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Speaker 1: There's really no way you can kind of play out

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Speaker 1: the scenarios of what's going to happen to get you

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Speaker 1: to sixty eight. Now you can if you've got a

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Speaker 1: top ten pick, maybe even a top fifteen pick, but

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Speaker 1: you can't play out the scenarios of what could happen

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Speaker 1: to be prepared for something like that. So at that point,

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Speaker 1: it seems like you just have to trust your board

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Speaker 1: and trust the work you've done at sixty eight, no

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Speaker 1: matter what pops up. If that's our guy at the top,

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Speaker 1: we gotta go with him. What was kind of the

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Speaker 1: thought process behind justin that first pick, because we talked

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Speaker 1: about tackle it could be this guy, could be that guy.

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Speaker 1: But you really have to trust your board to that

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Speaker 1: extent because you don't know what's gonna happen up to

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Speaker 1: that point that far in a draft. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: the big thing was after the first and second rounds.

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Speaker 1: You know, you go in there and you basically reset

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Speaker 1: the board. Yeah, so you look at it again and

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Speaker 1: obviously take the guys off that have been drafted, and

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Speaker 1: then you see where it's at. Just like you said,

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Speaker 1: and when we were up for that pick, it's at

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Speaker 1: sixty eight. Justin Reid was right there at the top,

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Speaker 1: and we all felt really good about him. Very intelligent player,

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Speaker 1: really good measurables, six foot guy to or pound guy,

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Speaker 1: can really run, can help us obviously on defense, can

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Speaker 1: help us on special teams, and uh, you know, we

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Speaker 1: felt really good about that pick, and it was it

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Speaker 1: wasn't really a situation in that particular one where you know,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you have three or four guys all about even

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Speaker 1: and then you're you're looking at the value and all

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Speaker 1: those things. But uh, you know, when it's when it's

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Speaker 1: that guy at the top of that round, you know

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Speaker 1: where you're picking. That was. That was kind of a

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Speaker 1: one where the board speaks to you. So that was

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Speaker 1: a that was a really good part of the process.

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Speaker 1: It looks like speed was that priority on offense. You

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Speaker 1: bring in Atkins, you bring in Cutie and of course

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Speaker 1: Thomas there. So that's something you guys are trying to

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Speaker 1: add more to the offense this offseason. Yeah, I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think as a team, uh, really, with

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Speaker 1: the whole team, Paul, we really thought that that speed

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Speaker 1: was something that we were gonna look at. You know,

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Speaker 1: if if a guy had a dominant trade of being

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Speaker 1: able to run relative to this position. You know, we

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Speaker 1: felt like that was something that would be definitely part

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Speaker 1: of our evaluation. Now, it doesn't mean that you're just

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Speaker 1: taking a guy just because he runs a sub four

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Speaker 1: or five, or just because he's a tight end that

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Speaker 1: runs a sub four seven or whatever it is. It

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Speaker 1: also has to be the whole body of work of

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Speaker 1: that player and relative to how you're going to use

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Speaker 1: them in your offense or on your defense, or you know,

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Speaker 1: on special teams. But I do think that speed was

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Speaker 1: a priority. We felt like we we wanted to try

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Speaker 1: to get faster out of the draft as a team,

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Speaker 1: and I think obviously with those offensive picks. You know,

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Speaker 1: kut On, he's a very very fast guy. He's got

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Speaker 1: good quickness too, but really fast. And then Aiken's at

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Speaker 1: that f tight end position. We feel like he's got

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Speaker 1: good speed and good quickness for that position too. Coach,

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Speaker 1: looking at the highlights from QT and that's all I've

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Speaker 1: seen so far, but it looks like he can run

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Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff you'd like to run the

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Speaker 1: end of rounds and things in the Watson type offense

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Speaker 1: that you've been running him the Vandermere official like the

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Speaker 1: Faker row and the flippity flop. Yeah, these are football terms, coach,

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Speaker 1: So you guys are running all that Harlem Globe proder

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Speaker 1: stuff and and he can do that. Yeah, he didn't

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Speaker 1: know he was. He was a guy that we spent

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Speaker 1: a lot of time with. You know, we spent a

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Speaker 1: lot of time with them at his school, Texas Tech.

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Speaker 1: We spent a lot of time with him here in

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Speaker 1: the building, and and we felt really good about what

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Speaker 1: he knew, his work ethic, the type of guy he was.

