OXNARD, Calif. – Following Thursday's team practice, Cowboys rookie running back Jaydon Blue had a smile on his face that stretched from one ear to the other.
Why? Well, one reason was that he got his first opportunity to play with the first team offense just a week and a half into his first NFL training camp.
"I'm just excited man, I get to play football," Blue said. "It's fun out here. With the first team reps, it felt good. Just getting a chance to get in there with Dak, who I think is one of the smarter, better quarterbacks in the league in my opinion, he just makes our job at the running back position easier."
While it's only one practice and Blue was mixed in with the ones alongside Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, being with the first unit is a massive confidence booster for the young running back.
"It helps my confidence a lot," Blue said. "I give my coaches a lot of credit, making sure that I'm staying on my stuff, but I give myself a ton of credit for having that ability to get thrown in… I'm gaining the quarterback's trust and that's also a big thing with a rookie coming in."
Not only is Blue gaining the trust of Dak Prescott and Joe Milton, but he's also gaining the trust of his coaching staff, namely Brian Schottenheimer and running backs coach Derrick Foster. Now, Blue wants to keep on proving himself to build that trust even more.
"For me to get thrown in with the ones, that just shows how much of the coaches trust that I have, and I'm just willing to continue building on those good days that I'm having." Blue said.
During his time in college at Texas, he had to learn Steve Sarkisian's playbook, one that's known to be complex and hard for new players to digest. Fortunately for Blue, he's seeing that a lot of the same things between what Sarkisian and Schottenheimer like to call offensively, and it's made it easier to acclimate himself to the Cowboys' offense.
"These playbooks are very similar, I think coach Schotty's play calling and coach Sark's playcalling is similar," Blue said. "The only difference that I see that was really big for me is just hearing a play called in the huddle and having to go run it instead of seeing the signal or seeing the board."
Sometimes, it can take some time to adjust to the NFL style of relaying plays and memorizing terminology. For Blue, it's been mostly seamless, and he feels like he has a grip on everything that Schottenheimer wants to do offensively which allows him to use one of his best attributes: Speed.
"It's been a huge confidence booster for me to know the whole playbook, I know pretty much the whole playbook now, so I know what I'm doing," Blue said. "I pretty much have the ability to play free and not have to think so much."
One aspect of his game that Blue has wanted to improve from his time in Austin was holding onto the football. He knew coming into the NFL that he had to be better with it, and made an big effort in the offseason to enhance his ball security.
"Towards the end of last year, I started picking it up a lot more, started being more aware, started being more conscious and making it a big emphasis on how I carry the ball. And now, it's kind of a habit now," Blue said.
"As a running back, you're taught to tuck the ball in traffic and it's something I do naturally whenever I get around someone. So it's something that's probably not even an issue any more, I haven't fumbled at all."
Both the Cowboys and Blue hope that his improved ball security in camp translates to the season, and he's able to prove his knowledge of the playbook by making an impact on the offense in his rookie season.
