GETTING TO KNOW CHRISTIAN PONDER

On his love of fishing:

"I grew up fishing lakes, doing fresh-water fishing. When I got to Florida State, I did a lot of deep-sea, salt-water fishing. ... It gets a little scary when you can't see land anymore. I was in like 6-foot seas one time. That was a little crazy."

On suffering shoulder injury vs. Clemson in 2009 while making a tackle after throwing an interception:

"I definitely won't try that again. I was frustrated and I was the last guy to stop [safety DeAndre McDaniel] before he goes in and scores. I was frustrated and let it get the best of me and made a dumb mistake. I thought I hit him pretty good. But then we watched it on film and he kind of stumbles. That was well worth the injury [smiling]."

On playing Texas high school football in Dallas area:

"It is crazy. Our stadium sat 12,000 people. We played Southlake Carroll; Greg McElroy, the quarterback from Alabama, went there. Their stadium seats like 18,000. They have an indoor facility. It's crazy. It was fun to grow up in that program."

On what he plans to do with three college degrees:

"I know it's going to be hard leaving football. Maybe at some point work in a front office somewhere, but hopefully that's 15 years down the road."

On becoming friends with Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert during draft process:

"We've actually gotten to know each other pretty well. We talked last night after both of us got drafted. [Gabbert went to Jacksonville at No. 10 overall]. I said he needs to get a house on TPC Sawgrass down there. I'll go play golf with him and I'll get a fishing boat up here and we'll go fishing on the lakes."

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