Brandon Stephens, Jalyn Armour-Davis, John Harbaugh, Dennard Wilson: Training Camp 8/7 Press Conferences

Welcome into the Ravens Press Pass podcast. It is Monday, August seventh, and the Ravens are back on the practice field today after having an off day on Sunday. After practice, we had a chance to hear from head coach John Harbaugh, defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, cornerback Jalen armor Davis, and defensive back Brandon Stevens. Let's kick things off with coach Hardball.

Okay, good to see everybody here. We sure appreciate you being here. Had the Governor out today, so that was a big honor. Governor Moore was here and he's a football he's an athlete football and a baseball guy, so we sure appreciate that. Good tough practice today, Pads hot humid, and I thought our guys were very intentional about bringing up the winning football aspect of what we're doing and staying out of that realm of you know, below the line. Did a really good job of that, a lot less

What questions you have John Fuller Dell with the.

Fields were and you're going to watch them roll over.

His now anything?

Yeah, just a just a rep account, you know, he had, he had enough, his numbers were there, worked hard, had a great day, I thought, And we're just gonna monitor that as we go. Like we said, we'll be smart about it. There's no injury, hard and.

Things, a something A lot of the offensive line.

That is that something that we do.

We're looking at that. We're looking at that. You know, it's just a multiple role kind of thing. I mean, Pat's quite a quite an athlete. You know, he can do a lot of different things, and uh, maybe we expand his role just a little bit for a little bit of time here and see how he does. So we're gonna look at that.

So the first day or so with this, you left bar with soda and sens.

And have anything with for both of wos.

That went really well for both of them. Thanks. I mean, you know, it's just there's nothing now think it's anything to read into it from a depth chart standpoint. It's more just, hey, let's give John a chance with the ones, to give solid chance with the twos and continue to get reps. They both had the same number of reps, so I thought they both did very well today.

John had noticed any sort of pick up an intensity person to prepare for an actual game this weekend. Did you notice the change to the guys at all?

I thought the intensity stayed at the same level. I thought we picked up in intentionality in terms of trying to be on point, you know, fewer mistakes, those kind of things, and that's what camp should be. You know, we've just got to keep improving steadily every single day in those areas, and I thought they did a really good job of that.

Let's say practice where you are preparing for the Saturday's game.

No, we really don't ever prepare for the preseason games. Really, it's just we're getting ready for the regular season.

Kind of slipped a little it off back some time him the air for what he's actually some sort of post a kind of thing.

Yeah, he's okay, I mean he just you know, it's it's hot. It's towards the end of practice. You know, sometimes I get like, Okay, we're good, We're good.

You don't haven't prepare for the preseason game.

But know the record is haven't lost to a lot of time.

Give the players the credit. That's that's who deserves it. You know, they've done a great job over the years, and I believe it means a lot to the guys that have played in those games.

Got obviously you got to.

Kicks on the seven games, get the emergency practicing.

Jordan's out in their funeral, just to in case that happens.

Their game or right, That's exactly what it is, you know, and Jordan's The good thing about Jordan is he did in college for a while, so he can do it. You saw he kicked great. That was a great kick, right. Uh, the operation was really good, So you gotta be prepared for everything, right.

I saw the part up there and he just kind of hanging around the offensiveronmenthere. We're going to practice the chicks will take some repster or can maintain a world of the ten gas.

Well we're just talking like like bo Assids saying there's a chance he'll take some reps there. We just want to look at it right now, see what it looks like, and if you feel good about it, then then then keep moving with it. And it's kind of late. You know what I mean. So he'd have to really he'd have to really really look good for us to do that. But with Pat you never know. I wouldn't count him out. I thought, you've had some other quarterbacks banged up in

Is it to have something like that, especially in a game day set.

In where you get up, a couple of guys go down.

And it's right to look hugely valuable for Brandon's versatility. He can play every position and be good, you know, and be very good. So we're just talking to him in the walkthrough this morning about it today before practice about it. You know what a what a blessing that is a plus for our team. Sounds great, Thank you.

That was head coach John Harbaugh. And now there's a lot of focus on this secondary going into this season, especially at the cornerback position. Defensive backs coach Dinard Wilson talked about that today.

First ball for the opportunity.

