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- Jun 20, 2010
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- The Dude
(On how the rookies looked during Friday’s practice)
“They were good. Basically we’ve got two groups out here. We’ve got draft choices and we’ve got our college free agents with which we’ve agreed to terms, ones that have a roster spot. Then we have almost 30 guys that have come in for tryouts. The tryout consists of a number of things. One, obviously we’re testing, timing. We’ve got them in the classroom with the rest of the guys. We’re teaching them so we can evaluate not only their athletic ability, but we can evaluate their ability to learn football and bring it back on the field. We have two sessions: this one we just completed and another one tomorrow that we’ll do in the morning. That will be the only time that we’ll be on the field this weekend. It’s our philosophy that if you do too much too soon you set people back, and we don’t want to do that.”
(On RB Zac Stacy’s absence Friday)
“No he wasn’t (in St. Louis). As a matter of fact, he’s graduating and I was really excited for him. We talked right after the draft about this weekend and it was our feeling that that was more important than what we’re doing here. We’ll get him caught up.”
(On if Stacy will arrive on Saturday)
“He’ll be coming in some time tomorrow afternoon I think, yes.”
(On what he’s looking at when he watches practices like Friday’s)
“This is unique. It’s really the first time I’ve been through the experience where we’ve had this number of tryouts. It’s just kind of familiarizing yourself with who’s who. We have differentiated them with a slight difference in jerseys. Just looking at guys that can move around, their balance and athletic ability and pick things up. It looks like we’re going to have some tough decisions. There will be some guys off this tryout group that will at least make the training camp roster.”
(On if he pays more attention to the tryout players that the draft picks and signed free agents)
“Not necessarily. You can watch (LB Alec) Ogletree in the first one-on-one where he picks the ball off and you go, ‘Ok, we’re ok there.’ I guess, probably, I am looking more at the tryout guys at this point, knowing that these guys are going to be with us the next six weeks.”
(On what he wants to see from the free agents this weekend)
“They’re doing the same thing. Last year we had undrafted college free agents make this roster and contribute. They understand that. Some of the priority college free agents that we got right away, obviously, we think they can help us and there’s always going to be a surprise or two.”
(On if he has seen the YouTube video of LS Jorgen Hus doing tricks with the football)
“I have not got to that point of the research yet. Someone told me he had 25 tackles or something like that. He’s an athletic guy who can go down and make plays and he did some of that. Their field’s a little bit bigger so he should be pretty good in space.”
(On how he encourages players to not get discouraged as they look at an NFL playbook for the first time)
“Actually, it’s an iPad. We talked to them yesterday, talked to both groups separately and both groups together about congratulating them on their accomplishments. Had they not done what they did in college they wouldn’t be here. Just to relax and don’t get intimidated by it. Just learn and have fun, smile. We even had some good introductions yesterday from them.”
(On RB Ben Cunningham’s health)
“Yeah, he and (OL) Barrett (Jones) are both...they’re participating in walkthroughs, but they have not been cleared to practice yet.”
(On when he begins evaluating the players’ retention with the playbook)
“It happened today. We went into a 7-on-7 and we’ve installed offense and we’ve installed defense, so we’ve got a good feel for those that have an idea what they’re doing and those that are a little behind.”
(On if it’s exciting for him and the coaching staff to get back on the field)
“Yeah, the staff was excited to get back in the room. We’ve been on the field the last two weeks with the varsity. That’s going well. Guys are really excited. The offseason program is going really well. We’re not permitted to come together, offense and defense, so it’s been separate. But it’s always fun once you get the rookie class in.”
(On LB Ray Ray Armstrong)
“He’s going to start there at linebacker, yes. He’s just a really good athlete. He’s been off for a while. He’s in good shape. He participated in bowl games. He’s done some pro days. He got caught up in a difficult situation and he’s happy for the opportunity.”
(On why S Cody Davis went undrafted)
“No, we’re just glad that he wasn’t. We had a good grade on him. He had an outstanding combine. He’s a sharp young guy that plays special teams and he’s got cover skills and he can run and tackle. He’ll have a good opportunity.”
(On Cunningham putting up good numbers before suffering a season-ending injury)
“Yeah he did. As we were evaluating some of the defensive players, he kept showing up. For some reason I watched several MTSU offensive games and then as the process moved further and further along, it became apparent that he’s got some good run skills. We contacted him just to see if there was any interest and then once the draft was over we closed the deal.”
