NFL Draft 2018: Mike McGlinchey & Quenton Nelson Talk Combine Experience, Crying at the Movies

Mike McGlinchey cries at the movies, rocks out to Kelly Clarkson and rooted against his hometown Philadelphia Eagles during the playoffs.

During one of the NFL Combine’s more lighthearted moments, McGlinchey and fellow Notre Dame Fighting Irish lineman Quenton Nelson talked to NFL Network’s Colleen Wolfe about their Combine experience, their preparation and played a game of “How Well Do You Know The Other Guy?”

Both McGlinchey and Nelson did not run the 40 yard dash today. McGlinchey also skipped some offensive drills.

Both linemen posted a 105 inch broad jump, tied for 16th best among offensive linemen this year. The UCLA Bruins’ Kolton Miller jumped 121 inches, tops among linemen.

McGlinchey had a vertical leap of 28.5 inches, which was tied for 15th among linemen. Nelson jumped 26.5 inches, tied for 21st. (Tops was Texas Longhorns’ Connor Williams, who jumped 34 inches.)

Colleen Wolfe: “We’ve got Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson here with us. And the hamstring....got you both. What kind of happened with it and where are you at right now?”

Mike McGlinchey: “I think we’re both pretty good. We did it a little bit ago in combine training and just did things to be cautious today and getting ready for Pro Day and the important stuff that’s to come in the next couple of weeks.”

Quenton Nelson: “Yeah.”

Colleen Wolfe: “OK. So, uh, you guys actually said that you’re driving back to South Bend after this? Did you rent like a convertible? Is there’s going to be some type of like celebratory drive back that you’re finished now?”

Quenton Nelson: “Yeah, I’m not, I’m not sure if we’re going to have a convertible, but yeah, we’re just renting some time of SUV and driving back two and a half hours to Notre Dame. Quick and easy.”

Colleen Wolfe: “That’s not bad. What was the most difficult part about this whole experience here?”

Mike McGlinchey: “I think it’s just, it’s kind of testing you the whole time. The hardest part is the long days and everything about the Combine is fun other than sitting in hospital rooms trying to get X-rays and stuff like that. But interviewing with coaches, interviewing with teams and getting to talk football and learn things from some of the best O-line coaches in the league and football in general was really fun for me and I’m sure it was the same for Q. So the hardest part was just the waiting around and long days and just kind of getting tired. That’s all.”

Colleen Wolfe: “Doing it on little sleep?”

Quenton Nelson: “Everything he said. You’re up late. You’ve got to wake up early. You’ve got the drug tests. Another great thing about being here though was a meeting all the other guys, some great guys, guys that you’d like to play with. I really enjoyed that part of the Combine.”

Colleen Wolfe: “Well, you guys played with some amazing guys this year. I mean you were voted the best all offensive line in the country. What’s so special about your group of guys?”

Quenton Nelson: “Yeah, we’re a really tight knit group. We won the Joe Moore award and we did everything together. It wasn’t just the starting five or six guys that played. It was everyone on the whole entire team, on the whole offensive line, always hanging out and having a great time together.”

Mike McGlinchey: “Well one, we’ve got to give a lot of credit to our position coach [Harry Hiestand]. The two of us have great relationships with him. He’s now with the Chicago Bears and he did a great job with us and set our culture and our standard for what it meant to be a good Notre Dame offensive lineman. The rest of the guys bought in and the six guys that played for us this year just had a hell of a year and we were really thankful for that.”

Colleen Wolfe: “So you’re a Philly guy? Correct? OK. So, uh, how’d you feel about the Eagles this year?”

Mike McGlinchey: “I’m really, really happy for them. The city needed one. They had waited a long time for it and I have to admit I did root against them in the divisional round.”

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Colleen Wolfe (sarcastically): “Now why would you do something like that?”

McGlinchey: “My cousin Matt was playing quarterback for the Falcons, so we had that. My whole family was there rooting him on, but I was quick to jump back on the hometown bandwagon after that. I’m really happy that the Birds won and I got a lot of messages and videos of people being crazy on Broad Street down in South Philadelphia. So it was a lot of fun.”

Colleen Wolfe: “You saw canopies kind of collapsing, all sorts of crazy stuff was happening. But Matt Ryan being your cousin, you kind of grown up I guess around the game. So how does he sort of help you and told you about this kind of cool experience?”

Mike McGlinchey: “You know, Matt’s done an unbelievable job. He really doesn’t do a whole lot of just telling me things. It’s just kind of he’s helped me in ways that he doesn’t even know he’s helped me, just by watching him and the way that he works, the guy that he is. The thing about Matt is he’s such a hard worker and hard competitor and just gains the respect of everybody around him. That’s kind of the thing that he’s really stood out to a lot of other people, not just me and my family. It was something that I try to emulate it and looked up to for, for as long as I can remember.”

