Christian Wilkins – August 4, 2021
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Wednesday, August 4, 2021
DT Christian Wilkins
(I wanted to ask you about the run defense. Obviously you guys, before you went down with COVID, last year struggled a little bit earlier in the season and then it tightened up. What was it that you guys were doing or achieving that made you have more success in the second half?) – “A few things. I think just guys learning to work together, confidence, mindset and just getting better. You get better with reps and as time goes on. So the more reps we get together as a unit and just as a defense, you’re able to do a little bit more things. Definitely we’ve just got a good group of guys on the d-line and on the defense, period, who lock in and try to get better every day. That’s why I feel good about this group, that we’ve got a group that works hard; so it’ll be exciting to see what we can do as we build this season.”
(I’m not sure how much you’ve gone against him in practice, but I’m curious as to what kind of progress you’ve seen from G Durval Queiroz Neto?) – “That’s my man. I love ‘Q’ (Durval Queiroz Neto). Just love his spirit. Just love how he comes every day. He just likes to get better, loves football, likes to get better, likes to work hard. It’s good seeing some good things out of ‘Q.’ He’s a fun guy to have on the team. We crossed paths well before I knew I was going to be a Dolphin. I like ‘Q’ a lot. He’s a good guy. Like I said, he just works hard and really just loves football and he’s a good guy to be around.”
(So you crossed paths with G Durval Queiroz Neto before you got to the Dolphins?) – “Yeah.”
(Circumstances?) – “He was a Clemson fan and he liked our d-line.”
(Last week I asked DT Raekwon Davis obviously knowing both Marion Hobby and Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark. Both good coaches. I asked him sort of what the difference has been in the approach. He said Coach Clark is very demanding. You can’t screw up. You can’t have a mistake. He’s actually a little afraid at times of Coach Clark, is what Raekwon said. So I was going to ask you is there anything in particular that Clark has honed in on with you where he said “I want you better in this specific area” and are you able to share what that is?) – “I’m not going to exactly share what it is, but (Austin) Clark is definitely one hell of a coach. I feel good having him work with me every day. He’s a great coach. Like you stated, very demanding and just really cares about his players and wants us all to be great. He doesn’t want us to be good; he wants us to be great. And good isn’t good enough. So he is definitely very demanding and got a lot of respect for him to be such a young coach, too.”
(What’s it been like on the field, especially since pads came on yesterday?) – “Hot. Hot. Hot as hell. Hotter. (laughter) No, it’s been good. It’s been good to finally get the things on and get a little more physical in there and really see more so what guys can do. Some guys show up a little bit more in pads once you can finally get a little more physical and things like that; but it’s good. I like what we’re seeing out of the guys in the first couple days and it’s just been fun competing.”
(On that topic of the running game, I know you guys obviously work a lot – the defensive line with the linebackers in terms of stopping the run – but what – communication is a big part of this club as well. How much do you communicate with the linebackers in terms of pre-snap and just kind of getting things aligned? Is there a lot of communication between those two position groups?) – “Yeah, definitely. We work together and we’ve got to work in cohesion. If I do my job right, the ‘backers make plays. If they’re doing their job, I’m going to make a play. So it’s definitely a team effort. We’ve all got to work together and be coordinated and definitely when we break down film or watch film together; it’s like, oh, you really get to see the big picture. Sometimes when you’re just out there practicing, you don’t necessarily see it; but then it’s nice when you go back and watch the tape and you’re like, ‘Oh, I took this double team so now this ‘backer can run free and make this play. And if he shoots the gap, then I’m free.’ Or whatever it is. It’s definitely good to see that and we’ve got to be on-point together.”
(Is there a communication in a game or in practice where you’re doing one thing and he says, “I need you over here” or vice versa? Is there some of that communication?) – “It’s constant communication pre-snap, in the huddle before the snap or if we get this look again; let’s do this. Or whatever it is. It’s constant communication.”
(Obviously you, DT Raekwon Davis, DT Zach Sieler, DT Adam Butler are going to play a lot. Does it matter to you if you’re on the field the first snap of practice? Some days you have been with first team. Some days you haven’t. And in games. Is that important if you’re on for the very first snap?) – “The biggest thing for me is to just make the most of my snaps and for all of us; we’ve got a really good group of guys who care about each other and want us all to succeed and want us all to be great and do better. We’re not focused on counting the snaps; we’re focused on making the snaps count and just being there for each other, supporting each other. ‘Hey, good job’ or ‘I’ve seen this, I’ve seen that.’ And that’s what I really like about our d-line group. We’ve got a really good group, a lot of guys who’ve played a good bit of ball, who know a lot of different things and we try to help each other a lot as much as we can. We’re a fun group to be around, that’s for sure. I really like what we’re building in there.”
(What’s the next level for you this year?) – “I just really want to keep improving. Mindset, every day just working on the little things that I need to work within my game or within myself to get better. I just love this game so I just love to compete, work hard and just love that football is the ultimate team sport. So I try to be a leader, try to be a good teammate. All those things are important to me.”
(Finish this sentence. “A defense that does not stop the run…”?) – “That’s not how I would have worded the sentence. (laughter) No, like, you’ve got to stop the run. It’s tough to compete; it’s tough to be a good defense or the defense you want to be or to be great if you can’t stop the run. So we’ve got to be able to do that first and then if we take care of that, that takes care of a lot. You can either run the ball or pass the ball, so if you stop the run, you know they’re going to have to pass and things like that. That takes away half of their options, so you definitely have to just make plays in the run game and do all you can to stop it.”
