Q. Do you get to interact with Deshaun at all or have you?
SHAQ LAWSON: Yeah, I talk to him. We just talk about our times at Clemson, bring about old memories, the time we could have won a National Championship.
Q. Is he in the building? I know he hasn't been out here at practice, but has he been in the building during the week?
SHAQ LAWSON: Shoot, I can't even tell you. I don't know. I just be worried about where I be at. I seen him from time to time, but I can't really tell you where he be at.
Q. How have you transitioned into this new team, this new scheme? How do you approach your position here with them?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, man, scheme is similar to what I played at Buffalo. Same, as a matter of fact. Probably had one of my best years.
But new team I've been a part -- when a new team came up there and just basically got to take one day at a time. They try to change the coaching and things, about the building, try to bring a great group of guys in. But usually just got to take one day at a time and try to get one percent better as a team and as an organization every day.
Q. How would you evaluate your position right knew on the defensive line?
SHAQ LAWSON: Yeah, this group is deep. We've got a lot of guys that played a lot of ball in this league, help teams win games. It's just been a fun group. It's a competition in that room, so it's been going great, well. The guys they keep, it's going to be wonderful because we've got a lot of guys, and each and every guy can play in there, and they've helped the team in the previous, in the past.
Q. What do you think about David Culley as a head coach?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, you know, you seen a little different side from being an offensive coordinator and now, but he's the right guy for this job. He's ready to lead this team. He brings the energy every day for us, and we feed off him. He's the right guy for this job, man. I'm excited to see what he do with it.
Q. I'm sure the past week has basically been aggressive, attacking kind of defensive front. How would you define what y'all's approach is?
SHAQ LAWSON: Man, our approach is, like you said, attack -- set a new line of scrimmage, affect the quarterback in any way. If that's getting sacks or putting pressure on him, we've got a great back seven. With this defense you can just attack. You don't got to think about no blocks or anything you've got to worry about. I mean, that's the great part about being in a 4-3 defense.
Q. Is it reactionary kind of or you're kind of trusting your --
SHAQ LAWSON: Yeah, you know, 4-3 you put it on your players, players to go make plays. It's a little different from a 3-4.
Q. Miami is kind of similar to here, kind of turned over the roster a lot when you were there. How do you go about establishing a culture as a team when there are so many new guys?
SHAQ LAWSON: Yeah, yeah, like you said, I was part of Miami when they had a bunch of new guys, too. Man, those tough times in camp define your team. We go out here grinding together for one another, each other, this defines your team and this is a true test of how your team is going to be.
This has been a great camp so far. We done got after it. The offensive line and D line going at it. Going against Laremy and those guys, Laremy the best in the NFL, the best I'm probably going to go against all year there in practice every day.
Going against the competition of those guys, man, that changes the culture, and I think it should be great around here.
Q. With a lot of new guys, how have you sensed it feels distinctly different from other teams?
SHAQ LAWSON: You've got to think about it, all the players come from different places, so we're just understanding each other. That's why we come out here. Any other sport, that's why football is a great sport. This is a team sport, so you get guys from different cultures to come out here and play with each other and make one big team and try to do something special at the end of the year, and that's win a Super Bowl. That's what makes it special about it.
Q. Do you feel like you guys up front need to set the tone for the defense?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, yes, sir, yes, sir. It starts with the defensive line and offensive line in football. The defensive line is going to set the tempo, how far this team goes and this defense goes. We stretch those guys -- not even me, the guys that's been here, B Don, (phonetic), those guys who (indiscernible). It's like it's going to start with us up front. This team is going to lead how we play. If we play good, this team will play good.
Q. How do you approach pass rushers?
SHAQ LAWSON: By winning your one-on-ones, man. At the end of the day they're going to put you in a match-up where you need to be, but at the end of the day it's about winning your one-on-ones. That's what's great about being back in a 4-3. You get a lot of one-on-one opportunities and things like that.
Q. It seems like it's pretty wide open to get a spot on the line, but how do you approach that as a group to kind of keep guys fresh?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, man, it's next man up. It's the league, man. It's next man up. That's what's good about this 4-3. That's what's good about being a D-lineman. You plug in and out. You go hard for your five, six, seven, plays, bring another D-line, he go hard, and you just feed off each other, man.
Q. Last year in Miami when you were going between a veteran and a young quarterback, did you guys chat about that at all on the defensive side of the ball?
SHAQ LAWSON: Oh, no, we couldn't control what was going on outside of the ball. Any guy we had in there we was going to do our job on the defensive end.
If we stopped teams from not scoring, that be on us. We never talk about none of that. Both those guys was great, man, "Fitzmagic" and Tua, both of those guys was great, man. When both of their time came, they both made plays.
Q. Anyone on the D-line you connected with mostly?
SHAQ LAWSON: Man, I connected with all these guys. Like I said, I know a lot of these guys before I got here, so me and Jordan was in the same division, but I connected with all of these guys. They bought they many well since I've been here, so I appreciate that.
Q. Do you have a friendly rivalry with the offense considering that a lot of practices we've seen you've been on a more common side of the ball?
SHAQ LAWSON: No. At the end of the day we're trying to get them better, they're trying to get us better, man. At the end of the day that's our biggest thing around here, is team, team, team. That's all we're trying to do, make one big team.
Whatever we've got to do to get those guys good and get us great, that's what we're going to do, man. We want to go far this year.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports