When you replace a 71-year-old head coach with 38-year-old, there are bound to be some changes in the daily operation.
Such is the case with the New England Patriots and Jerod Mayo, who is wasting no time creating a new culture in his first year as head coach.
Prior to the Patriots' first training camp practice outside Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, Mayo offered insight into how this summer's sessions might differ from years past.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
"The first thing, I know it's small, is just the music during practice," Mayo told reporters. "That helps the time go by as well, gets the guys excited, gets them pumped."
Music in the background at Patriots training camp practices is nothing new -- Bill Belichick saw it as a useful tool to simulate crowd noise and force players to communicate in a loud environment -- but it sounds like Mayo also views music as a morale booster that can keep the energy high during practice.
MORE PATRIOTS COVERAGE
Mayo added that New England's offseason award winners -- whom he didn't reveal -- will get to select the music at training camp practices.
"That's one of those prizes you give the offseason award winners," Mayo said. "... They love it."
In addition to infusing more energy into camp, Mayo also plans on raising the competition level.
"It's all about competition and what I talked about, so you'll see more competitive periods as the offseason continues," Mayo added.
That could mean we see more 1-on-1s, 7-on-7s, 11-on-11s, or any other period that pits players against each other and gets the competitive juices flowing.
🔊 Patriots Talk: Judon lets loose on contract, how will Patriots respond? | Listen & Subscribe | Watch on YouTube
The Patriots' first seven training camp practices will be without pads, so Mayo and his staff will have to find unique ways to create competitive situations. But the former Patriots linebacker and Super Bowl champion clearly values high competition and high energy, so we should expect to see both on the fields outside Gillette Stadium this summer.
"The most important thing is just to compete and go out there and have fun," Mayo added. "And winning is fun, so it's all about competition and it's all about getting better each and every day."