Seahawks DC Kris Richard: "Ahtyba Rubin has been doing a fantastic job"

Seahawks new Defensive Coordinator Kris Richard spoke at Day 4 of Seahawks training camp. Here's what he had to say.

Kris Richard Training Camp Day 4 Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Kris Richard

August 3, 2015

(On how the practices have been going) "I think they've been going fantastic. The energy's great, and the effort sticks out first and foremost, we're a club that really likes to lock in and go after the football, you see guys find ins, that's always a good sign early in camp."

(On what the differences with him now being the defensive coordinator) "Now the only difference is that I'm the one making the calls. In regards to the effort that I give and my overall responsibility to the secondary, that remains the same. Obviously, I do have a much bigger voice in regards to the overall grand scheme of how we're going to operate, so in regards to how we operate while we're on the field, the only real difference is now they hear my voice over the headsets."

(On the young guys at safety) "It's been real positive. Obviously it's been a great opportunity for them, they've been doing a fantastic job. DeShawn Shead, Steven Terrell, those are guys we have starting right now for us, and they've been around so they understand exactly what we need from them and they've been doing a great job."

(On DeShawn Shead's versatility) "His versatility has always been key, I think the biggest thing for him right now is the fact that he can lock in and just focus on playing safety, rather than him being a jack of all trades, he can become a master of safety, which is really good."

(On Mohammed Seisay) "I think you can see the fantastic athlete that he is, it never hurts to have another long, tall, fast corner on the field ready to compete. The door is wide open in regards to competition, everybody understands that, and knows we're going to put the best players out there on the football field to compete for our team. He's going to be a good addition for us. Right now, we don't really know, it's the first day he's out there, his first practice, he did a really good job in his first practice out there. It was positive, we threw him out there on the fly and he executed, he had some good plays out there. In regards to him playing inside, we don't know that yet. We'll have to talk to him and see ultimately what he can do."

(On Will Blackmon) "Yeah, absolutely. Blackmon is a guy that can go outside and inside, that's where he has tremendous value for us, and he's a guy with a lot of experience inside, so that's where we're leaning heavy on him to stand up and get the job done in there."

(On Kam Chancellor) "Obviously it's the man that he is, he's the captain of our football team and we respect him. That's really the biggest deal, and other than that, he knows that we have work to do here and his absence is the next man's opportunity. He understands that and we understand that and he knows that we have work to do."

(On getting guys in pads) "Definitely beneficial for them. That's the one thing that we do not believe in is the shorts All-American type of deal, when we put the pads on, it's real football. That gives us the opportunity to see who can hold up versus the double team, things of that nature, and we've got a lot of stop guys down in there, so it's good for us."

(On Earl Thomas not being able to practice yet)  "He's in a good place.  Of course he misses being out there on the field. But he understands the position that he is in right now. He has to rehab, he has to get his shoulder strong. I think the key part for him is know he's able to teach the younger guys all that he knows. So that's how we keep him innovated in the system that know he's in a teaching position. It may hurt him not to be able to be out there, but he understands exactly where he is and what we need of him in so he's in a really good place."

(On if he ever saw himself in his position when he was younger) "Yeah, I did. This is grace, there's no doubt about it. I recognize the real blessing that I have before me here. When I set off on coaching from day one, I wanted to be the absolute best coach that I could be in whatever position that I was in. That was what I was going to be locked into. Of course there are aspirations to move on and ahead and do all that stuff right there. But that's too far out in the future. I am focused on the things that are right out in front of me right now. Because that is what is going to help this football team be our best and if we're all locked in and if we're all focusing on the next day that's when we give ourselves the best chance to be successful."

(On the defensive line) "Yeah absolutely. Ahtyba Rubin has been doing a fantastic job. He is a big massive strong man in there. He is absolutely going to fill the role we need as a big body in there taking on the run."

(On Frank Clark) "Yeah, Frank Clark has been doing a great job - no doubt about it. He's young. He's going to have that uphill battle as regards of being a rookie. Figuring out how to take care of himself and everything like that. But his first few days have been fantastic. We're going to look forward to our rushers absolutely getting after the quarterback and he's going to fit in. He's going to fit into the position that we need for him. Again, we want to cover, we want to get four guys rushing the quarterback and he's going to help us."

(On replacing Tony McDaniel) "Well right now we have some guys in line, nothing has been done in particular. We have a day off coming up here and we'll get together as a staff and figure out who we need to move around to get those decisions made. Right now we have guys that can fill that role, Demarcus Dobbs is having a really good camp, that's another name that comes to mind. He's another big, strong, massive guy who's stout against the run. We talked about big ‘Rube' - ‘Tuba' Rubin? It's the same out there, guys of that nature. But right now there isn't anyone down in particular that we've penciled in to be the replacement. But we'll end up figuring it out. Right now those are the guys that come to mind. Ultimately again, we have to sit down as a staff and make those decisions."