For again because he just coming back in some privilege being back in Baltimo, being back in the state of Maryland, Maryland where I'm from. So you know, I'm excited to be here. Man. I'm honored to be a part of the Baltimore Ravens.

Uh.

Any questions you guys have.

Talking about the process and you can coming back audience, and I just like to talk about a new infensive coordinator openings around the league. How did this kind of opportunity coming about?

Well, you know, unfortunately I didn't get the defensive coordinator job there. You know, it's just another step, another learning experience. When I didn't get the job, things kind of transpired. I won't talk about all that, but when it all transpired, Coach Harrorball gave me a call, said would I be interested in joining the team, And you know I jumped at it. I mean to be a dB coach for the Baltimore Ravens organization. You can't beat that, all right.

I had a couple of other.

Teams reach out to me at the same time. I mean, obviously I was just up the road an hour or so. My family was. You know, my family's there trying to get situated, and I have family. I'm coming back home.

You know.

It's a dream for me to be be a raven. Uh, coaching professionally in the state that you grew up in.

You can't beat that. So it was it was quick.

And uh, it wasn't a hard decision for me to make.

If you come out with a Stofford obviously with a secondary hunches work, you got pretty much did you guys kind of close right up?

Well, you know what, we started doing things that I like to do, things that Chris likes to do. We kind of blended it. One thing about this defensive staff, everybody's tight en it. There is no egos. We are here for one purpose and that purpose is make the players players as best they could be. So for me, it's not about an ego. I'm not gonna be selfish. Chris wasn't selfish. We attack the day every day, were trying to get these guys better and at the end of the day, the way they play is the way.

We're gonna coach them.

Take sat time, Well, the big thing, you know, our big thing is this, The ball travel further and fast in the air does the ground. And we got to eliminate the explosive plays. We got to keep the passing yards down. But the biggest thing is tacking the ball with violence, all right. We got to create way more turnovers and take the ball away for our offense. The two big winning factors in football is explosive plays and takeaways. So we got to stop the explosive players and.

We got to get a ball back to our offense.

I said, then, like coaching some of these versatile players that could play in all the positions like Kyle Hamilton, Brandon Steve has has played in corner and shim Ye as well.

Well, it's great because you know, you know, in this game, the more you can do is better. And those young men they can pick up things, they grasp it fast. They are real intelligent football players. So they'll come out there when they switch positions, that might be a mistake or two, but they get it corrected, they come back,

Rock how currently got to get backs.

Look, competition makes everybody better. It's like iron sharp and iron right. So when those guys come out here, we want to see who can consistently do the right things over and over again. It's not always about the flash plays. It's about the technique and fundamentals where their eyes at. If they can build on the small stuff and each day they started to get better and better, the battle will itself will take care of itself.

You know what I mean.

So with Rock being out, that provides opportunities for young guys to get more reps and it makes us a better unit.

Well, Taylor has all the tutors. You know.

He has good footwork, he has good he has top end scheme. The biggest thing with him is his consistency.

And any great.

Playoff good player in that football league, they're consistent on a daily basis.

So some of the days that he comes out.

Hey, we need to ramp it up a little bit more. And he's gaining confidence every play when you notice he's always in position. Now it's about finishing when the ball's in the air.

You see where your ear starts to take a lot of the first.

Team pretty but him there a eighties versatile. You know, he has outstanding speed. He's a good athlete, he's quick. The thing about him he's a smaller man, but he's still physical, so he gives you a lot of versatility the line up in the small against the smaller slot receivers.

International talk, you coach the tact the secondary last year and the death year.

What have you learned about Marlin about seeing the house in that pre game?

What makes sense about him?

Marland isn't comfortable where he's at. You understand what I'm saying, And players when they get comfortable, they kind of fall to the wayside. Since I've been here, Marlind has been a sponge. He asks a lot of questions. You know, he'll revert back to some of the players I've coached in the pass and how did they do this?

How?

So he's trying to incorporate everything in this game. Marland wants to be the best in the business and he's working every day.

To try to get there.

And uh, he has high goals for itself and so do we do we for him?

Coach one of the lower us horse how utten how much of the point of number fie that it's a huge.

