May 14, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU News Conference
Aztec Athletics Center
SDSU Quarterback Ryan Lindley
On his reaction when he learned he was atop the quarterback depth chart heading into the fall:
"I was pleasantly surprised. I am excited, but I still know that it doesn't mean much until we start with Cal Poly and I'm out there as the starter for game one. That's all I am worried about right now. I don't see being the starter as much right now because we still have all summer. I am still trying to work. I don't see it being any different. Both of those guys (Drew Westling and Kelsey Sokoloski) are still going to push me in the weight room, still push me when we are working out there. I don't really see any difference from when we started spring to right now."
On if his situation heading into the fall was something he expected:
"That's one of the things that drew me (to San Diego State). I wanted to play and contribute early. After I saw that Kevin (O'Connell) had one year left, you have look at it with a competitive attitude and know that you can go out there and be a four-year starter. That's how I am really looking at it. I am going out there and putting my best effort, putting my best foot forward. I plan on taking care of this team for a while."
On the offense:
"Coach (Del) Miller and Coach (Chuck) Long are really opening up the offense a lot. From what I've seen when I was a senior in high school to where we're at now, we're are just getting more comfortable and getting more fluid. I think this year and next year you're going to see this offense get explosive."
On what he thought the coaches took into consideration when making a decision about the QB position:
"(I believe) a lot of it is based off decision making. I know for me, coming out of the spring game, it was a little rough because we didn't have a lot of guys there so it didn't look that good on paper. But actually when we went back, I was watching the film with Coach Miller and Coach Long, we looked back and we made a lot of good decisions. We just didn't have the necessary tools to get it done. That's what I strived for all spring; I strived to make the best decisions and tried to get everybody in their place to make a play, to make this team run."
On his spring performance:
"I am hard on myself so I am going to say that I can do better. I think as a whole with this offense, we started to do some new things, I think we did great. I really thought we would be at where we were at the beginning of the spring. I thought that was where we were going to end up. We started fast and we kept getting better every day. That's the only thing you can do."
On the team's young offense:
"Everybody saw that this was a good recruiting class coming in. They've been putting the work in and everybody has been working hard so I think there's going to be some growing pains. We are going to go out there vs. Cal Poly in our first game, and then we have Notre Dame. We have to get a lot of that out in the first game and we have to get it done. I really think with the work ethic we have on this team, both offensively and defensively and the leadership we have from the seniors, we can get it done. The summer is going to be big as far as the weight room, getting some of the guys stronger. I think we are going to be looking good come August."