Watch those here
Transcription of Wilcox below:
As soon as the season finishes, you just kind of starting down the days until you can get back on the field. So it’s great to get back out there. For us, as a team, it’s good to have early Spring Ball for a number of reasons, but we got back out there and got into it pretty quickly, and the language is in and the communication is there. We’re a little bit rusty, obviously, but it’s good.
(Weather)
We’ll take whatever. Play in anything right now.
(Size difference on taking the field this spring)
Little bit of the opposite, right. Lines are shorter, whether it’s stretch or the position just because of the nature of college football, so you manage that with the type of drills you do, the number of plays you run, that type of thing. So we make sure that everybody is getting the work they need — whether it’s a team rep or an individual drill. But it’s part of the preparation of spring ball.
(Playing without JK, Pat, etc.)
I go through all those seniors and why we miss them, but that’s just part of it. And the other enjoyable part is seeing all these younger players take the next step, and it’s a brand new team. The dynamics are totally different, and we have a long way to go, but that’s part of the fun.
(New guys in leadership?)
I think you see it in the weight room and the offseason workouts, the winter workouts, and we’ll see it throughout spring, and we’ll see it in spring workouts once we finish practice. It’s just constantly evolving. And part of it you coach them and teach them, and part of it they’ve got to grab. So it’s just fun to watch that unfold.
(QB competition)
What we’re focused right now at every position — and quarterback is no different — is each guy just getting better. So there’s going to be opportunities for all those guys to get reps, and that’s the beauty of spring football, we have enough reps to go around. I think Chase is going to get a lot better, and we have Devon in here and Jack and Robbie, so all those guys are going to have opportunities to get 11-on-11, 7-on-7, 1-on-1, and what’s most important is that they get better, just like at every other position. The depth chart right now is not something we’re even talking about. Somebody’s going to go out there with the 1s, somebody with the 2s, but it’s going to rotate consistently.
(McIlwain as a two-sport athlete)
It’s impressive. We knew that when Brandon came here is that baseball was important to him, and we were willing to work with him on that. He’s done a great job of managing the schedule. I’ve talked to Mike Neu a number of times about that. We knew that going into spring. When he doesn’t have a conflict, he’s up here with us. And it’s been great. Brandon is a very good athlete. He’s going to practice with the running backs, but we’ll have some things that we can do with him, moving him out of the backfield, potentially snapping him the ball, there’s just a lot of different things, so we’re going to keep developing him as that kind of slash player, and he’s also going to be going down and playing baseball. And we support him doing that, and I know he’s eager to get back out here and practice, too.
(McIlwain’s adaptability)
I think he’s a very talented athlete. He’s got coordination, and he’s put together, he’s strong, he’s got good agility, and to be able to play two sports at this level is pretty impressive. Not a lot of people can do that. And he’s just got to continue to grow in his role, whether that’s, for us, that slash player – running back, get him out of the back field, catch the ball, snap the ball, run some RPOs and whatever else might be there. But definitely something we’ll continue to develop.
(McIlwain’s baseball game)
I get the details from him. Directly. So I assume they’re accurate, I’m taking his word for it. … No, that’s awesome. We’re happy for him.
(Cam Goode)
He looks different in his uniform, even with no pads on. So he’s full-go, but he hasn’t played in a long time, since the first game of the year, so we’re going to make sure we watch his reps. But he’s full go. … He’s getting older, he’s maturing. Age will do that. I’m sure we can all attest. But he’s putting some weight on, and he looks good. You just see that smile on his face, so I know he was excited to be back out there.
(Ricky Walker)
We’re excited about Ricky’s spring, because he’s been healthy now for a considerable amount of time. That had been something that held him back, I think, so this spring will be big for Ricky. He’s got some tools, and now we’ve just got to go out and refine those things so he can put his best foot forward and kind of get into a groove a little bit more than he has in the past.
(QB situation resolved by the end of spring?)
That’s a tough one to answer. It’ll resolve when it resolves. Whether that’s in a week or 10 days or two months or six months, I don’t know the answer to that. … We could put a timeline on it. When you have a timeline and you get up to that point, when you know the answer, you know the answer, and then we’ll talk about it. But if we don’t and it’s still competitive, then that’s just what it is. So I think, right now, the focus is just on improvement. And I know Chase Garbers is going to improve and has improved his body, and he’ll be better. I mean, he was a freshman quarterback last year and had some good moments and had some that he’s going to learn from. And then we’ve got some new guys in the mix. … The rush, the urgency is improvement. That’s where the urgency comes in. So there’s urgency. But in terms of giving you a depth chart, that’s not on the list of what’s urgent right now.
(young wideouts with chance to prove themselves)
Opportunity. We could kind of go through the list, but there are a lot of guys who are going to get opportunities this spring, and everything we do is watched and evaluated and graded, so you’re earning yourselves reps — obviously it’s spring, but into fall, as well. So got a bunch of guys in there that are going to have chance, whether individual or 1-on-1 or 7-on and team.
