Fullback Cullen Gillaspia recently spoke with Drew Dougherty of Texans TV. The pair discussed how his rookie year went, the optimism around special teams, and much more. Gillaspia also answered 12 questions from Dougherty, and a condensed version of that conversation is below.
1) DD: Let's say you're able to suit up right now for your high school team Katy Taylor. You're as big, strong and fast as you are now, but you're facing high school kids. What happens?
Gillaspia: I'm playing running back and Mike linebacker. I think I'm going to have to go and whup up on Cinco Ranch so I can kind of hang that over the heads of all the dudes I played junior high with.
2) DD: How many touchdowns are you running for?
Gillaspia: Oh, at least six. Probably 20 tackles, a couple sacks. It would be great. My team wasn't very good in high school, so I can't be like, oh, go back to like this playoff team. So I'm just I'm just taking a shot at all my buddies with the middle school with.
3) DD: Other than 'Gilly', what are some of your nicknames?
Gillaspia: Growing up, I had the nickname Sunshine, because of 'Remember the Titans' and the blonde hair. But Gilly is probably the one that has stuck with me the most.
4) DD: What show have you been been binge-watching lately?
Gillaspia: Everything! I just finished 'Yellowstone', and actually booked a trip to go to Montana. Right now, I'm watching 'The Office' for about the 12th time.
5) DD: Which Houston Texan is most like Dwight Schrute?
Gillaspia: You're looking at a straight-laced guy. Someone who is very outspoken. Max Scharping, maybe? He's not quite as outspoken, but he is full of a ton of useless information. Things that I never even thought to care about. He reads a lot of fan fiction and is big into like Harry Potter and stuff like that.
6) DD: But I trust Max Scharping has never brought a dead goose into work, right?
Gillaspia: No, no, he has not done that. So that's good.
7) DD: What was your welcome to the NFL moment?
Gillaspia: Week 2 against Jacksonville. I was on the punt return team and I had to man up like a seven- or eight-year vet. Basically I went out there thinking 'Oh, I'm faster than this guy. I'll just kind of outrun him.' I tried to do some college-level moves. He hit me with one hand and sent me about three feet back and left me lying on my back. So I was like, 'OK, that move's out of the playbook. I guess I'm going to have to maybe listen to my coaches and do things the right way and the techniques they teach me.'
8) DD: Before a Sunday Night Football game last season, Jimmy Fallon had your picture and said you most resemble a villager in the Shrek series. What was your reaction to that?
Gillaspia: I haven't gotten that much grief because it is kind of cool to be on the Jimmy Fallon show. But a lot of my friends and my family claimed immediately the resemblance that they saw. Yeah, I guess I do look like an extra in Shrek.
9) DD: How long have you been growing your hair, and how long you plan to grow it?
Gillaspia: I started growing at the end of my sophomore year of college. But I keep it at the same length. I'm still waiting on some type of shampoo deal.
10) DD: So Prell and Pert Plus and Pantene haven't come to you with an endorsement deal?
Gillaspia: I've DM'd Pantene a couple times, still waiting for a response from them. But really, my hair is completely up for sale. I will go with any shampoo company if they want to pay me to have the hair. I'm all in.
11) DD: You just had a birthday. Was your best birthday present?.
Gillaspia: I got some new flip flops from my parents. For all of the listeners that are above 21 years old, my parents got me a nice bottle of tequila.
12) DD: What's the best birthday present you've ever had?
Gillaspia: My parents got me a truck for my 16th birthday, so. So that was pretty cool. And then a couple years ago, my dad took us to Louisiana on a on a fishing trip.
BAKER'S DOZEN) DD: You get to fish much?
Gillaspia: I try to as much as I can. It's only an hour to Galveston, so I head down there every now and then. But it's fishing. It's not catching.
You need to take Bryan Anger down there with you. He spearfishes.
I know! That's a very common topic of conversation with us riding on the bus. He's always showing me crazy pictures of him scuba diving because he has a house in Tampa and he's got an awesome boat. That seems cool and I would definitely want to do it, but the ocean is a pretty scary place.
