STC Bubba Ventrone
Hey, it looks like Jakeem Grant takes the first reps in both punt and kickoff. Is he on track to be ready for everything?
“He looks good. He does. He looks really good. At some point, we’ll get him going in team drills and into games. We still have to have a discussion on who’s going to go in this game, but he’s worked extremely hard to get back to this point. Obviously, he’s done this before, so he’s got a little bit of experience and understands his body and what he needs to do to be effective. Whenever we do our turnover circuit, in the beginning, we have the ball handling and he’s shown really good judgment and tracking, so that’s been positive.”
Does he (Jakeem Grant) seem to have his speed back? For the most part?
“He looks pretty good. He looks explosive. Yeah, he does. And like I said, once we get going into the team setting, I think we’ll be able to identify and evaluate it further. But I think he’s done a good job to this point for sure.”
Jaelon Darden, I know he’s been out the last couple of practices down in West Virginia, but what are you seeing out of him? Because I know being a return guy was a big part of his game.
“I liked him as a returner coming out of North Texas. He was a dual returner there, combo returner. He judges the ball well. He’s a smooth, natural, catcher, not the biggest body, but he’s got good speed. He’s elusive. Yeah, he’s done a good job as well.”
Since you don’t hit in practice…
“Who doesn’t hit in practice? Well, did you watch our kickoff return period last week?”
I physically couldn’t be there. But anyway, the question is, is it difficult to know who your best cover guys are going to be when you can’t fly around and smash into each other?
“I mean, in a practice setting, it’s Browns versus Browns. I mean, Kevin (Stefanski) talked to our team today. We’re going to always take care of each other. There’s a way that you can practice blocking and you know, take on and things like that in a safe manner. So, we’ll do that. We’re going to play fast and aggressive even in a practice setting. But every time we practice in a team setting for us, we’ll play physical. You’ll see it today.”
I think it was a gunner drill. Looked like MJ (Martin Emerson Jr.) was getting down there every time inside the five and down. Is he one of the guys that might be in that rotation, a gunner?
“He’s definitely a guy that we’re considering. There’s definitely a number of guys that we’re looking at that position. These preseason games and then our live periods are a huge evaluation tool for us for that. Because in preseason, very rarely are you going to see a lot of schemed-up rushes you’re really not looking to do that in a preseason game. You’re really trying to evaluate coverage from the perimeter. Most teams are going to play a lighter box, we say, which will now give more attention to the gunners. Most teams will play we call like double vice, where you have two guys on a gunner, and we want to see who can be double vice because that’s essentially like the hardest thing to do in football.”
Now that you guys are back home. Do you have a plan for kicking at the stadium and how often will that occur?
“Yeah, we’re going to talk through that. We definitely need to get down there at some point. I want to say we have a joint practice down there later in the camp, potentially, but we will coordinate that. We haven’t talked through it just yet.”
What are your thoughts on a team and the players kind of getting chippy at the end of a practice, like what happened in The Greenbrier? Would you rather see chippiness and dial it back rather than sluggishness and have to dial it up, or what are your thoughts?
“I felt like Kevin handled that well. I think it happened a couple of times in the drill. He brought the players up, said what he said. It was just really just players only in the huddle. So, we obviously ran them after that. Do I agree with the fighting? No, we can’t do that. We need to take care of each other. Especially, you can’t throw punches. That’s not the right thing to do. But we’re going to always practice aggressive and finish. We just need to be smart whenever it’s talking about defense versus offense around the quarterback. So that’s a big concern with that. But yeah, I think we’ll continue to practice smart and take care of each other.”
What’s the plan if Cade (York) stuffed his toe and you needed another kicker in this game?
“In this game here, we probably would not kick. I would think we’d just go for it or go for toe.”
You have an emergency kicker right now?
“No, we don’t have an emergency kicker. And honestly, with an emergency kicker situation, you would have to have a pretty reliable operation. It’s more about the operation than it is the kicker. We don’t have a true backup kicker to this point because if you put Corey (Bojorquez) in there to kick, who’s going to hold? And it’s a lefty. So, there are a lot of things that factor into it. I know that obviously last year, like Kansas City, they get into the game and what’s the DB? I played with his brother in San Francisco. I’m drawing a blank on the safety from KC that kicked off last year. Do you guys remember that? Yeah, Eric Reed’s brother. Yeah, we identify the backup snapper and things like that. We have guys in place to do that.”
