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Austin Clark – December 29, 2022 Download PDF version

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Defensive Line Coach Austin Clark

(So the year that DT Christian Wilkins has put together, just in your words, how would you describe it?) – “It’s encouraging. I mean the guy gets better day to day, week to week. (He’s a) total pro. I’m really excited about where he’s going and his focus, his mindset. He’s become a leader. I love the guy.”

(Is there something that DT Christian Wilkins did this year to take the next step?) – “I think just seeing him from 2020 to 2021, his focus in the offseason, his attention to detail, leveling up on his preparation and finding his groove, his routine, and sticking to it. He’s a process-oriented individual and not an outcome guy. He’s focused on the day to day. Like today, we’ve got full pads out there. He knows what each period is, what we’re focusing on, what the individual drills are, post-practice routine. I’m not going to give you all of the secrets but the guy has a routine, he sticks to it and he holds himself to it. He really cares. He cares about doing everything he can for this organization and for everybody in the unit. He’s fun to coach, I’ll tell you that.”

(Both DT Christian Wilkins and DT Zach Sieler have had very high snap counts and they both played well. Obviously there have been some runs against you in the fourth quarter in the last month with the Bills, Christian McCaffrey in the San Francisco game. Are you able to draw any correlation between those two key defensive linemen playing a lot of snaps and maybe tiring on those snaps? Is that something you’ve looked into? Do you see any connection?) – “Absolutely not. Not at all. Those guys are in great shape. We have a unit that we feel great about. I trust those guys. I know those guys. That’s not an excuse for any reason for why those things broke out.”

(We know guys want to win badly and you guys are in – I don’t know if we should say desperate situation. But do you have to talk to guys about doing their 1/11th and staying in their lane and not trying to do too much? Or do a couple a guys do that?) – “I think that’s always kind of your message is doing your job. I think whatever that may be, when guys aren’t making a lot of plays or are making a lot – like chasing plays, not doing their job – I think that’s always, when you’re playing defense, especially up front, that’s always something. It’s almost like a daily thing. ‘This is how you can do your job and make that play.’ Or ‘this is the requirement of this scheme and this is what we’d like you to do.’ I think that’s kind of always how we coach. Now more than ever, I think honestly, these guys would tell you, especially with me, that’s every day, every drill, every play. That’s what we’re trying to get them to do.”

(How much joy did you get out of one of your players making a big special teams play like DT Raekwon Davis did on Sunday?) – “Yeah, I was fired up for ‘Rae’ (Raekwon Davis). I wish I could tell you I knew exactly what was going on there. You’d have to talk to Danny (Crossman). But when those guys are out there, we talk about it all the time what a critical moment it is – whether it’s that, field goal block, etc. I was fired up for ‘Rae’ because he’s been working really hard. We’ve seen him get better through, I’d say the last week or two in practice. To go out there and have that translate to sparking him on defense, which it did later on on a counter play. I was really happy for him.”

(You said you’ve seen DT Raekwon Davis get better. What strides have you found?) – “I think his footwork, his hand placement. He was a little dinged up early on in the year. He’s really getting out there every day and playing physical. He’s kind of starting to look like himself again. I think we saw that in the game and we’re looking to build on that this week.”

(When you put DT Raekwon Davis and DT John Jenkins in there together, especially on like third-and-1 or something, is that a jumbo package? Is there a name for that particular group?) – “It kind of depends throughout the game. You mentioned when certain guys are in or giving guys blows, it can kind of happen in a bunch of different moments. It’s not so much just third-and-1. To answer your question, no. Like usually one of them goes in and the other one thinks they’re coming out sometimes. But not at all. Honestly, Jenkins has made some strides this year too. He’s been really good for Raekwon as a vet in the room. I like what they’re doing.”

(I want to ask you about a former Miami Hurricane that was recently added. What time did you and the front office, to your knowledge, like about DT R.J. McIntosh that made you bring him on board?) – “I think working R.J. out, his length. I know he’s battled some injuries throughout his career but he’s a total pro. He comes to work every day. We’ve only had a couple of weeks with him but he uses his hands well, moves well laterally and I’m excited about where he’s going.”

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