Speaker 1: Welcome into the Ravens Press Past podcast. It is Thursday,
Speaker 1: May thirtieth. The Ravens held another open session of organized
Speaker 1: team activities and after practice, we also got a chance
Speaker 1: to hear from some of the guys in the secondary.
Speaker 1: So let's kick things off with first round cornerback Nate wiggts.
Speaker 2: What's been the.
Speaker 3: Biggest adjustment from rookie camp to now having the vatsine
Speaker 3: and going against them every day?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 5: Probably just I could say, uh, just uh the tempo
Speaker 5: temple of the game for real, just to speak, Uh,
Speaker 5: just to just going fast you know college, I mean
Speaker 5: you just go go with the float.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 5: It's quick, everything fast, so you got to get get
Speaker 5: it shit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just tempo.
Speaker 1: What you say, is the biggest thing you've learned so
Speaker 1: far in you're you know, rule over a month that's
Speaker 1: getting drafted.
Speaker 5: What I learned, Uh, my biggest thing I can learned
Speaker 5: probably just my time management. Uh is just everything and
Speaker 5: the bit lea so just job. So I just gotta
Speaker 5: be here, be ready to go every day.
Speaker 6: Brandon was just saying he is trying to take more
Speaker 6: of a leadership role even though he's thinks he's a
Speaker 6: young ens. So I guess what has it been like
Speaker 6: working with him? What have you learned from him so far?
Speaker 7: Uh?
Speaker 5: It been it been good. You know, he'd been here
Speaker 5: uh this a couple of years, so it's been good
Speaker 5: just learning under him.
Speaker 2: He just teaches me the defense.
Speaker 5: Uh, teaches me how to live for eight teach me
Speaker 5: how to eat. So it's been. It been good.
Speaker 6: Have you seen him plays or anything from this.
Speaker 2: Game that you like?
Speaker 5: Kind of uh, just playing like a raven, being physical.
Speaker 5: I mean that's uh what what we describe on here.
Speaker 4: So, I mean, seems like you've had a lot of
Speaker 4: matchups with Tez Walker. Just, uh, how's that been going?
Speaker 8: And practices.
Speaker 4: It kind of fun to reunite that I know you
Speaker 4: met in college.
Speaker 5: Also, Yeah, it been, it been fun. I mean we
Speaker 5: both getting better every day, so I mean, yeah, it's
Speaker 5: it been.
Speaker 2: It been fun.
Speaker 8: Heard you're working on your technique a lot. I mean obviously,
Speaker 8: especially at the line of screwage. What do you think
Speaker 8: is really to you about you know, before the season,
Speaker 8: I was getting your technique down at the line of scream.
Speaker 5: Counity player, just getting hands on early. Uh, just not
Speaker 5: relying on my speed as much as I used to.
Speaker 5: Do in college or just getting hand on beating receivers up.
Speaker 8: You know, coaches were talking about your recovery speed and
Speaker 8: and how you can make up if if something goes wrong.
Speaker 8: But is is that a different margin of error even
Speaker 8: in the these OTA's you sense, Hey, it's harder to
Speaker 8: recover if if something goes wrong in coverage.
Speaker 5: Uh, I I really don't be uh like tryna get
Speaker 5: in recovery. Know I've been trying to like stay in
Speaker 5: front of the receiver.
Speaker 2: So uh it not.
Speaker 5: It haven't been like a.
Speaker 2: Lot of recovery going on.
Speaker 5: So now you spend the most difficulty sleeper to cover
Speaker 5: cause just so Farner Uh probably bake me. Just he's
Speaker 5: just shifty, a lot of a lot of quickness in.
Speaker 2: The in the route.
Speaker 5: So if you have the most fun guard most fun,
Speaker 5: uh probably they flower.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what what makes you say that? Why is why
Speaker 4: is the the most.
Speaker 2: Fun to cover? H?
Speaker 5: Just cause we miss and me like, uh we met
Speaker 5: up in college, so like we better know how like
Speaker 5: you know, we know we we took we both ask.
Speaker 5: So it's just it's just fun to compete.
Speaker 8: Nate.
Speaker 9: There's been an assistant theme of how you are in
Speaker 9: the meeting room.
Speaker 2: As you question you studying, can you elaborate more on
Speaker 2: your football IQ? In that side of me that you
Speaker 2: wanting to constantly study.
Speaker 5: Or learn oryth uh J, I just know, uh I
Speaker 5: wanna play. So uh, I just know in in a
Speaker 5: position I wanna I wanna be in. I just I know,
Speaker 5: I know I gotta learn it, so it don't matter,
Speaker 5: like if it's corner nickel safety, I wanna play. So
Speaker 5: I just tried to get to know everything, everybody's job
Speaker 5: y and then I know it.
Speaker 1: College confidence was a big part of your game. How
Speaker 1: would you try to carry that with you to this
Speaker 1: best level?
Speaker 10: Uh?
Speaker 5: I don't think it's left. I think it's still there.
Speaker 5: I think my comfort is still big. Just just part
Speaker 5: of my game. So I just really transferred from college
Speaker 5: to here.
Speaker 6: I knew Zacor was a big fan of you. Okay,
Speaker 6: so that thy drafted you. What is it gu been
Speaker 6: like going from getting to know him fa the drop
Speaker 6: process to having MSS your coach.
Speaker 5: Uh it's uh, it's it's exciting. Like he just got
Speaker 5: a lot of energy. Uh he w uh I in
Speaker 5: every meeting at the clod in the meeting, he got energy.