Can you share what you’ve been emphasizing with Cade so far? In camp, and what kind of natural progression do you expect him to make in year two?
“I think he’ll take big steps. I really do. He’s done a good job of keeping everything simple. Right. There hasn’t been a lot of variation in his mechanics. He’s not overthinking. There’s been a lot of consistency with the operation, the snap and the hold. So that’s been a big positive. He’s had great results in the spring and then now into training camp, everything’s been positive. Really good. I’m excited for him.”
Bubba, I know he’s talked about how he felt like he was focusing too much on the mechanics once the season started, but it sounds like training camp is when he wants to fine-tune things. So how do you feel about that plan to start phasing that part of it out?
“What we’ve done to this point, we’re trying to get him as many team reps as possible, especially moving into this first game with the protection, with the young players that haven’t done it as much. We’ve kicked more in a team setting than we probably normally would. And I think that those team reps help because you can feel everything out. You have perspective, like the visual, to actually see it happen. And he’s done a good job. He really has. And I think the biggest thing for him is just keeping everything simple and applying the correction and making the correction fast to the next rep. If there is a missed kick.”
Have you pretty much identified your core players by now?
“No, there are definitely openings. I mean, these preseason games are definitely a big evaluation tool. The competitive practices, things I’m looking for – obviously, consistency amongst all these young players. Consistency, the techniques, who can play aggressive. Another big thing that I’m going to evaluate heavily is, can we play with good discipline and fundamentals and really, no penalties. Penalties in the return game? It’s a lack of execution. It’s a lack of focus. Playing undisciplined, bad technique. That’s how penalties come about in a return game. I told our guys, it’s a conscious effort to push someone in the back. You guys all watch the games, right? If you push someone in the back, that’s a conscious effort to do that.”
Did you get penalties when you were on special teams?
“I had three penalties in my career. One was on a punt return. Two were in one game against the Colts. But I had a broken thumb, and I had a cast on, and I think the coach told them, look out for that guy holding. I was with the Browns. It was 2012.”
Were they all holding?
“They were holding on kickoff returns, but the guy that was covering against me turned sideways and turned his back to me. You’ll have to go back and watch it.”
Bubba, you have training camp here as a player?
“Yes. It didn’t look like this, though. We got the bleachers here, the freaking stand and all that.”
Well, I was going to ask you, with the fans coming in for the first time, how excited are you to kind of be back some of the fans who cheered for you when you were a player here?
“When I was driving in this morning, for a second I thought I was late. I was like, why are these cars lined up? Like, are we practicing in the morning, and I missed an email? People are outside tailgating at 6:00 a.m. I’m definitely excited to see how rowdy they get at practice today.”
Bubba, you run drills with your team? I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of coordinators actually run with the team. Where does that come from? And I guess, how do your special teamers respond to you running with them while they’re doing the drills?
“I’m sad you asked that question because I just found out I have a stress reaction in my foot and I won’t be running for a month, but I’ll be back. But I love running down. I’m looking at certain things whenever I’m running behind a kickoff team, and I enjoy doing that. I’m always going to be an active coach like that. I enjoy working out and things like that on the side too. So that’s why I got that stress reaction. It is what it is. Thankfully, it’s not broken.”
Would you prefer to have separate kick and punt return guys or are you finding the same guy and is there a certain skill set that you’re looking for in one compared to the other?
“When I played here, we had one guy and he did a pretty good job at it. So, if we get a guy like that, I’m good. If we can have one or two, it doesn’t matter. Whatever’s best for the team. Whatever’s best for the team will do.”
Has that new kickoff rule, fair catch rule, changed your philosophy? I mean, just watching the way you’re running things, it doesn’t seem like it has, but where do you come out on that as now, you’re on the field and working through?
“No, it hasn’t changed my philosophy. I will hit more on that as we progress through the preseason. Right now, we’re focused on blocking, covering, and protecting. Those are the things we’re focusing on right now.”
When you talk about coming in, seeing people tailgating. Do you have a favorite
memory from when you were playing here about Browns fans?
“No, I just think that this city is passionate. They love football. They want to win. I want to win. Everyone in this building wants to win. I’m sure everyone here wants us to win. We’re all excited about what we have and what we think we can be. We just need to execute – execute top to bottom. And believe it and believe that we can do it.”
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