March 27, 2009
Q. Why don't you tell us your thoughts on the first day in pads, was it revealing to you?
A. A lot of guys don't understand the speed of the game, which is what we thought would happen. We have a long ways to go. It was good to see guys compete today and for the most part I thought the competition was good until the end where we had some mental lapses on the field goal, which we can't have. For the most part I thought it was OK.
Q. What exactly happened at the end?
A. First we had an offensive guy jump and then we had a defensive lineman jump and that is inexcusable, especially when both guys are right there by the ball.
Q. When you say you have guys that don't understand the speed of the game, I hope those are the young kids that played on the JV team last year and not the returning varsity guys.
A. It was predominantly the young guys that haven't played, which we have a lot of on both sides of the ball. We have a lot of younger guys that were on the scout team last year and they are starting to learn what Coach Green and Coach Jasper are looking for.
Q. Coach, I know you are only a few days into practice but can you talk about some of the position changes and what you have seen so far, especially from Jordan Eddington?
A. Today was our first day in pads so I think he learned that you better get your pads down when running the ball or you are going to get blown up pretty quick. Jordan Stephens looked pretty good at defensive end today and Clint Sovie has the speed we are looking for at outside linebacker.
Q. Does Clint seem comfortable there?
A. Yes he does. I am excited to see him tomorrow. He just has so much speed and talent.
Q. I see Jesse Iwuji was with the first team at free safety today.
A. Yeah, but Coach Green teaches all the guys back there all four positions just in case he has to mix and match.
Q. So it's hard to read too much into who is playing with the first team?
A. Yeah, because one day a guy will be a corner, the next day he will be at rover and the next he will be at free. He moves them all around during the spring so we have the luxury to do that during the season if we have injuries. It has worked well for us. When they are learning it is kind of tough, but it helps us out in the long run.
Q. Are you worried that you are a little thin in the secondary? You have a lot of guys out right now with Angelo out, Shannon out, and Merchant still isn't out here.
A. We are a little short, but we have who we have. Once our quarterback situation is settled we will probably move the odd man out to the secondary.
