April 1, 2006
SDSU Football
2006 Spring Practice
Scrimmage Number Two
April 1, 2006
On his impressions of the second scrimmage:
"The goals that I felt that we needed to improve on we reached today. We had a lack of penalties; we didn't have any on defense - very good discipline there compared to the first scrimmage - and there were less busts. We were much better with our assignments, with formations and execution. Those were the two big goals that we had coming in. We did have a couple of turnovers on offense, and you can't have that. But the defense did a great job of scooping (the ball) and scoring when they did, which is big for us. That's something that we emphasize in practice every day defensively. Overall, I thought it was good. We had good execution on both sides of the ball, and both sides had their moments."
On the running game:
"I thought the running game was strong today. I thought all of our running backs ran well today, Brandon (Bornes), Atiyyah (Henderson) and Lynell (Hamilton). I thought all three of them ran well."
On running back Atiyyah Henderson:
"He's an excellent ball player. From day one up until now, he has made great improvement, as much as anybody on the football team. What he gives you is that change of pace and gives you a good one-back variation."
On his team's execution:
"I thought overall the execution was good on both sides of the football. I was looking for a few things. I was looking for an improvement on penalties over last week--which we did--and better alignment on assignments-- which we did. We still need to take care of the ball better, but defensively we created some turnovers, which was plus for them."
On what he was impressed with after the second scrimmage:
"On defense, I thought our guys really ran to the ball well. I also thought our running backs ran hard today."
On the quarterback position and offensive and defensive lines:
"They're in a battle right now and it may be a battle that goes on into the fall. I also want to commend our offensive line. I thought our guys on both lines, offensive and defensive, did a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage at certain times. But we have some battles going on right now, and that's the fun part about spring."
Defensive lineman Nick Osborn
On the second scrimmage:
"I thought we definitely made an improvement over last week. Last week, we were still trying to learn the defense, which was still pretty new to us. And this week we know it a lot better and it's almost second-hand now, so we were able to come out a lot faster."
On who the emerging are leaders on defense:
"There's really no one that stands out. We're all kind of taking leadership roles, and it changes here and there. Maybe in one instance, somebody will take a lead while we're running in the morning, and then another time someone will lead during a meeting, another time it will be out on the field. Leadership roles definitely change, there isn't just one person who stands out."
On the new coaching staff's praise of the defense:
"It's very comforting to have your head coach back the defense just as much as he does the offense. He does a really good job with that, giving the positives and the negatives to both groups. That's very encouraging."
On adapting to the new coaching staff:
"We're easing into a new system right now. It's pretty similar to our old system, but with different calls. We're adjusting well to it and (the coaches) have been really patient with us."
