April 8, 2006
SDSU Football
Spring Practice
Scrimmage Quotes
April 8, 2006
On the play of the defense:
"I thought our defense really played well today. We were looking for that, especially at the start. The first two scrimmages they didn't get off to great starts. That was being emphasized this week and they got off to a great start today and maintained that momentum throughout the day."
On the offense:
"The defense did a great job. They went after them and I know the offense was trying to come out and throw the ball a little bit more today to start. They felt pretty good about the running game and their plan was to come out and throw the ball a little bit more and our defense did a nice job against it. At the end there, it's just a great lesson to keep playing and keep playing and good things will happen if you stay with it and our offense put a nice drive in at the end to punch it in. But it's a great lesson for everybody. The offense had another nice drive going on, but the defense picked the ball off for a big stop. So there were a lot of good lessons in today's scrimmage."
On quarterback Kevin Craft:
"Kevin (Craft) had a good scrimmage today. He bounced back from last week, and that's what you look for. It's a sign of maturity and growth when a player can bounce back from the previous scrimmage if they had a rough one, and Kevin did that."
On quarterback Darren Mougey's interception:
"He just threw the ball late on that one. But Darren had a nice day except for that one. He threw the ball well and commanded the offense well. Anytime you get in a jam and throw it late usually bad things are going to happen and he'll move on from that. It's something to learn from."
On linebacker Russell Allen:
"Russell is having a great spring. He's made a lot of great strides in the last week. Everybody was starting off learning the scheme and the defense is starting to settle in now. Russell has improved really in the last week. I think he's getting it down. He's playing well and with a lot of confidence right now. It's good to see that out of a good young player like that."
On naming a starting quarterback:
"I told all of the (coaches) unless someone is really out in front at all positions, let's see if we can push everything into the fall and keep these guys competing over the summer and into training camp. That's what I would prefer. But if there's anyone they feel strongly about, we'll talk about it and go form there."
On how spring practice has been progressing:
"I've been working hard--we've all been working hard. As a team we've made huge strides. From day one up until now, it's been like night and day."
On his interception return for a touchdown:
"That's the kind of play you dream about, so it was a lot of fun. But to be honest with you, I got sucked into the play action and I was just trying to recover and the ball just hit me. So it wasn't as good as it looked."
On the new defense:
"It's cool because (the coaches) have kept a lot of things the same, a lot of the terminology's the same. But at the same time, it's a different scheme with a lot of different ideas. So, it's kind of nice to get a little bit of both. You get to learn a lot more about the game and I'm really enjoying that. As a defense and as team, we're starting to get a little more comfortable. We're starting to play a little bit faster."
On the play of the defense during the scrimmage:
"The previous two scrimmages, we've been starting kind of slow and the offense has been moving the ball on us. So that's something we've really harped on all week. We had to come out fast, we have to be able to do it right out of the gate, and we were able to do that today. We came out a lot more fired up today."
On his interception:
"That interception was a costly mistake and we can't afford those, especially down in the red zone. That could be the difference in the game and I hold myself accountable for that. I had the option to throw it away, but I tried to force it. I'll learn from that mistake and I won't make it again."
