The Texans had "an informal interview" with Iowa offensive tackle Andrew Donnal on Wednesday.
"It went well - very general kind of stuff," Donnal said Wednesday at the NFL Combine. "It seemed like that was the tempo of the day, basically getting to know who I am and my basic knowledge of football and kind of talked about how they do things."
Head coach Bill O'Brien is very familiar with the Hawkeyes football program. O'Brien and Donnal's offensive line coach, Brian Ferentz, both were assistants under Bill Belichick for three seasons in New England. In 2011, Ferentz served as tight ends coach under O'Brien, named offensive coordinator in 2011. The two have kept in touch over the years and O'Brien even spoke at the Iowa coaching clinic last year.
"Coach O'Brien has come out to a couple of practices when I was at Iowa so we kind of got to see him and Brian's relationship a little bit," Donnal said. "It seems like the Ferentz name is a popular one among everyone that I've talked to here with all the scouts and coaches at the Combine. It seems like a lot of people know who they are and have great things to say about them."
Ferentz's father, Kirk Ferentz, is head coach at Iowa. His other son, James Ferentz, plays center and is currently on the Texans practice squad.
"He's currently working out at Iowa where I'm working out this offseason so we've got to spend a lot of time together," Donnal said.
A behind the scenes look at Wednesday's activities at the NFL combine.
