Takeaways from first scrimmage?
"We had a lot of situations. I would say the defensive highlights, we had two interceptions -- both outstanding plays. Eric Gentry and Prophet Brown both had great interceptions. That would be the highlights there. Offensively, there were some big plays. We had a lot of back and forth. We had about a three-day period where defensively really dominated practices. I think when we talked last we were kind of in the midst of that. Offense had a little bit of an upper hand in the scrimmage, made a few more big plays, but there was a lot on both sides. It's kind of the first opportunity to get to live tackling in the open field. We've done some short-yardage work, but that's a different animal. It's great because you're able to obviously evaluate the offensive players and how they react in the open field, how do guys run, come out of tackles. And then obviously defensively you get that same evaluation because a lot of this does become so much of a space game. So there are really big highlights of each. Offensively, guys came out of some tackles and made some big plays. We had some tremendous individual one-on-one tackles defensively -- a lot to coach from on both sides. It continues to be a very much overall back-and-forth camp, and in my history that's been as a head coach, we leave the field one group's going to be happy, one group's going to be pissed -- for me it's always you're happy and mad both at the same time. Which is how I should feel. I want to feel that internal pull, where it's like you feel that back and forth and both sides are having success and both sides are being challenged. And I think that's what's happening right now."
What have you seen from Eric Gentry?
"Eric's doing good. His length and playmaking ability and nose for the ball really stick out, they do. He's just rare to have a guy on your defense that has that type of length but also that type of athleticism. I mean, you love it defensively. You love his instincts and he's getting more comfortable in our system, making less mistakes each day. From an offensive perspective guys like that are a pain and he's doing a really nice job."
Caleb making offensive transition easier ...
"It's smoother, no, it is. There's no question. I'd say he and Miller both have a really good grasp of what we're doing. The challenge in spring was you only had two quarterbacks that we were going to rep, which I've never had that before. What happened was the advantage in spring now coming out was we only repped two quarterbacks and they got a million reps. It was great for Caleb, it was great for Miller both. Both [those guys] have us very much in control of what we're doing, starting to get very comfortable with it, and certainly Caleb's experience with it, especially as we get deeper into this, you start to think about game-planning and all that ensues, the fact he's been through it with us you can feel his confidence and I think the group can feel his confidence."
Have you talked to the team about the lofty outside expectations for this team?
"We're not too concerned with the general public. We love them, but we're not too concerned about their opinions. We want to make them proud with the way we play. From the first day I got here, just like I've stated the whole time, it's championship expectations. We're not going to shy away from it. Now again, we've got to understand that talking about it doesn't get that done and it's in our actions. So every day, everything we do is graded very simply -- was that at a championship level or was it not? And if it was it's applauded, and if it's not it's corrected and disciplined."
When you add Jordan Addison, how much does he open up possibilities for the offense?
"Sure. I think your best players, you're always going to tailor it to those guys and do things to fit them. So, yeah, there's no question, he absolutely impacts how we'll play offensively. There's absolutely zero doubt about that. He's doing very well. I'd say we're still learning him. We still only had, I think today was 10, we still only had 10 practices with him. I think we're still figuring out him, his intricacies and how he fits. But he's an impressive kid. He's a pretty consistent worker -- very consistent worker -- and certainly is a playmaker. There's been a lot of newcomers, several offensively, that come in and really make you think about all the possibilities. And it's exciting because there's some guys who are pretty dynamic -- he's obviously one of them."
He played a lot of slot at Pitt. Will he move around here?
"We'll see. We've always had the ability to get our best guys around, so I'm sure we'll move him around a little bit. The good thing for him, even though he hasn't been in our offense, he's played a lot of ball and he's smart and he picks it up very quickly. He's a football guy, so when we do need to move him around I don't think it will be a problem."
With all the newcomers, how has the chemistry been?
"Yeah, really good. Again, probably, I didn't know what to expect -- the roster's never really been put together this way, so there's not really a handbook for this. We knew it would be a challenge. We knew it was going to be very important, it's still very important -- it's a daily thing. But I really like our chemistry right now. Our guys really seem to enjoy competing with each other. They seem to enjoy each other off the field. I don't feel a lot of like cliques within the team. It just feels very, I think if the casual observer that hasn't been around our guys came out, like they would think a lot of these guys have been playing together for years that really haven't. Which is pretty cool. The biggest [testament] for that is to our players because they've taken the time. You can't create more time, so the investment in the relationships has got to go up, and they certainly it seems have done a really good job of it."
What stands out about Jordan beyond the obvious?
"I would say, you can tell he loves to play, loves to study, he has little bit of a kind of gym-rattish type mentality. And another I'd say that I've seen is just the unselfishness. Other guys have made plays, this or that, he's just as excited and probably one of those guys that's even more excited than when he makes a play. So I'd just say his overall attitude and approach to football and then specifically to being a member of this football team, have been very mature and very impressive."
