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Cameron Fleming Conference Call Transcript

New England Patriots OL Cameron Fleming addresses the media during his draft day conference call on Saturday, May 10, 2014.

Q: What are your main strengths coming out of Stanford and what are some things you think you can get better at?

CF: I couldn't really tell you right now. That's for the coaches to decide – what I need to work on and what I'm good at. I'm going to go in there and work. That's all I can really give you.

Q: What were your initial thoughts when the Patriots took you?

CF: I was excited. I was excited to play for such a great organization. I was very happy to be chosen by them.

Q: What kind of pre-draft contact did you have with the Patriots if anything?

CF: Honestly, I can't really tell you. I'm not completely sure what happened. There was just so much going on – the Combine, Pro Day, pre-draft calls, all that. They might have called me and asked for my confirmation number but that's [inaudible] I'm going to tell you.

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Q:** The Patriots have two very good offensive tackles. Have you played inside at all? Have they articulated to you that you might be moving around the offensive line?

CF: I haven't heard anything so far. I'm going to go there and play wherever they put me and learn from these guys. You said they have two great tackles. I know they do. Just to get a chance to learn from them and see what the NFL is all about.

Q: Have you played any guard at all?

CF: I think I took a couple reps at Stanford as a joke.

Q: Did any team talk to you about being a guard during the draft process?

CF: I think it's just you all – just the media has been asking me about that. I think all the teams just wanted to get their players in there and figure out the rest from there.

Q: You probably won't talk much to Matt Patricia but he is also a rocket scientist. When two rocket scientists are in the same room, what do they talk about?

CF: We'd probably just nerd out a little bit. Talk about whatever new planes – I'm a big plane guy. The astronautics I like a lot but I'm more interested in planes and jet planes and things like. If he's into that, we can just talk all day.

Q: If not for football, what was your backup plan?

CF: Probably to go work hopefully at some private contractor or something like that – try to use the other side of my brain, not the football part if I wasn't fortunate enough to be with the Patriots.

Q: You graduated early, is that accurate? Can you bring me through the timeline?

CF: I do not have my degree quite yet; I get it in about a month. I could have come back for a fifth year. This is my fourth year; I've been there for four years. I did redshirt my freshman year though.

Q: Did you work out at all with Patriots Coach Dave DeGuglielmo?

CF: I did not.

Q: Are you familiar with anyone on the team or any of the offensive linemen?

CF: I know there's been a couple of Stanford offensive linemen that have gone to the Patriots. Will Svitek had some time there and Matt Kopa maybe a little bit of time there. Also, Marcus Cannon, he was a guy who actually recruited me to TCU when I was committed to TCU. He was my recruiting host back then, way back when.

Q: Did any of those guys give you advice on the draft process?

CF: I didn't really talk to any of those guys because I've got some guys closer to my age with Jonathan Martin and Dave DeCastro. They told me what it's all about and what I needed to do to succeed which is basically work hard and keep your head down and grind – basically do what we did at Stanford except with an opportunity to get a little more football in because there's no school.

Q: What do you think would be harder: becoming a rocket scientist or astronaut or being successful in the NFL?

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With the 140th overall pick(4th round) of the 2014 NFL Draft the Patriots selected offensive tackle Cameron Fleming from Stanford.

CF:** I don't think either one is harder than the other one. If I was going to go down that path then I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to try to be the best rocket scientist. I can't be an astronaut, I'm too tall. I'm actually an inch too tall. But if I was going to go down that route I would have given it my all. Now I'm going down the NFL route and playing with the Patriots and I'm just going to give it my all. I don't think there's any one that's more difficult than the other.

Q: Why is being too tall a bad thing for astronauts?

CF: You have to sit in the plane. Have you seen a seven-foot person in the cockpit?

Q: I've never been in a cockpit so I've never seen one in a cockpit.

CF: Space and weight. We can get into the details if you'd like. I can drop a couple equations.

Q: Your coach, David Shaw, was on the NFL Network as you were being drafted. He said no one could get past you. Can you give us some insight on your experience and whether or not that's true?

CF: My experience is we have some coaches at Stanford. As you know, we have Coach [Jim] Harbaugh who is in the NFL now and Coach Shaw could probably go there anytime he wanted. We have some great O-line coaches as well, [former Offensive Line Coach] Tim Drevno and [Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator] Mike Bloomgren and I think they all taught me well. They each brought something different to the table. They drove me. As far as nobody getting past me, I tried to make it a point for nobody to get past me. That's kind of the point of offensive line play. I just did my best out there and it happened to work out well for me a couple times.

Q: Stanford has a lot of offensive line prospects get drafted in the past few years. What is it about the program that helps offensive linemen develop into NFL prospects?

CF: I think it's just the environment over here. At some schools, it's all about football, some schools it's all about school. We're about school and football. The thing that is important in the NFL is balance, to be able to control your life so you can focus all on football. I think that's something really important that Stanford teaches you because the school is so rigorous and we play such tough football. That's not even to mention the pro-style of football we play. We put in a whole bunch of plays, probably more plays than anybody else in college football and a lot of audibles and a lot of things you have to remember and I think that just helps prepare for the rigors of the NFL.

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