You’ll often hear coaches in every sport preach about the process. Staying focused on the day to day and the task at hand is the best way to get the end result you want — and the moment your attention shifts to the final product prematurely, that is the exact moment you’ll lose your momentum. Keeping your eyes in the right place is key for athletes to build themselves up as both individuals and as a team.
You can count Miami Dolphins tight end Mike Gesicki among those disciplined enough to keep his head down and embracing the daily grind. Gesicki, who enjoyed a breakout 2019 campaign with the Dolphins under head coach Brian Flores, is looking to roll his momentum through to a new year despite a slew of changes to the Dolphins’ landscape; most notably the team offensive system. Tack on the contract restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and it would be easy to point out the challenges in prepping for a new offense — yet Gesicki is taking those dynamics in stride and focusing on what he can control.
“Everybody’s kind of doing these Zoom meetings, and everybody doesn’t have a new offense to learn; but we are installing a new offense and just kind of learning the ins and the outs. It’s been super productive to be on those Zoom meetings and be able to talk to our new offensive coordinator, Chan Gailey, and kind of be able to talk with ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), being that he’s played in this kind of system before, and then being in our meetings with George Godsey, our tight ends coach,” Gesicki told the South Florida media on a Thursday conference call.
“He’s done a great job talking us through the run game, the pass game, our role in pass protections and run game – all the phases that come with playing tight end. Honestly, it’s been really productive and I think that a lot of guys have been able to grasp the information that’s thrown at them so far.”
Gesicki insisted that he’s not dialed into his individual production this season — instead he’s trying to stay active and make the most his preparations for this season despite the challenges at hand. And despite the lack of success from former tight ends of Chan Gailey in the past (Tony Gonzalez played one season under Gailey and was far and away the best single season a TE has produced on Gailey’s watch), the Dolphins tight end is confident that his opportunities will come to fruition as a byproduct of his day-by-day committed approach.
“Whatever scheme you’re in, whatever system you’re in, I think that you earn the opportunities that you’re presented with; so regardless of what the X’s and O’s are and the play calls and that kind of stuff, I think that what you do in practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and what you do in training camp or what you do before the game starts on Sunday, I think that those are the opportunities that you earn for yourself,” he said.
“I’m excited for whenever practice rolls around to just kind of go out there and kind of prove myself to a new offensive coordinator and a new guy calling the plays, because it’s exciting. As a competitor, it’s something I look forward to.”