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- With game day around the corner Al Golden and staff addressed the media today in the first regular season press conference (hair was gelled, pants were worn... it's go time). On playing FAU for the first time, Golden cited the South Florida interest as a big factor; but the role Coach Howard Schnellenberger played in both universities was "the genesis" of the match up. He spoke of it as being a "celebration" of what he has done. He expected FAU to be ready with a lot of S.FLA kids on the roster... "kids know each other" - alluding to the FAU players giving a good effort because they are former rivals and teammates of the UM players.
- Golden on game planning for FAU and reports of them using up to 4 QBs:"Either (Jaquez) Johnson or (Greg) Hankerson is who we expect at QB, and with either of them we can expect a lot of misdirection and more QB runs...They do have some deep threats in (William) Dukes, ...(Daniel) McKInney out of the slot..." He also spoke of their offensive line (calling them "big") and saying they average over 300lbs. He said they may see a "read option" type of look, and spoke of the difficulty of game 1 opponents who have an offseason to game plan something. If that's what it ends up being, it will be nice to see how our defense responds to a big run oriented offense. It's against lesser talent, but should show if the line has made the changes the coaches have been raving about all offseason.
- Golden on Seantrel Henderson moving down on the depth chart:"...we plan on playing 7 (O-Lineman) in a week, if Gadbois(Taylor) can make progress we can play 8...5 start but all will play a lot... Seantrel will be 6, Wheeler(Jared) will be 7, Gadbois will be 8... but Bunche (Malcolm) may be the 8th; it depends on the competition..." He went on to say he doesn't read too much into it and says they are competing everyday. To that note, he also said that the depth chart may change today after they watch film from practice, and will have changed by the time the FAU game comes around.
- Golden also said that WR Rashawn Scott has been "practicing his tail off" and has made strides; also that during the middle of camp Denzel Perryman was in a heated battle with Tyrone Cornileus for the starting LB job. Golden spoke about Perryman needing to up his game; and that Denzel has spoken with Jonathan Vilma about playing outside of his comfort zone.
- What to take away from all this? Don't read too much into the depth charts until you see the starting line up for the UF game. Golden is big on effort, and just because Seantrel and Denzel are big names, he doesn't cement their names into the starting line ups. If they half-ass a practice, he will move 'em down. If a player doesn't get playing time, then we can read into spot on the depth chart. Aside from that it's motivation tactics.
- Gus Edwards is back practicing - HOORAY... no one saw Sunny Odogwu at practice today. This could mean either we: didn't notice a 6-8 320lb man that could have been wearing a different practice team number; or that he was getting treatment. I asked Coach Kehoe about Odogwu, and he said he has been practicing the past little while and that he has done great, but that his knee injury did slow his progress. Golden also mentioned DT Curtis Porter dealing with some back issues; didn't seem like it was a big deal but we will try to get more info on it Tuesday.
- " I wanna chase the bar. Leave the bar where it is. We want to chase the people we see on our fence - chase the greatest teams that have ever come through here. We are excited about where we are, but we gotta long way to go to be that program" - Al Golden