Speaker 5: So I I feel like he he brings energy th
Speaker 5: to us.
Speaker 8: So, yeah, any how do you manage expectations of yourself?
Speaker 4: Both it's a first round pick, but also it's one
Speaker 4: of the youngest.
Speaker 5: Players in the fut Uh. I really don't look at
Speaker 5: it that way. I just look at it like I'm
Speaker 5: another player. I mean, uh yeah, I don't really look
Speaker 5: at it like I'm the youngest. I don't really you ain't.
Speaker 5: Don't ever hear me say it like I s use
Speaker 5: that excuse cause I'm here now. I think I'm ready
Speaker 5: for it. So, uh, I just play play play ball and.
Speaker 4: You talk about getting your hands on wide receivers the
Speaker 4: earlier in rounds. Is there any other aspect of your
Speaker 4: game that coaches are really working on you at? Uh?
Speaker 5: Probably uh J just just tryna just not getting a
Speaker 5: recovery phase like you said that the recovery phrase and
Speaker 5: that going going into like getting hands on early.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I think you last talk to you before the schedule
Speaker 8: came out.
Speaker 11: Is there any I know for a long ways or way?
Speaker 8: But is there any excitement for you a reformed getting
Speaker 8: defending champs?
Speaker 10: Uh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's a long like you said, it's
Speaker 5: a long way, but yeah, we got. We're looking for
Speaker 5: it too. I'm looking forward to playing long. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 5: ready for it. We're gonna be ready. I feel like
Speaker 5: I'm gonna be ready for us.
Speaker 1: So we also talked with cornerback Brandon Stevens. He had
Speaker 1: a breakout season last year, established himself as a starting cornerback,
Speaker 1: and he talked today about what's next for him in
Speaker 1: his progression.
Speaker 8: Brandon, you really, I mean obviously it's starting kind of
Speaker 8: between positions of being many quarterbacks who.
Speaker 12: Really solidify yourself as as a really strong cover guy
Speaker 12: in this league. What what's kind of did you you
Speaker 12: get his season as kind of keeping that repetition going,
Speaker 12: kind of maintaining the standard, you're looking to elevate it
Speaker 12: in some way.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think the you know, the mindset going into
Speaker 10: to any year every year is to you know, elevate
Speaker 10: the standard, you know, take it up a notch.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 10: You know last year, you know, nobody cares about last
Speaker 10: year anymore. So you know, I I gotta continue to
Speaker 10: prove myself each and every day, you know, and and
Speaker 10: earn the right you know once again, it's to start.
Speaker 6: How does it feel to be like an established guy,
Speaker 6: especially on a day like today when you don't have
Speaker 6: any of the other returning defensive bactments for Marlan, not thing.
Speaker 6: So how does it feel look different out there?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 10: I mean, you know, like you said, some of the
Speaker 10: guys aren't here. Uh, so you know it's it's my
Speaker 10: job as well as some of the other best you know,
Speaker 10: take charge, take lead, uh, lead the guys to these practices,
Speaker 10: especially the young guys who got a lot of young guys,
Speaker 10: you know, just to show them the way, right.
Speaker 13: And I remember when you got drafted and they were
Speaker 13: play corner back to college, but they identified you as
Speaker 13: uh on an NFL safety at the time we got draft.
Speaker 13: We saw you got airplane safety last spring, and then
Speaker 13: of course went back to corner. You know, how did
Speaker 13: that conversation about them last spring? Like, hey, you know
Speaker 13: back to corner?
Speaker 2: When what do you think of that? How does that
Speaker 2: all take place? Yeah?
Speaker 10: It uh just doing what I'm what I what I
Speaker 10: was asked to do, you know, and uh, you know
Speaker 10: obviously any guy, every guy wants to be on the field.
Speaker 10: So where with the opportunities that you know, you'll you'll
Speaker 10: take that opportunity.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 2: Should I have some safety reps?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 10: I think the first practice of the of this week
Speaker 10: out there, so uh, you know, I still got to
Speaker 10: stay on top of my safety stuff, you know, can't
Speaker 10: fall asleep with that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, just doing what I'm asked to do.
Speaker 7: And it does seem to.
Speaker 9: Be kind of an opening in that area with Jeno
Speaker 9: Stone Gone. I know they like to use com Hamilton
Speaker 9: a variety of ways. Is have have there been any
Speaker 9: thing about you potentially being a.
Speaker 2: Hobby road I haven't had talks about that.
Speaker 10: You know, the coaches know, you know I I they
Speaker 10: can plug me in anywhere, you know, if you know
Speaker 10: need be.
Speaker 2: But now we haven't had any conversation with that.
Speaker 12: Then the this team is known for taking care developing, drafting, developing, taking.
Speaker 2: Care of their own resigning.
Speaker 12: Guys, you're at a stage of getting closer to the
Speaker 12: end of your contract. Have you voiced interest in extending
Speaker 12: with the team or has there.
Speaker 2: Been any talks about that? You know?
Speaker 10: Not not, not really, I'm kind of letting that part
Speaker 10: of side, you know, be handled by my by my agent.
Speaker 10: But yeah, personally I'm not you know, focused on that
Speaker 10: right now.
Speaker 2: Brandon.
Speaker 3: If your impressions of Zach Orr now stepping into defensive
Speaker 3: coordin roll and you know, any wrinkles he's playing.
