On being here: "I'm here. Unfortunately, so are you."
On the timetable to determine a starter: "There's no timetable. You just go day by day. We want to get them comfortable, see what they can do, and not do more than what they can handle. If we have to modify some things offensively in order to adjust to their ability, we will. There's no agenda, really."
On Powell at defense: "We're looking at him on defense."
On Lynn: "Lynn is a good defensive back. Whether he's going to be safety or corner, I don't know yet. We've only had three days of practice. It's hard for me to evaluate. Lynn is a guy with a lot of athletic ability. He can probably play corner or he can play safety. Right now we're just trying to get a feel for the football team."
On McGloin and Brackett: "We haven't done anything with Brackett. McGloin is definitely in the picture. McGloin is good, solid, smart kid; handles the huddle well. I'm not sure where we're going with the quarterback position right now. We're going to try to go step by step. Right now, spring practice, why are you guys here?"
On other changes: "We'll probably change 15 guys over a period of time. And I'm not sure Powell's going to be a corner. I'm not sure what's going to happen yet. Spring practice is a good time to get a feel for what their potential is. But you don't want to go in with any preconceived ideas. Obviously, Powell's a good athlete. He could play offense or defense"
On Paul Jones: "I don't know. I couldn't tell you. We got a whole bunch of people practicing out there. I walk around, try to watch the offensive line, defensive line I've probably seen Paul Jones throw the ball eight times in three days. It's a tough situation when you walk in as a quarterback to the conference we play in, particularly with some of the teams we have to play on the road. You've got to be very, very careful."
On injuries: "Astorino is out. There's a couple other people banged up but they would not be people who played much last year. I would think Astorino is the one guy that really has not done anything this spring."
On offensive tackle: "You've got a big pencil and a big sheet? It sounds like I'm being evasive, but we're moving guys around. We argue every morning, can so and so handle the pass protection, let's move this guy around. For me to make any kind of statement on where guys will play is ridiculous right now. We've had one day of pads. We're gonna move a lot of guys around. Right now, I honestly couldn't tell you. .
On linebackers: "There again we've got Colasanti and Gbadyu, obviously, and Stupar are all kids that have played. I'm probably missing somebody else, but that's a position I don't study as much because we're in pretty good shape there. I think we've got some people that can play. Stupar's played, Yancich should be ready to be a good football player, Colasanti, Gbadyu, Stupar. Mauti's not in the mix right now because he's not doing much."
On fifth-year guys: "Carter's giving it up. Klopacz is still in it; he's behind Wisniewski at center right now. Maybe we'll look at Klopacz as an offensive guard or something like that. McEowen's gone."
On Ware: "We'll see. He's gotta prove to me he's gonna do the job academically first. In all fairness, I think he's still a little too heavy. But he's got a long road to go academically before I'm going to think about him playing."
On new glasses: "Unfortunately, I can still see you. I don't need the glasses. That's amazing. The people at the eye institute in Penn did a fantastic job. They want me to wear them when I'm outside to protect them. ... I can read my notes without my glasses. It says here, 'Keep your patience with these guys.'
On special teams: "You guys act like we've had a lot of time. You can't do anything with them in the winter program. We've had three days. That's why I think this press conference is ridiculous. As far as who's gonna punt, I couldn't tell you."
On Royster: "Beachum won't do anything this spring except maybe run around. I don't want to work Royster too much. Royster doesn't have a lot to prove to us. He's a darn good football player. I wouldn't expect him to get a lot of work."
On special teams emphasis: "Obviously we've got to do a little better job in punt coverage. That's been one of our priorities. I think that's a high priority for us to do a better job with the punt game."
On the freshmen: "I didn't even know they existed. You can't count on then. You want to go down to Tuscaloosa with freshmen?"
On running back depth: "We've got Green, we've got a kid by the name of Thompson who was a walk-on we gave a grant to."
On Dukes: "Dukes has got a shot. He's got a long way to go in things like adjusting to pass protection, I'm assuming, but he has a chance."
On Newsome: "I've watched Kevin quite a bit to see how he's handling the huddle, and he's made a lot of progress. He has a long way to go but has made a lot of progress."
On leadership: "There's a couple kids that have a chance to replace the leaders we lost, but right now since we're not sure about them, and they sense that, they know they're fighting for their lives to play, they're not ready to assert themselves as much as I hope they would by the time spring is over."
On Wisniewski: "We haven't talked about moving him. Nowadays center is a tough job because you not only have to get the ball up. And then he's got to be able to make the long snap. Right now, Wisniewski's our center. Whether that changes, we're trying a couple kids there."
