Derrick Henry gets the message, picks up the tempo – AL.com
Rookie running back Derrick Henry has shown Tennessee Titans coach Mike Mularkey plenty of promise in the NFL team’s first week of training camp. But on Thursday, the coach said it was taking the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner too long to work up a sweat.
“I will say this about Derrick: I don’t think he’s a fast starter,” Mularkey said at his post-practice press conference. “I’ve got to talk to him about that tempo period because we’ve got a bunch of guys up front that are creating things for him, and he’s not hitting it like I’d like to see him hit it. Later in the practice — I hope that’s not the case in games. We need him to be full-strength. As soon as we call his number, he needs to hit things better.”
Mularkey said the tempo period is “right after stretch. It’s right into a team segment. It’s a physical period, It’s really designed to get them going for the rest of the practice. I use it as people that like to work out in the morning — the rest of their day, they’ve got a lot of energy. The method is kind of get them going.”
Henry told the reporters gathered around his locker after Thursday’s practice that he agreed with Mularkey.
“I definitely need to play faster,” Henry said. “That’s all about training camp — just improving on everything you need to get better at. … Just think faster and player faster. I mean, that’s all it is. Once you get more experience, then you’ll play faster.”
At his press conference after Friday’s practice, Mularkey said Henry had picked up the tempo.
“He started a little faster today,” Mularkey said. “It was interesting. Actually, in the tempo period, he hit it. I talked to him after practice yesterday. Again, I want to make sure I’m not putting guys in position that they’re not ready to go. He said, ‘No, I just didn’t understand it well enough. I do now.’ So I don’t think that will be an issue anymore.”
“I’m just trying to pick things up, trying to start quicker and be faster in everything I do,” Henry told the Tennessean after Friday’s practice. “That’s the way I’m trying to approach it. I had a better day than I did yesterday.”
The Titans selected Henry out of Alabama in the second round of the NFL Draft in April. That came after Tennessee traded for 2014 NFL rushing champion DeMarco Murray in March.
“They have been doing pretty good as a combo,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie said. “They finish runs, and their ability to hit the hole, it’s been good. If they see a little crack, they hit the hole. DeMarco has been good. Derrick, he just needs to keep studying the offense, studying all the combinations of it, which is usually the case. He is very, very sharp with the run when we hand it to him, but he has to keep studying on his protection and things like that.”
Murray and Henry will be running behind a revamped offensive line that includes a new center in former Bibb County High School standout Ben Jones, a free-agent signing from AFC South rival Houston, and holdover right guard Chance Warmack, a former Alabama All-American.
“Any running back would love an offense that loves to run the ball, so we’re embracing it and working hard every day,” Henry said.
The Titans also are emphasizing a style of football that fits Henry’s 247-pound physique.
“They definitely want to be physical,” Henry said. “We’re going to be as physical as any team in the NFL, and that’s what we’re working toward.”
Henry said he wants to “think faster and player faster,” but otherwise thinks he’s adapted well to the NFL so far.
“It’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Henry said. “It’s the same type of plays as at Bama, so it hasn’t been that hard with the plays.”
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