Landon Young talks about moving to guard during the early stages of training camp for the Saints offensive line.
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00:00 (inaudible)
00:09 You know, I think they're just trying to try it out.
00:10 And, you know, I've never played guard all the way
00:12 since I started playing football.
00:14 I've never played guard.
00:15 So, this is kind of new for me.
00:16 And I think it was new for the coaches because it's nothing
00:19 that has been really experimented in years past I've been here.
00:24 But I think that it's going to be very useful.
00:26 I think anything that can make a certain player add value to a team,
00:29 that that's going to be really, really helpful on Sundays
00:32 when you have the possibility of people going down,
00:34 you have injuries, you have a long season,
00:36 you have a long camp.
00:38 But I think it's fitting well.
00:40 I think I'm getting good reps.
00:41 But more than anything, it helps not just as another person
00:45 that can play another position,
00:46 but it helps in my development as a tackle as well.
00:50 What's it like just kind of kicking Jory Evans' green today?
00:53 Yeah, it's pretty amazing because you've got a guy
00:55 of that caliber in your room that can –
00:57 that was one of the best to do it.
00:58 And it's really neat to see his thoughts on things
01:04 compared to how you're thinking about it.
01:06 And as offensive linemen, so many times you can hear something
01:12 a different way and make it click a lot better.
01:14 So we can hear Doug say something five or six times and it not click,
01:18 and Jock comes over and says, "Well, when I was a player,
01:20 I was thinking about this.
01:21 This is how I would get off and what I was thinking
01:24 with my punch immediately."
01:26 And it's like, "Oh, that makes so much more sense."
01:28 So it's really neat being able to pick that and see what his thoughts
01:32 on angles and punches and sets and stuff like that is as well.
01:39 Do you have any experience switching sides of the line
01:42 and hitting the rip?
01:43 How would you get them to that move and tackle guard
01:45 and get to move to the other side?
01:47 Yeah, so I do have quite a bit of experience going left to right tackle.
01:50 And that is very, very difficult in itself.
01:54 And a lot of people just think it's the same position on the other side,
01:57 but it's a totally different body mechanic.
01:59 You have to have another brace foot.
02:00 You have to have complete different muscle memory
02:03 on a complete other side of the ball.
02:04 Now, going from tackle to guard, I feel like it's a little bit easier.
02:08 One, you're on the same side, and two, it's the same stuff,
02:11 it's just a little tighter.
02:12 And you tend to have help from the centers.
02:14 You tend to have help from the tackles.
02:16 But it's a good position to be able to be versatile in
02:21 rather than tackle to tackle.
02:23 That can still be done, but it's definitely a lot harder.
02:26 Do you know that working at guard was something that they were going to
02:30 kind of do with you going into the offseason,
02:31 or was that more something that was kind of brought to you?
02:33 Yeah, so it was pretty much in the last couple days
02:36 when we got into camp here.
02:39 You know, OTAs, practice all tackle.
02:41 And then we got into camp and we had some people moving around
02:46 and they were like, you know, we want you to go out here and try it.
02:49 And I did all right at it, and they said,
02:51 we're going to keep on trying to get you some reps there
02:53 just to make you a little more versatile so you can play both tackles
02:56 and you can go to guard if we need you to.
02:58 How does getting that experience impact you even going back over to tackle?
03:01 It's great for me because I get the thoughts of what I would do at guard
03:06 that can help me on how I'm going to block as a tackle.
03:09 So if I'm looking at like blocks, say I'm going to backside block,
03:12 I know what my footwork would be at guard,
03:14 so it better helps me to set my angle, set my hand, set my reach as a tackle as well.
03:19 So it's very versatile in both ways.
03:21 Say you go to guard and go tackle, it's the same exact thing.
03:23 If you're an outside reach, I know that, you know, this step is going to go here,
03:28 these hands are going to go here.
03:29 So it helps my angles, helps my train of thought, makes it a lot quicker on the move.
03:35 I think Eric mentioned a sense of like added pressure to deploy
03:40 if it didn't meet Eric Hart's first year.
03:43 Do you feel that as an individual and as a team?
03:46 Yeah, a little bit.
03:47 You know, every year we come out, no matter who the quarterback is,
03:50 we have to still press ourselves to be the best line that we possibly can be.
03:54 And so that's a pressure in itself.
03:56 And, you know, we want to be able to keep Derek safe.
03:59 We want to be able to get, you know, he's a high caliber quarterback
04:02 and a really good quarterback at that.
04:03 But we want to – not just that, but we want him to be able to showcase his talent,
04:07 along with us being able to showcase ours.
04:09 So I think it's an added pressure no matter who the quarterback is back there,
04:12 just that we can be as consistent and as clean as we can be as offense.
04:16 We've got time for one more.
04:17 What have been your early impressions so far of Derek Hart?
04:20 Derek's an awesome guy.
04:22 He's a very vocal leader and that's something that is really important,
04:25 especially as a quarterback.
04:27 And it's something that he keeps us motivated, he gives us a break when we need a break,
04:31 he understands his offensive line.
04:33 And that's been really, really awesome.
04:35 Again, a guy that's very versatile in the pocket too.
04:37 And that's been great as well.
04:39 You know, you get a little bit on the outside on pass rush and running by,
04:43 but he's a guy that's not afraid to step into the pocket
04:45 and still deliver that point on throw.
04:48 Thank you guys.