From Raiders Training Camp: G Alex Bars

 Guard Alex Bars 

Q: It's great to have the five guys back, but there's a lot of competition. There are guys fighting and competing in other spots. I'm just curious about your thoughts on having the original five back from last year, but the new guys and how they're competing? 

Alex Bars: "Yeah, it's been good. We got a great group. Obviously we brought the five back from last year. But the room likes to compete, we like to get better, we like to make the most of every opportunity. So, competition is an opportunity to get better and keep improving." 

Q: A lot of going back and forth between Thayer Munford and Jermaine Eluemunor to your right. How different is it with different guys? Do you have to adjust every snap? 

Bars: "I mean, I've dealt with continuity with both of them. They know where I'm going to be, I know where they're going to be. We've just got to keep building, continue to build our trust with each other and whoever is there is there, and we've got to play, use our technique and sort it out." 

Q: Last year you fought your way off of practice squad to earn a starting role. What did last season teach about yourself? 

Bars: "Just got to keep working hard. Things might not always go your way, but if you stay at it, keep your grind and trust yourself and trust your technique and your hard work, good things can happen." 

Q: How different is your mindset having been a guy that was rotational going into your first training camp where you are kind of a solidified starter? 

Bars: "It's good. I mean, every training camp is an opportunity to get better, improve on the things that you didn't do as good as you wanted to last year and improve as training camp goes on. So, I'm not looking through those lenses as much as every training camp, just trying to get better and better and better." 

Q: You're a grinder, just go at it everyday, blue collar guy. Do you go to those young guys and teach them about developing that type of mentality? 

Bars: "Yeah, we all do. We all know the standard, and we know when it's not meant and we know how to meet it. So that's part of it, is understanding that it's our job as O-linemen to be mentally tough, be physical, take our lunch pail to work and be a blue collar guy every day. So, that's something we pride ourselves on. That's our standard we have in our O-line room." 

Q: What were some specific areas that you thought you need to get better at this year? 

Bars: "I'm not going to get into specifics but just things that I know that I can improve on. I've just been working on them, like every guy, different aspects of our game." 

Q: How is working with Jimmy Garoppolo? 

Bars: "Great. Jimmy [Garoppolo] is a nice guy, works his butt off. He's getting along with the O-line really well which is a good thing obviously. But he's a really hard worker, he loves to compete and yeah, glad to have him." 

Q: As a fellow Fighting Irish have you taken Michael Mayer under your wing a little bit? 

Bars: "A little bit, a little bit. I helped him out with his rookie joke a little bit, but he butchered it pretty badly. No, he's good. Yeah, for sure. I mean, coming from Notre Dame like I know the type of guy he is and talked to former players that played with him. He's a hardworking guy, loves to work, loves to compete. So that's all we can ask for, and just helping him get through his rookie year is something I can definitely do for him." 

Q: Is Notre Dame going to be able to stay independent, with all this craziness that's going on? Bars: "I don't know about that. I don't know." Q: What do the players think about that? Is there pride to being independent? 

Bars: "I mean every other sport they're ACC, right. So, football is the one hanging on. They've got their TV deals with NBC and they're working through those, but I love the fact that they're independent. They have the opportunity to go play a bunch of different teams and bounce around ACC, all over. So it provides Notre Dame that platform to play a bunch of different teams, a bunch of different games. So I hope they stay independent. 

Q: Obviously there's always multiple quarterbacks on a team, but it is a different starting quarterback. Is it different blocking for different quarterbacks? Do you have to understand them or do you just do your job and it doesn't matter who is behind you? 

Bars: "I mean, for the most part it's back to your technique on every play. Like whoever's in the pocket, obviously you'll work with your quarterback and you'll communicate things that you're seeing and things that you're not seeing, but for the most part, it falls back to your technique, your fundamentals and that never changes." 

Q: You mentioned the continuity on the O-line, also some new faces this year. Anybody stand out in terms of the impressions they've made early on? 

Bars: "We've got a really good room. A lot of guys working together to compete and get better and using opportunities. There's no egos, we're all just helping each other improve so we can have the best group out there." 

Q: McClendon is a guy who is strong as an ox, smaller school, will you give us your thoughts on him, please? 

Bars: "Curtis is a great player, he works with me before practice and after practice every day. He wants to improve; he wants to do really well. He's got a lot of really good attributes as a player, and he's going to continue to keep getting better, and I like what I've seen." 

The Silver and Black open the preseason by hosting the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT.

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