcon that you spend the most time with? I mean, it was Foyer. Right. I mean, it would just be my linebackers, you know, my people. Yeah. It was Debo with Foyer. So now it's like my linebackers. Yeah. What's your favorite memory with Foyer in playing with him? He just, I mean, it had nothing to do with football. He's just, he's such a funny dude. Like, I mean, it's favorite rappers in LA. So like, I mean, like, he's just a guy that just, you know, he brightens the room. Yeah. Like, it just makes you, it makes you laugh. You know, long days, you just look at them and laugh at them all the time. Oh, I love it. Now, last one, and this is the one that catches a lot of people. Biggest pet peeve. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's hard. Also, the answers that we've gotten over the course of so far this series has been very different. Everybody has very different pet peeves, which I think is fun. I think my biggest pet peeve is like, if I ask a question and then someone goes like, like, I'll say like, like, for instance, this just happened to me. I was like, oh, like, I forgot. I took my dog to the vet. I forgot the leash. And then the response was, how did you forget that? Like, it's like, I just did. Like, I walked out the door. I didn't have it in my hand. Because it's like my biggest pet peeve. Just like, simple answers like that just bothers me. It's like, come on now. This is an obvious answer. I just forgot it. Yeah. All of it. Yeah, that's the biggest pet peeve. Oh my gosh. Well, that's all that we have time for. But thank you so much for joining me and letting everybody get to know you a little bit more. I really appreciate it. No problem. This was fun. Thank you for having me.