igtmfo
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Jesse Holley's blog on dc.com is really really good ... he takes you into the heads of all the rookies, what's it like in meetings, kind of profound stuff too ... anyway here's his latest and only because I haven't seen them posted on this board ...
Aug. 11:
'We've been in camp for some time now, and the one thing that people may not know about camp is you spend so much time together in such a close-knit situation and surroundings that relationships are built much quicker than any other place. Any other sport, really, because you depend on the guy next to you so much.
It's not like basketball where you can have four guys all do the wrong things and one guy make the tough shot and win the game. Or in tennis where it's one-on-one. You need all 11 guys on the field to be on the same page.
When you're working that close with somebody day-in and day-out, you have to trust right away. When you're in the trenches in a football game, I have to know that the quarterback's not going to throw me into a driving safety on a post. He has to know that when DeMarcus Ware's coming off that end, that the tackle's going to get him. And the tackle knows that if the back's back there, he's going to have to chip.
Everybody is depending on somebody else. When one person is not on the same accord as the other ten people, the play is done. Of course you have times when plays are broken down and players make plays, but if you have too many inconsistencies that happen, you're not going to win football games. You're not going to be successful.
It starts really in the locker room. Before you put the pads on, you get to see the real person. Everybody's serious, everybody's focused when they get on the field, but the real you comes out in the locker room. They way they do it at camp is they have rookies in one locker room and vets in the other locker room.
The thing with me is I'm a late-comer to the group, and all these guys have already established relationships and already know each other, have hung out and chilled and spent some quality time together in OTAs and rookie mini camp. So they're all kind of acquainted.
For me, coming in just for training camp, at first it was a little bit shaky. I knew some guys from playing college football, but didn't know them personally. The first couple days when I got here, it was more like, "Oh, okay, that's the 4th and Long guy."
You find that some guys are really, really characters. I have a locker that kind of sits off by itself. To my left is nothing. To my right, I have Stephen McGee, Rudy Carpenter and David Buehler. Each one of those guys has a different personality.
You have Stephen McGee who's quiet. Steve is really quiet, more reserved - likes to have a good time, but is more quiet. You have Rudy Carpenter. Rudy stays kind of at one even keel. He's never too high, never too low. But he's silly.
Then you have Dave Buehler, who first of all is the biggest jacked kicker I've ever seen in my life. You look at him and you're like, "What do you do?"
"I'm a kicker."
"Are you serious?"
He could be a safety or a receiver when you look at his build. He's ripped. You can tell he's the wild child. He definitely the wild child.
To my backside, there's Julian Hawkins, who's cool but he doesn't say much. Kind of keeps to himself. Then you have Manny Johnson, who's a cool dude.
Then you have K.O. - Kevin Ogletree. Kevin and I, we're both up north guys. I'm from New Jersey, Kevin's from New York, so we have some of the same characteristics, we understand some of the same things. But Kevin is the kind of guy who is so smooth. I don't how to say it about Kevin, but he's just a smooth?.he's a New Yorker. He talks like a New Yorker, he acts like a New Yorker. He says New Yorker things. You can't help but to laugh.
One thing about the locker room, everybody tells their glory stories. Everybody tells their secrets. So you hear so many different stories from the guys. Some match up, and when you go back and check, some don't match up. Guys' stats are always a little bit more padded when they tell it to you in the locker room.
Then you go on the defensive side, and you've got guys like Mike Hamlin, who speaks English, but you don't understand half of what the hell he's saying. Mike's one who's never quiet. He always has something to say. You just really have to focus and understand what's coming out of his mouth, because it's not English. It's Mike's language. He's from South Carolina, so he has that mumbo jumbo?it's crazy. But Mike's my man.
You've got him, B. Will (Brandon Williams), Hodgie (Stephen Hodge), D-Lo (DeAngelo Williams), Mike Mickens. You've got all of those defensive guys down there. They're always cliqued up. There's never really an offensive or defensive battle. But we're more cliqued up. We have some interactions every now and then.
It's fun for me. I just sit back and listen to some of the stories that those guys had from OTAs when they were going out. They keep saying, "Jesse, we're going to take you out. We're going to take you out." And I'm like, "No, I'm not going out with y'all. You're a little too wild for me."
