Detroit Lions players meet with the media on August 14 | 2024 Training Camp Day 14

Hendon Hooker yeah just being able you know to be myself totally go out there and have fun and that's what I did um anytime game time is hidden I just want to be a great teammate up first and bring a lot of energy so that's what I was trying to do they talk you about sliding a little bit oh yeah that part of the repertoire now I mean my mom is my mom is a huge um you know fan of sliding so I always get I always get it from her but now the coach is on me as well so what she tell you after the game about that we got a slide she's been saying it for years I'm learning I'm learning when when you haven't played in a year is that harder to accept though the idea that you have to avoid contact sometimes for sure for sure um and I wasn't even trying to run the guy over I just embraced for impact and he's kind of bounced off me how you but yeah coming back and you just playing you're not really thinking about I need to slide so being out of the game for so long though how gratifying was it just to be back on the field seeing live action once again yeah um it was a surreal moment something I've been dreaming about you know since a kid and be able to fill my dream you know in front of my family being there um it was a blessing just to be out there and showcase my talent what do you learn about yourself out here uh you know just getting better every day getting better every day and that's the the main component and being a great teammate what's your mom's name Wendy Wendy do you have a sense of how much just playing in that game you know helps helps your growth helps your development right practice is one thing game reps are another helps helps a lot helps a lot because the game speed is different from practice and then um you know you're in command coaches are on the field with you uh so you're orchestrating the whole offense um you know to your speed your Tempo and uh your Rhythm what did you like best about what you did what do you would you come away thinking I got to do better in week two um I thought I did a good job of decision making um and just controlling the offense having a good Tempo getting up to the line um operating at a high level um all my checks and kills were right U my eyes were in the right place um so just continuing to play Fast within my feet and um speeding up my mental process could you sense the Boost that you gave the offense though when you came on the field and enter the game I guess what does that say about where you think you are entering your your first really full season real season like I said I was just trying to bring some energy um however I can we can get a a spark going from anywhere whether there be a quick screen from someone um a pull block and and you know getting physical on the line of scrimmage so um however I can come in and motivate my guys and to play at a high level that's what I want to do probably going to get a lot of reps here these last two games being kind of indicated on the radio today that you'll play Saturday Falcons check out so what what do these last two games mean for you your GR yeah you know just taking it one play at a time um and that's all I want to do is just get better every play and and learn whether it be good outcome bad outcome let's learn from every situation that we're uh we put in did your mom uh text you that or tell you that in person after we both both how you great that hit you put on the defense though man did you go back I'm sure you went back and watch it that night but just the hit that you had yeah I was I was trying to stay off of off my phone as much as possible um but I definitely got a lot of text messages and DMS some big plays in practice the 12:06- Kalif Raymond fans are getting going um justful from oh yeah think um I think we got I think we're I think we're still in the grind of it all uh just make sure we uh continue to continue to grow continue to elevate continue to ascend um CU there still a lot to work on out there so U just trying to stack those plays stack those days and uh I think the thing you looking forward to is man you got to be it's in it's a race to get better and get better faster then get better faster from what you're playing against so I think we just have that in the back of our heads you you start talking about golf off a little bit what were you going to say about him or what's your you know thoughts on oh he's just a i Manan I've been saying the same thing about Jared and I'll say it's reminiscent of 2021 I can't beat him in the building and I can't beat him out the building so um I think he just continues to show the effort that he put in and this just contined to snowball so um no shortage of hard work coming from his room so yeah what time do you arrive in the morning and what time you leave beat you on well no no this is 2021 so a couple few years go but uh no I was arriving early enough and late enough that it shouldn't have been no cars there and uh his his truck was sitting there every time so I was like d I don't know how he sleeps so U but no he's been doing that kind of work for a long time so it's really cool to see so many the guys coming off from last season talked about just doing a little bit more what does that look like for you oh man consistency uh I think even today I had enough Mees to fill the room so um just consistently uh being in the right spot doing the right thing um and I think everybody consistently do their part um that is doing a lot more than you think um Everybody in the right spot doing the right thing so nobody else has to pick up your slack um that's that's a lot in the NFL and I think uh plenty for this offense so has there been an evolution of attitude out here that you've seen from then to now um I think even just this Camp uh I think yesterday I was I was making a joke but uh we walked out the field and I was like that feels like football between the aches the pains the grind um still seeing a person across from me that's your boy at the same time like you can't let them out work you and uh I think uh these last couple days have been a fight through that and it was really cool to see uh just to see how everybody reacted um and that that's been just a just a grind it feels like football right now so J there's obviously hyper spot at all times um what do you think these toys to do this season man look I think uh are you guys out here early you see them catching passes early before practice um he been doing that he's been doing that a good bit for a while um he works his off on his details um especially him and JG I heard they they uh they're working and he's working and uh I think a lot of the a lot of the work he's putting in is starting to show up consistently at what he's doing so um like I said he's he's he's he's working pretty hard he's the routes he's running he's in incredible shape so you can tell he's been he's been doing this part man and making sure he uh comes down with everything that he's doing everything that asking him to do he's uh he's showing up so but specifically blocking I watching him the last couple weeks man that J MO block so it's cool it's cool to watch him work it's another year in this offense another year under Ben Johnson last year