I just took a week and a half off after mini camp and I’m trying to get back in the groove, starting to work out again. I’ll be down South in Bradenton to do some football related stuff the next two weeks.

My agent reps a lot of D-ends and brings them all down at the same time to work with some coaches and some ex-players who played the position. One is Lester Archambeau who played for the Falcons forever. It’s cool to have a lot of vets let you know some of the things they used to do to prepare for training camp.

This will be my second year and the biggest difference is knowing what to expect going in. Even though we have a new coaching staff so I don’t know what kind of practices we’re going to have, at least I know the tempo of training camp. I’ll be more prepared mentally, unlike last year when I went in and had no clue as far as plays. When you know what you’re doing you can go in there and be able to play football without thinking too much.

I’m definitely going to try to help make the transition easier for the rookies, but it’s going to be a hard time for them no matter what. As a rookie you really can’t show your talent because you’re thinking too much out there on the field.

In training camp jobs are on the line so everybody goes out there and tries to go hard and smack each other a little bit. We don’t have a lot of padded practices because the coaches don’t want too many guys to get hurt. When you do strap on the pads it’s a different ballgame.

Some guys you can’t smack, like the quarterbacks. If I get a chance to smack Kevin Smith a couple times I’m definitely going to make that happen. I’m not too worried abut him out there, my thing is to get to the quarterback. But that’s my homeboy.

Cliff Avril is a defensive end for the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com

runs at www.avril92.com. Follow him on Twitter as cliffavril.