Q. If you guys can solidify early the guys who are playing guard on either side of you, how much of an advantage is that for you as a center?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: It's a -- at the end of the day, the coaches, Coach Carm, Daboll, they'll make the decision who to start and who's going to be in that position. At an early stage, you like to solidify who's there.
There's always going to be competition, though, but at the end of the day, you like that -- what am I trying to say here? Yeah, you need more reps together just so you know how to play with one another.
Q. How hard is it to get those reps in a situation like this where there's no pads involved?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: Yeah, that's where you've got to be very mindful and very conscious. Even if it's indy reps and we're doing drills, as we're working together and stuff and make sure we're working on our fundamentals, our technique, great footwork. At the end of the day, right now what we're working on is hand placement, so that's a big thing for us.
Q. What about you personally? What did you zero in on from last year to this year?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: A lot of it was my footwork and that second level blocking for me, maintaining blocks. At the end of the day, at the center position, take leadership and take control of the leadership role.
Q. How is Carm -- obviously it's a new voice in your group. How does that change things and change maybe the dynamic of the whole group?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: Yeah, Coach Carmen has been a great addition to the O-line room. He has a great amount of knowledge of the game and has helped every single one of us out to be better players and holds us to a high standard each and every day.
We go out there and compete and get better each and every day.
Q. Has he said anything to you in the short time you've been with him that has stuck with you or something you maybe haven't thought of before?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: Yeah, just how he sees it, how it could be just ID'ing fronts or just his mindset on what to do here. He's very knowledgeable and has a great expertise of the game. Got to give him credit for that.
Q. John Michael, you always hear rookies talk about that first year they spent most of their off-season training for the draft, training for the combine, and then you roll right into the season. When you got to take a breath and started looking at your off-season training this year, did you make noticeable changes in how you approach things to help you in what you learned as a rookie and maybe couldn't have anticipated what you did?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: Yeah, I feel like for me, just watching back the games through this off-season and honing in on the technique and just the play, my play out there. Every single day, you can't focus on a million different things. You've got to pick one thing that you want to get better at each and every day and just hone in on that.
If it was footwork one day, if it was hand placement the other day, if it was, I don't know, ID'ing fronts and just the knowledge of the game, that was a big off-season for me of my football IQ and just continuing to get better with that.
Q. What does becoming more of a leader and taking on that leadership role mean to you? Like how do you do that?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: I think the biggest thing for me when times are tough, really know who a true leader is when you hit adversity, you hit a tough time. All the guys look to someone, and I want to be that for our room and take charge and take a chance. That's what it was, taking charge.
Q. What is your sense of Runyan and Eluemunor now, the two guys on your left and right?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: They are -- we made great additions in the O-line room. I'm very excited to have those guys here. They're great guys. Not only on the field, but off the field. They want to be here. They want to get better. Very excited for our O-line room. Yeah, we're headed in a great direction.
Q. Is there a difference when you line up with guys to your left and right who are experienced, know what they're doing, you know what I mean? They're more experienced than you obviously, have seen a lot more. Can you sense that as you line up with them?
JOHN MICHAEL SCHMITZ JR.: Yeah, they help me out. They let me -- they help me understand certain situations, what to be aware of, what they're seeing on film. It can be a different view of what I'm seeing because they've had more experience, like you said.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports