Jack Heflin talks about his relationship with Bill Johnson and experience with the XFL after Thursday's Saints training camp.
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00:00 How y'all doing?
00:00 - Good.
00:01 - How you doing?
00:03 - Do you feel like the time at the XFL
00:05 has benefited you so far here?
00:08 - Yeah, I mean, most definitely.
00:10 I had a good coach though with Bill Johnson.
00:13 Obviously, if a lot of y'all covering here know him,
00:16 he coached here for a while.
00:18 So he helped me out a lot in just simplifying the game
00:21 and just being able to play for him.
00:23 You know, he really brought a lot of joy
00:24 back into the game for me.
00:25 - You have a chance to catch up with him?
00:29 I mean, is there something about your camp?
00:30 - Yeah, he was just here the other day.
00:32 I think he left yesterday.
00:34 So I mean, it was good to see him.
00:36 I haven't seen him since the XFL
00:39 and I haven't talked to him much this summer.
00:40 He got pretty busy.
00:41 That's on me.
00:42 But no, it was good to see him
00:45 and just catch up and talk to him.
00:47 I mean, if you're around Coach Johnson,
00:50 it's hard not to have a good time, so I always smile.
00:53 - Your teammates with Johnson, right?
00:56 - Yep.
00:57 - And what was that like to see him, you know,
00:58 your teammate kind of coach?
00:59 - Yeah, so I was actually eating lunch
01:01 at the cafeteria there and I like looked up.
01:04 I'm like, that dude looks familiar.
01:06 And then I was like, oh, that's De'Antre.
01:09 And so then I saw him and just told him congrats.
01:11 I asked him, like, you signed?
01:13 And he's like, yeah.
01:13 And told him congrats and excited to see him out there.
01:16 - You have the potential to play some this evening
01:22 in terms of the incident first string
01:24 and how you feel personally.
01:26 How do you feel?
01:28 - Every day I'm just focusing on trying to be better
01:31 and being, just doing what I can in the scheme.
01:34 Trying to build a role and whatever happens, happens.
01:37 You know, I'm just trying to go out
01:39 and put my best foot forward every single day for the team
01:41 and just do whatever I can to help this organization win
01:45 and get to all the goals we want to get to this year.
01:48 - Anything else?
01:55 - No.
01:56 - What's been the toughest thing so far for you?
01:59 Coming back into the NFL?
02:02 - Oh, really, it's just the heat down here.
02:04 It's unbelievable.
02:06 Oh yeah, Coach Johnson always talks about it.
02:08 And it is a different beast down here.
02:11 But other than that, I mean,
02:12 you play professional ball, ball is everywhere.
02:16 And like, I was in the NFL,
02:18 but I came straight from New York Giants.
02:21 I mean, I was on the team all 18 weeks last year
02:23 on the P-Squad.
02:24 And then I went straight from there to the XFL
02:26 nine days after.
02:27 So I kinda knew what I was getting back into.
02:31 And it's just the details.
02:33 It's a lot more detailed.
02:34 You have a lot more time.
02:35 This is your job.
02:36 XFL, you have three months really
02:39 to work with a group of guys.
02:40 And it was the inaugural season since, was it 2020?
02:44 The last time they had it.
02:45 So it's like just getting back to all the fine details
02:50 in the NFL.
02:51 It's just, everything's just so calibrated.
02:53 And just being able to pick up on everything
02:56 that's going on throughout a play
02:58 and your play design and just doing all that.
03:02 - How's the body going from one season directly
03:05 to the next directly?
03:07 - They don't feel good.
03:08 (laughs)
03:10 No, no, I mean, yes and no,
03:14 but I just try to take care of my body well.
03:16 And I mean, I was lucky enough to have good mentors
03:19 my rookie year that really took care of their bodies
03:22 and they showed me ways to do it.
03:24 And I kind of adopted those routines that they had
03:28 going into the off season.
03:29 And then when I was in the XFL, just staying on it
03:32 and then being down here, staying on it and OTAs.
03:35 And then going back, I knew it's not going to be
03:38 the same five week spread.
03:40 So I trained back at the University of Iowa
03:43 and we have really good strength coaches.
03:45 And I knew like, obviously what I just went through.
03:47 So I knew it wasn't gonna be the same,
03:50 like really amp it up and get like explosive.
03:52 And so like, we kind of modified it
03:57 and just kind of did the own plan,
03:58 but just really stay on the massages,
04:00 body work, stretching every day, playing a lot of golf.
04:04 That kept me loose, it kept me in shape.
04:07 So really that's all I did.
04:09 It was just a different five week span
04:11 than what I'm used to.
04:12 - All right, thanks guys.