Then you have Mike Ham come and chime in, and again you don't understand what the hell he's talking about. It's not English. I don't know what it is.
But everybody's having a good time. You don't see one guy in the locker room moping around. The DBs, those guys have their hazing shirts on - the tight little shirts. The rookie O-linemen, they have their haircuts all crazy. The quarterbacks and the receivers, the vets have been pretty good to us. They haven't done anything - and I should've knocked on wood before I say this - they haven't done anything to us physically. Of course you have the carrying the pads and getting stuff for them and stuff like that, but as far as shaving our heads or making us wear tight girl shirts, we have yet to experience any of that.
But everybody's in a good spirit about it. The linemen, they wear their haircuts in style. The DBs, they wear their shirts in stride. Everybody's really, really happy to be here. It's a really fun environment when you've got a room full of guys who are energetic, love to play football, from all different backgrounds. You learn from people, you learn the likes and the dislikes.
That's just the part of the game that separates you from the field. You get to know this man as a person. So now when you step on the field, you'll say, "I know Mike has my back. Or I have to do something to get Manny open. Or I have to do something to get Kevin open."
You look to your left and you look to your right, and you understand that some guys aren't going to be here. You would like for everybody to stay, but it just doesn't work that way. So you build your relationships now, and they're everlasting. They're not just four weeks of training camp. They go on and on and on, whether it's another team or another lifestyle. You'll always remember a Jesse Holley, a Mike Hamlin, a Manny Johnson, a Rudy Carpenter.
It's not going to last forever but the guys that are here, they are the future. You look at Stephen McGee or Rudy Carpenter - Tony Romo can't play forever. They brought these guys in to take over in the future. Ken Hamlin can't play forever. So they brought a guy named Mike Hamlin in to play there in a couple years. Same thing with Bradie James and DeMarcus Ware and Roy Williams.
We start now, and some of us will still be here a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, five years from now. We'll look back on these times and be like, remember when we were rookies and we had to wear those little shirts. Or remember when we were rookies and the linemen cut our hair. Remember when we were rookies and we were in San Antonio.
The relationship that are built in the locker room go beyond football, beyond Dallas. It really takes it to a whole 'nother level."
Aug. 11:
'We've been in camp for some time now, and the one thing that people may not know about camp is you spend so much time together in such a close-knit situation and surroundings that relationships are built much quicker than any other place. Any other sport, really, because you depend on the guy next to you so much.
It's not like basketball where you can have four guys all do the wrong things and one guy make the tough shot and win the game. Or in tennis where it's one-on-one. You need all 11 guys on the field to be on the same page.
When you're working that close with somebody day-in and day-out, you have to trust right away. When you're in the trenches in a football game, I have to know that the quarterback's not going to throw me into a driving safety on a post. He has to know that when DeMarcus Ware's coming off that end, that the tackle's going to get him. And the tackle knows that if the back's back there, he's going to have to chip.
Everybody is depending on somebody else. When one person is not on the same accord as the other ten people, the play is done. Of course you have times when plays are broken down and players make plays, but if you have too many inconsistencies that happen, you're not going to win football games. You're not going to be successful.
It starts really in the locker room. Before you put the pads on, you get to see the real person. Everybody's serious, everybody's focused when they get on the field, but the real you comes out in the locker room. They way they do it at camp is they have rookies in one locker room and vets in the other locker room.
The thing with me is I'm a late-comer to the group, and all these guys have already established relationships and already know each other, have hung out and chilled and spent some quality time together in OTAs and rookie mini camp. So they're all kind of acquainted.
For me, coming in just for training camp, at first it was a little bit shaky. I knew some guys from playing college football, but didn't know them personally. The first couple days when I got here, it was more like, "Oh, okay, that's the 4th and Long guy."
You find that some guys are really, really characters. I have a locker that kind of sits off by itself. To my left is nothing. To my right, I have Stephen McGee, Rudy Carpenter and David Buehler. Each one of those guys has a different personality.
You have Stephen McGee who's quiet. Steve is really quiet, more reserved - likes to have a good time, but is more quiet. You have Rudy Carpenter. Rudy stays kind of at one even keel. He's never too high, never too low. But he's silly.