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, you know, Zach, he's he's been doing great man.
Speaker 10: He uh, you know, he brings that fire each and
Speaker 10: every day and we you know, he demands, you know,
Speaker 10: a lot from us. You know, he demands perfection, and
Speaker 10: so that's what we're chasing. You know, he says it
Speaker 10: every day. But yeah, he's he's doing a great job.
Speaker 4: Talk about elevating every year. What are some of your
Speaker 4: goals for this season for you?
Speaker 10: Yeah, man, just just dominating each and every game, you know,
Speaker 10: you know whoever you know I'm I'm covering for that week.
Speaker 10: You know, I want to dominate, you know, whoever it is.
Speaker 10: And so that's that's really just my goal, you know,
Speaker 10: and you know, come out at the end of the season,
Speaker 10: you know, being a top quarter in the corner in
Speaker 10: this league.
Speaker 4: How much did last year's success, How much of a
Speaker 4: boost does that give you going into the spring that
Speaker 4: you know you can do it you play at that
Speaker 4: level with the best five.
Speaker 10: Receivers, right, Yeah, it's uh, you know what once you know,
Speaker 10: get out there and get your feet wet, uh, you know,
Speaker 10: for you know, a season season long, you know, going
Speaker 10: into the next season, you know what to expect. You know,
Speaker 10: you've seen it, seen the different concepts, and so it
Speaker 10: just allows you to play faster, you know. And uh,
Speaker 10: you know, with a success last year, you know, it
Speaker 10: doesn't mean anything going into next year. You know, I've
Speaker 10: got to do it all over again. So that's what
Speaker 10: I'm excited for, right There's.
Speaker 14: Been there's been talking about reconfiguring the summer schedule, maybe
Speaker 14: eliminating ot is having a.
Speaker 7: Longer ramp up to train and get you Do you
Speaker 7: like it the way it is or would you like
Speaker 7: to see it tinkered with a little better?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 10: I'm uh, I like, I like you know, both scenarios.
Speaker 10: You know, obviously it'd be good to have a you know,
Speaker 10: a longer break and then once we're here, you know,
Speaker 10: get you know, get it going.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 10: But whichever way it goes, you know, I'm We'll all
Speaker 10: be ready for it.
Speaker 8: Is there something to be said, especially since you've been
Speaker 8: with the team for years, There's something to be said
Speaker 8: about getting getting here in May in June and having
Speaker 8: connectivity with teammates or or or connect a few coaches.
Speaker 2: Is there d does would it feel like a.
Speaker 8: Long time if you were just away from January to
Speaker 8: to junior early July.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean, if if it does go that way,
Speaker 10: obviously it'll be the first for for everybody, you know,
Speaker 10: so it it'll be out of the norm to be
Speaker 10: away for that long. But you know, you just gotta
Speaker 10: take the you know, on this upon yourself to you know,
Speaker 10: stay on top of you know, the playbook, stay on
Speaker 10: top of your technique, uh, stuff like that, and uh,
Speaker 10: you know, and be ready once once we get back.
Speaker 4: And we know we know about the size and the
Speaker 4: speed of Nate Wiggins, but besides that, whether it be
Speaker 4: all off the field or some other aspect of his game,
Speaker 4: has there been anything about that rookie stands out cum Yeah.
Speaker 10: Man, he's uh so you said the top top two
Speaker 10: things right there. His speed, His speed is crazy. Uh
Speaker 10: I'm I'm trying to get some of that myself.
Speaker 2: But uh but.
Speaker 10: Now he's he's doing a great job in the meeting rooms. Uh,
Speaker 10: you know, asking the right questions. You know, I always
Speaker 10: trying to learn, and you know, he he could tell
Speaker 10: he you know, he's he's kind of hard on himself,
Speaker 10: you know, but you you like to see that, you know,
Speaker 10: with with the young guys that as go it's go.
Speaker 2: I I saw him on his phone a lot.
Speaker 10: I ain't see him get to uh to Uh, I
Speaker 10: ain't seen any swings from.
Speaker 6: Getting in and tamp uh TJ Tampa in this draft
Speaker 6: coming into the room. Both of highly regarded that obviously
Speaker 6: the staff And I guess did you watch the draft?
Speaker 6: Did you see them get drafted?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I saw saw Yeah. What was the question?
Speaker 6: I'm sorry, It's like, what what is it like for
Speaker 6: you having to highly regarded cornerbacks drafted and coming into
Speaker 6: the room with you guys.
Speaker 10: No, Yeah, it's uh, you know, it's awesome, you know,
Speaker 10: having you know, guys that you know can come in
Speaker 10: and you know and can play. Uh. We know, we
Speaker 10: all know it's a competition out here, but uh, you
Speaker 10: know we we're trying to help each other, you know.
Speaker 10: Uh you know me, I me personally, I want everybody
Speaker 10: to to succeed, you know, and so just you know,
Speaker 10: build a camaradie with the guys, with the young guys
Speaker 10: and just helping them, you know, within this career.
Speaker 2: You know, it's this minish all.
Speaker 7: So Randy, you mentioned stepping into a leadership role and
Speaker 7: all the other vets is that something that you.
Speaker 9: Embraced and feel like you're a part.
Speaker 13: Of your next step.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 10: Uh, you know, s some of the some of the
Speaker 10: guys you know call me, uh og and like that.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, I'm I'm s.
