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A Night With the Coaches

May 15th, 2012 - 10:27pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

DENVER – A few hours after speaking with season ticket holders on a conference call, Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway and Head Coach John Fox headed to Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

There, they hosted A Night With the Coaches alongside Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy, Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio and Special Teams Coordinator Jeff Rodgers.

The event, presented by US Bank and Del Frisco’s, was emceed by Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Saccomano. After an hour of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, the attendees made their way to tables and awaited the main event of the evening — an hour-long Q&A session.

The coaches touched on a variety of topics, including each of the team’s seven 2012 NFL Draft selections, the ways the offense, defense and special teams units will change this season and how to ensure the stadium stays loud.

After the event, raffle prizes were given out — including gift certificates to Del Frisco’s and footballs autographed by Elway and Fox. All five guests of honor stuck around afterward to talk with attendees and snap a few pictures.


Click here for a photo gallery of the event.

WHAT THEY SAID:

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Armstrong Gets Call to College Hall of Fame

May 15th, 2012 - 3:14pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

When Otis Armstrong came to Denver as a first-round pick in 1973, he said he was just looking to follow in fellow running back Floyd Little’s footsteps.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Armstrong has done just that, joining his former Broncos teammate in the College Football Hall of Fame in the Class of 2012.

“It means a lot to me,” Armstrong said. “When you go into the College Football Hall of Fame, that’s one of the highest honors you can achieve. I’m very, very honored.”

Armstrong attended Purdue, first flashing his potential as a sophomore in 1970. He set the school season record for rushing yards with 1,009 — just the second running back in school history to top the 1,000-yard mark.

For his career, Armstrong rushed 670 times — a school record — for 3,315 yards, which ranks second in Purdue annals. He also ranked third in career kickoff return average and was one of just two players to return more than one kickoff for a touchdown.

But as far as Armstrong is concerned, there’s one game that stands out above all others.

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Rodgers Takes Over as Defensive Line Coach

May 14th, 2012 - 3:02pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

With Wayne Nunnely retiring, Jay Rodgers — who spent the past three seasons as a defensive assistant with the club, including working primarily with Nunnely and the defensive line in 2011 — now takes over as the club’s defensive line coach.

“I’m excited for this opportunity,” Rodgers said. “I am extremely grateful to Coach Nunnely for all I’ve learned from him over the past three seasons.”

Rodgers is in his fourth season with the club after working nine seasons at the collegiate level.

“The defensive line will be in good hands with Jay Rodgers, whom I’ve worked with very closely for the last three years,” Nunnely said. “He is very deserving of this opportunity, which he has earned through his hard work and knowledge. Jay has many great qualities as a person and coach that will make him successful in his new role.”

Head Coach John Fox said he has no doubt that Rodgers’ time with Nunnely “has prepared him for this opportunity that he has earned,” and defensive end Elvis Dumervil agreed.

“He’s a young, bright coach,” Dumervil said of Rodgers. “He knows a lot — he’s been around. I think he’s extremely smart. He’s learned a lot from Coach Nunnely as well and I think his future is bright. It was very fortunate to be able to have Coach Rodgers on staff and get him in. But, also sad to have Coach Nunnely retire.”

The Broncos will be back on the practice field this coming Monday for OTAs.

-Gray Caldwell

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Fox on Closing Camp

May 13th, 2012 - 12:39pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

At the close of this weekend’s rookie minicamp, Head Coach John Fox met the media one final time to wrap up the event.

Below are some quick hits from his press session.

On how the rookie minicamp went:
“Very good. We have a good young bunch. I think they’ll definitely contribute and help the Denver Broncos be a better football team. They went about their business well and we had good focus and very good effort during the camp.”

On how CB Omar Bolden looked:
“I think he had a good camp. I thought he played well and he reacted to our install very well. He has good football awareness and football intelligence. It’s just a matter of learning to compete at this level at a consistent basis and I believe he can do that.”

On whether Bolden will return kicks:
“We’ll get those opportunities. We didn’t do much of that in this camp, but moving forward, we have time to help every one of these guys develop.”

On the addition of CB Drayton Florence:
“He’s another piece that will hopefully make us better. I don’t think you can ever have too many corners with a lot of the multiple receiver sets that you get—and we will get with the types of quarterbacks that we have on our schedule this year. That was problematic for us a year ago and hopefully with some good competition we can fix that.”

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Jackson Adapting to the NFL

May 12th, 2012 - 6:44pm by Stuart ZaasOther posts by

After defensive lineman Malik Jackson’s first day as a Bronco he tweeted, “Wow first day of minicamp is over. I’ve never been this mentally and physically tired in my life.”

A day later, he feels better adjusted to the NFL level.

