Oneil Cousins sat quietly at his locker following a Ravens? mini camp practice recently in Owings Mills, reflecting on his new life in the National Football League.
The rookie offensive tackle was just trying to take everything in as the third-round pick out of the University of Texas at El Paso prepares for his first professional season.
But on the field, Cousins has been anything but silent.
Cousins was in the middle of a team brawl during a practice last month, which started when he got physical with defensive tackle Amon Gordon. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound Cousins said it wasn?t his ideal way to get the coaching staff?s attention, but he does not plan on being any less physical on the field as he fights to make the team.
“Offensive linemen have to get after it because we?re going to be the meanness and nastiness of this team,” Cousins said. “We?re going to get after it and have a lot of fun doing it.”
The Ravens liked Cousins? size and athleticism, but knew he would need some time to develop. He entered college as a defensive tackle and didn?t start playing on the offensive line full-time until 2006.
Cousins, who has experience playing right and left tackle, said the hardest adjustment as a Raven has been transitioning to the game?s speed and slim margin for error compared to when he played at a second-tier college.
“It?s going well,” he said. “I?m just learning the system and working on my technique and learning from the veterans. You?ve just got to be ready in the NFL. In college, you get time to develop. But in the pros, they can call on you at anytime and you have to be ready to go when they call your number.”
Cousins is among several young offensive linemen trying to make the Ravens, who have eight offensive linemen on their roster they have drafted since 2005. But that doesn?t mean the numbers are not in the rookies? favor, as the team released long-time center Mike Flynn and left tackle Jonathan Ogden is leaning toward retirement.
“It?s a young group,” said lineman Marshal Yanda, who the team took in the third round of last year?s draft. “As long as we?re all working hard and being physical, we?ll do some good things out there.”
But first, the linemen must prove they can thrive in first-year offensive line coach John Matsko?s system.
“John Matsko is one of the most experienced offensive line coaches in the league, and has maybe the youngest offensive line in the league and to him it?s like clay,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Matsko, who has 35 years of coaching experience overall. “He?s got a group of talented young guys who really want to work, and he?s molding them into an offensive line. It?s fun to watch that.”
