Over the next several weeks of Eagles training camp, we’ll be catching up weekly with sixth-round offensive tackle Myles Hinton from Michigan. We’ll be tracking his progress as Hinton acclimates to life in the NFL and tries to make the roster.

Part 1: All that running paid off

Myles Hinton was admittedly a little nervous.

“But then I got out there,” Hinton said, “and I was like, ‘It’s just the boys,’ you know? Just do whatever and be done.”

The Eagles’ sixth-round offensive tackle cleared one of the major hurdles of his rookie training camp last week. He got through his rookie performance in front of the entire team. After going back and forth between several song options, Hinton landed on “Better Together” by Luke Combs.

“I love it,” Hinton said. “I like country in general. I got into country probably like three years ago. And Luke Combs is just the GOAT. “Better Together” is also a great song. I know the lyrics pretty well too. I was trying to stick with what I knew.”

Hinton humbly said he’d give himself a 6 or 7 out of 10 for his performance. But he also admitted that quarterback Kyle McCord’s rendition of “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston was the biggest highlight.

“Kyle’s was funny. Kyle McCord,” Hinton said. “That was funny. I think that was probably the best one so far.”

(Thanks to Nakobe Dean we can see both performances)

OK, so maybe Hinton isn’t ready to jump into a music career but football has been going pretty well. During the first eight practices of training camp, Hinton has been showing plenty of promise and has even started to get some second-team reps at left tackle.

When Hinton began to get those second-team reps, there wasn’t any big speech or reveal before practice. In fact, he finds out on the fly from Jeff Stoutland or another coach to hop into the action.

“I was ready to go,” Hinton said. “I got some second-team reps in OTAs too. So I wasn’t brand-brand new to it. But with pads now, the speed of the game now is different of course. Definitely more bullets flying. It’s fun, though. I’m excited to be out there and get to show what I can do against the second-team defense.”

One of the reasons Philadelphia was such a great landing spot for Hinton was that he gets to learn from Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata — two of the best tackles in the NFL. Mailata last week was a part of a group that got to the bottom of Hinton’s biggest on-field issue.

Last week, Hinton said his goal was to fix his stance and get more square in passing sets. So after a walkthrough one day last week, Hinton, Mailata, Stoutland, assistant O-Line coach Greg Austin and senior personnel director Joe Douglas had a mini summit to address it.

“My stance was kind of jacked up,” Hinton admitted. “We figured it out. We squared it away and now I’m pretty much set and square. Total 180. Before I would set square maybe 3 out of 10 times. Now, it’s 7 out of 10, 8 out of 10. It’s a very big difference. I feel better in pass-pro, feel more solid.”

The only way Mailata and the rest of the veterans want to be repaid? Hinton just has to fulfill his rookie duties.

Sometimes that means getting Rita’s water ice for them after practice or making a food run. It’s also up to him and the other rookies to keep the offensive line room stocked with snacks, waters and Gatorade. Last week, Hinton had to re-stock a meeting room essential: Sunflower seeds.

“They’ve been good,” Hinton said. “They’re really good vets.”

After a couple week of training camp, Hinton is looking forward to playing in his first NFL preseason game on Thursday night, when the Eagles host the Bengals at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I’m excited to play,” he said. “Just excited to get out there and experience an NFL game. I know it’s preseason so it’s not the whole shebang but it’s still really exciting just to get a taste of it.”

Hinton said his mom and dad are making the trip to Philly for the game and he’s really excited to go against his former Michigan teammate Kris Jenkins, who plays defensive tackle for the Bengals. In fact, Hinton said he has former teammates and friends on all three teams the Eagles play this preseason.

Hinton used to get really nervous before games but has gotten a lot better at managing those nerves over the years. He’s confident in his abilities.

But will his first NFL game be a little different?

“Probably a little bit different,” he said with a chuckle. “But I’m trying to employ the same tactics. Go out there chill and ready to go.”

Goal for next week: “This past week I did staying square in my pass set … For this week, I’d probably say just keeping my hands connected in the run game. I feel like a few times this past week, the past few days, I come off the ball and made a good pop but my hands have fallen off. I’ll hit weird, try to re-fit but I’ll never really get re-fit properly. I just need to get out there and get hands on people. I know I’m explosive enough to get the pop in, I need to be able to get hands on them and sustain that drive past a few yards.”