Rewind to training camp for the New Orleans Saints.
As linebackers coach Michael Hodges says, “things are hard” during those July and August sessions. The days are long and exhausting. The Louisiana heat is draining, worsened by the stifling humidity. It’s easy for energy levels to dip when football fields feel like a sauna.
On no specific day in particular, Demario Davis broke down the linebacker huddle.
“Juice Boyzz on 3. 1-2-3, Juice Boyzz.”
After spending a month away from home while dodging Hurricane Ida, and after spending an entire season playing in a mostly empty stadium as th…
A confused look fell over rookie linebacker Pete Werner’s face.
“What the hell is that?” he said, bewildered by what his captain meant.
In the months since, Werner turned his naivete toward the linebackers’ mantra into adopting it for what it is: "a lifestyle."
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To break down Werner’s original question: What the hell is a Juice Boy?
At least a week before Davis, Kwon Alexander and Wynton McManis coined the name, Hodges sat all of the linebackers down in their meeting room.
On the first day of training camp — nine days before Alexander rejoined the team — Hodges preached three things to the 10 men in front of him: energy, physicality and ball awareness.
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“When you turn on the tape, that’s what you expect out of the linebacker room for the New Orleans Saints,” said Hodges, saying that the energy from his position group was outstanding through camp. “I think that’s the catalyst of it all.”
They knew the energy from their group emanated around the team, which was immediately apparent after the team traded for Alexander last season.
Now, with the Juice Boyzz mindset, that’s gone a step further.
“Our energy is valuable, and it paid dividends in areas outside of our personal play,” Hodges said. “It paid dividends for the group — the linebacker group as a whole — and then the defense, and then now it’s bled over to every part of the team.”
The energy must be brought at all times — at games, practices, lifts, walk-throughs and for your teammates, regardless of whether you were individually involved in their success.
Davis may get the credit for the Juice Boyzz name, but the Saints’ All-Pro linebacker was quick to ensure Alexander and McManis got their props for the name’s creation, too.
Davis doesn’t remember the exact day when they settled on the Juice Boyzz moniker, but he knew they wanted to incorporate “juice.” That comes from, as Davis said, the phrase, “Y'all bring the ice and the cups, we’ll bring the juice.”
Juice Squad?
No, that doesn’t sound right.
Juice Boys?
Close, but something’s off with that, too.
Juice Boyz?
Make that two Z's and we’ve got a deal.
“We're going to bring the energy and excitement,” Davis said. “Nobody else. All y’all have to do is show up, and we'll take care of the rest. And that's what we do. We want to bring the energy and excitement, and that's contagious.”
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Contagious is an understatement.
“The entire defense is asking if they can be a Juice Boy,” linebacker Andrew Dowell said with a smile. “It’s become a calling card of ours. It’s something we’re proud of and stand behind.”
The Juice Boyzz motto has spread through the rest of the team, but the undisputed king of the Juice Boyzz — if one were to be crowned — is a linebacker: Alexander.
Sure, he’s on injured reserve for at least another week with an elbow injury, but his energy is remains infectious around the team.
“The person that emulates the ‘Juice Boyzz’ lifestyle the most is Kwon,” Dowell said. “... Kwon is a ‘Juice Boy’ for sure.”
Hodges added: “Kwon wakes up with juice. He rolls out of bed that way.”
Through three games, the Saints are tied for the NFL lead in turnover differential (+5) and are tied for second in total takeaways (7) — an emphasis for this defense under coaches Sean Payton and Dennis Allen for years.
Allen said the energy level has been a major factor in the defense’s success, adding, “Certainly, this is a tough-ass business we are in, but it is still a game and should still be fun. Our guys are playing hard and having a lot of fun doing it.”
Davis ranks in the top 15 league-wide in solo tackles (15th with 17) and tackles for loss (11th with three).
After many of Davis’ plays, he breaks out his well-known Kamehameha celebration, but he’s incorporating the calling card of the Juice Boyzz now, too.
“If you see a big play, get your cup up, that’s the juice,” Davis said with a laugh. “Imagine having a cup in your hand and swirling the juice around.”
The Saints’ defense is long known for having fun. The players claim they started the interception celebration that has since swept over the league, posing for photos as a group in front of the cameras on the sideline.
Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: The Saints and Pelicans aren’t moving.
“If you ain’t got no passion, you shouldn’t be out here,” safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson said. “To see that they’ve got something to motivate them, it motivates me. I’m part of the Juice Boyzz. Everybody on this team’s part of the Juice Boyzz. When you say Juice Boyzz, that’s the whole Saints' organization included.”
The whole Saints’ organization? Yes.
Hodges says he “can’t not be” considered a Juice Boy, even if his players were “giving (him) s*** about (his) energy” during training camp. Some receivers have joined in, Werner said. Even quarterback Jameis Winston wants in, defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon said.
“It’s awesome when you see something trickle from linebackers all the way to Jameis now saying Juice Boyzz. He’s like, ‘Is that juice, Juice Boyzz?’ ” Kpassagnon said. “It’s awesome to see the whole team come together around one central goal.”
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