April 20, 2009
San Diego State head coach Brady Hoke
Opening Statement:
"We're done with seven practices and we're at a point now that you get a little more of a measuring stick of where you're at as a team. We've made some strides, but we have to keep on improving. It's good that we have eight more practices to improve with. A couple of things on Saturday - we made too many mental errors and I think that comes with the territory a little bit, not to rationalize it at all, but a new offense, a new scheme (and) going pretty much live the first time (were factors). I think some of those things are there and I think there are some guys still trying to figure it out instead of just playing fast. That's what you have to do in this game. I think our physicalness is better, but I think it's not where it needs to be as a team. We have to be a physical team with what we're doing running the football and what we're doing defensively. We've got to have that kind of attack and physicalness that we need. The other thing on both sides of the ball, as we evaluate and watch, that we need to do a better job of is finishing every play and finishing through the whistle. That's part of being physical and that's part of having the mentality of finishing everything we do and competing on everything we do. I thought from a defensive standpoint Davion Mauldin showed some real physicalness as a corner for us and some coverage things. I thought Kwincy Edwards played well and Miles Burris played well in there as a linebacker for us. Offensively, I thought Davon Brown showed a lot of spark and did a nice job being physical running the football and (did) a nice job making some big plays. I think Alston Umuolo did some things catching the ball and blocked better than he had so far this spring. I think all three quarterbacks competed. I can't tell you they played the way we wanted them to play, but I think they're competing. They've kind of got a full plate when you look at being the quarterback in this offense, getting us in and out of the right plays at times and for them it's not an easy defense to go against everyday because of the different angles that Coach (Rocky) Long is going to come after them with. So that's kind of the state of the union after seven practices right now.
On the mentality the staff coaching encourages:
"I think it's more of our expectations. We're demanding as a staff and I think we coach them pretty hard and we coach them pretty fair, but the one thing that every guy on this team can do is have effort. No matter if you run a 5.5 40 (yard-dash) or a 46.5 40 (yard-dash), we want you to play at that speed all the time and finish at that time. It's a mentality that we want to have in this program.
On the biggest position of strength:
"We practiced without Jerry (Milling) and Luke (Laolagi) the other day, the two linebackers. Logan Ketchum did some good things. (Miles) Burris, Marcus Yarbrough, those are the young linebackers, and Zach (Shapiro). I think they all showed some things of their intensity, their physicalness at that position. Not having Jerry and Luke was good for those young guys to get the amount of reps they got. And that to me probably is the biggest position of strength that we have on the team. I think our backs and (corner) Davion (Mauldin), who has really had a good spring throughout the spring. Atiyyah (Henderson) did some good things and Brandon (Sullivan) ran with a little more physicalness than I had seen earlier. I think those three guys are doing some good things. I think those two positions right now probably are the strength of where we're at as a team.
On competiveness of linebacker position:
"I think it's going to be very competitive. I think that's one thing about what we want to do. When the guys come in this room, they've got to be ready to compete every day. I think the young guys getting some looks, that's got to help them.
On Don Coryell, who was at Saturday's practice:
"It's awesome. He was out at practice (Saturday) and spoke to the team after we were done. Coach Coryell, you look at the significance of what he did in the game of football with San Diego State and the Chargers. He's really the one who branded San Diego State football. His accomplishments and the way his teams played, he set the bar high and that's something that we as a football program want to meet his expectations."
Aztec Player Quotes
San Diego State defensive back Martrell Fantroy on his new position:"It's a team game first. I just want to do my part and hopefully, I can make plays at this position and do the right things to open up opportunities for my teammates also."
San Diego State quarterback Drew Westling on competition at quarterback position: "I view it as a competition of Drew Westling trying to be better than Drew Westling yesterday, Ryan Lindley trying to be better than Ryan Lindley yesterday and Kelsey (Sokoloski) trying to be better than Kelsey yesterday. That's our main focus. We're all new to this offense, (and) becoming more and more comfortable. I'm excited to get back in our meetings here at 3:30 and go through the tapes (from Saturday's scrimmage). I think we all did a lot of things well, but obviously we weren't as efficient as we could have been. Now our focus, especially now more than ever, is the team. Coach Hoke has a competition period every day where it is offense versus defense. Whoever ends up outperforming the other unit, the other unit runs. So there's never been a time where I've rooted for Ryan or Kelsey more when they're in there. We're having a lot of fun and we're all trying to get better and we're all trying to encourage one another."
San Diego State center Trask Iosefa on his communication with quarterback Ryan Lindley: "(Ryan and I) mesh really well. I don't think there was any lack of communication to the mistakes that we had Saturday. We just kind of slipped up on accident. Mistakes are going to be there every day, so we're just working on improving every day."