(On WR Tavon Austin)
“We did the private workout, so I was down there. I’d seen him do a lot more in the workout than I did today. Nothing surprises me about him.”
(On if he considered moving practice inside due to the rain)
“I didn’t even know it was raining when I came out. I was so busy. We did some testing inside with the tryout guys. We timed it up well. They got together at the same point where they were warm.”
(On what he hopes to get out of Austin this weekend)
“He and Sted (WR Stedman Bailey), they’re very excited about the offense and they’re spending as much time as they can. They’re both learning and we’re just going to keep dumping offense on them so they can keep being productive over the next couple of weeks.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin – Rookie Minicamp – May 10, 2013
(On his first day at practice)
“It was cool, definitely a little wet. I’m not used to playing on the grass, but eventually I’ll get the hang of it and everything will go well from here.”
(On what it felt like to walk into Rams Park on Thursday and what he did today)
“Pretty much that this is my next home. I rode in and did a couple things. The coaches did a couple meetings, meeting a lot more people and from there, now we’re out here today.”
(On adjusting to the Rams playbook and how it differs from West Virginia)
“(West Virginia Head) Coach (Dana) Holgorsen’s playbook is a little bit different from this one. We’re coming out of the huddle now. When we were back in West Virginia, we came (from) all signals, so that was a little different – just the terminology. Me and ‘Sted’ (Stedman Bailey), we’re roommates, so we pretty much studied the majority of the night and we came out today and we did a good job today.”
(On if he thought about practice last night)
“You’re definitely anxious. You want to see all the top guys here. The vets come in next week, but you have to first get your mark today. I think we did a pretty good job today, so we’ll keep on going from here.”
(On if he feels competition with the undrafted rookies)
“I don’t ever underestimate anybody, I come out here with the same attitude as if I was playing the vets. They did a pretty good job today. I had a couple good catches today and I’m just going to keep going from here.”
(On if he has a target on him because of where he was drafted)
“There’s a little (bit of) high expectations for me because I went No. 8, but at the same time when I come up here I just have fun and pretty much try to do always what I do. The No. 1 thing is to come up here and make some plays.”
(On if he is the smallest player in the NFL)
“I probably am one of the smallest, but I can say I’m probably one of the fastest, too.”
(On if he is concerned about his size)
“That’s something that you really can’t worry about. I can’t change it. The only thing I’ve got to do when I get out here is try to protect myself and you just take it from there.”
(On if he’s ever taken a big hit)
“Yes, I took a lot of big hits before – not head on a lot of times – but I definitely got hit. You just have to trust in yourself and trust in your strength coaches and hopefully you bounce back.”
(On how many players he made fall down today)
“I think made one today, but hopefully when the days keep going on longer, I’ll get my feet back under me and I’ll be rolling then.”
(On if he would like to return punts in the NFL)
“Definitely, that’s one of my specialties. I’m working with (Head) Coach (Jeff) Fisher and the special teams coach and hopefully I’ll just get the opportunity to start back there and make a couple plays for us.”
(On if the coaches were having fun with the receivers by having them do one-handed catch drills)
“No, that’s definitely one of their drills. It teaches you be balanced and how to catch the ball with one hand and how to catch it on your chest. So, it’s definitely one of their drills.”
(On if he’s done the one-handed catch drills before)
“I did it back at pro day. It was a little hard for me back then, so I kind of just remembered what I did back there and tried to stay square and catch the ball with the shoulder and your arm. That’s what I did today.”
(On how close he is with WR Stedman Bailey and if they plan on living together)
“No, we’re definitely not living together (laughs). He’s going to have his house and I’m going to have mine. We’ll probably, definitely live close to each other, but no we’re not living with each other. I didn’t live with him in college, so I’m not living with him in the league right now. I’m not living with him.”
(On the biggest changes for him since the draft and how he is adjusting)
“Just people. Everybody expects a lot of things from you as far as money. Everybody wants to be around you. My phone doesn’t stop ringing now. It feels like they’re counting my bank account now. So that’s probably the hardest thing for me right now, just people.”
(On if he has inherited more friends because of his draft status)
“I’ve got a lot of cousins now. The whole (city of) Baltimore is my cousin now. We’re going to just try to keep focused and let my mother and all of them handle it.”
