2012 Training Camp Wednesday July 25 Day 1 (Larry McCarren Joins Packers.com)

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• A tradition first started under Curly Lambeau in 1946, training camp in Green Bay remains one of the most intimate settings in all of professional sports. 2012 marks the fourth summer at the newly constructed Nitschke Field, just a short bike ride away from the team facility.
  
  
• A total of six night practices under the lights at Nitschke Field headlines a training camp schedule that features 20 practices overall, plus Family Night, and four preseason games in just over one calendar month.
  
  
• The Packers open the preseason at the Chargers on Aug. 9 in a nationally televised contest.

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MM:
Good Morning. Welcome Back. We're ready for training camp. The players are still going through the physical process. I do have some preliminary information. I do not have all the information medically for our roster. We will conclude here about 10:30 with the physicals. At 11:00 we have a conditioning type test at the Hutson Center and from 1:00-4:30 we will go through all our annual administrative meeting to cover all aspects of our program; expectations, league policies,and team policies with our team. We will get back together at 6:00 tonight for another team meeting to get into football and prepare for tomorrow's practice. That's where we are. Training camp has started and with that I welcome your questions.

Mike, when you meet with the team tonight what tone do you want to set right away?
What tone? Well today the administrative meetings will lay out the schedules and everything that's expected from an administrative standpoint and then tonight's meeting is really how you see the training camp unfolding. The big picture expectations for the season and then getting back to the immediate focus of what we're going to accomplish every single day. I'll probably share that with them first.

(MM looks out and waits a moment):That's it? Allright, hell of a summer.I'll see you later. (now smiling) i

Mike Vandermause: You don't have as many practices as you used to for training camp. Can you get as much accomplished as you used to be able to?
Well Mike really we have one more practice than last year so last year is really the beginning of the new format. We've been pushing towards last year's format really the first four years. If you go back and look at year one through four we were trying to be smarter with the amount of time on the field. I'm not a big believer in going down on the practice field and having walk-throughs and having half-speed special team type practices and so forth. I've been a part of that practice in the past. I think it's important when you hit the grass that you practice a certain way. The 27 practices we have I feel is efficient for us to get ready to play games. So really the first ten practices are the most important because you're in the installation phase. The importance on learning and installing and getting certain concepts and introduction to situations, those are important practices. Those are probably the new dog days of training camp, frankly, that's the toughest part. With the new CBA rules giving the players the break after the third practice definitely helps them from a physical standpoint. It's all a part of the player safety emphasis. I'm a believer in that. I think the way we've trained our team in the past reflects that.

I know you don't have all the information but is there anybody you know right now will not be able to go when camp opens?
I think some of the ones we talked about in the spring. Andrew Quarless, he will not pass his physical. Derrick Sherrod did not pass. John Kuhn- I have to sit down- I don't think John's going to make it here for today. We have a couple other guys we're looking at.

Jason Wilde: With the limits on the amount of times you can put pads on; you identified in the offseason one of the problems you thought with your defense was tackling. How are you going to address that with the limitations you have?
Your practice environment is the most important part of training camp and it's something we spend a lot of time on and today we'll go through the practice expectations with the team. I'll define every single drill. I haven't done it in a couple of years. I think we need to go back and make sure we're getting exactly what we want out of each drill and really that's the product of having new players and really frankly a product of the way our off season went. Our off season practice tempo and structure was different this past year. So we have to make sure the expectations are clear to everybody in the room of how we practice in training camp. We'll just do a more in depth job of detailing the pursuit angles and all the things that lead to put yourself in the best position to tackle. Our problem isn't tackling a guy to the ground and I'm sure that's something people may be looking for. There is a risk assessment that you take into consideration when you put together these type of tackling drills. The most important part: we need to do a better job of triangling the ball and having proper angles and getting hats on the ball so those are the types of things we'll focus on.

Reporter: Mike what do you like about the practice format where you've got pretty much a week straight early morning then two weeks in the evening and then to finish things up you get back to the morning schedule?
Well I'll say this; Doing the training camp schedule is probably one of the top three, top five things you do as a head coach in my opinion. I think it's real important. Your team is built and created in training camp. That's really the foundation of who you are as a team. I think it's even more evident especially coming off the way you train your team in the spring. Playing four games in a row on Thursday I really like because I like seven day segments. I think it gives you an opportunity to create flow and rhythm to your team in a normal year, but with the scheduling of our first four games I thought it was important for us to have an up and down approach of practicing in the morning and then shifting gears to afternoon practices and then getting to some night practices and also getting into an in-season schedule for two full weeks which we've never had that opportunity. I really like the way this schedule has been put together. It took longer to put this schedule together than pryer years. I thought it was going to be easier once we confirmed that the four preseason games on Thursday with four straight weeks of seven days between each game, but when the schedule came out we went back and made some changes and I thought it really came together nicely.

