“We have a quarterback competition, and that’s what you want. You have young players, and things still need to be established, so we are anxious. I know Coach (Rod) Smith and the rest of our offensive staff is very excited about putting guys in situations to see who can rise to the top. We also know we are getting better depth. At the quarterback spot, there are a lot of guys competing for time, and that is something we pretty much have throughout our offense.”
On Jake Hansen: “First off, Hardy Nickerson has seen a couple good linebackers, so it’s big for him to point him out. I’m excited to see him play. We know the skill set we are looking for at linebacker – smart football player, athletic, good speed. We have seen him on the field, and we know what we are getting, which is something we need that at the linebacker position in general.”
On seeing the new facilities: “It’s a good feeling. We took alittle time off, so the first thing I did when I got back in Champaign was go by it. For a long period of time, we had the plan – big pictures and you could go online. Now when you go by there and see it, there is a lot of stories and you see the outline of it. It’s something we need, and we identified that early on. It’s like our program right now – you see it daily and it’s getting better, and that’s exactly what we’re doing too.”
On going back at Soldier Field this year: “It’s a traditional stadium that you like playing in. There is a lot of history there.That is real important to our football team – to have that home crowd up north. So we are looking forward to that. It’s one thing to play there, but the team we play embarrassed us on national TV last year, so our guys are real excited about getting that rematch.”
On a veteran QB joining the mix: “In an ideal world, we would like a veteran at every position at a minimum – especially at the quarterback position. You know, a guy who has been through it and knows what it is like to lead a football team and be in that role. Also, the graduate guys know it is their last time, so it is a great opportunity for them to finish out their career on a strong note.”
On the Larry Boyd rumors: “If there was something going on publicly, then I would be responding to it. But things are going on inside the football team. What I can tell you about Larry is that he’s there going to class every day, and he will be out there the first day of training camp. Larry is there with the football team like everybody else. Everybody is on our football team right now practicing. We had a couple guys we held out in spring ball that are back with the team. We start camp here, and we expect everybody to be there."