“They were good. Basically we’ve got two groups out here. We’ve got draft choices and we’ve got our college free agents with which we’ve agreed to terms, ones that have a roster spot. Then we have almost 30 guys that have come in for tryouts. The tryout consists of a number of things. One, obviously we’re testing, timing. We’ve got them in the classroom with the rest of the guys. We’re teaching them so we can evaluate not only their athletic ability, but we can evaluate their ability to learn football and bring it back on the field. We have two sessions: this one we just completed and another one tomorrow that we’ll do in the morning. That will be the only time that we’ll be on the field this weekend. It’s our philosophy that if you do too much too soon you set people back, and we don’t want to do that.”
(On RB Zac Stacy’s absence Friday)
“No he wasn’t (in St. Louis). As a matter of fact, he’s graduating and I was really excited for him. We talked right after the draft about this weekend and it was our feeling that that was more important than what we’re doing here. We’ll get him caught up.”
(On if Stacy will arrive on Saturday)
“He’ll be coming in some time tomorrow afternoon I think, yes.”
(On what he’s looking at when he watches practices like Friday’s)
“This is unique. It’s really the first time I’ve been through the experience where we’ve had this number of tryouts. It’s just kind of familiarizing yourself with who’s who. We have differentiated them with a slight difference in jerseys. Just looking at guys that can move around, their balance and athletic ability and pick things up. It looks like we’re going to have some tough decisions. There will be some guys off this tryout group that will at least make the training camp roster.”
(On if he pays more attention to the tryout players that the draft picks and signed free agents)
“Not necessarily. You can watch (LB Alec) Ogletree in the first one-on-one where he picks the ball off and you go, ‘Ok, we’re ok there.’ I guess, probably, I am looking more at the tryout guys at this point, knowing that these guys are going to be with us the next six weeks.”
(On what he wants to see from the free agents this weekend)
“They’re doing the same thing. Last year we had undrafted college free agents make this roster and contribute. They understand that. Some of the priority college free agents that we got right away, obviously, we think they can help us and there’s always going to be a surprise or two.”
(On if he has seen the YouTube video of LS Jorgen Hus doing tricks with the football)
“I have not got to that point of the research yet. Someone told me he had 25 tackles or something like that. He’s an athletic guy who can go down and make plays and he did some of that. Their field’s a little bit bigger so he should be pretty good in space.”
(On how he encourages players to not get discouraged as they look at an NFL playbook for the first time)
“Actually, it’s an iPad. We talked to them yesterday, talked to both groups separately and both groups together about congratulating them on their accomplishments. Had they not done what they did in college they wouldn’t be here. Just to relax and don’t get intimidated by it. Just learn and have fun, smile. We even had some good introductions yesterday from them.”
(On RB Ben Cunningham’s health)
“Yeah, he and (OL) Barrett (Jones) are both...they’re participating in walkthroughs, but they have not been cleared to practice yet.”
(On when he begins evaluating the players’ retention with the playbook)
“It happened today. We went into a 7-on-7 and we’ve installed offense and we’ve installed defense, so we’ve got a good feel for those that have an idea what they’re doing and those that are a little behind.”
(On if it’s exciting for him and the coaching staff to get back on the field)
“Yeah, the staff was excited to get back in the room. We’ve been on the field the last two weeks with the varsity. That’s going well. Guys are really excited. The offseason program is going really well. We’re not permitted to come together, offense and defense, so it’s been separate. But it’s always fun once you get the rookie class in.”
(On LB Ray Ray Armstrong)
“He’s going to start there at linebacker, yes. He’s just a really good athlete. He’s been off for a while. He’s in good shape. He participated in bowl games. He’s done some pro days. He got caught up in a difficult situation and he’s happy for the opportunity.”
(On why S Cody Davis went undrafted)
“No, we’re just glad that he wasn’t. We had a good grade on him. He had an outstanding combine. He’s a sharp young guy that plays special teams and he’s got cover skills and he can run and tackle. He’ll have a good opportunity.”
(On Cunningham putting up good numbers before suffering a season-ending injury)
“Yeah he did. As we were evaluating some of the defensive players, he kept showing up. For some reason I watched several MTSU offensive games and then as the process moved further and further along, it became apparent that he’s got some good run skills. We contacted him just to see if there was any interest and then once the draft was over we closed the deal.”