“I really didn’t know what to expect for the first few days out here,” Jackson said. “Yesterday hit me kind of hard, especially with the playbook and going out there trying to learn on the fly. Today kind of slowed down. I really got in the playbook last night and am just trying to go out there and have fun. I’m just happy to be here.”

While the NFL hours are demanding, Jackson said he is learning to embrace it as a fulltime job.

“Just waking up at 7 a.m. and leaving at 8 p.m. is kind of new to me,” he said. “I just have to learn to do it and learn to love it. This is what we do, so it’s what I’ll do.”

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Blake’s ‘Long Story’ Leads to Broncos

May 12th, 2012 - 5:42pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Philip Blake’s story has been well-covered.

The Baylor offensive lineman grew up in Canada, playing one year of high school football — his senior year.

Immediately he knew it was the sport for him.

But getting to play it at a Division I college was quite a process.

“It’s a long story,” Blake smiled.

He started by playing two years at Champlain Regional College in Quebec, Canada, and got recruited by Baylor Head Coach Art Briles and his staff.

The NCAA clearing house didn’t accept his high school and Canadian regional college grades, so he thought going to a school without football for a semester — University of Houston-Downtown would allow him to transfer to Baylor.

But he wasn’t academically eligible to play at Baylor, so instead he spent a year-and-a-half at Tyler Junior College in Texas, graduated and then joined the Baylor Bears as a 23-year-old sophomore.

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Trevathan Plans to Learn from Woodyard

May 12th, 2012 - 3:04pm by Stuart ZaasOther posts by

Even though linebacker Danny Trevathan never had the chance to play with linebacker Wesley Woodyard at Kentucky, he heard plenty from the former Wildcat.

Now, he’ll have a chance to be teammates with Woodyard, a player Trevathan said he tried to model his game after.

“I had to be myself, but at the same time I learned from him,” Trevathan said. “He was a great football player – he played every aspect of the game, he even returned kicks. That’s why I wanted to return kicks – until I broke my wrist and that was over.”

Despite never overlapping at Kentucky with Woodyard, Trevathan said that Woodyard, who was, “just been born to be a leader,” gave him advice all through college.

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Playing Tall

May 11th, 2012 - 4:23pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Quarterback Brock Osweiler stands 6-feet-7-inches tall.

The Broncos just want to make sure he plays that tall.

Osweiler spent the past few months working on his delivery and footwork, making sure his throwing motion is ready for NFL action.

“The main thing is getting my elbow raised up,” he explained. “A lot of times in college, my elbow would drop below my shoulder, if you will. When you do that, you lose velocity, you lose accuracy, you’re less consistent with your throws. We basically made a huge point to bring that elbow up to a more traditional throwing motion and get it above my shoulder.”

“Now the biggest thing is to transition those training sessions out here to the practice field.”

After one day of practice, Head Coach John Fox said he has noticed Osweiler is starting to do just that.

“He has to use his height advantage a little bit better with that higher delivery,” he explained. “He’s an accurate passer and I think he became more accurate.”

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Hillman Familiar with Fox

May 11th, 2012 - 3:18pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Running back Ronnie Hillman has known Head Coach John Fox for years.

Sort of.

Fox played two seasons as a defensive back for San Diego State — where Hillman attended — before serving a year on the Aztecs coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

There’s a picture commemorating Fox’s time with his alma mater — right by the elevator — and Hillman saw it daily during his time at the school.

“He had actually met me before he’d met me,” Fox laughed.

Hillman said it was interesting to meet his head coach after seeing his picture every day for two-and-a-half years.

“He looks a little younger in (the photo),” he joked.

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Fox Uses Reins, Not Spurs

May 11th, 2012 - 12:15pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

For Broncos rookies, Friday marked the first day of their NFL career.

The club’s rookie minicamp kicked off this morning, and the players hit the field donning their Broncos gear for the very first time.

Head Coach John Fox said, as expected, some nerves showed up. The players were a little extra fired up especially during the initial walkthrough.

“In walkthrough, we had to tone it down a little bit,” Fox said. “I prefer to use the reins rather than the spurs, so I kind of like that in football players.”

“Other than that, their focus, attention to detail and effort were great.”

It was the first rookie camp in Fox’s head coaching career, as well, as he said he typically combined rookies and veterans for the first camp. But due to new rules in the CBA, the first camp is designated for only rookies — though NFL rules stipulate that certain non-rookies are also eligible to participate.

Thirty players took part in the camp, including two on on a tryout.

Look for plenty more from today’s camp — including a photo gallery, press conference footage and interviews with some of the rookies — this afternoon on DenverBroncos.com.

-Gray Caldwell

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