C Nick Harris (12.21.20)

C Nick Harris:

On playing RG early in the game and evaluating his performance: 

“It was fun. It was good to get back on the field and play in a football game. I have not played an actual game in a while so it felt good to get out there, run around and just try and play my brand of football. I think I did OK. There is a lot to clean up. I want to be the best. I will watch the film and see where I can get better and see where I can help the team, and just go from there. All in all, it was a great experience for the first game.”

On what it meant to have WR Jarvis Landry pull him aside after the game and say how much he appreciated him and his performance: 

“It means a lot. I look up to that guy. He comes into the facility every day, and he works. He works hard. That is one of the dudes I look up to on this team. I try to model how I go about my career like him. For him to say that, it just goes to show you the type of leader he is and the type of leadership we have on the team. It means a lot. I am just going to try and build off of what he said and just try and keep it going. Like I said, it means a lot, especially coming from a guy like that.”

On if he felt prepared to play at RG yesterday: 

“I go into every game as if I am going to play. That is how you have to do it. You have to go in and prepare throughout the week as if you are going to play because you never know what happens. I make sure I go over center and guard things and just make sure that if my name is called that I am ready to go assignment wise. When it comes to just the technique stuff, I get reps on the scout team at guard so those definitely help. It is different running your offense at guard instead of the scout team. Those reps definitely did pay off during the scout team and the extra stuff I do with (offensive line) Coach (Bill) Callahan and (assistant offensive line) Coach (Scott) Peters definitely pay off. It felt good, though.”

On his reaction and mindset when T Chris Hubbard sustained the injury: 

“To be honest with you, there was not enough time to think about it. He went down, and I knew I was the next guy in for the interior. It sucks to see a guy like Hub go down because he is a big part of our team and he is a great pro. When it happened, I did not even have enough time to think because I ran out there, we called the play and we were rolling. I was worrying about what to do on that play rather than, ‘Oh, damn. I am out here now.’ That is kind of how that went.”

On Hubbard as a teammate and what he has learned from Hubbard: 

“Like I said about Jarvis, Hub is another guy I try and mimic his tendencies on the field, off the field and in the locker rooms. Just the type of guy he is, he talks to everyone. He is a true pro. He goes out and he executes in practice. He is a hard worker. That is somebody I look up to try and model my career and my game after. He definitely plays a big role in how I have progressed in practice throughout the season. I ask him questions all of the time just about football and just things that he can help me with. He is another great person, a great leader on this team that is huge for us to have.”

On how Hubbard filled in for G Wyatt Teller when Teller was out with a calf injury earlier this season: 

“He is a true pro. He prepares for everything. He goes in, he does his job and he does it great. He executes and he gets the job done for sure. Like I said, he is just a pro. That is the difference. That is the thing I have learned just being in the NFL is guys are just ready to go. No matter what happens, you have to prepare as if you are going to play, and Hub does that. That is definitely something I want to mold myself after and try build as it goes by.”

On how comfortable he is at G, given his significant time at C in practice: 

“At the end of the day, it is football. I played guard my first two years in college so it is not like it is completely foreign. I started off playing right guard in college. It is just knocking the rust off. When I went in, I had to warm up a little bit. For a couple of plays, I had to get my feet right and get my hands right because it is a different game than playing center. A lot of that goes unnoticed. I just had to get my feet wet a little bit and just play how I play. I felt comfortable, and as the weeks go by and I get more reps and stuff, it will feel even better, just so I can get comfortable.”

On if Sunday felt like his first true NFL experience, given it was his first offensive snaps:

“Yeah, just because I got snaps on offense. I have been in on field goal, but just to be playing offensive line in the NFL and that being my first game, it was crazy. I am just grateful to have this opportunity and just trying to build off of it and try to be the best player and best version of myself that I can be. With that, I have to go in this week and get better and go try and fix what I did wrong and just try and build off of that.”

On how much he embraces the next man up mentality and ensuring there is no drop off on the Browns OL if Teller is unavailable on Sunday and he starts at RG:

“I just have to keep preparing like how I have been preparing. Not trying to switch anything up. Not trying to do too much. Just go in there and play how I play. Throughout this week of practice, whatever the situation may be, I am just going to go about it how I have been going about it, just making sure I get the work I need to get in and the extra stuff I need to do for my body and my mind and make sure that I am ready to go, whatever the situation may be.”

On if he can look back at his situation in college when he played earlier than initially expected to apply it to this situation:

“100 percent. 100 percent. I was having this conversation with my mom last night. It is just like the circle of life. Everything just repeats itself, I swear. Everything happens for a reason. Like you said, I ended up playing earlier than I thought I was in college. Here I am, and I played earlier than I thought I would in my NFL career. I just have to go about it how I did in college. Like I said, just continue to just keep getting better, keep grinding, just keep my focus on the right path, just build off of what I did in this game and keep stacking the days pretty much.”

On what has it been like to mesh with the Browns OL and build chemistry with the unit:

“It is huge. The guys, those are all very good players I am surrounded by so they made sure my head was on straight. We were communicating. They were talking to me and making sure I was good. As the game was going, they were even giving me tips on certain things that they saw and certain things that I saw. Just being around those group of guys with all of that experience, all of the football IQ and just their ability in general helps a lot. Those are all just good dudes, too. Put football aside, they are all good guys who reach out and try and help this team win.”

On if Browns OL members offered words of encouragement when first entering the huddle:

“It all happened so fast. They just said, ‘Alright, here we go. The moment is not too big. You are ready so let’s just go for it.’ There was not really much conversation. It happened so fast. It is what it is. It just happened, and we just kept it rolling.”

On how strange this rookie season been for him, given the virtual aspects of 2020:

“I do not know anything different. That is the crazy part. I do not know what a normal season is like because this is my first year so honestly, I could not tell you. If I wanted to compare it to college, it is a little different not being in that room and learning in the room. It is a little different doing things online. Like (Head) Coach (Kevin) Stefanski always says, we just have to adapt. We just have to keep it rolling and be resilient with adversity that strikes us throughout the weeks with all of this stuff going on in 2020. You just have to keep it rolling, try to put your best foot forward and just be safe most importantly so you do not give anybody a competitive advantage with all of the stuff going on.”

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