Austin Jackson – September 4, 2020
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Friday, September 4, 2020
T Austin Jackson
(I was thinking about how close we all are to your first pro game and I was wondering are there any habits or superstitions that you have had in college or high school a day before the game, night before the game, day of the game, in the locker room before the game that maybe you could repeat that would help you feel comfortable prior to your first pro game?) – “A big part of my routine in college was just every night at the team hotel I would do treatment before I went and got the team ice cream at the hotel, so I should be able to still do that. It’s a new schedule for me, but that’s really my biggest superstition. I have to do that before every game.”
(We saw you with the starters at the training camp practices the reporters could watch. Has that continued this week and are you ready in your mind to be an NFL starter if you’re named starting left tackle?) – “Yeah, I think all in all just taking it one day at a time and just making sure I do what I need to do in practice, make sure I handle everything, being assignment-perfect, technique-perfect. And I’m ready for whatever as long as I keep working and putting myself in a position to win, but ultimately whatever’s best for the team is best for me.”
(What kind of ice cream does it for you? What kind of flavor? What’s your favorite flavor? Is there a certain flavor that gives you better play for a game? Is there a flavor that you try to stay away from that maybe you had a bad game you don’t want to go back to it?) – “Definitely I stay away from strawberry. Strawberry and cookies and cream. I keep it real, real simple – just a little bit of chocolate, little bit of vanilla, little bit of fudge and maybe some Oreos on top. Just real simple.”
(I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t appreciate the cookies and cream slander. That’s the best ice cream there is. Check out the butter pecan, too.) – “Oh, butter pecan is valid. (laughter)”
(But I do have an actual question. What is the chemistry like that you’ve been building with G Ereck Flowers at this point and how comfortable do you guys feel playing next to each other?) – “He’s entering his sixth year in the league so he’s definitely somebody I look up to. He has a lot more knowledge about things and how things go. He’s just real helpful and he’s definitely somebody I look up to on the o-line – we look up to – and it helps him playing right next to me. So just getting to work with him and pick his brain about stuff. It’s really helpful.”
(I’ll go ahead and cast my vote for Chocolate Devotion from Cold Stone Creamery. Just going to go ahead and throw that out there. You’ve got to go with that chocolate. That’s the way to go. I do want to go back to the football question here and follow up – just kind of 15 or so practices in now, just curious if there’s any particular thing whether it’s your pass sets or getting better at drive off the ball in the running game. What’s one thing you’ve really focused on and you think improved so far in training camp?) – “The biggest thing for me was just picking up the playbook in training camp making sure my technique is specific – consistently specific – to whatever scheme I’m trying to do. So I think my consistency is the biggest thing that picked over training camp. Just doing what I need to do consistently over and over and over again to the point where it’s muscle memory. That’s probably the big thing for me.”
(I have a football question. If you purchase ice cream for the linemen how many gallons do you estimate you would need?) – “For all the linemen?”
(Yeah, you’ve got to bring enough for all the offensive linemen, right?) – “Yeah, I guess I do. (laughter) Honestly, I’d probably say about three. Three gallons.”
(Three gallons? [laughter]) – “Two-and-a-half. Two-and-a-half gallons. Three gallons just to be safe. Not everything’s going to get taken, but three just to be safe between all of them.”
(Here’s my football question. Texans T Laremy Tunsil is a good player and I think you guys have – coming out of college – similar traits in terms of being big guys who can move. You have good feet. I’m curious if you’ve ever watched Tunsil film. If you have what’s your thought?) – “Yeah, I remember him getting drafted to the Dolphins. I feel like he’s not too far away from me in age, so I saw him get drafted. I saw his Ole Miss tape and I saw his tape with the Dolphins and he’s a great player. Great feet, like you said, and I think he got in the Pro Bowl last year if I’m not mistaken or something like that. But he’s a great player, great feet and definitely respect his game.”
(I do not have an ice cream question, but I do have a question I’ve wondered about. With Offensive Line Coach Steve Marshall what kind of offensive linemen whether it be Laremy – which has he encouraged you to watch on tape just to sort of observe things? Are there any ones in the league you think have a similar skillsets that you’ve studied on tape?) – “With Coach Marshall, I think what he’s good at is just knowing what a lot of guys do and understanding that. Everybody’s different. With me, he’s been real good with working individually with what I need to work on and in terms of what other people to look at I’d say pretty much I’ve looked at guys like Tyron Smith, Taylor Lewan, ‘Big Trent’ (Trent Williams) up in San Fran, a little bit of Ronnie Stanley. Just pretty much all the tackles that the league just kind of adding to my toolbox, seeing what everybody does and creating my own rhythm and my own set of tools.”
(I want to say I will not tolerate any strawberry slander. Strawberry is an excellent ice cream. With DE Shaq Lawson how much has he helped you walking you through things that you need to improve on those daily matchups that you go against him?) – “A lot. Shaq (Lawson) is a great rusher and again he’s one of those older guys who’s been around the league for a while so he’s been pretty good at just pulling tools out of the toolbox randomly. Randomly throwing new stuff in. He’s caused me to get a lot better so yeah, I definitely think he’s helped a lot and I’ve gotten a lot better lining up against him.”
