To us fires touch style by waddle stuck into the end zone of Miami Boy, tight froll type window. They had to get that touchdown on that play. They get it. What is up, Dolphans And welcome to the Drive Time Podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I am your host Travis Wingfield And on today's show, a new player to evaluate. Running back Sony Michelle has signed with the
Miami Dolphins. Will get into his game and what he brings. Plus we'll hear from the offensive staff on the Michelle edition, and the entire coaching staff on mini camps, the new players they've added, and a whole heck of a lot more assistant coaches. Media Day one of my favorite days in the calendar. When we get it, We've got that covered today, and a whole lot more from the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Calm Plex. This
is the Drive Time Podcast, alright, A new signing. Always love a chance to crack open the tape and my favorite analytics sites to learn about a new player, well maybe not learn, you better know these guys around the league ahead of time in this industry, but a deep dive to get to know them further. That's always been my favorite thing to do, and today we get that chance with running back Sony Michelle, who agreed to a
contract with the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday. Here's a quote that I pulled from my sit down with Chris Greer and Mike McDaniel back before the scouting combine, back when they first kind of got together after McDaniel was hired, and talking about the running back position. And I keep going back to this. After the Edmunds signing, after the most Sart signing, now after the Michelle signing quote, Mike prepared a tape of what he's looking for at the
running back position. It was a great teaching moment for the scouts and the offensive coaching staff who came in and listened to It. Was a good visual opportunity for all the scouts and coaches to be in one room talking about what we're looking for at the position and things Mike has had success at finding in San Francisco. Are scouts really appreciated that. So from San Francisco raheam Mostert.
They were also very familiar with a back they saw twice a year in Chase Edmonds in Arizona, and we know about what he added to the room and with regards to his rushing e p A added the explosive passing game nature, the ability to hit big runs and pass protection. Gonna die in that pocket with my quarterback with two a tongue voloa the way I did k one Kyler Murray. That's what Chase Edmonds told me on
my interview with him on the Drive Time podcast. Most are great speed to the perimeter, passing game prowess as well, screen game can help and pass protection. Again, a guy in San Francisco, a guy from the Cardinals, a guy from the Rams, another guy that the Niners saw two times a year, and really a guy that played in the McVeigh system, a guy that has run behind fullbacks in New England. So versatile potential fits here in the system.
It creates opportunities for you to be flexible with how you make your calls, with how you rotate your personnel. And if guys get banged up, they are now deep.
Like we'll talk about this here in just one second, but the Rams picked up Michelle after the Acres injury back in training camp last year, and they still had Darryl Henderson, but they wanted to be deep there, and come late in the year when Acres was down and Darryl Henderson was down, they relied on Sony Michelle and all he did was pile up five forty rushing yards in six games. So depth is always a great thing to have, and the Dolphins got deeper at the running
back spot today. But we start here with the five Things piece up on Miami Dolphins dot Com helping you get to know new Dolphins running back Sony Michelle. And the first thing is, well, another South Florida homecoming. We know by now South Florida is the absolute mecca of football in this country. Right, another one of South Florida's favorite football sons returns home with the signing of Sony Michelle.
We had Sam Madison Patrick Sir tan back on the staff here with the defensive backs West welcome back here to coach the wide receivers, Teddy Bridgewater, a very prominent local high school star here and probably the best quarterbacks to come out of South Florida ever as far as high school goes. And now you get Sony Michelle, the son of Haitian immigrants who moved to the States right after Michelle's older sister was born, and he lands at
Powerhouse American Heritage High School in Plantation. That's juice is stomping grounds over there, and a lot of X player stomping grounds there. He rushed for four thousand, seven hundred fifty eight yards sixty three touchdowns in his three varsity seasons.
