Bears training camp diaries with Sam Roush, Neville Gallimore | Week 3
As told to Gabby Hajduk

Tight end Sam Roush — a third-round selection from Stanford — and defensive tackle Neville Gallimore — a seven-year veteran who signed with the Bears in free agency — share their training camp experiences from rookie and veteran perspectives exclusively on ChicagoBears.com. This series will feature both players giving first-person accounts once a week throughout training camp.

We're coming off another physical week of camp where we had back-to-back padded practices, a walk-through and then a scrimmage-like practice before we got into more game prep leading into our first preseason game.

That scrimmage last Tuesday was a lot more game-like. We had a good amount of live periods and worked a lot of different situations. It was our first afternoon practice, so it was hotter, which obviously makes you more tired. I think it was good to have the whole team go through that before we got to gameplay, and it was really helpful for me to have that experience under my belt.

I didn't perform as well as I wanted to in the scrimmage, but I do think I put some good stuff on tape that I can build on. Right now, the biggest thing I need to improve on is consistency in blocking. It's got to look the same every time. A lot of the time, my initial contact is good, but then it's about sustaining the block long enough to seal your guy off and allow the play to move forward, and that's the part I'm really working on.

In this offense, there's a big emphasis on physicality and finishing through the echo of the whistle. It's not about being a jerk and shoving guys around after the play, but you should be toeing the line of physicality as close as you can without crossing it. In the tight end room, we watch every clip from practice with coach Drey, so he's able to assess my progression and show me what I need to work on.

Since I got here, he's been such an asset to me. He's gone through this process with a number of guys, and he played the position as well, so he's got a lot of experience. He knows what it takes and he's committed to helping all of us in the room reach our potential. Obviously, the older guys like Cole and Colston have also been a huge help. We've got a lot of ballers in the room, so it's really good to hear their perspective.

But with coach Drey, we connected quick, just both being Stanford guys. He's super intelligent, knows a lot about the game and he's very dialed on technique. He's been able to teach me different ways to read defenses pre-snap and understand when pressure is coming. Obviously learning all of that is a process and I'm not fully there yet, but I know if I continue to come in every day and work and listen to him, I will get there.

Before that scrimmage day, we did have an afternoon to kind of slow down and have a little fun. After the walk-through at Stevenson High School, the whole team went bowling. I don't really pride myself on my bowling ability, but it was just fun to get together with the guys and compete in something other than football.

We've also been going through our rookie performances. I got mine done early into camp. I sang Last Friday Night by Katy Perry. I was thinking a 2010s banger to get the people going. I did okay. I think I brought some juice. I mean, I got cheered off stage. The best ones have definitely been Omari [Hampton] and Beau [Gardner]. Omari sang something by Justin Timberlake and Beau did a Biggie Smalls song. They were both great.

The best part of the week was definitely game day. I was definitely pretty nervous going into Saturday. Honestly, I almost always get those pregame jitters. Part of it was definitely the excitement around it being my first NFL game, but I also just care a lot about how I do and how the game goes. So those nerves are typically there anyway, but once I start playing, they go away.

I got to Soldier Field early and did my typical routine of going out on the field and doing a lap around, then hanging out on the bench for five or 10 minutes before I warm up. It was an exciting experience just seeing the fans fill in, and by kickoff, the energy was great.

Cleveland started their first-team defense for a drive or two, so I had the chance to go against the ones, which was a really great experience for me. Overall, I'm happy with the way that I competed and the effort I gave. I played hard and finished through the snap, and to me, that's the most important. I think my technique was lacking a bit in some areas, which for a first game is to be expected, but I'm excited to get some more opportunities to clean that up and look sharper on tape. But I think I did a relatively good job staying poised and maintaining focus throughout the game.

The best part, though, was obviously getting the win. That was a lot of fun. We had our first "Good, Better, Best" of the season in the postgame locker room. I tried to just listen on the first couple lines because I didn't want to yell out the wrong thing, but once we got going, it was fun.

Saturday was just a blast and a day I'll remember for a while. Sometimes in games I'm so focused, I don't have as much fun as I probably should. But I was able to step back at one point, take a breath and just have fun playing football. I don't know — I just had a really good time. It was a lot of fun. I think when I look back on my first NFL game, winning will stand out the most. And I'm just excited to have more opportunities to improve and keep the energy going in the next couple of weeks.

When I walked out onto the field Saturday, I definitely felt at home.

