What stands out about Dorian Singer working with him so far?
"His catch radius, his body control obviously was off the chart in the game against us. Having an up-close personal relationship and being around him, he's definitely been the young man we thought we were getting. He [is] probably a little bit better than I initially gave him credit for. The things that he's done thus far in camp has been really impressive."
Have you learned about his backstory of being a walk-on with no scholarship offers out of HS?
"Yeah, those were one of the first discussions that we had after he had gotten in the portal and we made contact. I got a chance to find out a little bit about his family history. And that says a lot about who he is as a person and as a player. He's got a why, he's hungry and he's driven. Those are they type of kids that usually success, not just in football but in everything they do in life."
Finally getting to work Zachariah Branch, has he surprised you in any way?
"Man, that dude from a talent standpoint is special. No, it really doesn't surprise me because he's not just a talented kid -- he's a confident kid. And his confidence is driven by the fact that he works his butt off. I often joke with him sometimes, like, 'I think your parents started you working out and training at birth. Some of the things he can do athletically is just incredible."
How is Makai Lemon progressing so far?
"Makai's been good. Makai's one of those kids that he's a lot faster than what you initially think, and then Makai's just one of those tough, hard-nosed, old-fashioned football players."
How do you get Brenden Rice to take what he did in the bowl game and carry that over this year?
"Honestly, that's not me, that's going to be Brenden Rice. He wants to be successful, he wants to be a guy that can foresee himself playing in the NFL in the near future. In order to do that, he's going to have to continue to perform at that level and do it on a consistent basis week in and week out."
Was the big thing with him having him sustained his confidence and believe in himself?
"Yeah, and I mean, I think another thing, the room helped him a lot last year because that was the first time that he had been in a situation where you can't just be a gifted guy and on game day be expecting certain results. He did to his credit learn that he has to come out here and you have to do it every day, you have to do it in practice every day. After so many times stacking so many days together, it just became who he was as a person and a habit."
How does this year's WR group compare to last year?
"I think the biggest thing, everybody for the most part in the room this year has a great idea of conceptually what we're trying to do and where to line up where. This time last year you still saw some hesitation in their play because they weren't sure, 'Did I see the signal right? Is this exactly what I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to go this way?' Now, with the exception of the two new additions that we have, they have a very working knowledge of what we're trying to accomplish and what the complementary routes next to them and the lead progressions of what we're trying to do."
Is Dorian an inside or outside guy for you?
"Technically, he's a guy that can do both, and I think that's the biggest transition that we made going forward. We've got a whole bunch of guys in the receiver room that can easily interchange and do both, which will just make us a better football team."
What's unique about Zachariah Branch?
"Where do you want me to start? He's extremely strong for his size. He's incredibly fast for his size. And for a short guy, he's able to extend and expand his catch radius, and he gets from 0-100 really, really, really quickly."
What has been the theme from the coaches to the team this spring?
"Just finishing every period, finishing every practice better. If you go back and look at our season last year, none of us was excited about the way that it ended. We had an explosive start, but we didn't finish the way we wanted to, so one of the biggest things that we want to do is not put a time limit on a period, not put a time limit on a drill, not put time limit on a play. We want to finish better and we want to carry that into everything we do."
Riley mentioned the numbers at WR are low -- is it numbers or diversity of WRs?
"No, it's definitely number-wise. You think about it, we have some guys that graduated that left, we have some guys that left due to the transfer portal and then we have some guys that are [training] to get to the NFL. Until we get the full class in here, going through spring ball the numbers are going to be a little bit down compared to where they were last year."
If Branch scores a TD is he allowed to do his backflip?
"That's a head coach's question right there. If you're asking me, I would say no because we expect you to score touchdowns. That's part of your job and we expect you to do it quite often. I'm one of those old school guys that if that's who you are and that's what's expected of you, you're just doing your job."
"His catch radius, his body control obviously was off the chart in the game against us. Having an up-close personal relationship and being around him, he's definitely been the young man we thought we were getting. He [is] probably a little bit better than I initially gave him credit for. The things that he's done thus far in camp has been really impressive."
Have you learned about his backstory of being a walk-on with no scholarship offers out of HS?
"Yeah, those were one of the first discussions that we had after he had gotten in the portal and we made contact. I got a chance to find out a little bit about his family history. And that says a lot about who he is as a person and as a player. He's got a why, he's hungry and he's driven. Those are they type of kids that usually success, not just in football but in everything they do in life."
Finally getting to work Zachariah Branch, has he surprised you in any way?
"Man, that dude from a talent standpoint is special. No, it really doesn't surprise me because he's not just a talented kid -- he's a confident kid. And his confidence is driven by the fact that he works his butt off. I often joke with him sometimes, like, 'I think your parents started you working out and training at birth. Some of the things he can do athletically is just incredible."
How is Makai Lemon progressing so far?
"Makai's been good. Makai's one of those kids that he's a lot faster than what you initially think, and then Makai's just one of those tough, hard-nosed, old-fashioned football players."
How do you get Brenden Rice to take what he did in the bowl game and carry that over this year?
"Honestly, that's not me, that's going to be Brenden Rice. He wants to be successful, he wants to be a guy that can foresee himself playing in the NFL in the near future. In order to do that, he's going to have to continue to perform at that level and do it on a consistent basis week in and week out."
Was the big thing with him having him sustained his confidence and believe in himself?
"Yeah, and I mean, I think another thing, the room helped him a lot last year because that was the first time that he had been in a situation where you can't just be a gifted guy and on game day be expecting certain results. He did to his credit learn that he has to come out here and you have to do it every day, you have to do it in practice every day. After so many times stacking so many days together, it just became who he was as a person and a habit."
How does this year's WR group compare to last year?
"I think the biggest thing, everybody for the most part in the room this year has a great idea of conceptually what we're trying to do and where to line up where. This time last year you still saw some hesitation in their play because they weren't sure, 'Did I see the signal right? Is this exactly what I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to go this way?' Now, with the exception of the two new additions that we have, they have a very working knowledge of what we're trying to accomplish and what the complementary routes next to them and the lead progressions of what we're trying to do."
Is Dorian an inside or outside guy for you?
"Technically, he's a guy that can do both, and I think that's the biggest transition that we made going forward. We've got a whole bunch of guys in the receiver room that can easily interchange and do both, which will just make us a better football team."
What's unique about Zachariah Branch?
"Where do you want me to start? He's extremely strong for his size. He's incredibly fast for his size. And for a short guy, he's able to extend and expand his catch radius, and he gets from 0-100 really, really, really quickly."
What has been the theme from the coaches to the team this spring?
"Just finishing every period, finishing every practice better. If you go back and look at our season last year, none of us was excited about the way that it ended. We had an explosive start, but we didn't finish the way we wanted to, so one of the biggest things that we want to do is not put a time limit on a period, not put a time limit on a drill, not put time limit on a play. We want to finish better and we want to carry that into everything we do."
Riley mentioned the numbers at WR are low -- is it numbers or diversity of WRs?
"No, it's definitely number-wise. You think about it, we have some guys that graduated that left, we have some guys that left due to the transfer portal and then we have some guys that are [training] to get to the NFL. Until we get the full class in here, going through spring ball the numbers are going to be a little bit down compared to where they were last year."
If Branch scores a TD is he allowed to do his backflip?
"That's a head coach's question right there. If you're asking me, I would say no because we expect you to score touchdowns. That's part of your job and we expect you to do it quite often. I'm one of those old school guys that if that's who you are and that's what's expected of you, you're just doing your job."
