Tag: Austin Clark

Xavien Howard, Emmanuel Ogbah discuss their new contracts, teammates and coaches

They had a lot to say during their first meeting with the media of the season.

Following the opening of the 2022 offseason program in Miami earlier this week, a pair of veteran Dolphins met with the South Florida media on Wednesday afternoon.

Star cornerback Xavien Howard and sack-master defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah spoke about the new energy and excitement that’s palpable in Miami Gardens since the hiring of Mike McDaniel.

“I met him this offseason when he got here,” Howard said. “It was probably like the third day I met him. Like I said, the energy was there. I was excited to meet him, he was excited to meet me. Just to touch base, understand each other and what we expect from each other.”

Fresh off a renegotiated renegotiation of a previous extension (that’s no hyperbole), Howard’s contract leads many to believe that previous trade rumors can be gone forever.

“The whole process was a great process,” Howard told reporters. “I’m just excited to be a Dolphin and continue to play here and hopefully retire (here) and hopefully win the Super Bowl here too.”

Howard’s deal basically helped Miami’s 2022 cap number and gave Howard a $10 million raise. Overall, the Dolphins have the NFL’s highest-paid defensive backfield.

When you mix in Miami legends in former cornerbacks and current coaches, Sam Madison and Pat Surtain, Howard can actually improve if you could believe that.

“I love that. Especially a couple of guys that played in the league. They’re Miami greats.” He said when asked how he felt when the Dolphins greats were hired. “Just learning from them guys and picking from those guys’ brains, I feel like they can help me take my game to another level.”

Inevitably, the question had to be asked about the cheetah in the room, as Howard fielded a question about his newly acquired teammate, speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

“I think we’ll get each other better,” Howard said. “I played against him in college and also in the league. I just want to focus on getting each other better. That’s really it.”

Ogbah is another very happy Dolphin, as he’s fresh off a brand-new contract with $32 million of guaranteed money. The four-year, and 2022 salary cap friendly, deal is a major win-win for player and team.

Despite rumors of market exploration immediately following the 2021 NFL season, Ogbah made it clear there was never really a conflict in his decision-making.

 “Yeah. I’m very happy,” He told media members. “Like I’ve told you guys during the season for the past two years, I’ve always looked at myself being here long-term, and I’m glad we made it happen.”

Despite an offensive make-over on the coaching staff, several defensive coaches remained in Miami, including coordinator Josh Boyer and defensive line coach Austin Clark. Ogbah cited that continuity and his teammates as further reasons he chose to remain a Dolphins.

“I also wanted to be here for my brothers,” He said. “We started something special two years ago and I want to keep building on that. It definitely helped with the coaching staff still retaining the defensive side of the ball too.”

Ogbah spoke of his new head coach as well, saying, “I didn’t know a lot about him, but he’s definitely unique. A good players coach. He knows, he understands the game. He’s very smart, I will say that. He knows what he wants to do with the offense.”

When it comes to the energy that Howard referenced has been infused since the McDaniel hire, Ogbah concurred with his defensive teammate.

“I would say it’s more fun,” Ogbah stated. “Everybody is really excited, the whole locker room really, to build off of last season because we finished strong. We’re trying to start strong on a fast note too.”

Speaking of starting fast, in terms of impressions and personnel, the tide in Miami may be turning at a quicker pace than in other situations in the recent past. Speed has been added all over the place, and that’s exactly what’s needed in South Florida these days.

Speed in a football sense, as well as in time. While patience is a virtue, and good things come to those who wait, you might as well toss those cliches out with the Dolphins fanbase these days.

The wait’s over, and the time’s now for results, and they’ll want them quickly.

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Report: Dolphins retain defensive line coach, lose outside linebackers coach

More continuity.

Less than a week after head coach Mike McDaniel was hired by the Miami Dolphins for his role, he has a good portion of his coaching staff already in place.

According to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, the Dolphins are keeping defensive line coach Austin Clark in his position for the 2022 season. Clark becomes the first positional coach to be retained after the team moved on from defensive backs coach George Alexander and tight ends coach George Godsey.

Clark will continue to work under defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, as he has since 2020 when he was brought on to be the outside linebackers coach. He’ll continue to work with Christian Wilkins, Zach Sieler, and company, but his group does have a big free agent in Emmanuel Ogbah who Clark would probably want back.

The Dolphins also lost outside linebackers coach Rob Leonard to the Baltimore Ravens on Friday, as he was signed for the same position, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec.

In three years with Miami, Leonard moved around from linebackers coach to assistant defensive line coach and finally to outside linebackers in 2021. He got a great opportunity to work with rookie Jaelan Phillips, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Jerome Baker this past year, and he’ll look to build on that production with Baltimore in 2022.

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Dolphins hire Austin Clark to coach outside linebackers in 2020

The Miami Dolphins have added former Illinois DL coach Austin Clark to come coach OLBs.

The Miami Dolphins are hardly resting on their laurels after overachieving in 2020 en route to a 5-11 record. Quite the contrary, actually. Head coach Brian Flores fired his offensive coordinator and now has tabbed a little known assistant to come to Miami and serve in a brand new role — Illinois defensive line coach Austin Clark is expected to join Flores’ staff and coach outside linebackers.

In 2019, former Clemson Tigers DL coach Marion Hobby took the same job with the Dolphins — but the outside linebackers in Flores’ scheme flexible system are only sometimes pass rushers and sometimes traditional off-ball athletes. So from that perspective, getting a true outside linebacker coach seems like a natural benefit and a wise decision.

Any prior connections linking Clark to the Dolphins? If there are, they are not overly apparent. He worked at USC and Illinois before making the jump to the NFL — but he is considered to be a promising young coach. Pairing him with a gifted DL coach in Hobby to coach the big guys up front should help get a little more productivity out of the pass rush room — although the real improvements are going to come as both groups are infused with more talent.

That will be soon before long — Dolphins fans should expect Clark’s prized pupil to be either a young free agent signing or a high selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.

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