Speaker 10: I consider myself a a young and still you know,
Speaker 10: so uh but nah, it's it's you know, just just
Speaker 10: being able to you know, mentor those guys and you know,
Speaker 10: teach those guys. It's it's it's been awesome and you know,
Speaker 10: having you know, stepping into that leadership role is uh,
Speaker 10: you know something I expected myself as well as you know,
Speaker 10: other events.
Speaker 2: What is it.
Speaker 4: Important for you to be out here at voluntary as.
Speaker 10: Yeah, uh yeah, I think it's just it's just important
Speaker 10: for me to just you know, stay y, just just
Speaker 10: stay on m consistent within my technique. You know, you know,
Speaker 10: I could be doing you know a lot of other
Speaker 10: things right now, but I you know, I choose to
Speaker 10: be here, you know, to to just stay consistent, you know,
Speaker 10: and uh, you know, not not lose a step.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 11: Where does did you kind of clothe the most from
Speaker 11: most you know, last summer? Obviously you looked down at
Speaker 11: the safety than have the year you did at Corner.
Speaker 13: Where do you think you got to throw him the.
Speaker 11: Most, you know from that periodding through the course.
Speaker 2: So he's gonna malp fo. Yeah.
Speaker 10: I think the main thing is is, you know, playing faster,
Speaker 10: you know, you know, being more Yeah, just just playing
Speaker 10: fast and you know, seeing things before it happens and reacting,
Speaker 10: you know, uh t to the right things, you know,
Speaker 10: and that that comes with film study, that comes with
Speaker 10: being on the field, you know, and I experiencing it,
Speaker 10: you know myself. So uh, I think just being able
Speaker 10: to play fast, you know, it allows me to make
Speaker 10: more plays, I said New EV's.
Speaker 2: Co coaching Doug Mallory.
Speaker 11: I guess what's stood out to you black him as
Speaker 11: a communicator.
Speaker 2: As a teacher.
Speaker 10: Yeah, he uh he he's He's been awesome in meetings,
Speaker 10: you know, and it especially on the field, you know,
Speaker 10: he's uh kind of more with the safetyes and whatnots.
Speaker 10: So I'm not with him as much, but but I
Speaker 10: you know, I see him talking to guys all the
Speaker 10: time and you know, trying to help out where you can.
Speaker 1: In addition to hearing from Stevens and Wiggins, we also
Speaker 1: talked with one of the coaches. Who's going to be
Speaker 1: coaching those guys up and that's new defensive backs coach
Speaker 1: Doug Mallory.
Speaker 2: How you guys doing good?
Speaker 14: Yeah, it's been exciting two months, three months. However long
Speaker 14: I've been here, I think one thing, I've always looked
Speaker 14: at this organization.
Speaker 2: With a lot of respect.
Speaker 14: You know, I've known the Harball family for a long time.
Speaker 14: Probably knew Jim and jack and Joni and Jackie a
Speaker 14: little bit better than John because I'd been with them
Speaker 14: at previous places. But you know, always had a lot
Speaker 14: of respect for John and certainly this program the success
Speaker 14: that they've had. So it's really nice to be here
Speaker 14: see how everything operates firsthand, and excited about this off
Speaker 14: season leading into the season. So with that opening up
Speaker 14: to any questions.
Speaker 4: Unit that was so successful last season, how much do
Speaker 4: you try and carry over from last season?
Speaker 11: How much new stuff are you hit news?
Speaker 14: Well, you know a lot of that. Again, I wasn't
Speaker 14: here last year, so it's all new to me. You know,
Speaker 14: we've spent time going through all the cutups in the
Speaker 14: games from a year ago. You know, there's certainly some
Speaker 14: things that they did a lot of great things, but
Speaker 14: there's always areas that need improvement. We made a point
Speaker 14: of emphasis on that. You know, really the first couple
Speaker 14: of weeks on the job, that was some of the
Speaker 14: things we were doing was going back and evaluating all
Speaker 14: the cutups and just seeing where we could do things better.
Speaker 14: And I think a credit to uh, you know, to
Speaker 14: Zach and also to Chris, I think sometimes when you
Speaker 14: get stuck in your ways and say this is how
Speaker 14: we want to do it, you know, there's.
Speaker 2: Always a better way to do it.
Speaker 14: And you know, those guys kind of made that point
Speaker 14: early on when I was here. So we did a
Speaker 14: lot of research on things we could adjust and change
Speaker 14: and find a better way to do it.
Speaker 6: You know about Kyle hanmos In before you came.
Speaker 2: In, and.
Speaker 14: So the first time I saw Kyle so I was
Speaker 14: in Atlanta when Kyle was coming out of high school.
Speaker 14: I didn't know anything about him coming out of high school.
Speaker 14: And then that year Notre Dame had a couple of
Speaker 14: safeties that were in the draft, and I knew the
Speaker 14: secondary coach at Notre Dame my name of Terry Joseph.
Speaker 14: He and I had worked together at LSU, and I
Speaker 14: called Terry to find out about you know, some of
Speaker 14: the older guys and just give me a little bit
Speaker 14: of insight on the guys that I was evaluating. He
Speaker 14: gave me all the information that I needed. And I said, Terry,
Speaker 14: I said, who's this number fourteen? I said, he's not
Speaker 14: on my list right now to do a.
Speaker 2: Write up on.
Speaker 14: He said, Doug, he's just a freshman. I was like, Wow,
Speaker 14: he's a pretty good player. By the time he's a senior.
