Houston Texans defensive lineman Thomas Booker is another Stanford product on the roster.
The fifth-rounder says that going to the prestigious school in the Pac-12 Conference helped him discover how to study, not only in academics, but also in football.
“Throughout college, both football wise and academic wise, I had like an iPad that I would write on with notes, so, I kind of carried that on to the league,” Booker told reporters on Aug. 17. “I treat all my meetings like classroom sections because that’s kind of what it is.”
Where the studying is also concentrated is on Booker himself. The rookie says that he uses his study to also examine how he processes information.
“You’re studying yourself,” said Booker. “I try to keep those study habits the same way, so during our meetings I take notes on what everybody is saying. Then when I go back to the hotel room, I go take a look over the tape again for like 45 minutes to an hour and just go down and write everything that I could have done better.”
Booker generated four combined tackles and 1.0 sack in the 17-13 win over the New Orleans Saints in the preseason opener Aug. 13 at NRG Stadium. Part of how Booker was able to be effective was by measuring the steps he takes when rushing certain gaps.
Said Booker: “When I’m rushing the B-gap, a lot of times I feel like I don’t take enough steps up field, so, I’m not really selling that guard on the fact that I’m going to be rushing outside so I can come inside. So that’s one of the things I write down a lot that I’m still working on.
“But to be honest, I probably write down like 10 to 15 things every day. I try to underline like three or four of them because I know that I can’t focus on 10 to 15. I don’t have that much mental bandwidth, but I try to focus on three or four.”
Booker will have plenty of material to work with after the Texans face the Los Angeles Rams Friday night at SoFi Stadium in their second preseason tilt.
