Evans and Motley Lead Quarterback Competition, Shibest Takes Over BeamerBall Tradition

Justin Fuente wasn't overly thrilled with the Hokies' first scrimmage of spring ball. It was largely expected — few teams open the spring firing on all cylinders.

But with another week of practice came another opportunity for players to ease their new head coach's concerns, and it seems the Hokies did just that during Saturday's scrimmage in the Beamer Barn.

"I at least walked off the field on Saturday feeling pretty good...when I hadn't always felt like that," said Fuente. "I didn't just throw my feet up on the desk, but I felt OK about it. I felt better."

A sizable portion of Fuente's growing comfort level could very well be a result of a thinning quarterback competition in Blacksburg. As was speculated last week, Junior College transfer Jerod Evans and redshirt senior Brenden Motley have taken the lead in the Hokies' quarterback competition.

"Jerod and Brenden took most of the reps with the 1's and at times were really efficient and at times could have been a lot better," said Fuente. "Those two guys have kinda leapt ahead a little bit in terms of where we're at. Doesn't mean that any decisions have been made, far from it. But starting today, that's kind of how we'll have those guys handling the majority of the reps with the 1's. It doesn't mean those other guys are done or redshirting or anything like that. We're in the infancy of it. But through nine practices, that's where we feel like those guys are at."

Shibest Takes Over on Special Teams

There's a new big whistle running the Hokies' special teams units this spring, and he knows he has big shoes to fill. But despite the towering expectations that come with coaching special teams at a place like Virginia Tech, Fuente feels confident that James Shibest is the man for the job.

"We drill fundamentals in special teams more than any place I've ever been in terms of coach Shibest and his teaching progression. It's fantastic," said Fuente. "I think it manifests itself in giving us the best chance on Saturdays. It doesn't mean anything bad never happens, those things happen sometimes. But getting our kids fundamentally sound and believing what they're doing, I don't think there's anyone better."

But despite the ringing endorsement from his boss, Shibest warns the Hokies will be moving slowly on special teams this spring. It's a new system with new schemes, Shibest explained, and the learning process will take time.

"It's coming along very slow right now. It's just because everything is new," said Shibest. "Obviously what coach Beamer's done here has helped us tremendously in the fact that these guys know that this aspect is very important. You can just tell how attentive they are in meetings and their effort in the field going through drillwork. But it's different. Scheme-wise and drill-wise, we're all different."

Perhaps no aspect of special teams will diverge from the past more under Shibest than the punting game. Four-year starting punter A.J. Hughes has departed, and redshirt junior punter Mitchell Ludwig — previously seen primarily on kickoffs — appears primed to take his place.

"I think he's got great potential," said Shibest of Ludwig. "He's got a great opportunity to go take that role. I wish we had another guy or two possibly competing there, but we don't. We got (Jackson) VanSickle there. The other great thing is Joey Slye can do that also, too. He's been working there. We've been impressed with Mitch. We didn't know much about him. He hadn't really punted here, not on game days anyways. But he's done well this spring, so we've been happy with him."

And long accustomed to Frank Beamer's pro-style punting formation, Hokie fans could be in for another shock come September as Tech transitions into a three-man shield punting look.

"We're a shield team which is the big guys in the back," said Shibest. "We were a pro-style or traditional-style for many years where I've been at different places, but this is kind of the new fad or the new thing (in college football). We'll have the capability of doing some rugby stuff out of it. It all depends on what the punters can do."

But while Shibest may be tweaking some of Beamer's schemes, he's not messing with one of the core traditions of Beamer Ball — starters will still feature prominently on special teams.

"The thing we always try to do is get the best personnel out there that we possibly can," said Shibest. "It's gonna win or lose you games."

But despite Fuente's appreciation for special teams and the sterling reputation of Shibest, time and space constraints — along with injury potential — greatly limit how often the Hokies can do full group work. For Shibest, those natural constraints of his job leave the emphasis squarely on the fundamentals.

