Robert Hunt – June 7, 2022
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Tuesday, June 7, 2022
G/T Robert Hunt
(Obviously you haven’t had T Terron Armstead out there for team drills, but do you like where the line is right now with OL Connor Williams telling us that he’s playing center and obviously T Liam Eichenberg at left guard? How does the unit look to you? Are you optimistic that it is going to be a better unit than it was last year?) – “I think we look good. I think we are all out there competing to try to win a spot. Nobody is settled in or penciled in at any spot. We are going out there competing and trying to get better and yeah, to try and have a better year than we did last year, paper-wise. I think we had really good guys in the room last year too; but no, I definitely think everybody is working to improve on themselves and improve to be something that nobody expects us to be.”
(Have you started campaigning Head Coach Mike McDaniel for the ball?) – “Nah, I can’t tell you. You got to wait and see. Honestly, I can’t tell you that. Sorry. (laughter)”
(Things are always said about a player’s coach. Can you talk about Head Coach Mike McDaniel’s unique style of coaching? You have coaches that are screamers, you got guys that are motivators. What is it about Head Coach Mike McDaniel that makes him so unique in his coaching job?) – “With Mike (McDaniel), I think we all just get Mike. Mike, he’s a younger guy. He’s cool. He’s got a swagger to him. He’s just out there trying to win. You can tell he wants to win. You can tell he’s got our back. We are going to trust that and move forward and try to put a great product on the field.”
(Have you ever had a coach like that growing up in your career?) – “I’ve had some good coaches in my life. I can speak to (Billy) Napier and all those guys. Mike (McDaniel) is just young. Mike’s younger and I feel like we can just relate to him. He’s good. He knows his (expletive) and we just got to trust that. We are going to trust that.”
(Although T Terron Armstead hasn’t been out here practicing yet, has there been an impact that you’ve felt with him talking to the guys?) – “Yeah, Terron has helped a lot of our guys out, especially us young guys. He’s out there at practice working with some guys. He’s in the meeting room telling us what we can do, what he’s seen. He’s been doing this for a while so what he says, we definitely take heed and we listen to it because he’s done it. He’s been an All-Pro, he’s been to Pro Bowls, he’s been everything that we want to be in life pretty much. Everything Terron says, we take it in and we listen.”
(What’s the one thing that T Terron Armstead has told you that has changed you?) – “For me, I don’t know. He tells me a lot of stuff. Some little technique stuff that I can work on to really take my game to the next level. That’s just something that I’m looking forward to, to keep working on this summer and also when camp comes. Hopefully in the season, it’ll roll over.”
(What’s the offensive line’s offseason program for when you guys break camp? Y’all going to be pushing trucks or something?) – “Nah. I mean some boys, that might be their routine. My routine ain’t going to be pushing no trucks, though. (laughter) My shoulders ain’t good enough for that. I don’t know man. Boys are going to be in working man, doing what they can do. A lot of guys will be here in the room so we will still be able to see each other, talk to each other, see what we see, come out here and do some work. It’ll be good.”
(The competition in the trenches between o- and d-line – what’s the focus without pads? What do you work on without actually being able to hit?) – “I think everybody is working on – and that’s what I can tell about this team, I think it’s a little different right now. The guys are working without pads on and you can tell, guys are definitely fitting their gaps right, guys are coming off the ball, flying off the ball. We’re doing it in a controlled manner. When pads come on, pads are just on. That’s all it is to it. I think guys are definitely getting good work on the offensive line and defensive line.”
(When people say you can only put so much stock into it until the pads come on – it sounds like no…) – “I think that’s what I kind of believe. Right now, what’s special with this team is I think what you see right now is going to be what you get. Some guys are different, though. I think what you see right now is probably what you’ll get. With the pads, there will be a little more of that, but right it’s steel to steel. Just run off the ball.”
(There has been a lot of talk about QB Tua Tagovailoa coming out of his shell. What have you noticed about him this offseason?) – “I think he’s always been like that. I think it’s probably your first time (seeing him like this). He’s a guy with confidence, man. He’s a guy that believes in himself and we believe in him too. I love it, man. I see it, you know what I mean? I believe it and I trust it. We all do. Good for Tua man, I’m glad he did that.”
(What’s been the biggest part of the transition to that wide outside zone for you guys?) – “I don’t know if there is a transition. We just work from last year from an inside zone to a duo to power. Like everything is going here and then people can get a beam on that. Right now, we are trying to make everybody defend the whole field. Guys are just trusting what the coaches are saying, putting down and we are trying to pick it up and we are just running off the ball. We try to run out and like I said, make them defend the field. We’re running way out here, in here, so we got them guessing and it’s a beautiful thing. It’s the type of offense I ran in college. I respect it a lot. I love it.”
