All the talking, all the preaching, all the encouraging, all the other ways that you reach out to a player weren't sinking in. So, we're going to go this route. We're going to start Jimmy Martin. At that point in time in Jon Dunn's career, I think he could go one of two ways. He could've said, 'OK, it's not working out for me. I'll become a second-team practice player.' From that point on, it may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. |
Coming from him, it meant a lot. |
Duane has enhanced the position. That's why the move was made. He's found a home. What he does is what the next level looks for and I think he has a chance to have a great career. |
Every time he gets in a position to compete for playing time, he gets a setback none of which he can control. We need to get him back healthy. There's plenty of time for him. We need to get him out there and see what he's capable of doing. |
He had a lot of size, and he was able to move well. He had a good mixture of size and athletic ability. We want to see if he can physically go against a 22 year-old senior. |
He's looking to dominate. He's shown that every time he steps on the field, he's going to be a valuable, viable guy. |
I have a lot of faith in Will. I know he's doing to do the extra to prepare himself to play both positions. He does all the little things that are going to make him the best player he can be. |
I think you get a feel after a while when you watch guys as they're making blocks and can tell if they are just surviving in the game, or if they're looking to win the game. |
I wanted to look at Duane face to face and make sure there was a commitment there. He was going to have some bad days and it would have been easy to say, 'I can't do this.' The commitment level had to be there. |
I'd say he is the indispensable man for us right now. |
It's not nearly as wholesale as it may look from the get-go. I like this line. We have a little versatility and a little more depth than we had. |
Nick has found out a couple of times in practice this week that the honeymoon is kind of over now. He's kind of looking at me like I've got two heads out there. |
Now, can he get enough reps? Can he catch up mentally enough to put himself into more of an active, competitive mode at the quarterback? We'll have to see. |
Over the years, there were many times where we sat down and talked about how I'd love to have him here to be able to try to win some games together. |
We need to see where he is, what he's learned in a short time. |