Dameon Pierce knows who gets a big chunk of the credit for his early success as an NFL running back.
“I would say like 93%,” Pierce told reporters Thursday after Houston Texans training camp practice.
Who gets the “93%” for Pierce’s development as a pro is running backs coach Danny Barrett, who gave the former Florida product a routine to stick with as he adjusted to the NFL.
“It’s really just habitual,” Pierce said. “All my ‘habituals’ I kind of, you know — D.B. [Barrett] did a great job of grooming me into the player that I am off the field, because on the field, he was like, ‘That’s the easy part.’ The easy part is on the field, the hard part is maintaining it, doing it every day, having the same routine day in and day out.”
Some weeks were better for Pierce on the ground while others had hardly any daylight. Nevertheless the theme of waking up sore with back aches and tightness was the same, regardless of what happened on the field, but the routine kept Pierce going.
Another area where Barrett helped was with the way Pierce saw himself.
Said Pierce: “He is very clear on the vision he has for me even when I don’t see that vision for myself. Like, I had an interview earlier, he was like, ‘How did you feel being 61 yards short of 1,000 yards?’ I couldn’t imagine that, but D.B. saw that from day one, and he saw the potential I had and he brought it up out of me, so I [give] credit a lot to coach Danny.”
What Pierce can count on when it comes to Barrett, who is in his sixth season coaching the Texans’ backs, is consistency.
“I don’t care if I was a year 10 vet, he’ll still be on me like I was a rookie, so that’s one thing I like about D.B.: he’s going to be the same him every day, and he’s going to bring the same intensity every day,” said Pierce. “He’s going to hold me to a standard, a high standard.”