(On WR Tavon Austin)
“We did the private workout, so I was down there. I’d seen him do a lot more in the workout than I did today. Nothing surprises me about him.”
(On if he considered moving practice inside due to the rain)
“I didn’t even know it was raining when I came out. I was so busy. We did some testing inside with the tryout guys. We timed it up well. They got together at the same point where they were warm.”
(On what he hopes to get out of Austin this weekend)
“He and Sted (WR Stedman Bailey), they’re very excited about the offense and they’re spending as much time as they can. They’re both learning and we’re just going to keep dumping offense on them so they can keep being productive over the next couple of weeks.”
Rams WR Tavon Austin – Rookie Minicamp – May 10, 2013
(On his first day at practice)
“It was cool, definitely a little wet. I’m not used to playing on the grass, but eventually I’ll get the hang of it and everything will go well from here.”
(On what it felt like to walk into Rams Park on Thursday and what he did today)
“Pretty much that this is my next home. I rode in and did a couple things. The coaches did a couple meetings, meeting a lot more people and from there, now we’re out here today.”
(On adjusting to the Rams playbook and how it differs from West Virginia)
“(West Virginia Head) Coach (Dana) Holgorsen’s playbook is a little bit different from this one. We’re coming out of the huddle now. When we were back in West Virginia, we came (from) all signals, so that was a little different – just the terminology. Me and ‘Sted’ (Stedman Bailey), we’re roommates, so we pretty much studied the majority of the night and we came out today and we did a good job today.”
(On if he thought about practice last night)
“You’re definitely anxious. You want to see all the top guys here. The vets come in next week, but you have to first get your mark today. I think we did a pretty good job today, so we’ll keep on going from here.”
(On if he feels competition with the undrafted rookies)
“I don’t ever underestimate anybody, I come out here with the same attitude as if I was playing the vets. They did a pretty good job today. I had a couple good catches today and I’m just going to keep going from here.”
(On if he has a target on him because of where he was drafted)
“There’s a little (bit of) high expectations for me because I went No. 8, but at the same time when I come up here I just have fun and pretty much try to do always what I do. The No. 1 thing is to come up here and make some plays.”
(On if he is the smallest player in the NFL)
“I probably am one of the smallest, but I can say I’m probably one of the fastest, too.”
(On if he is concerned about his size)
“That’s something that you really can’t worry about. I can’t change it. The only thing I’ve got to do when I get out here is try to protect myself and you just take it from there.”
(On if he’s ever taken a big hit)
“Yes, I took a lot of big hits before – not head on a lot of times – but I definitely got hit. You just have to trust in yourself and trust in your strength coaches and hopefully you bounce back.”
(On how many players he made fall down today)
“I think made one today, but hopefully when the days keep going on longer, I’ll get my feet back under me and I’ll be rolling then.”
(On if he would like to return punts in the NFL)
“Definitely, that’s one of my specialties. I’m working with (Head) Coach (Jeff) Fisher and the special teams coach and hopefully I’ll just get the opportunity to start back there and make a couple plays for us.”
(On if the coaches were having fun with the receivers by having them do one-handed catch drills)
“No, that’s definitely one of their drills. It teaches you be balanced and how to catch the ball with one hand and how to catch it on your chest. So, it’s definitely one of their drills.”
(On if he’s done the one-handed catch drills before)
“I did it back at pro day. It was a little hard for me back then, so I kind of just remembered what I did back there and tried to stay square and catch the ball with the shoulder and your arm. That’s what I did today.”
(On how close he is with WR Stedman Bailey and if they plan on living together)
“No, we’re definitely not living together (laughs). He’s going to have his house and I’m going to have mine. We’ll probably, definitely live close to each other, but no we’re not living with each other. I didn’t live with him in college, so I’m not living with him in the league right now. I’m not living with him.”
(On the biggest changes for him since the draft and how he is adjusting)
“Just people. Everybody expects a lot of things from you as far as money. Everybody wants to be around you. My phone doesn’t stop ringing now. It feels like they’re counting my bank account now. So that’s probably the hardest thing for me right now, just people.”
(On if he has inherited more friends because of his draft status)
“I’ve got a lot of cousins now. The whole (city of) Baltimore is my cousin now. We’re going to just try to keep focused and let my mother and all of them handle it.”