Lovie Smith may be from the small, northeast Texas town of Big Sandy, but he knows the meaning of voluntary.
“At Big Sandy, voluntary is voluntary,” Smiths told reporters on Tuesday during Houston Texans organized team activities at Houston Methodist Training Center. “You can show up as you like. You don’t have to.”
Of course, Smith’s nature as a coach is one that would like to see 100% attendance, including that of starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil and defensive tackle Maliek Collins.
“Yeah, I’d like for guys to be up here all day, staying with the coaches and putting in as many hours as we like, but they have some options,” said Smith. “Rules are in place. We follow the rules and it’s no more than that.”
Smith says that he spoke with Tunsil and Collins and he is “okay with that” and he is confident the Texans will have full attendance when it counts.
“There’s one thing that’s mandatory in the offseason, and I expect everyone would be there unless we’ve come to an agreement and they have something that I want them to take care of, too,” said Smith.
The only mandatory event for the Texans on the offseason slate is minicamp June 14-16. Tunsil and Collins should be expected to take part in the three-day event, which will still be similar to organized team activities in that the pads will still be off.
