Darren Rizzi – September 6, 2016
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi
(On if WR Jakeem Grant will handle both punt and kickoff returns on Sunday) – “It’s still fluid. We’re going to see how that goes. He’s been taking a lot of reps all preseason. He’s been doing both and doing a good job at it. Obviously we have some other options there with Kenyan Drake now emerging in the last game and obviously Jarvis (Landry) is always there. We’re kind of going to go in with a committee and kind of see how it plays out. But Jakeem’s (Grant) definitely right there in the mix. He’ll be back there at some point, for sure.”
(On if it will depend on the situation throughout the course of the game if WR Jakeem Grant will handle punt and kickoff returns) – “Yes, I don’t want to say too much with that. I think it will depend on a lot of different factors. We’ll see kind of what the elements are and how it plays out but again, he’s really done a nice job all preseason. He’s definitely in the mix. He’ll be back there, like I said, at some point; whether we have two guys, one guy, we still have a lot of different options we can do. We can put two kick returners back. We could put two punt returners back. You guys kind of know who those guys are. But all that’s going to be, like it could be situationally, it could be game plan. So all of that’s open right now still.”
(On what his message would be to a young guy like WR Jakeem Grant on making his professional debut) – “The biggest thing is kind of tuning all of the noise out. He’s done such a good job. For a guy that’s never fielded a punt in college and really hasn’t done it since high school, he really did a nice job in the preseason. He’s probably fielded 10,000 punts between the time he got drafted and now. Just whether it’s fielding a punt, snapping a ball or kicking a ball, the message always to those guys is ‘Lock into what you’re doing.’ It’s kind of like a golfer. A specialist and a punt returner is kind of in that same category – it’s kind of like a golfer. You lock into a guy. You hear a guy like Tiger Woods talk all the time about just being on the practice green. It’s the same exact putt. Just block out all the noise. That’s kind of been the same message to these guys. I look at a returner no different than the snapper, holder, kicker or punter in that regard. ‘You’ve done it a million, you’ve done it 10,000 times. It’s just another example of doing it. Don’t let the emotion, all that stuff, don’t get caught up in that stuff.’”
(On what he would tell WR Jakeem Grant on playing in a tough environment) – “He’s played in some big games, obviously. His conference is pretty big. He played in front of a lot of people. We tell Jakeem (Grant), as well as all the other guys, it’s just like I said, ‘You’ve got to put yourself in the moment. You practiced this a million times. Don’t let this situation, the environment, dictate what you’re capable of doing. Again, just stay mentally locked in. Stay in the moment and just go and do what you know you’re capable of doing.’”
(On if in practice he’s been looking at RB Kenyan Drake both on punts and kickoffs or just punts) – “He’s done both. He’s done both actually and he’s another guy that didn’t get a whole lot of punt returns in his career in college but since he’s been back, it’s another phase he’s been working on. I said to him the other day in the pregame warmups against Tennessee, it was actually the best kind of period I saw him have catching punts, just real smooth. Kenyan’s (Drake) a guy that’s got a lot of confidence and he doesn’t really get shaken by much. So that’s a good thing for a returner, especially a young guy.”
(On two guys that he has great confidence in their ability to cover kicks and punts) – “That’s a great question. I’ll tell you what, we have four guys back that really did a good job last year. You look at Michael Thomas, you look at Walt Aikens, you look at Damien Williams (and) Spencer Paysinger. Those four returning players are guys that are all core guys for us last year and have kind of continued that trend. At one point or another last year, all four of those guys were at the top of the pile in terms of core players. Mike (Thomas) got thrust into playing a lot because of injuries last year. Then Walt (Aikens) took over for a while. There was a stretch of games – maybe six or seven games – where Damien Williams was playing as well as anybody on special teams in our division. I don’t just mean the Dolphins, I mean our division. Then Spencer Paysinger is kind of just a steady guy. He’s led our team now … he led our team in tackles last year on kickoff. Mike (Thomas) led it in punt. All four of those guys have really been impressive and I’ll tell you what, they’ve really all provided veteran leadership during this training camp and this preseason for some of the younger guys like (Kenyan) Drake, (Leonte) Carroo and (Jakeem) Grant – some of these younger guys that may play on Sunday. That’s been a very fortunate thing for me is to have those veteran-type guys. (I’m) very, very happy with where they are and all four of them not only have great ability to cover kicks; but just like I said, kind of that maturity. That veteran leadership has been really, really good.”
(On who made the team that was a bubble guy that he pushed for because of their special teams abilities) – “I don’t think it’s a secret, Mike Hull was probably a bubble guy coming into camp. And he played as well as anybody on special teams, on this team, in the four preseason games. Not only special teams, but defensively as well. That’s just not my opinion. The numbers kind of say that as well. (He was one of the) more productive players. You talk to (Linebackers Coach) Matt Burke and talk to our defensive coaches, they’ll tell you the same thing. There wasn’t a more productive guy. There’s guys that may have played more plays and all that, but this guy just really got people on the ground on defense and on special teams and that was impressive. Not surprising, but it was very, very impressive. I told the story awhile back about going up to Penn State last year with my daughters – she now attends Penn State – and talking to their coaches. They couldn’t say enough great things about him and his leadership. So they’re not surprised either up there in good old ‘Happy Valley.’ But here’s a guy that was a captain there and has really just shown tremendous … Here’s a guy that’s been told his whole life you’re too small, you’re too slow and all this. ‘You can’t play Division I football,’ or ‘You’re not going to be big enough to play in the NFL,’ and all he does is go out there and make plays. So he’s a guy that maybe was a question mark coming into the preseason, and he just kind of every week, earned his way onto the football team in both defense and special teams, for what it’s worth.”
