Drive Time: Rookie Minicamp Report - podcast episode cover

Drive Time: Rookie Minicamp Report

May 13, 202327 min
--:--
--:--
Download Metacast podcast app
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

Drive Time returns with football practice to talk about! The rookies hit the field and Travis got a first-hand look at the entire class. Plus, we hear from the Cam Smith, De’Von Achane, Elijah Higgins, Ryan Hayes, Julian Hill, Zeke Vaderberg and James Blackman. Finally, Travis dives deeper into the Dolphins 2023 schedule.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

You're listening to the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. This is Drive Time with Travis Wingfield. Back to throw to a looking clips a dolt a wide Dolphin touchdown, ty Rick Caul.

Speaker 2

Uncolievable, just blue.

Speaker 3

Byre for a second time.

Speaker 1

Don knew where he was going right away. I want to hit that man.

Speaker 3

I'm gonna help you. Someone will keep on your man away Wattle, Wattle to a shotgun, back to throw, looking at them.

Speaker 4

Up Myers touchdown. It's Waddle his sixth touchdown.

Speaker 1

Pato, how's the King?

Speaker 4

Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins. Now, let me check your pulse if you're not for.

Speaker 5

What is up?

Speaker 4

Dolphins?

Speaker 3

And welcome to the Drive Time podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 4

How's it going? Everybody?

Speaker 3

I am your host, Travis Wingfield. On today's show, rookie Minni Camp is in the books. We heard from the guys and watched them on the practice field, albeit briefly. We'll cover all of that, plus a few more schedule notes for your twenty twenty three slate for your Miami Dolphins. All of that in a heck of a lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.

Speaker 4

This is the Drive Time podcast.

Speaker 3

May Before we get into football players on a football field playing the game of football football, let's talk about the entire NFL schedule.

Speaker 4

I had a chance to look over this thing.

Speaker 3

I perused it, which some people think that means that you glanced at it, but perusing means an in depth study of something, and that's exactly what I did. So I had a chance to take a look at that. And here are my notes from that little Perusian perusing perus if. There are no games for the Dolphins this year facing a team coming off their bye week, and I thought this was pretty rare when I tweeted about it on Thursday night, but this is actually the case

for a lot of teams. There are two teams have to play four teams coming off of bye week. Nobody else has more than two. And then we have a collection of teams that do not play anybody coming off of a bye week. They are the Cardinals, the Ravens, the Bears, the Browns, the Colts, the Jags, the Patriots, the Jets, the Steelers, the Titans, and your Miami Dolphins. Now there are also some games where you have a short week or less than usual rest type of games.

I always like looking at those, because, for instance, last year, a game on the road in Cincinnati and week number four, after just three days of rest after playing the Bills at home here in Miami, that's what you are called, you would call a scheduled loss. You're not supposed to win that game after playing in the hot, hot heat that SAPs you. Whether you're at hard Rock Stadium or the Cassea Center down on Biscayne Boulevard, it's gonna be hot down here, right, That's how it works in sports.

And so for the Dolphins playing eighty four snaps in that Bills game on defense that fourth quarter against the Bengals they couldn't get a stop, made a whole bunch of sense.

Speaker 4

But anyway, let's go ahead and look at this.

Speaker 3

So here are the weeks that we have regular amount of rest time the Chargers, Patriots, Broncos, Bills, Panthers, Eagles, Patriots, Chiefs, Jets, Titans, and Cowboys. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven of your games. We have six games where the teams do not have the same amount of rest time. It starts in week number five. The Giants coming off

a short week on Monday Night Football. They are at home for that game, so it's a plus one advantage for the Dolphins, and that means the Giants get to go home at midnight, go sleep in their own beds, and the coaches can get up the.

Speaker 4

Next morning and go to the office. Right.

Speaker 3

And I make that point because there's a game later in the season where the team that we face coming off of Monday Night Football is coming from a road game. And I'll explain why that's important here in just one second. Week number eleven, coming off of a bye for US gives us the plus seven advantage on the Las Vegas Raiders. Our first deficit is the Commander's game. They're coming off a Thursday night or a Thursday, I should say afternoon game the Thanksgiving game, so that'll give them a three

day advantage minus three for us. There's another deficit after the Monday Night Football game against the Titans, a sh short week obviously minus one, and that's for the Jets.

