Here they are, a day late.
WILLIE FRITZ
What is Kendall Ardoin's status? He's missed the last few practices (with a shoulder injury).
"He's getting better. He'll be good here in another five or six days."
How about Miles Strickland?
"He's had some problems with his foot, but he'll be OK here. We've been very fortunate (knocks on a wooden table, then his own head) with nothing serious. They just need a little bit time to heal."
Andrew Hicks started to move around a little bit at practice. What's his progress?
"I tell you what, I was talking to him yesterday about it, but he is probably two or three months ahead of schedule, so I told him to train like you are going to play this season. You never know what's going to occur, and he has really, really (rehabilitated the torn ACL he sustained in spring practice). Our athletic training staff has done a superb job with him. They've really worked hard with him, and the kid's worked extremely hard."
Has anybody taken an edge in the quarterback derby?
"That's one of the things we are going to sit down and talk about this afternoon. The kids are going to lift and get out here, and we (the coaches)'re going to work until about 6 or 7. We are going to try to really get the depth chart back where it's current. I don't try changing every day. Some people do that. We reflect about every three or four days and kind of make updates and see who's first team, second team, etcetera, but I think we're getting a little closer to making a decision. They are all doing a nice job. Some days one's better than the other, but they are all doing a good job."
It it safe to say Cuiellette has been the most consistent passer but that there is more to the job than that?
"You bet. You bet. He throws a pretty ball and can make all the throws, and that's a part of the offense. You gotta be able to throw the football, but there's more to it. Part of it's game management. Who's making the least amount of mistakes. Who's most dangerous running the football. Who's the most accurate throwing the football. You combine those three elements, and that's going to be our quarterback. And we may end up playing a couple. I've done that a lot. I've played two a lot."
Is it down to Cuiellette and Bradwell, or is Brantley still in in (NOT MY QUESTION!)?
"Brantley's still in the mix without question."
Sometimes a defense is as strong as it weakest link. You've got two cornerbacks you really like in Parry Nickerson and Donnie Lewis, but how about nickelback, where Richard Allen and Taris Shenall are competing. How comfortable are you with them, and do they still have to show you something?
"I think Donnie has really matured. I've been very impressed with his approach to practice every day. The same thing with Parry. Both those two guys have got an opportunity to be top-flight corners in this conference, and they both played well at times last year but were a little inconsistent. As a corner, the more man you play, the more times you are susceptible to something happening. We'll play quite a bit of man, but I think those guys are good players without question. Richard has kind of moved in there. Our nickel guy has got to be able to blitz, play zone, play man in the slot. There's a lot of teams who are starting to really play a lot throwing the ball a lot to the slot. Back in the old days you would kind of play a strong safety type guy, and those teams would expose you with mismatches. With Richard there, we don't feel like there's a mismatch."
He has a lot of speed. You guys have that philosophy of putting three corners on the field instead of an extra safety (EDs NOTE: Bad job my me. Not feeling well, I had stopped listening to his last answer midway through and basically made a comment that mimicked what he had just explained).
"Yeah, we like it fast, fast, fast on the field. If they get real big, we've got the ability to get real big. We'll get three linebackers out there, maybe five defensive linemen, those kind of things, but not a lot of people are playing like that anymore."
Is Shenall still the top backup at that position?
"Taris is going to play a lot of spots for us. He's smart. He's probably the next guy in the secondary outside of the starters that has shown us he is definitely going to be rolling during each and every game."
Have you locked down the starting five on the offensive line?
"Right now we've got four for certain, and Leeward Brown is in that guard position. Kenneth Santa Marina is going to be in the rotation at the tackle position. We need to find one more guard. Keyshawn McLeod has been out of a couple of days. He should be back hopefully Monday. But we feel good about those four and Leeward had looked good those last couple of days, but you need more. We need to get up to having eight guys we feel good about."
Leeward's a big guy who can move a little bit. Is that what you like about him?
"He's starting to throw his weight around a little bit. He's starting to bend and block and play hard. That was always kind of the deal. He had to get in good enough shape to be able to play hard, and he's starting to do that."