"We do very little full group stuff (in the spring) and really do very little full group stuff in the fall. It's all a progression of the drills," said Shibest. "You just kind of build to the one play. Now obviously we do full group stuff. We're just a big believer, you've gotta teach them the fundamentals and what you gotta do. You can't just throw them out there and do full group work without the teaching part of it."

Tuesday marked the first time the media had officially met the Hokies' newest special teams coach, and the Texas native did not disappoint. Shibest was animated, friendly, and enthusiastic, not the least bit hesitant to tell us exactly what he thought about his group. For a brief moment, it was almost as if longtime defensive line coach Charley Wiles had morphed into a special teams coach.

Had we gone crazy? Senior defensive tackle Nigel Williams assured us otherwise.

"I feel like they both grew up in the same house," joked Williams. "They both talk the exact same. I'll be in a special teams meeting and I gotta look over to make sure that's not coach Wiles. It's kind of crazy when you hear both of them on the field at the same time. It's kind of like an echo."

Competition The Name of the Game at Running Back

Just a few months removed from a breakout freshman campaign that saw Travon McMillian rush for 1,043 yards, many Hokie fans likely assumed McMillian would be the clear starter heading into spring practice. But Zohn Burden, the Hokies' former receivers and current running backs coach, made it clear Tuesday that there's no depth chart set in stone at the tailback position.

"Travon is a competitor and he understands that it's not about last year, it's about right now," said Burden. "It's about moving forward and getting better and working his butt off and competing everyday. Like I said, it's a competition. He's gotta earn everything with me as a new position coach, but also with a new offensive staff. It's more about him just getting out there and proving himself every day."

And while McMillian certainly figures to emerge from the spring as the No. 1 tailback, he'll be pushed by a bevy of talented young backs, perhaps none more intriguing than redshirt freshman Deshawn McClease. At just 5'9" and 177 pounds, the diminutive but fleet of foot McClease could present the Hokies with a valuable change of pace option after McMillian.

"He can go out wide, you can send him in motion, he's just a guy in space that can give defenses some trouble," said Burden. "He's a speedy guy and a smart kid out there. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. He brings that kind of element to the offense...I think the sky's the limit for him right now."

And in Fuente's up-tempo offense, it's likely several tailbacks will be utilized throughout the season. Fuente seemed high on McClease's potential Tuesday afternoon, the Virginia Beach native's versatility and speed no doubt enticing to the Hokies' offensive guru.

"He's a shifty, speedy back I think that's got some unique skills," said Fuente. "I like the way he's approached spring ball. I like having, just in general terms, I like having a variety of different tailbacks. I don't like them all to look the same. I like having a big guy, a small guy, and guys that can motion out and play in the slot and guys that are big that you don't wanna do that with. McClease certainly fills one of those roles. He's a smaller, speedier, shifty back that still runs the ball inside."

For his part, McClease is embracing the competition this spring, eager to find a way onto the field in his second year in Blacksburg.

"I see a huge opportunity," said McClease. "I came here to make a big impact on and off the field here at Tech. So I'm getting my opportunity."

But no running back conversation is complete without mentioning Sam Rogers, the Hokies' fullback/tailback hybrid who has emerged as one of the team's most respected players over the past several years. And now that Burden has begun to work personally with Rogers, he's beginning to appreciate the notorious work ethic of the Hokies' senior leader.

"Just meeting with him, I have about four or five meetings a day because Sam comes by," said Burden. "If it's one meeting, I know I got four more because Sam's gonna come by. That's a good thing. You want that."

So while Rogers might be more traditionally known as a fullback, Burden promised that the Mechanicsville native will continue to play a prominent role in the Hokies' offense.

"He looks good when he carries the ball, so we say, 'Why not?' He's one of our best players on offense, if not the best," said Burden. "We feel like you wanna have a guy that you can trust with the ball in his hands. But it's not always about with the ball in his hands. It's about the things he does without the ball in his hands."

Foster and Greene Discuss the Lunchpail D

2015 may not have gone exactly to plan for Bud Foster and the lunchpail defense, but the Hokies' longtime defensive coordinator certainly hopes to get his unit back on track this fall. And while Foster feels reasonably comfortable with the Hokies' first group on defense, depth at key positions has been the talk of spring ball.