It's actually so dope when you get a chance to travel around the league and be a part of different teams and fanbases. But when you get to be a part of the Bears, it's such a different vibe. To see how many people turned up at a preseason game where, obviously, it matters to us, but it doesn't statistically count, and it happened to be raining all day, it gave me a glimpse at what's to come. When a preseason game feels like a regular-season game, that's when you know this place is different.

Like, y'all really weren't lying that it doesn't matter the conditions; Bears fans will show up. It was super dope. Even just arriving at Soldier Field in the morning and seeing people walking to the stadium or already waiting outside to get in. I can only imagine when it gets to be negative degrees or when the lights really come on and it's time to go — these fans are gonna be electric. It was a really loving, welcoming feeling. And that's a fanbase that you want to put on for. You want to put your best stuff on tape and you want to give them something to look forward to.

Then I'll head over to the stadium with my playlist going – usually have some Drake playing – and start my routine. I'll get in the hot tub, start stretching out, have the trainers work on me, go out on the field and do my warmups, my D-line drills and then come back in the locker room. I'll read a couple scriptures from my Bible and the same two or three pages from this prayer guidebook that I read before every game, just to slow my mind down and get my mind right. Then, it's game time.

As far as the game, I'm my own toughest critic, so I feel like there's a lot of things I could have done better. Pass rush has room for improvement, even being more efficient in the run game, and from a technical standpoint, there's a whole bunch of things that need to get cleaned up. But that's what preseason is for — to build, to get better, to hone in on technique, so that when the season is here, we're all ready to go and get it.

I still feel like I did what was asked of me, but to take the step I'm trying to take personally and that the coaches want from me, there's a lot more I could've done. Now, it's about consistency and taking all of that back to practice this week and making corrections for the next game. I'm most looking forward to doing that as an entire team. I can already see with the scheme and the guys we have, once things are done right consistently, great things can happen.​

It's a grind, though. But that's why I love it here. I had a couple friends on the Browns that I talked to after the game, and I was just telling them how different the standard is here. I know you've already heard the words "different" and "standard" from me a lot, but that's the best way I can describe what we have here. What coach Johnson and coach Allen bring to the table is a level of excellence that's required so that when you get into the game, you're only worried about doing your job and making sure everyone is aligned as opposed to what your opponent is doing. When you're only really worrying about you and yours, that's when you start to take the next step.

The latest example of the standard that I keep bringing up was our "scrimmage" last Tuesday. I have never been a part of something like that. It was funny though because the day prior to that, we had a walk-through at the high school — which, first of all, yo, what was that? Those kids were really turnt like that for a walk-through. The whole time, I'm like, "Are we about to practice? Did I see a shoulder pad peeking out of the bus?" That was fun — I didn't know high school here got turnt like that, but I'm here for it.

We had the walk-through, and then the team went bowling. And listen, me and bowling have a love-hate relationship. I love bowling. I don't know if bowling loves me. Honestly, when I don't care about it, I'll hit strike, spare, strike. But the minute I try to lock in, gutter, gutter. So when we started, it was great. Thirty minutes later, it was already downhill. I just became a cheerleader. I was rooting James Lynch on, and he won the competition at the end, so that was dope.

Times like that are always great because it brings everyone back down a bit from the stress of camp. It's nice to unwind a bit. But then, I started thinking, okay, we had a walk-through, a fun team activity, we got out kind of early, we had a day off coming up, like, there's gotta be a tornado or a hurricane coming.

And sure enough, it came Tuesday. We finally got to the gritty part of camp where guys start to separate themselves. The body starts talking to you, really starts yelling at you. It was a later practice, so now you're dealing with the elements. So that scrimmage day was one of those ones where you gotta push through. It was physical, it was long, it was hot.

We got back to the locker room that afternoon, and everyone's just like, "Wow. Okay." Both sides of the ball, we're just giving each other those looks like, "What was that?" It felt like a storm just hit. But it's dope, and you know you're getting your money's worth when you can look to your left and look to your right and everybody is feeling it.

And that's why I love training camp. I don't care what anybody says, you have to go through that with your brothers. You have to learn how to find a way. And when you have one of those days, and then you finally go out and play in the preseason a few days later, it all clicks.

Obviously, we're all bought into what the coaches are preaching every day, but when you see all the work get put into play, you fully understand it. And it all makes sense. And to be a part of this team, you have to be able to push through hard things and do things that other people don't do. That's how we separate.

I'm just excited to keep grinding through this camp and keep getting better with my brothers. I think joint practices will be a big moment for all of us, and I'm looking forward to having that experience with this team.