I mean no emotion. It's football, you know. Obviously we all happy to see him back, happy to know that the surgery was successful. He's a hundred percent you know, more so than a teammate. He's he's a family member of us, so his health is always first. But yeah, I'll answer you a question. Everybody's excited when whenever we can get anybody back from injury. You know, I don't know how much you knew about that surgery he had, but were you surprised at all that he was ready
to go at the opening camp? Uh? Now, I wasn't surprised. You know. I talked to him a little bit over the break, so I kind of kind of knew everything was looking looking pretty good. So what those states seemed like throughout the whole process, he seems like Brock. You know, Brock is got a rock solid mental you know, he's doesn't get flushed very easy. So he took the whole process like a champ. Nobody could tell if he if
he was going through anything. We couldn't tell. I couldn't tell personally at the other day that even a BRONC women that he's still gonna get a lot more reps during during this camp than he did did last year, or you would treat to see you know, how much better he could be with with getting those reps. What kind of do you expect from I mean, obviously he would think experience one year experience would play would play
a major role in in his development. So he got some I mean priceless experience, especially in some in some very key games, some big games. All season he played f fantastic. So uh, I think, yeah, we should expect better obviously, ef from every player in the year two that played a lot of football in the year one, you would expect them to take a jump because of the experience. How did you spend your your forty break? Could you work with any of the year ago? Yeah?
For sure. Yeah. Me and Leroy uh we, you know we locked in. You know, he come to me for a lot, you know, we it definitely wanted those uh little brothers. You know he kind of got the same you know, physical makeup. He's the athletic guy, you know, form a tight end, has a quick feet, so you know, I do spend a lot of time talking to him
about a lot of things. Him Jalen uh obviously Colton Spencer, uh We spent a lot of time over the off season like working out shoulder and shoulder, so you know, I expect him to to make a huge leap this year as well. So yeah, but you know, it's always a fun time for me to work with the younger guys and kind of keeps me engaged, especially during my off time. You know, it challenges me to be a better player, cause I obviously got to practice what I preach, you know, and so I like it. I enjoyed it.
Since obviously making that transition, or or has made that transition from tight end to to tackle, what do you see from him in that regard? And you see the potential to be a a player in his sleep, Yeah, of course, he his his ceiling is extremely high. Like you said, he he made the switch not but about a year ago, so he he's he's still new to the position, but he's an intelligent player. Like I said,
he has all the attributes. He actually, you know, put a put a little weight on this summer, so you know, he be a little bit more sturdy. You know, kind of had a slight frame last year obviously coming over from tight end. But you know, I think he's he he's He's used all this time to his advantage. He's worked, you know, and I'm excited to watch him, watch him go out there and play Cleveland. Drake Jackson's what strikes me. I mean, yeah, Cleveland obviously, you know, he's a vet,
played a lot of played a lot of football. Both of those guys are, you know, a very athletic, very
slippery guys. I think, you know, they should do big things for us this year, especially, you know, obviously we know what to expect out of Cleveland, but Drake, just seeing his transformation, seeing you know, the muscle he put on over the all over the all season, seeing his attention to detail, you know, you know, I think we're all kind of excited to see him going full speed, especially with ninety seven getting a lot of the a lot of the attention pretty much every play specifically is
Spencer this year versus when you're working with his rookie season, just mentally knowing what to do. Like I said, when you in this offense is very intricate, a lot of details, you know, this scheme is it's very very it's very hard to grasp for new players, and it takes the time. It took me three to four years my from my rookie year. You know, I didn't catch on til about my third or fourth year, and I thought I knew it.
Come here I had to catch on again. So to me, obviously his physical traits he's gonna get bigger, stronger every year, but the mental part him knowing what to do so then you can worry about what's in front of you. You know, when you're a young player, you're worrying about what you have to do. Then you know you can't even assess what's in front of you cause you don't even know. You know. It's kind of cause a lot
of words, a lot of the player. It's really tough, you know, and it's to be able to come in and start as a rookie and play meaningful downs like he did. I think it's a hat off to him. But now you ask me the difference, I think it's the experience and and the know he know what he's doing so he can be more assertives. What do you learn from them on the mental side? Things the hunger, you know, just seeing how hungry they are to learn,
seeing how hunger they are to get better. You know, it rubs off on me as all I said, I like to I like it because it allows me to stay locked in and and it holds me to a higher standard. You've been complimentary role, that's your altual what you like about and what he needs to do to UH have success this shore. I think he needs to do everything he's been doing. I think that's the reason he's in this position is because he's earned that trust from the staff. You know, over the last few years.
He deserves it. He deserves it. He's put in the work every year he's been presented with a challenge coming into camp. You know, whether it was fighting to make the roster, fighting to make the practice squad at first make the roster last year and then have to do two numbers, had to go in the practice squad for a few weeks, bring him back up, you know, start a few games, like he he he's been through it all.
He's been through it pretty much every situation you can you can beat, you go through and except with starting, you know, being a day one starter, and he now that's his position. He's earned it. You know, we're proud of him. He's a he's a phenomenal player. You know, the confidence that he plays with. In my opinion allows him to play at a high of them. You talk about what you can learn from those guys, I think
learning from him. What I learned from him is his confidence is unwaivering, the confidence in him, his ability to block whoever. You know, and when you play online, you know, your confidence can it's like a roller coaster sometimes because it's only one play, can define how people look at you, you know, for the entire season. So it's it's a very you know, it's a very peculiar position to be in when you kind of skate on thin ice every
play right. So to me, his confidence and his physical stature, his attributes, his ability, his lower body string, upper body string. I think it all plays a part to why he's in the position he's in right now, playing at a level maybe as good as you ever have the last couple of years. I don't know if you'd agree with that or not, but when you look at your birthday, it almost be cause it seems like that you how and gotten better at an advanced advanced football, just never
settling right. You know, you make ten straight probos. You know a lot of people would say, you know, I put together a good resume, but you know, for me, I never really look at never look at it past one year. You know, I look at last year, and then my whole goal is to be a better player than I was last year, and next year I'm go'a look at this year and wanna be better. And to me, that's the only way you can continue to as sind
or continue to play consistent. You know, it's so easy to feel like you know it all, to feel like you got it all, and that's when you get humbled in this game. So for me, it's always been to keep going forward, not worry about the review, not worry about what I've done in the past, all about what I'm trying to do in the future. And to me, I think that's a simple blueprint to kind of keep
yourself motivated and staying staying in the now. You know yesterday, you guys are here for one or well aware of you know, the window may not last forever. Right to to get over the open and win that superwater? How wutch you do you guys talk about that? How how does that kind of consume you? Uh? As your book a frenus, Well, how long the window last? Yeah, it's just to get I don't worry about it. I mean, the Super Bowl is at the top of everybody priority
list right now. Worrying about when the window closed really does nothing for us right now. You know, it's like worrying about when you're gonna die, right, you know it. You know it's gonna close eventually, But what's the point of looking forward to it? Right I'm coming every day. It just work how I do, how it work, how I did yesterday, And just look forward to getting one percent better every every day, and eventually you wanna hold
up their trophy. And if it doesn't happen, you reset, recalibrate, approach it the next year with the same same mindset. Yeah. See