Husain Abdullah Interview
by Nick Ironside
Nick Ironside talks to the former Washington State safety who is eager to get his shot to play in the NFL.
Nick Ironside: Where do you think you’ll go in the draft?
Husain Abdullah: I have no clue where or if I get drafted. I’d be excited whichever team decides to take me, any team that gives me a call and wants to bring me to camp, but yeah, I don’t have a clue if I’ll get drafted.
NI: What would you say to teams to make them want to draft you?
HA: If people watch my tape from my Pro Day, they’ll see the technique I have, the way I study the game, how I can affect games, how I can make plays on the ball and make big plays when big plays are needed to be made. I have no kinds of trouble off the field, nothing like that. I’m a student of the game - just everything teams will be looking for in a football player.
NI: Do you have cover-2 experience as a safety?
HA: Yea, we had a lot of cover-2 at Washington State.
NI: And which defense are you most comfortable in?
HA: Whatever the coach calls; it can be a cover-2, cover-3, cover-4, zone coverage, four half cover-2 - it doesn’t matter. Whatever I have to do, I’ll do it.
NI: How can you contribute as a rookie to an NFL team?
HA: I can help out a lot on special teams. Special teams are a key part of the game. And I can come in on defense. If they want me to be a guy that just comes in on special teams, a guy that comes in on nickel and dime situations, I can do that. Just try to go in there, play football, and just be a leader by example.
NI: And how do you think you stack up with the other safeties in the draft?
HA: I haven’t gotten the chance to watch the majority of them - but I met a lot of them down at the Combine, and they were pretty good. But I’m not really worried about what they do, because I didn’t really have a chance to watch them - so I’ve just got to focus on me, on the things I can get better at.
NI: How do you think the transition will go from college to the NFL?
HA: I think it’ll go pretty great, after seeing the recent history of defensive backs from Washington State going to the NFL, and at a time of need I had a lot of them to lean on, and they’ve already given me a lot of advice, and so has my brother. They’ve done it, and people before them have done it, so we just all stick together. The transition should go pretty well, because I’ve had so many different advisors to help me out.
NI: What are your strengths at safety, and what do you need to work on?
HA: Making the transition that you were saying; going from college to the NFL. I’m working on everything, because the receivers are bigger, the running backs are bigger, the linemen are bigger - everything happens a lot faster. The quarterback has a lot to go on. Just everything - learning my plays, technique, getting jumps on the quarterback, combination routes, checking on people - I feel like I should be working on everything.
NI: What do you think your best college game ever was personally?
HA: I would say my most memorable game would be the very first time I played. I was a redshirt freshman, and my brother was a senior. We went down to New Mexico, and it was the first time I got to play organized football with my brother - we were on the same team. In that game, in the fourth quarter I had an interception, a fumble recovery, I had two or three tackles in every quarter of the game, and we made a few stops at the end of the game, so it was fun to play with my brother, and it was fun to play in my first college game and it was nationally broadcasted. So that was real memorable for me.
NI: And what do you want to do in life after football?
HA: I want to go back to school and get my Master’s degree in education, and I want to become an academic advisor, at high schools, so I can help students and at least give them better opportunities than I had. My high school had to get to a college, sports related or not sports related. And also doing what I love, I want to be a football coach - a high school football coach, or college because I love the game of football and I just want to be around it.