I saw a really cool stat graphic about this year's draft class and how many players were specialized athletes, as in only one sport athletes, and I think it was something like twelve of this year's draft class only played one sport and sixty percent of them played two or more sports. And there's obviously missed a number, there's a missing chunk of that number of that equation, but it was something to that effect. It's a big, big differentiator
between single sport athletes and two sport athletes. And the reason I'm telling you that is because Michelle also won districts in high school in both the one hundred and two hundred meter dashes as a member of the American Heritage track team, and then all he did from that point was continued to have a dominant dominant stats, this time at a major college at the University of Georgia. Michelle capped a four year career with a birth in
the College Football National Championship game. After that exhilarating My favorite all time college football playoff game was that Rose Bowl between Oklahoma and Georgia that year. And that was all after a career where he had four thousand, two hundred thirty four yards in the ground and thirty nine total touchdowns. And that dominance as an amateur led to him hearing his name called on the first night of the draft in eighteen, the same year that he would
score the only touchdown and Super Bowl fifty three. My apologies for Twitter for not having any idea what Roman numerals look like. I'm so inclined just to put fifty three on things, but I went ahead and went with L I I. He had the only touchdown in that Super Bowl, the thirteen three victory of the Patriots over his next team, the Los Angeles Ran Ms, and that takes us into point number two. A two times Super
Bowl champion. After nine d thirty one yards on the ground that rookie season, he goes into the playoffs and has a run of legend. We talked about the aforementioned touchdown he scored. That was merely an encore performance to his showings in the divisional and conference championship rounds, because in those two games he combined for two hundred forty two rushing yards and five touchdowns. Really helped that Patriots offense carry the water to the super Bowl that season.
Sprinkle in ninety four yards and the t d and the Super Bowl. Give this man three hundred thirty six yards on the ground and six touchdowns in three playoff games in his rookie season, an average of a hundred and twelve yards on the ground and two visits to pay Durt every single game. He was also an integral part of the Rams championship run this past season. Talked
about that stretch of the final six games. They're only lost in that stretch was the season finale to the forty niners, who had to win that game to get into the postseason, and the Rams only saw I think they won the division regard us didn't see any seating differential there because of that loss. But over those six games where they went five and one, five hundred forty yards on a hundred twenty nine rush attempts and again
cam Akers down. Darrell Henderson played just two games and carried the ball seven times during that stretch, So depth is crucial at this position. How about the stats here on Sony Michelle, but also pairing that with what he does in terms of his running style, we covered the high school in college production and but no surprise, he has continued to chew up yards as a pro. Three thousand, six hundred fourteen career rushing yards in four seasons, and
he didn't see a whole lot of times. That was basically you know, three plus seasons where he's up around thirty hundred rushing yards and twenty four touchdowns, good for a career average of four point two yards per carry. He's only fumbled the ball once in the last two seasons and that's three five touches. So a sturdy, dependable ball carrier. He's a stocky to fifteen. He carries that
it sounds lighter than he looks like. He carries it well, and he runs behind his pads and stays square it to the line of scrimmage and that helps him push the pile. That has also helped him be a big time third and fourth and short conversion type of back, so on carries on third or fourth down and needing just three or few yards to move the sticks. He
has converted on sixty six percent of his carries. He was eleven for seventeen in that stat last season, and Pro Football Focus has him with a hundred and twenty three career miss tackles forced on eight hundred and fifty four career attempts. That's good for a broken tackle every six point nine carries. Pretty good number. He averaged two point seven four yards after initial contact a season ago, which ranked thirty four among NFL backs with at least
one hundred carries. His career averages right there to two point seven three yards, and you know, I think, actually, you know, let's get back to that here at the end of this this bit. He also has ten plus rather, he has nine point four percent of the time he touches the football, it goes for ten plus yards. I'm big on the ten plus yard run, nine six total of those on the eight hundred and fifty four carries.
His versatility shows up in the PFFS splits to talk about zone running, man gap scheme running, and you know that's tough to differentiate if you don't know the exact call, and you can you can see the offensive lineflow and make it out that way. But there's probably some variation there, but it comes down to this, it's almost a fifty split.
