You might find rookie tight end Erick All Jr. making an impact for his hometown Bengals, as he contributes to a shift in the team’s playing style. During his recent chat with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson, he set an alarm on his phone for an upcoming team meeting. After the conversation wrapped up, he introduced his two-year-old son, Houston.
In their discussion, All, a product of Fairfield High School, reflected on how he fell in love with the physical nature of football at just seven years old while playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs. He shared his belief in his potential as a receiver and explained why he feels like the Bengals are redefining their strategy on the field.
The Conversation:
GH: I heard you took a chess set to Cleveland last week. Do you play a lot?
EA: Yeah, I’m trying to get better, so I’ve been playing a lot lately.
GH: How long have you been playing?
EA: I got introduced to the game when I was going into my junior year at Michigan, right before the season. I would play a lot with my teammates. A lot of my teammates played at Michigan, but when I went to Iowa, there weren’t that many guys that played and it kind of messed up my rhythm with the game. But I’m trying to get back into it, trying to play guys on the team, and playing more on the chess.com app. My highest level I got to was like 980.
GH: Is that good?
EA: Once you get into the thousands, that’s when you’re getting pretty decent at the game, and you know what you’re doing. The really good guys are at 1,300 and 1,400. The masters are like at 2,000, 2,300, up in that range.
GH: Are you shooting for master?
EA: Not necessarily. I just want to get good. It’s fun. I’m not trying to be the best ever to play the game. I’m just trying to be the best I can do. Those guys sit there and play non-stop and they know every opening and know, exactly what to do versus this look. They make money playing the game.
GH: Who did you play with at Michigan?
EA: A lot of people. I played with Coach (Jim) Harbaugh. I played with Carter Selzer. I played with Lou Hansen. We would sit there in the cafeteria and then all the guys would be at one table playing the game.
GH: How was Harbaugh?
EA: Everything is new. What I just try to think about is the stuff I can control. If he doesn’t put me in, I can only control what I do when he puts me in the game. I just try to focus on being in the moment, and getting the job done, and winning. That’s it.
GH: In chess, you’d be like the knight, right? A versatile piece?
EA: It controls the board a lot. It can go in either direction. Frontwards or backwards.
GH: Knights mix it up. They say you decided to go to Iowa after Michigan because when you saw them practicing they were doing the Oklahoma drill.
EA: It was the Blocks Drill. From the sideline to the left hash, and then they use the left hash and the right hash for the middle, then from the right hash to the sideline. So it’s tight end, tackle, guard versus D-End, guard, tackle on the defense, and there’s no running back. You guys are just lining up and just hitting each other, blocking. I watched Dunk do it, Gennings Dunker, and he was just killing people. I didn’t go just because of The Blocks. But it was like one of the most electric drills that I’ve seen in college. It was fun.