"Obviously when we talked before, we're young at defensive end," said Foster. "(Redshirt freshman) Trevon Hill's got a chance to be dynamic. Very explosive, very instinctive. Still learning, but shows some flashes of really being a dynamic football player."

And with highly-touted freshman cornerback Khalil Ladler and Brandon Facyson both out for the spring with injuries, the Hokies are painfully thin at cornerback. Adonis Alexander and Greg Stroman provide the Hokies with quality options in the first group, but Foster hopes Ladler and Facyson will be healthy come fall camp.

"You have an idea about Brandon. But at the same time, he's been nicked up," said Foster. "He needs to get out there because we're doing a couple of things a little bit, not that we're doing anything differently, but we're playing a little bit more zone coverage, probably. Ladler's a guy you would just like to see. Period. I've seen him on high school film, but I'd like to see him out there now. He's going through walkthroughs and those type of things, but it's still different from doing it full speed where you're tying your mind and your feet together. He's a guy that I'm hoping can figure in. We'll see. He'll have to catch up a lot this summer."

At the safety spot, Foster raved about fifth-year senior Der'woun Greene on several different occasions Tuesday afternoon. And while Greene is still waiting for an opportunity behind both Chuck Clark and Terrell Edmunds, Foster thinks the switch to more zone coverage will only benefit the Portsmouth, Virginia native.

"Der'woun has just always been a really, really good football player," said Foster. "Probably his liabilities might be, Torrian (Gray) would have told you, might be playing man coverage. We're looking at playing with a few more eyes on the ball (this year). Particularly in today's game, people are spreading you out. If you're just always playing man coverage and a play pops, there's not much back there to defend against it. We just wanna make it snap again...We've been pretty good about that over the years. I wanna get back to that. And really, that plays more to probably Der'woun's strength a little bit. He's great attacking the line of scrimmage. He's just got some experience back there that I really like and trust."

Foster compared Greene to former Virginia Tech safety Dorian Porch, another defensive back who spent much of his career in maroon and orange waiting for an opportunity before finally emerging in his senior season.

"I think he's a guy, I'm hoping he'll come along and have a bigtime senior year like we had with guys like Dorian Porch," said Foster. "Guys that we're safety guys, rovers that were kind of backup guys, but in the end we ended up winning a championship with those guys. Not to say that's what we're gonna do this year, but those guys were very productive and a key part of our success. I think he has a chance to do those things right now."

Additional Quotes

Justin Fuente

OPENING STATEMENT:

"Thank you all for coming out. Before we start, I do want to announce that next Tuesday night we're gonna invite all the students out to practice. It should be a good event. We'll bring them out for the second half of practice. They can get in with a student ID. Pete (Moris) will have all the details on all that sort of stuff which I think we'll release later on. We'll even let you all (the media) come too if you'd like. It should be a fun event. We're planning on that on Tuesday. Should be a fun evening. We had a good scrimmage on Saturday morning. Both sides competed, there was good give-and-take on both sides of the football. Big plays made on both sides of the ball. We're still, again, heavily in the developmental stages of identifying personnel. Kind of echoing the sentiment I had a week ago about our older players, been really pleased with those guys. Some of our younger guy's we've got to continue to develop to play at a consistent level.

ON IF DESHAWN MCCLEASE CAN BE AN EVERY DOWN BACK:

"I think anything's possible. We've got some competition going on there. I would say that spot is wide open. Sam Rogers has been fantastic. But other than that, all those other guys are up in the air as far as I'm concerned. I don't know if he'll end up being an every down guy, but I know he's out there competing for playing time."

ON PLAYING MULTIPLE RUNNING BACKS:

"I don't go into it with any preconceived notions. Obviously if you've got one guy and he's head and shoulders above everybody else, then that's where you go. Historically, from my time at TCU to my time at Memphis, when we got to be pretty decent, when we just started out we were just tring to find somebody to carry the ball, but when we got to be pretty decent at both places, at TCU and Memphis, we've played numerous people. I believe in that. I believe in trying to get people involved in the game whether it's wideouts or tight ends or running backs. I think everybody practices better. Just overall continuity is better. But you have to earn that. You have to earn that playing time. We won't just play guys just to play them."

