April 3, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Football Spring Press Conference Quotes
Aztec Athletics Center
Head Coach Chuck Long
Opening Comments:
"We're excited to be back getting ready for spring football. I know our staff is chomping at the bit to get back into it, as well as our players. We've had a good winter. We purposely went nine weeks this winter of strength and conditioning. We did that on purpose to get more of it - to get them ready for spring ball. That's why our spring football is starting a little bit later than most. Football's in the air again, at least for football coaches across the country, even though it's not football season. We feel like it's around the corner already. We're excited about our football team. Again, we've had a good winter, a much better winter than last year. That's what you expect. You expect to improve every year and we feel like we've done that with strength and conditioning from last year, but numbers-wise, it's proven to be the case from all the numbers we've gotten back from our testing. Regarding spring ball, we are going into it with most of the jobs being wide open. We have some jobs that the guys will go in No. 1 based on their performance last year, but they know they have to keep it up, because we want to keep it very competitive. A lot of jobs are still open and still will be evaluated throughout the spring. We would like to name starters coming out of spring football, but I won't hesitate - we won't hesitate - to put some of the competitions into the fall training camp. Out of that, the No. 1 priority, or a big priority, is to stabilize our quarterback position. That's the one position we need to solidify and stabilize as much as we can. We'd like to name a starter coming out of spring, but if we have to we're going to the fall. That is a big priority for us this spring."
On Lynell Hamilton switching to fullback:
"Our one-back system, to begin with, there's really no new learning. He knows all that. The difference would be in our two-back sets, where he'd have to learn the fullback (position), although it's not a very difficult position to learn. It's more of a want-to position, a blocking position and catching the football. As far as learning it, it doesn't take very long. He'll transfer easy here, that's not what we're concerned about. The big concern with him is getting him healthy by fall."
On mental approach going into this spring compared to last spring:
"We changed some things this offseason to help our guys get better, even our coaching staff got better. Our mental approach is really strong going into this spring. Coming off of nine weeks of a good winter, we felt we had a better winter than last year just because we know our players better. We knew where to attack, what to attack and we just feel so much better going into this spring. With all that, we did revamp and reshape this offseason, which has really helped as well. (We did it) to put our guys in better positions to succeed, which is always a goal."
On the nine-week winter:
"The calendar felt right for us this year, just because we had a later spring break. It allowed us when they got back into school (from winter break) to have nine weeks, which we took full advantage of from a strength and conditioning point. In future offseasons, it may not fall right. Some schools are going to six weeks and then going early spring (practies). We felt that we needed to go all nine. If you can get between seven and eight (weeks), it's usually a good winter, a good amount. We went all the way to nine, because I wanted all nine there. I wanted to go to spring ball entirely after spring break, I didn't want to split that up, especially with a football team that's still learning a system in year two of a system. Hopefully, we can establish that foundation in time where we may not go as long in the winter and have the earlier spring ball. The advantage of doing that is that if you do have injuries, which you always have in the spring, it gives them more time to recover. Looking at our season, we don't start week one, our first game is actually week two and our open week is week one. What that means is we'll start training camp later then more teams, because you only get a certain amount of days. So the way the calendar fell for us and the way the schedule fell for us allowed us to have all those weeks in the winter. A continuous spring ball gives us some time to heal before training camp starts, because we have a later training camp. It's really a good situation for us this year."
On what he likes about this team better than last year:
"Just where they're at right now, in terms of their strength and conditioning. I've changed the nutrition habits for the better for them. I just felt like I needed to put them in a better position to succeed in the weight room, which will help us on the field. For our system to work, we felt like that needed to be better from year one to year two. You're always looking for that edge in anything you do. The edge, I believe, for us is that coaches always look at it from an X's and O's standpoint, but as a head coach, I have to look at it from the whole thing. That edge for us was a lot more quality work in that weight room, which really helped us. We had a serious rash of injuries last year. A lot of that comes back to that, just not giving them a better chance in that weight room and it starts with nutrition."
SDSU Player Quotes
Quarterback Kevin O'Connell
On the difference between this spring and last:
"I think (the difference is that) everyone is coming off of spring break having had nine really good weeks of training. We came out feeling a lot better than we did in the previous spring training sessions, because we had nine good weeks of programs down to every last detail of what we ate, what we lifted, what we ran each day and we had really good participation. Everyone's getting better, faster and stronger, so I think everyone is excited to put the helmets back on and have a go at this thing."
On this year's QB position:
"I remember coming out of fall camp I was talking about how I never felt better and how excited I was. Offensively, we were clicking and then two quarters later, my answers were a lot different. So this is the first time we've been throwing and working out with the defense a lot the past month or so, and this is the first time I can say I'm 100 percent healthy. As far as the quarterback situation goes, I think there is going to be a chance for everyone to do what they're doing. I love that coach Long and the staff want to name the guy coming out of spring. Hopefully then we can come out with some leadership roles and some assigned roles and we'll be able to build from there."
On having to compete for a starting job:
"That's what the spring is all about, bringing along some of the young guys who maybe don't get a lot of reps in the fall and for some of the older guys, it's about refining skills. Each and everyday and you have to come out and work on something, and the competition always has to be there. At any successful program around the country, there are guys at every position top to bottom who are pushing each other every day. It has to be there; otherwise you get to a point. We are college football players and we aren't playing on Sundays.
On the 2007 schedule:
"Looking at our schedule, we do start a week later than everyone else, but at the same time we are going to have a chance to have a leg up on scouting them. Obviously, going on the road to play two Pac-10 teams to start out is a tough task; both have a lot of talent coming back. That's long down the road. We just need to worry about our offense, defense, and special teams in the spring and clean up any areas we can and get back into training in the summer and roll right into the fall."
Wide receiver Chaz Schilens
On having to compete for a starting job:
"We do have a lot of young guys. They played scout team all last year, and a lot of people get sick of that. We have a lot of younger kids who want to prove themselves and take advantage of this, and really try to get a spot, to fight for it and get playing time. That's what is most important about the spring, not only fine tuning the offense and defense, but getting the young guys a chance to succeed.
On whether the team is ready to put last season behind them:
"Obviously we are going to have to work that much harder and start over. I can't really comment too much about the last season, but we are going to make sure we win more games. Coach has made it a point that what happened last season is not going to happen again. He's not going to let us do it again. As far as hard work, that's all we know. I don't know the reason why we didn't win more games last season, but I'm looking forward to getting back on the playing field, and I'm pretty sick of watching other teams play when we aren't playing."
Linebacker Russell Allen
On who will become this year's defensive leaders:
"Hopefully, it's going to come from everywhere. Leadership is experience and influence, and we basically hope we can find the guys who have a positive influence on everyone. Where that comes from, I can't really tell you at this point. We haven't really started yet."
On having to compete for a starting job:
"Every year there's new competition, and there is always room for improvement. "If they can find someone better at any spot, we hope they will do that. We feel like we are in the best shape we've been in, and like Kevin was saying, we've had a really good training session and everyone is ready to compete in the spring.
On the defensive losses from last year:
"We lost a lot of good players last year, but we feel that we have a good core of guys coming back who can help bring the younger talent along. We have some young guys in the secondary who we are counting on, and we feel like this will be a good opportunity for them to gain some experience."
On the 2007 schedule:
"Those are challenges we do look forward to. We want to play the best, beat the best and be the best. That's something we look forward to and need to take advantage of the opportunity."