Speaker 14: So I remember seeing him as freshman year. I didn't
Speaker 14: really have an opportunity to follow his career a whole lot.
Speaker 14: By the time he was coming out, we'd get let
Speaker 14: go in Atlanta and I was back at Michigan. But
Speaker 14: you know, I knew about him, you know, just seeing
Speaker 14: him firsthand here. He's extremely impressive. But I didn't realize
Speaker 14: he was as tall as he is. And I think
Speaker 14: just with that length and the athletic ability and the
Speaker 14: speed that he has, he's just really a unique player.
Speaker 14: And I think the top it off, just really seems
Speaker 14: like a quality human being, you know, just first class
Speaker 14: end of So he's got a lot going for him.
Speaker 8: A guy is young, and he is close to his
Speaker 8: playing career. Is Zach and mean, you know, obviously sort
Speaker 8: of a unique perspective, you know, for someone who's a
Speaker 8: defensive player, what's what's some.
Speaker 2: Of the things.
Speaker 14: Yeah, that first of all, Zach is a very impressive person.
Speaker 14: He's a great man, and you know, just as a coach,
Speaker 14: I think what's unique is that here's a guy that's
Speaker 14: not only understands the system as part of putting this
Speaker 14: package together, but he also played in the firsthand, so
Speaker 14: he can see the scheme and the system through his eyes.
Speaker 14: He's been there, he's he's gone through the reads, he's
Speaker 14: gone through the progression, he's gone through the checks and
Speaker 14: the adjustment.
Speaker 2: So that's unique.
Speaker 14: I don't know if I've ever been around a guy
Speaker 14: as young as him that is mature and has the
Speaker 14: type of knowledge that he has with the system. So,
Speaker 14: you know, I've learned awful lot from him to this point.
Speaker 14: But he'll he'll do a great job.
Speaker 4: Do you see him from na Wigan so far?
Speaker 14: I think the first thing stands out, you know, extremely
Speaker 14: hard worker, smart, intelligent, h you know, you see him
Speaker 14: out here on the field. He's got great length and
Speaker 14: that's the thing. It's just hard to find corners that
Speaker 14: have that type of length and that can run like
Speaker 14: he runs, but he has a great balanced body control,
Speaker 14: change of direction. He's been real sticky in coverage. And
Speaker 14: you know, there's certainly a lot of things he's just
Speaker 14: like everyone else, a lot of areas that they need
Speaker 14: to improve. But he certainly has a uh, you know,
Speaker 14: good trades to work with.
Speaker 8: A lot of you know, I mean you look out
Speaker 8: in the field, you see how how skinny need is
Speaker 8: and I'm sure they will change over over time. But
Speaker 8: there are other qualities that you think help him compete,
Speaker 8: even if he's not as.
Speaker 2: Physically big as maybe some of the guys he's covering
Speaker 2: under it.
Speaker 14: Yeah, I think speed is a speed and length help
Speaker 14: because you know, Chris is doing a great job of
Speaker 14: working with him, you know, just teach him a type
Speaker 14: of technique that and we want him.
Speaker 2: To execute here.
Speaker 14: But he has recovery speed, and that's one thing that
Speaker 14: you can't touch. You know, Chris doing a great job
Speaker 14: getting them, you know, just working on the line of
Speaker 14: scrimmage where he can be a little bit more disruptive
Speaker 14: on the line of scrimmage. But you know, he's fortunate
Speaker 14: that he's got recovery speed that if you know, if
Speaker 14: he's not as sound as he needs to be technique
Speaker 14: wise on the line of scrimmage. He's got the ability
Speaker 14: to close and then he's got the length be able
Speaker 14: to help him get out of a bad situation. But
Speaker 14: you know, certainly, like any young guy, they've got to
Speaker 14: continue to hit the weave room and get stronger, get bigger,
Speaker 14: and that'll come. Yes, you know, obviously this was a
Speaker 14: very successful defensive a mcdonna last year. And there's a
Speaker 14: lot of ties to the Michigan with you know, just
Speaker 14: a mincer and this, you know, Harvard coach and treat
Speaker 14: continue to kind of extend both And have you seen
Speaker 14: this kind of defense just you know, spread to NFL
Speaker 14: or college from all your ties around the sport.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 14: So I was first introduced when I went to Michigan
Speaker 14: when Mike was there. So I got hired on probably
Speaker 14: about a month or two after Mike had already been there,
Speaker 14: about a week or two into spring practice, So I
Speaker 14: was kind of learning that on the run. But I
Speaker 14: think the great thing about the system is that I
Speaker 14: think just how they've taught it, just there's a lot
Speaker 14: of word association. It looks like we do a lot.
Speaker 14: We are multiple and we do pretty much every type
Speaker 14: of coverage that's involved. But I think from a teaching standpoint,
Speaker 14: there's so much word association that you know that I
Speaker 14: think gives younger guys an opportunity to learn the system.
Speaker 14: But I think it has answers for some of the
Speaker 14: issues that you know that you know you might come
Speaker 14: into play, but you know you've got the ability to
Speaker 14: play a three match concept of man concept or two
Speaker 14: deep concept, all your quarter concepts, all your zone pressures,
Speaker 14: man pressures, got a little bit of everything. So you know,
Speaker 14: I really like the system. Haven't been involved with it
Speaker 14: at Michigan. I first learned it from Mike, and then
Speaker 14: when Jesse came on board, we continue to expand and
Speaker 14: when I got here, I found out that there's still
Speaker 14: a lot more to it. So I'm learning every single
Speaker 14: day that i'm here. It's been great work with Chris too.
