Being in the position that we are in, to be able to pick a player of this ability, Hakeem Nicks is a guy that averaged 18 yards a reception his senior year. He's got outstanding hands, big hands, long arms. Goes over the middle, catches the ball. If you saw the West Virginia game, there are two spectacular plays in that game that he makes. One is on a tipped ball. Long touchdowns, 217 yards of receptions that day. He's a big strong receiver, a little more that 6 foot, 210-212. He had a hamstring injury as you know coming out of the combine. He was not able to run in his pro day. I just spoke with him and he says he feels good now. He feels good again. So, I think he's pretty much ready to go. We're excited to have the opportunity to have this quality receiver in. It's obviously a position of need. We weren't going to reach to take a player. If the player that we wanted at the receiver position wasn't there, we were prepared to go elsewhere. There was no moving back for us because Tennessee took Kenny Britt right behind us. So, you know that they were in the market for a receiver as well
Q: Usually rookie receivers don't make a huge impact right away. Do you think that maybe he could do that?
A: Well you certainly have to hope that he can. He is certainly going to have the opportunity. We've got some guys here that we're looking forward to as well. So I don't think he has to do anything except be a very good solid football player, learn as fast as he can. Certainly we are going to expect him to learn the offense and play the game at the high level that he's played it throughout his collegiate career. As a freshman, he averaged 16 yards per reception. So he's got those numbers. I think the real idea is that he comes in, he learns the offense, he gets an opportunity to compete with the good players that we have here. Through that experience we're going to get the best out of that position.
Q: A lot of people think he's the next Plax. Is that putting too much on the kid?
A: I think that is. He is his own man. We're not into the comparison between players. I think we've got to give Hakeem an opportunity to come in here. His ability level is very high. Let's let him be who he is. I think he'll do very well.
Q: Do you have an idea of where he could play, what kind of role, and if he could play a couple of different spots?
A: He's learned to play all of the positions at North Carolina. I don't think that will be an issue.
Q: What kind of guy is he, personality-wise?
A: He's a little bit on the quiet side. But, he's the first one in line and he's been that way as far as his position is concerned at North Carolina. I think you'll like him.
Q: I know you didn't want to reach for a wide receiver with a trade, but with the way the draft was breaking did you started to get a little worried that your wide receiver might not be there for you at 29.
A: That was a distinct possibility. Probably from 20 down that could've been something that happened. Fortunately, it didn't. We were very much aware that there were a lot of phone call type things going on in the room, none of which materialized because some were opportunities for us to trade back, which we nixed.
Q: Your concern now is next year, not 5 years from now. Is it difficult to not have a veteran No. 1 wide receiver for next year?
A: Our concern is what's best for our team. All of those things didn't materialize the way some of this has been conjectured beforehand. I'm not concerned about that as much as I am the fact that let's take the opportunity right now to recognize we did draft a very good collegiate receiver, a young, young receiver who's got an exceptional body. As I said, he's made a lot of plays in college. Let's bring him in here and get him ready to go and compete with the guys we have.
