Damien Martinez, Akheem Mesidor, Tyler Baron & Zach Carpenter on Fall Camp Competition

Damien Martinez hey Damian um hope everything's going well uh I was hoping you could talk a little bit about your progress this fall camp we haven't talked to you since mey day which was sort of before before Camp started so how are you adjusting how are things going um to sort of talk about how you know how you're adjusting to this offense uh I mean adjusting smooth really just getting closer with the whole team on the field rather than off the field now and just being talking more ball with them you know just getting finer details down so we can you know take care of business for the season next we'll go to Adam lonstein from the Sun Sentinel Adam hey Damen how's it going good how about you pretty good um so with you know the running back room being you know as as stacked as it is with you and Mark Fletcher Chris Johnson so on and so forth um just how have you guys been splitting reps and practice and how much do you guys uh kind of compete with each other uh I mean obviously you know there's only gonna be one running back on the field at a time but we really don't focus on competing against each other rather so just feeding off each other's energy when we are in practice you know just hopping each other up so we can you know do our job because you know we don't have we don't want to have a drop off in the game you know someone goes down next man up you know that's the mentality you know you don't have no drop off in the room so just feeding off each other's energy more so than competing yeah competing against each other might have been the wrong phrase maybe more like motivating each other and stuff like that right our next question comes from Jordan mcferson of the Miami Herald Jordan yeah hey there Daman sort of the buildoff of Adams last question what do you think is the strength of the running back room with all the different guys that you have I think just our bond and our mentality like I said we know we all kind of have that same mentality know we don't want to have no drop off in the room or you know when next man up like I said it's just we always just continue to feed off each other's energy and just you know make sure keep the main thing the main thing rather than focus on like you kind of before competing rather so than just feeding off each other's energy I mean you know like I said it's just keeping keeping everybody up you know because if one drops and that energy kind of affects everyone we just want to keep everybody up making sure everybody's doing their job so yeah our next question comes from Daryl streer footballville Daryl hey Daman what's going on hey um I got a follow-up question ask this but I see you caught some youth football in uh Miami this weekend you was at a youth football game how does it how does it add up to the youth football you grew up around in Texas what compare the two uh no it's very similar like I was kind of surprised games was jumping like that out here especially how hot it is but no it was jumping for Real uh I was telling the other four people about like the blur thing because you always hear like see videos online and stuff like that but being in person and hearing it was kind of crazy from the crowd okay all right and and my followup question is is um we heard that you had a big run in the scrimmage this weekend um my question is at what level like uh the Run were were they tackling were you guys studying like was it a legit long run or can you talk to me us about that or uh yeah it was during this it was during the live scrimmage portion yeah right and and you guys were actually they were trying to get you to the were they really trying to get you to the ground is my question to you no yeah it it was it was during the live stream okay okay got next we'll go to Marcus Benjamin from kanes County Marcus hi Damien how's it going how about you pretty good man just wanted to ask about when you're running in between the tackles uh what what players are you meeting up with I guess the most once you run between the tackles and what's the trash talk like with those guys when you meet up with those Defenders uh really the backers or yeah just the backers I mean it's kind of a tradition thing running back and running running back and linebackers just talking trash because we tend to Mee in the whole but yeah I mean just Kiko and Jaylen Alderman Wesley I mean we all kind of just talk trash the whole off and defense but yeah you know running back and Lineback is kind of a traditional thing we'll do a few more for Damian we'll go back to Jordan mcferson of the Miami Herold Jordan yeah hey again Damian uh just curious now that you've had some of the time in the summer in the last few weeks to work with Cam just just your thoughts on what stands out the most about him and yeah what's been like the biggest attribute from him that's G to help this offense um yeah I mean really his leadership just how how much detailed he is even like just knowing everything from like yeah just how detailed he is how detailed he wants everybody to be I mean little details just helping people play faster is what's going to what's gonna help the team come out on top I mean if you're thinking too much you're not gonna play as fast so yeah just how detailed he is how detailed he wants everybody to be so we can comp at the highest level we'll go to Adam lsteam from the Sun senel Adam hey again um just how how have you guys been uh working on pass blocking how has that been coming along in uh in Fall Camp um pass blocking I mean it's something we work every day you know you want to keep the you want to keep the quarterback uh protected so yeah I mean just something we work on every day you know it's important part of the game hey Akheem Mesidor AEM um I think the last time at least the last time I talked to you uh was back in the spring when you were waiting on your I guess special cleats or whatever it is so uh sort of fill us in you know you've been getting so much praise this fall with how amazing you look I think coaches have called you the best player on defense are you wearing special shoes um is the injury no longer an issue what have you done that's you know sort of really made your game get amped up this fall well um since I've been once I got hurt I really I was really just working on small fundamental things and while doing rehab but my feet are no longer an issue I've been working all winter and spring to uh getting fit in by Adidas