Speaker 4

Boom.

Speaker 3

I don't like that we get the Jets on a short week the first time shorty for them as well. On the road, and then they get us on a short week again the second time, Come on, come on. Then it's back to a plus one with the Ravens coming off Monday night football in San Francisco. And this is what I'm talking about right here, having to fly back in the early morning hour. So for the Ravens on the East Coast schedule, the game wraps at you know, eleven thirty midnight, it takes you an hour and a

half to get on the plane one o'clock. You make a six hour cross country fly. All of a sudden, you get home at seven am, nobody has slept well. You pretty much have to just cancel out the entire review of that game and just begin your game playing for the Dolphins, so they won't have a chance to make the corrections like they would like to.

Speaker 4

It just puts you back quite a bit.

Speaker 3

It's akin to the Dolphins last year having to go to Los Angeles on a Sunday night game, which that was flexed into primetime, and then they knew they had the Dolphins and Bills on a short week in Buffalo. Can we make decisions for the teams and not just for the best interests and ratings?

Speaker 4

And cash.

Speaker 3

No, but I get it, you pretty much wipe out that next morning, right, So Tuesday morning for the Ravens in this instance gets completely wiped out.

Speaker 4

So there's a total advantage for the.

Speaker 3

Dolphins here of plus five days in terms of the rest advantage, largely because we get the game off the buy.

Speaker 4

And don't face anybody coming off of it. But there are was it five games?

Speaker 1

No?

Speaker 3

Six games in total where the rest is not the same. How about looking at potential trap or look ahead games like I think for the Dolphins this doesn't exist this year because they are one of the best teams in the NFL, but it's still worth looking at. So Week one, the Chargers obviously don't play anybody before US, but they play the Titans in Tennessee after US. For the Patriots, the game against Miami in Week two is sandwiched by the Eagles at home in Week one and at the

Jets in Week three. I mean, they're not going to overlook the Dolphins, but those are two really intriguing games with the Patriots, so they are sandwich between two high leverage games. There for the Broncos, nothing two NFC games the Commanders and at the Bears for the Bills in Week four, they are at the Commanders and then they're

in London for Jacksonville and that's a big deal. And you might say, why, Travis, they're playing that game after us, Well, your preparation for the London trip begins long before the week of the trip, and so you're trying to get tickets sorted out, you're trying to get travel for your family sorted out, you're trying to get your luggage packed for a couple of games. And so for them to go to London after our game, it's just something else they would have in their minds as far as preparation

looking forward. I would be very surprised if the Bills overlook the Dolphins. It's not going to happen, but it's something worth talking about. I think week number five against the Giants, we talked about the advantage there with them on the short week against the Seahawks on Monday Night football. Then they go at the Bills after that, also a primetime game, so it's like the Dolphins of the one game they have there that's not primetime.

Speaker 4

That's a little bit interesting as well.

Speaker 3

Week six for the Panthers, they're at the Lions and have a buye after our game. That's the case quite a bit in here, which I think is a trade off for not having teams coming off of buye. I mean, I guess you could make the point that they would like empty the tank, but this is the NFL. You do that every single week, trying to win every single game, So I don't put a lot of stock into that. For the Eagles in Week seven, they at the Jets prior and at the Commander's afterwards, so a home game

stay much between two road games. For the Patriots, in Week eight, they have two home games, they which around the road game in Miami. They are home for the Bills before and home for the Commanders after the Chiefs.

Speaker 4

This is another interesting one.

Speaker 3

They are at the Broncos before the game against the Dolphins in Germany. And I bring that up because, just like I mentioned with our Week four Bengals game last year, playing in Denver just it's a little bit different than anywhere else in the league in the sense that you get a little bit more I hate to use this word, but saffed of your energy, right like playing in the

Mile High City. It's a different type of environment, different type of elevation, so you kind of have to prepare differently, so to go from that to a then was a twelve hour flight to Germany for the international game for them.

