Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript (Aug. 20, 2010)
“This is a very important two days for us as a football program. We’ve been trying to get the players into different situations throughout this camp. We had the BIG EAST officials come in for our players today and tomorrow. We have Pat Garvey’s crew, they do a great job and I really feel having come from the NFL to the BIG EAST that we have the best officials.
“It is important for our players to understand the rules and how we practice, what the officials are looking for so we have a good schedule set up. Tonight the coaches will go in with the officials and go over some of the rule changes that have taken place, or what the points of emphasis are. After that we’ll have Pat talk to the players, first as a team and then we’ll do a break out session. We’ll have our quarterbacks with the referee, the offense and defensive lines with the umpire, the rest of our athletes will be with the back judge and the field judge and we’ll also take the line judge and put him in with the offense and defensive lines. There is a lot going on. Obviously there isn’t any more installation. It is an emphasis on how to play the game and what people are looking for. We’re getting ready tomorrow to have this scrimmage where we’re hoping people will separate themselves. Some players have had some bumps and bruises these last few days and we’ve been very cautious with them. Now we expect them to go out and scrimmage tomorrow.”
On the level of tomorrows scrimmage:
“Full go, but we have to be careful. It is a little bit of a catch 22 now for me because we do have some bumps and bruises and we don’t have the depth we would like to have at certain positions so we have to be smart. Would I have liked to go more plays in the scrimmage? Absolutely. But the goal is to make sure we get our players to our first game and at the same time we have to make sure they’re conditioned to go eight plays, 10 plays, 12 plays in a row. That is what we’re going through right now, making decisions based on the reaction of the players.”
On sophomore kicker Ryan Lichtenstein:
“We’re going to rest him. Sometimes you can over kick your leg and we’re going to rest him. If we keep him out there and it stays fatigued then we can never get a true evaluation. We’d rather just bring him in, rest him up, get him ready then go ahead and get out there and kick.”
On freshman kicker Ross Krautman:
“Ross has a very good leg. It is one of those things like Zack Chibane, Zack is out there getting a lot of good reps and a lot of good plays. The only difference between Ross and Zack is that Ryan (Lichtenstein) has done it for us, so we know he can do it in a game. We don’t want anyone to lose their starting position because of injury. Ryan has that over what (Adam) Rosner and Zack Chibane had going in their competition.”
On whether college football is following the NFL’s lead in moving the umpire:
“No, and I have a strong opinion on that. I’m happy that college football is doing what they’re doing and putting the umpire where he is. I know I’ll be looking, as we all will be, to see how that works out with the umpire standing back there.”
On whether Da’Mon Merkerson is the top corner:
“Right now he is playing the best. If we were to play today he would be our corner. I don’t know about one or two but he would be one of our starting corners. Right now we have Merkerson and Mike Holmes out there.”
On whether Adam Rosner, Ryan Lichtenstein and Ryan Gillum will scrimmage tomorrow:
“Rosner will be out there scrimmaging. Ryan (Gillum) will get more evaluation as we go out tonight. I’ll be looking to see where (Ryan Lichtenstein) is.”
On whether decisions on special teams will be made this weekend:
“We’re still looking at some people, developing the younger players, going with the players who have the skill. What we did in our first scrimmage was we scrimmaged more special teams because there are some players out there who haven’t played in a game-like situation. Now we’ll add more scrimmage situations into special teams to get them ready for the upcoming season. We have a scrimmage this Saturday and then we’ll scrimmage Wednesday and start preparing for our first game.”
On the timetable for the return of Shamarko Thomas:
“I think he’ll be back Monday practicing. We wouldn’t put a player on the field on Saturday in a scrimmage situation that has been out. We feel he’ll be in good shape Saturday, we’ll work him in some drills prior to the scrimmage. Just like in a game situation if I didn’t know how a player would respond we would take him out before the game and give him a pretty good workout. After that we can say whether he is ready to play. You don’t want to put a player in there who could re-injure himself after the first series, we want to make sure our players are prepared to start and play each game. Shamarko will work out with Coach Shafer and Coach Anselmo, after that we plan on him being ready to go Monday.”
On whether Shamarko Thomas is closer to returning than Kevyn Scott:
“They’re about the same because one would have been back on Saturday and one on Sunday. They’ll both be back on Monday.”
On Marcus Sales’ camp to date:
“We need more consistency out of him. He is in that battle at the receiver position with Dorian Graham and Cody Morgan. Right now Cody Morgan has done a nice job. That one will be open, it is the fourth position, it’s an important position that you’re looking for because you want at least four. That is a position that concerns me if we don’t have people that step up there because you feel comfortable with three but you’d like to have four. It isn’t like I’m saying we’re trying to find a fifth. Jarrod West’s injury hurt and the same with (Adrian) Flemming being out, that still isn’t to a point where Shamarko (Thomas) is. There is a depth situation there that is a concern. What makes you feel a little bit better about it is (the tight ends). Beckett Wales is playing well, David Stevens is playing well, obviously we have (Nick) Provo and (Jose) Cruz but Wales and Stevens can fill that void if we don’t have anyone step up.”
On Prince-Tyson Gulley and Steve Rene as punt returners:
“We’re trying to develop them and make sure we can develop their confidence to the point that we feel we can put them back there. We also have Mike Holmes and Max Suter back there, both of them have done that quite a bit, same with kickoff returns. What you see from us is we’re trying to develop the players and develop their confidence to make sure they can get out there and do things for our special teams, but we’re going to be smart about it. If we don’t feel as coaches that they’re ready to do it right now then we’re going to go with the veteran players who have done it. We think that some of these players can bring a little more dynamic to that group. Mike and Max play a lot on defense. We expect Prince-Tyson Gulley to be able to help us somewhat. Steve Rene is still in that receiver mode and it is a lot of learning for those young players. When we look at the younger players we have to make sure that they give them things they can learn instead of giving them a full package. We can control that once we get into game planning.”
On whether Shamarko Thomas will start against Akron:
“I have to see how he comes back before I start making decisions on that. There are certain injuries that have occurred at that position. You just have to see how they are when they come back.”
