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Miami Dolphins players wonder whether Kris Kocurek’s voice will give out , and perhaps they wish it would.

Kocurek is in his first year as the defensive line coach, and he operates with high expectations at high energy and volume.

”I’ve got to watch where I stand on the field with him,” defensive coordinator Matt Burke said following Thursday’s practice. ”Sometimes he’s right there, and I get an earful. … People think it’s an act, and it’s not. That’s just who he is.”

Not everything Kocurek shouts can be repeated, but the thrust is he’s trying to turn around a unit that underachieved last year when the Dolphins went 6-10.

”I’ll just say this: I have a passion for d-line play,” said Kocurek, with a rasp.

Coach Adam Gase lured Kocurek out of Detroit, where he had been the Lion’ defensive line coach. Kocurek joined the Dolphins shortly before five-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh departed, but Gase still believes his front four will be better this year.

”Kris has done a really good job of getting to those guys ,” Gase said. ”They bring it. How they pursue the ball, get back to the line of scrimmage, go to the next play – there’s a lot of energy exerted on one play, and they just move on to the next one. He has developed them. That’s a tough group. They’re really trending in the right direction.”

While Kocurek can be hard on his players, he also knows how hard the game can be. The 39-year-old Texas native played at Texas Tech, and after he was drafted in the seventh round, his NFL career lasted one game and four snaps – for Tennessee in 2001.

”It was a goal-line situation,” he said. ”They stuck me in there, and I just tried to get as low as I could. We actually held them out of there.”

After a fifth shoulder operation ended his career, he turned to coaching and reached the NFL as a Lions assistant in 2009. When Detroit coach Jim Caldwell was fired in January , Kocurek came to Miami.

”I had the same office for nine years, and all of a sudden you get thrown into a little bit different environment,” he said. ”But it has been great. I look forward to cranking my truck in the morning and getting to work as fast as I can.”

He’s working with perhaps the team’s deepest unit. While Suh is gone, Miami acquired two-time Pro Bowl end Robert Quinn. Holdovers include ends Cameron Wake, Andre Branch and Charles Harris, and tackles Jordan Phillips, Vincent Taylor and Davon Godchaux.

Kocurek yells at all of them.

”He’s high energy,” Branch said, ”so you have no choice but to be high energy.”

Burke said Kocurek’s passionate approach is a good match for the area he coaches.

”People might get mad at me for saying this: I think the bigger you get, the more motivated you’ve got to get from somebody externally ,” Burke said. ”With that group, it takes a little extra yelling and pushing.”

Wake, for one, loves Kocurek’s approach.

”He’s a guy that’s old school, hard-nosed,” Wake said. ”He’s demanding. He doesn’t bite he tongue. He tells you how it is. … I love it. It’s a man’s game and there is no room for softness, especially the d-line. This is not quarterbacks, this is not receivers.”

But will Kocurek’s voice make it through training camp?

”No,” Wake said. ”It has already taken a hit. He’s going to have to get some tea or some honey.”

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Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh has promoted linebackers coach Don Martindale to defensive coordinator, assuring a seamless transition in the wake of Dean Pees’ retirement.

Martindale has been coaching Baltimore linebackers since 2012. The 54-year-old was the defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos in 2010.

After Pees ended his six-year run as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator on Jan. 1 , Harbaugh said he wanted to maintain continuity with his new hire.

”I’m a believer in this system,” Harbaugh said last week. ”This system has been something that’s been developed for a long period of time, and we have worked really hard every single year to make it better.”

Martindale has been part of that process. He coached the Ravens inside linebackers from 2012-15 and spent the past two seasons as the team’s linebackers coach.

In announcing the move Tuesday, Harbaugh said Martindale’s ”aggressive mentality will serve to take our defense to new levels.”

Harbaugh said Martindale ”knows the ins and outs of what we have been about on defense and has been an important contributor to our success on that side of the ball.”

Also on Tuesday, Harbaugh promoted Mike Macdonald to linebackers coach and Sterling Lucas to quality control defense.

The 30-year-old Macdonald joined the Ravens in 2014 as a coaching intern on defense. He served as a defensive assistant in 2015 and 2016, and this season was the defensive backs coach. Baltimore led the NFL this season with 22 interceptions and forced a league-best 34 turnovers.

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