 Gary, you're going to talk about the Titans' new offense and new terminology, new tempo speed, that sort of thing. How do you fit into that and how does that offense fit you? Well, yeah, it's a completely new offense. Just coming here, trying to learn everything, get used to the terminology that has changed and is getting in, working in, and doing what I can and whatever the play is called, and just learning each and every day in the meetings and letting it transition on the field. Is it running the ball there? Still facing the same thing when you guys are running the ball? Yeah, that part hasn't changed much, the terminology part. There's a new offense there. One of the reasons he came to OTAs maybe a little bit earlier than we've seen you in the past, is that? Yeah, yeah, to try to get on the earth as early as I can and learn and be around the guys and just fly around and be out here with them and get some reps in and this is when I come back, ready to go there and count. How do you feel with this team, making the direction? I know it's already been a lot of new faces, it's a kind of different team than last year. How do you like what you've seen so far? Yeah, I mean, we're just working. I'm trying to get better, competing against one another, coming here ready to learn, I'm ready to improve and that's all you can ask out of your teammate each and every day is come right here wanting to get better. How was that relationship with Rand Carthon developed for you? I know you had the rumors, or you've been shot, et cetera, but how have you been able to just kind of sidetrack that and develop a relationship with Rand Carthon? Yeah, I mean, talking to him, meeting him in person on the face with a name and just doing all those things when you get here and we get into football and I worry about the other stuff, so. You've always been able to focus on football, whether it's a contract year or not. How much does that maybe help this year now that you've reached that so-called magical age for running backs at 30? Does it just keep working and doing what's worked for you so far, working hard? Yeah, I'm not gonna change what I'll do to continue to work. Be who I am and let everything else take care of itself. You've seen a lot of running backs come in here since you've been here. What's your first impression of Ta-Jay and how much you looked before you kind of working with him? Yeah, he comes in willing to learn, ready to learn, smart, attacks every day like he's supposed to. Attending up into meetings and let it touch us and out here on the field, he works hard every day, so I'm excited for him and what he's able to do for his team. What's it like having a new voice in the room with a new coach with Tony moving over to coach the tight ends? It's always been good. I mean, Tony's still joking around every now and then. Jail's been great, been great. Having him, getting to know him and continuing to grow our relationship as time goes on. Now you talked about the new offense a little bit, but is there anything that you think will help the offense be a little bit more efficient? I know there's been talk of kind of more up-tempo and less verbiage into play calls and that kind of thing. Do you see some things that could help out? No, I mean, I'll let Tim handle that and I'll go to Bray's handle that and let us go out there and do our job and continue to get better. I mean, that's all we can do right now at this point. Continue to grow as an offense, learn the offense, learn the new system and come out here and get better every day. Derek, Kevin, I got like Jail in the room with you, just a different set of eyeballs. Has any taken anything from him in the last couple of months? Or does he have a specific perspective that's maybe a little different than what you had in fact? I mean, he's came from a different team. You know, just getting to know one another, talking about each other's experiences and you know, different things like that and you know, what he's seen and what I've seen and what's, what's occurred in the past and just talking football and getting to know one another. Derek, how's the transition from learning and new offense in the classroom and taking it out on the field here in the last few weeks? Has it been pretty seamless for you? Oh yeah, it's easy. I mean, Jail's been great helping us learn everything, making sure we're on our peace and cues and trying to make it as easy as possible for us when we get out there. But you know, sometimes, you know, you have mistakes but you just come out here and learn and continue to grow and try to get better and crisp up the things you need to do to be good in the offense. Derek, there's so many new faces on that offensive line. How much of what the run game, is it making sure you're, you know, the chemistry, the coordination and everything is working between you all? Oh yeah, well, I'm trying to learn what I'm supposed to do and I'm sure the guys are doing the same. Got to have the new faces, guys are working, doing what they can to help us and help their self in this offense and getting better. So excited to have those guys and excited to see what they do when the season comes around. Did you get a chance to talk to KB at all and this off season, both of you guys, there were all kinds of rumor mill involving both of you guys. I wonder if you can kind of sympathize with one another and if you've talked about that at all. We talk in off season like we always