ON THE BANNING OF SATELLITE CAMPS:

"I'm happy that the ACC's in line with everybody else. That was my biggest thing. I just felt like whatever it was, whatever we all decided or they decided I guess I should say, I wanted it to be all in line. So one way or the other, I'm not gonna jump on a soapbox about that, about satellite camps. Text messages, that's another story, but satellite, I'm just glad we're in line."

ON NCAA LIFTING TEXT MESSAGE BAN:

"I don't understand why we passed that. Coaches have been against it. The premise behind using direct message was that the prospect gave his permission for you to contact them. Now there is no shutoff valve with text messaging. My understanding was we were all in line that and that's how we handled it a year ago. And then you read in the newspaper that it's been changed."

ON THE FRESHMAN WR'S:

"They've looked like freshman. I really like their attitudes. I like their work ethics. I think they're highly-intelligent kids. Got some development to do. I would say Divine (Deablo) is maybe just a little bit further along just because he's a bigger, stronger kid. I like them. I like the way they're going. It's good they came in mid-semester. It's good they're gonna have spring and then the summer and then two-a-days to get ready to help give us some depth."

ON IF HE LIKES PUTTING STARTERS ON SPECIAL TEAMS:

"Absolutely. Huge part of the game."

ON VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY HELPING THE HOKIES:

"It's interesting. We're continuing to build our library of film. So when we go out there and practice, we'll continue to gather data of film so that in the summertime we can group them all together by plays. Then quarterbacks or linebackers or whatever position group, can then put it on and take some mental reps. I think it's a really neat system. I think it's gonna be beneficial maybe as much for the guy that did not take the rep as anything else. I think it's a pretty unique way to get mental reps when you're not out there. Like I said, you've gotta kind of build your library up in order to fully utilize it, but I'm looking forward to getting it all put together for the summertime and into the fall."

ON DEVIN WILSON:

"He doesn't say a word and just works his tail off. Every day he shows up and jumps right in there. Certainly the situation's not too big for him. He wasn't timid at all. He's working diligently to get caught up mentally with what we're doing and kind of see how it goes. But he's done really well. We love having him out there."

ON IF THE EVENTS OF THE QB COMPETITION HAVE SURPRISED HIM:

"I tried not to go into it with any preconceived notion. I like the 3 younger guys. I think they're working diligently to improve. I like the way they're going about their business, their demeanor. There haven't been any real big surprises, but I didn't go into it thinking it would go one way or the other."

ON JACK CLICK:

"Great demeanor. Incredibly competitive. He's a very good athlete. Big strong kid. Incredibly happy that he's here. I think he has a chance to develop and work himself into giving him a chance to be a good player."

ON INJURIES:

"It's part of our young development. The schedule's printed, the tickets are going out. We gotta find guys to play. That's the bottom line. You all, along with everybody else, don't really care if people are out or whatever. We've gotta find a way to get the job done. That's what we're out there practicing right now."

ON DEPTH AT CORNERBACK:

"Well Adonis and Stroman have been really, really good. We've got work to do behind those guys."

ON ADJUSTMENT TO TEMPO:

"It's segmented out. We don't do that all the time, just doing some of our tempo periods. And there's still somebody coaching on the fly. Judging by the scrimmage, it certainly wasn't perfect, but we weren't out there holding their hands. We got the coaches off the field. We lined guys up wrong, we called it wrong, we didn't say anything. The execution level, at least from an operational standpoint, was pretty high. Not where it needs to be."

