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Speaker 1: All right to start of the offseason April eleventh, We've

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Speaker 1: all been looking forward to this day. John Harris alongside

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Speaker 1: the HBC headball coach of the Houston Texans, Lovey Smith. Coach,

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Speaker 1: did it feel like the first day of school bringing

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Speaker 1: you guys back? Yes, it did. Yeah, I guess it

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Speaker 1: had a little Christmas field to it too. Yeah, you know, John,

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Speaker 1: you know, gifts underneath the Christmas tree, and just really

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Speaker 1: excited about seeing the players. Of course there's some communication

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Speaker 1: that goes on throughout, but to have our first meeting together,

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Speaker 1: see their faces and excitement seeing them. They haven't seen

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Speaker 1: each other for a while, so just getting it, you know,

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Speaker 1: starting those relationships again, it's pretty special. We have a

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Speaker 1: great group of men, so it's good to get that

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Speaker 1: first meeting under our belt. Coach, how much meeting time

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Speaker 1: do you get with them? And how much can you

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Speaker 1: talk ball with them? How much is just getting to

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Speaker 1: know them? How much is that part of it right now? Well,

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Speaker 1: there's three different phases I get. You could say to

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Speaker 1: the all season program. And for the first two weeks, John,

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Speaker 1: is we phase one of the all season program. We

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Speaker 1: can have the guys in our building four days a

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Speaker 1: week maximum of four hours per day, and in that

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Speaker 1: amount of time the first two weeks, two of ours

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Speaker 1: would be strength and conditioning and the other two hours

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Speaker 1: would be meeting. So there's a lot of video to

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Speaker 1: go over from last year. So it's a lot we

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Speaker 1: can get done that way. I've thought about this a lot, coach,

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Speaker 1: because you you talked about your scheme and what you've

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Speaker 1: done and what you've been comfortable with over the years.

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Speaker 1: During the offseason, you're watching tape and you're watching something,

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Speaker 1: you're like, hey, kind of I kind of like what

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Speaker 1: they're doing, kind of jot it down on a napkin.

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Speaker 1: How do you incorporate some of the new things that

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Speaker 1: you see that you see some teams do, whether it's

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Speaker 1: all the way done the high school level, off the

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Speaker 1: college level, or some teams are on the league, how

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Speaker 1: do you kind of incorporate that into a scheme that

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Speaker 1: has become so ingraineding what you've done in the last

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Speaker 1: couple of decades. Well, I think a lot of it

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Speaker 1: goes on while you go while you're playing going through

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Speaker 1: the season too. Yeah, you know, you're watching a lot

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Speaker 1: of video of different teams and seeing, you know, how

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Speaker 1: offenses are attacking certain defense and things like that. I

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Speaker 1: think it starts then, but yeah, there has been an

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Speaker 1: awful lot going on. You evaluate even more, you know,

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Speaker 1: doing this all season, and then you keep your core

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Speaker 1: and our core has been a certain way for a

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Speaker 1: long period of time. But you just try to add

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Speaker 1: a few little tweaks to it every year. And that's

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Speaker 1: just a base part of the all season as far

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Speaker 1: as evaluating what you do all three phase a special team, offense,

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Speaker 1: and of course defense. Even though it's the first year

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Speaker 1: for year as head coach, you obviously we're here as

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Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator. As the defensive guys are coming in

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Speaker 1: for a meeting, how much easier is it to be

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Speaker 1: able to look at them and go, hey, remember we

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Speaker 1: did this against Tennessee, or hey, this is how we

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Speaker 1: do this. And the guys already sort of know, Hey,

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Speaker 1: I know what to expect from coach. I know to

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Speaker 1: expect from the scheme. I see that it's not complete

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Speaker 1: and total Greek to me when they see it. How

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Speaker 1: important is that for them as they sit in there

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Speaker 1: the meetings with you staff. I think it's very important.

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Speaker 1: I think you can look at that look at it

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Speaker 1: that way down with all three phases of course, special

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Speaker 1: team wise, Frank Raw still coordinating our our special team.

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Speaker 1: Pep Hamilton even though he was in a different position

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Speaker 1: last year. Was you know, we've you know, it's our

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Speaker 1: offense still that we're running for the most part, and

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Speaker 1: he was and he was a big part of that.

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Speaker 1: So the transition has been pretty good for them too.

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Speaker 1: And of course defensively it helps an awful lot. So

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Speaker 1: we feel like we're a couple of steps ahead. You know,

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Speaker 1: last year too, you know, we had COVID, so we

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Speaker 1: weren't meeting in person. Just to be able to meet

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Speaker 1: in person is you know, kind of putting you a

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Speaker 1: lot further head. How's your frequent flyer account to growing?