And far as the way PFF tracks that, he's also no slouch whatsoever in the past Pro game, allowing just twelve career quarterback pressures on two hundred and thirty three pass blocking attempts and just five QB hits. How about the Sean McVeigh stamp of approval. Here's a quote from McVeigh when they acquired Sony Michelle. He's physical, he's tough, he's got great contact balance and really good vision. He's just strong. When you're looking at Sony Michelle, he's sturdy,
a tough back. So all those things are really reflective. He's really conscientious, really smart. People forget Sony came in here at the very end of training camp and immediately was playing in week number one, where he's when he's available, where he was available, i should say, against the Chicago Bears, and then he had a huge workload against the Colts at the end of the game in Week two. His football intelligence makeup and who he is is all about
the right stuff. I love working with him, but I think ultimately the physicality to build his vision and his ability to be able to fall forward and kind of be able to naturally work edges but deliver those body blows is what makes him a good physical contact runner. And that's end quote. I mean, that is essentially my scattering report on him, which we'll get to here in just one second. But who better than to hear that
from Sean McVeigh. I mean, it's transparency is awesome, but just the knowledge as well obviously really shines through there. So talk about the way he works. The fifth point here on the five Things piece up on Miami Dolphins dot Com is that he's a professional from the word go. So this was a kid that was highly regarded like he you know, coming into high school, people knew about him, wanted to get him on their football team. That's how
he winds up in a powerhouse like American Heritage. And you know that praise that was heaped on him by his coaches and his peers, you know you're gonna be a future pro someday. That can sometimes get into a kid's head and maybe make them think that they don't have to do certain things, but not for Sony Michelle, that only amplified his work ethic and so a couple of quotes here from former Georgia and Patriots teammates. David Andrews was drafted with UH with Sony Michelle in teen,
so too was Isaiah Win. He was actually the patriots other first round pick that year out of Georgia. Here's what David Andrews had to say. I think being a senior and watching freshman come in and work hard and things like that, those kind of attributes stick out a little bit more than on the field. I mean, obviously he was a great player, but I think that stuff just his work ethic. It's stuck out, kind of that head down mentality, getting to getting the work done and
not getting overwhelmed or anything like that. That was David Andrews. Here's Isaiah Win as the best part that I like about him as his leadership and his vibe. And this was his roommate in college too. I've never seen a day where he didn't feel up to working, whatever it may have been. So it's just his vibe. You can easily catch his vibe and you'll get right on points, so works the right way, has the stats, has the kind of pedigree there. He's won a lot of big
football games, played big and big football games. And the tape, going back to what McVeigh said, exceptional contact balance. When you see you know Edmonds and most are kind of slash, hit it and get through the line quickly and explode. Michelle is more of a build up speed runner, and he does a nice job of setting up tacklers to come diving in to meet them with a stiff arm, a side step or lower the shoulder, and he can
bounce off all those things. I also and am so appreciative of his ability to recognize what type of move he has to execute. You'll see a couple of second level defenders crash and he's not gonna look to make horizontal moves. He just gets behind those pads and burrows forward like you know that. I think that shows up in the conversion numbers, and the tape showcases him pushing piles because he's not gonna Oh, there comes three guys,
let me try to spin out of this move. Now, put your head down and get three or four more yards and don't get knocked backwards. We've seen a few times before here. I know it's InVogue to say running the football is, you know, a thing of passing all that, and look, you know, I love the numbers as much as the next guy, but I think the numbers and absence of tape is a dangerous, dangerous game and the
best way to communicate for information in this business. So when you look at ards after contact average and you see that ranking, you have to contextualize at thirty four in that regard. And while the difference between you know, a second and seven and a second and five might be one of those things that's kind of laughed at
in the analytics community. I've seen that talked about when Pete Carroll talks about it, and you can go about, you know, whether or not the game has passed you by at a certain age or a certain level of thinking. But the difference between second and seven and second and five, and what I find odd about that kind of mocking mentality is that those percentages between second and seven second five a very very analytical driven stat Your chances of
converting increase substantially with second and five. Second and short compare medium compared to second long. And that's what Michelle does. He turned second long into second medium. He's a professional runner. I noticed that's when watching is a quandary white tape last week from South Carolina, how he can kind of press the intended gap until the very last moment and squeeze every single bit of juice out of the fruit and then get back to the backside. Same thing with Sony.
