Highlights from our latest interviews.
QBs COACH TYSON HELTON
--on how he coaches the quarterbacks to handle pressure
“We had a blitz period today (Tuesday). There was some pressure there. The guys were feeling their presence. It wasn’t because of protection. That’s what a blitz period is all about, to feel pressure. Along with that, I’m behind them applying my own pressure as a coach to see how they respond to that. We’ll continue to have that environment. For the most part in spring practice they’ve done a good job. Today probably wasn’t our best day, but it’s a great learning day for us, to go back and fix those errors. Anytime you can put the quarterback in the worst situation possible and see how he responds and do it over and over again, that’s when you’re going to be successful. Football’s not about the easy plays, it’s about the hard plays.
“The main thing is you have to get the ball out; you can't take sacks. Incomplete passes don’t lose games, interceptions lose games. Sacks lose games. So you cannot take sacks and you can’t throw picks. The ball has to come out. If it’s incomplete, it's incomplete. Make your plays when the play is there. When you get into a blitz pickup period or the defense is applying pressure, it’s not all going to be a hunky-dory situation. We got to do a little better job of when it's not all right, just understanding that throwing the ball away or throwing an incomplete isn’t a bad thing.”
--on where Browne and Darnold have improved the most this spring
“Max has gotten a lot better about getting the ball out faster, responding quicker to things he’s seeing out there. When we first started spring, very knowledgeable, knows where to go with the ball, was a little more cautious and protective. I think he's starting to see things and respond faster. We got to continue to grow on that through fall camp.
“I think Sam, being a young guy, it’s his first spring and getting a lot of reps, just mastering the offense, more than anything. Every day he’s come out, he’s starting to get a better grip for that. Both of those guys are really talented. Either one of them could be our quarterback and play.”
--on whether Darnold will be ready by fall to run the offense without coaches in his ear helping him
“He’ll be ready. Coach Clay does a great job of mixing in the time where the coach is talking to him while the play is going on and there’s times where we’re off the field and it’s all on him. There’s a good mixture of that and he’ll continue to grow in that area.
“The good thing about good quarterbacks is sometimes they may not go to the right places but the ball’s still complete or they still throw touchdowns. That’s seems to happen with Sam. He may not always be right but he makes it right in the end. We just got to get him on the same page doing the right things all the time.”
QB MAX BROWNE
--on what he hopes to accomplish in the spring game
“Just build off what I did last year. I feel like that was a real turning point for me last year. Just going out there and executing, the same mind set I’ve been doing all spring long, executing the plays and going out there and making the most of my opportunities. … I just want to execute at a high level, I want to execute the plays that are called and go out there and just show what I can do. I think there’s something to be said for just going out there and playing ball, which I’m looking forward to doing, playing quarterback at a high level.”
--on whether he feels he can lock up the starting job before fall camp
“That’s the mindset I’m taking. Obviously, it’s a huge test, but it’s another test. We’ve had 13 tests so far. That was my goal moving into spring. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t, but that’s my mindset going into spring.”
--on where he is on the spectrum of conservative play like Kessler vs. aggressive play like Barkley
“It’s just like any quarterback, my favorite ball is the deep ball and it’s fun making game changing plays like that. So I guess in that regard, I guess I’m a little closer to Barkley, if that was the case with him. But at the end of the day, Cody did a good job with not turning the ball over and that’s crucial, that’s how you win games, with not turning the ball over. Hopefully, you can take the best of both of them and mold it into my game and take that moving into the season.”
--on if he’s shown what he wanted to in spring ball
“I feel like I didn’t execute or didn’t make some of the plays. I left some throws out there on some of the deep balls. I wish I could have them back, but that’s just quarterbacking, that’s just the nature of the beast. But I came out here, was executing, was a leader, drove this offense and was happy with almost five weeks I’ve put together.”
--on waiting three years to get his shot
“It’s extremely hard. Someone asked me a few weeks ago, how does it feel with Jared Goff and Christian Hackenburg going out? Guys I was buddies with. It’s weird; they’re ending when I’m starting, which is different. But I think you learn to appreciate it. In life, everyone has a different situation that’s thrown at them, but it was definitely tough, but I felt like it allowed me to grow and improve and I’m better for it.
“With expectations, with all the hype and all that, you expect to play right away and when you don’t it's a little tough but it's kind of the nature of the beast and you learn from it, try to grow and make the most of the situation that presents itself.”
--on if he’d transfer if Sam Darnold was named the starter
“If they announced it was Sam, I guess we can address that when we get there. But it would be a conversation with my parents and I don’t know, I’m trying to keep my mind off that situation, and so I guess we’ll see when we get there.”
