How far will the Cleveland Browns go to learn a new offense and a new defense during the NFL lockout? How about Austin, Texas, in the middle of July?
Between 30 and 40 Browns players wrapped up Camp Colt IV on Tuesday at a local high school, where temperatures reached 103 degrees over the weekend.
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Second-year Browns quarterback and former University of Texas star Colt McCoy told *The Plain Dealer* on Monday that he couldn't be happier with the turnout by his teammates and the results of the workouts he organized.
"I commend all of my teammates for putting in the time, the energy and the effort to get here and work so hard," McCoy said. "Some of these guys aren't used to the Texas heat, but we still got a lot of good, efficient work in."
The burgeoning team leader has stressed the importance of the workouts as new Browns coach Pat Shurmur plans to institute a West Coast offense this season. Josh Cribbs, Brian Robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi, Evan Moore, Ben Watson, Alex Smith, Alex Mack, Shaun Lauvao and rookies Greg Little and Jordan Cameron were among the offensive players sweating it out in Texas.
This final edition of McCoy's player-led workouts also was the first to include the defense, with linebacker Scott Fujita taking charge of the unit, which is switching to a 4-3 scheme.
"It was great to have the defensive guys here," McCoy said. "It's one thing to throw one-on-ones and individual routes, and understand the plays and stuff, but it's a whole different ballgame when you start playing real 7-on-7 and you've got all the guys here to do it."
Fujita was lucky enough to snag a playbook from new Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron on the one April day when the lockout was lifted, and he spent the Austin camp imparting the intricacies of the 4-3 scheme to his teammates.
"It was important to get it (the playbook) because it's a whole new defense for us," Fujita said Tuesday. "Some guys on this team have played in the 3-4 their entire careers, so it's definitely a transition."
Said McCoy: "We're still not sure what's going to happen with the lockout, but as we inch closer to the deadline of camp starting, it's great to see how important it is to everybody to be here, and that's what I'm taking out of this. It's definitely going to pay off when camp starts."
"Based on what we did this weekend and what we have, we could play a game next week if we had to," Fujita said at Tuesday's conclusion of camp.
