Adam Gase – July 28, 2017
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Friday, July 28, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(We saw CB Cordrea Tankersley leave the field. Is there anything you can tell us about his situation?) – “Yes, he got a little over-heated, so our guys pulled him in. I just saw him a few minutes ago. He seemed alright.”
(Cramps?) – “No, he’s just dehydrated. Overheated.”
(The first day in pads will be what and with your first two defensive draft picks, what specifically on each are you eager to see with them in pads, with DE Charles Harris and LB Raekwon McMillan?) – “Tomorrow will be the first day that we’ll have our uppers on. We don’t go the full lower body pads. We’ll be in those for a couple of days before we go full pads. We’re a little selective on the full pads. Just guys stay off the ground when we go with uppers and we still get good work out of it. Really, all I’m looking for is to keep seeing what we’ve been seeing so far. Guys have been doing a good job of doing their job and you see those guys flash – whether it’s a run game or pass game. We’ll just keep working those guys in, giving them different looks and the longer we go, hopefully that will help them get ready for what they’re going to see in the preseason.”
(How comfortable are you with LB Raekwon McMillan making those calls?) – “Fine. That’s why we drafted him. He’s really smart. That’s the least of my worries. He does a good job of being vocal. He’s very clear. He knows what he’s doing. He’s going to make mistakes because that’s part of it; but a lot of the things are still done by Kiko (Alonso). It’s not as big of a deal as a lot of people think.”
(CB Alterraun Verner, I didn’t notice him out there in team stuff. Was he out there or did you guys just kind of bring him…) – “I mean we’re going to be rotating guys all over the place so I don’t know the reps until I watch the film and kind of see what’s going on. We kind of … Everything is moving real quickly. Every once in a while I’ll get informed that somebody’s been pulled out; but I’m not going to sit there and count the reps during practice.”
(It looked like the DT Davon Godchaux and DT Vincent Taylor made a couple of plays. What have you seen?) – “It seemed like the whole defensive line was making a lot of plays. They really made it tough today. It was a frustrating practice for the offense because the defense was really doing a good job. They made it hard for the run game to get going. That’s really what we kind have been expecting. We knew it was going to be tough this training camp because these guys have a really good feel for what we want to do on defense. They did a really good job of executing today and they’ll make it a rough practice for the offense. That’s what we want. It’s kind of one of those … it’s frustrating for one side, but the other side, that’s what they’re getting paid to do. That’s why we’ve got those guys up front. We want them to stop the run first and make them one-dimensional.”
(You have a lot of athletic big guys there to play that defensive tackle position but not many have that much game experience. What do you hope to see during training camp that will keep you encouraged?) – “We’ll give them so many looks and really you’re just trying to get them prepared for the preseason, so that’s not like a shock to them. The faster we can keep those guys playing, the better, and it just becomes a game of reaction. I don’t want them thinking, which that’s why our defense is set up really for those guys to get up the field and penetrate and just play hard and fast. We don’t try to over-complicate anything and right now, those guys are doing a really good job. They’re making it really tough – whether you’re in the one’s, two’s or three’s – because they’re getting a ton of reps. It’s really been … It’s an encouraging sign that the front, they’re trying to really push each other. That whole group, I mean you can see the leadership of those veterans has really been paying off for us because those guys are pushing those younger guys and they’re setting the tempo of practice early, and those guys are following suit.”
(It what ways has T Laremy Tunsil grown and improved now versus a year ago?) – “I mean he’s playing the position that really he’s been playing his whole life. So for him it’s … I know he enjoyed … When he plays tackle, he really … That’s his thing. He really kind of did that for us for one year – going inside – and did a good job and had to learn real fast, and that’s the way we were built last year. Now with him being able to bump out there, that’s just more his game. It’s nice having him out there. It’s just every day you look out there going, ‘I’m glad he fell to us.’”
(Does it fit his T Laremy Tunsil’s skillset better?) – “Definitely.”
(How so?) – “He’s a big man that’s very athletic, great with his hands (and) just has a really good feel. It’s just one of those things, he’s just so used to playing that spot and when you get bumped inside, everything’s happening a little quicker. It’s a different perspective. Your eyes are going different spots and things get a little tighter. It’s a whole different game for him, and then you throw him at left tackle and it’s hard to get around him. It’s hard to get inside him. He can redirect so good. It’s good to get him out there.”
(Does he compare to anyone that you’ve coached at left tackle or coached against?) – “That would be hard for me to say. I haven’t really … I’m trying to think. Really I was with (Ryan) Clady there for a second before he started getting hurt all the time; but coming into 2009, he was a dominate guy in the league when he was a young player. I haven’t been around too many guys that have those kind of skillsets.”
(Do you guys have some clarity with your offensive line? Is the group that we’re seeing out there now the plan as it stands today?) – “We’ll see. I don’t know. I don’t have to put a depth chart out yet.”
(You don’t have to.) – “I know.”
(I asked you. It’s your prerogative.) – “(laughter) I don’t know, just keep watching. Chart it. (laughter) It’ll give you something to do during practice. (laughter)”
(Back to G/T Laremy Tunsil, do you see a change in his personality in Year 2? So often guys do change a lot from their rookie season.) – “He’s very … I would say he was real quiet last year. He was trying to find his niche in the locker room and now you can see he’s got some ability to talk a little trash every once in a while. So you can tell he’s having fun. I think he really enjoys playing left tackle again.”
