Brian Flores has coached around some of the great coaches in football, most notably Bill Belichick in New England. And recently, he accepted a job to work on Mike Tomlin’s staff with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But earlier in his career, Flores said Michigan State coach Mel Tucker proved to be an instrumental influence with just his command of a meeting at Georgia. Flores spoke on the “I Am Athlete” podcast.

“One person that helped me that people probably wouldn’t think of is Mel Tucker,” Flores said. “The year before I was going to be the coordinator in New England, I spent a few days at the University of Georgia where Mel was the DC. I remember sitting in this meeting and saying to myself, ‘Damn, that guy is impressive.’ I kind of saw myself, but an older, wiser, more seasoned version. And I was like, I’ve got to learn from this guy. He’s somebody who, he probably doesn’t even know that how much of an impact he had on me. But I took a lot from that.”

Tucker, of course, spent 3 seasons at Georgia, and is now entering his third season coaching the Spartans.