Speaker 4

That's interesting to me.

Speaker 3

It's like the worst possible case for them, you know, speaking about being on the road before that trip and then making the long trick over that's longer than the trip is for US.

Speaker 4

Then they have the.

Speaker 3

Bye week afterwards, obviously, but very interesting there. Week ten's the bye Week eleven for the Raiders. They play the Jets before the game against US on Sunday Night Football and the Chiefs after, So that's like again sandwich between two really big games, a primetime game and then the Chiefs their big division rival for the Jets. In Week twelve, they are at the Bills before our game and home

for the Falcons after our game on Black Friday. The Week thirteen game against the Commanders, they're at the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, then have the bye after our game, so that's the ten day advantage for them there. Week fourteen against the Titans, they play the Colts prior and the Texans after both those games at home. In Week fifteen, the Jets before our game or home for the Texans

after our game are home for the Commanders. The Commanders are on this list a ton Week sixteen against the Cowboys. They are at the Bills prior to our game and then have a short week after our game against the Lions on a Saturday night game.

Speaker 4

In Week seventeen the Ravens again.

Speaker 3

They're at the forty nine Ers on Monday Night Football prior to our game, and then finish up their year against the division rivals Steelers, just like us against the Bills and then the Bills in Week eighteen to our game they are home for the Patriots. So really interesting stuff there. I mentioned the Bills and the Chiefs. Travel situation for international to me is a little bit intriguing.

You know, if it gives you one more play that goes in your way that wouldn't have otherwise, that's an advantage. That's so that's kind of what we're looking at there. And then this is also interesting to me. DraftKings has the Dolphins favored in eleven of their seventeen games this year. That's tied for the sixth most, behind only the Chiefs, Niners, Bengals, Eagles, and Bills. It's tied with Dallas, the Jets, the Lions, and the Chargers.

Speaker 4

Of course, that's just for entertainment purposes.

Speaker 3

They're only and talking about projections and what you know, certain folks think about this team's chances in certain games. We also have a preseason schedule for y'all. No date or time on the Week one and Week three game, but the week of August tenth through fourteenth, that is Thursday through Monday for the potential landing spot of that.

I don't think will be in primetime for these games because typically what they do with the primetime preseason schedule is they give the teams that don't have regular season primetime games, they put him in these slots.

Speaker 4

In Miami, we know has plenty of primetime games.

Speaker 3

But the first game home for the Falcons, that's probably going to be a joint practice here against that Falcons team, which that's a good roster in a fun or i should say, a unique style of offense to look at and approach and attack and defensively as well as dnps. There but no time on that for that game, obviously, since there's no day for it. The Week two game, however, in Houston, has a time and a date Saturday, August

the nineteenth at the Texans at eight pm. That is probably going to be joint practices there in Houston as well. And then week number three is TBD between the weeks or on the week of eight twenty four through August twenty eighth, that's at Jacksonville and no time there obviously either. Let's go ahead and finish up here real quick with some Warre and Sharp schedule analysis. He says the Dolphins have the fifth most difficult schedule based on projected win

totals for twenty twenty three. I always like that over twenty twenty two record because teams changed so much every year. The Patriots have the toughest, the Bills have the second toughest, and the Jets have the eighth toughest. Typically, tough schedules go by division. That's just how it goes. If you play the same teams and if you have a good division,

you have probably have a tough schedule. We were one of two teams last year who had one of these seven toughest schedules in the NFL and made the playoffs. The Bengals were the other team, and Warren Sharp talks about how rare it is to overachieve with a tough schedule, So that's kind of interesting. We've got three straight home games but do not have such a stretch on the road,

so that seems kind of fair to me. After that gauntlet last year of going out West for two games against the Niners and Chargers and then going on a short week to Buffalo, that was a brutal stretch and we damn near pulled off all three of those games. Of course, did not win any of them, and that was a big change in the way that season played out.

Speaker 4

So there you go.

Speaker 3

We've got rookie Minie Caamp coming your way next, some practice details and hearing from the players themselves. That's next on the Draft Time Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought.

Speaker 4

To you by Auto Nation.