and different things and I got custom shoes now and I feel great um so I'm just trying to played them my full potential next we'll go to Adam lonstein from the Sun Sentinel Adam hey Keem how's it going hello um just can you can you kind of talk a little bit more about these uh these you know special cleats like were they specially fitted for you are they like um I I don't I not sure how you can customize cleats in that way but just how are they designed you know to fit your feet like how how do they work in terms of like you know preventing injury and stuff like that so basically we just wanted to get different cleats I got my feet scanned uh countless times just to look at the width of my feet how long my feet are and then we just they just um made cleats based off the results they got off the testing gotcha and then just in general I mean how hungry are you to get back on the field and now you didn't get a chance to play you know very much last year so just you know how excited are you for for week one it's right around the corner now I'm starving I can't wait love football I love to play I love to play with my guys um it's just I love to compete man that's what I'm made for next we'll go to Jordan mcferson of the Miami Harold Jordan yeah hey there ke the sory of the build off that just when you were sitting out when you were waiting to get back going through the rehab waiting for the cleat all that how much mentally did that drive you mentally wanting to get back out there just mentally what was that process like for you in the time in between being on the field well it was a rough process it really it started off sad because really um the last thing you want is a season ending injury so it started off sad then I got angry and then once those phases passed and I just started to become basically like a coach like another coach on the field um but it just made me hungry seeing guys like Ruben Bane um eat and I love I want to right there beside him eating as well so I'm just seeing my guys ball out seeing all the new Talent we got in the room it just it it keeps driving me to be better our next question comes from Daryl Streeter footballville Daryl Dar your mic is muted oh okay my bad hey with your travel over here from West Virginia you've played everywhere on the defensive line could you talk to us about how how you want to be used this year and like what position are you playing and where would you be used that I want to be used everywhere um I just want to get I just want to be put in position to make plays um if team needs me outside on the edge I'll be on the edge they need me inside at three Tech being three Tech I'm even at Jack need me to drop back of coverage I I'll I'll do it all I'm train I'm I practice everything um I'm training myself to do everything I know all the plays I know the plays from all four positions so um any position I'm any position I get put in I'm prepared to um just just play play to my play the best capability okay thank you we'll go back to Jordan mcferson of the Miami Herald Jordan yeah hey you touched on Ruben Bane watching him eat last year uh Ruben talked about the bond that the two of you guys have just can you speak to how that grew over the last year last year plus and also what you think the next steps are for him well um um seeing Ruben come in last year you could just just by the way he practices you could see his hunger and um he's he's just a guy who loves to play loves to um he's just a student of the game so um and I love that about him so as soon as he came on campus and I've seen all these different things um I tried to be by his side as much as I could and especially when I went down I knew that he was next up so I just wanted I wanted to I want to be there for him and just made sure anything need any question any questions he's had you can just feel free to ask me and I can help him to the to my best capability and uh we we grew a type Bond off that and uh that's my guy so uh we're gonna work together we'll do a few more for AE we'll go to Adam lickstein from the Sun Sentinel Adam hey again um so speaking of like younger guys um just what have you seen from The Freshman on the dline guys like uh Justin Scott Armond blunt Maris Lightfoot and and that whole gang those young guys are hungry um I love to see it they're hungry they feed off the older guys every time the older guys make a play it makes them want to make play every time you see an older guy work hard practice hard be physical it drives them and I think they're just they're just trying to learn from us well wrap up for a Keem with Daryl streer from footballville darl believe you're muted again darl if you've got another question yeah your your journey your your journey in football has been a long one you went from Canada to Florida um if you could sum up where you at today right now in one word in football like what would it be one word and where I'm at through all my progress Journey yeah mentally where are you at one word hungry starving staring um so obviously the the Tyler Baron defensive line very deep uh talented group a lot of guys new to the team a lot of guys knew who were new to the team including yourself how is the I guess um adjustment process been like in the in the fall as you guys all kind of rotate in and out and everything is how do you guys drive each other and uh you know adjust to everyone kind of learning uh this defense for the guys who who weren't here before I think it's really simple I think uh like you said it's really competitive so I think everybody's just trying to just compete against each other and it's it's a real healthy relationship it's no ha hatred or no Envy or anything so um it's just been a really good kind of competitive room so it's just something that it's easy to get into and easy to try to push yourself to be the best Cent everything you can and then we were just talking to AEM mesidor a few minutes ago um everyone's been raving about the camp he's had just what have you seen from him uh this fall I mean aim is a really really Dynamic guy I mean he can play everywhere up and down the D line I mean it's just really fun to play by because you know uh guy alongside you know he wants to make the play as bad as you do so um it's definitely a fun group to be in next we'll go to Jordan mcferson of the Miami Herold Jordan yeah hey Tyler uh for you what what was your focus as soon once you got here just in terms of trying to get the Playbook down trying to get everything settled then what was