April 28, 2011
VICE CHAIRMAN BILL POLIAN (opening statement) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"We picked Anthony Castonzo from Boston College. I'll give you the same old, same old, but it's true, we didn't think he'd be there. He's the highest-rated offensive tackle on our board. We are very happy that he was available to us. He's a very tall guy, 6'7", 305-310 pounds, long arms, quick feet, outstanding student, four-year starter, pretty much everything we look for in a football player. We're very happy to have him. I'm sure he can step in and do a good job."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (opening statement) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"It's always a fortunate position to be able to get a guy that as you go through the week and all your preparations say he's never going to be there, he's not there, he's picked, and that was consistently the case as we worked through all of our scenarios all week. We're just very fortunate, very happy things broke the way they did. Probably the number of quarterbacks going in the round helped push some of the offensive and defensive linemen down and that's really the factor, what we believe, made him available to us in our spot."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (on offensive linemen falling in the draft) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"We had two on the same line (on the draft board) and didn't think either was going to be there. He was certainly the higher-graded player on the board when we started. Our initial board had two tackles on the same line."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (on what the addition of Anthony Castonzo means to the makeup of the offensive line) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"He's in at left tackle. (Head) Coach (Jim Caldwell) will address that a little bit more. That's where he's played. He's played it well, successfully, and we feel confident about him being able to come in and help us at that position."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (on the reaction in the draft room as quarterbacks kept getting drafted) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"About three or four picks (before the Colts drafted) we knew we were going to get a player we were really happy with however it broke. Anthony was still the first player in that group in all honesty, so it broke as well as it could have. But we knew going into the week the more quarterbacks that went, the better it would be for the way our board laid out."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (on Anthony Castonzo's durability) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Solid, steady, reliable, smart, all of those qualities are what you would like in any player, but certainly along the offensive line. Again, when you go through your checklist of all the things you want both on and off the field, you have a check in a lot of those columns."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (on Anthony Castonzo having a good head on his shoulders) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"I think it does with all of our players. He certainly was a player identified early in the process as having a lot of the on-field and off-field qualities that we would like to get in a player. We feel very good about that. We feel very good about him coming in and fitting the type of player, the type of importance they place on football, and you look across our roster he fits right in with that."
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER CHRIS POLIAN (on the offensive line) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"It'll still have to work itself out, hopefully as we get on the field and move forward. Obviously the draft is not over, but it gives us a player we can plug in at one position and it stops some of the musical chairs we've had to deal with the last couple of years. I think it gives us a good anchor to move forward from and hopefully stops some of the juggling we've been forced to do."
VICE CHAIRMAN BILL POLIAN (on getting an opportunity to draft a player that the team thought of very highly) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"It is what you hope for. It rarely happens. There was another rarity here in that all three of us, (Director of Player Personnel) Tom (Telesco), Chris and myself, had all seen him play in person. That rarely happens because when you go through the early process you're out there and you're looking at guys that are sort of highly-rated and then you see them play and you say, 'Oh gee, I don't think we'll get a shot at him depending on where we're drafting.' This was a pleasant surprise, but we've had lots and lots of exposure to him."
VICE CHAIRMAN BILL POLIAN (on if he can recall a time in Indianapolis when a guy dropped to the team like this) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Well, we liked WR-Reggie (Wayne) very much, but he didn't drop, he was right in the right place. We were convinced that Reggie was going to be what he became, a star. But other than that, I can't really think of anybody since we've been drafting down low that was exactly like that. Believe me we spent the last four days working up scenarios and his name was never mentioned. We never even considered that he would be there but as Chris said, the quarterbacks changed all that."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (opening statement) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Good evening. I know it's been a long evening for you all, as well. I know (Vice Chairman) Bill (Polian) has covered pretty much everything with Anthony, but we're certainly happy to have him. He's a guy with length and he can move his feet. He's certainly a very, very good pass protector and a guy who does a nice job in terms of the run, as well. He's smart. That's something we look for just in terms in making certain that our guys can grasp the material, catch on quickly and he's one of those guys. Any guy that majors in biochemistry and is a Rhodes Scholar is obviously a pretty heady guy. We're excited about it."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the addition of Anthony Castonzo helping the offensive line in the running game) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"I'm excited about him. That's an area we want to shore up and certainly identified. We were able to get a real fine football player in that position. I feel without question it's going to help us a tremendous amount. I think what we're looking for is improvement all across the board, but that's a great start."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the addition of Anthony Castonzo helps solidify the offensive line) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"It does. I think it will help us solidify some things. We'll get him in and plug him in there and see how he does. But I think it will keep us from having to juggle as much as we've done previously."