Head Coach Rich Brooks
On the opening of spring practice on Wednesday…
?I?m excited to get back on the field tomorrow with this group of players that have worked very hard in the off season. We have made tremendous gains with the returning players in their lifting ability, strength, speed and vertical jumps. All of those things, basically across the board on our returning players, are much more impressive than they were at this time a year ago. We?re in much better condition, as a football team, overall than we were last year. I?m excited about it. We have a lot of questions, some of which will be answered this spring, but we have some that won?t be answered until we get into the season next year.?
On the status of players in rehabilitation for injuries…
?Ernie Pelayo continues to make great strides, coming off knee surgery. He won?t do much in the spring other than learn, from the mental side, which is significant to have him here to do that. (Matt) Huff has made some very good strides from his broken leg and will be able to at least participate in non-contact drills. (Tommy) Cook is completely healed and ready to go. (Mike) Williams, we?ll hold out of most everything from his shoulder surgery, but he will go through non-contact drills in shorts.?
On if the conditioning work now is different than it was in the past…
?I know that there was not an emphasis on the power clean in the past. We have made that a major emphasis. Other than that, I think the cardiovascular drills are probably not much different.?
On if he?ll have to wait until the fall to answer questions in the offensive line…
?I think that?s true in quite a few areas. I believe we have some people coming in this fall that will add to the competition on this football team. In the offensive line, our depth is not going to be as good this spring as it will be this fall when we add the high school linemen that are coming in.?
On if he has a firm idea of what he wants to accomplish this spring…
?Yes, I have a firm idea, but those ideas can fluctuate sometimes. As we go through spring practice, if things aren?t going the way I think they should, I may change the emphasis. That plan, in my mind, needs to be flexible because you have to adjust to what you?re doing as you go through practices.?
On if Shane Boyd can enter spring practice knowing he is the starting quarterback…
?He can come into spring practice knowing (the quarterback position) is his. Whether he comes out of spring practice knowing it?s his is the question. That?s depending on how things go in practice. The one thing I think this team understands is that if they don?t do things well in practice they won?t get a chance to do them in games.?
On where Andre Woodson is in his development as a quarterback…
?I can?t really answer that until I see him throw the ball in scrimmage situations this spring with pressure on him. The only contact he had (last fall) was in a scout scrimmage in the indoor center and he threw the ball very well, avoided the rush, and did some very good things in that scrimmage. But, he also did some things that he needs to get better at. I think, physically, he can throw the football very well. I?m anxious to see him work with the first and second units against the first and second defenses.?
On getting this team to do things the way the coaching staff wants…
?I think they were trying hard to do those things last year, it just can be hard when you have to change to a new coaching staff. I think we have a bunch of hungry guys that want to win, they want to do things the right way and they understand the we are here to help them. We are trying to get them in the very best strength and physical shape we can get them in.?
On if he wants to see the defense dominate in the spring, or if that would concern him…
?I?d feel really good if the defense dominated, if I thought we were doing something really good on offense. You?re never happy as a head coach, when you go against yourself, if one side just kicks the devil out of the other side. You hope you?re equally talented on both sides where it?s competitive. Is that going to be the case every day? No. I don?t want to see inconsistency. I want to see improvement. I want our defense to dominate next fall. I would expect that our defense would be ahead of the offense, simply because we have more returning starters there.?
On if he senses the defense is excited about having higher expectations placed upon it…
?I think one of the interesting things I saw with this football season a year ago was the offensive guys talking about this being the best defense they?d seen since they had been here. I guarantee you that made our defense feel really good. Are we as good as we need to be on defense? No. We need to continue to get better there. One of the things I?m anxious to see is the improved depth on defense. The depth should allow us to rotate guys in and out more than we could a year ago.?
On his top question going into the spring…
?My number one question going into the spring is determining, offensively, a rotation in the offensive line and quarterback positions. Those are my biggest concerns ? to see how we?re going to perform in those areas. We have fewer people that have ever started football games at this level, at those positions.?
On if he sees a chance of playing both Shane Boyd and Andre Woodson at the same time…
?I can?t answer that right now. It depends on the production of the position.?
