Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix enjoys fishing in his spare time. Credit: Mark Hoffman

The Journal Sentinel's Tyler Dunne catches up with rookie safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, whose role in the Green Bay Packers' defense is growing quickly. He has 19 tackles (15 solo), one sack and one interception through five games. Clinton-Dix discusses fishing, why he looked up to former NFL safety Sean Taylor, why he wanted to be a police officer and playing under Nick Saban.

What was your upbringing like? And where exactly did you grow up? Eatonville, Florida. It was the first black town in the U.S. It's a very old town. Deacon Jones was the first one to make it out of there. And it was definitely motivating for me. A very small town. Everyone knows each other. A historical town. It was pretty nice growing up.

What did you do as a kid? To be honest with you, my mom had me so busy in every sport, every season growing up, I didn't really have time to get away. But I liked to go fishing a lot. Get on the lake, get away from everything and leave everything else at home. That's about it.

What did you fish for down South? I was a bass fisherman. I liked bass. That was my thing.

Any memorable catches? No, I remember I missed a huge one I was upset about. But I don't really have any memorable catches.

Everybody misses a huge one, though. How big was this one? It had to be about 10 pounds, 12 pounds.

What's something people don't really know about you? I think my body language and how I carry myself speaks for me as a person. I'm a funny guy. I love to laugh. I love to have a good time. You'll never see me down or, before the game, looking mad. I'm just not that type of person. But it is what it is.

What else do you like to do outside out of football? Play video games every now and then. Now, most definitely. I like fishing but I haven't had a chance to do that. It's been cold here so I might go ice fishing to try that out and see how that is.

Have you heard much about ice fishing out here? I've heard it's freezing, for one. You just sit at your hole all day and yank your pole until you catch something. That sounds pretty cool to me to be out there on the frozen lake. So I look forward to doing that.

Hear much about the sturgeon fishing up here? When they sit out there with the little houses and stuff? I think that's pretty cool.

If you could have dinner with any three people, dead or alive, who would it be? Me and three people, I'd say for one, (the late NFL safety) Sean Taylor. I don't really have a two or three.

Why Sean Taylor? He was my inspiration. I looked up to him. I idolized him. He's a heck of a player. Man, he was a beast. I liked him a lot. To see him pass at such a young age, it was sad to me like he was my brother or something. And I didn't even know him.

So you never met Taylor? Never met him.

What about his game drew you to him? The intimidation factor? The big hits? All phases you just said. The way he comes up and hits. Everyone was scared of him. He was fast, too. He was a big kid, man. It was unbelievable to see the plays he could make. He'd knock people out in the Pro Bowl. It was crazy.

The punter, right? Exactly.

You would've been pretty young. Was that right when you were getting into football? Right when I started taking football seriously and enjoying the game, yeah.

If you weren't playing football, what would be your profession? You know, I wanted to be a police officer growing up. I always thought I was a cowboy. So I definitely want to do something in that field, whether it's giving back to the community or showing kids there is a way out of here, a right way to do it, just to give back.

What inspired law enforcement? I ran into trouble as a kid. And just to know that some of the things I did wasn't right. People see police officers and think they're such bad people. We have some who can be some bad people. But we have some great ones out there, that are here to protect us. And I just want to get that going.

What trouble did you get into as a young kid? Ahh, I can't talk about it.

But you went through some stuff, and learned from it? Yep, definitely did. Down in my hometown, went through some things, made some wrong choices and I thought cops were just bad people. Come to find out, they're really not. They're just doing their jobs.

Is there a person who inspired you in day-to-day life down there? My grandfather. He did everything he could to keep me out of trouble, to keep me focused. He took me to practice, whether I wanted to go or not. If I was hiding under the bed, not wanting to go to practice, he came and got me out of there. He always talked about, the one thing you have to represent is your last name. I wanted to make sure I carried his last name very well. My father's last name was "Clinton" and my mom's last name was "Dix."

And you've always gone by "Ha Ha" from your grandmother at a young age? She just gave me that name at a young age. No one could pronounce my name ("Ha'Sean") growing up. Ha Ha was a cool name, so I said, "All right, cool." People have called me Ha Ha since I was in elementary school, so that's just what it's been. And I think it really blew up when I was in college and Coach (Nick) Saban was having a press conference. He said, "Ha Ha," and everybody was like, "Who the heck is that?"

What's the best thing about playing at Alabama under Nick Saban and the worst thing? The best thing about playing at Alabama under Nick Saban would just be the atmosphere, the fans, winning, of course. Having a head coach pushing you is definitely a plus. He knows if you can play or if you cannot play. So just having his take each and every day at practice was definitely a good thing. Bad thing about playing at Alabama? I really didn't have any bad moments. Coach Saban did his best job to make me a better player and a better person. I thank him for that. I didn't really have any bad moments.

How much does Saban really push guys to be better? It's not even really about football. Coach Saban cares for you as a person. Character is what he speaks about all the time. If he can't trust you in the classroom, being on time, you definitely won't touch the field. It doesn't matter how good you are. That's what made me a better person to this day.

What kind of music do you like? Rap. Listen to R&B and a little slow music. I have a few gospel songs I like. That's about it.

Listen to gospel before games? Particularly, yeah. Sunday mornings or Saturdays mornings, I have a little time to relax before we get to meetings.

TV shows? Movies? Into anything lately? Right now, I'm not into any TV shows. But I'd say my favorite movie is "Friday Night Lights." "Life" with Eddie Murphy. Those are definitely my all-time favorites....And "Remember the Titans." I still watch that to this day.

Has anything surprised you as a rookie in the NFL? Not really. It's a lot more focused on taking care of our bodies here. That's a big plus here. I don't really think anything is different.

Do you feel your physicality, the way you play, has transferred well? I think I'm doing pretty well. I'm still working on a few things. I think I have the playbook down pat. I just have to continue to get better each and every week, and that's what I want to do. I want to be consistent.

Living in Green Bay is OK so far? So far. It's not cold yet. Not bad at all.

Will you have a lot of family at Sunday's game? Yeah, I had to get about 10 tickets so my family will come down to the Miami game. They'll be up here when it gets cold. It'll shock 'em.