Speaker 3

And then a football practice broke out and rookie Mini Caamp is officially a rap. And this is probably just an example of how football starved I am, but damn it, I enjoyed that a lot.

Speaker 4

And I looked like such.

Speaker 3

A dork out there, binoculars around my neck, notepad and roster in hand, frantically writing notes and here are those notes. So there's a lot going on out there. Right, so I had to make some choices. The offensive line and defensive line and linebackers were on the opposite side of the field, so I just tried to stay with what was in front of me. I did make it a point to watch Ryan Hayes a little bit and a little bit of James Tunstall, the offensive tackle from Cincinnati,

but got almost nothing else from those position groups. But here's what I did get as the lion's share of my attention went to Camp Smith, Devon a Chain and Elijah Higgins Smith. You've heard this from the tape reviews, but it's nice to see it here in the Aqua Orange number twenty four man. He is a smooth, smooth operator, smooth mover. You get a lot of drills that you'd see in Indie at the combine in the well Indies.

Here the individual drills we call him Indies. So there's lots of backpedal drive, backpedal drive, side shuffle drive, backpedal drive, like it's movement side to side, back to front, and it shows you how guys, how loose they are in the hips, how fluid they are as movement. So you get a chance to look at those really in depth. Out here on the practice field up close in person, this dude just glides all over the field super sudden out of that back pedal, and that tracks with what

we saw on the tape. Right eyes in the quarterback diagnosed the route from his pregames, his pre game day study, you know, throughout the course of the week, and then just trust those eyes and go make a play.

Speaker 4

He's super long.

Speaker 3

Looked like the tallest longest member of the dB group to me just by his stature alone.

Speaker 4

Kedrin Smith is six to two.

Speaker 3

He's a little bit taller, but comparatively the length pops I think in number twenty four.

Speaker 4

They also did some work on the bags that you.

Speaker 3

Would see from the defensive line, and he really attacked it with a ferocity.

Speaker 4

You love to see impact of the bag.

Speaker 3

You could hear the slap from the other out of the football field, ripped back off the punch in a way that displays what I think is one of the best parts of his game in the run support, in the aggressiveness with which he plays in that South Carolina tape that he showed you. And look, it's non padded rookie practices here in May, but he absolutely looks the part I mean goes fifty first in the draft, that's kind of obvious, but also he was always the first

one in each drill. And let's go ahead and go to his media availability here and hear from him, because he talked about leadership, how to work the right way, and what he's trying to get accomplished out here at Rookie Mini Camp. I'm a tiny bit bummed because I don't have the audio of him saying this, but he discussed.

I asked him what would make the weekend a success if you were you trying to accomplish out here at two days of Rookie Mini Camp, and he said, I don't want to have any loafs as in my effort level. I want to be on tape every single play given by all and also no miss assignment. So that was

kind of cool to hear from him. Actually, I had that question across the entire panel, as it were for the guys, and they basically said, not the same mistake twice, don't be loafing out here and be on my assignment. So you can tell they're coach in a certain way. And I want to go ahead and play this sound bite for you here because it talks about the way camp Smith works and what's important to him. And you know, he had a baby girl a couple of years ago,

so fellow girl dad. He talked about how that kind of just gave him even more purpose to drill down his work in his profession. And this answer right here to me tells you about the way he's wired and how he wants to work. Because he was asked, what have you been doing since you got here, he said he wanted to come down.

Speaker 4

You know, let's go adad and play the audio.

Speaker 6

Uh, I mean, the last week ain't really been hectig. I've been down here most of the time. I got a little airbnb out here, like before Camp start and stuff, so I've just been staying there. I left like two days after I got drafted, so I was like, I was just ready to go. So I came down here and started working out with gofee, making sure I stayed in shape, making sure I stayed good with everything else.

Speaker 4

And again I apologize.

Speaker 3

I had a great question and ask with Cam about what he learned from the USC program South kind about playing at the National Football League. He talks about the way they work and the concepts they run and the systems on defense and how it prepares them to have guys like Darius Rush who got drafted this year as well j C. Horn, who was the eighth pick in the draft. For just a couple of years ago. Stefund more years ago that school tends to breed cornerback play.

