Robert Hunt – April 27, 2022
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Wednesday, April 27, 2022
G/T Robert Hunt
(How’s the driving going?) – “Listen, F1 is coming out here and I need to be on the track. That’s how nice I am. (laughter) I’m nice.”
(You’re not going to cause that spill on the first turn where all the cars go crazy?) – “To win, I might. (laughter)”
(Which F1 driver would you be?) – “I’m not even going to lie, I don’t know anything about F1 but I’ll be a Florida F1 driver, if that makes sense. They’re crazy. Every Florida driver, I’ll drive like y’all.”
(No turn signals.) – “Oh my goodness, it’s crazy. We already talked about this man, it’s crazy. It’s the same two years later. (laughter)”
(We know from your first two years that you can be a good NFL tackle. You’re also a good NFL guard. Has Head Coach Mike McDaniel and Offensive Line Coach Matt Applebaum told you their vision for you? Do they see you continuing to play guard and believe that’s best for you?) – “No, not exactly. Right now, we are just talking about the concepts and everything. We’re just in working. Wherever they need me at, that’s where I’m playing. If that’s guard, tackle. Wherever they put me at, wherever they best see me, wherever I can help the team out. I’m excited about the scheme and everything we are going to do. I am excited about that.”
(What makes you excited about the scheme?) – “I get to run off the ball. I like that. I like running off the ball. I like being physical. I like playing football and I think this gives us a chance to do that.”
(Is it just more of an attacking style or…?) – “Honestly, I wouldn’t say it’s attacking because attacking, you have to attack any day to play football. For me, my key is that I am trying to run off the ball. I’m trying to be better than I was last year and the year before. I’m just trying to focus on myself and that’s running off the football. I’m excited for that for myself.”
(Do you feel this scheme generally requires an athletic offensive line? Do you feel like you fit the mold?) – “I’m pretty athletic, man. I don’t want to boost myself too much now, but I’m pretty athletic. (laughter) I can do any scheme, man. I can do power, outside zone, inside zone. Whatever you need me to do, I can do it.”
(First impressions of Offensive Line Coach Matt Applebaum? What kind of teacher he is and his demeanor.) – “I like Matt, man. Matt is a guy that you can tell really cares about the room. He’s willing to see where we’re coming from, we see where he comes from and there haven’t been any problems. You can just tell that’s where he comes from. He’s great so far. He’s been doing really well with us and that’s for all the coaches in the room. Everybody has been having positive things to say and it’s been looking good.”
(Has Offensive Line Coach Matt Applebaum tried to put in a package with you in the backfield?) – “I’m not giving you my secrets, man. I can’t tell you that. (laughter) Not happening.”
(I know you just mentioned you don’t know a lot about Formula 1 but I just want to get your thoughts. What catches your attention about the sport and are you planning to go to the race next week?) – “Yeah, I was planning on going to the race next week but it’s Mother’s Day and I haven’t seen my mom in a while, so I’ve got to go do that. But the sport catches my attention, yeah. The other day I was sleeping on my couch and when I woke up, it was on, so I kind of watched it a little bit. It seems like a lot of guys are out there with Ferrari shirts on rooting for Ferrari. I don’t know if that’s in F1 but that’s what I saw. It got a good crowd behind it, so it looked exciting. I want to go but I won’t be able to.”
(What do you think the additions of T Terron Armstead and OL Connor Williams might mean to the group?) – “Good things. You can tell both guys are leaders. Both guys have been winners and that’s good. They’re older guys – not older guys but they’ve been in the league. I’m mostly talking about Terron. He’s been in the league, he knows what’s happening and he’s seen a lot of things and can help us out by just being the vet in the room for a young room.”
(Obviously this is draft week and from a player’s perspective, someone who’s already on the team, what’s this week like for y’all? Do you put any stock on the new guys coming in? Do you guys text about it? What’s this process like for you?) – “Are you asking if we bet on who’s getting drafted? (laughter) I’m just playing. I only do that for the guys that I know at my school. I’m excited to see those guys get picked up and let their dreams come true. I am excited for the draft this weekend to answer your question.”
