Davon Godchaux – May 30, 2018
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Wednesday, May 30, 2018
DT Davon Godchaux
(Do you feel like a vet coming into this OTAs?) – “No, sir. I’ve got to start all over and earn my way again. Back to square one.”
(How do you feel about the challenge of not only doing that but also with DT Ndamukong Suh leaving? That leaves a role that they expect you to take on.) – “Just an opportunity for each and everybody – me, Gabe (Wright), (Akeem) Spence, Jordan Phillips, Vincent Taylor. It’s an opportunity for everybody to get better. We have to accept that role and get better with it.”
(What’s your take on your new defensive line coach, Kris Kocurek? Quiet guy?) – “(laughter) No, not a quiet guy. I love him though. I love him. He’s going to push us to get better. He’s going to take us to reach our limits. As players, we want to stop at a certain peak and Coach Kris, he’s going to take us beyond that by pushing us each and every day.”
(How would you explain the difference between your first OTA last year and this one?) – “This one is intense. We have (Defensive Line) Coach Kris (Kocurek). He’s getting after us each and every day, whether that’s in the film room, on the field, running to the ball, drills, individuals. It’s very intense but we all love it, because we all know it’s going to get us better as a defensive line.”
(Give me an example of Defensive Line Coach Kris Kocurek’s intensity. We kind of see him out there getting excited, but is there anything you can tell us that he says or does?) – “Just effort. He’s big on effort and he’s big on attacking. Last year we weren’t attacking as much. He’s big on attacking. You want to get off the ball and attack scheme. We want to get out there and run after the ball. He wants us to make plays down the field too.”
(What is it going to take to take your game up to the next level?) – “Consistency, focus and film study each and every day. Going in there and learning from guys like, Robert Quinn, Cam Wake – older guys – Jordan Phillips, Akeem Spence and guys like that. Each and every day … Will Hayes. Going in there each and every day and learning from those guys, taking positive criticism.”
(Have you heard from DT Ndamukong Suh sense he left?) – “I talked to him actually when (that happened). I reached out to him and told him best of luck and things like that. He sent me a message, ‘If you keep working hard, the sky is the limit for you.’ I’ll try to stay in touch with him.”
(Was DT Ndamukong Suh surprised by the move?) – “I have no idea. That’s up to the coaches. I’m just here to do my part and do my job and play football for the Miami Dolphins.”
(What was the experience like, playing with DT Ndamukong Suh for a year?) – “It was fun. You see that guy each and every year at The Opening, teaching guys, high school guys. And you finally get to be on the same side with him and play with him and see how nasty he really is in a game and how physical he really is. It’s a major part for me. I’m glad I got to play with him.”
(Was DT Ndamukong Suh good to you?) – “Great guy.”
(Why do you come away with such a great impression of DT Ndamukong Suh as a teammate and being somewhat his understudy?) – “(He’s a) great mentor. I think after practice everybody saw me and Suh getting together and working on pass-rush moves, run fits, things he learned from (Defensive Line) Coach Kris (Kocurek) in Detroit and things he learned from ‘Coach T’ (former Defensive Line Coach Terrell Williams) last year here. (There’s) just a lot of things he taught me off the field, whether that’s eating right – I’m trying to eat right, but things like that – eating healthy meals and things like that.”
(DE Andre Branch said that there is more of a sense of urgency, he feels, in these OTAs. Why is that?) – “High energy. We rotate like eight to 10 guys. It’s like how Philly does it, how Jacksonville does it. We rotate eight to 10 guys and all of us can play at a high level. That’s why we feel so confident coming into the season.”
(It’s always a competition, but especially if you’re rotating guys, you don’t want to come out, do you?) – “I feel like when you look at teams like Philly and Jacksonville, it really didn’t matter who was in the game. All of those guys made plays, made major plays. It’s about the guys that (Defensive Line) Coach Kris (Kocurek) trusts in the game at that moment.”
(You had the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Hs kids here and we had a chance to speak to them. They said it was very therapeutic to come out here on the field after such a difficult year. What’s your take on that?) – “We were actually doing individual (drills) and (Defensive Line) Coach Kris (Kocurek) told us to go over there and give those guys a high five and wish them well and things like that after the tragedy happened at their school. We just wanted to go give those guys our prayers and condolences and tell those guys that we are with them.”
(What’s different about you this year? More serious, more informed, any of those things?) – “We expect to make a major leap – me, as myself, and as a player. You always want to set high standards for yourself, whether that’s personal goals for me. I’m not going to tell them, but there’s personal goals for me. I want to reach those goals. If I don’t reach them this year, then I’ll come back next year next year and try to reach those goals too. I think I set goals for myself and I want to reach those goals.”
(Were you tired at any point last year when you first started being a rookie? Now can you play more than you could last year?) – “Whoever is out there, we’re going to get after it. I trust, I truly believe in and trust (Defensive Line) Coach Kris (Kocurek), his scheme and what we’re going to do – attack the line of scrimmage. We’re really going to get after it. I trust that. I feel like as long as you trust that and as long as you have consistency, the sky is the limit in our defense, because we’re an attack defense.”
(What does it feel like to be one of the young players that they are pushing forward to be a future star, future leader of this team?) – “You have to take that into consideration. You have to take that and run with it. Each and every day, you have to come out and get better. Like I said, I want to restart my mindset each and every year. I don’t want to come in like last year and I’ve got the first six games and now I’m big time now. No, you don’t want to take that approach. That’s when you get complacent and guys pass you up each and every day. You want to have a new mindset each and every practice. It’s hard. It’s hard coming out there each and every day and try to reset your mindset and try to refocus and try to do the same thing over and over; but you have to do it in order to stay in this league.”