Let's go next to Campsmith here, who talked discussed a conversation that Chris Perkins here on the Sun Sentinel Beat discussing Clayton White at South Carolina. We're talking about how one thing he noticed about camp Smith is his smile and how he loves to play football. Here he is talking about how much he loves the game and competitiveness and where all that comes from.

Speaker 6

I feel like it's really the only time I really do smile a lot when I'm talking about football, though, when I'm on a football field and stuff like that. So just kind of being out there showing my personality, showing what I know and showing what I can do, it just kind of beatd me.

Speaker 3

So next, in order of draft picks, running back devon a chain and there's not a lot you can ascertain from the running back position and individual drills. Right, It's mostly quarterback running back exchange, working on handoffs and aiming points for the back in the offense, and they don't open it up. It's get the handoff and then kind of run through your target point and then go back to the huddle. However, he did later open things up,

and the speed it is very much there. The part I liked the most was when they went to the passing drills during individuals and the running backs run these little Texas routes. Right, that's the most common route from a backfield alignment where you have a choice route where you basically release around the edge off the side of the formation, square up the linebacker and put him in a position where you can choose to go inside or outside on those choice routes, and then break it off inside.

To me, I think it's going to be a big part of this offense for you know, Tua. When it's not there downfield check these balls down to the running backs and the tight ends.

Speaker 4

But he looked like a wide.

Speaker 3

Receiver in the way he set up the route, getting square to the linebacker and then the ball was upfield and way off of his frame and he reaches out and plucks it off the body that's a very wide receiver type of REP. A REP that shows you what he can do in the passing game and shows you value, even as a rookie in such a critical area of the game, that could get him on the field. You know, sooner rather than later. Let's go ahead and hear from

Devon hen and his media availability. I really wanted to ask him about the quote that I read in the Dane Brugler The Beast Draft guide where he discussed how Jimbo Fisher was just over the moon about Devon a change's character and what it meant that he was so gung ho about coming back for that final game after suffering an injury when he could have just said, you know what, NFL draft round the corner, I'm good, see you boys never again. But that's not what he did.

He came back and played and rushed for over two hundred yards and helped them upset a top five team. Here's a chain on the decision to play against LSU last year.

Speaker 7

So at that time, LSU, the top five team, know they were trying to, you know, win so they can get in the top four and make playoffs. They're a great team. I knew it was gonna be a very competitive game, and I'm a very competitive person, and so much on that. I told my teammates, you know, I was gonna miss the two weeks before that because my

food was hurt. But I told him that I'm gonna make sure that I get it good enough so I can't play with y'all because there was some of some of the seniors might be their last time playing on cald field. So I just want to, you know, be there and share that moment with him. So I made sure that you know, I was on the field with him at that time.

Speaker 3

And so that was the Dolphins third round draft pick. We moved now to the seventh round with Elijah Higgins. In My first note is this guy's gosh. He is a first off the bus type of body, thickly built, but the way he moves you can see the wide receiver experience and again confirming what I saw on tape, the detail and the way he sets up his routes for you know, lack of a better word, is evident. He comes to balance, he chops the feet, he sinks

the hips and explodes out of the break. In the individual period, they were doing a little cornering drill, the one where you have cone set up in like a square and you sprint and corner around them and come back. And he shows you those aforementioned route running skills. In this arena, sinking the hips is very, very evident, and you are not a good route runner if you cannot sink your hips. Essentially, it means you throttle down at the top of the route, and it looks if you

can sink your hips into the route. Every route looks the same, whether it's a stutter and go, whether it's a dig, whether it's a comeback, whether it's you know, a hitch coming back down the stem, it all looks the same if you sink your hips the right way. If you can't do it, you're gonna tip your routes.

Speaker 4

That's why it's so important.

Speaker 3

And during one portion of practice, he runs what looks like a little choice route where he presses the toes of the you know, the hooke defender, gather his balance and just comes completely in the position where you can't tell which way he's gonna go, and he flashes his numbers back to the quarterback on the hitch route and the ball hits him right between the eight and the four plucks, it turns around and drops the shoulder into a tackler and takes off down the field and opens

it up with like a twenty mile an hour sprint. This dude's gonna make some plays after the catch.

