Everything former Notre Dame OT Joe Alt said in Chargers introductory press conference

Former Notre Dame offensive lineman Joe Alt is officially a Los Angeles Charger. Here’s everything Alt said in his introductory press conference after being selected No. 5 overall in Thursday night’s round one of the NFL Draft.

Opening statement

“I would just like to start out by thanking the Spanos family, Joe Hortiz and Coach Harbaugh for believing in me, giving me this opportunity. But I’d also like to thank my two parents who are here today. Couldn’t be here without them. They’ve blessed me with a lot of opportunities. I want to thank God for the opportunity for the body and the ability he’s blessed me with to be here today.”

On becoming a Charger

“There are two thoughts that popped into my head immediately, the first one being gratitude. Grateful for the people around me, grateful for this organization for believing me in this opportunity. The second one is just straight excitement. Can’t wait to get out here, get to work and go back to what I love doing and that’s playing football.”

On his last 24 hours

“Obviously, I got the call. Super excited. Spent the time with my family briefly there. Got to hug everybody and appreciate everyone who was there. Hopped on a couple interviews, got my flight set up. Hung out with my family and my girlfriend back at the house. Went to bed at about midnight. Woke up this morning and hopped on a plane at 7:30. Flew out here. Got to come to the facility and just been meeting everybody and going from there.”

On his history playing quarterback and tight end

“I grew up playing quarterback all the way til my sophomore year of high school. For me, the biggest thing there was learning an entire defense and how it works. Understanding safeties and rotations, how it affects a defense. How you can read a safety and see how that can give you a pressure look. I started playing tight end when I grew in my junior year of high school. Transitioned to lineman when I got to Notre Dame as a freshman.”

On how playing quarterback helped with his footwork

“Playing quarterback, playing basketball, all that stuff, that’s a testament to my athleticism now from those things. I was able to stay light on my feet as I grew.”

On what kind of quarterback he was

“I was a bigger quarterback. Let’s be real. I ran the ball most of the time. I had a decent arm but it was mostly running the ball and getting sweeps out there. [My dad] was the one getting me out there on the ball. We made it work.”

On if he could be an emergency quarterback

“I don’t know about that. I haven’t thrown a football in a long time. I’ve been putting my hand in the dirt instead. So I don’t know, we’ll have to see.”

On working on playing right tackle after playing left tackle at Notre Dame

“I’ve been working with Alex Boone at Training House in Minnesota. That’s where I’ve been doing all my combine prep. The biggest thing for me is getting comfortable, being able to set both on my left- or right-hand stance. Being just as comfortable with the left as I was with the right-hand side. Did a lot of drills. Pass pro, run-blocking just to make sure I was comfortable there. We put a lot of great work in from then.”

On Notre Dame’s history with unbalanced lines

“Having that in-game experience, live reps, is always a huge help being comfortable and putting your hand on that stance in games. Huge for confidence going forward.”

On the football lineage in his family

“My dad played for 13 years for the Chiefs. Football is all I can remember growing up. Walking into the basement, my dad’s jerseys hung up at the bottom of the steps, it was a dream for me my entire life. My dad coached me from youth through high school. He was there. He allowed me to really learn what football was and the appreciation for the game and what it did for me and my family. Football has always been at the top of the totem pole in the family and what we wanted to do. That’s why I fell in love with and and been going ever since.”

On playing hockey

“I did up until second grade but I did not have the body for hockey. I got a little heavy for it so we just decided to hang up the cleats and started playing basketball.”

On watching his dad’s film

“We didn’t watch a ton of tape of his VCRs in high school. We kind of stayed away from that. But most recently a lot of his games have come out on YouTube in better quality and we watched them when I was home in this training process. I got to give him a little bit of crap and watch his film and assess the differences in our games.”

On the differences between him and his dad

“My dad had very broad shoulders. Still does. The biggest shoulders I’ve ever seen on a man. His ability to clamp guys is one of the most humbling things for a defensive end, just out-muscled up top. That’s the biggest difference; I’m more of a punch inside because I don’t have as big of shoulders as he did. I think that’s the biggest difference between me and him.”

