Washington senior defensive lineman Sebastian Valdez speaks during spring camp about his decision to transfer to Washington.
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00:00I'm stealing that decision to stay here.
00:01Yeah, it was a hard decision for sure.
00:03A lot of confusion at first, but you trust these guys.
00:06You trust the guys you came in with, and ultimately, I
00:10thought the new staff was going to develop me and become
00:12the player I wanted to be.
00:13And ultimately, it just comes to trust.
00:15So I thought from the bottom of my heart
00:17that this was the best decision.
00:19So I just stood with it and stayed here.
00:21When you entered the portal back in December,
00:24how many offers did you have coming out?
00:27I want to say 15 plus.
00:28OK.
00:29Can you name some of them off the top of your head?
00:31Yeah, I had Cal, I had Oregon State, Miami,
00:37just those type of schools.
00:39But I really wanted to stay on the West Coast,
00:41especially because my family's from California.
00:43So I think Washington was the best fit.
00:45Were there any of those schools who were talking,
00:47like big NIL money to come play there?
00:51Some, somewhere, but that wasn't the ultimate decision.
00:56What were you looking for?
00:58I wanted to go to a coach and a team that was well-developed
01:01and was ultimately going to get me to the next level.
01:04Dirk called you the strongest guy in his football team.
01:07What are you benched?
01:09I don't know, like 405, I'd say.
01:10Yeah, that's Gar.
01:12Gar is the strongest guy here.
01:13Oh, he is?
01:14Yeah.
01:14OK.
01:16What's been the biggest adjustment from group five
01:18level now moving up into the power four?
01:20Yeah, I'd say how fast everything moves,
01:22just the play on the field, just all the exercises we do.
01:27There's not a big difference yet,
01:28but I know as soon as I step on the field in the Big 10,
01:32there will be.
01:33But ultimately, at the end of the day, it's just football.
01:35It's just football at the end of the day.
01:36When did you know, during your time at Montana State,
01:39that you wanted to go up a level and play,
01:43whether it's power four, power five, whatever?
01:45It was at the end of the season, for sure, where I just,
01:49I really thought it was the best decision for me
01:51to leave and explore my options.
01:54Is there a part of your game you wanted
01:56to explore the most at the next school or developing your game?
01:59Can you repeat that again?
02:00Was there a part of your game that you
02:01wanted to develop at the next school you went to,
02:02and was that part of the evaluation process?
02:04Yeah, I mean, overall, just my run game, my pass game,
02:08how to transition and all that stuff.
02:09I mean, no better than the Big 10, so.
02:13You're a pretty seasoned guy because you've
02:16got eight postseason games.
02:17You almost got an extra year at Montana State
02:19just by playing in the playoffs.
02:22Talk about that.
02:22Do you feel like you're more advanced because of all
02:25the game time you have?
02:26Of course.
02:27I feel like starting, playing as a freshman
02:30really helped a lot, playing, going to the national championship
02:34as a freshman and playing all of those playoff games
02:36and as a sophomore and junior.
02:38I mean, the more you play, the better you get.
02:40There's no question about that.
02:42So I for sure feel like that playoff experience
02:44and those better schools in the playoffs experiences
02:47definitely helped me develop, no doubt.
02:49What do you think your best at?
02:52Overall, I mean, I can do it all.
02:55I can stop the running.
02:55I can pass.
02:57I wouldn't say I'm better at one thing than the other.
03:00As a California guy, are you excited to get out of the snow
03:03or at least hopefully get all the snow out there
03:04at Montana State out here?
03:06I don't miss the snow, that's for sure.
03:08The rain isn't any better, but I do
03:11appreciate this type of weather during football,
03:13especially in the spring.
03:14Do you ever think that maybe you should have started
03:16at the par four or five level?
03:18I mean, that you should have had that opportunity.
03:21I'd say humbly, no.
03:22I don't think I should have as a high school player,
03:25but that's what happens in football.
03:26You develop as a player, you get better.
03:29But now I feel like I am.
03:31How does this coaching staff describe to you
03:33the role that they want you to play
03:34and what they want you to do in their defense?
03:36Yeah, you need to stop the running,
03:39get to the quarterback.
03:40There's no secret recipe.
03:42You can play physical or play aggressive.
03:46We know the big 10 likes to run the ball, so you got to stop it.
03:49How would you describe Coach Confucius' coaching staff?
03:52Yeah, he's intense.
03:53He's very detailed.
03:55He gets to the point.
03:56He's very detailed with everything he does.
03:59He's not going to BS you.
04:00He's going to tell you straight up what you need to do
04:02and what you're doing wrong.
04:03I really like his play style because there's
04:06a lot of freedom in his play style.
04:08There's not something super strict
04:09that you have to do every time.
04:10You were committed in December, or before that?
04:15Late December, early January?
04:17Did you know you were going to Washington
04:19when you watched the Sugar Bowl?
04:20Did you watch the Sugar Bowl?
04:21I did watch the Sugar Bowl.
04:22What was that experience like?
04:23It was awesome.
04:24It was awesome.
04:27It was like playing.
04:28It wasn't like playing, but it was just watching a team
04:30knowing that you wanted to go there,
04:32and all the success they're doing,
04:34and you want to be a part of that.
04:36So watching that, I wanted to be a part of it.
04:39And yeah, it was great.
04:42All right.
04:43Awesome.
04:43Thank you.
04:44Appreciate it.
04:44Thanks.