Speaker 4

Man.

Speaker 3

Let's go ahead and hear from him and his media availability on Friday.

Speaker 6

Yeah, I got the playbook a couple of days ago, so I've been digging into that, obviously learning a few different roles I'm not quite used to. But it's been fun so far, and I'm excited for this first practice.

Speaker 3

And then finally in the seventh round, Ryan Hayes, like I said, didn't get much of a look at him, and it's essentially, you know, drilling footwork firing off the ball here right, so not a lot to look at. It looks skinny below the waist, the legs, and didn't look as smooth latterally as I thought he did in Michigan going downhill. But you can definitely see there's something to work with there. But it was just didn't get

a good look at him. And I don't have the audio for Ryan Hayes right here, but he did talk about how he basically stayed home back in Michigan and just got all of his lifting in and kept working hard. I got the playbook recently and excited about learn from outside Zone and knows the concepts and knows the differences from what he ran back at Michigan. Also talked about butcher Berry a little bit. The offensive line coach. He said,

he seems awesome. He really says things that are well thought out, has a lot of good information, lots of techniques. I'm just soaking everything up. Obviously, he's coached a long time in this league, so everything he says is valuable.

Speaker 4

So there you go.

Speaker 3

Media availabilities from the rookies that were drafted. Next, we're gonna play Mike Q and A's with three guys I spoke to. It was James Blackman, Julian Hill, and who was the last one, Ezekiel Vanderberg. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. We're gonna conclude this episode with soundbites from three u DFAs Mike Q and A with Ezekiel Vanderberg, Julian Hill,

and James Blackman. Let's go ahead and kick it off here with linebacker Zeke Vanderberg.

Speaker 5

You're picking the letter right.

Speaker 3

I mean as far as a couple of teams being after you, how'd you choose an Iami Dolphins or make you.

Speaker 2

Want to come here for I put all my trusts in my agent to figure out the best deal for me. He's a good dude, trust him. So he thought this was a good fit and obviously can't complain being South Florida. It's a great opportunity.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I'm my Northwest guy, myself said. The weather change is pretty nice, so rock Community camp.

Speaker 4

Back're obviously getting on the grasp for the first time as a pro. What would be a successful weekend for you? Like, what are you trying to get accomplished out here?

Speaker 2

I'm just trying to play with great effort, pick up as much as I can of the defense, and have fun, be an influence on my new teammates potentially, and just soak up this moment.

Speaker 3

One of the things we hear from veterans, rookie us, all kinds of players a like around here is how much they enjoy the environment, the atmosphere, and the camaraderie. I know your full brand new here, but what have you noticed about that so far?

Speaker 2

There's definitely a lot of energy. It's everyone is happy to be here. It's just a great vibe around the place. I obviously haven't been with the Beats as the rest of the team, and also I haven't really got a taste of all that, but I'm excited for that opportunity.

Speaker 4

Thank you and tight end from Campbell Julian Hill.

Speaker 5

That's a rookie.

Speaker 3

Obviously you have your chance to, you know, choose where you go among the teams that are interested you at least what made you want to.

Speaker 8

Choose the Dolphins coach inb and I love your system. You know where Gay was, what he's doing with the how uses tight ends, and then just there their culture.

Speaker 6

I love it.

Speaker 8

And then you know we're in Miami, so you know all three, all through of those things. Just you know, come in the warning it's a good spot.

Speaker 5

Just want you to know this weather is pretty rarest time of year.

Speaker 4

It's a lot harder for sure.

Speaker 3

So when you get down with rookie Mini caamp here after the two days are done, get a chance to be have back on the grass in the in the classroom.

Speaker 5

What would make a successful weekend for you?

Speaker 8

Just not making the same mistakes. You know, being a rookie, you gonna you're gonna make mistakes as part of the process, but just not making the same ones and just trying to get better every single day.

Speaker 3

Sure, So this this team, a lot of the veterans, rookies, guys that have been there for just a short amount of time, long amount of time, talk a lot about the camaraderie and the energy in this building and the way it's just kind of fun to be here.

