Aug. 8, 2007
Quotes from San Diego State head coach Chuck Long met with the media Wednesday afternoon during San Diego State's annual media day.
SDSU Head Coach Chuck Long
Opening Statement:
"We are excited to get started with our season. It's been tough watching other teams around the country start before us. Since we have the first week of the season scheduled as our bye week, we have no choice than to start a week later because we are only allowed 29 practices before the first game. Our players used the week to get refreshed and we are anxious to get started.
"As a head coach, you look for the big steps towards where you want your program to get to. At this time now, as compared to this point last season, it's night and day to me. It's been a great off-season. Kudos to our strength and conditioning coach Jon Francis and his staff. He really stepped up and did a wonderful job. We are so far ahead as compared to last year and I'm anxious to see how that plays out in fall camp and the season. Summer is not yet over for us because we have training camp where questions need to be answered. There are still some very competitive situations that will go on in training camp that we need to iron out. I look forward to finding out who will be the training camp story or the unknown guy who catches your eye that you have to get on the field because of the way he has played. I've always enjoyed training camp. I know being a former quarterback that I probably liked camp more than offensive linemen. It's a time when you are all together as a team and not paying attention to the outside world, and that is neat experience.
"When starting a program, you look for little steps and at times last year it was hard to see. We are starting to see those steps at this point in our program. There is a nice foundation being laid that will definitely help us as we go through this season and in the years to come. I love the way our level of commitment and the quality of our leadership has risen since last season.
On the team's incoming players:
"Defensive end Ryan Williams is transferring to us from Ohio State. He was a top recruit coming out of high school in Mission Viejo, Calif. He had an early injury as a freshman, but is now 100 percent healthy. He has to sit out the upcoming season, but we will have him for two years after that. We offered him a scholarship at Oklahoma coming out of high school, so for him to consider us and sign is really exciting.
"This was the first time in a long time that I believe at San Diego State, if ever, that we had 11 incoming freshmen on campus this summer, 10 of which were enrolled in classes. That has been a big plus for us. President Weber has been behind getting our guys in early for summer school. It helps the guys a lot on the backend to graduate on time if we can get them in early. They have been here since July going to school and training with us. That is really going to help us this season because we are probably going to play some our true freshmen right away."
On the health status of senior running back Lynell Hamilton:
"We believe he is 100 percent. The coaching and training staff feel good about him at this point, so we'll just have to see how he plays in training camp. We are anticipating that he'll get through every practice and head athletic trainer Don Kessler says Lynell has never looked better. He has had a terrific off-season."
On the Aztec quarterback situation:
"Our quarterback situation begins with Kevin O'Connell as our starter. We'll work Darren Mougey at where we like him right now, which is playing wide receiver. We will probably give him some repetitions at quarterback in training camp. We also have Kelsey Sokoloski and true freshman Ryan Lindley, who will be battling it out for playing time. We want to get through training camp and see how our young guys develop. Darren's situation is not unlike the one I had a few years ago at Oklahoma where we had a starting quarterback and Paul Thompson was a No. 1 wide receiver and No. 2 quarterback. This isn't exactly the same situation because at OU we didn't have anybody behind those two. Here, we have some numbers to work with. We want to keep Darren fresh at quarterback, but not at the expense of taking away his reps at wide receiver."
On senior quarterback Kevin O'Connell:
"We feel as mature as Kevin is, that he is at the point in his career where the clock should be his motivation. He knows he has this last year after being injured last season. At a particular point in your career, you have to be able to push yourself to the highest degree and we think he is mature enough to understand that. We don't think there will be any issue about him competing. He is competing against the clock and competing to make this team better. He really has had a wonderful off-season dating back to January in terms of leadership and has grown quite a bit."
On competing in the Mountain West Conference:
"Our goal is to go out and compete every year. We are the only (conference) team since the inception of the Mountain West Conference to not have a winning season and go on to a bowl game. Our goal is to make into the upper half of the conference, go bowling and progress towards a conference championship. Those goals will never change as long as I'm here. I don't worry about where we're picked. I've been through many seasons where my teams have been picked low and finished high. You just never know with any given season. Predictions are fun for fans and my children read that stuff and like to point it out to me. I just always tell them that those predications are good motivations for our team. If you have pride, and you're passionate about the game and your team, you do something about it on the field."