The 2013 Texans draft class will attend the NFL Rookie Symposium from June 23-26.
The symposium is hosted by the NFL to emphasize the sport's legacy, tradition of character and leadership and social and professional responsibility. The four-day orientation at the Bertram Hotel in Aurora, Ohio, will introduce the new Texans and the rest of the 2013 NFL Draft class to life in the NFL prior to the rookies reporting to training camps next month.
All nine of the Texans' draft picks will attend the conference, including DeAndre Hopkins, D.J. Swearinger, Brennan Williams, Sam Montgomery, Trevardo Williams, David Quessenberry, Alan Bonner, Chris Jones and Ryan Griffin. A number of former NFL players including Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Brown and Richard Dent will be in attendance to share with the first-year players their success stories as well as the challenges they have faced in their football careers and personal lives. The rookies will visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame in nearby Canton, Ohio, as part of the symposium.
"We believe in our peer-to-peer model that the more information these young men have on how those before them handled success, the better prepared they will be to meet expectations on and off the field," NFL senior vice president of player engagement Troy Vincent said in a press release from the league. "Through our speakers there is a story to be told, a lesson to be learned, a teachable moment, a message of success in conveying our number one objective which is to provide our rookies the tools to succeed during their NFL playing experience and beyond."
The Rookie Symposium includes presentations, videos and workshops on player health and safety, decision making, mental health, substance abuse, non-discrimination and maintaining positive relationships. Each player also will participate in a PLAY 60 youth football clinic with children from the Cleveland area at the Cleveland Browns Training and Administrative complex.