do, but you know, you can't really worry about that too much. Just control what you can control, continue to work until it's time to get back and get back to work. Your backs split seem to be splitting out more, going in motion more. How much of spears are adding to the, what the running backs are going to be asked to do and how interesting is it to kind of see the changes there? Yeah, I mean, it's cool to see the backs get opportunity. He's a virtual player, just like Don Trell was and he's good at what he does in the past game. So it's going to be exciting to be out there and get some passes and make some big plays for us. Taylor, being both gone, you're now, I guess the longest tenured guy on the offense. So what does that change your role, your responsibility at all in terms of how you deal with your teammates, you know? No, no, not at all. I definitely miss those guys, but at the end of the day, you know, you've got to come to work and do your job and lead back example and that's what I try to do. Any guys have any questions, I'm here to help. Be the best teammate I can, but you know, I definitely miss those guys for sure. Derek Trellin seems like a totally different player entering his second season just from your vantage point. What has kind of been the change from year one to year two for him? Yeah, he's flying around. I think he's spent the offseason here. You can tell he's been working. By the way, he's been catching passes and being explosive when the ball is in his hands. I'm excited for him. Ready to see his hard work pays off. And I know he's excited as well. And this offseason? He was rehabbing where I worked out at and said we get to work out in with him. He's a really cool dude there. That was pretty fun. Been watching him since I was a little kid, so it was cool to get to work out with him. You think different early part of this offseason before you got here for offseason program as far as training, who you worked with, or kind of same old, same old? Same old, same old, nothing changed. How was your charity event, or really good? Say it again? Your charity event? Oh, it was good. I actually was a volunteer. They invited me to come speak and got to spend time with volunteers of America. I thought it was pretty cool what they do in the community, around the world, the message that they're trying to send out. It was great to be around great people and spend some time with them and them getting to know me and I'm getting to know them and what they're all about. I definitely appreciate them having me out and hearing their message and all the great things that they do, because my charity foundation tries to do the same thing. So it was a pretty cool experience. You meet Joe Dubin while you're out there at MC? Yeah, I do. We got the time to, he actually interviewed me while I was on stage. He did all right, though. No, but he did do it, though. That's good. Appreciate it. Thank you. How you doing? Good, how are you? I'm good, you got that big, old, bright smile. Hey, it's a beautiful day. Yes, ma'am. That's the first question. Well, in that vein, how are you feeling and settling in now that getting chances beyond the field and going up against the offense and at this stage of the off-season? Oh, it's been good. It's a lot of work. Every day we work and trying to get better, taking it one day at a time. It was like highs and lows. And right now, OTAs, you're just building the foundation for what you want to see and training camp and then what you want to see in the season. So I think you understand anybody that's been in the league long enough, you realize that this is a real crucial vital time, especially for somebody new, like myself in the system, to jail with the guys that are here. Just get a feel for the play calling, how the offense is, just how the team is as a whole. And it's been pretty good so far. What's the biggest difference for you in acclimating to that big system? I think just anything, terminology-wise, is always different. Because I played, obviously, in the league for the last four years, it's a lot of similarities where you can mirror things like, oh, OK, we run certain things like this. That reminds me of what I did back in San Francisco. So it makes it a little easier to pick up. But still different techniques, different rules, assignments. So it's just little fine tweaks. Everybody has their own way to skin the cat, I guess, is what you could say. How much do you, noticing the backs, especially spears, lining up in the slot, lining up wide, going in motion to make things complicated for you guys, particularly? No, yes. It's definitely a lot going on. And I think he's a really good ride runner. Sorry, a part of why we bring him in here. And we've been going at it. I've been messing with him since the first day that we've been going against each other. And I think he's going to be a really good player. He's got to keep working, taking one day at a time. And so that's why we all here, we're just working. How do you mess with most of the golfing? Just talking crap. He might be guarding him or something, and he don't catch the ball. I just whisper in his ear, say something stupid. We're in a locker room. I mess with him all the time. So it's all love, though. Several practices without Kevin Byrd. And he was back today being one of the leaders of the team. How did you maybe notice the energy shift with him being in the back end today? I really didn't notice it at