Bud Foster

ON STANDOUTS IN HIS DEFENSE:

"The guy in the back end that really is sticking out right now to me and having a great spring ball is Terrell Edmunds. He's playing our rover spot and just very active, very physical. I've been real pleased with that move...We just don't have any depth (at cornerback) right now with Facyson being out. At linebacker, Motuapuaka has been out with a calf muscle and things. He played (Saturday) for the first time and was a little rusty. I like where Tremaine Edmunds is progressing. He's not there yet. But at the same time, I'm really excited about his future, too...The whole scrimmage, probably on both sides of the ball, you saw some good things, but we've got to be consistent in what we do with our execution and that was the takeaway. But I'll tell you, the effort was good. We scrimmaged indoors. You guys know in the past we've always had a crowd there which kind of jacks the kids up. So it was just us and the walls in there, but I liked how we competed against one another."

ON THE TEMPO OF THE OFFENSE:

"The tempo of the offense, it really makes us better. It makes our kids think and obviously offensively too. But it's good for us at the end of the day. That tempo, and I saw where Memphis was 18th in the country in number of plays and tempo and all of those kind of things. That's good for us in that preparation. And not just mental and physical (standpoint), but let's just get ready to go and be able to sustain playing a number of plays at that tempo."

ON KEEPING MOOK REYNOLDS AT NICKEL THIS YEAR:

"Right now, we've been primarily (keeping Mook at nickel) because of depth, too, and what our offense is doing personnel-wise. They're a little bit 3-wides and that type of thing...They will get into some two tight ends, but we're keeping him (at nickel) and letting him get all those reps right now. And what we're doing, we've got Der'woun Greene working at backup safety. Who could play both spots. Jacque Alleyne is working at the rover spot. That just allows us to get some guys on the field and get them a lot of reps. We had Mook penciled in as our nickel guy and he's gonna stay there. I'll tell you, though, he's being pushed everyday by Anthony Shegog who I really like the way he's playing right now. Probably the other day, Mook's just gotta learn to stay at home. He's got great instincts and plays with great vision. Good football player. But sometimes his eyes will get him in trouble where he's just gotta make sure he stays at home. That's just learning the position...I like that position right now, I really do."

ON ANTHONY SHEGOG:

"Anthony's a little bit bigger. He was a converted safety. He's a 6'2", 215 pound kid where Mook's more in that 6 foot, 190 pound DB kind of guy. I feel like Mook can probably cover a little bit better, but Anthony's done some really good things. Just a good, steady, heady football player."

ON NOT BEING ABLE TO PLAY ZONE LAST YEAR BECAUSE OF INJURIES:

"Yeah, that was really it as much as anything. It started snowballing and we didn't know exactly, you had guys, you had Adonis, he started out at safety and we just moved him around. Same thing with Mook. Same thing with Edmunds. Next things you know you couldn't make adjustments because they hadn't repped some of the base principles that you want out of certain schemes and whatnot."

ON DER'WOUN GREENE:

"Der'woun's high school film was outstanding. He was a guy who was just a vicious hitter. He still is. He's a good football player."

James Shibest

ON PLAYING STARTERS VERSUS BACKUPS ON SPECIAL TEAMS:

"We're not ever gonna sacrifice people unless they're ready to go play in open space. The thing about special teams is you're dealing with a lot of open space, a lot of field out there to cover. So it takes good athletes. Hopefully you've got a core of 6 to 8 good backup guys that can do that....But we try to add some mixture in it too in some areas to get some guys that maybe that's their only role. They're not a backup on offense or defense, but I think it builds great team chemistry with everything to find two or three guys like that also. Just depends where you're putting everybody. But we're gonna put the best personnel we possibly can out there."

ON SCHEDULE OF INSTALLING SPECIAL TEAMS:

"Yeah. We're trying to get all that taught so when we get into fall when we're moving a lot quicker we can continue to get better. I know this week we're doing some good on good which we'll put speed out there on the field so we can get a great evaluation, number one. So when our personnel's put together this summer, hopefully we've got it pretty close to what it'll be for the fall."

ON HOW MUCH THEY PRACTICE SPECIAL TEAMS:

"It's never enough for me, so I'm always begging for extra time. But he does a great job emphasizing it. It just varies. It can be somedays from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. It just depends. But we're gonna spend the time. I'll tell you where we spend the most amount of time is in fall camp. We're getting a lot more time, a lot more walkthrough for teaching and prepping these guys. As the season goes on, we've got time restraints so it's always tough. Meeting time and all that, we're gonna put enough time in to make sure we have a chance to go out and be good."