--on what pressure he feels to win this job
“You feel the pressure a little bit just because it’s now or never, it’s kind of my football life on the line to a certain extent. But you try to just go out there and play and trust yourself and trust — I mean, I sat for three years, that’s a lot of preparation. You try to trust that and go out there and play ball because at the end of the day, it’s a game and it’s fun and that’s all you can do.”
--on his urgency to become a team leader
“I think no matter what happens this Saturday, I think I’m going to be the leader and I’m going to be the guy, leadership-wise, moving into the summer. But to have that reassurance that Week 1, it’s my job, I think that would be big. But my personality and just the winter I had, I think no matter what happens, I’ll be the guy getting guys going at team run and leading throwing sessions and communicating with you guys and all that. That’s kind of the mindset I’m taking.”
TB ACA’CEDRIC WARE
--on what he set out to do this spring
“I was hoping to make myself more available, show what I can do to help the team and find my role. I wanted to work on my speed, my catching, pass protection, locating safeties, seeing the ball into the tuck, when I see open field, hit it instead of hesitating a little bit.”
--on what he believes he’s accomplished thus far
“I feel like I’m establishing a role, whether it’s on special teams or in the rotation with the running backs.”
--on the challenge of being ready to play but USC not being ready to use him
“It requires a lot of patience and character. Me being where I come from, my pride is going to hit me. Being one of the (top) players in your state and coming here having to wait hit me hard. Over time I learned patience is the key. My big brother JD (Justin Davis) Tre Madden, Soma (Vainuku), all those guys, they told me to be patient, my times going to come. It takes a lot of courage and patience to be here, to do what I’m doing. But I’m getting along with it, I’m comfortable right now.”
--He said he was in a similar predicament in high school — a three-back rotation where he was sometimes the odd man out.
--on the possibility of transferring given that he’s behind Davis and Ronald Jones II
“I got nowhere else to go. I’m comfortable. I’m going to continue to do my thing, continue to improve my game and when my time comes, it’s going to come. I’m going to step up and show out. … It motivates me. The longer I wait the more I want to explode. Like I said, when I get my time, I’m going to make something happen.”
--on whether he’s better suited for short-yardage situations
“If you ask me I think I’m a mixture of both. I can do short yardage. I can bust one at any time, just like the other backs. But I consider myself more of a physical runner than the other (backs). They’re fast. I got a little speed but not like them. I’m going to push my way through. I’m going to get through there somehow.”
QBs COACH TYSON HELTON
--on how he coaches the quarterbacks to handle pressure
“We had a blitz period today (Tuesday). There was some pressure there. The guys were feeling their presence. It wasn’t because of protection. That’s what a blitz period is all about, to feel pressure. Along with that, I’m behind them applying my own pressure as a coach to see how they respond to that. We’ll continue to have that environment. For the most part in spring practice they’ve done a good job. Today probably wasn’t our best day, but it’s a great learning day for us, to go back and fix those errors. Anytime you can put the quarterback in the worst situation possible and see how he responds and do it over and over again, that’s when you’re going to be successful. Football’s not about the easy plays, it’s about the hard plays.
“The main thing is you have to get the ball out; you can't take sacks. Incomplete passes don’t lose games, interceptions lose games. Sacks lose games. So you cannot take sacks and you can’t throw picks. The ball has to come out. If it’s incomplete, it's incomplete. Make your plays when the play is there. When you get into a blitz pickup period or the defense is applying pressure, it’s not all going to be a hunky-dory situation. We got to do a little better job of when it's not all right, just understanding that throwing the ball away or throwing an incomplete isn’t a bad thing.”
--on where Browne and Darnold have improved the most this spring
“Max has gotten a lot better about getting the ball out faster, responding quicker to things he’s seeing out there. When we first started spring, very knowledgeable, knows where to go with the ball, was a little more cautious and protective. I think he's starting to see things and respond faster. We got to continue to grow on that through fall camp.
“I think Sam, being a young guy, it’s his first spring and getting a lot of reps, just mastering the offense, more than anything. Every day he’s come out, he’s starting to get a better grip for that. Both of those guys are really talented. Either one of them could be our quarterback and play.”
--on whether Darnold will be ready by fall to run the offense without coaches in his ear helping him
“He’ll be ready. Coach Clay does a great job of mixing in the time where the coach is talking to him while the play is going on and there’s times where we’re off the field and it’s all on him. There’s a good mixture of that and he’ll continue to grow in that area.
“The good thing about good quarterbacks is sometimes they may not go to the right places but the ball’s still complete or they still throw touchdowns. That’s seems to happen with Sam. He may not always be right but he makes it right in the end. We just got to get him on the same page doing the right things all the time.”
