Titans Rookie Quarterback Levis Hearing, And Ignoring The Noise
NASHVILLE - Living in the spotlight is a tough place to be, especially for a young person, but that light is even brighter when you are an NFL quarterback prospect who suffered through a public embarrassment on draft night.
Such is the case for Tennessee Titans rookie second-round draft pick Will Levis.
The former Kentucky standout spoke with the Nashville media for the first time in person following Saturday's second minicamp practice for rookies at St. Thomas Sports Park. He acknowledged that he heard the noise surrounding him during the pre-draft preparations and everything that followed from draft day to the present.
"I wouldn't say you block it out. You can't, not see the stuff that people say, but you take it for what it is," said Levis. "You focus on what matters. You focus on the things you can control and you kinda say screw it with everything else."
As for where his focus is as he enters this rookie minicamp, Levis was succinct.
"So you know, I focus on myself, I focus on my craft, and I'm focused on the people in this building and just keep working," Levis said.
Fellow rookie draft pick, receiver Colton Dowell, who is sharing a room with his new quarterback during this minicamp, is seeing Levis' dedication to his craft firsthand.
"Will's a great dude, I'm actually rooming with him in the hotel and I'm kinda scared to touch the remote because he was the first one in there, and he was looking at his IPad and he was studying plays, and our remote hasn't moved," laughed Dowell. "He's a very intense guy and he wants to make the most of this opportunity."
The jump from college to the NFL is a major adjustment, and head coach Mike Vrabel acknowledged that dispite Levis having played in a similar offensive system in Lexington, his learning curve is still steep.
"I think everything's different. The defenses are going to be much different, so there are a lot of plays when you look throughout the league, and you look in college and the plays are similar," said Vrabel. "Every team's gonna have some things that are similar, but there may be some scheme plays that are different, but there's a lot of carryover from offenses and defenses, but for a young quarterback, it's going to be the defensive looks, it's going to be the disguises, it's gonna be the different rolled coverages, some of the different fronts that you're gonna have to handle."
"He may have somewhat of a working knowledge of the concept of the play, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be called something different here," continued Vrabel. "But then the defenses he will be going against will be much different than some of the looks he got in college."
It's still early in Levis's NFL career, and there is a lot of hard work, lessons to learn, and mistakes to be made, but at least in the present, the returns on his first two days of rookie minicamp seem positive.
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