Charles Harris – June 5, 2018
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Tuesday, June 5, 2018
DE Charles Harris
(Head Coach Adam Gase was saying that he thought the defense had a pretty good day today. He said the offense was installing some things. I thought you may have gotten to QB Ryan Tannehill once. How did the defense do, specifically the pass rushers, today?) – “I think we did a great job. We got off the ball and we finished at the ball. That’s the first thing that we’re trying to do is go back to the fundamentals. Make sure we work on our technique, make sure we’re just getting there. Over time, we’re actually becoming creatures of what we’re doing or creatures of habit. I think we’re all getting to the ball a lot more easier than we did the first day. I feel like we’re really inclining and getting better and better each day.”
(What were your thoughts when you heard the Dolphins traded for DE Robert Quinn?) – “I’ve got somebody to learn after. (He’s a) big time great player (and a) great guy. It’s funny because William Hayes was telling me about him when we were in L.A. last year. He was telling me about Robert Quinn. He was telling me ‘That is somebody you need to model your game after. You need to talk to (him).’ We were supposed to go to his house last year when we were in L.A. playing against (the Chargers). We didn’t get out there but it’s crazy that he ended up coming to our team and everything like that. So far he’s been a great guy to go to for any questions. He’s a really low key humble guy and he just does his job. He’s a great mentor.”
(You guys have five defensive ends that may be starters on other teams. How is that going to work? You have a bunch of guys.) – “Shoot, we have Alpha, we have Bravo and we’ve just got to roll. We’re just rolling. In practice we’re going hard, we’re going fast. It’s just crazy. There isn’t any drop off. That’s the biggest thing. We just roll them in, roll them out and shoot. We just keep the pressure, constant pressure, on the offense. I feel like they’re definitely getting better, especially the offensive line. They’re definitely getting better off of us because we’re bringing that tenacity each and every day.”
(Alpha, Bravo what does that mean?) – “Just our groups. Military-type stuff. We’re going in there on a mission. We’ve got Alpha coming in first, we’ve got Bravo coming in next. Then we’ve got Charlie too. I know all of that stuff but we can keep going.”
(Are you on Charlie? It makes sense right?) – “(laughter) Right, right. It would be dope, though. ‘Charlie, come on!’ ‘Alright!’”
(I was asking S Minkah Fitzpatrick and QB Ryan Tannehill about being a first-round pick and how you deal with the expectations. How was it for you last year? Was that something really heavy? Were you aware at this time of year, did you come in thinking I’m the first-round pick and everybody knows it? How do you deal with that?) – “It’s not something you can hide. (laughter) It’s just like that. I feel like once you accept it, it just is what it is. I feel like the biggest thing and the one thing I like about Fitzpatrick is that he doesn’t look at himself as better than anybody else. He knows that when he goes out there, he has to go out there and work every single day. That’s what he’s been doing so far. I know that he’s going to keep on doing that. That was my mentality last year too. I knew that nothing was given to me. The grades and the rounds and all of that stuff, that’s all what you did in college. When you get to the NFL it’s a clean slate for everybody. It’s just a matter of going out there and working each and every day. You just can’t get complacent.”
(Do you feel that expectations are greater on a first-round pick than say a second or third-round pick?) – “Obviously. (laughter) I think that goes without saying, there’s more pressure. But it’s about your mindset, it’s about your mind state. Pressure is outside of yourself. It’s about how you react to it and how you respond to it. It’s only pressure if you allow pressure.”