Spot point of everdessis. Look, in this game, the fourth quarter and the way you finish defines you as a football team, period, no matter if it's the first quarter, as matters played on the ball, it's it's about finishing. So we had you know, we obviously had the conversations talking to the young men when they get in a situation like that, in two minute situations, red zone, they got to slow their heartbeat down. They got to focus on the little things to keep the main thing the

Right, you come up with different aspects to make these guys better than they're ground up against the recess or like I.

Said, iron shop as iron right. If you get a chance to go against Odell every day, you get a chance to go against Zay all the guys that we have, of course you're gonna get better, Right, it's they're gonna challenge you, They're gonna make their fair share of plays, and we're gonna make ours. But if you can make players against Odell on a consistent basis or down, and then you get better as a football team or football player. So having those guys there and then Odell's been great.

But Philly I think has a different approach, and again.

From all team practices. I guess it's kind of stuck out to you have maybe John this year listings here.

Different from well, you know Philly. Yeah, Philly does have a different approach, not as many reps, but here with the reps that we get, the young guys get a ton of reps here, right, So with the young guys getting you developed those players faster, you know, the Vets, they might have their certain amount of plays and then we're able to get them out and let these young

Thank you. That was defensive backs coach Denard Wilson. And also when you look at this cornerback group, it's gonna be really imperative for some of the young guys to step up and potentially move into bigger roles. And somebody who fits that bill is second year cornerback Jalen armor Davis. He hardly played as a rookie last year because of injuries, but he could be in line for a big role in his sophomore season, and he talked about that today.

Up the christ reps out there.

I mean that's always a positive thing. Uh, any player that's I mean, that's what we play to do. I mean, we all want to play. It's always competition across the board. I mean it's always a great thing. But right now, honestly, it doesn't mean anything to me. It's a long camp. It's a lot of reps to be had, So at the end of the day, regardless of what team playing on, you got to try to be your best and build on consistency.

What ultimately real perspective and that and how did you your.

Guys into a channel.

A lesson for sure, it was. It was some ups and downs, a little more downs and up, but at the end of the day, it was things that I learned from. At the end of the day, I was able to experience some things and was able to pick up on things things I did well, things I didn't do well, and things that I would want to fill again and things I would never want to fill again. So at the end of the day, I was able to learn from it and build on it going into the next year.

The first.

And so, like you said, growth, just growth as a player, being healthy, just you know, as a defensive back technique. My biggest thing is trying to build on consistency, you know, having ups and downs. It's it's nice we make a good player every now and then, but you can't, you know, give up play. So my main thing is being consistently rising and you know, no ups and downs in the heartbeat, just trying to consistently go up. That's my main thing.

Jacon, what's have been like going.

Up against some of these wide receivers. That's bringing added background the flyers, gives a different look thing.

Yeah, no, it's definitely challenging.

Man.

They all bring something different to the table, not just the first team, but all three teams. Really. Man, it's a very talented room. But it makes practice great. I mean, that's what we're here to do. Iron shoping is iron and I definitely think that's what they bring to the table. A lot of explosiveness, and of course with our quarterbacks as well. So it's great competition. I mean that's what you live for for sure. Very quick, very explosive, very really building proference.

So when you miss a lot of comments up me and reps matter a lot, do you really feel that with that practice every day when you.

At one hundred percent.

Like I said, that's really my biggest thing right now is just building every single day, even if you don't have your best day, learning from whatever you did wrong that day and just building on not bringing the negativity to the next day. And even from last year, just even when I wasn't playing, just coming out to practice every day, finding something to learn from whether I was playing on Sunday or just practicing throughout the week, just find something to build on. That's been my main thing

You're on separate celebray after Saday.

Second, Uh, not necessarily like after practice or anything like that. I mean, at the end of the day, the offense was in a tough situation. It was situation of football. I mean, we did we were supposed to do, so, you know, we're not gonna really blow it up too much or anything like that. But uh, I mean, to do that is always exciting. At the moment, we were

College, the rest of the towns. In the Cornall tractor b I go to see playing pay stock her even learning more a little more.

If you have to pump inside the nickel, you're how comfortable.

Fil uh nickels? It's not really too much of a problem for me. I mean when I was when I was at Alabama, I really kind of I played everything. I played outside, left, right, I played the nickel. In the National Championship game, I was playing down. So I've kind of had some experience, you know, at any point. So whenever I'm out here, just wherever the coaches asked me to be, I'm prepared to be able to perform at a at my highest level. So it doesn't really matter too much of me.

