April 15, 2006
SDSU Football
Red & Black Game Quotes
April 15, 2006
Torrey Pines HS
Head Coach Chuck Long
On the progress of the defense in spring camp:
"The last two weeks defensively they have really come on. At first they were still trying to work their scheme out and getting used to that. But they've really picked it up the last two weeks, which has been very good. I'm a big believer in that (the defense) is where it starts in winning championships, and I've been very pleased with their effort the last two weeks and especially today."
On the performance of the offense during the scrimmage:
"We kept it very limited and tried to hide some things until we get to the fall. That was me telling them to keep it vanilla and let those guys (on defense) play a little bit. We wanted to hear some pads popping. So you didn't see all of the plays in the offensive play book. We had a couple of drives early, and I was very pleased with Kevin O'Connell and the way he commanded out there, and then Darren (Mougey) and Kevin Craft had their moments too. We really felt good about the running backs and the way they ran the ball. I was very pleased overall with not only with the assignments, but alignments as well."
On the team's overall progress this spring:
"We have a ways to go yet, but that's only normal at this point, especially for a brand new coaching staff and new scheme. I was very pleased with what I saw all spring and especially today. Like I said, it's been a good camp and we're looking forward to the summer and the fall of course, and that's going to be big for us."
On how the wide receivers will be utilized in the offense:
"I think at this point time it's still too early to tell. It's starting to formulate as a committee--and that's OK. I've been in situations before where we worked by committee. The plus side of that is you get everybody involved and they're fresh throughout the game and the season, because it can become a long year. If that's the way we need to do it, we'll do it. That's going to be one of the most competitive positions this fall."
On whether Kevin O'Connell is the front-runner for the starting QB position:
"It felt that way today. His experience definitely showed up today, and I thought he commanded well all game. Kevin Craft and Darren (Mougey) had their moments as well, but you could sense (O'Connell's) experience. He had a nice day.
"We're going to sit down as a staff and go over every position and see where we stand. Obviously, I want to get together with Coach (Del) Miller (offensive coordinator) on that, and I want it to be his decision. He's been coaching (the quarterbacks) all spring. At this point in time (I'd say) yes, but it may go into the fall. Kevin did have a good day today, which will help him."
Quarterback Kevin O'Connell
On the scrimmage:
"I felt offensively we did some good things as far as applying what we've learned this spring. We probably played our most sound game as far as the schemes and we didn't have too many mistakes. We didn't have too many false starts. But I thought we had a good day, and personally, I just came out and tried to do what we're being coached to do. When we had that long drive for (a touchdown), I thought we were going to have a couple more, but unfortunately we couldn't get any more. The defense played very well; they were flying around making plays."
On the battle for the No. 1 quarterback position:
"The way Coach Long laid it out - and the way it should've been laid out with the new coaching staff coming in - is that everything is open during the spring. Then, they'll watch the tapes and they'll go back over things and let us know if they've created any kind of depth chart after this. But even if I was named the No. 3, I'm still going to go about my summer the same way, doing the same kinds of things I would if I was the starter. As quarterbacks and as leaders, we have to keep everybody focused, and we have to have good participation in our off-season workouts and such. The sky's the limit for this team if we can just keep our heads on straight and keep making good decisions with the football."
Linebacker Joe Martin
On his interception:
"I really can't give myself too much credit, I figured it was a bad throw. I started breaking on the ball and I thought the receiver was going to catch it, but the throw was a little bit in front of the receiver and I ended up with the pick."
On the progress of the defense:
"We've kept the scheme pretty much the same. (The coaches) changed the names of the calls that we had, and they changed some of the personnel. Overall I think we gelled pretty well, because they kept it the same and that made it a little easier for us. So all in all over the spring, we came together and I think we're ready to go."
On the scrimmage:
"I think it's was a good scrimmage. We kept things really simple today both offensively and defensively. We let the players make the plays instead of scheming around everybody. We just lined up basically and played football. But it was pretty vanilla on both sides."
On the coaches' decision to run a basic defense for the scrimmage:
"We've put everything in this spring. But just for this scrimmage we wanted to see how the players established themselves and how things would go when we're just out there lining up and playing football. Sometimes it's a lot easier when you don't have much to think about and you just go out there and play, and I think that's what they wanted to see."