7th Round — Beau Sandland, TE, Montana State

 

 
RE: On how it feels to be drafted by the Panthers

BS: “Feels awesome to be a Carolina Panther, you know. It was a long day, but it felt great to see my name going across the bottom of the screen and get that call from them. I couldn’t be happier to be at an organization like Carolina and with a team like the Panthers.”

RE: On what was going through his mind throughout the day

BS: “Just sitting around with family, just had some friends over, just kind of kept it low key. We were just watching, just hoping to see my name called and hoped for the opportunity. I am glad it was with a team like the Panthers who I had so much contact with in the past. Being able to visit them, going out there in Charlotte and talk to Coach (Ron) Rivera and Coach (Mike) Shula, and everything like that. I always felt good about Carolina so it is always good when a team you feel comfortable with ends up being the one taking you.”

RE: Thoughts on Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen

BS: “I think it’s awesome. I think it’s great, obviously going in there with Greg Olsen a 10-year vet, Pro Bowl guy. I had a chance to meet him when I was at Miami. He would come down there pretty regularly, just come in the meeting rooms, talk with us, answer questions. Great guy, great pro, so to be able to go in there, that was one thing I actually talked about to Coach Rivera on my visit. I was like, what a great opportunity for a young rookie tight end to be able to come in and learn from arguably the best tight end in the game right now. So I think that is going to be a huge advantage for me and anybody else on that roster, just to kind of watch him, obverse him, learn from him. Someone who’s been there and done it and done it at the highest level.”

RE: On what teams he visited

BS: “Just Carolina.”

RE: How he feels being a last round pick and not getting the ‘Mr. irrelevant’ title

BS: “Very glad. I know that they make a big circus of it and there’s a parade and everything like that and all the big deal and all that, so I didn’t want to be the Mr. Irrelevant.”

RE: On his strengths

BS: “I would think that my strength would be that I really can be an all-around complete tight end. I think there are a lot of one-dimensional tight ends in the college level and the professional level. A lot of guys who are great receivers, but can’t really do the in-line stuff, the dirty work and run power and counter. But then there are guys that are great blockers, but they are too big, they don’t have natural hips or hands and can’t really make an impact in the passing game. I think I am balanced enough to where I can be a complete tight end and play all four downs if that is what they need me to do and be able to run counter one play and then split out a run and route the next play.”

RE: On transferring from Miami to Montana State University

BS: “That was my junior year because I was a junior college transfer. It was a business decision, it was playing time. I wasn’t getting the playing time that I felt that I deserved or that I needed in order to put myself in the situation I am in today, playing in the NFL. I knew that I wasn’t going to be utilized in the offense enough to get enough game film and everything like that. I knew what kind of player I was and could be in the right situation and given, you know, a good scenario. It was a tough decision, it wasn’t easy, obviously nobody wants to transfer, nobody likes to transfer, but I knew that for my future and my career and what I wanted to do for my life that was the best thing for me. It ended up being, I think, one of the best things I have ever done.”

RE: On how he is going to celebrate

BS: “You know, I have been on the phone since I got drafted so I haven’t really had time to sit back and relax and hug my family. I haven’t even been able to watch it because I was on the phone with the Panthers when they drafted me and it came across the screen, so probably go and watch that. Hug my family members a little bit and keep it low-key. I am not one, not really big into going out and partying, I am just happy to have this opportunity.”

RE: On his thought process as it neared the end of the draft and if there was a point where he thought he’s be an undrafted free agent

BS: “Obviously when it gets to the sixth round, you don’t get called, you get to the seventh round you don’t get call and all of a sudden there are three picks left, obviously yeah that is something that crosses your mind. That wasn’t something that was going to deter me. I have had a lot of obstacles I have had to overcome, whether it was going the junior college route or leaving Miami, but I have been pretty determined. I know with hard work I can persevere and do whatever I want, so yeah obviously that was something that entered my mind, but I knew that even if I wasn’t drafted that I would still sign with a team and go to a camp and get a chance, get an opportunity and really that’s all you can ask for at the end of the day.”

RE: On why he went to junior college

BS: “Coming out of high school I was a non-qualifier for the NCAA clearing house and it wasn’t because I had bad grades or anything, it was actually kind of a dumb mistake. I took general English and general Science my junior year when I needed to take college prep English and college prep Science, but I didn’t know that at the time. By the time I found out it was too little too late in my senior year and the counselors pretty much called me into their office and said ‘you want to play football? You want to continue in college?’ I said, ‘Yeah’, and they pretty much said, ‘Well, too bad, you are going to have to go the junior college route.’ It really ended up being a blessing in disguise looking back at it.”

RE: On if he was a surfer growing up

BS: “No, not at all actually. I never did surf. I grew up in Simi Valley, California which is just north of Los Angeles and people think and Southern California, they just think big city, concrete jungle. Really I grew up in a really rural area outside of LA, we have you know I grew up with horses and quads and you could really go hunting. We have thousands of acres of property here in my family so I grew up kind of in, I would say more of a rural country setting. There is no cell reception, we don’t really have any neighbors back here or anything like that. That is kind of how I grew up, so I don’t think it will be a huge adjustment going to Charlotte and being in North Carolina. Just the time I have spent there and the things I have seen about North Carolina or the stuff I have heard, seems to be a great city with kind of the rural country aspect of it right at your fingertips.”

RE: On the land his family owns and if they are farmers or ranchers

BS: “It used to be a ranch. My ancestors came here from England in 1880 and the land has been passed down through generations. It is not a working ranch anymore, but that’s what it originally was.”