On practicing indoors Wednesday…
“We went inside today; the first time we really have been inside by our own choice. It’s easy to have good spirits inside. We tried to change practice up today. We had a lot of competitive drills. It was a change of pace. They’re starting to hit that camp wall where it’s like ‘coach I’ve done this, I’ve hit this guy a lot,’ and that’s where you worry about guys getting bored. We had good competition and put some emphasis on some of the special teams. I did think we had good juice. I didn’t think we had real good juice on Monday and Tuesday. We had a good practice today.”
Update on Defensive Back Tyrique McGhee…
“He’s got a small fracture of his fifth metatarsal (bone). We think he’s going to be fine. He actually had a similar injury last year, and he played with it. It’s no certainty that he’s out or in for the first game and same thing for any game after that. He might be able to go out and play with it.”
Update on Tight End Jackson Harris and Linebacker Robert Beal…
“Jackson had a foot injury yesterday, don’t know how long he’ll be out. Beal has an undisclosed injury right now.”
Handling the talent and depth in the wide receiver room…
“How they came in does not matter to us, you mention coming in highly regarded. That means absolutely nothing. Every time you guys print something about the receivers, it’s about how many five stars are in there, but the guys that are playing the best right now, none of them had five stars. We go off performance. The receiver position is where do you help the team the most? Can you cover a kick? Can you block somebody? Can you make a play outside on the perimeter that nobody can make? Right now, that has nothing to do with what you were regarded as coming in. Is the culture of competition good? Absolutely. Maybe those guys that were three stars and four stars have outworked the guys that were five stars. All we do is say who is playing well? And right now, the guys that are playing best at receiver were not the highly regarded guys. We’re going to play the guys that are playing the best, practicing the best and bust their butt and go out and help the team. A lot of them are helping on special teams. I’m very pleased with our receivers’ room, top to bottom. I think they are competing hard, playing hard and making good plays. I’m into the team environment. Can you help our team? If you can, then I’m going to reward you by helping our team. There’s no promises of touches or catches. The goal is to win the game.”
On the running backs during Saturday’s scrimmage…
“Physical. Tough. We had guys get tired during the scrimmage. We took a lot of snaps; we probably didn’t realize how lethargic we were towards the end of it. … Nobody really stuck out. It was a dominate scrimmage. It was pretty balanced. There were some big explosive plays and there were some good plays on defense.”
On defining the identity of the offense…
“We’ve got a set of plays and our core belief that we’ve always had which is balance and being powerful and being able to run the ball at our will, not somebody else breaking our will. So that’s always going to be the identity we have. As far as having it formed like you said before, we won’t have that until the two deep is set on the offensive line and how the top 10 shake out with the linemen we’re going to be able to work with this season. That probably won’t play out until maybe even after scrimmage two. Scrimmage two is kind of a defining moment but it’s not over at scrimmage two, we still have eight or nine practices left before the first game.”
On the concerns of the offensive line during this evaluation period…
“Getting a formidable backup center. Getting a good two sets of tackles; who’s going to be the tackle if this guy goes down, who’s going to be the right tackle of the competition, which guards can go out and play tackle, who are the guys that can play left and right side, who are the guys that can just play left or go left tackle and left guard. Kendall Baker’s been at left tackle for a couple days, working out there. Cade [Mays]’ worked inside some. I mean, we’ve been done by committee. So, when you say ‘concerned,’ I’m concerned about every spot because the competition’s thick; but more importantly, is if this spot goes down, who goes where? I think Sam [Pittman] does a good job of putting himself in a situation if something happens we know the plan of action.”
On Jake Fromm handling his second Fall practice…
“I think he’s much more comfortable. You can’t even imagine this time last year to now. He’s played a lot of football games. … His step now is like he knows what the defense is doing before the defense does it, especially against us who he goes against every day. So, his development has been good because he’s played all these games, he understands where the weakness is in each defense and he can exploit that. He has really good command of the huddle and has good presence. … He’s doing a good job from a communications standpoint. He always did, I just think he knows the inside and outside of everything a little better now.”
On Cade Mays fitting in and being versatile and playing multiple spots on the offensive line…
“It’s been an experiment for us. He’s played some right tackle here, he’s played some left tackle here, he’s working at some guard. I think it’s easier for him to stay at the left side. He’s handled moving in there well but it’s just an experiment right now. We’re going to look at it and see. Hard to say. … I believe in his work ethic, he’s a hard-working kid, a bright kid.”
On position groups competing against each other…
“You want your best players on the field. So, if our best players on the field are four wideouts and no tight ends, then we better have some good tackles who know how to block well because we have no edges; but if our best players are tight ends, then we’ll have three of them out there. … We’re trying to get the guys on the field that need to touch the ball or can play without the ball. Sometimes there’s a loss for our support base, fan base for the respect for the guy who doesn’t have the ball because there’s only one ball and 11 guys out there so the guy without the ball better has a lot more value than just the guy with the ball. We’re trying to get the guys who can play well without the ball on the field and I think that’s what the offensive staff does a good job of.”