8/9/2003 - Football
Transcript Of Quarterbacks/Fullbacks Coach Ivin Jasper's Press Conference
Q. Do you feel like you?ve developed some depth at fullback?
A. Yeah we have. We have Brimage (Michael) who came on late last year. Kyle Eckel, who is the prototype fullback. He?s a big kid who weighs about 230 pounds and runs a 4.5 40. He?s a load. Right now he?s trying to nurse himself back to 100 percent with that knee injury he had last year. We have Bronston Carroll, who we moved from slot back in the spring, and Matt Hall, a kid we brought in from the prep school who we?re real high on. The good thing about it is if somebody goes down, we feel good about the next guy going in.
Q. How do you see this compeition? You almost have two returning starters because Eckel went down with an injury and Brimage stepped in and played real well at the end of the year. Do you see the number one spot being wide open or does Eckel deserve to be that guy because of the theory of not losing your starting job because of an injury?
A. It?s wide open. I think Brimage showed a lot at the end of the season. There?s nobody right now that?s the definite starter, though Brimage is the top guy on the depth chart right now. A lot can happen in these next three weeks. I just hope these guys compete and the main thing is for them to all get better.
Q. Do you see Eckel and Brimage bringing different things to the table?
A. Kyle is probably faster and more powerful and Brimage probably has better vision and better feet. You would like for Kyle to get better vision and Brimage to get more power.
Q. Has Eckel improved his vision since last year? He had a real nice touchdown run in practice where he bounced it outside and outran everybody.
A. I think so. It?s better, but it?s something he has to work on. Sometimes Eckel is like a bull in a china shop, he just goes straight ahead and tries to run over whoever is in his way, which isn?t bad, but at the same time he is going to make more big plays when his vision improves. He?s going to continue to work on it and as coaches we have to give him more looks and more reps and continue to work with him.
Q. Does Carroll bring something different to the table than Eckel or Brimage?
A. Bronston probably has the best feet we?ve had here since Timmy Cannada. He has real good feet and has the best vision of them all. The main thing about Bronston is he was a tailback in high school and he?s still in that tailback mode where he pops straight up when he runs through the hole, we have to work on getting his pad level down. We feel real good about Bronston; he came on strong at the end of the spring. He?s a natural back there. The main thing for him it to keep his pad level down and become more of a power runner. Once he gets through the line of scrimmage he?s very good at finding the open spot. We have three guys we feel pretty good about.
Q. Coach Johnson has said that he?s not wedded to using just one guy back there. There?s two schools of thought on that, you want one guy to get into a rhythm of the game and he gets better the more he gets the ball and the other school of thought is to go with the hot hand. What are your thoughts on that?
A. Whatever the boss says. Over the years running this offense we?ve given a couple of guys a series and then whoever has the hot hand we would leave them in there and hopefully one of them can eventually emerge to become the main guy. Adrian Peterson (Georgia Southern) never came out of the game unless he was tired. We?re going to give guys a shot in the first part of the game and whoever is hot will stay in and play.
