Jeremy Crawshaw on the Mic
Jeremy Crawshaw Press Conference Q. How much time are you putting into that mustache?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Well, you know, the past couple years I've been doing the mullet, so this year I thought I'd change it up. I think it's called maturing. You decide not to go with a bad haircut like that, so decided to do the facial hair this year since I can grow it now. So yeah, I'm kind of growing it out since December and learning -- watching YouTube videos, how to touch it up. It's got to look pristine.
Q. You guys and the kickers kind of operate in your own little university away from the team. Has that changed with Billy Napier who's created -- I know you're still working on that, but do you feel more part of the thing? They've talked about the family environment and the way he's just very adamant about that.
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Yeah, no, most definitely. Billy Napier has come in and done a very good job of bringing us all together since last year. We've all bought in, become a bigger family, and he definitely emphasized that point, everyone buying in and becoming whole.
That also involves the specs, the game changes. We changed the name to give us more emphasis. But yeah, that was one of the big points of Billy Napier coming in here. He wanted everyone to buy in, become a bigger family, so he's done a very good job with that, and he's involved the specialists, as well, so we definitely like that.
Q. Looking back, do you think that the discipline -- people realize the lack of discipline last year? Because everybody is coming in and saying the discipline is so much better this year and stuff like that. Last year at the end it was obvious there were some problems, but going in it didn't look like it. In retrospect what do you think was the problem last year?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: To be honest, I just kick the ball. I make sure that everyone on the punt team is doing their jobs. That's all that I focus on. As long as I'm doing my job and I'm stepping up and helping the team, that's all I can focus on.
Q. About that, other guys have come in and said their position coaches would help them with technique. How does that translate to you? What does a punter do to get ready in the off-season?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: It's a lot of repetition. It's a lot of the same, stretching, visualization steps, a lot of ball drops. Being a specialist, that's kind of like the boring part of it, the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. Specialists are known to just sit off to the side of practice and do nothing. Everyone is like, man, I'd love to be a specialist. But what they don't know is we go home and we stretch twice a day, we watch film endlessly on technique. We do the same ball drop 300 times a day to make sure when we get in a game, it is perfect. That's the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and not a lot of people know that. But that's what happens, so yeah.
Q. What do you think of Trey Smack? I know he enrolled over the summer but I'm guessing you've gotten to see a little bit of what he can bring to the program so far?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: He's done a really good job coming in. Obviously it's normal for guys to come in during this part of the year as high school finishes, but he's done a good job at adjusting, following up with Adam, because Adam was here last year. He was able to learn the ropes, and just those two sharing experiences, bettering themselves off each other, yeah, they're doing really well, those two.
Q. Compared to last year's regime and now Billy Napier coming in this summer, what differences in your preparation and the structure of your off-season have you seen different this year compared to last year?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Like I said before, I've seen everyone buy in. Coach Napier spoke on it the other day that when you show the players that you care and about creating that home environment for everyone, the players want to buy in more. That's what we've done. As Billy Napier said, you're able to coach a little bit harder, so we are going harder than last year, yeah.
Q. Who have you seen getting punt return and kick return snaps so far?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: I think I said this in the spring: Mate, I just kick the ball. Whoever catches it catches it.
Q. What do you think the impact of Mark Hocke has been in the off-season program?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: He's been good. He brings the energy every day. He comes in, he's loud, he's got these like one-liners he loves to hit every day, mad Monday and all that kind of stuff, get wild with it Wednesday. He brings the energy for us, and that really helps us get into the mood of it, get going and lift some weight and run harder. He's been really good. He brings in lots of beliefs, discipline, effort, belief, and he instills it in us. He invests in us every day.
He's been really good for us, and we haven't taken a step back in that sense. He's been really good for us, and to help us move forward in that off-season grind. Definitely.
Q. What kind of improvements have you seen in yourself through the program and in some of your teammates? Gervon Dexter looks like a different guy.
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Yeah, I'm 204 right now, but at the end of last year I was 188, so I guess you could say put on the pounds. My squat, bench, everything has gone up, so they were talking to me about moving me to tight end. (Laughter.) I don't know if I am. So we'll see.
But no, definitely, we've all seen those bigger, stronger, faster, more emphasis on the techniques of everything, which is a really good thing for us to improve as athletes, just to have that edge over the people that we play.
It's been really good for us.
Q. You mentioned Hocke; he was a rah-rah guy, a lot of emotion, sort of the antithesis of Billy Napier in a way. What's the most emotional -- have you seen Billy get emotional in practice yet?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: No, I've seen him be happier. He tells us, you've done a good job today, fellas, well done. But yeah, I mean, like maybe a bit of a stoic guy. Keeps it to himself.
Q. Have you ever seen him mad?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Not yet. I mean, no.
Q. What would that be like if he started screaming?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: I have no idea. Yet to find out.
Q. One thing under the previous regime you got to do was some trick plays. Have you talked to Napier about showing off the wheels a little bit?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: I think he's seen the film. I think he's seen it for himself. I think he knows what I've got going here, so if he wants to run it, give me the nod and I'll take off with it. So yeah.
Q. Of all the things that you enjoyed in Australia, what do you miss the most being here, and what have you picked up here in the South that you've found that just totally weird but you like?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Oh, there's way too many things to be specific with that. Oh, it's everything. I think maybe probably the biggest thing is conversations. Just like everyday conversations are different. You talk about different things. You have different hobbies, likes, stuff like that. It's different here, hunting, fishing, whatever, whatever. I love a bit of that back down under, but just the difference of sports, childhood experiences, that's probably the biggest difference is just chatting to people.
I do also enjoy that new aspect of it. You're learning something different from everybody every day. You chat to someone new and they said, oh, I did this and did that. You're like, that's crazy. Tell me more.
Q. Is it like learning a new language?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Kind of. There's little slangs in there, and I've had to teach other people mine, because when I showed up everyone looked at me like backwards. Didn't understand me and I had to repeat things all the time. So I guess I've lost a bit of the slang because they just don't understand what I'm saying.
No, I definitely do enjoy learning about the culture here, especially in the South.