all. No, I'm joking. No, man, it's really good, just a breath of fresh air. Obviously a guy who has a ton of experience. You've been in the league longer than obviously a lot of players. And I thank you for the longest 10-year title, I want to say. So I mean, it's just really good to have him in the building. And I got to meet him at his function that he had earlier in the season, like once like a month and a half ago when I first got here. So it was good to talk to him again, see him in the building again. You know, everybody was happy to see him, obviously. Like he made his... They're like Kevin or maybe even Derek that you've seen from afar, maybe played against once or twice. And then you see him on the practice field and see how they work every day. How does it change your perspective of him? I think it's not really changing the perspective, but kind of just validating what, you know, why they are who they are. Derek, you know, he's a Florida boy. So, you know, we kind of just mesh together off of that. So I think ever since he realized I was from Tampa, we just been talking every single day, topping it up. And obviously, you know, the career that he's had up into this point and seeing him out on the field, how he works and even the Instagram videos, you know, he always popping up doing something crazy, lifting some crazy weights. And even when we get in the weight room, last week we was trying to lift again. I thought, hey, you live with the lineman. You can't live with me. So it's been good, man. Just to see that up close a person is more so just been, you know, kind of confirmation on what you already see. What were your thoughts about Brable before you got here? What's it been like being coached by him as far as just how hands-on he is, maybe how intense he is early on? Kind of the same, you know, just kind of like verified against the blue check. Yeah, so, you know, he is exactly who they say he is. You know, obviously he cares a lot about, you know, all phases. I don't think he's just in the linebacker room. He pokes his head in the secondary room, the D-line. The quarterback say he be in there trying to tell people what to do. So he's all, he got his hand in everything. And I think that just, you know, speaks volumes for, you know, how much he cares about, you know, about this team and about winning, you know, realistically. But Kevin, a little bit ago, looked like he kind of made his presence felt out there pretty quickly today as well. Would that be fair to say? No, without a doubt. Yeah, a hundred percent. Just communication, I mean, obviously, you see that I was a great player he made on the PBU, but even just every other player than that, communicating, lining up. It was like, you know, he was gone, but you could tell he'd been taking care of himself. You know, obviously a pro all the way through and through because he came in and he would have thought he was here the whole time. So that was really good to see. You seem like you have that natural leadership in you. But just now, getting into mini camp at this point, getting familiar with that linebacker room, like do you feel like that's becoming more of a natural thing here, specifically early on? Yeah, a hundred percent. I think, like, especially when it comes to leadership, like you, everybody wants to, you know, everybody wants to be the leader of the group and stuff like that. But I think it's just like every single day, guys seeing how and where Kyle approached the game, which is stuff that I was taught, you know, when I was a rookie coming in, I had Kwan Alexander, Malcolm Smith, you know, all these guys and then playing with guys like Fred Warner, Drake Greenlaw that, you know, we all fed off of each other's energy and now to come into my own in a sense and be in the room full of guys who are not looking at you like, you know, lead the way. So it's been a great opportunity. That's a part of the reason why I wanted to come here, just to kind of even put that part of my game on display as well. It's been pretty good, you know, just feeding off the other guys, even Ben, obviously has a lot of experience playing against them in the Super Bowl. And then, you know, just all those guys, just, I think, gelling together, meshing together, it's been pretty good for our group. Amani says you were looking at the tape, but felt like the defense won the day, had a lot of broken up passes, stuff like that. Do you agree with that? How are you guys feeling after a good day out there? I'm gonna always agree with that, you know. They might torture us a couple of times, and I still get off the field and tell you that. So I now would agree. I think it's just good, competitive energy, which is what you want. You know, I was talking to the guys, even the locker room after we just got done, like at the end of the day, like every single day you come in here, you compete and you sharpen each other, you know, tools, iron sharpen iron, and that's how we're gonna be, you know, a winning team. And is there any special food that I need to bring back for you? I'm going to Tampa next weekend too, so. Maybe we can meet down there. How nice is it to have Kevin back? You'd said that, you know, and Shane had, y'all expected him back. How did he look out there on the field? Looked like everybody else looked like he knew what he was supposed to be doing, and like he was in good shape, so it's good to have everybody out there that's ready to perform and able to be