ON THE RETURN GAME:

"It's always tough. You try to evaluate the returners more on what they do on offense and defense. It's their playmaking abilities. Because we don't go down and cover live kicks or anything. Obviously with Stroman, we're excited about him at punt return. But we'd like to see him have the ability to do that at kick return, too. It takes special people to be back there in those spots. There can be some big collisions at times, too. Ball security and all them other things are as critical also. And decision making. We're looking at several guys at kick return. I know Greene's done it before. Looking at Mook a little bit, too. Basically guys that are playmakers on offense or defense with some speed you try to get back there. But punt return's a whole different issue because their decision making and all those other things involve a little bit more than the kick returner. We sure feel good about Stroman. I watched the last two years and boy he's an explosive player. If we can just get hats on people, he'll make one or two miss hopefully and we'll have a chance to have a great return team."

ON DEON NEWSOME:

"Kick return, he's working a little bit right now. But a lot of these guys we're training in different areas. In the front part of the punt return group too, he's training their also. Cam Phillips has the opportunity to do some of them things...We're trying to train these guys in different areas just to find out again, the whole key is that our team's are close to being are what they are in the fall so you don't waste reps."

Zohn Burden

ON ADJUSTING TO COACHING RUNNING BACKS:

"Not that big of an adjustment. I've previously coached DB's. I went to wide receivers and then back to DB's and back to wide receivers. The transition hasn't been that difficult. One thing I like is the staff that we have. Coach Fuente and Coach Cornelsen, they're making it tremendously easy for me. Those guys have a lot of experience coaching different positions as well. I believe Coach Fuente used to coach running backs as well earlier in his career. And then Holmon Wiggins played running back. There's guys in the room that you can bump ideas off of and we are gelling well together. It's making it a whole lot easier for me."

ON SHAI MCKENZIE:

"Shai's full speed ahead right now. He's doing well. He's competing hard...He's trimmed down. He looks good. His body looks good. He's confident. He looks like from what I've seen a couple years ago, he looks very similar to that guy right now."

ON RUNNING BACKS COMPETITION:

"Right now, everybody's getting the same amount of reps. They're all competing. You've got Sam Rogers in there at tailback. Steven Peoples is in there getting carries. Everybody's getting their chance to run with the first group. We're gonna see at the end of the spring who's the top guy.

ON STATUS OF MARSHAWN WILLIAMS:

"Marshawn, he's just in meetings, working out. He's in practice, but he's no contact right now."

Greg Stroman

ON SWITCHING BACK TO CORNER:

"Coach just comes to me and tells me what he needs me to do and what he wanted me to do. I talked to coach Mitchell, and coach Mitchell's like, 'You're gonna be a corner.' That's how the spring started."

ON IF HE'S OK WITH SWITCHING BACK TO CORNER:

"Yeah, definitely, fine with it. Whatever coach needs."

ON HAVING TWO COACHES IN THE SECONDARY:

"It's a little different, splitting the safeties and corners up. But we're handling it pretty well. It's pretty cool to be, meetings go a little bit faster with less people. You're focused on it a little more."

Der'woun Greene

ON HIS ROLE THIS YEAR:

"It's basically the same role being that I came back as a fifth-year senior this year. It's kind of a bigger role being in that we have a change with the coaching staff. A lot of the younger kids look towards the fifth-year seniors for support...I think the role is big, but nothing I can't handle."

ON PLAYING MORE ZONE BENEFITING THE SECONDARY:

"I think it'll benefit all of us. Playing a lot of man-to-man, you depend on the defensive line a lot more. Playing zone, they depend on us."

ON COACH SCOTT:

"Him and T-Gray are the same, basically. They expect a lot out of you. If you don't give it, they're gonna get after you."

ON COACH SHIBEST:

"Always amped up. Probably one of the livest coaches we've got right now. He just comes full of energy and we try to feed off that."