Speaker 14: You know, Chris has been here for twelve years. He
Speaker 14: was here when they first put the system in, so
Speaker 14: he's seeing the good, the bad, how to adjust to it.
Speaker 14: And I'm trying to be like a sponge. Every time
Speaker 14: he says something, I'm writing notes and getting a lot
Speaker 14: from him and learning from him. So like I said,
Speaker 14: it's been a great, great experience for me.
Speaker 11: Obviously a natural, you know.
Speaker 9: Change when you're going from college to the pros book
Speaker 9: the cornerbacks, especially, what do you feel is usually kind
Speaker 9: of the biggest adjustment that rookie cornerbacks have to make
Speaker 9: now playing in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Probably speeding length, you know, you made.
Speaker 14: I think a lot of times in college you may
Speaker 14: have a bigger receiver that doesn't have elite speed. You
Speaker 14: may have a smaller receiver that does have speed.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 14: I think at this level you're seeing bigger, physical, wide receivers,
Speaker 14: and I think sometimes that's an adjustment for a young
Speaker 14: corner coming in. So I think just the size, speed,
Speaker 14: you know, standpoint, I think is one of the biggest
Speaker 14: things I think too, just even from you know, like
Speaker 14: if you give up a ass here at this level,
Speaker 14: you know you can't. I think at the college level
Speaker 14: there are times you can say, yeah, you know, he
Speaker 14: may complete that it's away from his leverage.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 14: At this level, it's just more detailed and you've got
Speaker 14: to be productive at this level.
Speaker 11: So a DA how this opportunity came about.
Speaker 12: Obviously you were on a Michigan staff where the head
Speaker 12: coach was rumored to possibly be, you know, going to
Speaker 12: the NFL.
Speaker 2: If you want to return to the NFL. Was that
Speaker 2: a goal of years?
Speaker 7: Was there a temptation to maybe wait to see a
Speaker 7: Jim's situation played out.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 14: For me, I think the whole thing is it's not
Speaker 14: necessarily where you work, it's who you work with. You know,
Speaker 14: I've been at some real good programs that weren't great
Speaker 14: jobs because of the people that you're working with, and
Speaker 14: I've been at programs that struggled that you're working with
Speaker 14: great people. Now, you always want to win. So if
Speaker 14: you can get that combination of working for a great
Speaker 14: person in a winning program, that's a great job.
Speaker 2: And had that opportunity here, you.
Speaker 14: Know, just the amount of respect that I have for
Speaker 14: John and this program and that you know, I think
Speaker 14: the tradition that they have here on defense to be
Speaker 14: a part of that was awful enticing.
Speaker 8: When you've been under you know, John and Jen.
Speaker 2: How would you kind of compare their coachings? Very similar? Yeah,
Speaker 2: very similar.
Speaker 14: You know, I think the first thing they're they're very honest,
Speaker 14: and they're very upfront if there's an issue, if something
Speaker 14: needs to be addressed. He doesn't let it string out
Speaker 14: that both of them are gonna attack it right now
Speaker 14: and get it fixed. You know, they're they're not gonna
Speaker 14: wait for it to linger on. Uh, They're always gonna
Speaker 14: speak their mind. They're gonna speak what's on their heart.
Speaker 14: And uh, you know, they come from the same parents,
Speaker 14: So there are definitely a lot of similarities there. I
Speaker 14: think the thing it's funny because I always said that
Speaker 14: even when I was in Atlanta. One time, Dan Quinn,
Speaker 14: you know, talked about we went around the room, the
Speaker 14: staff room, we talked about the most competitive person you'd
Speaker 14: ever been around in your life. And when they got
Speaker 14: to me, I said, Jim Harbaugh. And I hadn't seen
Speaker 14: or spoken with in years, but I'd played with Jim,
Speaker 14: and you know, I said that probably about four or
Speaker 14: five years ago, and then just in the three or
Speaker 14: four months that I've been here, I would say John
Speaker 14: and Jim are both pretty competitive, so they don't like
Speaker 14: to lose, and they're gonna do everything they can to win.
Speaker 14: So but a lot of similarities. They're great people, they're
Speaker 14: great men, they're great husbands, fathers, coaches, and you know,
Speaker 14: they got a great rapport with the team.
Speaker 1: And last, but certainly not least, is head coach John Harpball.
Speaker 7: All right, good seeing everybody, appreciate everybody being here. Really
Speaker 7: good practice. Guys were high energy into it, focused speed
Speaker 7: was good. Great day for it. You know, it was
Speaker 7: a little cooler. It wasn't pouring rain. But the day's
Speaker 7: not over yet, so you know, stay tuned for some rain.
Speaker 7: We had enough rain this year. Every week we've done
Speaker 7: with the rain.
Speaker 2: Yet.
Speaker 7: It's supposed to be April shower, bring mayflowers. That's what
Speaker 7: I was always taught. I just saw a rain drop
Speaker 7: right there. Did you see that? That's a dark cloud?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 7: Well questions, Yeah, it's all top golf yesterday and videos
Speaker 7: did not see you swinging anything.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 7: All I can tell you is that my in my group,
Speaker 7: I did come out on top, which is surprising because
Speaker 7: I was with the kickers and snappers and these guys
Speaker 7: can play so but you know, top golf, I don't.
Speaker 7: If you know how it works exactly, I didn't know.