(We talked with Head Coach Adam Gase about 20 minutes ago and I asked about you. He said that you’re one of the last players he’s worried about right now. When you hear that, is that encouraging and what do you think you need to worry about at this point?) – “What he just said, (I have to) worry about myself. That’s really the only thing I’ve got to do is just worry about myself, make sure I come in here every single day. Like I said, I had goals before I came into OTAs as to what I wanted to be for my team. I’m making sure I’m doing that every single day. (I’m taking a) positive attitude on the field and making it fun. We were going through a special teams drill and probably nobody wanted to do it; but creating a competition during special teams drill. It’s just the simple things I’m trying to do to make sure that I’m a great teammate. That’s the one thing I really want to be. I forgot your question. (Laughter)”
(Can you talk about what moved you to donate that money to your high school?) – “God just put it in my heart. We actually did it a long time ago – back in like January or February. Right before I got my mother her house, I had done that, the donation and everything. I had contacted the school district as soon as I got back home on my little break. People get to certain positions and they say they’re going to do something. When you’re younger, you say ‘I can’t way until I’m here’ or ‘I can’t wait until I’m there so I can do this or do that.’ But when you get there, a lot of people forget. That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make sure I remember all of the things I used to say and the things I wanted or the advantages I wanted that other people had. I just wanted to make sure I could provide those to the best of my ability without putting myself or my family or anybody else at risk financially. So I’m making sure I’m being smart. That one move by itself … I’ve got so much love in Kansas City, from everybody there – my friends, coaches, just everybody. It’s just crazy. It just takes that one little spark to make the entire city say, ‘Okay, we all want to give back.’ Or ‘We all want to do this.’ The Kansas City school district and the actual public are kind of enemies right now. Back in the day, they had a lot of money and they messed it up. There were a lot of corrupt stuff and they just kind of blew it. It’s just about getting back to the basics of trusting our school district, that they’re going to get better, that they’re going to do the right things. I met all the people up there at the Kansas City School District. I know them all and I feel like they have a great leadership team. I feel like they can really do something. That’s why I made such a big donation to them.”
(In what ways is the football player here today different or better than the guy that would’ve been standing here exactly one year ago?) – “The guy here today, I know who I am. There are a lot of voids coming out of college that go into being a real adult. There are a lot of voids and a lot of things you have to do to find yourself. There are a lot of things you have to go through. I feel like this past year, I went through all of those and I know who I am and I know who I want to be. I feel like once you find that security and once you find the anchor in something, can’t nothing else waiver you. I feel like my mindset, my spiritual side, my emotions, just everything is just at a point that I’ve never been in my life.”
(You mentioned your goals. Can you share some of those with us?) – “No. (laughter)”
(One?) – “You’re going to see them. Being a great teammate. That’s a simple goal. That’s overly stated. It’s always said, but never done. It’s something I’m putting a conscious effort towards.”
(What is your anchor?) – “Jesus.”
(I don’t know if you’ve been following this at all but there is a controversy going on with the Eagles and their White House visit. Putting that aside for a second, as a player, is the idea of a White House visit motivating at all? Or is that something that just happened?) – “No disrespect to that situation at all – that doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m about to say – but, I don’t think about it when I go out there. I don’t think about the White House. I’m trying to win each and every day. That’s not a part of anybody’s mental … That’s something that comes with after you get the bread, after you get to the highest platform and you win, then that’s on your mind. When you’re at the bottom, you aren’t thinking about that. Those guys made their own decisions and that’s that.”
(When QB Ryan Tannehill was in here a couple of minutes ago, he brought up DE Robert Quinn and how he bends when he’s coming around the edge and how he get’s his hip like two feet from the ground. You can do some of that stuff, right? Tell me about the observations you have and how your coming around the edge stuff is coming along.) – “’Rob,’ (Robert Quinn) seeing him practice and seeing him going through cornering drills and stuff, it’s just like ‘Dang, how do you do it?’ It’s also motivating. For me, I look at it as I had the most bend on the team. Seeing him going through all of that is like, I’ve got to get my stuff together. He shows that it’s possible. It’s just a matter of working towards it. Some days after we do cornering drills, I might stay out and do a little extra. I may do stuff on my own to learn how to corner better. Like I said, he’s a great guy to learn from. He comes in each and every day and he goes hard. The thing about it is he’ll teach you how to get there. The flexibility stuff that he does, I’m just trying to emulate it all. I know I can get as low, if not lower. It’s going to be a good one.”
(DE Cam Wake used to have great bend, what happened to it?) – “I don’t know. You have to ask Cam. The man is getting up there, isn’t he? (Laughter) No, he’s still got it though. Cam’s still got it. Today he got a challenge against a rookie. I think it was a pop-up drill or something. He just had to show him who he was. It’s motivating to see your old head just come out and be like, let me take this little guy out. (laughter)”
