Head Coach Mike Smith, July 29
Q: Saturday you said your number one priority was staying healthy for the regular season. With Von (Hutchins) getting injured 48-hours in to camp, how crushing of a blow is that?
A: “It’s disappointing especially for Von personally. He has been through the OTAs and he’s a new member of our football team. I spoke with Von prior to going to get his procedure done yesterday. He said, ‘Coach I’m going to be back in ‘09’ and that’s the attitude we’ve got to have. You know they’re going to happen. It was a freakish injury with two guys colliding with their feet and they stepped on him. Unfortunately, it was a fracture.”
Q: What does a player like Grady Jackson do for a defense?
A: “I’ve been around guys that weigh in Grady’s range. In Baltimore we had the big tackles. He gobbles up space. He’s going to gobble up at least two blocks on plays. It’s going to allow other players to be free. When you design a defense, you try to get an unblocked defender at the point of attack and he’ll help us in that way. ”
Q: Was bringing Grady Jackson back always on your mind?
A: “Well, you’re always looking at the different situations that may occur. I think we felt as a staff and organization that we needed to get bigger up front. We’ve got some guys that really work hard, but we don’t have the 310, 315-pound guys that can gobble up space. We’re looking forward to everything working out and having Grady here.”
Q: What does it say about Grady (Jackson) that he’s able to put in the past with what happened last year and be able to come back and get a fresh start in the same place?
A: “Grady is a really good man. I enjoyed having him the seven weeks that he was in Jacksonville. So, I have some familiarity on how he does things and operates. In this business, teams change players out and there are guys that come back to the same team. I think Grady is excited about being here. Atlanta is his home. He’s from here in the Southeast. He’s made Atlanta home for quite some time and he’s going to be excited if we can get this thing done.”
Q: Any reason as to why he (Grady Jackson) didn’t participate in this morning’s practice?
A: “I’m not sure if the contract has been signed or not.”
Q: It was another day in pads. How did it go this morning?
A: “It went well. The guys went through the rigors of it. We tried to let the guys take their helmets off during one of the coaching periods because of the heat. We’re going to be smart. I thought they played hard. We tried to have a little competition in the end just to have a little bit of fun and I thought they responded well to it.”
Q: Coach, what do we know about Todd McClure?
A: “Todd tweaked his back when he was going through the bags at practice yesterday. I think he had a similar incident a couple of years ago from what I’m familiar with. We think that he will be back shortly. I don’t think there is any reason to be concerned. It is more muscular at this point.”
Q: Has Chris Houston looked good in camp so far?
A: “Yes, Chris has come and competed. Unfortunately in the OTAs, he banged his knee and he missed some time. So far, I’ve been really impressed with the way Chris has worked. He’s running with the first team right now so he’s done a nice job.”
RELATED LINKS:
- COVERAGE: Click here for complete coverage of 2008 Russell Falcons Training Camp
- FALCONCAST: Rookie Cornerback Wilrey Fontenot
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith | Grady Jackson | John Abraham | Erik Coleman
- BIRDSEED: J. Mike reviews and comments on Falcons news
- J.MIKE'S BLOG: Hutchins Out | Update and Highlights | Welcome Back, Grady!
- MOOKIE'S BLOG: Thomas Dimitroff coming to Falconcast
- FALCON AL'S BLOG: Michael Turner on Falconcast
- NOTEBOOK: Team happy to see Jackson in locker room
- TRANSCRIPT: Head Coach Mike Smith
- RELEASE: Falcons sign Jackson, make roster moves
