LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL MINICAMP DAY THREE QUOTE SHEET

LIONS HEAD COACH DAN CAMPBELL MINICAMP DAY THREE QUOTE SHEET
June 9, 2022

On the reports that the Lions have added former USC Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief of Staff Brandon Sosna to the front office: “Yeah, I don’t – to be honest with you, I’d rather not – I will confirm it, I will, but I’d rather not go into what – all the details. We’ll get that to you guys at a later time but yes, we’re adding some help there.”
On the appeal of adding former USC Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief of Staff Brandon Sosna to the front office: “I would rather just go a little more in-depth later on about all that. I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t think I was going to be talking about that right now, so I don’t want to talk out of place with it if you don’t mind.”
On former Lions CB Jermaine Waller’s decision to retire: “Yeah, he just felt like it was – it wasn’t for him and that’s OK. You don’t know until you know, and I think he felt like that was – that this wasn’t for him and that’s OK, so I wish him the best of luck.”
On how he counsels players who are thinking about retirement: “No, I think you just always – I know for me I always – I want them to make sure that they really think about, ‘OK well what’s next and what are your next plans? Do you have a plan?’ And then, ‘Man, I want you to just sit back and think about – you’re sitting here five years from now and you look back on this moment, and are you going to regret it? Is it something that – you’re young, you’re healthy, you’re athletic, you’re here for a reason and just make sure you do that.’ So, you just try to get them to ponder it as much as possible and really – that’s really, ultimately for me what I want to know they’ve done. They’ve really thought it out and tried to at least look out and they’ve got a plan, they’re able to know they’re about to make a decision that they can walk away from and never look back on. So that’s part of it. Everybody’s – it hits everybody a little different, at different times and for us on that standpoint, it’s better that it happened now than later.”
On if it was difficult for him to retire from playing football: “Yeah, it was very difficult, but also I knew that I couldn’t stay healthy anymore. I said that I was like ‘Mr. Glass,’ it was just – but I miss the heck out of it and it’s hard. Even then, I felt like – as I think most guys would even though maybe you can’t go 60 plays, you really do believe you could go a few more, just a few, now you need about a month to recover. But that’s hard, but it eventually goes away because the realization is like look that’s why you can’t do this anymore because things are happening, and the body begins to break down or mentally you just don’t have it anymore. At some point you just don’t feel like running through that wall anymore and that happens. That’s a part of it.”
On his message to the team as they are about to go on break until training camp: “Yeah, so really what we’re going to do is this is going to be the last week with a lot of our veteran players and next week will be more for the young players, developmental players and this gives us a great opportunity to just get hands-on with them, a little more one-on-one. I was saying (this) on the way down, I kind of like this time of year because the rookies come in rookie minicamp and they really feel great about themselves and then the vets come in, and all of sudden they realize they’re not as good as they think they are and they got a lot to learn. Then they watch how it’s done and then they begin to grow, and they start learning. But yet there’s these things, they still don’t ask these questions right. They still – they’re the young guy in the room and they don’t always just kind of open up. So, now that they’ve seen how it’s done and they’ve had time to sit in the room with the vets, once they kind of go away now you start getting those questions and you get more of the one-on-one, and they kind of take another little jolt up in their development which is good. So that’s what next week will be and that’s where we’ll go. So, we just – we need to finish out strong today with the veterans.”
On Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson and his impression of him this offseason: “I think he’s – he’s been all business. I told my wife this last night, what’s great about him is he just is quietly getting better right in front of us. He just – he doesn’t say anything, he listens, he’s like a sponge in there, he absorbs the information, he watches how things are done and the way coaches want them done. Then he’s got a motor and he goes, he just learns and gets better every day, you just see it and so I love that about him. He’s just – everyday man, there’s growth right in front of us.”
