Kelce On Barwin: ‘He Ain’t Afraid Of Nothing’

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There was a time back in their college playing days when teammates Jason Kelce and Connor Barwin locked horns.

“I was known as a guy in college that you don’t really screw around with,” said Kelce. “I’m not trying to toot my own horn at all, but a lot of guys on the defensive side kind of feared that. They didn’t want to get into a scuffle with me. But I can remember vividly one play with Connor where I got into him and I started jawing off at him. I can’t repeat what he said, but it got to the point where he was like, ‘You don’t want to screw with me, Kelce! I’m crazy, too!’

“He is that kind of guy where he ain’t afraid of nothing.”

Barwin is only one year older than Kelce (26) but is two years ahead of him football-wise because he did not red-shirt his freshman year in Cincinnati. They started together one season on the collegiate level. They grew close, and remain very good friends.

“You’re not going to get a better person, a better teammate, a better leader, a harder worker. The guy has all the intangibles you want as a teammate,” said Kelce. “I’m looking forward to him being the in the defensive room and building that camaraderie among those guys. That’s something he’s had since Cincinnati and I know he had it in Houston because I have talked to some guys out there, so he’s going to be great for the locker room, number one. Number two, I think they brought him in because he can play football as well –hopefully. I think we got a good player.

“He holds people accountable. If you’re not running right and he knows you’re not running right, he’s going to call you out. And it might not be in front of the whole team, but he’s definitely going to make it a point to let you know…He’s done it to me before.”

Barwin told PFT that if the money was equal he probably would have remained with the Texans, citing all the close relationships he developed in Houston. He recently took out a full-page ad in the local newspaper where he thanked everyone from head coach Gary Kubiak to his delivery guy, Tim.

In Philadelphia, he will at least be surrounded by his college brethren. Kelce, Brent Celek and Trent Cole are all former Bearcats. Barwin was actually Celek’s backup at tight end his first two years, and boasted to reporters that he would have stolen the job if Celek hadn’t left for the NFL.

“Yeah, woulda, shoulda, coulda,” said Celek on Thursday.

It was then suggested that Celek should adopt Barwin’s mohawk hairstyle.

“His hairstyle is terrible,” Celek replied.

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