Even during the course of training camp, fans only get to see a glimpse of the work that Kansas City Chiefs players put in. Their schedule is loaded to the brim with practice, walkthroughs, lifting, team meetings, group film study and more.
Fans did get a chance to see some of the extracurricular work between veteran DE Frank Clark and rookie DE George Karlaftis after training camp practices. Entering his eighth year in the league, Clark has taken Karlaftis under his wings and is teaching the rookie everything that he possibly can. Well, it seems like the mentorship and all the hard work that Karlaftis has put in behind the scenes has paid off.
Through two preseason games, the rookie edge rusher has five pressures and two sacks on 31 pass-rushing snaps according to PFF. Clark spoke about Karlaftis after preseason Week 2 and told reporters that he’s very happy to see his hard work paying off in the form of in-game success.
“Man, I’m ecstatic. Every time George (Karlaftis) do something great out there, I’m happy for him,” Clark said. “And you wanna be, that’s a rookie in the league coming into a hard league where you don’t really know what’s going on. He’s just trying to find his way and it’s dope just seeing him every week, week to week, doing what he has to do in the games. People don’t see the work that he’s putting in on the Monday through Friday, with games being on Saturday right now. But he’s putting in a lot of work through the week and it’s showing up for him in the game.”
Even after his early success, Karlaftis isn’t letting things get to his head. He knows that those sacks and pressures didn’t come easy. There is plenty of growing and learning left for the rookie, but he now has the blueprint to accomplish that and reach his potential.
“No, it’s a challenge every play,” Karlaftis said. “Playing against the best of the best here and it’s a great challenge. I love it and just got to keep getting better. There’s stuff everybody’s got to improve on.”
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