The New York Jets began their 2012 rookie mini-camp on Friday. Here is some of what coach Rex Ryan had to say after seeing his young players on the field for the first time.
“It is always fun to really go back and start on the very basics of things. That is where we are at with this group. I liked the enthusiasm. Some of the guys were flying around out there,” Ryan said. “Obviously some of the guys just jumped out at you when you looked at (Quinton) Coples and you look at (Stephen) Hill, the way they can run and (Damario) Davis. It is kind of fun to watch.”
On Coples saying he picked up the majority of the playbook…
We love the fact that he thinks he has it down. This is one practice and he has like four defenses in and our library is a little more extensive than that.
On what his expectation is for this rookie mini-camp…
That’s an interesting question, because some of the tryout guys, as I told them today, I was very honest with them, I told them, ‘This may be your last football.’ That’s the facts. So some of these guys are trying to get to where they can go to the OTAs and to training camp. There are some guys where that is not guaranteed. There are (56) guys here and it’s not guaranteed that all of them will be there. So that might be a little different for them. Obviously, the drafted guys, you just want to see them move around and really start learning the system a little bit.
On if he was surprised by Stephen Hill…
Let’s face it. I’m not going to get excited about drafting a wide out. That isn’t my deal. (smiling) So I want to see it to believe (it), because everybody was talking about it. Then you watch him on that field and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ That’s a big, fast guy. There’s no question about it. It just jumps out. Obviously, the first thing you notice is that size he has, but then when you are seeing him down the field it’s like, ‘Wow, this dude really can run.’