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Speaker 1: We liked what we saw in film. We tested him

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Speaker 1: on some of the things that we would do with him,

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Speaker 1: and he passed it with flying colors. And he was

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Speaker 1: another guy that was sitting there and there were other

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Speaker 1: guys there are really good players at that it looked

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Speaker 1: like the bulk of a lot of the good players

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Speaker 1: were in those mental rounds, and so there were some

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Speaker 1: tough decisions. But I really feel like with Kiki, we've

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Speaker 1: really improved and added an explosiveness and you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: a speed element to our team, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: going to really help us. Coach. What's the most difficult

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Speaker 1: thing about a player maybe not making a full transition.

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Speaker 1: But Jordan Thomas played a lot of receiver at Missipi State,

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Speaker 1: somewhat out of necessity because they had everybody and their

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Speaker 1: brother go down. But he's playing a lot of receiver.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we're sitting there watching a bowl game and

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Speaker 1: he's out there catching passes, running routes. What's the most

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Speaker 1: difficult thing about making a transition to a different position

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Speaker 1: where now he's got to get in there, He's got

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Speaker 1: to block some of these defensive ends you got to

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Speaker 1: face this year outside live backs. How tough is that

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Speaker 1: going to be for a guy like Jordan Thomas. Definitely tough.

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Speaker 1: Definitely a tough transition. We spent a lot of time

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Speaker 1: with him. We went to miss a be State, h

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Speaker 1: Mike Devlon went, we we worked out Rank and we

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Speaker 1: worked out Jordan. We spent time with those guys, felt

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Speaker 1: really good about what they were as as men and

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Speaker 1: what they were as their ability to learn, and then

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Speaker 1: went out on the field and did some things with him,

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Speaker 1: and we feel good about where he's at and how

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Speaker 1: you know, basically his upside. You know, can he do

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Speaker 1: these things? What does is he a heavy handed player?

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Speaker 1: Can he do? We feel like he can, you know,

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Speaker 1: get his hands on somebody with the proper teaching and

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Speaker 1: the proper steps and footwork and really be able to

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Speaker 1: block and so we think it. Look, it's not gonna

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Speaker 1: be easy. He's gonna have a lot of time into it,

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Speaker 1: but you know, we felt very very good about his

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Speaker 1: ability to do that and be able to execute some

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Speaker 1: of the things we need to do in the running game.

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Speaker 1: Rankings listed as a center on the website, I'm looking

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Speaker 1: at he's a guard at tackle. I know Brian Gain

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Speaker 1: last night said he's an offensive lineman, so real generic,

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Speaker 1: So he's the guy I'm imagine you're bringing in with

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Speaker 1: all these other players, only one offensive lineman in the draft.

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Speaker 1: Does that reflective how you feel about the free agents

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Speaker 1: that you guys brought in. Yeah, we felt like, you know,

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Speaker 1: we added so really good guys in free agency. You know,

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Speaker 1: we feel good about where we are with the line

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Speaker 1: right now. We went into this draft, you know again,

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Speaker 1: you know, really when it came to all the positions,

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Speaker 1: but you know, specifically on the offensive line, the best

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Speaker 1: available at that time for us, and versatility is big.

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Speaker 1: So you know, we feel like Rankin can play tackle,

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Speaker 1: we feel like he can play guard, and he did

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Speaker 1: snap some in practice when he was there in Mississippi State,

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Speaker 1: So we feel good about his versatility. You know, maybe

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Speaker 1: he's not the prototypical six foot seven tackle or six

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Speaker 1: foot six tackle, but he does do some really good

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Speaker 1: things at tackle relative to what we do in our offense.

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Speaker 1: You know, some of the pulling and you know, pulling

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Speaker 1: out on screens and pulling on tackle plays and things

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Speaker 1: like that. So we feel we feel good about him.

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Speaker 1: We felt we felt like he was an all day

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Speaker 1: tough player, you know, a guy that was a very

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Speaker 1: tough kid and a smart guy, and we're glad to

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Speaker 1: have him coach. We had Calum Baye on the air,

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Speaker 1: we had Kelly on the air. They talked about visiting.

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Speaker 1: We also talked to Thomas and you just talked about

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Speaker 1: spending time with him and that aspect of having these

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Speaker 1: guys in for visits, spending time and getting to know

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Speaker 1: them not just at the combine but wherever else you can.

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Speaker 1: How important is that to the whole process. Yeah, that's vital, Vanny.

