Today was the first day of media availability this week. Myself, Shannon and a new reporter from Bright House Sports Network were waiting to talk with George O'Leary following practice, which was their second day working on the FIU game plan.
Shannon led off with a question about Jordan Franks moving to wide receiver - GOL wasn't too pleased that was posted online - so we moved on to a general question about practice.
"Yesterday was slow with installation," O'Leary said. "Today I thought they really picked it up well. We got a lot of stuff installed. I thought the kids went after it pretty good today practice wise. I took them inside so I can hear a little bit better inside. I thought the kids took coaching today and it worked out pretty well."
The Bright House said something about anticipation for the season being a week away.
"The crescendo, that's what you try to do," O'Leary said. "You don't want to be high early and then go the other way. You try to build up to it and stuff. I thought they understand the sense of urgency in game week. I think they understand they cross the white, all mistakes are critical. You can see it in the coaches too a lot more, excitement as far as getting things corrected. And the players a lot more sense of urgency in getting things done right."
I asked about his early thoughts regarding FIU. The Panthers improved from 1-11 to 4-8 in 2014, the second season under Ron Turner.
"They got a bunch of players back, I know that," O'Leary said. "They've got some really good skill players back. A couple good defensive ends. They've got a bunch of players back on defense. They were pretty good on defense last year. We'll have our work cut out for us. Again, it's a first game that they have a lot of experience back. A lot of players that have made a lot of plays for them coming back. Any time you have that, you get nervous about as far as matchups. You've got to take care of things."
How important is establishing the running game?
"It's important every game. I don't think any team in the country can just get away with throwing the ball. You have to be able to establish the run. The people have to play it both ways, run and pass. I think that's what we've always tried to do here. Everybody thinks we run the ball. Actually last year we were 50-50 run and pass as far as what was going on. We'll take advantage of what people give us whether it's run or pass. I think any time you can establish the run it opens up your passing game. I think that's what's important."
I asked about JUCO newcomer Jerod Boykins, who could have the inside track to start at safety.
"I'm looking at him to see if he can help us out there. I think there's still some positions on defense and offense that we have to look at it. It's so close to who starts and who doesn't start on the line and at receiver."
Then O'Leary adds that they did indeed move Jordan Franks to receiver.
"We did move Franks, but that shouldn't have been out... I just wanted to get more talent over there. We had some players making plays on defense so I thought we could afford to do that."
I asked about Chris Davis leaving.
"He didn't want to play anymore. This program is not for everybody."
Then a general question from Bright House guy about the team's progress in general.
"I think you're never where you want to be. I think you try and get better every day. I think we'll be a solid football team in all three phases: Offense, defense and special teams. Not necessarily in that order. But I think we'll be solid. We have experience back. We have some athletes there that can make plays on both sides. Again, they're going to have to rise to the top. Some of the younger kids with less experience are going to have to take coaching and come on pretty quick to help us in the depth."
Shannon asked about backup quarterbacks and returners.
"I told (the quarterbacks) there's a 1-2-3 but we'll roll two and three. Punt return and kick return, we're practicing with the people we think can help us. We haven't named anybody there, but I will before Monday."