jar go top five of QB what is the next step is there another level that this off can reach that I think the minute you stop growing is the minute this league starts outg growing you so um I think you got to keep that mindset in there um there's always more to improve on always more that you can do um and if you can look back against your film and you find no mistakes then you must be the best to have do it but if you everybody I think can go back and look at film like here here's where we can be better um and I think you take that to heart and you come out here and work on it so we couple weeks ago you said you were taking some notes from um Jameson and Aman just you know what what they've been doing in their game how you how's been working incorporating those into your rep oh man just to uh I watch I watch them work and uh they don't save anything and I think that's kind of one thing like you know this there plays you can get tired plays where maybe it's one play this but it's a lot of different plays where you know you uh you're fighting the fear in yourself the being cting yourself from and uh you look at those guys man they give everything every play and uh I'm just trying to make sure that you know tricker down Within Myself also trigger down within the rest of the receiver group man is uh go out there and give everything you know what I'm saying everything that you have every play cuz uh it's that one moment that you don't and the balls in air is coming your way so just little stuff like that just let letting that effort give everything every play and uh I believe everybody in the room has a talent and a work ethic enough to uh make plays especially in NFL and uh I think if you give everything you give yourself the best position to do that so just reminiscent of that sorry falling off from um J that one catch he made in the corner like falling and everyone went crazy to yeah he made it through like 50 people and he was still slapping high fives is that more of him loving football and just loving the moment or is there like a sense of relief that the work he's putting in is clipping um I think everything goes back to the work because that's not his first time running that route we actually ran that route uh like four or five times last week and uh he repped it and then repped it again and then repped it again and then Reed it again so it's not a it's not a matter of that's his first time catching it um he's he's put the work in for that route and so when he the ball's in the air it's almost like oh yeah this is the one we worked watch you catch it five or six times I'm not surprised at how it's going on so I think that's just a passion about football passion about the work and then when I work Conant fruition it's a good feeling so had mentioned something the other day about needing a wide receiver 3 to emerge in Camp when your head coach is at the podium and says something like that how does that motivate you and encourage you to do even more I mean I think it motivates uh everybody you know uh I think there's an opportunity here um for everybody especially in their room and uh but I think at the end of the day um especially in this league uh it's also a lot of self motivation coming with that too cuz everybody man they're trying to make it trying to make a name for themselves they're trying to stick in this league so um I think the best thing that you can do man is get like I said give everything you can this shouldn't be a stone unturn between catching Juds catching punts studying obviously I got to study some more too cuz I had all these Mees out here um but just to study and just being consistent um because like I said this once you stop growing the league will outgrow you and I think everybody's kind to take that mindset is I got to do everything that I can to make sure I stay so Le there's been a few times this training camp where your teammates have said your name in terms of being their big motivator like the who's like I I tried to retire and K told me not to essentially how conscious are you of your leadership and what you're saying to these guys or is it just second nature um I had a long road coming into the into the NFL and a long road sticking in the NFL and uh I had to learn a lot of lessons on the way and uh at that moment you know and I would even say I had some help coming coming up too uh just just just little advice here and there and uh I like to say that I I would love for knowing how hard it is to stay in this league um anything I help do my brothers out here that's grinding um I like to give them so they they they don't have to learn the lessons that I had to learn so if they already a step forward and I am um to make it and stick in this league cuz it's really really really tough so um it's good to just have some a little bit of viice here and there uh cuz there's some things that you don't know until you know it and then at that point for some people it's been too late you know given I had another opportunity for a lot of things that uh but I wish I knew then what I know now so knowing that I try to give everything I can back um this's one I've been trying to meaning to tell everybody uh I'll give you two and I told I told uh Isaiah the other day I was like man look run every route like it's coming to you especially that first game cuz you you turn around and like it's your first NFL game and you looky like he may throw the ball he may not um but if you run it like you're expecting it your body is already ready to catch the ball you're respecting the ball it's just a different level of coming out your break and then the second one was uh prepare like you're about to go play 21 or 17 games um cuz when you coming from you know undrafted practice squad whatever it is and you're coming up um once you get there it's not just one game that you have to be the star returner the starting receiver or backup receiver on kickoff you have to do that for 17 possibly 21 games straight so you have to train with that monser expect every every rip out here in 2 minute if I'm not in I I try to mentally be in the moment as if I am because if anything does happen you're stuck out there you don't want to be shocked like oh I wish I had prepared for this so prepare to play 21 games and when you're out there you're going to be already mentally ready for it even if you hadn't got the rep so just keeping that uh I think it's a great opportunity I think I think it changes the game completely I I said this said this before but um those last 30 seconds um nor me just kind of kick out of the back of the end zone let the let the um offense go to work but if you keep that in bounds you know it it it adds a level of dynamic with 30 seconds you can start on the opposite side of the 40 I mean it changes the game for the last I think last two minutes of the game um and it just add it adds a new element returners are getting the balls in their hands so it adds for it adds a lot of opportunity out here for for a lot of guys I have no idea it's it's so new for everybody um even the rules the way it looks as returners everything is so new so um I think I think what F's trying to do is we got to bank as many reps as we can and kind of learn it as it continues to grow right thanks all right thank guys