Backside vision is there with the patients to help set up your blocks and create advantageous situations with regards to your lineman's leverage. I think this also really helps him in those short yardage situations we talked about. He's quick to find that gap, and he can get there without being squared up by a defender, which obviously allows the foot drive to work and keep him moving north and
south like pull up his goal line runs. And there's two things one never any hesitation and two very minimal occurrences of him being squared up, which is the only way you can make stops as a defense in those situations, you have to beat your man. You have to square up the back and stop his momentum completely. And to make it a baseball reference here like I like to do, it's like pitching to poor contact the batter squares up on the barrel, those chances of getting a hit increased
tenfold because the ball gets hit harder. But if he's getting it off the hands, getting jammed or off the end of the bat, getting fooled, or swinging over the top of the ball or under the ball where it just barely gets a piece of the bat, that's bad contact, that's low exit velocity, and you're probably going to make an out. Sony's pitched arsenal and short yardage allows him to keep the proverbial hitters off balance and just hope that their poor contact can bloop one into the outfield
grass or possibly get a seeing I single. You're just not gonna square him up very often. And lastly, he's ran behind fullbacks a lot in his career, which I think is another sign of his patients. As we know, Miami also signed alec Ingold and John Lovett this offseason. All right, that's gonna be our first break here on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast. We're gonna come back
with assistant coaches. Media can't wait for this next year Drivetime Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Back here on this edition of the Drivetime podcast had a chance to speak to the Dolphins assistant coaches. Almost got to all of them, but I had some longer conversations with some coaches, so I didn't quite get to everybody. But we did speak to seven different coaches. I believe it was three on offense, four on defense.
We'll go ahead and start here on the offensive side of the football with coach Wes Welker, who began talking about fellow former Texas Tech wide receiver Eric Azukama, the private workout they went through together. Just listen to West talk about this and also consider the value of having a Wes Welker, a guy that boy, he sure won a lot in his playing days with the mental aspect of the game, the toughness, the good hands, the ability to separate in short areas, just a valuable resource. He's
going to be in that receiver's room. And here he talks about the process of evaluating a receiver like Eric Azukama and what attracted them to his game and ultimately the draft pick in the fourth round. Here's Coach Welker. Yeah, no, I mean I've watched games when I could and and I know this past year he did. He definitely stick stood out. UM you know, and then watching his film and really kind of evaluating it this year. UM. You know,
his size, his hands, hands are really really good. UM. You know, they didn't have a huge route tree there in Texas tech. UM, so I think it was key to for us to really get in there and get a workout with them, and UM, you know, the workout kind of showed everything that um, we thought was possible
with him. UM. You know as far as a guy that size being able to break down and come out of breaks, UM that it's a unique skill set of being able to run as fast as you can and break down at that size and then have the hands and the body strength to um make contested catches or um really be able to get that separation um because he is that size and because he can um you
know stop um, which is key for for receiver. So UM, you know there's a lot to like about him and and um you know the makeup of being a Red Raider and everything else. And UM you know we're fired up to have him and look forward to uh seeing his progression. Was that a workout? Love it that you went to? It was a dolphin scout as well, it's just me and you came away thinking this is someone
we maybe should have interested. Not absolutely absolutely, you know, Um, there were just certain things in the evaluation of watching on film where he couldn't you know, you saw glimpses of it, but you didn't know, and so really being able to go see a firsthand was was I think key and that you know, evaluation process of like, Okay, no, this kid's way more talented than what we initially thought, and so I thought it was a good idea to follow up with West there on that particular comment about
how does that work out Taylor specifically to the player, and just kind of the process behind evaluating the receivers and what they look for. Here's coach Wi Yeah, no, absolutely, you know he's talented. You know, he's has hands, um, you know, he can make the contested catch. You know,