Jason Wilde: Is it possible you can be a better team this year and not have the same record you had last year?
Absolutely. I think it's the goal to be a better team this year regardless of the record and the goal is to win the Super Bowl. I think everybody would be happy with 15-1 during the regular season, but as we all know post season is what counts.

Bob McGinn: All the off-season work you put in all the planning and everything. As a coach that's been in it a long time are you eager as training camp starts? Are you anxious?
I'm anxious. I've stayed in Green Bay the whole summer. This is probably the most prepared I've been for a training camp. I feel that way because I haven't left. It's been good. I've had quality time in my office in the early mornings. It used to be sitting on a bench down in Austin Texas in 100 degree weather. It was different. It's very exciting every year and really the point I was trying to make- being here in Green Bay the whole summer you could feel the excitement building. I felt it a lot more just being here leading up to camp. Yes, I'm definitely excited.

How's Tom Clements assimilated with his added responsibilities? Will we see anything different here in the offensive portions of practice?
That's a good question, I'm reflecting back on Joe (Philbin's) responsibilities. Tom and I have had the same conversations that Joe and I had going into practice. It's important that he'll be in one part of the offense, I'll be in the other. There's a lot of conversation that goes on between the head coach and the coordinators particularly not just the scheme, but on personnel. Tom and I will do the same thing and Joe tilted more towards the line because that was his nature so Tom and I have to take a little different approach there. So maybe I'll be with the line a little more than I have been in the past. It's probably more because of the personnel conversations that will be happening.

Are you excited to see some of the new editions in pads and out of shorts for the first time?
Absolutely. I think every coach, every player realizes that training camp is the closest you get to real football. This is what counts. The spring is very important. It's a learning phase and it was good for our whole football team because we've changed a number of things from last year to this year which is important because it is a new team. It's exciting to get in pads and get going. The real excitement will come at the first preseason game in San Diego. To me when the lights come on that's when you really find out about your new guys.

Bob McGinn: Do you think Charlie Peprah can practice?
Charlie is actually one of the individuals that I'm waiting for more information (on). He's currently going through his physical.

Bob McGinn: What are a few things you're looking to see from Graham Harrel?
The games are very important for Graham. I've had an opportunity to be around Graham through a season, watched him grow through the preparation process. I've watched him grow mentally, the understanding with the offense. He has a very good command of the offense. I like that. He's a very steady individual which is important because what's asked of him at the position of quarterback because of all the things they have to do. He needs to play. He needs the live reps. He's done a good job with the fundamental part of the quarterback school and the training in the spring. He's gotten stronger. He's clearly stronger. He's done excellent job in the weight room. I want to see him play in the pocket. I want to see him be tough in the pocket, transition and make plays. That will be a big focus for him as I evaluate him during practice, but more importantly, during the games.

Is Alex Green another one you're waiting on?
Yeah. Alex is close. Actually I had the chance to watch Alex work out last week down at the Hutson center so I think Alex is very close. We'll probably have that information for you tomorrow. We don't have a meeting- you have the conditioning test at 11:00. (knocks the podium with his knuckles) Hopefully nothing comes out of that. We've had things come out of that in the past, too.

Mike Vandermause: Are you confident you added enough new pieces on defense that that will get turned around this season?
We need to play better on defense in certain areas. Our focus is to continue to build off of the things that we do very well and obviously improve on the things that didn't go so well in the past. It's clearly a different defense and it's going to be a little bit of a different offense too, frankly, the way we approach this season. It's important for us to stay in tune with the fundamentals and we'll start with the fundamentals in the first meeting today. I feel that we emphasize it as much as we possibly can and we're gonna do it more than we've done in the past. The game really comes down to fundamentals and it starts with the offense, defense, and special teams. I'm hopefull that these young guys add a lot of energy. I know there's some excitement in the locker room because there's some talented individuals that we've brought into our program. It will be exciting to see them in pads.

Jason Wilde: Regardless of Sherrod's availability, where's your confidence level with Marshall Newhouse?
My confidence in Marshall grows every time I see him practice and perform. To me he's still a younger player that has a lot in front of him. He's done a lot of good things with his opportunities. A pretty good indicator is the quarterback has a lot of confidence in him. Aaron has a lot of confidence and that's important because Aaron's in the huddle. He has a very good feel looking in guy's eyes during the course of the game. I thought Marshall grew through his opportunities and he's done an excellent job throughout the spring. He's very bright. The adjustment part of it is very easy and natural for him. He has excellent feed and he just needs to continue to get stronger and keep working. I have a lot of confidence in him.

