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Xavien Howard – May 6, 2016 Download PDF version

Friday, May 6, 2016

Cornerback Xavien Howard

(On his size, how he fits into the team’s scheme and if he thinks that is why he is here right now) – “Yes, I feel like I fit the scheme they have going on. (I’m a) press corner. I’m six (feet tall). I’m a physical corner, a ball hawk, and I feel like I fit the scheme that (Defensive Coordinator) Vance Joseph has going on.”

(On how practicing against former Baylor WR Corey Coleman helped him) – “It helped me a lot. Me and (WR) Corey (Coleman), we stay competing. Every time we played each other, it was always good or bad. So we competed against each other (and) made each other better.”

(On if it means anything to him that he’s being talked about as a possible starter) – “I really don’t look at it like that. I’m just coming in here to make plays and hopefully be a starter. I love that they’re talking about it but I’ve got to live up to my expectations that I have for myself.”

(On what he thinks about not practicing during rookie minicamp and what he hopes to get out of this weekend) – “I plan on getting immensely prepared for it. (I plan to get) prepared for the NFL, the speed, the tempo and how the things go; and really learning the defense.”

(On his football background) – “I realized I was good at football in high school. In my freshman year, I had played basketball. I didn’t play football in my freshman year. (I did play football) my sophomore year. I got back into it. My junior year (was) when I started playing quarterback – my junior and senior year. I started really cornerback my senior year. So I feel like I had made some plays. I had a lot of interceptions in high school and that’s when I knew I was ready for college. So I got accepted to Baylor then I redshirted my freshman year. There was some stuff I needed to work on – technique and getting ready for the (college) game, the Big 12. Then after that, my redshirt sophomore year I had won a starting job and my redshirt junior year. I was just improving each year. As I left as a redshirt junior, now I’m here in Miami.”

(On if he agrees with the comparison to CB Byron Maxwell) – “Oh yeah. I had watched him when he was at Seattle and (with) the Eagles. I like his game. I feel like he’s a good comparison.”

(On how important it is for a cornerback to always know where his help is) – “It’s very important because you have to know where everybody is on the field. So knowing what’s going on and just being mentally prepared for it – like how they have us (learning) now – It’s just learning (where the help is and) learning defense.”

(On playing at Baylor and helping put the school on the map) – “When Coach Briles came in from (the University of Houston) he had started (to turn things around) at Baylor, going to a bowl game and stuff like that. As we had different players coming in (and some) top recruits coming in, we just worked hard over there at Baylor. And just competing against teams like OU, OSU, TCU, it was very important because everybody wanted to be the Big 12 Champs and we were the Big 12 Champs back to back. And we knew TCU, OSU and a lot of teams wanted to beat us.”

(On what area he feels he needs to improve and grow) – “I need to chill out with a lot of penalties that I had in college and really my technique. (I need to) get better in my technique. Not false stepping and stuff that my coach used to tell me in college. That’s really, basically it. I’m improving on everything around but I (have) good ball skills and being physical but I (have) to clean stuff up and make me an NFL corner.”

(On his first conversations with Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph) – “When I came in, he had talked to me about learning the defense. Getting the mental (part) down and just know what everything going on.”

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