Weekly Spring Football Press Conference
Apr 09, 2003 | Football
April 9, 2003
MANHATTAN, Kan. - KANSAS STATE HEAD COACH BILL SNYDER
On what the primary concerns are this spring...
"I am not sure I understand all the parameters, but as I have said in the past, it is my belief that, and that is way down the road, if you win it plays out in the end. Our experience has been that when we have had the opportunities and didn't get the trigger pulled, then it didn't play out. Had we pulled the trigger it would have played out. All I go by is our past experiences and that is kind of the way I see it. It was a difficult process to replace the team that we lost off of the schedule, but that is the very best we could do. We have talked about the possibility of playing an additional ballgame and that might ease the situation a little bit."
On a report that Cal was considering adding Kansas State to its schedule...
"I think that is probably in reference to the BCA game. I think there are two teams that are possibilities. I would say that is probably going to be the first pick. I said last week that it will probably be a two week process before that would take place and those numbers still hold true, so we are probably looking at the end of this week or the first of next (week)."
On the BCA scheduling process...
"There is an NCAA rule that says you can play a preseason game once every four years and of course, we have already done that. We have to have a waver to do that and wavers have normally come freely. That hasn't been the case, so there are a group of people that have to meet and that meeting time has not arrived yet."
On Terence Newman...
"I think he will be an extremely fine player in the NFL. I think he will be a tremendous attribute to where ever it is he ends up playing, for a lot of different reasons. Whatever community he goes to, they will have a great appreciation for Terence. Terence, within the community, will do the right thing. He will do thing that will endear him a great deal to people of that community. He will be someone that gives back to the community. He has an affection for young people and he will be involved in some organizations, perhaps his own, that address the plight of young people. I think he will be a good, what they call a lockeroom guy. I think he will just be good around the people that he is surrounded by and he will not only bring on-the-field talent, but off-the-field talent to whoever that is as well."
On Danny Morris...
"We get these numbers and I don't know how anybody figures this out, but we are saying that he might be at about 80 percent right now. He is going everyday and goes through everything that we do. He hasn't been held out of anything."
On the running backs...
"Darren would be No. 1, No. 2 would be probably a toss up between Dan Davis and Carlos Alsup and Danny Morris would be right in there as well. But we've worked Danny at wide receiver position a great deal."
On the wide receivers...
"I think we are a little short on numbers, right now. I think there are guys that you know. James Terry finished the season as a starter for us and Derrick Evans played well in the bowl game. Of course we lost Taco, John Cooper we have talked about in here, and John has made some strides and is a youngster that we will probably have to look seriously at. Davin Dennis is a redshirt freshman, who has made some progress and is a better player right now than he was at the end of the season. He is a young guy that we thought was talented, he just needed to understand the system and what it is all about. He is getting better at that as we go. Antoine Polite is trying to make an impact here and has his good days, but they all do."
On Derrick Evans bowl performance helping him this spring...
"I think it does, but it is something that you have to make sure is sustained over a period of time."
On Darren Sproles...
"Darren is a better player now that when he finished the season. That is what you hope for with any player that you have. If you ask me, well where is he better, it is a hard question to answer. He is just seemingly better at everything that he does. He seems a little bit quicker, maybe he isn't. He seems a little bit more elusive, maybe he isn't. He seems a little bit more powerful. He seems a little bit at everything that he does.
"His numbers in the weight room have gone up, again this could be refuted, but I would say an increment of maybe eight to 10 percent."
On award recognition and Heisman hopefuls...
"Just play and do the best you can and if somebody doesn't recognize you that is their fault. Wherever you are, if you happen to be in New York City, or if you happen to be in Los Angeles, or Miami, Florida, and you are casting ballots it is your responsibility. If you are on there it is your responsibility to find out who it is, or don't be on the committee. From a player's standpoint, it is a players' responsibility to play, and it is a coaches' responsibility to coach. We are not going to say these are two bad players not deserving, we're going to say go off of the results. If they are the best player then everything will prove out that they are the best player and you need to be voting for them."
"I don't want to be critical of anybody and how they do it. Everybody just has a different way and I'm not saying anybody's way is right or anybody's way is wrong. It is just my belief to go play the game."
On Ell Roberson...
"I think he is doing really well. He is focused on what he is doing; he is studying what he is doing. He is making an attempt, in his own way, to provide the leadership that the players that surround him can attach themselves to. He is working diligently on his own performance, which is the most important things. He is making continued strides with it, so I have been please with him. There are certain things that he will do every once in a while that kind of revert back. He is not at a stage of being perfect right now, he just needs to continue to get better and stay focused on that and eliminate the mistakes he is making and he works right now at doing that."
On Matt Butler...
"Matt is doing well. He is sitting at the top of the depth chart at middle linebacker for us at this point and has been productive. He hasn't done anything to disappoint us. He has put himself into a position where we are feeling as though he is making enough headway and if it continues throughout the course of the spring that he would have the capabilities of playing prominently for us at that position. Of course, we have a youngster coming in that plays the same position and that could make it very competitive. So, what Matt has done so far this spring, if he continues that, I think we will have a very competitive position next year."
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JUNIOR DEFENSIVE END ANDREW SHULL
On the spring...
"People are stepping up and it has been a real competitive spring so far. The younger guys are really starting to step it up and make some contributions to our practices."
On Thomas Houchin....
"I have been playing on the left and Houchin is on the right. He has been doing good. He has been getting better, learning our defense and just doing a good job this spring. He has been making plays in practice."
On the depth of the defense compared to last year...
"I don't think that is possible because of the fact that in the previous year we all started at one point or another and we all had a significant amount of playing time. I am not sure you can do that because we have a couple guys that really haven't played that much."
On how he is improving....
"I am trying to work on certain things that I may have messed up last year and just trying to get better. I am just trying to get better from last year and be a leader on our defense and try to help the younger guys out. I just want to try to get better every day."
JUNIOR OFFENSIVE LINE NICK LECKEY
On his position at center...
"It is a good spot for me. I like it. You get to set the pace for the offense line a lot more and having three years of experience helps out as far as calls go and making the right call for everyone. In the center you are having everyone start off well with the blocking and with the calls and it will spread out from there."
On if there is a feel to the team yet...
"It is so hard to tell. Everyone is great without the pads. During the winter we throw the pads out. We really can't tell until the season starts. I can't get you an honest assessment. I will know when you guys know."
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