On who he watched in the NFL to get to this point

“I watched a lot of Joe Thomas. I like the way he sets. He has a lot of changes in his set between jump setting, vertical setting, a lot of changes in there. I listened to a lot of Lane Johnson getting the snap count and how crucial that is to winning the first second and being ahead of the punch and ahead of a defense and getting off the ball early.”

On coming into a situation with a team that wants to put an emphasis on setting the tone via line play

“I think the thing I love about the offensive line is you get to hit somebody every single play. You don’t have a play off. You’re going to be throwing your head in there. If it’s pass or run, you got a job to do and you’ve got to hold up your end of the bargain. One of the five, one of the 11, and if you don’t do your job it’s going to hurt the offensive line and hurt the entire offense. That’s why I love it. It’s why I fell in love with the position, and really the camaraderie of the group. The offensive line is a special group.”

On what ‘dominate’ means to him

“It’s not a word I use in my vocabulary but it’s a mindset that I have I would say, more so. Refusing to lose and taking it one play at a time and doing your best each and every play is my mindset.”

On if he’s heard from any Chargers players

“A lot of guys have reached out to me so far. Rashawn Slater reached out last night, so that was really exciting to hear from him. Beginning to build these next relationships is what I’m looking forward to.”

On how big of an adjustment it would be to play right tackle

“I don’t think it’s a very drastic change for me because I played tight end in high school. So I had the ability to do everything in a left- and right-hand stance. I’ve been playing left tackle the last three years, but it wasn’t like it was something I had never done before. I had reps there before. So it wasn’t something that was a huge change for me.”

On if he previously knew anyone on the Chargers

“There is one player from Notre Dame but he was gone before I got there, so I don’t have a relationship with him yet but I’m looking forward to making one.”

On if he previously knew Jim Harbaugh

“I did not. I met him for the first time at the combine. I wasn’t the biggest recruit coming out of college so I didn’t get the opportunity to go to Michigan. Michigan did not have interest in me coming out of high school. That’s just who I was. I was a tight end turned into tackle.”

On if Minnesota was the only Big Ten school that recruited him

“Iowa as well. But yeah, those are the only two Big Ten schools.”

On run-blocking

“Last year we did a lot of pulling. And when I heard one of those plays called, it was the most fun. You get to show your athletic ability and also have so much more speed rolling behind you to hit somebody. You have a bigger impact. It takes a lot of eye-discipline when you’re pulling with guys who could be faster than you. Understanding where your landmark is and where you’re trying to hit. And if you miss, you have to miss in a certain area. You don’t want to miss too short or too far because that’s going to get your running back hit. So understanding your aiming point is huge and then being able to use your momentum and go hit the guy as hard as you can.”

On if Notre Dame called so many pulling plays specifically because Alt is so athletic

“It was partially that and we had an offensive line coach who did a lot of that in the past. He said we have the guys to do it, so let’s go do it. Those two things were the biggest changes from the year before.”

On his speed

“Speed and athleticism is one of the things that I hold close to myself and keep at the top. It’s what allows me to play offensive tackle at a high level. Being able to stand in front of guys with my length is what I strive to do each and every day. It’s something I work on constantly, jumping rope and doing little agility drills because I know that’s what’s gotten me this far.”

On the Chargers offensive line coaches

“I got to meet with them today. Just kind of like the welcome and at the end of the day we’re back to work. We’re back to playing football. We got to learn what’s going forward and what’s being asked of me and that’s what we’ve talked about so far.”

On being the first top five pick out of Notre Dame in over 30 years

“Obviously extremely grateful for the opportunity to be in that position. There are a lot of great people at Notre Dame who have allowed me to come this far. I was able to have two great head coaches, three great offensive line coaches and two great offensive coordinators who I think allowed me to excel, taught me a lot and allowed me to put my best foot forward. At the end of the day I’m extremely grateful for those coaches and people who allowed me to grow at Notre Dame and be able to have this opportunity become a reality.”

On if former Notre Dame quarterback and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees reached out to him

“He did, yep.”

On the excitement playing for a team that values the offensive line

“Being wanted is one of the best feelings in the world. Being at a position that the coaches and people feel matters makes you want to do it that much more and makes you want to do it for them because they care so much about it. Now it’s my job to get back to work and put my best foot forward and be the best I can for whatever this team asks of me.”