On Wednesday, Dan Campbell began his first training camp as head coach of the Detroit Lions and he is already earning the respect of his players in an unconventional way.
According to reports, Campbell joined the entire Lions defense on Day 1 of training camp and pumped out 40 up-downs without skipping a beat.
“To players, it just shows he’ll get on the grind, too,” veteran defensive tackle Michael Brockers said after practice. “You gain a lot of respect for a guy that can get on that grind, get on this turf and do the same exercise as you, because some of the players wonder, ‘Man, if you was doing this, what would happen?’ For a coach to get down there and show you, ‘Hey, I”m about this life.’ We definitely gained a lot of respect for him.”
“He’s out there doing up-downs with us in practice,” Okwara said. “You can see his excitement, just the way he addresses the team in meetings and all that.”
“Every player—you can see it right now—a lot of young players are buying because he came in with the right attitude,” Brockers said. “He expects a lot from us, but at the same time he understands as a player, ‘I know what this grind is all about.’ So we love that aspect of him.”
Folks, this is going to be a fun ride!
