Jermon Bushrod – June 14, 2017
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
G/T Jermon Bushrod
(Is there any sort of last day of school feeling in these last three days? I know minicamp is still serious but the break is right there.) – “It’s close and I’m going to enjoy it until training camp comes. We’ve got a little bit over a month and it’s just some time for guys to refocus and get their bodies right physically and get their minds right mentally so we can come back and put ourselves through the grind of training camp.”
(A few minutes ago, DT Ndamukong Suh was saying that he feels that Head Coach Adam Gase is a guy who doesn’t put himself on a pedestal and holds himself accountable. Since you’ve been around him, can you think of kind of like a good example like illustration of that?) – “You said that he does hold himself accountable?”
(Head Coach Adam Gase holds himself accountable and doesn’t put himself on some pedestal.) – “Right, right, right. I can’t pinpoint one incident, but he’s always going to shoot you straight. He’s always going to tell you how he feels about every situation that we’ve been in – good or bad – or how he could have been better and how we could have been better. That just makes us evaluate ourselves that much tougher, that much harder. So when your head coach can take accountability like that, then it’s just a trickle-down effect. We’re professionals and that’s just how it needs to be so you can fight to win.”
(If you could put a number on how many times you think he acknowledged he made a mistake last year, what would that number be?) – “I don’t know. Last year we lived and learned through a lot of different things. We dug ourselves out of a hole. We took the first few games and we fought to learn from them. We fought to figure out what we were good at, how we could put ourselves in better situations. There’s no regrets about it, it’s just in life, you have to find a way to correct those mistakes, correct the instances that you could have been in a better position and then when that opportunity comes later on in the season, we ironed out some things and were able to have some success.”
(When you guys stopped going to the up-tempo offense, how did that impact the offense and in particular the offensive line?) – “Maybe it just slowed us down a little bit. With the more practice we’ll get, the better we’ll be with the up-tempo stuff. I like it. I think it’s a good change of pace. As we started to get rolling, we could mix it in here and there and we were able to be on the same page. To be honest, I just think it had to come with a lack of reps together – not just the offense, but our offensive line. So the fact that we can be on the same page more this year because we’ve taken the reps, we’re in the system for another year, our communication as an offensive line is at a higher level.”
(T Branden Albert spoke to the Jacksonville media yesterday and he was saying how the last three years really put a toll on his body mentally, physically, spiritually and I’m sure the knee injury was part of that. Did you see any of that from him last year, that the body was a little bit down?) – “Well, I think the older you get – like I think the last time we were up here – I think the older you get, your body isn’t always going to agree with you. Sometimes you have to do some extra things and you would see ‘BA’ (Branden Albert) in here – well not you, but I would see ‘BA’ in here early – working on his conditioning, stretching, working with our weight room staff, trying to work the kinks out. When you get older in this game, you can’t just show up and play. You have to do more. You have to wake up a little earlier, stay a little bit later, and then in the offseason, there’s just different things you’ve got to work on. You’re not as young as you used to (be). You’ve got to get your body back, balanced, feeling right and feeling ready to go every single day.”
(What’s the biggest difference, if any, you’ve seen out of QB Ryan Tannehill, either in the huddle or just out there on the field since coming back from the injury?) – “I know he was excited to get back. I mean you could see it in his face last year when he didn’t have the opportunity to be in there when we were rolling. That’s tough on a player. That’s tough on any competitor, but the way … He’s doing a great job of taking over the huddle, taking over the offense and being the leader that he knows he can be. We all have a better feeling of where we are in this offense and the better feeling he has with the receivers, the better feeling we have up front, all 11 of us kind of feed off each other.”
(Did you see the bees?) – “Yes, I did.”
(Where do the bees rank in terms of just weird things that have interrupted or affected practice in your career?) – “That’s up there in my top, but it was towards the end of practice and it got to the point where I was like, I’m not going to run. If they get me, they get me. That was pretty weird and it was funny because we moved all the way down to the other end and you could still kind of see the swarm of them down at the other end. I don’t know. It was just kind of weird where they came from.”
(Nothing in Louisiana that rivals that?) – “I’ve never seen bees like that. I’ve never seen …”
(Other wildlife?) – “No. I can’t recall right now.”
(You’re not allergic are you?) – “No.”
(Were you worried for WR DeVante Parker running down that sideline?) – “I mean we were literally just like … We were talking about it. I’m just glad he caught the ball and I don’t think he got stung. I hope he didn’t get stung, but I know it was pretty thick down there with the bees; but he scored. We scored a touchdown and that’s what it’s about.”
(Who are a couple of guys that have opened your eyes in a positive standpoint? Offense, defense, young or old, kind of throughout the whole camp.) – “I like the way these rookies are coming in here and competing. I like the way this team competes. I like the way the vets get out here and they work. We’re going out here in OTAs and minicamp and we’re fighting to get some good work in. We’re getting after it the way that we’re supposed to, but the rookies are coming here and they’re fighting. Come training camp, it’s going to be a battle. There are going to be a lot of tough decisions that our coaching staff is going to have to make because we’ve got some good veterans on this team. We’ve got some good young guys that look like they want to come in, make the team and make some plays. So come training camp, it’s going to be a battle.”
(Have either of the two rookie defensive tackle draft picks taken any reps against you? DT Davon Godchaux or DT Vincent Taylor?) – “I’ve had a few. I’ve had Vincent (Taylor) over me five to seven times within the last couple of days.”
(Any observations of DT Davon Godchaux or DT Vincent Taylor? Obviously with no pads it hard to judge but…) – “(Vincent Taylor has) low leverage. (He’s a) strong kid. He’s the only one I really went up against but both of them are getting reps. Some are getting reps with the ones – rotating with the ones here and there. Once we get the pads on, you’ll get a better feeling or understanding about where they are. Initially, you can tell that they’re taking the coaching well. They’re using the tools that the coaches on that side of the ball are teaching them, because you see it out there. Like I was saying, we’ve got a lot of rookies that are coming in and competing. Not just the inside (guys), even the outside ones, they’re playing tough.”
(Have you been competing against DT Lawrence Okoye?) – “I haven’t went up against him yet, but I’ve seen him in there. I’ve watched all of his reps but I haven’t lined up against him yet.”
(Any impressions of DT Lawrence Okoye so far?) – “Good hands. As tall as he is, he plays with good leverage. He can play with some good strength when he gets his hands on you. I’m pretty sure I’ll get my opportunity come July.”
(Have you ever thought about the challenge that a guy like DT Lawrence Okoye faces coming into football, being completely new to it?) – “I haven’t. I don’t know. I guess I can kind of relate to it. I mean he’s not really been a football player, so it’s something that you have to learn. It’s something you have to take a lot of reps to. I can kind of remember when I started in the college level playing left tackle and then kind of going back to last year, switching positions, it’s just about your repetition – doing it over, doing it over again, over and over and over until you get tired of doing it and you keep doing it again. So I can relate to it; but when you’re not used to it, you’re going to continue to keep working. I think he has a lot of good upside to him.”