QB MAX BROWNE
--on what he hopes to accomplish in the spring game
“Just build off what I did last year. I feel like that was a real turning point for me last year. Just going out there and executing, the same mind set I’ve been doing all spring long, executing the plays and going out there and making the most of my opportunities. … I just want to execute at a high level, I want to execute the plays that are called and go out there and just show what I can do. I think there’s something to be said for just going out there and playing ball, which I’m looking forward to doing, playing quarterback at a high level.”
--on whether he feels he can lock up the starting job before fall camp
“That’s the mindset I’m taking. Obviously, it’s a huge test, but it’s another test. We’ve had 13 tests so far. That was my goal moving into spring. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t, but that’s my mindset going into spring.”
--on where he is on the spectrum of conservative play like Kessler vs. aggressive play like Barkley
“It’s just like any quarterback, my favorite ball is the deep ball and it’s fun making game changing plays like that. So I guess in that regard, I guess I’m a little closer to Barkley, if that was the case with him. But at the end of the day, Cody did a good job with not turning the ball over and that’s crucial, that’s how you win games, with not turning the ball over. Hopefully, you can take the best of both of them and mold it into my game and take that moving into the season.”
--on if he’s shown what he wanted to in spring ball
“I feel like I didn’t execute or didn’t make some of the plays. I left some throws out there on some of the deep balls. I wish I could have them back, but that’s just quarterbacking, that’s just the nature of the beast. But I came out here, was executing, was a leader, drove this offense and was happy with almost five weeks I’ve put together.”
--on waiting three years to get his shot
“It’s extremely hard. Someone asked me a few weeks ago, how does it feel with Jared Goff and Christian Hackenburg going out? Guys I was buddies with. It’s weird; they’re ending when I’m starting, which is different. But I think you learn to appreciate it. In life, everyone has a different situation that’s thrown at them, but it was definitely tough, but I felt like it allowed me to grow and improve and I’m better for it.
“With expectations, with all the hype and all that, you expect to play right away and when you don’t it's a little tough but it's kind of the nature of the beast and you learn from it, try to grow and make the most of the situation that presents itself.”
--on if he’d transfer if Sam Darnold was named the starter
“If they announced it was Sam, I guess we can address that when we get there. But it would be a conversation with my parents and I don’t know, I’m trying to keep my mind off that situation, and so I guess we’ll see when we get there.”
--on what pressure he feels to win this job
“You feel the pressure a little bit just because it’s now or never, it’s kind of my football life on the line to a certain extent. But you try to just go out there and play and trust yourself and trust — I mean, I sat for three years, that’s a lot of preparation. You try to trust that and go out there and play ball because at the end of the day, it’s a game and it’s fun and that’s all you can do.”
--on his urgency to become a team leader
“I think no matter what happens this Saturday, I think I’m going to be the leader and I’m going to be the guy, leadership-wise, moving into the summer. But to have that reassurance that Week 1, it’s my job, I think that would be big. But my personality and just the winter I had, I think no matter what happens, I’ll be the guy getting guys going at team run and leading throwing sessions and communicating with you guys and all that. That’s kind of the mindset I’m taking.”
TB ACA’CEDRIC WARE
--on what he set out to do this spring
“I was hoping to make myself more available, show what I can do to help the team and find my role. I wanted to work on my speed, my catching, pass protection, locating safeties, seeing the ball into the tuck, when I see open field, hit it instead of hesitating a little bit.”
--on what he believes he’s accomplished thus far
“I feel like I’m establishing a role, whether it’s on special teams or in the rotation with the running backs.”
--on the challenge of being ready to play but USC not being ready to use him
“It requires a lot of patience and character. Me being where I come from, my pride is going to hit me. Being one of the (top) players in your state and coming here having to wait hit me hard. Over time I learned patience is the key. My big brother JD (Justin Davis) Tre Madden, Soma (Vainuku), all those guys, they told me to be patient, my times going to come. It takes a lot of courage and patience to be here, to do what I’m doing. But I’m getting along with it, I’m comfortable right now.”
--He said he was in a similar predicament in high school — a three-back rotation where he was sometimes the odd man out.
--on the possibility of transferring given that he’s behind Davis and Ronald Jones II
“I got nowhere else to go. I’m comfortable. I’m going to continue to do my thing, continue to improve my game and when my time comes, it’s going to come. I’m going to step up and show out. … It motivates me. The longer I wait the more I want to explode. Like I said, when I get my time, I’m going to make something happen.”
--on whether he’s better suited for short-yardage situations
“If you ask me I think I’m a mixture of both. I can do short yardage. I can bust one at any time, just like the other backs. But I consider myself more of a physical runner than the other (backs). They’re fast. I got a little speed but not like them. I’m going to push my way through. I’m going to get through there somehow.”
