@DPo8*.
I'm approaching this game the same way, but I'm definitely more excited. I feel like I'm ready to play. I feel like my preparation this week was really good. I feel like I had a good week on the JUGS, a good week in the film room, a good week at practice, a good week in the running game, a good week in the passing game, a good week in the meeting room. I'm ready, man. I'm comfortable, man. I feel like all the preparation is in; I can go have fun now.
It was unfortunate to see Lestar (Jean) get hurt last week, but we know he'll be back soon. I just want to feel like a contributor. I'm ready to help this team. I've always said in these rookie diaries that I can feel like I can help the team. This is my first opportunity, so I just want to go play, go 100 percent, 110 every time.
I sit in between Kev (Kevin Walter) and Andre (Johnson) in the big meeting room, and they're always like, 'Hey, man, just make sure you're ready; make sure you're prepared.' You've just got to make sure you do your job, really.
In this league, if your assignment doesn't get done, it looks bad. It's not like in college where if your job isn't done, you'll be OK; these guys are too good that we play against every week. I need to make sure I win every play. Special teams, too. That's important. You lose on special teams, that's a kick to the house, or that's a missed block that could have been a touchdown on a punt return. You've got to really make sure you get your job done on those, especially.
With our offense, it could be anybody, any week. Week before last, it was Ben (Tate) Arian (Foster) in Jacksonville. In Denver, it was Kevin and Andre. You never know what's going to happen with our offense. We can pop anything, and that's not even talking about our three great tight ends. They can have a day, too. Our receivers, our running backs, we can strike with anything, and I think that's a good offense to be on. We can slice you any way. To be able to be a part of that, I just want to be able to add my niche however I can.
I went and read to kids at Worship elementary earlier this week. It was a great opportunity; of course I said yes. I love going and reading to kids. It's always fun. They're always so excited. Worship Elementary actually had a big accomplishment; they were ranked ninth in the United States for the most books read over the summer. Growing up, I didn't read over the summer, so I thought that was an amazing accomplishment. I was too busy running around playing football and traveling for basketball. Just to go there and have that opportunity to see how happy they were, it was great.
That's one thing that (Jim) Tressel always taught us at Ohio State: With your free time, make sure you give back. We would do competitions, like he would split the team up into groups and it would be whoever had the most academic points, whoever had the highest GPA, whoever didn't miss workouts or did the most community service. So, that was something that we always used to do competitively and always enjoyed. I've kind of carried that over. I've always had a good time giving back.
To the fans, just make sure you scream loud for us on Sunday. I appreciate the support and appreciate you guys reading these things. I get the tweets. I can't retweet everybody, but I appreciate it.
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