Speaker 5

What if you knows about that so far?

Speaker 8

I definitely see it. You know, you're coming in, you're nervous, especially as an undrafted guy or even the rookie and general you're nervous. But everybody got the you know, cool faces. Everybody's not you know, give you that that evil live when they look at you.

Speaker 3

Man.

Speaker 8

So everybody's all genuine. Coach is genuine that even though drafted rookies like myself, you know, we all you know, working together, talking together.

Speaker 3

It's a good time.

Speaker 5

Sam, what's your first impression to coach with Genie?

Speaker 8

I like him, Yeah, a little bit unexpected because I thought something else, like maybe he was gonna be a little harder, But nah, I mean he's a he's a real laid back, easy going guy, but he loves football. He knows what we're talking about for sure.

Speaker 3

So when you make the jump from Campbell and you you play in one of the college offs games, right ball. So when you make the jump from from Campbell to Huli Bull and know how y'all hear in the NFL, what's that kind of does it kind of hit.

Speaker 5

You like we're here?

Speaker 6

Man?

Speaker 1

Oh?

Speaker 8

For sure? Man, I mean coming from the to the facilities, you know, just the uniforms, yourself to gear everything. Man, I'm just taking it all in. You know, it's a blessing to be here, a great opportunity coming from FCS and I get a chance to, you know, show what I'm able to do.

Speaker 3

Pretty much the same line of questioning here for James black Men the idea of what made you come to Miami? What are you looking to get accomplished to? Here's the quarterback, James Blackman.

Speaker 1

So I don't have no time off. So once we leave here, I'm still at work. I'll just continue to grind get into the playbook because it's a lot of it's a it's a big chunk of playbook that you got to learn and I'm I'm up for the talent and I'm willing to put the work for It's.

Speaker 5

Like quarterback coach, you got love experienced coach.

Speaker 1

Cloud all pros in this level so far. Oh man, he's a great coach. Uh. He's enthusiastic, the energy he brings every day.

Speaker 6

Uh.

Speaker 1

And then his coaching style. He wanted to make sure that you know what you're doing before you go out there and trying to play ball, and and most off, you want to make sure you're a good guy. As good as you are on the field, you got to be the same way off the field. And that just what I like about the coaching staff here. Is there another team that you considered going to? I know, you see if the Donkins were on you, Yeah, sir, honestly, it was a few teams, but them teams ain't coming through,

so I really don't want to bring them up. And I'm just thankful for the minment Dolphins, just to be here in this facility and just for the to be able to talk to you guys, and it's great weather. I'm just thankful for this. What would you consider a good rookie season for yourself? For me, a good rookie season. It's already started. Good. Just to be able to talk to you guys, hout this jersey on like, man, I come from nothing then, just to be here and get

this feeling. Man, that's just all I can ask for. I'm very thankful, and I'll figure out my role in the next couple of weeks. So and I continue to grind at.

Speaker 4

The South Florida guy, would it be that dolphin helmet today?

Speaker 1

I meant in the world. Man, I meant in the world, like I say, I'm right down the road, South Bay, Florida. Uh, it just meant the world. Just being back home, being in the atmosphere, like I said, Man.

Speaker 4

All right, there you go. Fun podcast, man.

Speaker 3

Cool to watch some football and see these rookies and get a chance to meet them. They're always pretty pretty pleasant with you, trying to make a good impression.

Speaker 4

So that's always nice to have that. In the meantime, it's gonna be my time you all.

Speaker 3

Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us.

Speaker 4

A rating and leave us a review. We're gonna come back on Tuesday.

Speaker 3

The Emory Hunt podcast will drop breaking down this entire UDFA class. You do not want to miss that, go ahead and throw me a follow on Twitter at Wingfield NFL. Check out the Fish Tank podcast my guys Seth and Juice here on the network. Check out our YouTube channel for Dolphins Today, media availabilities, and a whole heck of a lot more, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, I'm fence up Caroline and Caper and Daddy, let's go. H

Transcript source: Provided by creator in RSS feed: download file
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android