Blake Bortles in Houston, excited for meeting with Texans

Blake Bortles walked by himself through William P. Hobby Airport holding just one carry-on bag, headed to the next stop on his pre-NFL Draft tour … to meet with the Houston Texans.

Bortles met with the Oakland Raiders on Monday, jumped on a plane Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Houston on Tuesday evening in preparation for his official visit with the Texans on Wednesday.

This won’t be the first time Bortles has met with Texans head coach Bill O’Brien. He met with the Texans during the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and then again in Orlando when general manager Rick Smith and O’Brien were there to watch his pro day at UCF.

“They’ve been great,” Bortles said of his previous meetings with O’Brien. “He’s a great guy and a great coach. I’m just excited to get here, meet everybody and sit down and talk with everybody again. So I’m really looking forward to it.”

Bortles’ visit should include plenty of meetings with O’Brien, Smith and quarterbacks coach George Godsey. He won’t be working out during his visit but hopes that through those meetings he can show why he’s the right fit under center in Houston. But he’s not really going in with a game plan on winning over the Texans.

“I don’t know,” Bortles said when asked why he should be the No. 1 overall pick. “I guess just what I put on tape and the things I can do at quarterback are hopefully things that they like, so it’s up for them to decide.”

O’Brien will have plenty of help if he wants it from UCF head coach George O’Leary. O’Leary is perhaps O’Brien’s biggest mentor and has said before that Bortles is constantly studying and working on football and has no concerns about his focus working on his game.

“I just can’t wait to get wherever and learn and get after it,” Bortles said. “I enjoy competing and I enjoy winning so I definitely look forward to it.”

-- James Palmer, CSN Houston