University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutemen Showered With Interviews & Photos On Football Media Day
August 12, 2008 | Football
Aug. 12, 2008
AMHERST, Mass. - In between rain showers and bright sun, 2008 UMass Football Media Day took place on Tuesday at McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Close to 50 members of the media were on hand to interiew the players and coaches and shoot pictures and footage of them. Head Coach Don Brown met with the media for more than 20 minutes and senior quarterback Liam Coen was the top player interview. Check out what Brown had to say about the 2008 Maroon and White.
Head Coach Don Brown's Opening Statement:
"We're in eight practices. My voice is gone, so we've got to be in about eight practices. We've been fighting that (thunder storms) every day. It's crazy, I feel like we're living in Florida. But guys have been working hard. We're moving forward, we're learning how to practice, we're trying to get our concepts down on both sides and obviously there's a temper and demeanor that you have to develop as you move forward through the practice period. Obviously our guys have taken steps forward on that.
"We're going to have a lot of new faces on offense. Our receiver core will not be household names, but I still think we have some very talented young men that can help us. Our offensive line might be the biggest we've ever been.
"Defensively we've got eight starters back technically, but I think nine, because those nine guys were in all our packages last year.
"Special teams is a big question mark for us. Armando (Cuko) takes over the kicking duties, Brett Arnold is leading the pack in the punt piece. We have a battle at long snapper, but I'm really happy we've got Travis Tripucka. We borrowed him from the lacrosse team as a long snapper, but he's doing a really good job.
"All and all, first day practices, I'm kind of happy where we are. Again, we're young on offense, but we've got Liam Coen under center and any time you've got Liam under center you're going to have a chance to win. That's just kind of the general feeling of where we're at right now, but I have a good feeling about this group. I think wherever we are Aug. 30 against Albany, we'll be way better six weeks later. This is an exciting group to coach."
On up-and-coming players to watch for:
"Victor Cruz is certainly doing some good things at wide out, Joe Sanford, I've been really happy with the development of Ke'Mon Bailey who's got some talent, Warren Wilson the transfer from Boston College, so there's four pretty talented guys there. But there are names that I'm not bringing up that certainly could impact that group. I think we'll find that out as we move forward. We're eight practices in. When we're at 16 and guys start having the game slow down for them, they're not worried about lining up and they're actually worried about playing, some of those names could change, but those would be the early leaders in the clubhouse.
"I've been really happy with the player Rob Getek in the offensive line, we've moved him from tight end, 6-6, 305 pounds. I think he's certainly been a solid addition. Tony Nelson is playing about what we expected for this point in camp.
"On the defensive side, Darnel DeLaire is taking David Burris' place and to this point, knock on wood, I've been very satisfied with his development and performance. There are some other guys as well. Ray Jones is a newcomer on the defensive line and I really feel good about the way he's playing. There's a couple young guys at linebacker. Terrance Farris is fast. He's a 100 meter champion from the state of Georgia who went to Dean Junior College. We were able to get him. Obviously Andrew Resende-Gomes and Anthony Rouzier are battling for the same spot. Those are some early names. We do have some core guys back that are there that are providing great leadership--Sean Calicchio, Liam Coen, Sean Smalls is playing at a tremendously high level along with Brandon Collier on the defensive line."
On expectations for Emil Igwenagu:
"He's playing that fullback-H back-type role for us and obviously this is first real go-around to get himself ready to play and he's been semi-quiet because he's learning, not playing it totally fast at this point. But in a short yardage situation today we had to pick one of our defensive backs up because he was underneath the turf after Emil ran him over. We think he is a young man with tremendous potential. He just needs to turn it in to performance."
On Tony Nelson and others becoming 200-300 carries players:
"Tony has been biding his time and working really hard. He had a tremendous spring and his weight is down. He's down to about 209 and I think he is better because of it. He was about 220 so we slimmed him down a little bit and is in the best shape of his life. I see him doing good things.
"Chris Zardas provided us with some great moments at the end of the year last year. Zardas is a guy who is coming off a knee injury, but we think is an extremely talented young man. Brandon White, who is a 245-250-pound tailback is certainly going to provide us with some punch as well.
"We've got three veteran-type guys that can lead some of the younger players. Corey Davis would probably be the leading young guy that has a chance to play. We'll just see how that plays itself out as we move forward here in camp"
On the team's health:
"The only thing I'll say is we have no major injuries. It's knicks and knacks, it's day-to-day, it's heat, it's this, it's that, but nothing major at this point, which, knock on wood. I hate even talking about it, because you say `we've got no major injuries' and then the bottom drops out."