On his opinion of Shane Boyd playing baseball this spring…
?He didn?t go through our cardiovascular program this winter. He did go through the lifting and threw some with the receivers, as I understand it. I also understand that he won?t miss any of our 15 practices this spring. I?m the one who approved him to play baseball, so I guess I felt okay with it. I told him that my biggest concern was his accuracy throwing the football. I?m anxious to see his accuracy, throwing the football.?
On how far Jacob Tamme and John Logan have progressed…
?(John) Logan has had a relatively healthy off season, which is good because he was hampered with some hamstring problems last fall. (Jacob) Tamme hurt his back last fall when he dove for a ball in the scout scrimmage and made a great catch. He?s been basically rehabbing most of the winter to strengthen his back. He really was only cleared to start running about three weeks ago. He?s a little behind, conditioning-wise, but I don?t worry about it with him because he?s a guy that gives you all he?s got. You throw those two guys and Scott Mitchell into the mix at wide receiver and there?s going to be some interesting competition at that position.?
On the tight end position…
?I do feel we?ll be stronger at that position, I just don?t know how much stronger. We have more choices to choose from. I think we have two redshirt freshmen that are very talented guys. We have two junior college transfers that we?ll be seeing for the first time on the field.?
On what prompted the change of Dominic Lewis from fullback to tight end…
?Great growth potential, which has materialized and he has great hands. He can run routes and stretch the field vertically from the tight end position. What he needs to show is that he?s going to be a physical enough blocker to play that position, and that would have been the concern at fullback as well.?
On how to develop the depth at offensive line…
?They have to prove that they can play. The first thing we have to do is figure out who?s going to start. That will take most of spring I think. We?ll probably move guys from guard to tackle, seeing how we have a lack of depth this spring in the offensive line. Then we?ll fill in with the guys coming in this fall in areas where we need to be stronger.?
On what questions and concerns he has with the quarterback position this spring…
?The only question and concern I have is lack of experience. I think both players have talent and ability, but proven production at the quarterback position is not there. We have to put them through enough stressful situations in practice that they can produce in stressful situations in games.?
On if he?s seen anyone on the offensive side that has stepped up as a leader…
?I?ve seen quite a few guys, but I?m not going to single them out until I see what they do on the field. It seems we have more guys that are committed to doing things the right way, and not afraid to say something to their teammates when they see someone not doing it the right way.?
On the depth at outside linebacker without Deion Holts on the roster…
?It?s better now than it was going into last spring or last fall. It could be better if Deion were still here, but he?s not. Durrell White, who I think had he stayed healthy would have gotten more recognition than he did. Joe Schuler is a good football player and he?s dealing with lower back problems, but I know he?s going to be a good football player.?
On how close he is to reaching the numbers he wants at all positions…
?It will take at least one more full year of recruiting to get close to having those numbers right. We have some work to do in that area. Depth is going to be a concern in some positions, no matter what we do, until we get to the full 85 (scholarship players).?
On the importance of having the same coaching staff in place for the second straight year…
?I think continuity is always critically important. It was tough last year because I was the third head coach and it was the third position coach for basically everyone. Now this group that?s here, except for the new players we?ve brought in, have been with this staff for a full year and go through another year with the staff. That should make for a little better, well-oiled, productive machine.?
On if there are some redshirt freshmen who can compete right away for playing time…
?There are quite a few ? (Eric) Scott and (Dominic) Lewis at tight end, (Jacob) Tamme and (John) Logan at wide receiver and (Joe) Schuler at linebacker. All those guys have done some significant things. Now we need to see if they?ll take that improvement from the off season and put it on the field to become a better football player with pads on.?
On offensive linemen Matt McCutcheon and Eric Klope…
?Based on what McCutcheon did last fall and this off season, he goes into the spring as the starter at center. Klope has made tremendous strides as well, but he still has a big deficit in knowledge of the way to play football. He hadn?t played since sixth grade before last fall. He has to understand technique and footwork. When he puts that all together, he has the chance to be a very good football player in this league.?