(How would you describe Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s personality?) – “I like Mike, man. Mike’s a good guy. I don’t know how to pinpoint it yet. I like Mike. He’s a good guy, a good coach. He lights up the room, in my opinion.”
(What about Offensive Line Coach Matt Applebaum or any of the other offensive assistants?) – “Good guys. Really good guys. Matt, Frank (Smith), ‘Lem’ (Lemuel Jeanpierre), (Mike) Person and everybody. All good guys and you can tell they want to teach. That’s the good thing that they come in and they want to teach and they want to educate about the game and the ‘why’ – why we’re doing everything – so it’s a beautiful thing.”
(I know every offensive line wants to be a dominant run-blocking offensive line. We’ve sort of gotten that feel from Head Coach Mike McDaniel when he’s talked to us. I know you’re just in the install stage but has Mike McDaniel conveyed that message to you all clearly that we want this to be a dominant run-blocking line?) – “I wouldn’t say it like that exactly. We all know who Mike McDaniel is. We all know where he comes from – the 49ers deal. We know exactly what we are doing out there with the install stuff. In the back of your head, you know that’s what we need to be or want to be.”
(As a fan, obviously, you have seen some RB Raheem Mostert, before you’ve seen some RB Chase Edmonds have you seen Arizona games. Just your thoughts on what they add.) – “They add a lot, man. I just told Mostert this yesterday, I was like, ‘Damn, you’re probably like one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen hit a hole.’ I’ve been watching film, just because we watch a lot of 49ers film right now, and he’s just ‘whoosh.’ He gets the ball rolling. It’s good to see. Chase Edmonds is nice too. I watched a little bit of his games last year and a couple of years before. He’s really good.”
(So you want a back to hit the hole fast?) – “I don’t know, man. I mean that’s what (Raheem Mostert) does. That’s what I saw on tape. It was impressive to see.”
(What is an advantage for the offensive line with the zone-run attack in terms of your responsibility? What creates an advantage for you guys?) – “Snap count. The snap count makes a huge advantage. That’s what I’m thinking right now in my head from just doing a couple of days. I think the snap count plays a big factor right now.”
(How does that work? Can you explain it to us?) – “Jump the snap count. You know we’ve got a snap count and then you time it. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m speaking for myself but it’s time the snap count. We be kind of preaching that right now. The snap count is an advantage that we have. That’s last year, the year before and that’s just football – you’ve got to use it. I never thought about that until this year, though. You’ve got to use the snap count and it definitely helps.”
(What makes you have that realization about the snap count’s importance?) – “Like I said, I never really paid attention to it. I never really thought about it. Now, I’ve thought about it and I see like ‘okay, this does help and if you do it the right way, it can work out for you good.’”
(So the idea is that you and your teammates can get off the ball faster this year?) – “Yeah because we know the snap count. The defense doesn’t know the snap count. They are just sitting there, mouth open, just breathing, just looking. They don’t know what’s going on. We know, so we got to go. We hear it, lock it in and go.”
(How simple or hard is this system to learn? Just watching 49ers tape, how hard or easy has it been to learn?) – “I wouldn’t say it’s easy. Like I said, I think we have really good teachers in the room with Matt (Applebaum), Frank (Smith), ‘Lem’ (Lemuel Jeanpierre) and Mike (Person). I think they’re doing a fantastic job putting it on us. I wouldn’t say it’s hard. There’s definitely some hiccups but like I said, we got some really good teachers in our room so it helps.”
(Are there a couple of things this offseason that you wanted to focus on to improve and how did you train to improve those things?) – “Yeah, I wanted to improve on, for myself, attacking the bull rush. That’s something that I tried to work on. I’m a big guy. When I was a tackle, it was kind of hard to bull rush me but inside, I learned there were some big guys in there too. There were some big strong guys in there too, so I had to work on that. Its just something that I worked on. I figured that out later in the year last year. But just coming into this year, I worked on it a little bit and just the regular football stuff – the o-line techniques and all that.”
