Sorry for the delay in getting this up, but I will have spring review content all week here and a Monday practice report up within the hour.
First, here's what coach Willie Fritz and players were saying after Saturday's spring game, which looked very much like most of the practices I covered with the same strengths and weaknesses.
FRITZ
"We did some good things out there. It was really the first time we had live tackling in a scrimmage-type situation. We had so many things to teach this spring—offense, defense, kicking game. We went 72 plays. We don’t have ourselves on the schedule, but it’s good to get out here and compete against each other. We’ll use this for evaluation. There are some guys that are close to a real ball game and really took advantage of it and some that maybe didn’t. We’ll grade it and go from there."
On the play of the QBs:
"We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a long way to go with a lot of positions. There are a ton of things we still need to teach. Each one of them does something a little bit better than the other. One of the things we need to do is take advantage of their strengths and try to hide their weaknesses."
On the running backs:
"We’ve got really good backs. Thompson, Hilliard, Badie and Rounds are Division I running backs. That’s good with the type of offense we need to have those kind of backs."
On Devin Powell:
"He threw a couple of good deep balls. I told some of the guys there’s not a homing device in the football that’s going to take it right to the receivers. You’ve got to go get those deep balls. Obviously he’s got more experience than the other two, particularly in the passing game."
On the value of spring practice:
"It’s just reps, reps, reps. The more we can put them in these kind of a situations with good speed and tempo where they have to make quick, smart decisions when to give and when to pull and when to pitch, it’s better for them."
On the defensive line:
"That’s another position that we’re very deep at. I’ve just been very impressed with those guys. We have six or seven or eight guys that are Division I players on the defensive line."
On the special teams:
"It’s disappointing because those guys have kicked pretty good. There were three teams when we went live with field goals and extra points, and it was a little windy and a little bit deeper than we normally do, but it was good for evaluation purposes. We just have to get better at it."
On spring practice overall:
"I was just very impressed with our guys embracing change, adapting to a new system. It’s different. When you have a new staff come it, it’s totally different than what the last staff did. They’ve got to change and make sure that they’re doing things the way we want them to, and for the most part those guys were really easy to coach.
"If I had to do it over again, I’d have an extra scrimmage a week ago, but we are so thin, it’s difficult to do that. I think we had 52 guys competing today when you subtract the kickers and the punters, so we just don’t have a whole lot of numbers."
On getting long snapper Geron Eatherly to come in the fall:
"I was looking through some lists. I had a friend of mine who had seen him live in a camp. It’s sometimes hard to recruit long snappers based on videotape if you haven’t worked with them, but I have some recruiting experience over in San Antonio. We needed a Division I long snapper. John Leglue’s done a really good job and so has Aaron Golub, but the more, the better."
On value of having long snapper who does nothing else:
"The great thing about it is when you have a guy just long snapping, during pre-practice while we’re meeting the kickers, punters and snappers are doing drills. If you can do that, it’s good to have a guy that just does that."
On importance of having long snapper who is accurate every time:
"You have to have it. It’s so important. A lot of programs are scared to devote a scholarship to it. I’ve always done that every place I’ve been. When I was Division II, I had long snappers on scholarship and junior college, 1-AA and obviously Division I. You don’t know how important it is until they make a mistake, and then all of a sudden it becomes important."
CHAZ AUGUSTINI
On his TD reception:
"I got lucky that play. We just put it in, the defense wasn’t ready for it and we’ve repped the plays for a few weeks now and I was able to come back in and Glen found me. It was a good play."
On the opportunity to get quality reps in the spring:
"It’s been awesome. We don’t have a lot of receivers this spring. We are playing like five, six guys and there have been a lot of injuries. It’s given me an opportunity to get out there. I got a lot of plays today. It was just a lot of fun out there."
On possibility of earning playing time in fall:
"We are really low at receiver, so I’m just trying to help the team out doing whatever I can. I’ve been able to play a ton this spring, and I’m going to keep working hard to help the team."
JOSH ROUNDS
On people not mentioning him when they talk about the running backs:
"That’s part of the game. Some people are going to get more notoriety than others, so that doesn’t really bother me. I just try to come out each year and play to the best of my ability because at the end of the day everything is going to take care of itself. Having a lot of running backs is tough, but whenever you get an opportunity, you try your best."
