Aaron Glenn may be the Jets’ first-year head coach, but only strength and conditioning coaches were on the field with the veterans during Phase I of the Jets’ offseason strength and conditioning program. But AG was visible at the start of Phase 2, and then he got some fresh air and some hands-on coaching time with his young players at the team’s rookie minicamp that concluded Sunday.
“It felt great to be on the grass from being inside and being in meetings for a while,” Glenn said after the RMC’s second practice Saturday. And he had a few top messages he delivered to his 44 or so camp participants (10 first- and second-year returnees, seven draft picks, 15 undrafted free agents and 12 tryouts).
“I told those guys, it really doesn’t matter where you’re from, even what you did,” he said. “The thing is, they all have done a great job to get in the building. And once you get in the building, you have a shot.”
And Glenn has a shot to expand his coaching reach. He related how he went from being a DBs coach to Detroit’s defensive coordinator and on to the Jets HC’s office.
“For me to get a chance to go to every position and be able to give my opinions on how they should do things and try to help those guys be successful, that’s the fun thing about coaching,” he said. “To go with the quarterbacks and talk to those guys, the running backs, the D-line, the linebackers. That was the change of being able to move around the field and be able to coach every position.”
One of the telling clips from the first RMC practice in the Jets’ fieldhouse was Glenn, who besides being a DBs coach was a Pro Bowl corner for the Jets and the Texans, observing from the sideline as third-round CB Azareye’h Thomas ran drills and got some coaching.