WILLIE FRITZ
What is Kendall Ardoin's status? He's missed the last few practices (with a shoulder injury).
"He's getting better. He'll be good here in another five or six days."
How about Miles Strickland?
"He's had some problems with his foot, but he'll be OK here. We've been very fortunate (knocks on a wooden table, then his own head) with nothing serious. They just need a little bit time to heal."
Andrew Hicks started to move around a little bit at practice. What's his progress?
"I tell you what, I was talking to him yesterday about it, but he is probably two or three months ahead of schedule, so I told him to train like you are going to play this season. You never know what's going to occur, and he has really, really (rehabilitated the torn ACL he sustained in spring practice). Our athletic training staff has done a superb job with him. They've really worked hard with him, and the kid's worked extremely hard."
Has anybody taken an edge in the quarterback derby?
"That's one of the things we are going to sit down and talk about this afternoon. The kids are going to lift and get out here, and we (the coaches)'re going to work until about 6 or 7. We are going to try to really get the depth chart back where it's current. I don't try changing every day. Some people do that. We reflect about every three or four days and kind of make updates and see who's first team, second team, etcetera, but I think we're getting a little closer to making a decision. They are all doing a nice job. Some days one's better than the other, but they are all doing a good job."
It it safe to say Cuiellette has been the most consistent passer but that there is more to the job than that?
"You bet. You bet. He throws a pretty ball and can make all the throws, and that's a part of the offense. You gotta be able to throw the football, but there's more to it. Part of it's game management. Who's making the least amount of mistakes. Who's most dangerous running the football. Who's the most accurate throwing the football. You combine those three elements, and that's going to be our quarterback. And we may end up playing a couple. I've done that a lot. I've played two a lot."
Is it down to Cuiellette and Bradwell, or is Brantley still in in (NOT MY QUESTION!)?
"Brantley's still in the mix without question."
Sometimes a defense is as strong as it weakest link. You've got two cornerbacks you really like in Parry Nickerson and Donnie Lewis, but how about nickelback, where Richard Allen and Taris Shenall are competing. How comfortable are you with them, and do they still have to show you something?
"I think Donnie has really matured. I've been very impressed with his approach to practice every day. The same thing with Parry. Both those two guys have got an opportunity to be top-flight corners in this conference, and they both played well at times last year but were a little inconsistent. As a corner, the more man you play, the more times you are susceptible to something happening. We'll play quite a bit of man, but I think those guys are good players without question. Richard has kind of moved in there. Our nickel guy has got to be able to blitz, play zone, play man in the slot. There's a lot of teams who are starting to really play a lot throwing the ball a lot to the slot. Back in the old days you would kind of play a strong safety type guy, and those teams would expose you with mismatches. With Richard there, we don't feel like there's a mismatch."
He has a lot of speed. You guys have that philosophy of putting three corners on the field instead of an extra safety (EDs NOTE: Bad job my me. Not feeling well, I had stopped listening to his last answer midway through and basically made a comment that mimicked what he had just explained).
"Yeah, we like it fast, fast, fast on the field. If they get real big, we've got the ability to get real big. We'll get three linebackers out there, maybe five defensive linemen, those kind of things, but not a lot of people are playing like that anymore."
Is Shenall still the top backup at that position?
"Taris is going to play a lot of spots for us. He's smart. He's probably the next guy in the secondary outside of the starters that has shown us he is definitely going to be rolling during each and every game."
Have you locked down the starting five on the offensive line?
"Right now we've got four for certain, and Leeward Brown is in that guard position. Kenneth Santa Marina is going to be in the rotation at the tackle position. We need to find one more guard. Keyshawn McLeod has been out of a couple of days. He should be back hopefully Monday. But we feel good about those four and Leeward had looked good those last couple of days, but you need more. We need to get up to having eight guys we feel good about."
Leeward's a big guy who can move a little bit. Is that what you like about him?
"He's starting to throw his weight around a little bit. He's starting to bend and block and play hard. That was always kind of the deal. He had to get in good enough shape to be able to play hard, and he's starting to do that."
