Britt Spending Time Off With Rod Smith

By Jonathan Hutton May 26, 2009

Many Titans players bolted town following last week's final mini-camp of the month. Last Friday marked the start of a three week break before the next OTA is scheduled on their calendars.

Titans first round pick Kenny Britt wasn't among the group who hit the door immediately following the two hour practice. Instead Britt said he planned to work at Baptist Sports Park this week with former Denver Broncos wide out Rod Smith, who, thanks to agent Todd France, trained with Britt prior to April's draft.

''He'll come in and see how practice is going and things like that,'' Britt said. ''He came down to Arizona to work with me a couple of times and I tip my hat to that guy. It was special.''

Smith worked with Britt on several aspects of his game, specifically hand drills, footwork and route running. Britt said Smith's visit this week will serve as a kind of a report card of sorts, where the former receiver under Mike Heimerdinger will see how well the offensive coordinator's new wide out has improved since the draft.

''Me and Rod have a close connection,'' Britt said. ''He calls me up to see how I'm doing and things like that. [He works with me on] the little things about my game - the tells - that tell the corner what I'm doing. Things like rising up, what my eyes are doing, things like that.''

But if the rookie succeeds in 2009, it won't be all due to Smith's help. It will be because Britt treated the offseason period between Draft Day and Training Camp as an opportunity to get a jump on the offensive playbook.

''Right now I'm trying to get better as a player all around,'' Britt said. ''I'm trying to get the mental part down. All the coverages and things like that. And, of course, I want to get bigger, faster and stronger.''

Although they've made him stick to the playbook with he's not on the practice field, the Titans coaching staff has allowed Britt to work at his own pace.

''Coach [Fred] Graves, the first thing he said was come in and just be yourself. Learn the playbook and get a feel for your teammates. [He let me know] I didn't have to come here and be the hero. It allowed me to get comfortable playing with everybody.''

Heimerdinger took Rod Smith's endorsement to heart prior to the 30th overall pick. Could he run proper routes? What about his hands and speed? And most importantly, could he get off the bump and run? Smith said yes to all of Heimerdinger's questions.

''Rod is not going to be wrong,'' Britt said. ''I'll make sure of that.''

TITANS RADIO AUDIO: Kenny Britt