Tuberville's Comments on Friday's Intra-squad Scrimmage

August 21, 1998

Head coach Tommy Tuberville's comments on Friday's intra-squad scrimmage.

General Remarks: "We saw some good things. We're still disappointed that a lot of guys didn't get to practice because of knicks and bruises. We had some guys that got hurt early in practice. It looks like Tim Gallahan is out for three or four days with a knee sprain. Michael Boone maybe a little worse, but we'll have to wait and see about him. Ben Brown broke his hand in two places."

"For some reason it looks like the offense is ahead of the defense. The defense didn't play very well at all. We didn't get as much effort from the defensive line as we thought we would. We're pleased with Kevin Thomas who played well for his first time scrimmaging as a high school freshman. He will probably play this year because of numbers, but his desire to come out and play at this level early and being in shape is going to help him."

"Romaro (Miller) threw the ball well. We had some dropped balls but I thought he had a good day. He missed a couple of checks (at the line of scrimmage) and that's the thing we're more concerned about than him throwing the ball. We know he can throw it. The thing we want to do is make sure he knows how to get us in and out of plays. He was probably at about 70 percent by just watching him do the things at the line of scrimmage that we want him to do before the ball is snapped."

Q: Did you come any closer to finding a number two quarterback?

A: I thought David Morris did a good job. He'll probably move into the second spot while Tim Gallahan is out. He could take it over, we'll just have to wait and see. He is real mobile and that helps when you have two mobile quarterbacks. He's the only one that really did anything besides Romaro.

Q: How did you feel about the team's conditioning after running 180 plays in the heat?

A: One thing that we wanted to do, especially with a young team, was push them to the limit and see how far they could go for us. Most of them hung in with us. We had a couple that weren't able to make it, but you need to know that before the season starts and how much more you need to push them between now and game time. But like I said you need to do this. Especially with our young guys. They need to understand what they're getting into. You can come out and practice but until you get into a situation we're you're really tackling and having to get back into a huddle, you just don't know how they'll handle it. I tried to do this as early possible in the day with the heat because we're getting ready to have six straight day games without an open date.

Q: Is Matt Luke O.K. to play?

A: He's fine. He could probably play but the thing we're trying to do is a get a second team center ready and work Tutan Reyes some at center. We know what Matt Luke can do. He'll be ready to go first game.

Q: What about Ronnie Heard?

A: Ronnie has a bad sprained ankle. We hope to get him back by Sunday. He's made a lot of practice but he hasn't practiced in the last three practices. Derrick Burgess' knee is still bothering him. It hasn't 100 percent healed from surgery last year so he's still dragging it. Morris Scott could have practiced today but he's kind of like the Matt Luke on defense. We know what Morris can do. We're to get a look at some of our younger guys.

Q: What about your kicking situation?

The kicking looked good. Reagan King is punting well. Our punt protection has really improved. I think this is going to be the best punt protection unit we've ever had because we have more linebackers. Linebackers usually play on that unit.

Q: What about a place kicker?

A: Donald Juneau and Carlisle McGee are the two right now. Juneau is ahead because of experience and he's probably been at 85 to 90 percent accuracy the last couple of weeks.

Q: Did Rufus French look good today?

A: Yeah, he looked pretty good. He made the most unbelievable catch I've ever seen. I was up in the tower so I didn't get a real good look. I just saw it go over his head and saw a hand come up. Rufus is Rufus. The thing we've tried to do with Rufus is just get him a little more physical and to just keep him healthy. We've really never had that problem because he's pretty flexible. He's had a good two-a-days and has come in the best shape he's ever come in at. I was impressed with Maurice Flournoy, a young receiver that's only been here a week. The things he did with the football was good to see for a true freshmen. We've moved Mitch Skrmetta to second or third team tight end with Adam Bettis. We've moved him up but he's done a good job for us blocking and he could see some playing time. We've moved Doug Ziegler from quarterback to tight end.

Q: What about the running game?

A: Well, I hope it's not our defense, but our running backs looked pretty good. I was really impressed with Allen Copeland. He didn't run against the first team defense a lot, but I liked his quickness and his ability to see the field. I thought they all ran well. I was disappointed with their receiving. They didn't catch the ball well. The thing we got to do is overall find a two-deep that can play a complete game since we're getting ready to go through a marathon with the heat. We need to find enough bodies that can survive six straight games in the heat without an open date.

6/21/1999 | Football