out there. Mike, are there any parts of practice that you looked at one way or another to determine what's being a good day and what's not? No, I mean, I think just looking at the effort for me always, the conditioning, have we improved, have we made corrections from last week, things that we've asked individuals to work on? You know, have they tried to focus on some of those things? I would say the urgency, I look at the flow of practice, I mean, how we move around, you know, certainly the execution is gonna be, you know, unfortunately, sometimes inconsistent at this time, somebody makes a play or we're moving on to third down or there's pressure or we cut a guy loose or whatever it may be, so we'll make those corrections and we'll move on, but I think that there was some really good things out there. At this point, Austin, you've seen that you like or some things you'd like to see here or you wrap up in the camp and we'll move on. I think we're learning, I think we've put a lot in. I think we've put a lot of our first and second down offense in. Started on third down and then we'll hit the red zone and get a lot of reps there here as we finish up. So, you know, from that point, we've got a lot in, stuff that we'll use throughout the season. You know, we call bank reps and then, you know, again, I think there's been some technique stuff and it's been good to be able to practice with some speed and I like how our guys are trying to take care of each other and make each other better. You mentioned you look specifically for progression from the week before trying to fix those mistakes. Anything specifically you saw today that you felt either offense or defense took a step forward from previous? Well, I think the communication, I think that there was some good recognition offensively when we get into third down and some of the things that were, you know, maybe having a different play call or trying to get us in the right call at the line of scrimmage. You know, I think where we are in a run game, I think has been good. We've tried to be a little bit more, you know, exotic at this time of the year and seeing what we like and see what we go forward with. I think the D line is doing a good job in the jog through stuff of playing with their hands and pad level. You know, I think the backers, I think we've got some good work at the outside linebacker spots and the new guys. I think that it's good to have the secondary, you know, the bulk of the secondary back look like they were communicating. So, you know, just those things week to week, you try to improve on. How much does the college area factor into that exotic stuff you mentioned in the run game and what can you do in terms of going empty or lining people up wide or going in motion? Well, I think you're just trying to figure out what's best for you and what you can add and what's too much, you know, I think. But, you know, Tajah has worked hard to learn multiple spots, to learn, you know, different places where Tim and, you know, the offense, you know, has him lined up and, you know, things just happen quicker when you're an 11 on 11 and, you know, getting into the routes quicker or whenever he's out of the backfield or lined up. And I think those things are something with younger players, how quickly the ball has to come out and how quickly you have to become available just because of the pass rush and the time that you have to throw the football. Have you ever had some degree more of that stuff just by? I mean, I think it was always, you know, let's push the envelope and let's see, you know, what we can do. Let's see what we else we can do. Knowing that probably all of it won't stick or all of it won't apply each and every week, but it's given our defense a good opportunity to see some different schemes. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to run, you know, 18 and 19 stretch and cut. But I think that the trying to just figure out what else we can add and what else that we can get good at and who can help us at different positions and different personnel groups. Last year, a lot of the success that Racy had in preseason before he got hurt was on deep routes. This year, is he added more to his route tree or is that more of a product of the offense that we're seeing him run more routes across the middle and things like that? I think it's just a product of where we're off for the installation when you're talking about third and five. You know, I don't know how many deep balls we're gonna throw to Racy on third and five. Maybe we'll let one loose here and there, but I think that may be just a product of what you're seeing on that particular day. Start to work in the fringe. So some of that stuff gets eliminated trying to work down into the field. So tomorrow we won't see many deep balls from the 15. And then maybe next week, we may be able to lengthen the field a little bit. What do you need to see from him in terms of taking a step forward beyond just special teams contributions? Well, that would be a good place to start. As like we tell everybody that's looking to earn a role that is your fastest way to find a role is on special teams, being an elite special teams player, gunner, disruptive, you know, potentially looking to be able to return to football. You know, and then offensively really just pick up where he left off. And I know that practice is important for everybody, but I saw when Racy was out there in training camp and improving