(Kuony Deng)
Just a real focused guy, knows what he wants, he’s very, eager, whether that’s in the weight room with Coach Becton, or doing speed work or in the meeting room. He’s an eager guy, and he’s sharp. He’s still got a lot to learn, because it’s a new system, and I know he practiced in bowl practices, but I think we got four or three, or whatever it was, so you don’t, it’s hard to get fully immersed in that short of time. He’s done a great job, and I think he’s fitting in really well with the guys on the team, and they’ve done a great job of helping him along, too. (body type/OLB) We’re going to train him to do more than one thing. So there’s potential that he plays inside, only plays inside, there’s potential that he plays outside, only outside, or there’s a potential, which could be a really good thing, that he can do both. We rush our inside linebackers a fair amount, so when you’re able to do that — and his length in terms of pass game and getting off blocks is evident just looking at him.
(newbies on campus)
It’s early in their tenure, but we’re glad they’re here. And I know they’re excited to get on the field and have taken to everything pretty well. But, again, we’re talking about a pretty small sample size. We’ll talk more at the end of spring and then summer and fall, and we’ll give you a better eval then.
(DB group improvements)
There always is (room to improve). That’s the beauty of this game. You’re never there. And so we have some good players in that group, and they’ve played a lot of football, but Cam Bynum has things he needs to work on, Traveon is the same, Ashtyn and J-Hawk and Elijah and Josh, those guys have played a lot of football, and there’s some real good football players in there, but it’s not like we sit them down and say, ‘OK, you got it, let’s just wait until the season.’ And they don’t want it that way, either. So that’s part of what makes those guys good, is that drive, and they’re very coachable. … Traveon has come a long way since this time last year, and I’m proud of him for that, but he’s still got things he can work on on the field and off the field, and he’s just taking that next step as a player and person, and we’re proud of him for that.
(position groups on daily goals)
Yeah, each position group will do that. We talked about that last night. Just to go out to practice and say, ‘I’m going to get better,’ that’s not good enough. We’ve got to be specific in what we’re working on, and it’s going to be different from person to person and group to group. So challenged them to be specific on what they’re trying to improve upon, and I think that’s just one way they can verbalize it. (accountability) There’s things you can measure, and then there are some of those benchmarks that you’re shooting for, but it’s good to constantly talk about them in the meeting room, coach to player, player to player, push it forward.
Transcription of Wilcox below:
As soon as the season finishes, you just kind of starting down the days until you can get back on the field. So it’s great to get back out there. For us, as a team, it’s good to have early Spring Ball for a number of reasons, but we got back out there and got into it pretty quickly, and the language is in and the communication is there. We’re a little bit rusty, obviously, but it’s good.
(Weather)
We’ll take whatever. Play in anything right now.
(Size difference on taking the field this spring)
Little bit of the opposite, right. Lines are shorter, whether it’s stretch or the position just because of the nature of college football, so you manage that with the type of drills you do, the number of plays you run, that type of thing. So we make sure that everybody is getting the work they need — whether it’s a team rep or an individual drill. But it’s part of the preparation of spring ball.
(Playing without JK, Pat, etc.)
I go through all those seniors and why we miss them, but that’s just part of it. And the other enjoyable part is seeing all these younger players take the next step, and it’s a brand new team. The dynamics are totally different, and we have a long way to go, but that’s part of the fun.
(New guys in leadership?)
I think you see it in the weight room and the offseason workouts, the winter workouts, and we’ll see it throughout spring, and we’ll see it in spring workouts once we finish practice. It’s just constantly evolving. And part of it you coach them and teach them, and part of it they’ve got to grab. So it’s just fun to watch that unfold.
(QB competition)
What we’re focused right now at every position — and quarterback is no different — is each guy just getting better. So there’s going to be opportunities for all those guys to get reps, and that’s the beauty of spring football, we have enough reps to go around. I think Chase is going to get a lot better, and we have Devon in here and Jack and Robbie, so all those guys are going to have opportunities to get 11-on-11, 7-on-7, 1-on-1, and what’s most important is that they get better, just like at every other position. The depth chart right now is not something we’re even talking about. Somebody’s going to go out there with the 1s, somebody with the 2s, but it’s going to rotate consistently.
(McIlwain as a two-sport athlete)
It’s impressive. We knew that when Brandon came here is that baseball was important to him, and we were willing to work with him on that. He’s done a great job of managing the schedule. I’ve talked to Mike Neu a number of times about that. We knew that going into spring. When he doesn’t have a conflict, he’s up here with us. And it’s been great. Brandon is a very good athlete. He’s going to practice with the running backs, but we’ll have some things that we can do with him, moving him out of the backfield, potentially snapping him the ball, there’s just a lot of different things, so we’re going to keep developing him as that kind of slash player, and he’s also going to be going down and playing baseball. And we support him doing that, and I know he’s eager to get back out here and practice, too.
