Re: approach to the first practice
A: The first practice was keep it
simple' so that we could find out who could take
instruction, who could listen, who could get it the
first time around, if you will. And then just put them
through enough individual drills that we could see some
of their natural athleticism and start to get some
thoughts about how we could use people.
Q: Was it good to get to see some
of your high picks again, up close?
A: It's good to be out here. It's
just always good to be outside with the players in the
football environment. They have anticipated this. They
have done all of the offseason workouts for everybody
that has come along. The draft has come and gone and
they have settled into the fact of where they are going
to be, where their opportunities are. There are always
a lot of first impression type things. We always tell
them, 'You never get a second chance to make a first
impression.' So they are excited about this. And
sometimes you have to temper that just a little bit in
order to get what you are looking for.
Q: Is this almost a time of
observation more than anything else; just observing what
they can do?
A: It is a time of observing and
then talking about what you have seen. And there are no
pads, so obviously you do have to temper that in with
your thoughts. But you are looking for something that
you can put your hat on as far as some form of
athleticism or some way that a guy might be able to
help, even if it is special teams or covering a kick.
Out there we had about eight candidates for long snap.
So you are always looking for something.
Q: Based on this group overall,
what impressed you the most after you watched the
practice?
A: Well, just the fact that we got
them in, we had our meetings, we got them out here. I
saw some individual things - nothing real glaring. A
couple of guys caught my eye here or there. But we'll
look at the tape and maybe have more thoughts on that.
Q: With Kiwanuka, did you take
your first round pick aside and say, "Hey, listen, you
don't have to do anything flashy out here?"
A: No. You don't do anything like
that. You expect him to be first in line. You expect
him to be more or less the leader of the class, if you
will. And he has done that. We just visited with him.
Yesterday, to be honest with you, was kind of a long day
for these kids because many, many of their flights were
disrupted. They were off schedule. They were later
than they were supposed to arrive. They were scrambling
around through their physicals. They had to eat their
dinner on the fly. There wasn't a lot of time for any
individual conversations. It was a little bit better
today, although we had a lot of information for them
today.
Re: how you assess the players
A: Everything you throw at them -
you tell them you are evaluating everything: how they
treat people, how they treat people in the equipment
room, how they are in the cafeteria, how they treat one
another, how they respond to coaching. Everything is an
evaluation.
Q: For a guy like Wilkinson, what
does it say to you when you see the guy play a couple of
days after his mother passed away and actually excel?
A: It's a difficult time for him.
He has tried to stay focused, tried to stay with everything in front of him, it has been a tough time
for him. His mother was there for his graduation. He
was real proud of that.
Re: Jai Lewis and his transition
from basketball to football
A: To put it in perspective, I was
out there kidding with him this morning. I said, Gee,
Lewis, look at that body of yours. It looks like a
basketball player's.' He loved that. He has got a lot
of work to do, no doubt. But the key thing is that he
is excited about trying; about working at it.
Q: Is he an offensive lineman
now?
A: Right now he is an offensive
lineman, long snapper; we'll see.
Q: Pretty good athlete for a long
snapper?
A: A good athlete, yeah. Once he
learns it, when he came out here he typically just
grabbed the ball and started throwing it between his
legs. In the beginning of practice he did a pretty good
job. We got him over there and started coaching him and
the ball was going all over the place.
Q: Moss is obviously a little
guy, but obviously I'm sure he caught your eye the way
he can run.
A: That is the whole thing. He
caught our eye long before this, but his quickness, his
ability to change direction. There is something about
him. He is an upbeat guy, he is a good solid kid who
has come in here and has impressed us any time we have
interviewed him. He has done that already this morning
already. Hopefully he will just keep getting better.