Allen Hurns – July 26, 2019
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Friday, July 26, 2019
WR Allen Hurns
(How happy are you to be home playing for the hometown team? You went to high school here, college and now you get to play for the Miami Dolphins.) – “It’s always good being back home. It’s a blessing being able to come back. I played here for college, so playing here as a professional, I’ll love to see how that goes.”
(Why is WR Brice Butler your biggest fan here?) – “We were in Dallas, so we spent some time (together). Once you’re in the room with a guy, it’s kind of like he’s your brother. It’s bigger than ball. Once I saw him, we reunited. It was good.”
(What are your expectations signing with the Dolphins?) – “Coming off of an injury, my main thing is to come in here, learn the playbook and put my head down and go to work. My main thing once I got released was finding a good opportunity. I felt like it was a good opportunity here, so my main thing is to put my head down and go to work.”
(How has the last week and a half been for you?) – “It wasn’t bad at all. Once I found out that we wanted to go separate ways, my main thing was to find my next destination. I wasn’t stressed or anything. As far as how I am mentally, I’m good. I don’t let too many things bring me down. I was just excited for the next move.”
(Did you grow up a Dolphins’ fan or did you ever think one day you’d like to play for this team?) – “No, actually not.”
(What team did you follow?) – “The Atlanta Falcons. I liked Michael Vick. (laughter)”
(Does it feel kind of right being in Miami on a practice after you University of Miami Days?) – “Yeah, it feels good. It’s my first day so I didn’t practice (much) but I did a little bit of the individual drills. It felt real good, just being back in this heat. You’ve always got to get acclimated with that. But, I trained down here for a couple of weeks at Bommaritos, so it feels good just being back home.”
(What kind of healthy competitions will it be here with WR Kenny Stills and WR Jakeem Grant?) – “It will be a lot of good competition. There are a lot of guys that do a lot of good things. Me coming in, my main thing is I’ve got to learn the playbook. But as far as being on the field, we’ve got a lot of guys. I feel like competition brings out the best in guys so coming in each and every day, going against those guys and working with those guys, I feel like we’ll bring out the best in each other.”
(How many opportunities do you think you had after you left the Cowboys and how ideal was the situation to basically come home?) – “I feel like it was very ideal to come back. There were still opportunities of me going back there. My main thing was just the best opportunity of being on the field and just being able to make plays. I just wanted a fresh start, to just come in and learn the playbook, come out here and make plays. I’m excited to see how that goes once I’m able to go against the defense. It feels good to be back home, for real.”
(The Hurricanes kick off their training camp today. What are your thoughts on Head Coach Manny Diaz and this year?) – “I love him. I feel like he fits the culture. He’s a guy that’s about business, but he’s also going to let guys have fun. I think that’s the Miami culture. When you think about guys from South Florida from high school or little league, it’s guys that play with swagger and are just comfortable being them. I feel like he fits the culture. Guys in the past were great coaches but some of them were uptight and that doesn’t always fit the Miami culture. I feel like Manny Diaz will fit that.”
(Have you and WR Brice Butler had that conversation about that 17 jersey?) – “No, we didn’t. (laughter)”
(How do you feel physically? Where are you in your rehab?) – “I’m full go. I worked out earlier, ran routes and everything – jumping, cutting, everything. I feel good.”
(Take me back to the injury, not to bring up too bad of a memory for you. What did you think when it first happened? Some guys just never want to see that play on tape.) – “It was one of those things where it was disgusting to see. It will make you cringe. As far as me and my faith, I knew I’d be able to get through it. My main thing was just seeing my foot facing the other way, that kind of freaked me out. I saw it in college with one of my other teammates that was here, Malcolm Lewis. I knew it was going to be a lot of work to get back. I’m blessed to be back. It’s crazy how the body heals. It was a long process. Once you stay dedicated and stay good mentally, you’ll be able to overcome anything.”
(At what point were you cleared?) – “I got cleared in minicamp.”
(Were you kind of surprised that Dallas waited this long to move on? It seems like this is something that could’ve been done earlier in the offseason.) – “Of course. Ideally, it could’ve happened earlier for me; but at the end of the day, I’m just glad it happened. It got to a point where it was a mutual thing on both sides. It was good for me to get a new opportunity and things like that. The timing of it wasn’t ideal; but at the end of the day, I’m just glad to be here.”
(You’re 100 percent at this point?) – “Yes.”
(Do you think you’ll be jumping in on team stuff soon, as soon as you start to get the playbook down?) – “Yes. As far as me, I’m ready to do whatever. I’ll leave it up to the coaches however they want to go about it each day.”
(But physically you’re ready?) – “Yes, I’m ready to go.”
