Real Talk Season 2 Episode #10 Chad Kanoff! XFL/NFL Quarterback

For this week's episode of Real Talk with QBV we talked with XFL/NFL Quarterback Chad Kanoff!

Kanoff played college ball at Princeton University and was a 3 year starter. After graduating he went to work and entered the NFL draft, and later signed as an undrafted free agent with the Arizona Cardinals. Later continued his football in the XFL with the New York Guardians and the Los Angeles Wildcats.

Kanoff walks us through his pre draft process and how he is still finding a way to train through the pandemic. He also gives advice for younger athletes about getting offered scholarships.

Keep reading or you can listen to the podcast on our Youtube page, search Real Talk with QBV on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts and Spotify!

How was your experience in the XFL?

“ Yeah it was a great experience, if your in the NFL as a 3rd QB which I was, on the practice squad, you don’t get a lot of reps. You really only get to play in the pre season. I was looking forward to getting some reps and getting to play which I did get to do. That was really fun, I haven’t played in 2 years since college, it was well run. It was normal football, the talent was really good. There’s a lot of players that are on the cusp of the NFL. A lot of those guys on the bottom of the roster are somewhere interchangeable interchangeable and those guys are playing in the XFL. It’s a very hungry league. “

What was it like to be a part of XFL history? (Chad was involved in the first ever XFL trade)

“Haha I don’t know that but it was awesome, I’m from Los Angeles, it was like a dream come true. Most of the XFL had started practicing in like November and I hadn’t because I was still on the Buccaneers. So then I signed over and I think I had 10 practices with the Guardians and then I got traded and had like 5 with them and then just go play. It was kinda like playing when you were younger, you just kinda go out there and play with no film and stuff in your head.”

How was losing communication to your coach mid-game ?

“Yeah I probably could have handled it a little better, but we had it go out in a scrimmage and he was just having me call plays. This time, I thought a pretty critical 3rd down and the wide receivers headset went out and my headset went out, so he’s running the wrong route, I got sacked because he didn’t hear the call."

"That was really frustrating, it was more frustrating at the XFL. As a starter up not everything is perfect, but it just sucks because the whole thing is predicated on the headset working because there’s no huddle. So if the headsets don’t work, you can’t run plays basically because if you don’t know the play clock is shorter. I should have known but the headsets going out is a part of football so I could have handled it a little better probably.”

Are you excited for the new XFL?

“ So I was just talking to norm the other day and he was really excited about it and that was great. He talked to some of the higher ups there and thought it was going to come back in full force. Dwayne the rock Johnson is like the perfect person to own it because he was one of these players."

"He played in the CFL before his acting career. He seems like he really wants to put the time in and seems like he has Financial resources which will be able to sustain it assuming there’s not another pandemic. I think it will be a great league just like it would have been.”

Walk us through scoring the first touchdown for the Wildcats in franchise history?

“ It was awesome, I think I only scored 1 or 2 rushing touchdowns in 3 years of starting at college, so to run was definitely different. It was something I have been working on, I played with Kyler Murray for a season a half and the off season in the NFL and that I’m not even remotely on the same level of athlete of him but it does make you kind of think that you have to be able to move a round. So that was something I really worked on running and moving, so I was happy to be able to run one in.”

What have you been doing to stay in shape during all of this?

“I have a quarterback coach out here, he was my highschool coach and I work with him one a week. Then there is another wide receiver from the XFL, Nelson, and I have two other guys recently released from an NFL teams that are based in Los Angeles. So I try to throw a couple times a week, I lift 4 times a week,"

"I was doing a different program through a bit of a shoulder problem after this league so I got a new therapist through Andrew luck. He actually went through Germany and Amsterdam to work with these guys that have a very different kind of way of doing things. So I been working with them over zoom and they gave me a pretty comprehensive shoulder program and weightlifting program that I have been doing. I really like it,"

"I’m someone that has sampled different workout programs and training programs. I went down where Drew Brees worked out and Brady worked out but you have to find what works for you. I think this is what works with me and I’m really happy to have found something that I feel good about."

"I been doing that 4 times a week, to doing footwork with my coach and make sure I throw as much as I can. I do some of the Tom house shoulder exercises I don’t know if you guys are familiar with those, he kinda just blew up. He has a app coming out soon and that’s going to be pretty cool.”

Do NFL players reach out to train with you or do you get support from past teammates?

"It's all mostly through the grapevine, quarterbacks are always looking for wide receivers and wide receivers are always looking for quarterbacks and LA seems to have a high proportion of receivers some QBS too but there seems to be more WR than QBs. So I just kinda found out from word of mouth and In LA most of the fields have been closed so it’s just kinda finding a place to go and usually there’s a bunch of people there.”

Have you done any coaching or mentored any younger QBs?

“ I have volunteered Coached for my quarterbacks coach who was a Head coach. He has like a monthly newsletter that I write a little blurb in. I’ll occasionally train with some of his guys but I haven’t been personally coaching any body."