Aug. 9, 2008

Head Coach Frank Solich

Opening Statement:

We've got a very challenging schedule and, with that in mind, we have a number of road games. We've been a very good road team and I think our players have responded very well to that. If we can get through the early part of the schedule and keep a great frame of mind, we can be a good football team. We're going to have to be a team that stays somewhat healthy. We're off to a good start in that area after five and half days of practice. That will be crucial because we're going to play some very, very physical teams through the first part of the season. One of those teams will be Wyoming who played us very hard for four quarters last season and is coached by Joe Glenn, who I know very well. We know we'll have our hands full going up there. In terms of playing our young guys, we'd like to get to a point where we can give a guy another year before we have to get him onto the field, but we don't have that luxury yet. A lot of people don't have that luxury anymore. It's becoming more and more important for coaches to get those young people that can contribute immediately. We look forward to the season with great anticipation and I know our staff does as well. We've only lost three coaches over the last three years. Two of those went onto the NFL and the third, Carl Pelini, went with his brother to Nebraska. It's very important, in terms of your staff, to have that continuity.

Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Coach Tim Albin

Opening Statement:

We're extremely excited as well in our unit. Six days into it, the kids are working extremely hard. We've got some great guys on this staff. A number of the guys on the offensive side have been coordinators, some have been head coaches and just do a fabulous job. It's definitely a group effort and I'm really pleased with the relationship. Offensively, you don't just replace a guy like Kalvin (McRae) because he's a great player. I didn't really have to do a whole lot last year, just make sure he knew what time the bus left and that he was ready to go. That said, we really have four exciting guys that are battling for that position in camp. Competition makes you better and those guys have come out each and every day with their chin straps buckled up ready to go. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Six days into it, I can't tell you a whole lot more than that. The great thing about Kalvin was that he was so durable and could play every snap. Our goal is to try to develop a guy like that. Andrew Mooney and David Carter had some great seasons at the tight end spot. They have great ability and are able to make plays down the field. Up front, we're very solid as Coach (Keven) Lightner does a great job with those guys. At one tackle we have Josh Leuck who is a big guy and is very agile. We've had a rough go of it up front over the last three years with injuries and some things not go our way. Hopefully we can stay healthy up there this year, because that will be key. Receiving-wise, Coach (Dwayne) Dixon has been a tremendous asset to us. He has some great guys to work with, especially a guy like Taylor Price. We like what Taylor brings to the table with his speed and we look for him to get into the end zone a few more times this year. He has the ability to help us get more vertical this year. On the other side will be LaVon Brazill who I thought had a tremendous spring. A couple of other guys like Riley Dunlop and Terrence McCrae are going to give us some very good depth at that spot. Overall, I think we have a lot of talent across the board and, if we can stay healthy and stay together chemistry-wise, we can be very good.

On replacing Kalvin McRae:

He was the total package and the biggest part of that was that he could catch the ball. He knew when to get behind his shoulder pads, take three yards and go to the next one. At the same time, he knew when to give a little wiggle and make that extra spin so that he wouldn't get caught in the backfield. He was better off the field than he was on it. At the same time, he carried the ball 294 times last year and I hope we can get a guy like that.

On the urgency of establishing a clear starting running back:

At this point, I'm not concerned about it. Eventually, you want a guy to get in there and get in a rhythm. I don't think you'll see us playing four guys in the first minute. That won't be the case. But you might see a situation where we're rotating maybe two guys in there. There's certainly a place for that.

Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Gerry Gdowski

Opening Statement:

If we had to play a game tomorrow, Theo Scott would be the starter. He's really gotten a lot more comfortable with the system now and has bought into what we're trying to do offensively. I think he understands exactly what we want out of him. Last spring, we added Boo Jackson from El Camino College in California. He's probably similar to what Theo was last year at this time. He's still in the learning phases of some things, but he's done a good job. If you look at the spring game, he was able to complete a lot of passes without a whole lot of experience. He will definitely push Theo and become a very good quarterback. We're fortunate that we have a lot of depth there and some guys who have been in our system in Brandon Jones and Josh Febus. Brandon has now had a period where he's been healthy for an extended period of time. Josh is a very intense competitor and has a very strong arm. We also have Brian Sweeney, a redshirt freshman, who will be a very good football player someday. We made some tremendous strides last year in the throwing game, from the guys up front, to the guys catching it, to the guys throwing it.

On how the responsibility of the quarterback position has evolved over the past four years:

We ask them to do a few more things physically now as far as asking them to do some more things with their feet. Probably the biggest thing, though, is that we're asking them to make more difficult throws than we've asked of our guys in the past.

Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach Jimmy Burrow

Opening statement:

One of the things we feel really good about on defense is our depth. Our goal last spring and during this month's two-a-days has been to establish depth. We'd like to get off to a good start and be as strong at the end of the year as we are at the beginning, and a lot of that has to do with depth. We're constantly trying to improve that. Injuries always play a major role, but we feel pretty good that we've got a larger group of football players to choose from than we have in the past. If you look at our cornerback position with Mark Parson, Idris Lawrence and Thad Turner, all four of those guys have a lot of game experience. I'd say Mark Parson is certainly the leader of that group. He made a lot of plays last year, and we feel that he's one of the better cornerbacks in the Mid-American Conference. At defensive end, we have Jameson Hartke, Kris Luchsinger, Jordan Meyers and Conor Reilly - those four guys have played a lot of football. Jameson is the leader and a four year starter for us. He's one of those guys who we sometimes say we wish we would have redshirted, but whenever we bring that up we think back to the Pittsburgh game (in 2005) when he had two sacks, so it's hard to say we should have done that. He's been a heck of a football player for us and will continue to be this year. At the inside position, we've got some guys who have played a lot, like Ernie Hodge, Eric Kenkel, Jacob Williamson. If we have a position that's probably the least experienced, it's the defensive line. We've got a lot of young guys competing for spots. It's a battle there to see who's going to get the playing time. Our linebacking corps has a lot of experience in Lee Renfro, Michael Brown, Chris Hall, Noah Keller and Jordan Meyers. Jordan is coming back from his injury, and we hope to get him back soon. He'll be a big key as far as depth in our linebacker corps. There's a good pool of players to pick from, and they all have talent. When you get to the safeties, you have Michael Mitchell, Neil Jereb, Steven Jackson - those guys have played a lot. Donovan Fletcher is a young safety you'll hear a lot about. He's really made a lot of strides since last season. Two of our junior college players - Hilton Dawson and Patrick Tafua - have both come in and done a great job of competing for playing time. We identified some things that we didn't do as well as we would have liked last year, and we tried to address those. We feel like we have a good grasp on them and we're looking for a lot of improvement. Our goals are always to play hard, play fast and play together. You'll see a fast defense out there this year. We want to stop the run, prevent big plays and force more turnovers. We're working on all three of those points of emphasis during two-a-days.

Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers Coach Ross Els

Opening statement:

We're excited right now - I think all 120 teams in Division I football are excited about where they're at right now. There's a diverse group of guys who will be playing special teams for us this year, some of them have a lot of experience and others don't. Special teams will make a difference in a lot of games, and Coach Solich keeps driving that home to our players. Fortunately, we get a lot of time to work with special teams, and I feel privileged to head up those groups because they do a tremendous job. We've had some great success and the guys who work with us in the special teams area have done a great job. We have two guys coming back who have done a good job of returning kicks for us the last couple years. Chris Garrett has big-play capability on both the kickoff and punt return, and Mark Parson has been back there returning punts for three years. One of the things we've done is continue to recruit speed, and there will be six or seven guys who will get their hands on the ball and have the opportunity to return kicks. Our punter, Matt Schulte, had a good year last season in his first time kicking in college football. We're pleased that he's continued to develop to where he's at right now. His technique is sound, and he's been spending a lot of time getting better. We also have a freshman with a powerful leg named Matt Weller. He may have the most powerful leg on the roster. He needs to work on his technique and speed things up, but Matt Weller will be good for us. We've got a three-way battle to be our kicker right now, and I honestly don't know who will be the guy when we leave for Wyoming. Barrett Way transferred from VMI and sat out 2007, but he was an all-conference kicker for VMI in 2006. He's very accurate and fundamentally strong. Paul Belany is another transfer, coming over from Bowling Green before last season, and he did a great job for us this spring. He didn't miss a field goal in the spring game, and we've got a lot of confidence in him. The third guy is Matt Weller, and when he gets the mechanics in tune with his very strong leg, he could have a shot at the job. It's going to be battle between those three, and we've been charting every kick they take. The guy with the least amount of game experience, but a guy who I have a tremendous amount of confidence in, is out and that is long snapper, Kyle Robbins. He's a linebacker for us, and he was always the guy behind Ryan Senser on the depth chart. With Ryan moving on to the New Orleans Saints, it's Kyle's turn. Kyle has as much velocity as Ryan, and he's going to be a great coverage guy. We're very excited about where we are on special teams right now, and hopefully we can make a big difference this season.

Recruiting Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach Pete Germano

Opening statement:

As Coach Solich said, the 2008 class looks like it will live up to its billing after one week. It's too early to really know about the class, you need to get about two years down the road, but what I've seen so far makes it look like we've got some guys who are going to come through here. As for the 2009 class, the war is underway and the battle has begun. It will go all the way until the first Wednesday in February, when we sign. We've got one commitment right now, and we're probably going to sign anywhere from 16-20 players. You see what seniors you have to replace, and that figures into how you look at a recruiting class, but that doesn't always factor into how many kids you sign.