If you want to talk about that's not such a lot.

Oh man.

He just knows how to attack the defense, you know, and uh he shows different things. It's not really a steady of just a single dose of certain thing so that you can just game plan for it. It's gonna come in different directions inside, outside, motions, you know, all kinds of things that you you gotta be disciplined with your eyes, you gotta be disciplined with your technique, or it can be very explosive. So he brings a lot to the table. So I'm excited for it when the

That was cornerback Jalen armor Davis. And another important piece in this secondary mix is Brandon Stevens. He's a bit of a Swiss Army knife. He can play safety, he can play nickel, he can play outside corner, he can do it all. And he's determining exactly what that role is going to look like this year, of course, based on what the needs are in this Ravens secondary and he discussed that with the media today through a training.

Camp and for you we kind of sending calling back to the spring, sending balls, Gonna play safety vehicle and keep it outside quarter today.

Yeah. No, it's it's been going good. You know, I've been plugging in, you know, a different position. You know, that's kind of been the story of my career here. But you know, I'm uh, you know, I'm starting to get you know, more comfortable. You know, every day, you know, build build up with one another. But uh, you know, it's it's been. It's been a good start. Next this week is you know, a big week for all of us. So we're just ready to show our show what we can do on saturdays, Like I.

Can agree keep in your life.

When players around us and are.

Not ask people what do you think that's up, I'll just say dB, I just say DV. Do it all.

Man, you worked at me?

Do you work up in versatility or from later?

At some quot do you want to say this is where.

I hang my hand?

Yeah? I mean I take pride in you know, being able to do you know, all the positions in the secondary. You know, it's it's a blessing I can do that because not many people can do it.

Uh.

And you know, do it effectively. Uh, but yeah, I take part in it.

Random time you're going about learning to cool positions at the sound of technique that makes understand this situation of course in corners four different from before.

Yeah, yeah, I think you know, a lot of it is, you know, just my safety reps has helped a lot with knowing what the nickel in the corner does because as a safety you have to know what all all three positions do. And so that's that's helped me with each position. And you know, I just you know, just take it day by day.

Yeah, what do you do when you're playing slow?

What's the key to being successful?

Man? Yeah, it's monomano. Just just when your match up, you know, if it's man, you know, just win the matchup, you know. And uh but yeah, that's all it is. Whether and that goes for all three positions, you know, whether it's corner, nickel, safety, it's monomano, you know, buckle up and win the matchup. Is it no?

On health that you've got a guy like how Hamilton doing the same.

Thing to learn at ultimate positions?

Do you guys ever help your other now?

Oh?

Absolutely, we we you know, we talk about it all the time, whether we're in meetings, you know, out here obviously you're you know, eating lunch together. We we're always talking, trying to you know, help each other out, just so we're just so we're all playing faster and playing on one a court.

When you do some inercup questions as the secondary, you can end up as a team number.

Two or one.

You want to make jumping year in the out show in this competition.

Yeah, I'm just uh, you know, just just show my ability. So I'm the you know, I can be that CB two, I can be that that Nicolas starter. You know. Uh, you know, there's no doubt in my mind that whatever position I do play that you know that I can play it at a high level. And so you know, that's what training camp is for. That's what these preseason against are for. It's to show that you know, I belong to be you know CB two or Nickel uh,

Yeah, we just touch.

What play of resources. He guys kind of come in with a touch perspective.

Can you close out?

Yeah, you know, coach Thenard, He's he's been awesome. He's been awesome. He's really a student of the game. And I think you know, the whole uh defensive back roll. You know, I think we we all appreciate it, and as well as coach Chris, you know, they they they're always on the same page and so, uh but yeah, just having the Nard come in, it's it's been a huge help. Man. They don't give him the nicknamed joystick for for no reason, man, but uh, but yeah, it's

That was defensive back Brandon Stevens. You also heard from Jalen Armored, Davis Dinar Wilson, the defensive backs coach, and then head coach John Harbaugh. You're listening to the Ravens Press Pass podcast. Practice will continue this week, so we'll continue to bring you all the press conferences from the week. Also, make sure you check out the Ravens Lounge podcast fee we do a deep dive on our takeaways so far