HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on changing the routine and going to Franklin College on Saturday) * *
"It was great for us, for our players; they were interacting with the community. They enjoyed it and certainly the community enjoyed it. It was worthwhile for both parties."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on mini camp)
"Yes, we aren't where we want to be yet, but we don't have to play tomorrow. That's the good thing. We continue to work on all our fundamentals, our technique. I think our effort was very, very good, but we still need to hone in on the details. We had some areas, some certain mistakes that we've had that we'd like to clean up here these next three days."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on difference in special teams)
"Well let me talk specifically about Ray (Rychleski), and what I think he will be able to get accomplished. I do believe that Ray is very innovative, extremely creative and a really fine football mind and resourceful; all the things you need in that position and he has a great amount of passion and enthusiasm for what he does. He knows his craft, and I think you'll see as a result of it he does a great job in teaching details. He does a great job of fragmenting his teaching to right now, to a one-on-one situation that builds it up to a two-on- two, three-on-three situation, and I do think that he is able to get his point across and create an environment to have a really successful unit."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on few veterans playing special teams due to the dynamic of the roster)
"There are a few signs in our locker room and one is 'No Excuses, No Explanations.' We don't make any excuses for where we've been in terms of our performance. Our goal is certainly to make no excuses on our lack of execution and things of that nature. We want to get it done, that's our business to make sure we get some improvement. So, we think we have more than enough talent to develop a really strong special teams unit, and that's what we expect."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on a feel for the returning players)
"The returners, that's one of the great things about what we are doing this time of year. The number of guys who are back there, we're trying to see who can field the punts and kickoffs properly, and so we are working with a bevy of guys, but it's going well. There are some young faces back there and then some older guys as well, but that's kind of what this process is all about. We are going to try to whittle our way down and work into training camp and come out of that with a real solid return game."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on T.J. Rushing and if he expects him to return healthy from last season's knee injury)
"I certainly do. I probably sound like a broken record, but he's the kind of guy that is putting in good plays. There are passionate guys who love this game who will find a way to get better and get better quickly, and I think that T.J. is certainly going to do that."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the rookie punters being inconsistent)
"I think in both cases he (Pat McAfee) and Tim (Masthay) hit some really good ones yesterday. I thought they punted the ball well. A little different environment, a little different situation. We tried to create a rushing situation for them so they could kind of feel it a little, and I thought they responded well. Like you said it was a little inconsistent, but we expect that consistency to improve."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on evaluating players at this point)
"We do quite a bit of evaluating, but until you get pads on it is very tough to make assessments, well complete assessments I should say, but we can get a few things accomplished."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Steve Justice not being present at mini-camp)
"Steve had a procedure a day or so ago on this back, and we expect him to be back during training camp, but we just aren't certain how long it is going to take. He was having some problems early on when we just got started and it continued to escalate a little bit so he had to have a procedure on his back."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Steve Justice being able to practice at training camp)
"When I say that, (I think) it will be somewhere in that region, somewhere in that area. How things change with that type of operation, you can't really tell until a few weeks out, but everything seems to have gone well."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Sam Giguere not practicing at mini-camp)
"He (Sam) didn't. It was early on in drill work and someone fell on his leg from behind and ended up fracturing his fibula. We fully anticipate that he will be back for the start of training camp."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Anothony Gonzalez sitting out practice today)
"He could have practiced today and wanted to actually practice today, but we held him out a little bit. He just had a little bit of a tweak, but he's fine."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on Ryan Lilja's progress)
"He is a guy who has been through quite a bit here lately. He is making good progress, and to see him out on the field, running around with a big smile on his face, he really feels good about his progress and in turn we do as well. I commented to him, 'Good to see you out here moving around,' and he reciprocated with as big of a smile as I had. So we anticipate that he will continue to improve."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on the progression of rookies)
"It has been very good. They have adjusted extremely well. Overall, let me just put a broad scope on the entire group, they learned quickly. It is a talented group. They learned at a particular speed in the classroom and out here it's a little different speed, especially with some of those offensive guys. When Peyton (Manning) gets behind the wheel things speed up a bit, but they have been adapting and adjusting well, and I think these next three days are going to be pivotal. They are important days where we are going to ramp it up and they will have to keep pace, but I think that that will happen."
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL (on a player that has stood out)
"I think overall they are all doing what we anticipated and expected, and we will go through another phase of evaluation during training camp once we get the pads on."
