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Below is a recap of what offensive guard Larry Warford had to say about being picked in the third round by the Detroit Lions on Friday night. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)
On his opportunities to start as a rookie: "I don't want to talk about me starting, I just want to come in and compete as hard as I can, keep working and hopefully learn from the best there about playing in the NFL. It's really good."
On his Senior Bowl experience and getting to know the Lions: "It's everything especially for the offensive line. Great chemistry on the offensive line equals better play for me. It helps you to be able to trust the guy next to you more, you learn to block with him, you learn everything about him really. Having that chemistry with the offensive line is just like a family within a family. It means a whole to me."
On describing his game to a Detroit fan base: "Well I'm pretty aggressive, but more than that I feel that my knowledge of my position and what I'm supposed to be doing is the most important and it helps me play a lot faster than if were edgy about a lot of stuff. I feel like I'm a really great linebacker and pass blocker. I'm going to try to keep progressing as a player and try to get better and become an expert at my position."
On what his ideal playing weight is and why: "I don't have a specific ideal playing weight. If it was anything it would be around 330, 325. It's more my body composition. I've been trying to work on. Just changing the way my body is shaped helps me play a lot more and be more explosive. It will take a lot of wear off my body in the long run. It's not the specific weight, it's just the way my body is formed."
On how it's going with changing his body: "I've done great. I've been out there working with LeCharles Bentley and I changed up my diet a whole bunch. Limiting a lot of my carbs and working out. I feel like I've done a really good job with that."
On his thoughts on Ezekiel Ansah: "He's a great one. For as little as he's played there's such a big upside for that guy. He's a monster and I'm excited to see him develop. When I saw I was going to be on the same team as him I was thinking that's a good thing. He's going to be a good one."
On his thoughts on the skill players he'll be protecting: "I wasn't thinking about that until you said it and my heart just kind of leaped a little bit! That's a lot of extra motivation on me. I was in high school when Reggie Bush was at USC and I was thinking that guy was crazy good. I was out in California watching him and now I'm in the NFL. All of those guys, it's ridiculous and I'm extremely excited right now."
On going against DT Ndamukong Suh in practice every day: "I think it's great. I love competition and that's as good as it gets. He's a great player and hopefully going against him helps me out more than anything I've done so far. Being able to go against someone of that caliber each day is really going to excel my game."
On playing against DT Nick Fairley in college: "I played him my sophomore year down in Kentucky. I thought he did pretty well overall. We had a really great game. Rushing was good, pass protection was great. That's when they had Cam Newton and we almost beat them. They came back with a last-minute field goal at the last few seconds. I competed really well against them. He's a great player also."
On it being true that he's been called Big Larry since he was five years old: "I wasn't huge, I was the taller one when I was younger. Big Larry has been the universal nick name for me. I've been to 13 different schools and each one called me Big Larry, Big Larry. My name's Larry, you can call me Larry. It's a lot less syllables."
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