Bullets:
- Courtney Avery will probably be available for Saturday. If he is, he'll be in competition with Jarrod Wilson for the safety spot opposite Thomas Gordon.
- Joe Reynolds is fine. Will play.
- The offensive line may be subject to change. Graham Glasgow is still taking snaps at center.
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Opening remarks:
"We had a good practice yesterday. Good preparation. Little bit of a Tuesday practice, first day of school. You look at the game plan, you add a couple things, you maybe tweak some things, and that always happens, so there's some learning that goes on Tuesdays. Overall I thought we had a good day."
When you finally punted, Kenny Allen was the punter. Was that only because it was late in the game?
"Well, it was late in the game, basically, is why we wanted to punt him and get him out on the field. He's worked real hard at it."
Dennis Norfleet is obviously an exciting athlete. But on that punt where he let it go and then chased after it --
"Well, yeah. For a young player, there's game environments, game situations where you have to make some decisions. I think the more he does of that, the better he'll get. I don't know how he saw the ball come down and all those things, if that was going to make a big difference, if he felt that he couldn't get to it."
Quinton Washington said he was in the tunnel in 2011 and it was a special experience. When did it strike you as being special?
"I think, you know, how full the stadium was when you went out to warm up. Student section -- really the whole stadium, it was a neat atmosphere."
Generally we know you like to kickoff at noon.
"Correct."
On a limited basis, is that kind of thing special enough that it warrants the night setting?
"I think it does. I think with TV involved and all those things, I think you'll see more night games. I don't know if it's the best thing for student-athletes, because they are students, and especially when you're the away team and you get home at 3:30 or 4 o'clock in the morning or 5, whenever it might be. That's a lot of stress on guys who physically and mentally, they have to perform."
Courtney Avery?
"Courtney's running around. The trainers worked with him yesterday. I think he's closer than he is further."
Will he be available Saturday?
"Yeah."
Al Borges said the offensive line depth chart is in pencil, and there's ongoing competition. Do you foresee any changes going into Saturday?
"Not as of yesterday, no. Practice is always an evaluation time. We'll see how we perform today. We're still working Graham [Glasgow] a little bit at center. Chris Bryant and Ben Braden a little bit at the guard."
If Courtney can play, how does it change things?
"It probably would be Jarrod [Wilson] and Courtney, probably about even split to some degree, if he plays."
If you had a game today, who would be your second running back?
"With Drake [Johnson] out, it would be Derrick Green."
MGoQuestion: We saw a glimpse of Dymonte Thomas's athleticism with the punt block. What's the biggest thing keeping him from seeing time on defense?
"Really knowing the defense as he needs to at that position. It's part of it. And that can be hard with safeties because there's a lot that you have to know and look at adjustments and all those things. Formation things that can happen. Then the fundamentals and techniques. That and then I would say there are guys he's competing with that are playing better."
MGoFollowup: Does it have to do with his position switch from nickel to safety?
"Well he'll play both. I mean, he's still a nickel, but he also has to have an every down position."
Where is Derrick Green in terms of skills that don't involve running the ball, like pass protection?
"He's a pretty intelligent kid. Picked it up pretty well. Him and De'Veon both. We still see him on scout teams because everyone kind of rotates to some degree. I know yesterday we were telling him about -- because I run the scout team cards for the scout offense. When we were talking about protections, De'Veon said, 'No, that's 3 Jet, coach, so I got it.' That was good to see, and I think Derrick's the same way."
What do you do on Saturday before the game?
"Well, we let them sleep a little bit. Walk-through, really two walk-throughs during the course of the day. Or walk-through and then a film session through the course of the day. Let them rest. Let them watch football on TV a little bit. Once you get past 1 o'clock, it moves pretty quick."
MGoQuestion: Is there anything different from what you did two years ago?
"No different."
MGoQuestion: You're pretty aggressive on special teams with the punt block and fake field goals, etc. Are you ever worried that opposing coaches will do something against you in return?
"Well, you don't worry about it just because you are aggressive on special teams. We've been okay aggressive over the last couple years, but it's still, you've got to have in the system ways to help prevent people trying to [run] fakes or whatever."
How much of a topic of conversation is it that you haven't lost a home game? [MGoKnockOnWood.]
"It never is a topic of conversation."
Will Joe Reynolds play?
"Yeah he'll play. Yeah. Yeah he'll play."
Can you talk about Stephen Ross's gift to the school?
"Well, I think it means a whole lot to the university as a whole, when you look at the 100 million for the academics and 100 million for athletics. I think his total now is 313 million dollars as a donor. I think that's pretty significant. I'll be honest with you, the only thing he wanted to talk about was Jordan Kovacs being on his team."