Overheard At Lions OTA's
By: Jeff Riger
Monday the Lions were on the field for the first day of OTA's (organized team activities) in Allen Park. There are only so many sessions that the media is allowed to attend and pick players brains about the upcoming NFL season. Below are some of the more interesting quotes that some of the coaches and players involved, had to say...
-Lions receiver Titus Young was not in attendance on Monday most likely because he got into a fight with safety Louis Delmas last week at some time. Reports are that Delmas and Young got into a confrontation and Young sucker-punched the member of the secondary. Head coach Jim Schwartz was asked about the alleged incident and said essentially nothing. "This is a voluntary portion of our offseason, we are not in mandatory minicamp" said Schwartz. The coach continued saying "I'm not going to be commenting on which guys are here and which guys are not. They are all accounted for, we are aware of the reason each one person is either not here or not participating and we will work through those things as we go."
Receiver Nate Burleson, a mentor to Young was also asked about the absence of his pupil. "I know that Titus is working, he is probably working right now. He has been here the last three weeks. I don't know what the situation is; you guys can talk to Jim (Schwartz) about that. I know that he was here the past month working out, he is in good shape, you know he's running good routes so when he gets back whenever he does he will be hungry."
Delmas was not available for comment
-Monday also marked the first day that the media could talk to running back Mikel Leshoure after he pled guilty to marijuana possession earlier last month. "You live and you learn! Everybody makes mistakes; it's what you do afterwards and how you overcome those hurdles. I have learned and making the best of my opportunities" said Leshoure.
-As for how to keep out of trouble in the future the running back said "you just got to be smart. I just need to be aware of my surroundings and what's going on and make better decisions."
-Rookie receiver Ryan Broyles was at OTA's running around and doing what he was capable of. A lot of Broyles teammates had the chance to sound off about what the addition of speedster will bring to the offense once the former Sooner is 100% healthy. "You couldn't help but to see Ryan, just from watching Sportscaster. Every time he is on there scoring touchdowns at Oklahoma, he had a great career there, hopefully it translates over with us" said Calvin Johnson. Burleson chimed in saying "he's a good dude, and right now he is bouncing off an ACL injury. I bounced back off an ACL, so we were talking last week and I just said stay patient, continue to train hard and you will come back stronger than ever." Burleson also let it be known that he loves the pick of Broyles saying "all I can say is that we got the best guy we could get."
One last note from OTA's that cannot go unnoticed would be that of Ndamukong Suh and his decision to go on a dating TV show that will air later this year. "You will just have to wait and see, there is no particular rhyme or reason as to why I went on it. It was fun, outgoing and I enjoyed it."
OTA's continue throughout the next couple weeks at the Lions training facility.
