Rookie Michel pays attention to details
FOXBORO — At first glance, it looked as though Sony Michel had made one of the plays of the day.
During a drill early in practice yesterday, the Patriots running back ran a route down the middle of the field, and then cut to the left toward the short corner of the end zone. As he approached the pylon, Michel turned over his left shoulder and made a onehanded catch with his right hand on a pass from Nick Caserio, the team’s director of player personnel.
But the rookie had made a mistake. Before making his impressive grab, Michel had cut the route short, which didn’t please running backs coach Ivan Fears.
It was a stern reminder that while Michel may have first-round NFL talent, there’s still a lot for the rookie to learn after being drafted just a month ago.
“For him giving me some type of coaching tip, that’s what’s helping me improve and move forward,” Michel said. “That’s why he’s my coach. I have to listen to him. I’m excited to have him as my coach, coach Ivan Fears, because he’s going to do what’s best for this team and help me be the best player I can be.”
The focus is on the little things as the Patriots continue their run of organized team activities this spring, especially for the rookies. And Michel certainly understands that he’s nowhere near close to a finished product, so he’s taking every ounce of knowledge in.
“Attention to detail is important, in football, period,” Michel said. “Whatever you do, you have to focus on the little things and try to get better. You want to learn from things like that. That’s what I try to do. I try to soak in information, soak in the coaching and just try to learn from that.”
It wasn’t the smoothest day for Michel, who also fumbled once during a drill in which members of the coaching staff had boxing gloves on as they tried to punch the ball out. For all of his obvious talent, that’s the biggest red flag for Michel, who coughed the ball up every 54.6 touches at Georgia. That was the second-worst fumble rate among running backs in this year’s draft class.
But that’s what these days are for — to get better. And whether it’s coaches or his new teammates, Michel is feeling like he’s getting the support he needs in order to be successful.
“Your teammates are a family,” Michel said. “You’re supposed to have each other’s back, and I think that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re just trying to hold each other accountable, have each other’s back, and just push to get better every day.”
Michel is getting that support in different ways, and that includes getting help whenever he needs it. For every mistake he makes, or anything in the playbook he may not understand, he’s seeking out veterans, and even hearing it from his coaches from time to time, on how to handle it all.
“It’s been amazing,” he said. “Just getting feedback from guys who have done it. Asking them questions and they can give you the answers or if they don’t know, you have so many other guys that can give you the answer, whether it’s from the offensive or defensive perspective. Just how they play things or what I’m going to see or what I’m going to expect, so it’s amazing.”