On getting one more season to show what he can do:
"The redshirt year really helped me out a lot. I’m glad that happened because it gave me an opportunity to get a fresh start. I’m expecting the best and just hoping for the best."
On Fritz having No. 1 rushing team the past two years:
"It gives me a lot of confidence as a running back to know this system was the No. 1 system for running in the country. I trust what they’re saying is going to work."
On what separates him from competition:
"I have a very quick first step and I make decisions fast. That’s what’s different."
ROBERT KENNEDY
On being credited with four sacks:
"It’s been a rough spring, but it’s starting to pay off and I’m improving. We had good coaching. Our coaches helped us with our fast get-offs and our leads steps. We were just playing fast and I was going after it 100 percent full throttle."
DARIUS BRADWELL
On what he needs to work on:
"Just fundamentals, making quick decisions. Over the summer we’ll work on those things and I think I’ll have it down pat."
On getting more comfortable in offense:
"It’s slowing down a little bit. I’m running the same system I kind of ran in high school, but I have a long way to go."
CUIELLETTE
On getting one more practice after spring game:
"I like it. It’s great for me and all of us. Now that we don’t have the spring game, we don’t feel like we can relax and shut it down. We’ll get back to it, learn from what we did today, fix it and get better."
On his TD pass to Augustini in the back of the end zone:
"Me, him and Trey Scott and other receivers would always get together in the winter and last summer and would throw. He always said he just wanted to get a touchdown or just a reception or something, and I gave him both of what he wanted right there. I was really happy that he got in the end zone. He works hard, he’s a great kid and he does all the right things, so I was just really happy for him. Honestly at first the ball came low and I looked and looked. Then I saw him come open and took it.
On his whole spring:
"A lot of learning, but I felt like me and everyone, things gradually went up and up every day. I saw a lot of improvement with everybody."
DEVIN POWELL
On Glenn showing alligator arms for what could have been scrimmage-ending TD pass:
"We had talked about it. He told me he slowed up a little bit. He knows next time he will adjust."
On his experience being an advantage:
"It helps me a lot. I know what’s going on. I know what the defense is running. I know everything. I also have great quarterback coaches teaching me. I understand the game. I’m definitely in the mix. I’ve got to be."
First, here's what coach Willie Fritz and players were saying after Saturday's spring game, which looked very much like most of the practices I covered with the same strengths and weaknesses.
FRITZ
"We did some good things out there. It was really the first time we had live tackling in a scrimmage-type situation. We had so many things to teach this spring—offense, defense, kicking game. We went 72 plays. We don’t have ourselves on the schedule, but it’s good to get out here and compete against each other. We’ll use this for evaluation. There are some guys that are close to a real ball game and really took advantage of it and some that maybe didn’t. We’ll grade it and go from there."
On the play of the QBs:
"We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a long way to go with a lot of positions. There are a ton of things we still need to teach. Each one of them does something a little bit better than the other. One of the things we need to do is take advantage of their strengths and try to hide their weaknesses."
On the running backs:
"We’ve got really good backs. Thompson, Hilliard, Badie and Rounds are Division I running backs. That’s good with the type of offense we need to have those kind of backs."
On Devin Powell:
"He threw a couple of good deep balls. I told some of the guys there’s not a homing device in the football that’s going to take it right to the receivers. You’ve got to go get those deep balls. Obviously he’s got more experience than the other two, particularly in the passing game."
On the value of spring practice:
"It’s just reps, reps, reps. The more we can put them in these kind of a situations with good speed and tempo where they have to make quick, smart decisions when to give and when to pull and when to pitch, it’s better for them."
On the defensive line:
"That’s another position that we’re very deep at. I’ve just been very impressed with those guys. We have six or seven or eight guys that are Division I players on the defensive line."
On the special teams:
"It’s disappointing because those guys have kicked pretty good. There were three teams when we went live with field goals and extra points, and it was a little windy and a little bit deeper than we normally do, but it was good for evaluation purposes. We just have to get better at it."
On spring practice overall:
"I was just very impressed with our guys embracing change, adapting to a new system. It’s different. When you have a new staff come it, it’s totally different than what the last staff did. They’ve got to change and make sure that they’re doing things the way we want them to, and for the most part those guys were really easy to coach.