Jason Wilde: When you look at Greg Jennings, wide receivers in this league, all the big wide receivers, 6'3" really fast guys are the ones who make a ton of plays and he makes as many as any of them. What makes him special?
Wow. Greg Jennings. He's got a number of things I think he's exceptional at. You start mentally. He has an excellent understanding of not only what he's asked to do, but what people are trying to do against him. He's very astute as far as recognizing defenses. He's always been a very good preparation individual as far as during the course of the week and match-ups and educated on players and keeping track of how they played him the last time that he faced them and so forth. He understands his size. He understands what people are trying to do to him, particularly when he's in the slot. Physically he's so disciplined in his body control really stands out. He makes his routes look the same. The ability to get in and out of breaks is exceptional. He creates separation, hand eye coordination, his yards after the catch probably as good as it gets.

You lose guys like Wells, Clifton, Collins. Do you look at these first few weeks of camp for guys to step up into those leadership roles?
I think leadership is something you never have enough of. I would say as I look at the boards in my office, I would say I feel very good about individuals and their level of leadership compared to prior years. I think we have a high level of leadership on our team. That will be part of my message daily that you never have enough leaders and I think that the military exemplifies that better than anybody. Leadership is something that you're constantly trying to build. There's obviously different levels of leadership that players have to grow through- earn it. With that we lost some very good people. Very good players. We're always trying to develop leadership throughout our locker room.

Is it safe to say guys like MD Jennings have a chance to win some starting jobs at camp. Is there going to be a lot of competition?
It really depends how you define starter. We don't have 11 starters. I don't foresee us having eleven players on offense or eleven players on defense that play a thousand plays each next year. If that ever happens it's either one of two things: we've got 11 unbelievable players or we're down to our last 11. I think it's important to make sure that these guys have opportunities to play different situations. I think they'll definitely contribute on special teams. I'm excited to see how they contribute on the four core special team units. That's really what this team's going to come down to. You have a chance to be better on special teams and an influx of the new players will definitely help that.

Has Sherrod had any setbacks?
No. I actually had a chance to see him on Friday. Rehab and football is two different things. It's two different movements. I can't tell you exactly how far he's away but he's been here every day, he's making progress. I'm going to say the last couple weeks he's been really coming on strong. He had setback back in the spring but he's getting better he's getting close. The trainers are very confident in the progress he's making, but I do think he has some time left.

Jason Wilde: (usual long soliloquy before getting to the question) Is there one thing that your changing in your approach for this training camp that's vastly different
Vastly different? It's different. It's never the same. I think it's important to come in a little different. I know if I was a player sitting out in the audience I wouldn't want to hear the same thing or see the same thing every year or every week because I think that things get stagnant and we're trying to grow, trying to get better, but Vastly? You'll see some new things, maybe at practice, but I think they're subtle you may think they're vast. We'll do some things differently.

You always talk about the year 1, year 2 guys. A little different last year having a shortened year one for a lot of those rookies. Is there anyone jumping off the page at you that could make a big jump?
I think we really should let training camp answer that, but I'm hopefull there's a bunch of em'. It's a total different feel to training camp this year and frankly it's a feel that I'm a little concerned about and it's something we'll talk about today as a football team. My recollection of the rookie class coming in here last year, I mean you had a group that was sitting on pins and needles. They hadn't had a chance to go through an off season, they're getting the play book and they're so anxious and so ambitious and knew that their time clock was a lot smaller than normal years and I thought it brought a lot of enthusiasm and urgency to our training camp last year. I thought it was a key to us having an excellent training camp and my concern frankly, is this rookie class came in here and hit the field as this ain't so hard. Maybe Pro ball ain't what I thought it was going to be. That's something that will not be the case when we hit the field tomorrow. Complacency, relaxing, any type of comfort is really not the type of element you want being a part of your training camp and we'll make sure that doesn't exist.

Mike Vandermause: Your team has been rated in some circles as the best in the NFL. Do you like going into a season with such high expectations
I'm not going to say I don't pay any attention to it because that's Jason's job, he has to tell me those things. I take it as a compliment. It definitely beats the alternative. I appreciate when you guys say nice things. It doesn't feel good when you do the other thing. Our expectations are always the same. No ones expectations of us can get any higher than our expectations or ourselves so I think we're ok there.