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Speaker 1: I mean I think that you know, that's to me,

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Speaker 1: that's always the big difference that I've come to learn,

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Speaker 1: and you're you're always trying to get better at this

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Speaker 1: process and do your part in the process. And one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I've learned is you can spend

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Speaker 1: a whole lot more time with these guys in the

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Speaker 1: draft than you do in free agency, you know. And

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Speaker 1: I think that in the draft, you know, you really

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Speaker 1: have a chance to to get to know the person,

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Speaker 1: you know, to really understand like how he thinks, what

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Speaker 1: motivates him, you know, where he comes from, family background,

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Speaker 1: some of those things, and then obviously you can work

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Speaker 1: them out, you know. And I think that's a big thing,

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Speaker 1: you know, being able to have your coaches there working

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Speaker 1: the guy out. You know, what type of shape is

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Speaker 1: he and can he learn if I teach him this

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Speaker 1: very quickly, is he able to execute those steps and

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Speaker 1: to execute you know, what we're asking to do at

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Speaker 1: that position, you know, on the field, even though it's

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Speaker 1: you know, just a workout. It's not in pads or

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Speaker 1: anything like that, but it's a it's a workout. And

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Speaker 1: I think that's a big part of the draft that

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Speaker 1: that our coaches do a really good job with Oh

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Speaker 1: be building off of that, the opportunity to go to

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Speaker 1: mobile Jordan Nakins, you draft him, how value was that?

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Speaker 1: Because that goes to another degree that's how does he

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Speaker 1: in meetings? How does he take your teaching on the

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Speaker 1: practice field? How important was that aspect? And I know

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Speaker 1: you've said and none of us want to see you

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Speaker 1: ever coaching Senior Bowl again, but how important was that

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Speaker 1: to the process for him? Considering you guys worked that

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Speaker 1: week with him. That was big. That was why, you

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Speaker 1: know when the NFL called us and said, hey, would

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Speaker 1: you like to do it? I mean, we didn't have

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Speaker 1: to do the Senior Bowl, but when they said, you know,

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Speaker 1: would you like to do it? We said, you know what,

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Speaker 1: that's a great opportunity for us, you know, another another

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Speaker 1: opportunity to go be around these guys, like I was

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Speaker 1: saying to Vandy, but even more than that, actually coaching football.

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Speaker 1: You know, here's our scheme all right now here it

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Speaker 1: is in the meeting. Let's go out and walk through,

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Speaker 1: let's do it there, and let's put it to work

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Speaker 1: in practice. And you know, we had a lot of

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Speaker 1: these guys that we looked at in the draft at

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Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl, and I think that really helped us.

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Speaker 1: Aikins is obviously a great example because we drafted him.

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Speaker 1: You know, we felt like, hey, this guy can do

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Speaker 1: some of the things we're gonna ask that position to do,

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Speaker 1: and he got better and better at it during the week,

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Speaker 1: caught a touchdown passing the game and and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: we feel good about that and I think that, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, being at the Senior Bowl with the guy

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Speaker 1: really helped us some of the enthusiasm. These guys that

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Speaker 1: we've had on the air has been really fun to

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Speaker 1: listen to, in particular Jermaine Kelly, who came on at

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Speaker 1: the very end. He was he seemed like he was

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Speaker 1: ready to run from where was he in San Jose

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Speaker 1: run all the way? Yeah, some of the West because

206
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Speaker 1: he said he was outside it was cold and all that.

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Speaker 1: So I imagine when you guys sit down with these players,

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Speaker 1: that's the thing that you're looking for. Is this guy

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Speaker 1: football crazy? He's he've been of a football psycho of sorts.

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Speaker 1: That's big, Paul. I mean, I think they have to

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Speaker 1: have a love and a passion for the game, and

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Speaker 1: you can really, you know, you can really sense that

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Speaker 1: when you talk to him. You know, like if they

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Speaker 1: don't have a passion for it, it's it's a very

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Speaker 1: dull conversation. But if they have it, now they don't

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Speaker 1: have to be you know, jumping up and down doing

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Speaker 1: handstands in front of you. But you know, they really

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Speaker 1: enjoy talking about the game and what they did in college.

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Speaker 1: And Kelly's a guy that uh, you know, Brad Seely

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Speaker 1: felt very good about relative to special teams, and uh,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Midgett felt good about his ability to develop as

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Speaker 1: a corner. And he had really good speed, good size,

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Speaker 1: and he had a passion for the game. And we feel,

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Speaker 1: we feel like he's a he's a good addition to

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Speaker 1: our team too. Tell us about the process now and

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Speaker 1: getting these guys acclimated because they're rookies, they're drafted. Everybody's happy,

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Speaker 1: and now they've got to get it to the building.

