Here are some quotes I grabbed from ASU’s offensive line coach.
Q: Coach, what did you see from the offensive line in the first day of fall camp?
A: Kind of picked up where they left off. I felt the older guys were pretty sharp, the guys that have been with us. And then we got a little cut short on the newcomer deal on this last one so I didn’t get to see them as much but I’m excited, man. I’m excited about what I see.
Q: Shawn Griswold really sung the praises of Evan Goodman that he had the best eight-month period strength and conditioning wise, what do you see on the field from Evan?
A different guy really, just a guy who’s made a normal progression from year one starting to year two. I don’t want to say this drastic difference but just what you would expect from a guy who now knows what it takes and he’s made some adjustments in his game and his preparation that I think are going to help him.
Q How much responsibility falls on (Goodman’s) shoulders being a guy who’s coming back?
A: A lot, but I always tell the guys that you lead yourself. I don’t want to say Evan Goodman is the only guy with a bunch of starts so he’s the leader. Evan Goodman needs to lead himself, the rest of the guys need to lead themselves and if Evan will lead himself and do what he’s been doing for eight or nine months, he’ll evolve into a guy who provides leadership for our team.
Q: When Todd (Graham) talked in his press conference to open the season, maybe simplifying the offense…what does that mean to you?
A: Well it helps. We are just by what coach Lindsey is a little different in his approach in terms of doesn’t carry as much volume in the run game especially than what coach (Mike) Norvell did and so that timing was pretty good for having some guys who haven’t played as much transitioning into an offense that doesn’t do quite as much, the timing is pretty good and I think that will help us.
Q: Are the young guys kind of sick of hearing that they’re young guys?
A: We talked about it last night, like ‘have you all heard it enough yet? That we’re the ones that’s holding everything back? Are you sick of that and ready to go prove it wrong?’ I think there’s enough guys in that group that are hungry that at the end of the season that want to be evaluated as an asset and not a liability so that’ll be a process. I doesn’t just happen and I know that but I think we have the right group of guys.
Q: Tyler McClure id a really good job during the spring, do you think he can hold on the center spot until the opener?
A: He’s going to have to fight off a lot of guys. Stephon (McCray) can do it. If you watched practice today they both split equal reps and that speaks to Stephon’s intelligence that he can go guard, center, guard, center, guard. That’s not easy to do. And then we’ve got a couple other guys with AJ and even Cohl Cabral, there’s some guys that…that’s kind of the one we need to figure out and then the rest fits off of that and we need to figure it out quickly but whatever happens at that position I’m hugely pleased with Tyler McClure. Great approach, great summer, he’s worked his butt off. He’s done everything he can do to this point to give himself a chance.
Q: Talk about Cohl Cabral also doing some long snapping and how does that affect his development as a young offensive lineman?
A: It adds a little bit to his plate, it puts a little more on his plate. But I’ve been a head coach and I know punt protection and it’s pretty important so that’s going to be the first priority is making sure that our punt game and our field goal game the snaps are right so we’ll work him there and see where he fits after that.
Q: Are you looking at Steve (Miller) on the left and Zach (Robertson) on the right?
A: I bumped Steve over to right guard. I put him at right guard a little bit in the spring and he looked a little more comfortable so I asked him ‘do you want to bump to the right a little bit?’ and he said ‘yeah I’d like to do that.’ Zach played both today which isn’t easy. Both those guys are pretty smart guys. They’re all learning multiple positions and you learn this when you’re watching NFL and you’re talking to scouts and pro people that only carry seven (offensive linemen) and you watch the evolution and those guys know lot and because of our situation – some of the pieces are not settled yet – they’re having to learn multiple spots which helps us in the long run.
Q: Coach, what did you see from the offensive line in the first day of fall camp?
A: Kind of picked up where they left off. I felt the older guys were pretty sharp, the guys that have been with us. And then we got a little cut short on the newcomer deal on this last one so I didn’t get to see them as much but I’m excited, man. I’m excited about what I see.
Q: Shawn Griswold really sung the praises of Evan Goodman that he had the best eight-month period strength and conditioning wise, what do you see on the field from Evan?
A different guy really, just a guy who’s made a normal progression from year one starting to year two. I don’t want to say this drastic difference but just what you would expect from a guy who now knows what it takes and he’s made some adjustments in his game and his preparation that I think are going to help him.
Q How much responsibility falls on (Goodman’s) shoulders being a guy who’s coming back?
A: A lot, but I always tell the guys that you lead yourself. I don’t want to say Evan Goodman is the only guy with a bunch of starts so he’s the leader. Evan Goodman needs to lead himself, the rest of the guys need to lead themselves and if Evan will lead himself and do what he’s been doing for eight or nine months, he’ll evolve into a guy who provides leadership for our team.
Q: When Todd (Graham) talked in his press conference to open the season, maybe simplifying the offense…what does that mean to you?
A: Well it helps. We are just by what coach Lindsey is a little different in his approach in terms of doesn’t carry as much volume in the run game especially than what coach (Mike) Norvell did and so that timing was pretty good for having some guys who haven’t played as much transitioning into an offense that doesn’t do quite as much, the timing is pretty good and I think that will help us.
Q: Are the young guys kind of sick of hearing that they’re young guys?
A: We talked about it last night, like ‘have you all heard it enough yet? That we’re the ones that’s holding everything back? Are you sick of that and ready to go prove it wrong?’ I think there’s enough guys in that group that are hungry that at the end of the season that want to be evaluated as an asset and not a liability so that’ll be a process. I doesn’t just happen and I know that but I think we have the right group of guys.
Q: Tyler McClure id a really good job during the spring, do you think he can hold on the center spot until the opener?
A: He’s going to have to fight off a lot of guys. Stephon (McCray) can do it. If you watched practice today they both split equal reps and that speaks to Stephon’s intelligence that he can go guard, center, guard, center, guard. That’s not easy to do. And then we’ve got a couple other guys with AJ and even Cohl Cabral, there’s some guys that…that’s kind of the one we need to figure out and then the rest fits off of that and we need to figure it out quickly but whatever happens at that position I’m hugely pleased with Tyler McClure. Great approach, great summer, he’s worked his butt off. He’s done everything he can do to this point to give himself a chance.
Q: Talk about Cohl Cabral also doing some long snapping and how does that affect his development as a young offensive lineman?
A: It adds a little bit to his plate, it puts a little more on his plate. But I’ve been a head coach and I know punt protection and it’s pretty important so that’s going to be the first priority is making sure that our punt game and our field goal game the snaps are right so we’ll work him there and see where he fits after that.
Q: Are you looking at Steve (Miller) on the left and Zach (Robertson) on the right?
A: I bumped Steve over to right guard. I put him at right guard a little bit in the spring and he looked a little more comfortable so I asked him ‘do you want to bump to the right a little bit?’ and he said ‘yeah I’d like to do that.’ Zach played both today which isn’t easy. Both those guys are pretty smart guys. They’re all learning multiple positions and you learn this when you’re watching NFL and you’re talking to scouts and pro people that only carry seven (offensive linemen) and you watch the evolution and those guys know lot and because of our situation – some of the pieces are not settled yet – they’re having to learn multiple spots which helps us in the long run.