"If I had to do it over again, I’d have an extra scrimmage a week ago, but we are so thin, it’s difficult to do that. I think we had 52 guys competing today when you subtract the kickers and the punters, so we just don’t have a whole lot of numbers."
On getting long snapper Geron Eatherly to come in the fall:
"I was looking through some lists. I had a friend of mine who had seen him live in a camp. It’s sometimes hard to recruit long snappers based on videotape if you haven’t worked with them, but I have some recruiting experience over in San Antonio. We needed a Division I long snapper. John Leglue’s done a really good job and so has Aaron Golub, but the more, the better."
On value of having long snapper who does nothing else:
"The great thing about it is when you have a guy just long snapping, during pre-practice while we’re meeting the kickers, punters and snappers are doing drills. If you can do that, it’s good to have a guy that just does that."
On importance of having long snapper who is accurate every time:
"You have to have it. It’s so important. A lot of programs are scared to devote a scholarship to it. I’ve always done that every place I’ve been. When I was Division II, I had long snappers on scholarship and junior college, 1-AA and obviously Division I. You don’t know how important it is until they make a mistake, and then all of a sudden it becomes important."
CHAZ AUGUSTINI
On his TD reception:
"I got lucky that play. We just put it in, the defense wasn’t ready for it and we’ve repped the plays for a few weeks now and I was able to come back in and Glen found me. It was a good play."
On the opportunity to get quality reps in the spring:
"It’s been awesome. We don’t have a lot of receivers this spring. We are playing like five, six guys and there have been a lot of injuries. It’s given me an opportunity to get out there. I got a lot of plays today. It was just a lot of fun out there."
On possibility of earning playing time in fall:
"We are really low at receiver, so I’m just trying to help the team out doing whatever I can. I’ve been able to play a ton this spring, and I’m going to keep working hard to help the team."
JOSH ROUNDS
On people not mentioning him when they talk about the running backs:
"That’s part of the game. Some people are going to get more notoriety than others, so that doesn’t really bother me. I just try to come out each year and play to the best of my ability because at the end of the day everything is going to take care of itself. Having a lot of running backs is tough, but whenever you get an opportunity, you try your best."
On getting one more season to show what he can do:
"The redshirt year really helped me out a lot. I’m glad that happened because it gave me an opportunity to get a fresh start. I’m expecting the best and just hoping for the best."
On Fritz having No. 1 rushing team the past two years:
"It gives me a lot of confidence as a running back to know this system was the No. 1 system for running in the country. I trust what they’re saying is going to work."
On what separates him from competition:
"I have a very quick first step and I make decisions fast. That’s what’s different."
ROBERT KENNEDY
On being credited with four sacks:
"It’s been a rough spring, but it’s starting to pay off and I’m improving. We had good coaching. Our coaches helped us with our fast get-offs and our leads steps. We were just playing fast and I was going after it 100 percent full throttle."
DARIUS BRADWELL
On what he needs to work on:
"Just fundamentals, making quick decisions. Over the summer we’ll work on those things and I think I’ll have it down pat."
On getting more comfortable in offense:
"It’s slowing down a little bit. I’m running the same system I kind of ran in high school, but I have a long way to go."
CUIELLETTE
On getting one more practice after spring game:
"I like it. It’s great for me and all of us. Now that we don’t have the spring game, we don’t feel like we can relax and shut it down. We’ll get back to it, learn from what we did today, fix it and get better."
On his TD pass to Augustini in the back of the end zone:
"Me, him and Trey Scott and other receivers would always get together in the winter and last summer and would throw. He always said he just wanted to get a touchdown or just a reception or something, and I gave him both of what he wanted right there. I was really happy that he got in the end zone. He works hard, he’s a great kid and he does all the right things, so I was just really happy for him. Honestly at first the ball came low and I looked and looked. Then I saw him come open and took it.
On his whole spring:
"A lot of learning, but I felt like me and everyone, things gradually went up and up every day. I saw a lot of improvement with everybody."
DEVIN POWELL
On Glenn showing alligator arms for what could have been scrimmage-ending TD pass:
"We had talked about it. He told me he slowed up a little bit. He knows next time he will adjust."
On his experience being an advantage:
"It helps me a lot. I know what’s going on. I know what the defense is running. I know everything. I also have great quarterback coaches teaching me. I understand the game. I’m definitely in the mix. I’ve got to be."