he has size, you know, he has yack ability. Um. You know, and then you sit there and think, Okay, well does he have the skill set to um, you know, stick his foot in the ground and break away from people Kenny, Um, you know, run as fast as he can to fifteen yards and shut it down, or twenty yards or whatever it is, Um, you know how elite can he do it? Because usually guys that size they have a tougher time being able to break down in
different things like that. So UM, really getting him to open up and different things like that and kind of seeing that skill set and and uh some different things that we kind of teach at the line of scrimmage and seeing if he can pick that stuff up and and uh, different things like that. So it was, you know, I think it's very beneficial being able to you know, see that in person and one on one setting. UM. I think there's certain aspects that you want to see
of all guys. UM. But but I try to tailor him to what we're really kind of looking for and what we're trying to see. And UM, you know when a deal where I was like I'm worried about his hands or anything like that, it was you know more UM, you know, do you feel a speed? Do you feel his power out of breaks? Do you feel is um you know coming off the ball and different things like that that UM, you know, you can kind of tailor different routes or different things for the specific thing that
you want to see. It would not be wise to leave a question about Tyreek Hill and Jillan Waddle on the cutting room floor. So I asked Coach Welker about those guys performance so far versus your expectation of what you saw. Here's Coach Welker. No, it's it's been awesome. I mean, you know, those guys are full speed all the time, and um, that's the cool thing about it. Um. You know a lot of times you get guys that are four two guys that know therefore too and don't
necessarily play for two. They play for two and they do it a lot. And every time they're out there on the field, they're going as hard as they can and and um, you know you definitely feel that out there on the field. And I think the quarterbacks feel it as well. And you know, it just makes their jobs easier to you know, get the ball, uh to them, how their breaks and different things like that, And how about the way players have communicated and ask questions and
just the overall interaction in the receiver's room. Here's Coach Wok. It's been good. It's been good. You know, I think, um, you know, it's always uh, you're always building relationships. Um. And so I think early on we're all feeling each other out and seeing where we're at and all those different things. But um, but no, it's it's a fun
group to work with. Um. You know. Obviously, the talent level that we have in the room and all those different things is is um you know, it's it's it's a cool thing because they're talented and UM, you know, it's I think it's on all of us collectively to you know, bring the best product out of that talent
out there on the field. Finally, here with coach, I asked about a theme that I asked every single coach in this availability about what does a successful O T A S or a successful phase two of the offseason
program look like for you in your room? Here's well, girl, on just that, Well, I I think having a real knowledge of the offense and um, you know, we're very detailed and a lot of things, um and pretty much everything so um, you know, it starts with formations and then it goes to knowing the routes and then it's the route detail of the routes, it's the coverage is it's so it's there's always something new that we're always
learning and trying to progress too. But um, you know right now, it's it's about getting the offense down and then building on the details of the offense. Let's keep it moving. Here with tight Ends coach John Embry, who I asked the same question regarding what's a successful O t a office and program look like for you. Here he is talking about just that, getting guys understand techniques the house and wise of what we're gonna do offensively. And then uh, you know, I'll tell my guys their
job is to know what to do. I'm gonna teach you how and why. So um, helping them learn the offense and understand some of the concepts of what we're trying to do, but more importantly how we do it and why we do it. How about second year tight End Hunter Long, how's it going for him so far? Here's Coach emb Hunter has done. He's done very well. I've been very placed with Hunter with what he's done so far. He's put some good stuff on tape. He's working hard in the drills. All the guys are, they're
all doing very well. I've been pleased as with the with the unit as a whole. And then here about the depth of the tight end room working with Mike Ka, Siki, Sethan, Carter Durham, Smith, Hunter Long Adam Shaheen. How about the depth in that Dolphin's tight end room. Yeah, you know, it's something you know, I don't know if I've ever had a room this deep before. You know, Normally it's you have two distinct guys one and two, then you have a third and you have a practice squad guy.
