On the 3rd day of my New York Jets training camp coverage, I interviewed tight end J'Nathan Bullock. Bullock, a rookie from Cleveland State University, played basketball for the Vikings and averaged 15.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while helping his team upset Wake Forest in the first round of this 2009 NCAA tournament. Here's what he had to say:


On the transition from playing basketball to football...It's not as much physical as it is mental. Basketball is a lot more physical of a sport than people think, so the mental transition was more difficult.

On what it's like to be in the NFL...It doesn't really feel like I'm in the NFL yet. In fact, I wouldn't say I'm in the NFL, as I'm still fighting for a roster spot.

On why he chose to play tight end...I didn't choose it, it chose me.

On comparisons to Antonio Gates, as they were both Northeast Ohio college basketball stars turned into NFL tight ends...I don't really like the comparisons and I don't compare myself to Gates as I try to be my own man.

On this spring's upset over Wake Forest and how the city of Cleveland felt...It felt great. The city was alive and it was much better than some tougher times the city had to go through.

On how the CSU Vikings look for next season...They look good for the future. They have a lot of young guys who are very talented and no seniors.

On how he's doing so far in camp fighting for a roster spot...Horrible, actually [laughs]. But part of that is my competitive mindset as an athlete and I always think there's room to improve.

Given that Gates chose the Chargers by playing Madden and looking for which team was the best fit for him, how did he choose the Jets...Like I said before [with respect to playing tight end], I didn't choose them, they chose me. The Jets visited me and worked out with me and we really clicked, especially the tight end coaching staff.

I also attended a press conference with Rex Ryan, during which I asked two questions:

The offensive line is looking a lot better than the defensive line; do you think they'll improve once Kris Jenkins returns from his injury? We have a really strong offensive line this year...all Pro-Bowlers and players preparing to be Pro-Bowlers...Jenkins is irreplaceable...I'll tell the defensive line what you said [laughs].

What do you think about the triple lateral off that interception [that the defense ran in practice today? They're going to get a talking to [laughs]...that's obviously not something we are going to do during games. In fact, I'm going to set up rules for when guys pick off a ball in the end-zone as for which ones can run it back and which ones have to take a knee and in what situations they can run...Lito Sheppard will be allowed to run interceptions back.



Three days of training camp brought much more than interviews. A lot of that can be found in Jase Bernhardt's coverage of the event right here on wvbr.com. More of it was captured on camera; most of these pictures will be available on wvbr.com in about a week.

I also covered the training camp on Twitter. Feel free to check out all of my posts about what I saw and experienced in Cortland, NY. Even if you don't use Twitter, perhaps because you are opposed to the idea on moral grounds, take a look and read what I had to say. The content will be interesting and you don't have to become a user/abuser to find out how Ahmad Carol almost ran me over or which quarterbacks looked good on which days.

Also, check out the press conference from day one with Leon Washington. Jase and I are in the background.

New York Jets Leon Washington talks to the media about football and his contract

Note: visit www.newyorkjets.com to find the Rex Ryan press conference in its entirety and word-for-word.

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