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Speaker 1: The miles are going up and up and up. How

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Speaker 1: has that been this draft season? To get out there

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Speaker 1: see prospects up close and personal, it's a must and

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Speaker 1: I love doing it. First off, a few tank things,

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Speaker 1: uh we got. I got a chance to watch spring

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Speaker 1: practice at it practices real football being played. But to

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Speaker 1: go to their environment, I'm talking about the Draftbull seniors,

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Speaker 1: juniors and see them. You didn't get as much information

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Speaker 1: as you can has been pretty neat. There are a

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Speaker 1: lot of great programs around and guys have really worked

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Speaker 1: out well and we've gotten a lot of information to

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Speaker 1: be able to make some good decisions. You know, we

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Speaker 1: have a little bit of draft capital going into this draft,

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Speaker 1: and to use it wisely, we'll be able to make

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Speaker 1: a lot of good decisions. How's that process been with

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Speaker 1: Nick as you guys go through Because during the season,

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Speaker 1: you guys are locked in on Our opponent is the

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Speaker 1: Washington Commanders. We are locked in the Commanders. I don't

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Speaker 1: really care what a Hise State is doing at this point,

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Speaker 1: but obviously that's what Nick's group, the scouts are doing.

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Speaker 1: They're focused on what those college players are doing, and

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Speaker 1: the coaches get involved obviously when they're seasons over. How's

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Speaker 1: that process been for you and Nick to kind of

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Speaker 1: merge the scouts and the coaches together to be cohesive

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Speaker 1: in that draft approach. It's gone well. And as you mentioned,

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Speaker 1: I mean when watching except for being a casual fan,

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Speaker 1: we haven't had a chance to watch a lot of

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Speaker 1: the guys as they played in college. But that process

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Speaker 1: started right away, you know, for me getting the staff

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Speaker 1: in place, and then it was a little bit of

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Speaker 1: free agency. But everything has been towards the college guys.

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Speaker 1: Since then, you mentioned our personnel department, they do an

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Speaker 1: excellent job. They caught us up, you know, started with

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Speaker 1: the combine a little bit and we've been just uh,

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Speaker 1: it's been rapid fire since then. And as I mentioned earlier,

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Speaker 1: we've had a chance to see workouts can tell you

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Speaker 1: so much more too. We've even had a chance to

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Speaker 1: go through our local workout, so we've gotten most of

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Speaker 1: the major things done. We continue to bring guys in

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Speaker 1: for the pre draft visits and that has really been good.

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Speaker 1: There's one thing, you go to the workout, everybody's trying

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Speaker 1: to grab guys and get their questions. But when you

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Speaker 1: bring them on, you know, to your facility, we have

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Speaker 1: them all day and you you you able to find

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Speaker 1: out a lot more. Yeah, no doubt. And you've been

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Speaker 1: through a number of pro days. You see a number

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Speaker 1: of those as you're gone, but you were in Illinois

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Speaker 1: before that where there were a lot of pro days

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Speaker 1: that were going on. You got a chance to see it.

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Speaker 1: But how much is that process change, coach, if at all,

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Speaker 1: that pro day process, after having gone through COVID and

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Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff, has it changed much over

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Speaker 1: the years. That you've been doing it and going to

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Speaker 1: Pro Days as a head coach. Well a few years

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Speaker 1: back as when it really starts to change where it

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Speaker 1: became more of a production. Yeah, you know, the spotlight

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Speaker 1: on it, and that's not all bad. I mean, the

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Speaker 1: colleges put an awful lot into that day of showcasing

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Speaker 1: their facility, how they do things, and and just seeing

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Speaker 1: their products they put on the football field. So it

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Speaker 1: has changed quite a bit, but eventually you get down

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Speaker 1: to a lot of the same drills that are being run.

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Speaker 1: We've tweaked the drills a little bit that we do,

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Speaker 1: but for the most part, we know we want to

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Speaker 1: see by position from the guys and that hadn't changed

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Speaker 1: a lot one of the things you mentioned. And I

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Speaker 1: think our fans don't know a lot about it because

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Speaker 1: they know about the Pro Days, they know about the combine,

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Speaker 1: and they know about on campus workouts. But the local workout,

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Speaker 1: that's a really important one. I know a few years

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Speaker 1: ago we had a running back that had gone through

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Speaker 1: a local workout and then pressed a little bit, and

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Speaker 1: that was a guy that we ended up drafting. What

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Speaker 1: does that local workout all about? Our fans may not

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Speaker 1: know a lot about that. What can you inform them

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Speaker 1: about on that process? Well, it's exactly you know how

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Speaker 1: we described as a local workout of you know, colleges

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Speaker 1: that are close to our you know, Houston Texan football team.

