Aug. 19, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Aztec Football
Family Day Scrimmage Quotes
Aug. 19, 2006
Qualcomm Stadium
Head Coach Chuck Long
On the quarterback situation:
"Kevin O'Connell's had a great, great camp. He had a nice drive today. He's our captain and he'll go in No. 1, and we're going to practice that way. Darren Mougey and Kevin Craft both played well today and that's what you want - a healthy competition. We like what Kevin (O'Connell)'s been doing and he's been a great leader for us all camp.
On the long practice schedule this past week:
"This was the eighth practice for our guys this week. It's the most they're going to have at any time during the year, and I thought they fought through it in a big way."
On the play of the wide receivers:
"We didn't play a lot of our older guys today - we went with our (younger players instead). We kept some guys out purposely, because we've seen enough of them and we wanted to play a lot (of the younger guys). Sometimes that can knock off the timing offensively when you have a lot young guys who the quarterback isn't used to. I thought our young receivers played well. They caught some balls and broke some tackles. You always look for the receiver who can catch and make that one guy miss or make the first guy miss. We had some of that today."
On the team's overall performance during the scrimmage:
"The defense came out and played really well, especially early. Then the offense caught some fire, and it was just like we thought (the scrimmage) would be today. We still have some things to iron out, but we're in good shape. We kept it a little vanilla today. We didn't do a lot of formation adjustments or a lot of shifting. We just wanted to see some guys play instead of trying to trick the other side."
On what the team will work on the rest of training camp:
"I think one of the areas that probably needs some work is our special teams. Today, we had so many guys out of the lineup that would normally be on special teams and were trying to put a scout team together. Today was not indicative of what it's going to be like, but you always work with the special teams to make sure you get it right."
Redshirt freshman running back Atiyyah Henderson
On his role:
"I'm just trying to be a playmaker on this team. I know Lynell Hamilton is probably going to be the main guy, but I'm just trying to step in and help this team win games."
On his running style:
"I'm the speed and change of pace (guy). We have a couple of power backs, so I'm the other back - the speed back."
On the team's depth at the running back position:
"We have four backs who all can play, including Tyler Campbell, Lynell Hamilton, Brandon Bornes and myself. We all can get the job done at any time."
Sophomore wide receiver Marcus Montgomery
On his performance:
"I felt pretty good. I was taking most of the reps to let Chaz (Schilens) get a bit of a rest, but I felt good out there."
Sophomore quarterback Darren Mougey
On his potential position change:
"At the beginning of camp, coach (Chuck) Long and coach (Del) Miller had a little talk with me about the opportunity - that if I wasn't going to be taking any snaps behind center as the starter - how I would feel about helping this team out at other positions. I was excited about the opportunity. Like I told them, I want to continue at quarterback and compete, and they want that, too."
Junior quarterback Kevin O'Connell
On the defense being ahead of the offense:
"I've said from day one that the strength of our team is going to be our defense, especially early on because we have a lot of guys, whether it is up front or at wideout, who have tons of potential, but just have to get out there and do it. We have nothing but 100 percent faith that that's the way it's going down. The defense might have to keep us in games early on, but today they were flying around like the last scrimmage. When we get to full strength and get our whole offense out there, it's pretty competitive out there at practice. We're pretty excited to get rolling here."
On the scrimmage:
"The offensive line had a pretty good day today. Atiyyah (Henderson) was running the ball well, as was Tyler Campbell. All those guys were running the ball well. Lynell (Hamilton) sat this one out, but when we get all those guys (together), we have a stable of running backs who can all take it the distance at any time. On top of that, we have some burners outside to make plays. My job is just to get the ball in their hands and we should be all right."