Colleen Wolfe: “And coming into this whole experience, Quenton, how did you sort of prepare for it? I mean, I guess you have to sort of prepare mentally and physically. Take me through sort of your routine.”

Quenton Nelson: “So after the bowl game, uh, we flew out to San Diego a place called EXOS and they just prepared us a very well both in the weight room with our strength, getting our strength and endurance up for the bench press and also in our lateral movement for these drills that we’d have to do in the Combine. They had a good position coach a Hudson Houck out there, they’re great nutritionists, Krista. And that helped us lose body fat and the whole experience was absolutely great and it definitely prepared us for this moment this week.”

Colleen Wolfe (pointing to board): “I see you eyeing up all these different pictures that we kinda went through and to see a little bit who you guys are. I mean, you (McGlinchey) don’t really like In N’ Out. It’s fine. Whatever. No big deal. But I want to see how well you guys know each other. You’re teammates. You’re friends. You’re taking road trips to the Combine.”

Quenton Nelson: “Sounds good. Let’s do it.”

Colleen Wolfe: “We’re playing a little game. Who knows who better? I’m going to ask a question and you guys write either me or him. And then after each question you turn it around and show the audience. All right, ready? Here we go. First one. Who had the messier locker? Who maybe needed to tidy up a little bit. Let’s see. Turn it around.”

Nelson writes “him.” McGlinchey writes “him.”

Wolfe: “Oh, OK. So a little bit of this going on (pointing toward each other). All right. What about this one: Who is more likely to cry at the movies? By his face, I feel like I know.”

Nelson writes “him.” McGlinchey writes “me.”

Wolfe: “Oh, it is you! Really?”

Mike McGlinchey: “Yep. Yep, absolutely.”

Colleen Wolfe: “What was the last movie you cried it?”

Mike McGlinchey: “You know what? My Buddy Durham Smythe and I --”

Colleen Wolfe: “It was ‘Black Panther,’ wasn’t it?”

Mike McGlinchey: “No, it was “Me Before You” with Emilia Clark and the guy who plays Finnick Odair (in “The Hunger Games,” Sam Claflin.)”

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Colleen Wolfe: “Oh God.”

Mike McGlinchey: “Yeah, we watched that in San Diego together. I was crying pretty hard at that one.”

Quenton Nelson: “That’s a tough one.”

Colleen Wolfe: “I haven’t seen that one. I don’t know if I want to. I’m a little bit of a crier myself. Who’s the better wing man?”

Quenton Nelson: “We both have girlfriends. So we’re --”

Mike McGlinchey: “-- we’re going to play it safe with that one.”

Colleen Wolfe: “You know what? Hey, that’s fine. Pass. Fine. Let’s go to the next one. Who’s more likely to have a weird fear, like a bizarre kind of phobia?”

Mike McGlinchey: “I feel like none of us.”

Quenton Nelson: “Yeah, I don’t know.

Colleen Wolfe: “Or how about an OCD habit? Got It.”

Nelson writes “him.” McGlinchey writes “me.”

Wolfe: “OK. So what is it? What’s your OCD habit?”

Mike McGlinchey: “I don’t know. I don’t know, but I think I am more likely to have it just personality wise.”

Colleen Wolfe: “Like, for me, personally, if I go and put gas in my car, I have to end it in a seven like every time. I don’t know why; it just happens that way. Moving on. Next one. Who’s more likely to rock out to Kelly Clarkson? Yeah. You guys know each other pretty well.”

Mike McGlinchey: “Well, when you stand next to somebody for three straight years, you know, get to know him pretty good.”

Nelson writes “him.” McGlinchey writes “me.”

Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Colleen Wolfe: “What’s the deal with Kelly Clarkson?”

Mike McGlinchey: “She’s got some great tunes. ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ is one of the greatest songs of all time. It gets me going when I’m in the car.”

Colleen Wolfe: “It’s the GOAT song?”

Mike McGlinchey: “Not ‘the,’ but it’s one of them.”

Quenton Nelson: “Mike has like 50 GOAT songs.”

Mike McGlinchey: “I’m a very ‘flavor of the week’ kind of guy with my taste in music.”

Colleen Wolfe: “Well, I am sure that you guys have a great car ride ahead of you. Hopefully you’re deejaying -- ‘Since You’ve Been Gone.’ Turn it up. Can’t wait to follow along and see what happens next for you. Thanks so much for coming by.”