EDITOR'S NOTE:Cornerback Antwaun Molden, the Texans' third-round draft choice at No. 79 overall out of Eastern Kentucky, will provide fans with a periodic diary entry on HoustonTexans.com to offer insight into his rookie season in the NFL.
I didn't know what to expect heading into training camp, but I don't really think anything has scared me so far. I had to prepare myself beforehand. From the get-go, I have high expectations and I know that I have to prepare myself for the unexpected.
The heat hasn't been too unsettling, but I'll have to get acclimated to it. I'm from Ohio, from the Cleveland area around the Snow Belt up there. You come down to this humidity and it's a very big change of pace as far as your body having to adapt.
The speed of the game and the mental part is most definitely different in the National Football League, so I have to train at a level I've never trained before and I have to study at a level I've never studied before in order for my body and mind to adapt to the game and the speed and what the NFL has to offer.
In the process of adjusting to that speed, I have to take baby steps. You have to crawl before you walk. You have to walk before you run. I'm in that process now.
Living in the team hotel hasn't been too bad because all of the first- and second-year players have to stay there. We haven't had any rookie hazing; I've had to do things like carrying shoulder pads into the locker room, but I think that's tradition. I think every rookie has to go through it.
The veterans have been great for advice in the early goings. They've already been in my situation and experienced what I've experienced, so I think that's a great tool to go to the veterans like Dunta Robinson and Glenn Earl and C.C. Brown and Demarcus Faggins.
On the field, I'm here to do anything the coaches tell me to do. I think that's one reason why they drafted me – because of my discipline, my character on and off the field. And so I'm going to just take that and use it to the best of my ability.
I think I've been blessed and gifted with the complete package as an athlete. I think that's part of my competitive nature to say that. But now, I'm trying to focus on my technique. That's first and foremost as a corner; you have to have great technique. All the great ones have great technique.
The biggest surprise for me has been the tempo of the game – the mental part, the checks on the field, the ability to adjust to formations and taking mental reps when I'm off the field. That's been the biggest thing.
I have high expectations for myself, and I know whenever I do something wrong. So even though I've made a couple of plays in these first few practices, I'm a 'little things' guy as far as my technique and being sound in that area of my game. Any time I mess up, I'm hard on myself, whatever my position is on the field or my role is off the field in the community.
The coaches threw me in there with the first team for a little bit today, but that kind of thing doesn't make me nervous. Again, I have expectations for myself.
But with that being said, I'm a team player. I know the other 10 guys, I can't let them down. I know they're dependent on me. Whether the Texans drafted me in the seventh round or whether I was a free agent, I know I have to come in to do my job. And I'm looking forward to doing that every day for the rest of camp.
Any questions for Antwaun that you'd like to see answered in his next diary entry? Post a comment, or send an e-mail to the editor at **nscurfield@houstontexans.com*.*