(You said in the spring you were happy with what you were seeing from DT Jordan Phillips in terms of raising his game a little bit. Have you seen signs early in camp that he kept that up through the break and early on here?) – “Yes, he’s done a good job with his pursuit when we’re throwing balls. That’s been a big point of emphasis for the d-line. I know that group is really trying to hold each other accountable with that where a ball is thrown (and they are) running down the field. Really, that’s kind of getting their extra conditioning right there. He’s been one of those guys trying to do that. In the run game, you’ll see him every once in a while. He’ll make a really good play. He’s trying to do what his responsibility is. That’s why … Those are tough positons to play inside because it’s hard to make a ton of plays because you’re kind of protecting those linebackers, and at the same time, every once in a while when you take a shot, you’ve got to be right. He’s done a good job of staying in his lane; but at the same time, he’s been making plays by doing that.”
(When you have your own veteran guys that have the trust level with from last year, like DE Cameron Wake for example. How much do you kind of leave to him or defer to him in terms of taking care of some of the teaching out there with the younger guys?) – “Yes, that’s kind of why we’re doing those last periods of the practice when those guys kind of break off. When we first started doing it, it was more for coaches and the young guys, and the vets kind of started taking over a lot of those drills. It means probably a little more when it’s coming from those guys that they’re playing with, and they’re kind of watching, making comments and kind of giving them their tricks of the trade. Those guys will listen to that. At the end of the day, they don’t want to let them down. They want to make sure that they do it right for the guys that they’re playing with. And it’s been … All of those guys have been great between Cam (Wake) and (Ndamukong) Suh and (Andre) Branch, William (Hayes), they’re all out there, always trying to help those guys get better, which is great to see. You can see there’s a lot of pride in that room to where they’re playing as a group and they all want to make sure they’re doing the right stuff.”
(We noticed CB Jordan Lucas’ interception today. Has he found a home at safety or is he still cross-training, and what do you want to see from him on special teams?) – “When we get kind of past that first line guys, we’re cross-training as many guys as we can that can handle it. He’s a guy that’s … he’s able to play a lot of different positions. We’ve had him at safety, corner, nickel. We’ve moved him around a lot. He’s one of those guys, he works extremely hard to make sure he knows what to do so if something happens, he can jump in there. It’s tough because if you’re a one-dimensional guy and you’re that second line of defense, you better know what to do because if one guy goes down, the next guy is up and you’ve got to be able to play a lot of different positions.”
(Special teams-wise with CB Jordan Lucas?) – “He’s a big-time guy that’s playing a lot of phases. He’s trying to develop into one of those guys that we can count on. It’s not as easy to jump into those roles. You can see like Mike Thomas has developed into a guy that’s extremely good and well-known across the league, and all of those guys are trying to push to that level. I’m sure that wasn’t Day 1 for Mike, where he just jumped in there and was like ‘Alright, now I’m going to be a good special teams (player).’ He works extremely hard at that. He studies a lot of film. He knows exactly what everybody’s supposed to do. That’s what makes him such a good special teams player.”
(It’s hard to predict, obviously, on feet; but have you gotten any feedback from the medical staff on how far WR Rashawn Scott is away from being able to do anything?) – “I don’t know. We’re way a ways away. We’ve got time.”
(I wasn’t around for training camp last year, so I don’t know the answer to this question: perhaps at the scrimmage, there’ll be tackling to the ground? Anywhere else where you’ll actually have the guys tackle each other to the ground?) – “That was something that we’ve been discussing. It’s really going to be … We’re going to see where we are health-wise. We always start going into it saying, ‘The scrimmage is going to be live.’ And then we’re going to see where we’re at. It makes it a little difficult because if we go live with our d-line, it would make it extremely hard. We might cheat it for the offense a little bit. (laughter) We’ll see. A lot of times too, you want to be careful about who’s taking how many hits. You know Jay (Ajayi) is already scheduled to carry the ball 400 times for you guys. (laughter) I don’t want to give any carries up.”
(How does WR Jakeem Grant look so far on special teams and then separately on offense?) – “Good. He’s doing extremely well on both. He’s really taking a lot of pride to special teams. I can tell it really bothered him in the spring. A couple of the drops last year he had on those punt returns, it just really bothered him. I know he has been working relentlessly to be a reliable guy and catch every one. On offense, he’s really making a huge jump for us. He looks so much more comfortable and he’s making a lot of plays. He understands how he fits in. It’s fun to watch him play because when he gets the ball in his hands and he gets a little bit of space, you see the defense start to panic, because if they don’t get near him, he’s gone. A guy like that, they’re rare. We want to keep trying to put him in position to make plays and when we hit the preseason, the same thing. We’ll see if we can get him going at receiver. It makes him more valuable. He’s not just a special teams guy. He wants to be a guy that can help on offense.”
(Running back a possibility for WR Jakeem Grant as well?) – “I don’t know if I’m ready to go down that road yet.”
(When you’re trying to decide on full pads or just the uppers and you have to consider keeping players excited and all that, is that an overriding philosophy or a day-by-day type thing?) – “It’s day by day. You get a feel for it; you see where your health is. You get your mind right as far as what’s the weather going to be like, as well. One day to the next, you just never know. You roll out there and it gets pretty hot. When we’re in the uppers, it’s just a mindset for those guys. They get going and then we throw the full pads on and they’ve got to have a different mindset. They know the night before. It kind of gets them ready. We keep talking about, ‘Let’s prepare every day like a game.’ We try to give them a heads up on that, because when we go full pads, they’ve got to have a different mindset, because out here it’s not going to be cool by any means.”
(When you’re out here with no pads, does the boredom level build quicker for the guys after two days?) – “I think they’re a little anxious to throw pads on. Like today, offense, they’re always going to say, ‘We don’t have pads on. It’s not going to look like that when we have pads on.’ That’s why tomorrow it gets a little more interesting.”