(McIlwain’s adaptability)
I think he’s a very talented athlete. He’s got coordination, and he’s put together, he’s strong, he’s got good agility, and to be able to play two sports at this level is pretty impressive. Not a lot of people can do that. And he’s just got to continue to grow in his role, whether that’s, for us, that slash player – running back, get him out of the back field, catch the ball, snap the ball, run some RPOs and whatever else might be there. But definitely something we’ll continue to develop.
(McIlwain’s baseball game)
I get the details from him. Directly. So I assume they’re accurate, I’m taking his word for it. … No, that’s awesome. We’re happy for him.
(Cam Goode)
He looks different in his uniform, even with no pads on. So he’s full-go, but he hasn’t played in a long time, since the first game of the year, so we’re going to make sure we watch his reps. But he’s full go. … He’s getting older, he’s maturing. Age will do that. I’m sure we can all attest. But he’s putting some weight on, and he looks good. You just see that smile on his face, so I know he was excited to be back out there.
(Ricky Walker)
We’re excited about Ricky’s spring, because he’s been healthy now for a considerable amount of time. That had been something that held him back, I think, so this spring will be big for Ricky. He’s got some tools, and now we’ve just got to go out and refine those things so he can put his best foot forward and kind of get into a groove a little bit more than he has in the past.
(QB situation resolved by the end of spring?)
That’s a tough one to answer. It’ll resolve when it resolves. Whether that’s in a week or 10 days or two months or six months, I don’t know the answer to that. … We could put a timeline on it. When you have a timeline and you get up to that point, when you know the answer, you know the answer, and then we’ll talk about it. But if we don’t and it’s still competitive, then that’s just what it is. So I think, right now, the focus is just on improvement. And I know Chase Garbers is going to improve and has improved his body, and he’ll be better. I mean, he was a freshman quarterback last year and had some good moments and had some that he’s going to learn from. And then we’ve got some new guys in the mix. … The rush, the urgency is improvement. That’s where the urgency comes in. So there’s urgency. But in terms of giving you a depth chart, that’s not on the list of what’s urgent right now.
(young wideouts with chance to prove themselves)
Opportunity. We could kind of go through the list, but there are a lot of guys who are going to get opportunities this spring, and everything we do is watched and evaluated and graded, so you’re earning yourselves reps — obviously it’s spring, but into fall, as well. So got a bunch of guys in there that are going to have chance, whether individual or 1-on-1 or 7-on and team.
(Kuony Deng)
Just a real focused guy, knows what he wants, he’s very, eager, whether that’s in the weight room with Coach Becton, or doing speed work or in the meeting room. He’s an eager guy, and he’s sharp. He’s still got a lot to learn, because it’s a new system, and I know he practiced in bowl practices, but I think we got four or three, or whatever it was, so you don’t, it’s hard to get fully immersed in that short of time. He’s done a great job, and I think he’s fitting in really well with the guys on the team, and they’ve done a great job of helping him along, too. (body type/OLB) We’re going to train him to do more than one thing. So there’s potential that he plays inside, only plays inside, there’s potential that he plays outside, only outside, or there’s a potential, which could be a really good thing, that he can do both. We rush our inside linebackers a fair amount, so when you’re able to do that — and his length in terms of pass game and getting off blocks is evident just looking at him.
(newbies on campus)
It’s early in their tenure, but we’re glad they’re here. And I know they’re excited to get on the field and have taken to everything pretty well. But, again, we’re talking about a pretty small sample size. We’ll talk more at the end of spring and then summer and fall, and we’ll give you a better eval then.
(DB group improvements)
There always is (room to improve). That’s the beauty of this game. You’re never there. And so we have some good players in that group, and they’ve played a lot of football, but Cam Bynum has things he needs to work on, Traveon is the same, Ashtyn and J-Hawk and Elijah and Josh, those guys have played a lot of football, and there’s some real good football players in there, but it’s not like we sit them down and say, ‘OK, you got it, let’s just wait until the season.’ And they don’t want it that way, either. So that’s part of what makes those guys good, is that drive, and they’re very coachable. … Traveon has come a long way since this time last year, and I’m proud of him for that, but he’s still got things he can work on on the field and off the field, and he’s just taking that next step as a player and person, and we’re proud of him for that.
(position groups on daily goals)
Yeah, each position group will do that. We talked about that last night. Just to go out to practice and say, ‘I’m going to get better,’ that’s not good enough. We’ve got to be specific in what we’re working on, and it’s going to be different from person to person and group to group. So challenged them to be specific on what they’re trying to improve upon, and I think that’s just one way they can verbalize it. (accountability) There’s things you can measure, and then there are some of those benchmarks that you’re shooting for, but it’s good to constantly talk about them in the meeting room, coach to player, player to player, push it forward.
