Stay Ready: The Podcast
New Orleans Saints Defensive Back Ugo Amadi Talks His Path To Oregon, Going Into Year 6 and Playing Alongside His Idol Tyrann Mathieu
On this episode of Stay Ready: The Podcast, Matt sits down with New Orleans Saints Defensive Back Ugo Amadi. Ugo, a Nashville native starred at John Overton High School before heading to The University of Oregon. While at Oregon, Amadi played in all 51 games and had 34 starts for the Ducks from 2015 to 2018 and finished with 165 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss for 54 yards, three sacks for 16 yards, eight interceptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns, 33 passes defended, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries on defense. He was also the winner of the Lombardi Award during the 2018 season.
Matt and Ugo open the episode up with the story of how Ugo ended up at Oregon after initially committing to Ole Miss and then LSU. Many of Ugo's friends and family think he just committed and then left Nashville to head to the west coast but there's a lot more to it than that.
As the episode progresses, they two of them talk about Ugo's time at Oregon, players he played with and some of the memories he had while at the university.
After their lengthy discussion about all things Oregon football, Matt asks Ugo about his time so far in the NFL and what stadiums he's played in where it's complete madness before leading him to talk about New Orleans and how much culture the city has and how it's not like other stadiums and cities in the NFL.
The conversation progresses to having Ugo talk about getting to play with his idol, Tyrann Mathieu and what he's learned from him while trying to replicate his style of play in order to have longevity in the league.
They transition over to talking about the different quarterbacks that Ugo has been teammates with before discussing Patrick Mahomes greatness and how he played the playoffs and won a Super Bowl with a severe high ankle sprain.
Matt then asks Ugo to talk about some of the toughest quarterbacks he's faced so far and he mentions Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers and gives insight on what makes them so tough to prep for/ play against.
Matt decides to move to the subject of off-season training and gets some insight on Ugo's workout regime when he's not in New Orleans and how it's great to be able to drive to his trainer while being able to head back home later to be with his family. They talk about how Nashville is slowly starting to become the hub for off-season workouts and almost everyone in the NFL is coming here to put work in before heading off to camp.
This leads the two of them to talk about family life and Matt asks Ugo what the plan is for the upcoming birth of his son (will his girlfriend have the baby in Nashville or New Orleans). He also asks about her thoughts on New Orleans and if she is excited to be down there for the season.
Matt then asks Ugo about his relationship with All Pro Jalen Ramsey who is from the Nashville area as well and Ugo gives an update on their current relationship as well as what he's learned from him over the years.
The two of them then move into the topic of playing in Seattle and what it was like and what was similar as well as different during the periods of time that each was there.
Ugo goes into an inspirational story about Bobby Wagner and how he really helped the younger guys out as they transitioned into playing in the NFL. He shares some stories about their friendship and how Bobby constantly motivated him to be early, outwork everyone in the building and constantly read in order to gain knowledge that would help throughout his career.
As the episode slowly comes to an end, Ugo talks about getting cut, guys wanted to be traded because they aren't happy and drops some gems on the mindset you need to have in order to succeed and play multiple years in the league.
To close out the episode, Matt asks Ugo to name his most difficult quarterbacks and wide receivers to face and why
On this episode of Stay Ready: The Podcast, Matt sits down with New Orleans Saints Defensive Back Ugo Amadi. Ugo, a Nashville native starred at John Overton High School before heading to The University of Oregon. While at Oregon, Amadi played in all 51 games and had 34 starts for the Ducks from 2015 to 2018 and finished with 165 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss for 54 yards, three sacks for 16 yards, eight interceptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns, 33 passes defended, four forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries on defense. He was also the winner of the Lombardi Award during the 2018 season.
Matt and Ugo open the episode up with the story of how Ugo ended up at Oregon after initially committing to Ole Miss and then LSU. Many of Ugo's friends and family think he just committed and then left Nashville to head to the west coast but there's a lot more to it than that.
As the episode progresses, they two of them talk about Ugo's time at Oregon, players he played with and some of the memories he had while at the university.
After their lengthy discussion about all things Oregon football, Matt asks Ugo about his time so far in the NFL and what stadiums he's played in where it's complete madness before leading him to talk about New Orleans and how much culture the city has and how it's not like other stadiums and cities in the NFL.
The conversation progresses to having Ugo talk about getting to play with his idol, Tyrann Mathieu and what he's learned from him while trying to replicate his style of play in order to have longevity in the league.
They transition over to talking about the different quarterbacks that Ugo has been teammates with before discussing Patrick Mahomes greatness and how he played the playoffs and won a Super Bowl with a severe high ankle sprain.
Matt then asks Ugo to talk about some of the toughest quarterbacks he's faced so far and he mentions Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers and gives insight on what makes them so tough to prep for/ play against.
Matt decides to move to the subject of off-season training and gets some insight on Ugo's workout regime when he's not in New Orleans and how it's great to be able to drive to his trainer while being able to head back home later to be with his family. They talk about how Nashville is slowly starting to become the hub for off-season workouts and almost everyone in the NFL is coming here to put work in before heading off to camp.
This leads the two of them to talk about family life and Matt asks Ugo what the plan is for the upcoming birth of his son (will his girlfriend have the baby in Nashville or New Orleans). He also asks about her thoughts on New Orleans and if she is excited to be down there for the season.
Matt then asks Ugo about his relationship with All Pro Jalen Ramsey who is from the Nashville area as well and Ugo gives an update on their current relationship as well as what he's learned from him over the years.
The two of them then move into the topic of playing in Seattle and what it was like and what was similar as well as different during the periods of time that each was there.
Ugo goes into an inspirational story about Bobby Wagner and how he really helped the younger guys out as they transitioned into playing in the NFL. He shares some stories about their friendship and how Bobby constantly motivated him to be early, outwork everyone in the building and constantly read in order to gain knowledge that would help throughout his career.
As the episode slowly comes to an end, Ugo talks about getting cut, guys wanted to be traded because they aren't happy and drops some gems on the mindset you need to have in order to succeed and play multiple years in the league.
To close out the episode, Matt asks Ugo to name his most difficult quarterbacks and wide receivers to face and why