and getting better and adjusting to the football down the field. He made some plays and then, you know, unfortunately, you know, had a setback and no fault of his. It's just, I think some of that stuff, you know, you have to practice some of that stuff. You have to practice running full speed and 40 yards down the field and being able to adjust to the football and go up and make a play. I'm not sure if you're aware of that. It's an unnamed coach player who apparently there's gambling tied to him. If you are aware, you've seen that. Does that make you go back and look at it? I touched on this last week pretty extensively. That's happened since then. This is something new since then. I'm sure he didn't bet it since the time that I talked about it. If you made aware of it since then. Made aware, yeah, I got a phone just like you and we talked to the players extensively about what our responsibility is and we'll have part of this mini-camp is education throughout the league. We get some extra time, so that's what we're gonna do here. As soon as I finish up with you guys is start some of those presentations that we have. We have a rookie program that we hit every day and then there'll be some things for the entire team that we'll have to hit. So that'll be something that we'll cover. If kickoff bear catches, take off the way the league seems to hold. Is that ultimately gonna have a bearing on how teams, how you shape a roster and that guys who cover kicks are on kickoff are less valuable than they were previously because they're running down to watch a guy wave his hand? Well, I would say that the best kickoff players are ones that are physical, aggressive, can run and tackle. So whether we use those players on the kickoff or offense or defense, take as many of those good guys that can run and hit as humanly possible. Everybody's got a choice to make. If you wanna fair catch it, that's what the rules say. And if you don't, have at it and return it. So it's an opportunity to have a choice, to decide, to figure out what you wanna do. And we'll see about all these people complaining about it and see if they fair catch or see if they wanna plow it up in there to the 20 yard line. Was Peter handling the guard portion of his learning so far? I probably smell real good. I probably smell real good after practice. We probably smell the same for you, so. I mean, good, he's learning. You know what I mean? He's working hard. I mean, he's in there working at times with Tier and Jeffrey and now Danico today. So the more work that they can get and past protection in there. And again, that's the thing I respect the most about these guys is that they go and it's not just their half speed but that they're going and it's they know when to go and they work and they play with their hands and it's limited contact, we're not bull rushing anybody. So I think it's been good work for everybody and they've been able to do that and stay away from the quarterback and for the most part stay off the ground. Great teams know how to practice. And that's what I try to talk to these guys about. Is the kind of the guard portion of his learning? Is it kind of what you expected in terms of a guy trying to learn that? I didn't have any expectations other than just come in here and find a role and be physical and finish and play with his hands and work to the second level. All those things that we're going to ask our linemen to do. Mike, I was going back and I don't believe you've ever scheduled the off season where you had mini camp and then still have another week next week. What was the genesis and that change of the schedule for you this year? And what do you hope to get out of the two periods now that they're set up like this? Well, we've always kind of shit-can that last day of mini camp. And so I didn't want to do that this year. So we just scheduled it this week and we'll practice three days and go from there. We shit-can the last day of OTA's last week. Probably, yeah. You all had the high school coaches. What was your message to them? The message was one that the high school football in middle Tennessee has improved since the time that I've been here as the head football coach. You know, the players have gotten better, the talent's gotten better. The teams have gotten better. More colleges are coming in here to recruit. And so we wanted to do everything that we could to help them. Talked to them about what we try to do and what we teach our players and how we teach. The different learning styles, the different teaching styles that's necessary. That their presence and their ability to be in the school and to be role models I think is critical in their school. Strength and conditioning we covered. We covered NCAA eligibility, how they can help make sure that these players are in good academic standing so that they can get a scholarship and that they don't wait too late and say, hey, we're gonna wait till the last senior year and make a big push. That's a lot of credits and the margin for error gets pretty thin. So trying to stay on top of that stuff early. You know, a lot of these guys are the head trainer, the strength coach, they're the head coach. And so we're trying to give them as much information about all those different things and that we possibly can. It was great. They asked questions, they were in meetings. So Josh Corey and his staff did a fantastic job and I'm thankful for the idea and I'm thankful for the turnout.