"We had a lot of situations. I would say the defensive highlights, we had two interceptions -- both outstanding plays. Eric Gentry and Prophet Brown both had great interceptions. That would be the highlights there. Offensively, there were some big plays. We had a lot of back and forth. We had about a three-day period where defensively really dominated practices. I think when we talked last we were kind of in the midst of that. Offense had a little bit of an upper hand in the scrimmage, made a few more big plays, but there was a lot on both sides. It's kind of the first opportunity to get to live tackling in the open field. We've done some short-yardage work, but that's a different animal. It's great because you're able to obviously evaluate the offensive players and how they react in the open field, how do guys run, come out of tackles. And then obviously defensively you get that same evaluation because a lot of this does become so much of a space game. So there are really big highlights of each. Offensively, guys came out of some tackles and made some big plays. We had some tremendous individual one-on-one tackles defensively -- a lot to coach from on both sides. It continues to be a very much overall back-and-forth camp, and in my history that's been as a head coach, we leave the field one group's going to be happy, one group's going to be pissed -- for me it's always you're happy and mad both at the same time. Which is how I should feel. I want to feel that internal pull, where it's like you feel that back and forth and both sides are having success and both sides are being challenged. And I think that's what's happening right now."
What have you seen from Eric Gentry?
"Eric's doing good. His length and playmaking ability and nose for the ball really stick out, they do. He's just rare to have a guy on your defense that has that type of length but also that type of athleticism. I mean, you love it defensively. You love his instincts and he's getting more comfortable in our system, making less mistakes each day. From an offensive perspective guys like that are a pain and he's doing a really nice job."
Caleb making offensive transition easier ...
"It's smoother, no, it is. There's no question. I'd say he and Miller both have a really good grasp of what we're doing. The challenge in spring was you only had two quarterbacks that we were going to rep, which I've never had that before. What happened was the advantage in spring now coming out was we only repped two quarterbacks and they got a million reps. It was great for Caleb, it was great for Miller both. Both [those guys] have us very much in control of what we're doing, starting to get very comfortable with it, and certainly Caleb's experience with it, especially as we get deeper into this, you start to think about game-planning and all that ensues, the fact he's been through it with us you can feel his confidence and I think the group can feel his confidence."
Have you talked to the team about the lofty outside expectations for this team?
"We're not too concerned with the general public. We love them, but we're not too concerned about their opinions. We want to make them proud with the way we play. From the first day I got here, just like I've stated the whole time, it's championship expectations. We're not going to shy away from it. Now again, we've got to understand that talking about it doesn't get that done and it's in our actions. So every day, everything we do is graded very simply -- was that at a championship level or was it not? And if it was it's applauded, and if it's not it's corrected and disciplined."
When you add Jordan Addison, how much does he open up possibilities for the offense?
"Sure. I think your best players, you're always going to tailor it to those guys and do things to fit them. So, yeah, there's no question, he absolutely impacts how we'll play offensively. There's absolutely zero doubt about that. He's doing very well. I'd say we're still learning him. We still only had, I think today was 10, we still only had 10 practices with him. I think we're still figuring out him, his intricacies and how he fits. But he's an impressive kid. He's a pretty consistent worker -- very consistent worker -- and certainly is a playmaker. There's been a lot of newcomers, several offensively, that come in and really make you think about all the possibilities. And it's exciting because there's some guys who are pretty dynamic -- he's obviously one of them."
He played a lot of slot at Pitt. Will he move around here?
"We'll see. We've always had the ability to get our best guys around, so I'm sure we'll move him around a little bit. The good thing for him, even though he hasn't been in our offense, he's played a lot of ball and he's smart and he picks it up very quickly. He's a football guy, so when we do need to move him around I don't think it will be a problem."
With all the newcomers, how has the chemistry been?
"Yeah, really good. Again, probably, I didn't know what to expect -- the roster's never really been put together this way, so there's not really a handbook for this. We knew it would be a challenge. We knew it was going to be very important, it's still very important -- it's a daily thing. But I really like our chemistry right now. Our guys really seem to enjoy competing with each other. They seem to enjoy each other off the field. I don't feel a lot of like cliques within the team. It just feels very, I think if the casual observer that hasn't been around our guys came out, like they would think a lot of these guys have been playing together for years that really haven't. Which is pretty cool. The biggest [testament] for that is to our players because they've taken the time. You can't create more time, so the investment in the relationships has got to go up, and they certainly it seems have done a really good job of it."
What stands out about Jordan beyond the obvious?
"I would say, you can tell he loves to play, loves to study, he has little bit of a kind of gym-rattish type mentality. And another I'd say that I've seen is just the unselfishness. Other guys have made plays, this or that, he's just as excited and probably one of those guys that's even more excited than when he makes a play. So I'd just say his overall attitude and approach to football and then specifically to being a member of this football team, have been very mature and very impressive."