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Speaker 1: So surrounding guys get a chance to come for one

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Speaker 1: day and we get a chance to meet with them

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Speaker 1: and of course take them and work them out here

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Speaker 1: at our facility, which we were able to hold this

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Speaker 1: pass on Friday and again just more hands on to

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Speaker 1: get one final look of course at the guys that

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Speaker 1: and a lot of them that know everything about us.

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Speaker 1: We need local of course, you know all about our

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Speaker 1: football team, and found a lot more out that way. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: guys that were rookies last year, Davis Nico brev those

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Speaker 1: guys from year one to year two, the expectations I

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Speaker 1: would imagine, and they're gonna go through the roof. I mean,

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Speaker 1: we're pretty realistic about the expectations. Well, what are your

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Speaker 1: expectations for those guys going from a rookie coming in

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Speaker 1: here clean, knowing nothing about the NFL for the most

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Speaker 1: part too, You're now coming back in here for a

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Speaker 1: year two. Our expectations have definitely changed. What are your

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Speaker 1: thoughts about going from your one to year two for

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Speaker 1: those guys, well, I think you mentioned the you know,

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Speaker 1: the rookies last year, but for our football team, we

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Speaker 1: should see improvement with a lots farther long as we

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Speaker 1: talked about earlier with our system. But for you, for

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Speaker 1: young players, you're right, there's a lot of things going

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Speaker 1: on when you're rookie. It's trying to figure out how

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Speaker 1: to uh, you know, get around Houston and trying to

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Speaker 1: find your place. Now when you know and you know

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Speaker 1: what you need to do. My time in NFL, I've

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Speaker 1: seen from your first year to your second year major

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Speaker 1: improvements at all positions, and that's where we're expecting right now.

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Speaker 1: You know, these guys get a chance first to a

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Speaker 1: lot of them have been around, you know, working out

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Speaker 1: on their own now to get a chance to go

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Speaker 1: through all season program. I'm talking about lifting, strength and

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Speaker 1: condition and getting stronger, being able to really study the

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Speaker 1: playbook a lot more so you have time, really, so

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Speaker 1: we should really see who these players are, even more

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Speaker 1: so than we're able to this past season. How about

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Speaker 1: you talk about getting around in Houston. You get around

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Speaker 1: Houston a little bit better, getting to know it a

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Speaker 1: little bit more. Yes, I am, and loving everything about it.

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Speaker 1: You know, I used to recruit the Houston area for

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Speaker 1: a long time, but now to get a chance to

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Speaker 1: to you know, favorite eating spot in each town. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and just everything that goes along with being down here

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Speaker 1: is pretty neat where you have a little bit of

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Speaker 1: time to do that. Also, when you walk in and

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Speaker 1: you kind of treated like the king around town when

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Speaker 1: you walk in, I mean you are somewhat recognizable in

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Speaker 1: this town. Uh yeah, yeah, I'm probably you know, I

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Speaker 1: look a little different than probably other coaches that have

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Speaker 1: been in my seat here, but not a whole lot

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Speaker 1: of dark guys with great beards, you know, leading teams.

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Speaker 1: But I pep will know. They're sports fans here and

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Speaker 1: they love sports, whether it's basketball, baseball, whatever, and of

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Speaker 1: course football. So I think it's just really neat to

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Speaker 1: listen to our fans and they're excited. They're with us

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Speaker 1: every step along the way. We've gotten a lot of

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Speaker 1: advice on who we should pick, number three, number thirteen,

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Speaker 1: and what we should do at all the position. And

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Speaker 1: I love talking football, especially from them, and just can't

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Speaker 1: wait to, you know, get back in the stadium and

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Speaker 1: see them. So it's Frank offered to cut your hair

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Speaker 1: or your beard. Has he offered at some point to

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Speaker 1: do it? Yes, he has. Early on. Frank's pretty busy

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Speaker 1: his reputation. Again, as you go along, you get you know,

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Speaker 1: your reputation comes become more and more, you know, more

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Speaker 1: visible out there. And that's definitely the case with him.

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Speaker 1: But I have a routine that I go through, I

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Speaker 1: have my own barber and all that. Well, that's probably

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Speaker 1: better than he's. He's offered to through my hair, and

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Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not all the way in yet on it, Coach,

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Speaker 1: So I'm gonna take your advice. I'm gonna wait just

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna give him till through OTAs a minicamp, and

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Speaker 1: then then I might do it at that point, Coach,

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Speaker 1: Really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for any

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Speaker 1: time at all. John