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C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S W E E K L Y P R E S S E R Three true freshmen are listed on the depth chart on the offensive line, including Michal Menet. Can you de- scribe how they have performed in camp, and when do you make a deci- sion for the year between red and green status? Really, it can change. I remember being at the University of Maryland with a young man by the name of Domonique Foxworth who we burned his redshirt the last game of the year. It really just depends. Every situation is different. Obviously, the earlier the bet- ter, but we are going into this with the mentality that those guys probably are going to end up playing for us at some point. So we're going to get them in- volved as early as we possibly can. So you know, I feel pretty confident. Those guys have done a great job for us physically. They are ready to play. Men- tally they are catching up day by day. Will Fries is a guy who has done some good things in a short period of time on campus and earned a lot of people's re- spect. Connor McGovern had a little bit of a head start being here for spring ball, and Michal Menet is another guy who has done some really nice things and has been able to get a lot of reps with our guys and our one unit in practice. Obviously, the earlier the better, but really if at any point we feel like those guys can help our team be successful, we're willing to do it. It's a discussion we'll have with them, as well. Each player and each family is different, but for the most part, we feel like they could help the team be successful. Brendan Mahon at le: tackle and Evan Schwan at defensive end: What are your thoughts on them and the camp they've had? Brendan has done a nice job. He's re- ally, really been focused, really in all areas of his life: academically, socially, athletically. He's matured so much since the time we have arrived. I'm very, very proud of him and had a great camp. He's a guy who has the flexibility to play tackle or guard. We've always looked at him that way. He saw all the competition that we were having at the tackle posi- tion and felt like he could help them. You're talking about a guy who is an older guy. He's been in the program for a couple of years. I think that experience and his maturity are really going to help. Evan Schwan is a guy who really had a great off-season. He's a guy who I think studied Carl Nassib and all the things that Carl did when it comes to sleep, when it comes to nutrition, when it came to training, for his senior year. He tried to model a lot of the same behav- iors. I think it's really paid off for him. We're excited about the fact that we have a senior who is stepping up on the defensive line for us; we're expecting good things out of him. I've just been very, very pleased and proud of him with how he's approached everything: his leadership, his understanding that this is kind of his time. He's put in five years waiting for this opportunity and really approached it the right way and run with it. We're excited about what he's going to be able to bring to the table this year. You're talking about a 6-6, 263-pound guy. His testing numbers this off-sea- son were excellent. It should be inter- esting to see what he's going to be able to bring to the table. What stood out to you about Mike Gesicki in camp, and how has he changed as a player or person since he came to campus? Mike's been very businesslike, he re- ally has. You talk about a guy, again, who has matured dramatically in his three years here, and he's seen it all. He was a highly recruited guy coming in here, has not had the type of success that he wanted, got some scrutiny, has really matured and learned from all those things. He has had a very busi- nesslike approach this off-season, and that's been great. We're really, really proud of him. I think we all know he's got a lot of ability, and I think coming out and hav- ing some success and building on that with his confidence is going to be really important. He's really embraced the physical aspects of the position, which was the biggest challenge for him, con- sidering he had never really been in a three-point stance or blocked in high school. So he's really embraced that as- pect of his game and it's really helped him. Everybody within our program is expecting him to have a big year, and a breakout year for us. Considering the unique circum- stances of a season opener, do you cra: a final message or point of em- phasis to the team before kickoff or the night before, and how might that be different for this team or this sea- son? I don't really do that. I'm not a big pregame speech, get 'em fired up guy. I believe we do that pregame speech Sun- day through Friday before practice in our team meeting every single day. If you have to go in and give a pregame speech to get them fired up to play, then you've got problems in the first place. So yeah, my message is from Sunday through Friday in our team meeting every single day, the things that we need to do to be successful at practice that day and how that practice is de- signed to get us ready to play on Satur- day. That's really our message. Obviously, I meet with them aBer practice for a few minutes and give them some instant feedback on what I thought we did well and what I think we need to improve on. We watch film that night and give them more feedback the next day in the team meeting, as well. That's really our approach. That's really our focus. We rotate through the staff in pregame speeches, so it doesn't become the same voice all the time up in front of the room talking. Ryan Bates is going to be starting for you at le: guard. I wanted to know what his special attributes are? Ryan is a big, strong, physical guy who had an opportunity last year where we almost burned his redshirt to play. He's very similar to a Menet and some of those guys, like McGovern. The difference is that Bates was a little bit more undersized compared to those A U G U S T   3 1 ,   2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 12

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