So you always you know, I've got your development. But having guys like you said that have played a lot of you know, meaningful snaps and then have played some football on this level, you know, makes it that much better to work with guys, you know, as far as helping him get better and helping them take the next step in their careers. And then finally my favorite for last year with coach Embrey talking about joining Mike McDaniel staff and his early impressions so far I'm working for
coach McDaniel talking about empowering players and coaches. Maybe my favorite part of this entire podcast. Well, I'm loving it so still undefeat it's you know, he can't beat that. Uh, but no, it's been a lot of fun. Um, it's been good to see Mike uh continue to grow in his role and how he empowers coaches and players and seeing the players starting to embrace him and you know, the philosophies and some of the things that we're trying to do and trying to get them to to also
you know, come along for for things. And uh, he's done a real good job. It's it's it's been fun so far from the tight end room to the running backs room. And coach Eric Studisville asked him about your newest signing, Sony Michelle. What do you like about his game? Here's Coachy. Yeah, I think it's a veteran player that that has had a lot of success, um who's one and been productive on great teams, and he brings up veteran experience to the room that I think is a
valuable incident. Some new names in the room like Sony Michelle, but also Chase Edmonds and Raheem Moster. How would coach evaluate the room's ability to kind of interact and communicate and learn new things and help each other quite well, He says, their interaction is great. They're all professionals, they're
all really good. They get along with each other, they encourage each other, they talk to each other and help each other and and what's going to happen is and it's the right thing in this situation is we're gonna put them out there and they're gonna go and compete and the best, the best ones are gonna play and they're gonna play more. And that's just how it is, and that's the right way I think for things to
sort out. And we'll go ahead and finish up here with coach students fill on what makes a successful phase to a successful O t A a successful offseason program. Here's coaching phase two. I think the biggest thing we're trying to get here is the teaching and the installation of our offensive system in the language so we are speaking the same language. That's the biggest thing that we're getting here. Because there's nobody on the other side of
the ball. We're not working against the defensive group, so it's really teaching the playbook, the schemes, getting from you're with those things. O t As brings up the next phase. Were now there's gonna be somebody across the ball, and then we take that next step forward. But we're still
short of playing the game. I mean, we're still in a huge teaching and and you know, instructional phase right now, and then hopefully this lays the groundwork for us to come back where we don't have to do quite as much of that. We're fine tuning things, we're finding things when we put the pads on in July to go work. Let's go ahead and pause right there and take our last break here on this edition of the Drivetime Podcast. Will come back and hear from Stephen Gregory, Tyrone, Mackenzie,
Austin Clark, and Anthony Campanelli. Next on the Drivetime Podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Back here on Drive Time. You know, I always love chopping it up with linebackers coach Anthony Campanelli. We start here talking about new Dolphins linebacker Channing Tindall. Like I said, those are the guys that we cover it, you know, and and it's gotta fit um from a personality standpoint, you know, he's got to be that type of that
we're looking for and that defense there. I mean, they did as good a job coaching those guys as anybody in the country last year. Uh, you know, even when you talked to those guys in Indianapolis, I thought they all really really understood their system, understood when everybody was gonna. UM. So definitely well coached, then coached, hard, been coached. Well, he's a good fit for us. And just his uh personality,
you know, just his beliefs about football. And you know, he's a he's a guy's guy, he's a he's our kind of guy. Really like him as a kid, really honestly enjoyed getting to know him. And here's a follow up on Tindal's tape with coach Campanelli. Um, you know, the best thing you can do is trust what you see out there in the tape, the evaluation, you know, and then you're looking at how does that fit? How
does that translate to what we do? Um? And he's certainly got a skill set that we believe, you know, will translate well and um hopefully in a myriad of ways. You know. But when you watch him play special teams, you get a good feel for how hard he plays, um, you know, and how seriously he took his roles there and did a great job there. UM. Defensively, like I've said before, he's been able to do some things in pass rush, in the run game, call bridge. You get
a really good feel in their system. UH is multiple as well, so there's there's some advantage to being able to watch a guy from there. And I think, um, he played on a defense full of great players, so UM, you know when you watch it, he's got as many stand out UH plays on there is UH is anybody that we got to a chance to evaluate. So I'm excited for him because he's really a good kid, and I'm excited to work with him. UM, you know, like
I said, looking forward to that. And how about the young guys stepping into a room with Jerome baker Land and Robert sam Aguavin, Duke Riley, guys that have been here and played so much football and valuable Coach says, I think that's invaluable, UM on a couple of levels for our team, is very valuable because UM to have continuity, you know, and especially have continuity with really really like
high character guys. So uh, I feel like I haven't worked a day since I've been here, honestly, because they're all just you know, they're tough guys that UH kind of see football and see the world very similarly probably to myself, and I enjoy that. Um, they care about the right things. And I couldn't think of a better environment for a young player, you know, to grow up in, uh than to be around those guys. Those guys are are pros and they come to work you know, early,
