BATON ROUGE — LSU head football coach Nick Saban addressed the media prior to the beginning of the 2001 Spring Football Practice Session that begins on Monday, April 2, at the LSU Practice Facility.
LSU will practice 15 times during the month of April, including the April 28 Spring Game which will be held in Tiger Stadium.
QUOTES FROM NICK SABAN’S PRE-SPRING PRESS CONFERENCE (MARCH 29, 2001)
“We’ve had an excellent off-season program so far and the players have had an excellent attitude. We’ve improved our conditioning level, our strength, and we continue to make some physical development progress with our squad. Hopefully it will pay off for us and continue over into the fall.”
“Our goal is to continue to work toward a higher standard as a team in all areas of the game. We also want to look back at what it has taken us to get here, so that we can improve as much as we have improved to get to this point. It all started out with the trust and respect that we developed with the players and the coaches, as well as the players with each other, so that we could become a team. It is very important that we develop good chemistry for the upcoming season, and then we have to establish hard work in the program to improve our conditioning level as players. That is something that has helped us in the past, as we won some games in the fourth quarter last year. Hopefully, it will be an advantage to us in the future as well.”
“We can’t start thinking that we are a very good team and get frustrated when things don’t go well for us this season. We need to keep the same competitive disposition that made us a better team last year and compete for 60 minutes in a game. Playing hard, giving an effort, and playing with toughness, are all intangibles for what we need to strive for and improve upon, because those are the things that made a difference in our team last year. We also need every person on the team to realize how important their role is and their job, relative to being responsible for their own self-determination of knowing what they are supposed to do, how they are supposed to do it, and why it is important to do it that way.”
“The first thing that I’d like to address is how the new coaches are doing. I am extremely pleased with the staff that we have. I feel like they will be able to make some very strong improvements to our program with their experience. They are all very positive and they handle the players in a positive way and I am very pleased by that. All the new coaches have worked out very well. We’ve had to spend a little bit more time getting our systems implemented, but in the long term it will be time well spent and it will pay dividends for us in the long run.”
“Mike Haywood is going to be the special teams coordinator next season and we’ll have the same five coaches on staff, and myself, that are involved with the special teams. Mike was one of those guys last year, so this won’t be a difficult transition at all. It would have been a more difficult transition if we would have brought someone in from the outside. That’s really the completion of all of the staff responsibilities for next season, relative to all of the additions that we have had.”
“Personnel issues that you guys will probably ask me about is that we have moved Terry Phillips and Chris Henry from the defensive line to the offensive line. All of these moves are not permanent. They are just experimental in nature. These players have a better chance to contribute at these positions, relative to their ability, and our needs as a football team. So, those are some of the changes that we have made. Stephen Peterman will go back and work with the tight ends in the spring. We believe that he will progress from there. He was a defensive lineman last year, because we ended up funneling every big body that we had to the defensive line due to injuries and a shortage in that area. I don’t think that we have a lot of depth on the team right now, but we were able to recruit some guys that might be able to give us depth in the future. Therefore, we are trying to move these guys back to some of the positions that are more natural for them, where they have a better future, but these moves are going to be experimental in nature.”
“With Devery Henderson, who is an outstanding speed guy, we’re going to try and expand his role and experiment with him as a wide receiver. He will continue to play running back, but he will also work with the wide receivers. To some degree, Domanick Davis is going to continue to be a running back, but we’re going to experiment with him as a possible defensive back. Maybe he will play in nickel situations to increase his role on the team, relative to sharing time with (LaBrandon) Toefield at running back and being a return man. All of these players are interested in the change and are excited about doing these things, and they see it as an opportunity to expand as players and their future as players.”
“Solomon Lee, Elice Parker, and Ryan O’Neal have all been moved to fullback. We moved Elice from tailback, Solomon from tight end and O’Neal from defense. There is not as much concern on our part about the fullback position, because we’ll continue to use tight end body types to fill that role, and we’ve had to make a choice whether to sign fullbacks or tight ends, and more talented tight ends have come out in recent years. So, we will continue to expand in that part of what we do.”
“Spring practice offers some opportunities to really work on fundamentals and to really make fundamental improvements with your players, and it gives you a great chance to evaluate personnel. It helps establish what a players’ role is going to be on the team. So, we want to look at as many players, doing as many different things as we can. This is also a time for us to experiment with schemes a little bit. To see if there is anything that we can do to help ourselves offensively, defensively or on special teams. We did use the off-season to do some research and development to see if there are any things that could be beneficial to us. We are also going to experiment with schemes that feature several of our players. So, that we can find a way to help our guys do the things that they do better a little more often. Those are things that you want to accomplish during spring practice as a team.”
“The quarterback situation does not have the same type of controversy as it has in the recent years, and I know you guys are very disappointed in that. Rohan Davey obviously has the first opportunity to be the starter this season at quarterback, and he’s had a good off-season. He’s lost weight, he’s in better shape, and I think that is something that we should continue to monitor with him, because his durability is going to be a key factor for us in the future. Most of the time that he hasn’t been able to play here, is because he’s been hurt. So, his conditioning level and his durability level are things that will help develop and allow him to play with consistency next year.”
“In Rohan’s past, every adverse situation that has come his way, he’s done a phenomenal job. I think the challenge to us and to him is to get him to play that way with consistency throughout the season, and that is what he has to prove as a player. We feel good about the two-young quarterback prospects that we have in Matt Mauck and Marcus Randall. They have been in the program for a year, and we hope that they can each continue to develop even though neither one has any playing experience. Hopefully, we can get them to where they can be adequate backups and get them some good experience so that they can be ready when they are called on to play.”
Of note…
- Position changes (experiments): Terry Phillips and Chris Henry (from DL to OL); Stephen Peterman (from DL to TE); Domanick Davis (from RB to DB/RB); Soloman Lee (from TE to FB); Ryan O’Neal (from LB to FB); Devery Henderson (from RB to WR/RB); Jonathan Autrey, John Young and Rob Sale (from OL to C).
- Number changes: Erin Damon (from 32 to 1); Ed Dangerfield (from 89 to 19).
- LSU will be the final Southeastern Conference team to begin Spring Practice due to the university’s Spring Break which fell on March 25-30 this year.
- Seventh-year running backs coach Michael Haywood will assume the role of special teams coordinator as well.
- For the first time, Nike will hold one of its Combine Camps for high school prospects on LSU’s campus on May 6, 2001.