Center Chris White's nickname is "Catfish" and he's originally from Winona, Miss.
Center Chris White is getting first-team reps after the injury to starter Chris Myers. A former undrafted free agent in his fifth season out of Southern Mississippi, White spent his first two seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
- With Chris Myers out, you've been lining up as the starting center. How does that affect your approach to training camp?
"Um, nothing different really. Well, I've always had to kind of watch all the spots on the inside so, nothing really as far as my approach. I was coming to camp, planning on playing guard and center so, nothing different about that really."
- The same group of five linemen started all 16 games together last season. With Myers out, has it been challenging at all for you to get on the same page with the starting unit?
"Well, I think time will help up, all of us playing together. Chemistry will come with all the guys being there together. The more snaps and reps we have together, then the better we'll be."
- How would you rate your performance in camp so far?
"I think I'm doing okay. I mean, there are definitely some things I need to improve on and some things I need to be better at, but I'm doing okay."
- Do you have a good relationship with Matt Schaub and the other quarterbacks? How important is that relationship for a center?
"We're cool, we're very cool. We talk, we hang out and stuff so we're pretty cool."
- Do you expect to be called on to play both center and guard in this upcoming season?
"Doesn't really matter, you know. If we need help at either center or guard, then I'm there."
- Do you think that Ray Wright's new offseason workout program has improved the general condition level of players this year?
"I think the guys are closer, in a sense. I think with all the things that the guys were doing, I think it kind of just brought like us a little closer together on things. Everybody was constantly, the whole offseason, talking about having the same goals, you know, making it to the playoffs and you know it was kind of emphasized a lot."
- What have you seen out of rookie Antoine Caldwell during training camp? Has he impressed you at all?
"He has, yeah. He's very fast, he's very strong. He is a good player and I think he will continue to grow into an even player."
- Are any of the other rookies standing out to you at all? Is anyone going above and beyond your expectations?
"Well, (Andre) Hall sure looks good running the ball, he looks pretty good back there. Of course, we'll see, you know, when the game start rolling up and how things go but he's been looking good. And I'm very biased on offense, so I'm pretty much going to roll with him. (James) Casey's been looking pretty good out there. I don't really have time to evaluate and watch everybody but those two guys kind of pop out in my head."
- The Texans had the third ranked offense at the end of the season last year. How can the offense get better in 2009?
"As an offense, we just need to score more points as the other team. That's about it."
- Several of your teammates believe this year it's 'playoffs or bust', do you agree with that?
"I think it's definitely possible. It's definitely a very attainable goal. It's a goal that this team, this organization, is deadest on making and if everybody around here pulls together and works hard, I don't see why can't do it."
- You've been going against your teammates in practice for about a week now. How ready are you to hit somebody else in the first preseason game next week?
"I really am. It's starting to get kind of old, running into Frank (Okam) and DelJuan (Robinson) all day so it will be nice to run into some other guys."
- How did you get the nickname "Catfish"?
"Well, the short version of Catfish is when I was in Green Bay, I got bored one night and I decided to fix me a home cooked meal at my homeboy's house. Now, I had everything laid out. I had collard greens going from scratch, macaroni from scratch, yams, cornbread, everything going. For some reason, I had a big pot of grease cooking and I left it cooking too long and it basically had caught fire and almost burned down my homeboy's kitchen. At the time Mike Flanagan was up there, playing, and then you know he was here afterwards. So when I get here, he kind of told the story and then the name 'Catfish' just kind of stuck. Him and Ray Wright kind of just pinned the name on me and I've been rolling with it ever since."