Speaker 7: It's for my first time there. You may not you
Speaker 7: may hit in the wrong big circle, but if it
Speaker 7: goes in a circle, you still get points. You know,
Speaker 7: sometimes it's better to be lucky than good practice getting
Speaker 7: up a little bit seeing that well, no, I mean
Speaker 7: I think they they're getting faster and quicker. The biggest
Speaker 7: thing you have we have to do which really work
Speaker 7: hard to control when guys getting in bad positions. You know,
Speaker 7: you're not in pads, like for instance, a lineman, you
Speaker 7: can't punch. You can can't go on stop penetrators with
Speaker 7: physicality and punch the twists across the other blocker and
Speaker 7: then pick up the looper. You just got to put
Speaker 7: your hands on people. So oftentimes guys are get caught
Speaker 7: like on the side. And one thing I told the
Speaker 7: lineman today is when somebody gets caught in each side,
Speaker 7: you just can't push them further, which they would do
Speaker 7: normally in pads and all that, But now everybody's not
Speaker 7: going the same speed, everybody's not pushing the same way,
Speaker 7: so you end up getting people falling into each other.
Speaker 7: And that's just what we cannot have. So I just
Speaker 7: told them, maybe you beat, you get beat. But the
Speaker 7: good news is is you're not allowed to play with
Speaker 7: the physicality. But it challenges and tests your feet and
Speaker 7: your foot quick gets your ability to change direction more
Speaker 7: on the offensive line, so take advantage of that opportunity,
Speaker 7: you know, focus on moving your feet and staying in
Speaker 7: front of your guy or the two man game or
Speaker 7: whatever it might be. So I think we just have
Speaker 7: to keep working on that and always try to chase
Speaker 7: keeping people off the ground.
Speaker 2: I think it's like the fourth practice we've an higher
Speaker 2: we have. We've only seen Lamar once.
Speaker 8: Is that disappointing to you or did you?
Speaker 2: Is this what you kind of suspect and expected?
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's just it's it's this time of year. You know,
Speaker 7: it's a voluntary time. It's really not something that we
Speaker 7: comment on. We can't and uh, that's just the time
Speaker 7: of year it is. So I can't speak for anybody
Speaker 7: that's not here. You know, I pretty much know the
Speaker 7: different reasons guys aren't here most of the time, but
Speaker 7: not always. You know, they're not nobody's required to tell
Speaker 7: you exactly what's going on. So I'm not really specifically
Speaker 7: gonna be able to comment on anybody that way. But
Speaker 7: the guys that were here were great flying around, and
Speaker 7: those are the guys we had a great, a great
Speaker 7: time coaching.
Speaker 3: You just said, Deontay Marty's a newcomer. You know this
Speaker 3: guy trying to make the roster. Ira haven't seen him
Speaker 3: out here?
Speaker 7: Is he dealing with an injury or not?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 7: Not not an injury. There is a reason for it. Uh,
Speaker 7: you know, do I speak for Deontay he's got he's
Speaker 7: got a newborn baby situation, but you don't give him
Speaker 7: a call, you know, ask him.
Speaker 2: John about the availability.
Speaker 13: There's this report that there's a consideration about nfl p
Speaker 13: A getting rid of OTAs and starting a training camp
Speaker 13: in June and ramping up.
Speaker 2: What's your what your thought of that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's really interesting to me. I think there's a
Speaker 7: lot of science behind that. And the thing I'm really
Speaker 7: encouraged by with a proposal or a thought like that
Speaker 7: is the fact that the union and the league are
Speaker 7: working together on it. You know, to me, that's that's
Speaker 7: really good because we want to do the best we
Speaker 7: can to keep guys as healthy as we can getting
Speaker 7: ready to play football. And right now it's not probably perfect,
Speaker 7: you know that. I think the different studies they've done
Speaker 7: would say that the timeline is not really great, and
Speaker 7: so if they can kind of make the timeline better somehow,
Speaker 7: and then both the union and the league agree that
Speaker 7: this is the best way to do it that'd be
Speaker 7: be fantastic.
Speaker 11: Is that the issue starting.
Speaker 13: In June and just going with no break until conceivably
Speaker 13: at the end of the season.
Speaker 7: Well, I think that's probably yeah. I think that's probably
Speaker 7: why the PA is that they put that out. I
Speaker 7: guess maybe I'm not sure who put it out, but
Speaker 7: if they did, uh, that's the one they're probably talking about,
Speaker 7: you know. And uh, it's it's just a longer ramp
Speaker 7: up preparation period right into training camp. With training camp obviously.
Speaker 8: The biggest characteristic of these sessions is they're voluntary. But
Speaker 8: is there something else about OTU just sort of that
Speaker 8: wherever the checking is in the year, it's just sort
Speaker 8: of like.
Speaker 2: A otherwise sort of quiet area.
Speaker 8: Is there something that you think is unique about these
Speaker 8: sessions that would be lost if if OTAs were to
Speaker 8: go away?
Speaker 7: So you're asking, like the longer break away from the team,
Speaker 7: would that be an issue. I think that's definitely something
Speaker 7: to considered. You know, it's something that they would have
Speaker 7: to look at and try to try to try to
Speaker 7: give guys an opportunity to uh, you know, again voluntary,
Speaker 7: an opportunity to come in It wouldn't be football practice
Speaker 7: like this, but some way to to be connected probably,
Speaker 7: I think they probably want to do that.
