NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz gives advice to OLs in 2026 NFL Draft: 'It's all about attitude'

0:01 When it comes offensive lineman, one name stands above the rest.

0:05 USC Trojan legend Anthony Munoz, a 1978 national champ,

0:09 the third pick overall in the 1980 NFL draft,

0:13 11-time Pro Bowler, nine-time All-Pro,

0:17 and first ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer,

0:20 the best offensive tackle in the history of the sport,

0:23 and he joins us right now.

0:24 Anthony, thanks for being here.

0:26 We can't talk O-line and not talk with you.

0:28 So, yeah, what are your thoughts on this year's class?

0:33 You know, I like it.

0:34 I like, you know, I've watched I still watch a lot of college football.

0:38 I got to be transparent say I probably watch

0:40 a little more college than I do pro football,

0:42 even though I follow my Bengals and so I get a little frustrated there,

0:46 get a little frustrated with my team out on the West Coast, but you know,

0:49 I've I've seen some some pretty good players this year on the college level.

0:53 You know, I guess the main thing right now is

0:55 just trying to keep track of which school they're playing for.

1:00 [laughter] Anthony, what have you seen in your time in in terms

1:03 of the evolution of the offensive tackle position in particular?

1:08 We have these We've been talking about in the draft here

1:10 these great edge players and how the the greatest of, you know,

1:13 of all time, but the tackle position has had to evolve.

1:17 What What have you seen over your time?

1:20 Well, of course, definitely they're coach they're a little bigger.

1:23 You know, we got two here in Cincinnati they're about 6'8 350,

1:28 but but you still have to be able to move out in space because I like you said,

1:31 those edge rushers are amazing.

1:33 You know, they're they're not your 300-lb guys.

1:36 They're they're not that big, but they're running like running backs.

1:38 So, you have to be able to move out in space, flexibility.

1:41 So, [music] you know, even though the guys are getting bigger,

1:44 they're they're they're remaining pretty athletic.

1:48 Again, you know, I love to see those guys big and strong,

1:50 but some flexibility because you need that flexibility

1:53 out there to to be able to maneuver

1:54 with the the edge runners and the edge rushers and how quick and you know,

1:58 their change of direction.

2:00 So, you know, I don't [clears throat] know how much

2:02 bigger guys are going to get on the offensive line,

2:04 but hopefully I still like those guys that are anywhere from 3 to 320.

2:08 I don't like them too big because I want them to keep their flexibility,

2:11 be able to bend at the knees.

2:13 They're going to be strong enough at 3 to 320.

2:15 There's no question with the weight programs

2:17 they have and and how hard they're training.

2:19 So, uh you know, I I I kind of I don't

2:22 personally I don't like those guys that are up there 360 350.

2:26 I think they lose a lot of that the maneuverability out there in space.

2:29 You got to be able to dance out there.

2:32 [laughter]

2:31 Anthony, you played in an era with some of the best defensive lineman ever,

2:35 and you were one of the more dominant offensive lineman.

2:38 What would you tell these young guys this day

2:40 and age about having a mentality of just straight up anger,

2:44 no matter who you're going against,

2:45 and speak to some of your mentality going against some of those all-time greats.

2:50 Well, the first word I use anytime I

2:51 talked about offensive line play is I say attitude.

2:55 I mean, I learned that as a freshman at USC.

2:58 Real quick story.

3:00 17 years after I started USC, after I retired in the NFL,

3:04 it was 17 years after my freshman year.

3:05 I found my freshman playbook at USC.

3:08 One word on the first page in block letters.

3:11 All it said was dominate.

3:13 And to me, that's all about attitude.

3:15 And that's what I tell offensive lineman, you know,

3:17 I I laugh when you get these young kids say,

3:19 "Well, I want to play I want to play

3:20 defensive line." With all due respect to to Kevin Carter,

3:23 a great defensive end, they say,

3:24 "I want to play D-lineman because I want to hit people." I said,

3:27 "You can hit people when you're an offensive lineman.

3:29 You just got to pick and choose your times.

3:30 You know, you can't be aggressive all the time." But attitude is what I say.

3:34 It's It's all about I would tell people I played

3:37 against guys that I played college with, and I wouldn't say,

3:39 you know, I wouldn't say hi to them

3:40 before the game because that was my whole mentality.

3:43 I needed to go out there and physically dominate you.

3:46 And how am I going to do that when I give you

3:48 a hug and say hi to you and reminisce before we play.

3:50 So, you know, and after the game we'll get a hug and we're

3:53 going to shake hands and then in the summer we're going to, you know,

3:55 go out and do some camps and stuff, but that's that was the way I went about it.

3:59 You know, I I didn't care what you as a defensive lineman thought about me.

4:03 I was going to play the game within the rules.

4:05 I wasn't going to do anything outside the rules,

4:08 but I was going to try to physically dominate you every play.

4:10 Man, he's got me He's got me worked up.

4:12 I'm like See, that's what we miss.

4:15 This is This is this attitude, this mentality,

4:18 this is what's missing from from from a lot of these offensive line

4:22 and defensive line mentalities when they when

4:24 they when they coach these young men.

4:25 Let me ask you this.

4:27 The run game in particular across college

4:31 and pro football just looks different, right?

4:34 There are no more pro sets and, you know, I far I near,

4:38 you know, strong There's There's not even a full back anymore.

4:42 No full back being in, nobody leading for you.

4:44 I mean, are you a fan of how the game has evolved?

4:48 I mean, with this new read option and and the different look.

4:50 I mean, they're still physical up front, but it's not quite the same.

4:55 Let me just put it this way, Kevin.

