Aug. 12, 2008
Overall thoughts on Tuesday's drills
"We did some good things. Defensively, we have a lot of younger players and we're doing some newer things so there was a little more confusion on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, there was a little more assuredness. The entire staff is back and we're doing the same thing. There is a little more confidence there. Defensively, we're experimenting with some things and we don't quite know it as well yet."
On going full pads for the first time on Wednesday
"Tomorrow, we're going to be more physical. We're going to have some one-on-one drills called `alley drills' where we'll block and try to get off blocks to make tackles. So we'll have some more physical-type drills and continue to do the same type of things we've been doing."
On if there were any new injuries on Tuesday
"Not today, not that I know of. It looks like a couple of guys are working their way back, like (Chinonso) Echebelem. (David Skehan) is doing some work but he can't hit anybody right now. Tomorrow, when we do the hitting, they're not going to be able to do any of that."
On what he hopes to accomplish in his first practice in full pads
"Now we've got pads and that's why I want to make sure we get one of them in tomorrow for sure. We've got to start finding out who among the younger guys is going to be physical. We've got a pretty good idea among the older guys, but we need to find out which of the freshmen are going to play for us so we can start giving more reps to them in other drills."
On what the team can work on when not in full pads and having to run inside due to inclement weather
"We have more meeting time than we've ever had. We're doing a lot of meetings looking at practice, looking at cut-ups and doing all kind of other things. But there's nothing like being out here and doing it. Everybody talks about `I need more reps.' That's how you learn football, through reps. And that's how we evaluate as well."