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Speaker 1: You gotta put them to work. Yeah, in some ways,

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Speaker 1: you know, in some ways, the draft is probably three

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Speaker 1: of the most over hyped days, you know, in in sports.

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Speaker 1: You know, it is what it is. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: but it is a great you know, I understand it

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Speaker 1: for the fans, and I think it is great when

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Speaker 1: you add you know, you add eight players to to

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Speaker 1: your organization. I mean that's a very exciting thing. Like,

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Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but again, there's so much work

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Speaker 1: ahead of these guys, and I think that's when when

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Speaker 1: they enter the building, it's right away setting the expectations

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Speaker 1: of what we're all about, you know, you know, simple

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Speaker 1: things like being on time, taking care of your body

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Speaker 1: in the weight room and the cafeteria. Now, you know,

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Speaker 1: we have a new new UH sports performance coach, We've

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Speaker 1: got a new nutritionist, We've got a lot of people

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Speaker 1: around the building now, a lot of resources. We've got

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Speaker 1: a team counselor, We've got JJ Moses here. Now, we've

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Speaker 1: got a lot of people to help these guys. And

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Speaker 1: then you know, obviously our expectations for them as players

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Speaker 1: and what we're trying to do as a team, you know,

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Speaker 1: being a good teammate, understanding your role, all those things.

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Speaker 1: You know, you start really talking to these guys about

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Speaker 1: that when they when they come here for you know,

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Speaker 1: for rookie Minicamp, which I think is like May tenth

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Speaker 1: or whatever. So it's a fun time though, because it's

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Speaker 1: really a team building time, and you know they'll go

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Speaker 1: through their ups and downs early on. You know, they'll

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Speaker 1: go through some tough days, but if they can just

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Speaker 1: keep kind of grinding and climbing the wall, you know,

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Speaker 1: they'll they'll be putting one foot in front of the other.

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Speaker 1: Take it one day at a time, They'll they'll be

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Speaker 1: all right. How I don't want to use the word frustrated.

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Speaker 1: I don't think you're frustrated. But it was Thursday sort

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Speaker 1: of a surreal night to not have a pick. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we all know why you didn't have a pick, but

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Speaker 1: was it kind of weird to sit there and go,

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Speaker 1: we're not really doing anything tonight. We kind of watched,

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Speaker 1: like what did you do on Thursday night? What was

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Speaker 1: going on? We just kind of watching taking guys off

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Speaker 1: the board, kind of plant things out, talking about what

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Speaker 1: was going on, what we kind of do on Thursday night.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's a little different that, you know, first

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Speaker 1: time for me being here that we didn't have a

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Speaker 1: first round pick. But you know, Deshaun Watson was our

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Speaker 1: first run pick, you know. So I think the biggest

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Speaker 1: thing for us, Johnny that I always telling you, I've

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Speaker 1: said this to you a lot of times before. It's

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Speaker 1: really important for us to see who is who is

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Speaker 1: getting picked and which teams are picking them, and you know,

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Speaker 1: relative to our division and relative to the AFC and

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Speaker 1: things like that, like what or our future opponents like

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Speaker 1: who who is who are they picking and how do

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Speaker 1: we think they're going to use these guys. That's that's

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Speaker 1: where you put a lot of thought into to that

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Speaker 1: and really pay attention to it. And then obviously, you know,

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Speaker 1: like I said before, you know, it's a part of

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Speaker 1: resetting the board. Okay, these guys are off. Okay, they're

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Speaker 1: they're gone, they're on other teams. Now we have to

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Speaker 1: focus on the second round. We're not there either. But

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Speaker 1: you know, we kept resetting it and talking about how

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Speaker 1: these different teams would use these players. In our minds,

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Speaker 1: you got a lot of guys on the offensive line,

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys at tight end right now, and

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Speaker 1: obviously some changes can happen in at the defensive pacts.

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Speaker 1: I imagine going into training camp seeing all these guys

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Speaker 1: competing against one another. You're looking forward to that, But

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Speaker 1: at the same time, giving reps out to all those

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Speaker 1: guys too, Is that going to be difficult to determine?

