It's been an interesting few weeks for me.
About 2 ½ weeks ago I got married in Tampa, Fla. - that's where my wife Danielle is from - and it was really a life-changing event in and of itself for me. The wedding was a great time. Leading up to the wedding, it was tough there - every day it was in the mid-90s and humid. But on the day of the wedding, we got a reprieve and it was a little cooler, which helped everybody be a lot more comfortable.
The wedding itself was great. We had a lot of friends and family come from all over, and everybody had a great time. My wife and I were able to sneak away for a few days after the wedding. We went to the Oregon coast, and we had a nice relaxing honeymoon. We got a little house up on a cliff in between Pacific City and Lincoln City. It was peaceful and fun - great to get away together.
Then we drove up here on Friday, the 18th anticipating me reporting with the rest of the rookies on the 22nd. I was counting on a quick start into camp for me. That's where my focus was after we got back. Unfortunately it didn't work out right away and it made for some difficult days. But I'm in here now and now I've been through five practices and everything is going really fast.
The first couple days after we got up here - Friday and Saturday - I talked to my agent 2-3 times a day. That seemed pretty normal. I was checking in and asking some questions, and thought about things he was telling me about the negotiations. But as camp approached and I realized things weren't moving along as quickly I wanted them to, it changed. I got more anxious every day. I was talking to him 25-30 times a day trying to get this thing done.
Transitioning to college football to pro football is not easy. It's a business in the NFL. People tell you what to expect, but you can't fully understand it until you go through it yourself. So I'm glad that process is over now and I can just think about football. When Tuesday rolled around, and the other rookies were here, I started getting antsy and wanted to get in. It was a tough to deal with.
Now it's great to be here and I feel a lot better than I did in the second minicamp. I'm healthy, I feel strong and I know the offense a little bit better every day. That's helping me cut down on my mistakes. But I know I'm not where I need to be yet even if I am improving. It's frustrating to make mistakes. That's the big thing. But you have to let them go and just not make the same mistake again. Sometimes that happens, but you have to play through it and not dwell on it.
All that matters now is that I just learn from my mistakes, learn the playbook better and improve my technique at every practice. The key to training camp is to keep making progress.
