http://www.yardbarker.com/users/Josh_Gattis Recent Yardbarker Articles: Josh_Gattis en-us Our organized team activities just ended and now we head into a few weeks off before camp. I know it has been a while since I've blogged and I apologize to all my readers I have been so focused on learning the defense I had completely lost touch, but now things have slowed down for me I have great news. Our practices have been a blast and I really have picked up on a lot of things and our coaching staff is extremely excited. However, with this excitement there is some sad news with the release of Donovin Darius. When the news hit our team yesterday morning everyone was shocked. Double D was a role model on and off the field. He was a guy that helped me out so much during mini-camps, I owe so much to him for my progression to this point. Double is a guy every team wished they had in their lockeroom. Although I only spent a few weeks getting to know him I feel he has shown me how to start being a professional. At the same time this reminds you this is a business. Our team lost a valuable asset; I lost a guy I looked up to. Although I am down about the decision to release a guy, I looked so much up to; I can't afford to let up because Coach Del Rio and the staff have placed bigger responsibilities on me now to compete for the starting SS job and help contribute to this team. This was actually a hard compliment to swallow because it made a statement saying the coaching staff believed in me to be player to step up and fill the big shoes left behind in Double D's place. Well to all Jag fans I devote all of my effort to try to fill those shoes to be the guy Donovin was on and off the field in the correct way. Thank you everyone for your continued support! Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:21:20 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/16535 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/16535 Mini-camp is just a few days away and I am so excited! I know that Jacksonville is excited to get me down there and they know they aren't getting just a workout warrior, but a proven player throughout college in the ACC. They know they have created a future in their secondary with Reggie Nelson and myself. We get to camp Friday and then don't leave until the 29th of June because immediately after team camp we have an offseason lifting program as a team. I'm so excited to actually get around the veterans as well. I believe there is so much that I can learn from them this summer to prepare myself for the preseason and the long 17 week regular season. Jacksonville, here I come!!!!!!! Something new, I'm going to try and answer one or two fan questions with every blog, so leave me a comment with a question and check the blog to see if I answer your question! Wed, 09 May 2007 19:55:31 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/13779 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/13779 Jacksonville here I come!!!! It has been a long stressful weekend. The draft didn't go as planned in terms of picks, but everything happens for a reason and I am excited to go to a city and team like Jacksonville. The coaching staff is excited to have me as they said they are building their secondary for the future. This is a pick the Jags' fans will be excited about in the future. They are getting a player that can contribute in so many ways. I'm so thrilled to be on a team that is making strides toward the Super Bowl. Camp just can't get here fast enough!!!!!!! Tue, 01 May 2007 13:36:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/13270 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/13270 It's really getting closer. I'm so excited right now I don't know what to do with myself, time still isn't moving fast enough. I used today to say goodbye to everyone around my university and the elementary school where I work. It was actually pretty hard to say goodbye to all the kids at Meadowlark Elementary, and all the staff there as well. As that page in my life ends, I know there's another chapter about to begin. I've received so many messages by phone or email wishing me good luck. To everyone that has wished me luck, thank you for your thoughts I truly appreciate them. So now the countdown begins! To most players in the draft the biggest questions are what city do I move to next? What pick or what round will I go in? Well for me the only question I have is what team will get a guy that will work hard non-stop to contribute to that team in anyway and everyway possible. Also most importantly, what team will get a guy that will represent his organization in a first class manner in the community? Stay tuned on Saturday! Fri, 27 Apr 2007 06:20:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/13022 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/13022 Today has been a great! It is the beginning to one of the biggest weeks of my life; draft week!!! I've waited so long for this week to get here and I'm so excited. The day started off great as I got a call at 9 AM from a representative of the Indianapolis Colts. They expressed a lot of interest and made sure they had my contact information correct for draft day. Then, like every weekday, around 10 AM I head to a local elementary school to work with kids in a BED classroom with kids that deal with behavioral and emotional issues. That is the only thing I do now to keep me busy during the day and I love it. I've actually be teaching there since the season began and after I graduated I continued part-time because I just enjoy it so much. As the day went on I got an unexpected phone call from NFL Sirius Radio with respected NFL.com analyst Pat Kirwan. That was fun because I enjoy doing radio interviews, in fact I have 5 on schedule this week and this was not one of the scheduled ones! They asked me how excited I was for the draft and we talked a lot about what I bring as a player to NFL teams and it meant a lot coming from respected analyst like Pat and the guys. After the phone interview it got even better, literally in a matter of 10 minutes, my phone rang again and it was the Philadelphia Eagles. This call got me even more excited as the Eagles expressed a lot of interest like the Colts, but asked more extensive questions like what other teams were interested in me and what teams that were calling recently, etc. Another big sign of interest because they also wanted to know what airport is nearest after the draft if things worked out, so they could fly me up to Philly for the Sunday press conference if they select me. After speaking with them I was so pumped! Now you're probably wondering how I was teaching while doing all this, well I wasn't. Because I come in part time I am always around a great group of teachers in the classroom, and a great principal who are all very supportive of me and my career. They are so nice and understanding just like the people who have supported me throughout college career at Wake Forest, and my family. Now it is off to go workout for the afternoon to stay in shape for NFL mini-camp. I would like to give a special thanks to Mrs. Griffin (WFU), and Tiwonda Blount (my sister) for stopping in on my blog. I would also like to give a shout out and thanks to everyone over at LRG clothing for providing me with my draft day apparel. LRG is one of the hottest new suppliers of urban clothing and I am proud to wear it on draft day. One last thanks to Christopher McComas my marketing agent over at Thundering Sports Marketing. He's one of the best in the business and I couldn't be here on Yardbarker without him. Thanks for everyone stopping in, be sure to keep me in your prayers not only this week but throughout my career. Thanks!!!!! Tue, 24 Apr 2007 03:26:41 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/12805 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/12805 This weekend has been blast, but an extremely busy weekend! Leading up to next weekend I really needed something to take my mind away from the draft and this weekend completely fulfilled that need. As I anxiously wait for April 28th, I got the chance this weekend to travel and see some old friends. This weekend let me know I am growing up because I was able to witness two weddings; one in Durham on Friday night where I was the best man and also one on Saturday in Tampa. Being in two different states in less than 24 hours was really busy as Saturday morning I had to board a flight at 6:30 am to be in Tampa by 11 am to see a former teammate get married. After all was said and done I had a lot of fun getting to hang out with my friends one last time before things got busy with life in the NFL. I took Sunday evening to just rest to prepare myself for a busy week ahead. Although I did briefly have the opportunity to stop by a local golf course to see whom I consider a role model of mine Torry Holt who was having a charity tournament for his foundation. To see the NFL guys out there really got me excited again for April 28th. I have several radio appearances coming up this week, check back and I'll post when and where! I'll also be blogging daily leading up to the draft! Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:17:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/12723 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/12723