"Practice today was really good. We did some live work with the ones, two’s, threes, and some situational work. A lot of good things. First time in full pads, so that was good to get some tackling in. We’re pleased with how the team is working. Obviously, we made some mistakes, just need to make sure those don’t show up tomorrow in our next practice, which is the goal. I don’t expect us not to make any mistakes in practice, but expect us to fix them and make sure they’re not recurring every time. We had a couple of false starts, had a ball on the ground, and a bad snap. But other than that, I think those are very fixable items."
Is there a QB separating themselves?
"No, they’re all playing at a high level, all of them, so that's a good sign. It makes it more difficult. We asked them to make it difficult for us. We just have to keep giving them situational work like today. So even though the quarterbacks aren’t live, just seeing the decision-making process for them during tough times has been what we’re looking for."
On wide receiver depth beyond Chase Roberts
"Parker’s got a lot of experience. Jojo’s getting more, but they’re going to be fine. The talent is all there. We’re just making sure they’re learning our system. It's the new guys like Reggie and Cody, who’s been here, so I think he's adapting really well. It's just a matter of getting him here and shaking the mission legs off, and I think he's got it. He looks like the kid that ran routes in Corner Canyon, so I'm excited to see him. I thought he had a really good day today. The rest of the guys are doing great, with Chase leading the group, and I think there's a lot of talent there. They just need to get used to our system and Fesi's expectations."
What he wants to see improved now in week two"
"Yeah, we got in a lot of live work now. Last week was more of acclimating to the game with pads on. Now we’re in full gear quite a bit. I said this before, I don't know any other way to get better at football than practicing it. So today was a good amount of live work. Sure, guys got banged up, but that's okay. We just have to keep going with it."
On scrimmaging help determining the QB battle
"Everything matters and factors into it. Obviously, that scrimmage is going to have a full ref crew there, so guys should be excited for that, as we try to simulate what a game would be like. I think that'll be a good moment for them, but it all matters right now."
On Keanu Tanuvasa’s performance at camp
“He’s always been an explosive player. We’re leaning on his leadership. He’s done a great job getting the energy up. At the end of practice, the defense has been like that every practice he’s been involved in. It’s the things he does off the field that helps our team more than anything, but it helps out too that he’s very disruptive.”
On LJ Martin’s body of work and potential workload of 25 or more carries per game
“I think he can carry more than that. Last year, he was just fighting to get back to being healthy, but now you guys can see it. He’s a different guy. He’s kind of matured into his adult body. It also helps that he knows the playbook, and he’s not struggling trying to memorize stuff. In fact, he has ideas and thoughts on how we can block things. That’s when you got a guy who’s a veteran, and you can count on him. He’s becoming a leader too. In the first two years, LJ didn’t talk much. Now, he’s speaking up, and guys are listening.”
On Tanner Wall’s leadership role
“Tanner’s always been a great leader for us. Even when he was playing special teams and had a limited role on defense, he did some really good things for us as a leader. We’ll always need that leadership. We have good quality leaders on the team. I don’t think you need to be a starter to be a leader, but it helps that he’s had a significant amount of reps and starts under his belt, so we can lean on him. The key to leadership is if what they’re saying makes sense and it’s true, then we just apply to it. Humble guys will want to follow a leader in order to excel. Tanner’s always been comfortable with saying the right things at the right time.”
On the younger players that have stood out
“I’ve been impressed with all the talent that we’ve seen here. The new guys on the D-line have done a great job understanding what we want from them and becoming really disruptive. I got to give a lot of credit to those coaches and getting them ready. There’s a lot of talent there and probably not as much experienced and known players, but those guys are going to get the job done. We feel really excited about the depth at that position and how competitive those guys are.”
Other people stepping up as leaders on the offensive side
“They all are. The entire O-line is doing that. There’s a lot of guys that we can count on to be leaders for us. The O-line are the biggest guys. Everybody listens when they talk, and fortunately for us, we have a lot of experienced guys there.”
