Despite size, Puka Nacua modeled his game after Julio Jones
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00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, I have the rookie sensation. I have Puka Nakua with me right now.
00:06 We are with Sports Illustrated, so check this out.
00:09 You set an NFL record for most receptions and receiving yards as a rookie.
00:16 Last year, this time, when you were training, getting ready for the draft,
00:21 what did you have envisioned this moment?
00:23 No, I feel like you always dream of the sweet moments you dream of yourselves having so much success,
00:29 but I could never imagine it like this.
00:31 Okay, so we were talking a little bit off camera, talking about how your body feels going through your first season,
00:37 going from college, playing 11, maybe 12 games, to going to the league, doing OTAs,
00:43 doing the extra rookie mini camp, doing training camp, and then playing 17 games now.
00:49 How does the body feel and how did you manage that?
00:51 The body is actually together, luckily. I'm all in one piece, so I'm blessed.
00:56 18 weeks seemed like it couldn't go by any slower, each week going through it.
01:01 The sauna, the cold tub, and then hydration, we realized that when you go out there and practice,
01:06 the soft tissue stuff, trying to avoid some of the things that you can control, and then sleep.
01:13 Those four things were probably stained to the front of my brain.
01:19 As soon as Sunday is over, sauna, cold tub, sleep, and hydrate. Rinse and repeat.
01:25 As a receiver, myself, looking at your game, super smooth, great routes, good footwork, catch the ball with your hands.
01:33 Who was a guy that you modeled your game after as you were coming up?
01:37 I love watching Julio Jones. I didn't really grow until later in my high school years,
01:43 but somebody who had that size and could break down like a little guy and could run every route,
01:48 and had the ability to draw the defense.
01:51 I was a little young when Matthew Stafford was slinging it to Calvin Johnson,
01:55 and they had three guys lined up on him, but watching Julio Jones was one of my favorite things to do.
02:00 Let's talk about that for a minute. You talked about how you were much younger when Matthew Stafford got into the league.
02:06 How was that for you as a rookie? I remember me, my first preseason game, we played against the Dallas Cowboys,
02:12 I was playing for the Raiders, Tony Romo walks out of the locker room at the same time I walked out,
02:17 and I was like, "Oh, shoot, this is really here." So talk about that.
02:21 It was surreal. I got a text right after OTAs, like, "Hey, Matthew wants you to come throw routes,"
02:29 and I just remember like, "Wait, for real? For real? He wants me to be out there? No coaches?
02:34 No, he asked for me to just come out there?" I just remember thinking, like, "Don't mess up. Don't drop no ball.
02:41 You better run your best routes today." I must have worked out because the connection started from that day on
02:47 and that confidence and that relationship being able to grow. He's a lot funnier than people might know.
02:52 He's pretty quiet, not too big on social media, but he's one of the top funny guys on our team for sure.
02:58 About Matt, he's been around for a while. What kind of advice did he give you this year getting through the season?
03:03 To find a way to maintain your confidence. I think any Sunday you can go out there
03:09 and every team is a great team, so you never know how it's going to play out on Sunday.
03:13 But finding a way to, I guess in your routine, to keep that confidence going because it's hard.
03:19 Guys lose their confidence and everything kind of starts to go the way, but when you're confident,
03:23 just sticking to that process allows you to kind of succeed.
03:26 All right, tell us about your partnership with Pepsi Zero Sugar.
03:29 Pepsi got me with the Wild Chair and you see me dripped up in the gear over here.
03:33 I've been waiting to hopefully, the Rams fans have been voting for your boy,
03:38 but everybody who's voting for the Pepsi award, I got four of those little rookie belts that they handed out during the year.
03:42 I don't know if anybody else has one of those. I know CJ does it, that's for sure.
03:45 But hopefully I could add a new little trophy at the top of those four belts. So we'll see.
03:50 Who you got winning the Super Bowl? I got the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl.
03:52 You know I couldn't go for the 49ers. I can't go, we can't go Niners.
03:55 We don't rock with the Niners. Puka, Nicole, appreciate it.
03:57 Keep doing your thing, bro. Appreciate you.
03:59 [WHOOSH]