stay late, work hard. That's just the standard every day. So he's he's walking into a very obviously a room full of good players, but a room for great guys to learn from great stuff. They're always great to catch up with Coach Camp and it's also always great to catch up with Coach Clark to fund Dolphins defensive line coach, don't conflate those two words. Uh. Here he is talking about new Dolphins outside linebacker slash defensive ent edge player
out of cal Cameron Good. And if you might recognize where coach Clark went to school, well, I'll tell you right here. We went to Cow So that's a good starting points. Uh. No, you know, I think he's a really versatile guy, athletic, um smart. Uh you know, he's got the mental makeup we're looking for, um long, you know, got some good rush to him, has a lot of traits that we covered in in our edge players and um you know, excited to see him work this weekend.
Coach Clark also touched on the room as a whole in the way these guys work. You might recall last year on the podcast, how many times I got Coach Clark talking about how blessed and how much he cherishes this room that he works in because of how hard guys work and how much it means to them. Says that hasn't changed this year obviously at all. And then I asked him about Ogba coming back. Did you get a bit of a fist pump about that? Of course, he says, you'll hear that here and just second. But
also why he was so happy for Emmanuel Ogba. It's pumped up, man. Yeah, absolutely, Man, I was really really excited for him because he works extremely hard, um, you know, and he's a technician, he loves being here. Um, he's a good fit in the system, in the scheme we play, um and and you know he's what you want, you know, in a in a defensive end. And uh, just a great guy too off the field. You know, it's fun
to coach, good person, all those things. And you know, I was fired up to Mike and everybody thought enough of him to bring him back, and uh, you know, excited for where his career is gone. Let's go ahead and finish up with coach. You're talking about guys coming back over the break and things they've worked on, and how those conversations go between he and his players. Absolutely, and I would say in the off season, for me, I look at it, Okay, what what do we want
to get accomplished in these phase periods? By the time O T A s come around, you know, now is the time for heavy technique and fundamentals and fixing little areas. You know, every every player is different, every player's got different needs for where we want them to go. Um. But also there's an element of okay, what do you think about this or how is you know, is this the specific technique effective for you? Or you know the time for them to kind of keep an open forum.
And uh, I would say that part of it for me has been really beneficial. I think over the last couple of years we haven't had this period. So for me, having this phase period, we can really lock in on the details of the different positions and techniques. I think it's gonna pay dividend for us when Craig out bow Tis next week. From the front to the back of
the safety's coach and coach Stephen Gregory. Here he is talking about what it makes a successful O t A from his standpoint and the point, or I should say, the purpose of this time of year about installing things and getting the fundamentals down because during the season maybe you don't have as much time to work on that stuff. Here's coach Gregory, who also talked about how tight knit
this coaching group is right now. Yeah, I think right now, you know, we're really just trying to focus on the fundamentals, you know, UM, trying to you know, get the guys to understand concepts and um, you know, install install some things defensively and uh, work on that communication and things like that. Really just basic stuff things that you know, during the season you don't have an opportunity to hit because you're so much into game planning and focusing on
the opponent and things like that. You know, this is a great time you had to literally slow things down and hit the details of certain techniques, uh, certain fundamentals, certain things that you know translate to what those guys are doing schematically on the field and individual situations. So
you know, it's going great so far. Let's finish up here with coach Gregory on a couple of Josh Boyer questions, first about just how he's felt working under Josh Boyer, and then the follow up was talking about how playing under Josh Boyer as a player while Boyer was a coach helped prepare coach Gregory to then become a coach in his own right you part answer here, Yeah, it's been great. I mean he's extremely smart. You know, I've known Josh from back when I played in New England, so, um,
you know, he's extremely smart. He has a vision for how he wants uh things to be approached teach, and every day he's detailed. Um, he's always prepared. Um. And you know he's got a great personality. So you know, the interaction the working environment has been really good. I mean it's been enjoyable. You enjoy stepping into work every single day and and trying to put everything you can
into it to try to make things successful. And uh, you know he helps streamline that for us as a coaching staff and as a defensive How do you think the way he coached you as a player helped prepare you to be a coach of your own Yeah, just I mean, you know, obviously he was coaching corners then I was a safety you know, back then, but you know, just his vision for you know, how certain things should
be played conceptually, um, technique wise. He's a very uh, very good coach as far as technique, uh standpoint, especially at the corner position or in man coverage and things like that. Um, and from back then. You know, you know, this is going back how many years now. You know, he would probably say he was a young coach back then too, so he's probably you know, grown and evolved over over the years. But um, you know it's been great.