On what he is most satisfied with as the team wraps up the offseason program and where he thinks the team has the farthest to go: “Yeah, well I think there again – a little bit of what I alluded to yesterday is that I feel like we are farther along with the situational work that we’re getting and the adapting to different problems, creating problems, solving problems, I do feel like we’re better in that regard. I feel like our fundamentals are a little bit better than they were this time of year, of course, a lot of that is natural because we’re teaching them from the ground up how we want things done and the way we teach things, and so I feel good about that. Listen we – all of that being said, we’re not in pads, there’s no physical work taking place out there per se. We are still young. We are still young and just like yesterday, there’s a couple of young mistakes that took place yesterday. Now, that’s why you do it because you learn from it and grow from it but there’s still some things that pop up. So, we still have a lot of development and growth to take place overall as a team. We need a lot more situational work and we have no idea what we’re going to be until we put the pads on. Man, that’s just the bottom line, there’s going to be guys that look really good right now and all you guys know that we’re going to go out there in pads when we’re able to do it in training camp and they’re going to disappear. Then vice versa, some guys don’t look very good right now, they look like old pick up trucks and then all of sudden you put pads on them, and they come to life so and that’s the nature of it. But, I think that from that regard, we’ve got a ways to go. We still – we’ve got a ton of situational work that we’ve got to get much better at if we want to win games this year, a lot more than we did last year.”
On if there is an open backup quarterback competition between Lions QBs David Blough and Tim Boyle: “Yeah, I would say so. Everybody here, they understand that. Listen, David had earned that, and he knew that. That’s one of the reasons why he’s back here with us. He knew that. Listen, the door is not shut on you. Could it be difficult? Yeah, it could be difficult. He earned that right to take reps with the second group and he showed up and made some plays. But yet, we were still alternating them, and then you watch what Tim did yesterday—he rose to the challenge and he made his plays when they were to be made in crucial situations. So, listen, competition is a great thing. So, listen, I respect what both of them did this spring. That’s what I love about both of them. I know they are going out there to compete against each other.”
On how likely it is Lions WR Jameson Williams could return for training camp and if there is a plan in place for his return: “We’ll have a plan for him moving forward. He is going to be around here with us in the short period of time that if—which he does go home, we know where he’s going to be, and who those people are. So, we are going to have a plan for him. Now that being said, I don’t see him being ready for training camp. I don’t see that. I am very hopeful, but I don’t see it. We’re going to do this thing the right way and when he’s ready, he’ll be ready. But no, I don’t feel like you’re going to see him out there day one.”
On the possibility of Lions DE Josh Paschal returning for training camp: “We’re just taking it as it comes right now, so we’ll see with all of those guys, (Lions CB Jeff) Okudah included.”
On if he prefers Lions WR Jameson Williams to participate in training camp at some point to be prepared to play in the regular season: “Sure. I mean, absolutely. Look, we want to get him out there as fast as possible, and is it crucial? It is crucial, but not until he gets his strength up. He needs a lot of strength development in that body, his lower extremities, his legs, his knees, his everything. So, until he’s able to stabilize himself, and really get some strength that we feel good about to where he can protect himself, he can protect that knee, and he can compete, and compete at a high level we’re not going to put him out there.”
On if there is a level of excitement knowing the talented wide receiver corps will make roster decisions tougher: “Well, yeah it always is. That’s what you hope for. Competition makes everybody better, and it doesn’t matter what you do, it makes you better, and that is evident in that room, and that’s a good thing for us, and for us as a team. Now when that time starts coming it’s hard, real hard because you do, you fall in love with those guys, and respect all that they put out, and what they put out and you know what that’s like. But you also – it’s like for the guys that don’t make it here, it’s also – man, there are 31 other teams, and we will do anything and everything we can to help those guys that are doing it the right way to get on another squad, and certainly give them some tape to where other teams see what they can do. So, I think that’s a lot of it as well.”
On if Lions DE Josh Pascal’s injury is related to the injury he had at Kentucky: “Yeah, a little bit. A little bit.”
On if he has plans with his family over the break outside of watching his daughter play volleyball: “Yeah, well actually she’s about to done, so about the time I’m done, now she’s done. When I have time, she’s done. We don’t have anything planned, but as far – we don’t have some European vacation or anything. We will get out for a little bit, at least for least for five or six days or something, just try to clear the head, be with the family. Other than that, I’ll be up here getting ready for the season, and still spend time with them.”
On not getting away from the building for too long: “No, it’s hard because you do, you just feel like you get away too long, and stuff starts stacking up or feel like you are too far removed from things. At least, that’s how I am.”