Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, offensive lineman Connor Williams and linebacker Duke Riley met with the media following today's minicamp practice. Check out the top quotes from their media availabilities.
QB TUA TAGOVAILOA
(On how hard he gets on himself about his ball placement)
"I think I'm pretty hard on myself every time whether it's throwing a ball where it needs to be or pre-snap operation – guys aren't set, guys aren't where they're supposed to be – because in order for the offense to function, we've all got to be on the same page and in order for us to execute at a high level, we've got to do things at a high level. So I've got to be hard on myself. Mike (McDaniel) is a little different. Mike is always trying to encourage you and trying to keep you going so for me it's a little backwards where I'm used to being hard on myself and the coach getting hard on me, too, whereas I'm getting hard on myself and he's trying to tell me, 'Hey, it's going to be okay. We're only in May. We're only in June.' There's a lot more time to grow."
(On Mike McDaniel's positivity)
"It's been cool. It's been different. Like I said I've never been around a coach like this who's just extremely positive. Growing up, my dad's always been hard on me. My high school coach has been hard on me. Coach (Nick) Saban has been hard on me and all the coaches that I've had prior, they've all been hard on me. He's (Mike McDaniel) hard, but he takes another alleyway, if you will, on kind of teaching and helping."
(On if he responds better to hard coaching or encouragement)
"I think I've been playing football for so long to where the standard has been set for me at such a young age with the way my dad has kind of coached me. Then even at the college setting, I was more afraid of what my dad would have to tell me after the game than Coach Saban. And it still is a little like that in the NFL but for me, I have it embedded in my mind that regardless of how another coach feels about the way I practice or I play, I know what I'm capable of doing."
(On his study habits while learning a third new offense in three years)
"I've got a white board at home that I just write down all of the formations, I write down all of the motions and I have my brother or a family member or someone that's at my house tell me the formations and tell me the motions. What I also do is I invite the guys over to my house and we walk through plays, we walk through formations and we barbecue."
(On his timing with WR Tyreek Hill)
"It's pretty cool having a guy like Tyreek (Hill), but you have other guys that are extremely talented, very fast as well that kind of help out with Tyreek being open. You have (Jaylen) Waddle, you have (Mike) Gesicki; so everyone has to cover every part of the field and it should be a lot easier to get these guys the ball. Although playing against our defense, it still gets tough."
OL CONNOR WILLIAMS
(On what T Terron Armstead is like as a teammate)
"Just a savvy vet. He's a consistent guy. He's an amazing player and just being in the locker room for his teammates, he's fitting into the culture well and everybody's already leaning on him."
(On his young offensive line teammates)
"I mean they're all great players. They come in day-in and day-out and work their tail off and you couldn't ask for any better linemen to play next to on the line and so I'm just happy to be a part of the group."
LB DUKE RILEY
(On what he's trying to improve on)
"I'm improving in every space that I can. I'm six years in and I feel like I'm retaining and I'm a sponge. I try to soak up as much information. Really it's not even just learning my position anymore. It's learning what these guys do and how they do their hand placement, learning the corner's technique for whenever I'm in man coverage. Knowing everybody's position on the team is going to be one of the things that's helping me more understand the game. The game is starting to slow down for me a little more being that I'm six years in. I think that's going really well for me."
(On flying around at practice today)
"I set a standard for myself to be the best version of myself every day for the team. I hold myself accountable for that every day. Regardless if I messed up or anything, I always try to reset every single play and focus on that one play each time. Usually practice is over by the time I'm done because I'm so focused and locked in. I just try to be the best version of myself for the team every single day and do my job."