Then you have Dave Buehler, who first of all is the biggest jacked kicker I've ever seen in my life. You look at him and you're like, "What do you do?"
"I'm a kicker."
"Are you serious?"
He could be a safety or a receiver when you look at his build. He's ripped. You can tell he's the wild child. He definitely the wild child.
To my backside, there's Julian Hawkins, who's cool but he doesn't say much. Kind of keeps to himself. Then you have Manny Johnson, who's a cool dude.
Then you have K.O. - Kevin Ogletree. Kevin and I, we're both up north guys. I'm from New Jersey, Kevin's from New York, so we have some of the same characteristics, we understand some of the same things. But Kevin is the kind of guy who is so smooth. I don't how to say it about Kevin, but he's just a smooth?.he's a New Yorker. He talks like a New Yorker, he acts like a New Yorker. He says New Yorker things. You can't help but to laugh.
One thing about the locker room, everybody tells their glory stories. Everybody tells their secrets. So you hear so many different stories from the guys. Some match up, and when you go back and check, some don't match up. Guys' stats are always a little bit more padded when they tell it to you in the locker room.
Then you go on the defensive side, and you've got guys like Mike Hamlin, who speaks English, but you don't understand half of what the hell he's saying. Mike's one who's never quiet. He always has something to say. You just really have to focus and understand what's coming out of his mouth, because it's not English. It's Mike's language. He's from South Carolina, so he has that mumbo jumbo?it's crazy. But Mike's my man.
You've got him, B. Will (Brandon Williams), Hodgie (Stephen Hodge), D-Lo (DeAngelo Williams), Mike Mickens. You've got all of those defensive guys down there. They're always cliqued up. There's never really an offensive or defensive battle. But we're more cliqued up. We have some interactions every now and then.
It's fun for me. I just sit back and listen to some of the stories that those guys had from OTAs when they were going out. They keep saying, "Jesse, we're going to take you out. We're going to take you out." And I'm like, "No, I'm not going out with y'all. You're a little too wild for me."
Then you have Mike Ham come and chime in, and again you don't understand what the hell he's talking about. It's not English. I don't know what it is.
But everybody's having a good time. You don't see one guy in the locker room moping around. The DBs, those guys have their hazing shirts on - the tight little shirts. The rookie O-linemen, they have their haircuts all crazy. The quarterbacks and the receivers, the vets have been pretty good to us. They haven't done anything - and I should've knocked on wood before I say this - they haven't done anything to us physically. Of course you have the carrying the pads and getting stuff for them and stuff like that, but as far as shaving our heads or making us wear tight girl shirts, we have yet to experience any of that.
But everybody's in a good spirit about it. The linemen, they wear their haircuts in style. The DBs, they wear their shirts in stride. Everybody's really, really happy to be here. It's a really fun environment when you've got a room full of guys who are energetic, love to play football, from all different backgrounds. You learn from people, you learn the likes and the dislikes.
That's just the part of the game that separates you from the field. You get to know this man as a person. So now when you step on the field, you'll say, "I know Mike has my back. Or I have to do something to get Manny open. Or I have to do something to get Kevin open."
You look to your left and you look to your right, and you understand that some guys aren't going to be here. You would like for everybody to stay, but it just doesn't work that way. So you build your relationships now, and they're everlasting. They're not just four weeks of training camp. They go on and on and on, whether it's another team or another lifestyle. You'll always remember a Jesse Holley, a Mike Hamlin, a Manny Johnson, a Rudy Carpenter.
It's not going to last forever but the guys that are here, they are the future. You look at Stephen McGee or Rudy Carpenter - Tony Romo can't play forever. They brought these guys in to take over in the future. Ken Hamlin can't play forever. So they brought a guy named Mike Hamlin in to play there in a couple years. Same thing with Bradie James and DeMarcus Ware and Roy Williams.
We start now, and some of us will still be here a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, five years from now. We'll look back on these times and be like, remember when we were rookies and we had to wear those little shirts. Or remember when we were rookies and the linemen cut our hair. Remember when we were rookies and we were in San Antonio.
The relationship that are built in the locker room go beyond football, beyond Dallas. It really takes it to a whole 'nother level."