your biggest I guess first goal was you get got into camp and how do you feel like you've come along individually over these last couple weeks I think uh individually I've come along really well um you know we have a great staff with Coach Taylor and everybody um that helps around with him so I think they've done a great job of just keeping me involved and um may as well just put in the effort and just trying to learn as much as I can and just just take every every nugget I can our next question comes from Marcus Benjamin at kanes County Marcus hey Tyler how's it going I'm going great how you doing good uh I wanted to ask about just your uh position and if you're also being used on the inside as well coach gri said that you might be used on the inside is that something that you're seeing in Camp uh yeah I mean um we play up and down the line um so really anywhere I just just glad to be here I just want to win to be honest so whatever it takes awesome and I got a followup just um on the outside you you're probably matched up against the jayen rivers or Francis maoa uh what's special about those guys lining up against those two guys uh both of those guys I mean they're they're two really good tackles um each in their own individual way but uh they're just willingness to just get better um us going back and forth talking and just trying to see what they can give me to make me better and then um just from my side just having an experience just telling them what they can improve their game on so I think it's it's been really beneficial just the relationship I think it's something that we're both feeding off of we'll do a few more for Tyler we'll go back to Adam Lin in the Sun Sentinel Adam hey again um I know opening game is still you know about two and a half weeks away but not sure if we'll talk to you in the meantime before now and then or before then um coming from Tennessee you obviously had your experiences playing in the swamp uh that's a rivalry game in itself Miami UF as a rivalry um just what are you looking forward to about that game and going back up there and what have you told your teammates about you know what it's like to play in that kind of environment I mean they're a good team they're goingon to be really competitive um so just staying focused and not allow the environment to get to us it is a good environment in itself but I think if we going there with the right mindset I mean everything will take care of itself good so obviously Zach Carpenter you know you were here through spring uh now in default Camp just how have you um and the rest of the O linemen kind of built chemistry I know most of the guys were already here you're new to the team so how have you guys kind of built chemistry um you know in practice out of practice over the last you know few months uh well actually I mean in the off season we got together quite a bit um you know I think it's important to build relationships outside of football um obviously need to trust each other on the field but you know even outside uh football you can't have those hard conversations with somebody who you don't really know like that uh but I think you know this Camp has been great we've been with each other every day uh spend a lot of hours with each other and uh we're all on the same page next we'll go to Jordan mcferson of the Miami heral Jordan yeah hey there Zach is speaking of chemistry how is your Chemistry built with Cam with Cam Ward especially again from what you guys from where you start in the spring to where you are now how do you feel that's grown uh yeah I mean like I said since Camp started I think everybody's chemistry is grow significantly next we'll go to Matt chadell of kport Matt yeah hey hey Zach um so obviously you know the defensive line has been praising you guys and it's been going back and forth um do you have a sense for you know you mentioned the chemistry and all the hours spent together do you have a sense for how the first team offensive line is coming together like are you guys winning more than you're losing uh has it gotten better maybe with some of the Reps being smoother as camps gone along what's your sort of sense on how the overall offensive line has been performing so far this fall um I mean obviously we're never going to be perfect but that's always our goal um really for us it's about growth uh every day you know you you're getting better or you're getting worse but you can't stay the same so you know we've been working to make growth even if it's marginal every single day so that by week one we're ready to go we'll go back to Adam lonstein from the Sun Sentinel Adam hey again um so obviously you know about two and a half weeks or so away from the start of the Season just you know now that you guys are you know roughly halfway through Camp uh leading up to that first week just you know is the excitement around the team starting to build like how are you guys feeling like as it you know the season gets closer and closer uh honestly right now it's still about us uh we're just trying to get better grow together as a team uh work on our fundamentals um you know we start game planning here soon but uh for right now we're going to keep the main thing main thing and that's getting better next we'll go to Matt Shadel of canesport Matt hey Zach so all the time to ask the cim word quest in a different way can you just sort of talk about his skill set what makes him such a special player for this offense he's smart um he knows every aspect uh of this offense uh me and him meet quite quite a lot so that we can be on the same page because in our communication uh we kind of have to know what each other are thinking what we're doing so um to me his intelligence is probably one of the greatest I've been around in a quarterback we'll do a couple more for Zach we'll go back to Adam lene of s Sentinel Adam uh speaking of Cam Ward um I've asked a few other guys this but um a lot of people have mentioned that he has a penchant for trash talking like you know uh during during practice and stuff so obviously you're snapping the ball to him you have a you have a front row seat to what he's saying so has there ever been a moment where he said something that's you know that's made you laugh while you're about to snap the ball or anything like that like has he ever got you you know uh like chuckling while you're you know about to snap the ball uh yeah I mean pretty much on a daily basis we like to compete here so there's a lot of with that comes a lot of trash on e