4:57 When it's third and one and all five Well,

5:01 four of the lineman cuz of course the center's has his hand on the ball,

5:04 but four lineman are in a two-point, the quarterback's in a shotgun,

5:08 and the running back's next to him,

5:10 that kind of explains how I feel about the running game.

5:12 Okay.

5:13 I mean, [laughter] When it was third and one, even if you didn't run the ball,

5:17 I wanted the linebackers to believe we were running the football.

5:20 I wanted the D-lineman to to believe we're running the football,

5:23 even if it was a pass.

5:25 And And those are the things I I used to tell people, I still do.

5:28 I said, I pitched one year at USC.

5:30 I was a pitcher.

5:30 Baseball was my first love.

5:32 As an offensive lineman,

5:33 my analogy was to not let the defensive lineman dictate what I did.

5:38 I wanted to change it up and I wanted to dictate the flow.

5:42 I want the tempo.

5:42 I wanted to have you guess what I was going to do.

5:45 If it was a pass and I aggressively pass at you,

5:48 I want to make you think it was a run.

5:50 I was going to run block you with great technique, or I was going to do a semi.

5:53 I was going to just take away half that distance,

5:55 make you think it was a run, then retreat.

5:57 And then I had like four or five different angles

5:59 that I could set a regular pass blocker with you.

6:02 As a pitcher, if you threw a fastball every single time,

6:05 you're going to sit on it, you're going to hit it.

6:07 Mhm.

6:07 I just I couldn't pass that every single

6:10 time during the game because it would allow,

6:12 you know, Kevin, you guys are amazing.

6:13 You can counter, you're smart,

6:15 and I didn't want you guys to to counter and know exactly what So,

6:18 I was going to pass it several different ways, and that was a great thing.

6:22 My line coach for all 13 years, Jim Jim McNally, gave me the opportunity.

6:26 We had a toolbox.

6:28 And on Wednesday game installation,

6:30 I would pick two or three technique, and all Jimmy would say,

6:33 "Work on it all week." And then all he would

6:35 say Sunday morning when in the locker room before the game,

6:37 he would say, "You've practiced all week.

6:40 Now trust it and go go get after it." That's awesome.

6:43 Anthony, let me let me finish on my end.

6:45 You know, when I was in Cincinnati,

6:47 one of the things that really stood out was the the Anthony Munoz camps.

6:51 The The camps you had for young kids and and the player

6:54 development and giving them the opportunity to really grow in this game.

6:59 Are you still able to do a lot of that in Cincinnati?

7:02 We are, coach.

7:03 You know, the exciting thing we were able

7:04 to do for eight years around the country until COVID.

7:07 We were in 30 of the 32 NFL cities doing

7:09 exactly what I've done 25 years in Cincinnati with my camps.

7:13 And one of the great things that my staff

7:15 and we and the coaches here in the community do,

7:18 it is we do teach them football.

7:20 In my camps, we're not just going to teach you one side of the football.

7:22 You're going to learn every position.

7:24 So, we have sessions for every position,

7:27 but then we're going to teach them respect.

7:29 We're going to teach them character traits.

7:31 We have team-building activities because, as you all know,

7:34 you have to develop the entire person.

7:36 That's what we want our young men coming out of our camp

7:39 knowing that they've been taught by some excellent football coaches,

7:42 but then they have some great lifetime

7:45 nuggets that they can implement into their family, their class, their community.

7:49 And to me, like I said, this is our 25th anniversary with our eight programs.

7:53 We've been able to work with over 60,000 young men and women.

7:57 And And I We all feel before we started saying that at my age,

8:00 I'm getting up there.

8:01 You know, it's like I That's what motivates me.

8:04 That's what energizes me.

8:05 And God has continued God continues to open that door and allow me to do that.

8:09 And like I said, I have a great team here uh with the foundation,

8:13 and we'll continue to do I don't know how much longer,

8:15 but uh I know for at least this year, our 25th, we're going to roll.

8:18 And we've been rolling.

8:19 So, coach, I appreciate you asking.

8:21 And I love doing that.

8:22 Of course, I still love the game of football.

8:24 I love teaching it.

8:25 I love that the kids are learning it.

8:27 But then let's also talk about character and team-building.

8:31 I might not look like you.

8:32 I mean, I was I'm Mexican-American.

8:35 My left guard for eight years was from Humboldt, Iowa.

8:38 His family, they raised hogs.

8:41 That's two totally different cultures, but we had to work together.

8:45 We had to respect each other because we worked together for the one common goal,

8:49 and that was to execute as offensive lineman,

8:53 protect our quarterback, block for our running backs like I mean,

8:56 well, and win football games.

8:57 So, we're teaching young people how to work together, how to get along together.

9:02 But like I said, we're going to teach them of the game of football.

9:04 That is awesome.

9:05 Well said, well done.

9:07 Man, he's got me ready to go as well.

9:11 [laughter] Life.

9:11 I love that third and one reference.

9:12 I'll tell you that much.

9:13 We're going to line it up, we're going to run it.

9:15 [laughter] Let's do it.

9:16 The best Get after it.

9:17 I mean, it's Again, attitude, man.

9:20 I'm I'm going to impose my will on you,

9:22 and I'm going to go And here's the thing, you guys know,

9:26 I was taught in college and then Jim McNally here,

9:30 a play lasts from when the snap gets

9:32 in the quarterback's hand until the whistle is blown.

9:36 And defensive lineman might not like when you keep going until the whistle,

9:40 but that's the way the game should be played.

9:41 And Kevin, you're right.

9:42 We need that from both sides of the football.

9:45 Anthony Munoz, he's the best ever to do it.

9:48 Appreciate the time, Anthony, and your insight and best of luck going forward.

9:52 Right on.