ON TREY EDMUNDS:

"We talk all the time. Trey, he'll always be a Hokie. He just made a decision to go play elsewhere. But he got his degree from here, so he'll always be a Hokie."

ON IF HE FEELS PRESSURE TO GET ON THE FIELD IN HIS LAST SEASON:

"I think that's the expectation I set for myself. I'm trying to get on the field just like everybody else."

ON IF HE COULD EXPLAIN PRONUNCIATION OF HIS NAME (PRONOUNCED "DARE-EE-ON"):

"April 23rd, you can ask my momma (laughs). She'll be here (for the spring game). She can explain all that to you."

Nigel Williams

ON HIS GROWTH:

"I think this spring I've definitely stepped into the role of a leader. I have a lot of younger guys looking up to me because of what I know and what I've experienced since I've been here. I just hope to carry that throughout the season and help push these guys forward through this change and through this season. It's a long season. The season basically starts right after the last bowl game. It's not just those games throughout the fall."

ON THE YOUNGER GUYS LEANING ON HIM FOR HELP:

"I remember my freshman year, I used to lean on Skip (Hopkins) and Luther Maddy. I'm just glad I can relay that on to Tim as well. I remember a couple Saturdays in the fieldhouse, just me and Tim and Woody and Ken Ekanem, kind of just going over plays, some of the terminology. With coach Wiles and Bud returning, it's all kind of the same terminology and stuff...Being able to help him, being able to help some of the other younger guys pick up some of those things, will only make us better in the long run."

ON TIM SETTLE LOSING WEIGHT:

"I've noticed that he's gotten a lot faster. He's able to handle a lot more snaps throughout practice. It's only helped him out to get a better chance to get on the field. Tim was already a really good athlete before and him losing weight as only helped him out even more."

ON MENTALITY THE LAST FEW YEARS:

"Kind of regressing a little bit last year as opposed to two years ago, kind of seeing that role change but understanding that Luther was back and healthy, I kind of took that in and kept preparing everyday as if that could be my day to play and start that game. This game has a lot of adversity. You gotta know that at any moment, you could be that guy. Bud reiterates that every day."

ON HIS GROWTH:

"I think I've become a better student of the game. Watching film and being a hard critic of myself. I think I am the hardest critic of myself. Just constantly after practice, I go home and watch film. Come in the next morning and watch film with the guys. Just constantly try to build up off of that. I think I've mastered taking care of my body a lot better."

ON ORIGINS OF WATCHING MORE FILM:

"Talking to Luther and Dadi last year and seeing how much that helped them throughout the years. Coach Wiles always reiterates coming in here and being a student of the game. Don't just limit yourself to when the team comes in, when the guys come in."

Deshawn McClease

ON RB COMPETITION:

"It's very competitive. Nobody has a solid spot yet. Coach lets that be known. You have to compete every day, whether it's scrimmages, practices, in the classroom, everywhere."

ON J.C. COLEMAN:

"I leaned on J.C. a lot. We went to the same high school...We've had a pretty good relationship for a long time. I leaned on him a lot....He was basically my mentor."

ON COLEMAN'S ROLE IN HIS RECRUITMENT:

"He played a big role. Like I said, I've always looked up to him since I was a freshman in high school."

ON COLEMAN'S REACTION TO HIM BREAKING MOST OF HIS OSCAR SMITH RECORDS:

"He did take it well. Every record I broke, he called me after everyone. Just congratulations, you know, continue to get better and stay hungry. Get ready to work for when you get to college because it's a different ballgame, and it is."

ON FEELING INTIMIDATED BY TRAVON MCMILLIAN COMING BACK:

"I don't really look at it that way. I just look it as competition. He pushes me, I push him. We all, as a running back group, we all push each other. We don't really look at it like, 'This guy is the big dog.' We're all competing."

ON LEARNING FROM SAM ROGERS:

"I like being around Sam. He's a great person. I could speak for all the other running backs too, Sam is like another coach. If we need little pointers or something, he'll help us. He helps us improve, on the field, off the field. Whatever it is, Sam is always there."