Excerpts...

In the process of working on my piece about Marion Barber, I had a nice 15-minute chat with is little brother Dominique.

They played with each other for a season at Wyzanta (Minn.) High School and in college at Minnesota. Marion is three years older, so when the Texans play the Cowboys in a preseason game a few weeks from now, it will be the first time they've been on the field against each other aside from practice.

"If I have a chance to tackle him, it won't be personal," Dominique said. "I'll just be trying to get him down like I would anyone else."

[...]

Marion also looked out for his little brother prior to the draft. They worked out together and he gave him all of the insight he had about how to succeed and thrive in training camp. Much of Marion's advice was about eating and resting properly, and how to handle the mental part of training camp.

His best advice?

"Believe in what you do. Believe in yourself," Dominique said. "It's not about the last play, it's about the next play."