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if in his experience rookie left tackles are ready to start from day one in the NFL) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Everybody is a little different, but this guy is a talented guy. He's a very, very mature guy in terms of how he handles different situations. He's a very mature player. He started at Boston College as a freshman, played every single year. I think that's the first player they've had in a decade that started for them as a freshman. I do think he has what we're looking for in that regard. I think his intelligence helps, as well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Anthony Castonzo not missing a game in college) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"I think it's a testament to him just in terms of keeping himself in great shape, but also in this particular game no one plays without some sort of bumps and bruises and injuries. It's very, very important at this level that you have to be able to play through a few nicks here and there. He's a guy that's shown that he can do it. Now he has to prove that he can do it at this level as well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the reaction in the draft room as quarterbacks kept getting drafted) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Early on, once we saw the number of quarterbacks that were coming off the board, we knew we were going to have an opportunity to have some pretty good choices when it came to the 22nd pick. It worked out beautifully actually. We'd gone through a lot of different scenarios and talked about a lot of different things throughout the week and this was a pretty surprising opportunity that we had, let me put it that way. But we're certainly excited about this young man."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on getting a playbook to Anthony Castonzo as soon as possible) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"We're going to do it within the rules and right now we've been able to open things up and get started in that regard, so we'll take advantage of that opportunity."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on seeing a guy that excited to get picked) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"Anytime a young man has such great fortune just in terms of being drafted into this league period. It's an exciting time for him. It was great to see him sharing that moment with his family. On the phone you could tell he was pretty pumped up. He's pretty pumped up to have an opportunity to block for Peyton Manning, as he put it. I think he shows the kind of excitement, passion and enthusiasm you'd like to see. He loves the game."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on what Friday will be like for the coaching staff) Thursday, April 28, 2011
"For us it's kind of our normal way of life. We'll get up in the morning early and do what we normally do here in the office, and we'll get a chance to maybe see a couple of guys we haven't seen in awhile, but we're in draft mode, as well. We'll juggle the two."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on his initial reaction to being drafted by Colts) April 28, 2011
"I am excited! This is unbelievable. I'm at a loss for words right now actually."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on previous interest by Colts prior to tonight) April 28, 2011
"I wasn't really sure. They (Colts) were pretty much on par with a bunch of other teams. I didn't know that this was where I was going to end up at. I'm excited about it. I get to block for the best quarterback in the league. That's more than you can really ask for. It's great! I'm going to a team that's a great team already, which is unbelievable. I'm just really excited."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on blocking for QB-Peyton Manning) April 28, 2011
"I think I'm up to the task. I expect that he's going to demand a lot of me. I expect that I can deliver."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on being ready to start immediately) April 28, 2011
"I don't know about the first day. I would have to learn a lot I'm sure. I want to get developed there and work on developing my skills. Yes, I'd love to start this year."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on being a starting left tackle immediately) April 28, 2011
"That's the position I'm most comfortable with. I'll do whatever the coaches want me to do. I'll be happy to play wherever. It's really up to them."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on his family's excitement of being drafted by Colts)
April 28, 2011
"They're pretty much as excited as they can possibly be. Everybody is absolutely ecstatic. It's a dream come true."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on starting as a true freshman and how it helped) April 28, 2011
"That was huge. Being thrown in there as a true freshman I had to perform even though I was a little bit lighter. I had to develop my technique a lot. I was with seniors and the older guys demanded a lot of me which really helped me immediately get better that freshman year. This is kind of the same situation I'd be coming into with Peyton (Manning), a veteran who's going to demand a lot of me. I think that's a great situation to come into."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on his current listed weight of 311) April 28, 2011
"I'm actually 313-314 right now. I've already gained some weight, I can see myself gaining some more. Getting up to around 320 and playing comfortably."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on his protections) April 28, 2011
"Right now I'm probably a little bit better at press protection. The past few years I've been working on developing my run blocking, which has become strength of mine as well. I'll try to become a complete and balanced player."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on playing at the Fork Union Military Academy) April 28, 2011
"That extra year there it did everything for me. I put on some weight and I was able to play in a zone scheme. That really allowed me to show off my talent. That was huge for me."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on his 54 straight starts) April 28, 2011
"I take a lot of pride in that. There's a big difference between being injured and being hurt. I played hurt quite a bit. That's just part of the game. I feel like I play better when I've got a little bit of pain."
D1/#22 OT-ANTHONY CASTONZO (on being a bio-chemistry major) April 28, 2011
"I kind of had in the back of my mind that football would work out. If it didn't work out, I would probably have gone to some graduate school and gone into medical research, which is what I really want to do after football."
