HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on practice this week) * *
"I thought it was very good. It was excellent. The guys worked extremely hard. We got a lot of good, competitive work done. That was one of the things we wanted to get accomplished this week. We wanted to sharpen our edge. I think we were able to get that accomplished."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if he had a talk with the team about laying low this weekend)
"Yes, because everything has changed a little bit. Our schedule is a little different, this is a Saturday game so everything is bumped up a day. But they're a pretty focused group. This is a great time of year, an exciting time of year."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the young players being very even keeled)
"I think so. All of the younger guys that have been playing quite a bit for us this year are guys that are rather settled. They're extremely mature for their age and experience. I don't think there is any question that it will serve them well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the team's injury situation)
"Obviously, we're a bit healthier than we've been, at this point. Everything is kind of moving in the right direction. The guys who we anticipated would have an opportunity to be back at practice this week are back, and hopefully the guys that are scheduled to get back next week will get back, as well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on if the pace of practice will be quicker next week than this week)
"This past week was pretty fast. Typically, we're doing work where you are emulating the opposition. When you emulate an opposition oftentimes you're looking at cards, and off cards your speed might not be quite as fast and efficient, but when you're doing your own things, from a schematic standpoint, you get real good speed working out. That was kind of the object of this week, as well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on having a practice today being different from the past)
"First of all, there is a little bit of a gap, in terms of when we were going to play next. No one knew initially if it was going to be Sunday or Saturday. It gave us an opportunity to get an extra day in there where we could get some two-minute work. We got a lot of good, solid situational work today, as well. It gave us a little added area of emphasis that we could work on."
