Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Rookies take on coaching
Newest Dolphins lead Special Olympics athletes in flag football
DAVIE — The Miami Dolphins rookies donned their practice jerseys and represented the team in an official capacity for the first time Tuesday, and the personable and charismatic group enjoyed the experience of playing flag football with a group of 60 Special Olympics athletes.
On one side of the field in the Dolphins’ indoor practice facility, guard Isaac Asiata, the fifth-round pick from Utah, designed a flea flicker in the huddle and then laughed as the play fell apart.
“Hey, man, I’m trying to win,” Asiata said with a smile. “We’re having fun out here, man. Run some trick plays. That’s what’s fun.”
Asiata was possibly having more fun than anyone else.
“I saw him running up and down the field more than the kids,” said cornerback Cordrea Tankersley, the third-round pick from Clemson.
On the other side of the field, linebacker Raekwon McMillan, the second-round pick from Ohio State, was coaching his team to a victory over defensive end Charles Harris, the first-round pick from Missouri.
They might have had the most competitive game of the day.
“These guys are highly intense,” Tankersley said while laughing. “They’re getting after it. I’ve got to stay out of their way.”
Harris, when asked about his loss to McMillan, didn’t break character from his head coach act.
“We had a great time today,” Harris said. “My team we came up short, but they played hard that’s why they all got a medal. I told each and every one of them, ‘I love the way you play.’ That’s what it’s all about. They
left it out there on the field.”
Told he seemed to be enjoying himself while laughing with the kids, Harris kept his deadpan routine.
“I wasn’t laughing, I was serious,” he said, “but, yeah, it was a good time for the kids. It was great. I was great at coaching. It’s my fault. I didn’t put my men in the right position at times, but I’ll take bullet on that, I’ll bite that, it’s my fault.
Harris said he plans on fully participating in next week’s organized team activities even if he hasn’t signed his contract, which should be in the neighborhood of four years, $11 million. He is the only Dolphins rookie yet to sign his deal.
“I don’t care at all,” he told the Miami Herald. “Contract, no contract, I’m still going hard.”
This was the fourth year the Dolphins rookies have teamed with the Special Olympics to emphasize the importance of fitness. The event came about as a way of finding something the Dolphins could do with the Special Olympics athletes.
“We were trying to think of a way to get our athletes together with their players so that we could really have them totally feel included and accepted,” said Erin Kozlowski, senior regional vice president for Special Olympics Florida.
Although the rookies wore their Dolphins practice jerseys for the first time Tuesday it still didn’t quite seem as though they’d made it to the NFL.
“I wouldn’t say it won’t quite hit me until probably the first preseason game,” Tankersley said. “Like I said, we’re in practice mode, and practice is practice.
“But just knowing I’m here in Miami, the greatest place probably on Earth, I mean, I couldn’t ask for a better place to get drafted to.”
As for Harris, who was still playing his humorously intense character, he said he learned a lot about his new teammates on Tuesday.
“Raekwon will do anything to win — legally, illegally it doesn’t matter what it is, he’ll do anything to win,” Harris said before turning his attention to defensive tackle Davon Godchaux, the fifth-round pick from LSU.
“Godchaux he’s a great assistant coach, he had my back, he had some great plays. But he needs to learn the assistant coach position. He needs to learn what that means, it’s assistant, it’s not head coach . ... ”
Godchaux signs
The Dolphins announced Tuesday that they signed Godchaux, the second of the team’s two fifthround picks in last month’s draft. Godchaux, the 178th pick, started 34 of 37 games for LSU in three seasons. He totaled 145 tackles, 12.5 sacks, two passes defended and two forced fumbles.
Godchaux is expected to battle to be in the defensive tackle rotation along with Pro Bowl selection Ndamukong Suh, Jordan Phillips, and fellow rookie Vincent Taylor.