On depth at quarterback:
"At quarterback we have Liam Coen and the backup right now I would say would be Scott Woodward. Scotty's played valuable minutes for us a year ago, especially during the Towson game, the Boston College game and the Northeastern game and managed the game extremely well. He needs to turn management into performance, meaning we need to score points with him on the field.
"But outside of Scotty we have Scott Wallace who's done some nice things in the spring and fall camp, we've added Spencer Whipple, a transfer from the University of Pittsburgh, to the mix and he's getting his feet wet for the first time and learning the system. We feel good. Octavious Hawkins is another guy we're looking at there, but also he's got some athleticism and hopefully we'll be able to use him in some capacity for us as we move forward."
On Liam Coen's progress over his four years:
"I hope he takes this the right way but, now he actually looks like a quarterback now. He looks like a guy. His physique is better, he's healthy, he's trim. I think he's in the best shape of his life. He's really had a tremendous summer. We were very careful with him in the spring. We didn't let him get behind an offensive line with a defensive line in front of him. He's throwing the ball extremely well, he's stepping into his throws and he's extremely healthy. Bottom line is anytime he is there, we're going to have a chance."
On Liam Coen's importance to bringing along the team's young wide receivers:
"He's the guy who has to be the glue factor for those guys and some of those guys are going to have bad moments. They'll run great routes but they may not catch the ball. He's got to make sure that he keeps them confident, that he keeps them moving forward and all those other things. He's the guy that's going to set the tone for the offense, if not for the entire football team. He's going to have to bring some of those guys along and turn some of those young players or guys that lack experience into household names."
On Armando Cuko and Brett Arnold's progression:
"It's too early to really tell. They really haven't been under the gun other than me standing behind them and snarling at them and trying to put some pressure on them from that prospective, but I can be pretty snarly. To this point, I think Brett is moving forward and, again with Travis Tripucka, Ian Jorgensen and John Ihne doing some of the snapping, I feel better about that piece. That's kind of an underrated piece as you look at it, because the long snapper, if he's clean and he can put it back there 14 yards in a place he can catch the ball, you're going to be in pretty good shape. It's too early to really tell. They better be good, because if they're not, then they're in big trouble."
On Kyle Harrington on the defensive line:
"Kyle Harrington is the man. He's 280 pounds, benches over 400 pounds and he's playing at an extremely high level. He's a guy that came in here at 235 is just one of those guys that's blossomed and gone from a Massachusetts roster spot to a full scholarship football player and I'd be disappointed if he's not in the all-conference discussion at the end of the year."
On offense needing to carry the defense:
"I don't think so at all. I think we're very mature on defense. I think we're going to have to maybe catch up the other way a little bit. You never know with matchups and how the game's going to go. The only thing we need to do is score one more point regardless if it's 7-3, 17-7, or 35-34, it doesn't really matter. We've just got to find a way to compete and score one more point than the other guy."
On transfers joining the team:
"To be honest, we don't have a whole lot of I-A transfers. David Cozzo is a transfer from the University of South Florida, Spencer Whipple is a transfer from University of Pittsburgh and Warren Wilson is a transfer from Boston College. What we did take advantage of was more of the junior college kids this year, Kurt Filler at linebacker, Terrance Farris at linebacker and Bryan Fisher on the offensive line. Those guys have a little bit more maturity. It may take us less time to get them caught up systematically because they've got a little bit more of a football IQ and at least they have an idea of how we're going to go about doing things. There's a great correlation there. At least they've played against some more mature players and they're not going to be as star struck in the early going."
On the schedule:
"The schedule has been tough. We have Albany at home and we know our guys will be excited. It's under the lights and is a situation that we've got to be ready for. They beat Delaware a couple years ago at Delaware. Their program has certainly taken great strides. They played in the mid-major bowl against Dayton last year in the postseason. They've got an outstanding tailback coming back. They've got some maturity, so we've got our hands full there. Then we go on the road for three straight weeks at Holy Cross against a very good Holy Cross team. We have James Madison, who is picked top-10 in the country, at their place, so we have to go on the road for our first league game and it will be for big doings. Then we've got to turn around again and go to Texas Tech, so we're one at home and three on the road. Then we get a change to breathe in our bye week and get ready for Delaware."