I mean a relationship is good from back in those years when he was coaching and giving me points back then as a player, and and now here we are working together trying to come up with things, uh, cohesively to to make our players better on the field. Finishing up here with coach Mackenzie Dolphins outside linebackers. Coach asked him about Cameron Good and what's it out on tape
watching the rookie from cal Um attracted me? Is you know, getting a chance when he game me on a visit, He's eager, eager to learn, eager to get better at the same time, Uh, it's something that's jumped up on tape. Was you know, he plays with great effort um, he has good range, and he has ability to play maybe you know Sam or Jack for us. You know, we'll see what happens, give him a chance to get here, and then we'll kind of see how things transferred to
the NFL's of life. But um, I'm excited to work with him from a rookie to a rookie last year in jail and Phillips. How has coach Mackenzie seeing Phillips progress from what he saw on tape last year to now here in year number two, It's been great. You know if we from day one when I got the job, you know we kind of you know, start from ground zero and started working up and started kind of just going from there. You know, he wanted to be, you know, be the player that he think that he thought he
could be. And I know that, you know obviously the traits that he has my value as a player, and you know, he was eager to learn. He was eager to get in here and do whatever he can. And he had the right approach. He had the right approach to you know, Hey, Jalen is even the one step to the right, one wrong hand strength, whatever it is, thumbs up, like those little details, you know, we had to clean up and get him right and help him
understand the defense. Help him understand the defense in the better aspect that just um allowed him to play fast, think less, play fast and um that's kind of been the focus is the off season and it's been great. And I'll say this that you know, the approach that he's had and then the preparation we talked about the approach you know in the classroom, you know, in the in the squad room with coach Mike, or in the defensive unit coach Josh, and in my meeting room with me.
You know, he's had a great approach and then that's led to some great preparation, you know during phase two to get him on the grass, you know that mini camp, you know those times that we had a chance to do some indie It's been great. You know, he's just has gradually gotten better. I'm excited to see what you know,
what it looks like during regular season, yeah somebody else. Ye. So so there you go a little bit lengthy edition here of the Drivetime Podcast and We're gonna come right back tomorrow night, maybe Friday morning, we'll see when it comes out. But we'll have the schedule release podcast for you guys, not just the schedule itself. I know you're gonna know all that by the time we talk to you on the podcast, but I'm gonna break the whole
thing down. We'll give you interesting schedule quirks and details, the timing of the game's pertinent matchups and details. You won't want to miss that here on the Drivetime Podcast everything you need from the Dolphins regular season schedule. In the meantime, that is gonna be my time you all. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Wingfield NFL, follow the team
at Miami Dolphins across all social channels. Check out the fish Tank Podcast with step and o J and our Wednesday Twitter space, The Show of Course, the YouTube channel for Mediavailabilities, and Dolphins Today. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins to come until next time finds up Caroline Daddy, He's coming home. M