Speaker 14: I know it's voluntary, is it, But do you feel like.
Speaker 9: There is anything going on in these OTA practices that
Speaker 9: if for guys that aren't here, that would cause them
Speaker 9: to maybe be behind.
Speaker 7: You know, man, I'm a coach, so you know my
Speaker 7: answer to that, you know, I mean, that's that's that's uh,
Speaker 7: that's what we do. You know, we want we want
Speaker 7: to we want to be going forward as fast as
Speaker 7: we can, you know, no drag making making ground getting
Speaker 7: better every day, you know, one percent better today than yesterday,
Speaker 7: one percent better tomorrow than today, you know, and it
Speaker 7: takes a lot of work to do that, you know.
Speaker 7: So as a coach, that's what you're always looking for.
Speaker 3: You're evaluating as much during OTAs as you do during
Speaker 3: CAMPRA is a little bit of a different filter.
Speaker 7: It's a different filter you're evaluating, sure, but it's a
Speaker 7: different filter. It's more about, uh, you know, guys competing
Speaker 7: against themselves. You know, their ability to learn the offense,
Speaker 7: defensive scheme, the footwork, the technique. You're not making any
Speaker 7: decisions about who plays or doesn't play until you get
Speaker 7: in training camp.
Speaker 13: So many veterans missing.
Speaker 4: Who are some younger players who are starting to step
Speaker 4: up in terms of leadership?
Speaker 7: Well, I think we talked find We had this conversation
Speaker 7: today about leadership, and the message was that everybody's a leader.
Speaker 7: You know, we're all leaders. We're all we're all leaders.
Speaker 7: The quote that I had was from Pope Francis. It
Speaker 7: was that a shepherd should smell like his sheep. That's
Speaker 7: a good one, right, think about that. Never been around cheap.
Speaker 7: I don't know what they smell like exactly, but I
Speaker 7: thought the metaphor was really good, not great.
Speaker 3: Ronnie Stanley, there was a discussion in the off season
Speaker 3: about his contract, his future, all of that, but him
Speaker 3: being out here, at him being out here just about
Speaker 3: every day, it seems like, what are you seeing from him?
Speaker 3: And you know your expectations for him, knowing this is
Speaker 3: a big year for him, professionals.
Speaker 7: Exactly, Ronnie came out, he was he was away until
Speaker 7: the first day of ot AS and then he was here.
Speaker 7: He's been here for every O, T A and every
Speaker 7: in the workouts. Uh, and he looked good. You know,
Speaker 7: he's looked good.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 7: I was I was, uh pleased, very pleased. And Ronnie's talent,
Speaker 7: he's working super hard, he's getting tested. These guys like
Speaker 7: Gadafe and these guys are kind of bringing it as
Speaker 7: you guys might get wrote about that they're they're bringing
Speaker 7: it man, and uh uh, it's it's it's good. It's
Speaker 7: good for you know, it's good to work together like that.
Speaker 7: We like to have our good guys, our starters, working
Speaker 7: against our starters a lot because in these drills, because
Speaker 7: it's not full contact and they get a chance to
Speaker 7: really kind of challenge each other's technique.
Speaker 9: Want guys to still play fast and you know, and
Speaker 9: still stay up in this time of year. How do
Speaker 9: you go about your message into the team to you know,
Speaker 9: you want to see the play as if have that energy,
Speaker 9: as if it's a real situation. What you want them
Speaker 9: to stay up.
Speaker 7: That's a great question. And really what it boils down
Speaker 7: to is understanding that this is not a it's not
Speaker 7: a physical contest to win the play. It's a physical
Speaker 7: contest to do your technique right and do your assignment right,
Speaker 7: and to do it fast. These guys are super ridiculously
Speaker 7: talented there. We call it fast rehearsal. Their ability to
Speaker 7: rehearse their technique full speed and not running each other
Speaker 7: blows my mind. That's how good they are. When they
Speaker 7: start feeling that they need to go make a play
Speaker 7: on defense, usually that's when you start having most of
Speaker 7: your issues over. They try to make up for a
Speaker 7: mistake when they're laid on a block on offense. So
Speaker 7: you've just got to understand when you've quote unquote not
Speaker 7: you know you're not in great position, you got to
Speaker 7: pull out. No competing for a ball, no run in
Speaker 7: to anybody, no finish, no shedding anybody, no finishing a block.
Speaker 7: That's not what we're here for. We're here to work
Speaker 7: together that way, So that's how you message it.
Speaker 11: He told us in the off season that that the
Speaker 11: god a job that was healthy.
Speaker 3: Is he kind of ramping up to be more involved
Speaker 3: in eleven on eleven stuff for mini camp or with there
Speaker 3: any kind of.
Speaker 7: Step back there timeline? I believe is more somewhere in
Speaker 7: training camp. Yeah, it's uh, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't. It won't be Mini.
Speaker 7: Caamp, but it's at some point in time once we
Speaker 7: get back from training camps.
Speaker 11: Is there an expectation you might be here next week
Speaker 11: or is I have kind of like a wait and
Speaker 11: see situation.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's just not something i'm really I'm able to
Speaker 7: comment on, you know, So I don't know. We'll see
Speaker 7: what happens.
Speaker 2: Thanks, all right, thanks all right.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Ravens Press Past podcast feed. For
Speaker 1: a full breakdown of everything that we saw out there
Speaker 1: during OTAs over the course of this week, Head over
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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. We'll be back with you next week.