Greg Little – September 8, 2021
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Wednesday, September 8, 2021
T Greg Little
(T Austin Jackson is on the COVID-19 list right now and you’re listed as the backup left tackle. I know you’ve not even been here for a month, but how prepared are you to potentially go out there and start at left tackle on Sunday for the opener?) – “I feel prepared. ‘Coach Lem’ (Lemuel Jeanpierre) has done a good job of getting everybody ready for anything, any scenario. Coach’s biggest thing is making sure everybody is versatile and is always ready. So that’s my job is be versatile and be ready when he calls my name up.”
(Where are you with the playbook? I know when we spoke to you a few weeks ago you said you were cramming to get to play in I think it was the preseason game against the Falcons; but where are you with your grasp of the playbook right now?) – “I feel more comfortable. This is my third week here – beginning of my third week here – so I feel pretty comfortable. A lot of stuff is just football. A lot of stuff I’ve done before and on my previous team, so I’m just getting the terminology down, just kind of getting that muscle memory and hearing and recognize it what it is. So it’s been a learning process, but it’s been good. I’m pretty ready.”
(What’s kind of the feel in the locker room just as far as going into Sunday?) – “Everybody is fired up. Everybody is like finally ready to get out camp, you know what I’m saying (laughter). Everybody is ready to hit somebody else when it really counts. We’re a young team and I think that’s cool, just us kind of gelling together and growing together. It’s like our first time together as a team to go put a show on against somebody else so I think we’re prepared. ‘Coach Flo’ (Brian Flores) has us practicing hard and has us ready so one day at a time, one step at a time.”
(Who have you become closest with on the team?) – “First, kind of the O-line room. The O-line room – that’s kind of a given. I’m with those guys every day. It’s funny how a lot of guys I already knew coming onto this team, from Benito (Jones) to me and Brandon Jones go back to high school. He’s come over to my house because we’re both from Texas. We both used to spend the night and chill and hang out and stuff. Raekwon (Davis) from Mississippi and camps, always playing against him. So I knew a lot of guys coming in. It’s been a pretty good transition from team to team. This team has welcomed me in with open arms so I’m just glad to be here.”
(I was going to ask you about the concept of fresh start. Every now and then we all appreciate a new restaurant or new movie or new car. You got a new team. How’s the fresh start going for you?) – “It’s been good. It’s like buying a new car. (laughter) It feels good. Like you said, sometimes people just need a fresh start so the past is the past. I’m here. I’m a Dolphin so I’m excited to be here.”
(We asked Head Coach Brian Flores when you first got acquired by the Dolphins about some of the stuff that you might be expected to bring. He said “we’ve got to get this guy to learn the building, to find out where 595 is, stuff like that.” How have you acclimated to South Florida so far and the building here as well?) – “I’m just kind of figuring all the little secret doors to get to the locker room. (laughter) I just put my GPS down to get to practice so I kind of have a little muscle memory of getting to practice and stuff. But it’s been cool. I’m from a big city from Dallas so just kind of figuring them highways out and figuring out where everything goes and first thing’s first is getting used to the humidity. That’s the first thing. (laughter) It’s a little different from Texas. Texas is more dry heat whereas Florida – it could be 65 degrees and you feel like you’re dying. (laughter) So that’s been the biggest thing. But no, it’s been great. It’s been a great transition.”
(When you talk about cramming, what’s your – I mean everybody probably goes about – we were all in college. Some of us longer than others. What’s your process? Are you studying for hours and hours and hours or is there only so much you can handle?) – “It’s like college. It’s like your brain can only take so much at a time. Really, it’s kind of figuring out how you learn the best. So how you learn and kind of like put it in slots where it can help you remember where everything is. So it’s not good to cram, but in that situation where I came in here and the same week I had to play, I had to do it. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t easy. That’s our job. Nothing’s easy.”
(But you feel like the worst of it is over as far as…) – “Oh yeah, the worst of it’s over. Now the biggest thing for me is just kind of picking it up even faster. Like you know how you hear the play call, I’ve got to think about it a little bit. I want to get to a point where I just got it, let’s go. So just polish it up a little bit.”
(Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre said you had two good offensive line coaches who had experience and helped you create a base of fundamentals. From a pass pro perspective, what are a couple of things that you’re always trying to remind yourself in terms of coaching points and technique?) – “Always fire your hands, always shoot your hands in pass pro. Out of college, I didn’t do the best job at shooting my hands. I was more of a grabber and kind of moved my feet; but in the NFL you’ve got to rock these guys a little bit to kind of get them off their balance. So punching, being aggressive, having your hands, keeping your hands up – just kind of like a fight – keep your hands up, ready to battle and just relax. Control what you can control. The tempo, control the aggression and you should be okay.”
(Does it feel a little weird though? Like three or four weeks ago you weren’t even here and now you’re not only here but potentially starting on Sunday? How’s that feel with that?) – “It’s a job. It’s like your job. Your learning period is short. You’ve got to come in here and produce. We’re in a production business so you really don’t have no time to be kind of getting the butterflies and worrying about stuff. You’ve just kind of got to trust your process, trust your coaching and play confident really and the rest will fall. My biggest thing in life is controlling what you can control and just leave it to God.”