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Speaker 1: It always is tough. I mean, we have to get

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Speaker 1: to a ninety man roster at some point after rookie Minicamp,

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Speaker 1: we have to get down to a ninety man roster,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's always a tough assignment for Brian

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Speaker 1: and I. You know, that's where we're trying to predict

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Speaker 1: the future of some of these guys. You know, obviously

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Speaker 1: maybe there's some guys that we've worked with that maybe

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Speaker 1: you know, we would have to move on from to

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Speaker 1: get to that ninety. That's always tough. But you know,

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Speaker 1: when you think about the reps, you really have to

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Speaker 1: be precise about how you're using the guy, how many

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Speaker 1: reps he's getting. And you can never really have a

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Speaker 1: wasted rep. You know, you can't take a guy that

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Speaker 1: you had a vision for and start using them somewhere

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Speaker 1: else right away. I mean, that's not the route you

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Speaker 1: want to go. So you spend a lot of man

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Speaker 1: hours with the coaching staff on hey, look, this is

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Speaker 1: how many plays we're gonna have in this ota, this

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Speaker 1: is how we're using this guy. Let's get him in

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Speaker 1: here for these two or three plays in this period,

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Speaker 1: these two or three plays in this other period. And

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Speaker 1: it takes a lot of time, but it's fun, you know.

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Speaker 1: It's all part of that team building and trying to

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Speaker 1: evaluate how you would use these guys and having a

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Speaker 1: vision for it before you even start. As important one

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Speaker 1: more for your coach, And maybe double edged question here

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Speaker 1: because you have the draft right in the middle of

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Speaker 1: offseason conditioning and you mentioned some of the changes here

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Speaker 1: in the building, and they're big changes with the Sports

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Speaker 1: Performance Center and everything like that and the draft, and

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Speaker 1: you're getting everybody up to speed for OTA. So what's

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Speaker 1: it all been like for you so far? It's a

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Speaker 1: little different this year with Brian Gaine and the whole thing.

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Speaker 1: It's been great. I mean, it's been a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: I think you guys probably feel a different energy in

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Speaker 1: this building. You know, we feel good about where we're at.

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Speaker 1: We've had one hundred percent attendance at the off season

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Speaker 1: program so far, which is really good. I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: how many teams can say that, you know, I know

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Speaker 1: it's a voluntary program, but our guys are here, they're

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Speaker 1: they're working out, and primarily the time right now for

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Speaker 1: our veteran players, it's really about the sports performance program,

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Speaker 1: the nutrition program, the program in the training room, really

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Speaker 1: taking care of their bodies and learning how we're doing

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Speaker 1: that in a different way. That's really what it is.

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Speaker 1: And then we do a little bit of football will

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Speaker 1: increase that a little bit. The next three weeks with

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Speaker 1: some work on the field, but it's still more about

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Speaker 1: Luke and his crew and then you know Lad in

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Speaker 1: the cafeteria, cap in the training room. It's really about that.

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Speaker 1: And then when OTAs hits the last four weeks, that's

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Speaker 1: when we'll we'll take over a little bit more football,

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Speaker 1: and then that'll be a little bit you know, the

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Speaker 1: sports performance end of it will be a little bit less.

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Speaker 1: But I think the first two weeks have been very,

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Speaker 1: very good. The guys are very excited about what we're

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Speaker 1: trying to do and the vision that we have for

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Speaker 1: you know, helping them be at their peak. You know

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Speaker 1: when we open the season. Are the coaches on the

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Speaker 1: nutrition program too? Well, I can only speak for myself,

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Speaker 1: you know, I've tried to I've tried to take the

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Speaker 1: lessons that Lad has taught me, because when he first

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Speaker 1: got are he looked at me and said, you got

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Speaker 1: you got major problems here. We've got to help you out.

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Speaker 1: So now it's it's been good, you know, and I

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Speaker 1: think even for the people in the building, we can

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Speaker 1: see the difference, and I think it's, uh, it's been

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Speaker 1: really good, and it's been really a team effort here.

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Speaker 1: You know, you're you're talking about everybody, from the people

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Speaker 1: that cook the meals um you know, to to all

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Speaker 1: around you know. I just think it's been it's been

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Speaker 1: a team effort to really change the vision of certain

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Speaker 1: things that we're doing, and it's been really good. Coach,

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Speaker 1: thanks a lot for joining us. Appreciate it. All Right,

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Speaker 1: that's Bill O'Brien following the draft. It's over for the

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Speaker 1: Houston Texans. It's over for the NFL undrafted free agents

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Speaker 1: rolling in. Of course, as the days progress, we'll talk

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Speaker 1: about it more and wind down the show next on

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Speaker 1: Texans Draft Live.