Football Media Day Notes!

Twenty days. 

That's all that's left until our opening game (loss?) against preseason No. 7 UCLA. 

On Friday, our coaches and select players gathered in JPJ to discuss the upcoming season. There really weren't any surprise revelations during the event. Coaches ignored hot-seat questions, and instead focused on the returning talent. Players admitted they needed to play better in 2014.

These media days are just for the media. For writers to get new quotes for new stories. Vanilla answers all the way around.

Still, college football is less than three weeks away! Despite little reason for optimism, I'm still pretty damn excited!

So let's touch on a couple of the highlights from the press conferences.

• Quarterback Battle -- For the first time since London took over, I'm not talking about who will be the starting quarterback. That man is Greyson Lambert. Rather, I'm talking about who will take the No. 2 job. David Watford or Greyson Lambert? (I prefer Johns ... see QB preview from last week). Basically, the job is up in the air. No clarification was given, although it still seems the coaches want Watford to win. (Note: in highlights on vasp.tv, Watford has been the better of the two of late in training camp).

or 

• Quarterback Rotation? -- When asked how David Watford would fit into the offense, offense coordinator Steve Fairchild said Watford might have a few packages of his own. Mt response: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Has London not learned his lesson? Since he took over in 2010, Mike London at some point in the season has employed some sort of QB rotation. AND IT NEVER WORKED. Watford has lost his job as the starting QB. Don't screw up Lambert by inserting Mr. overthrow-interception-or-scramble-to-the-side-for-a-loss for a series.

Watford had his chance. Please, no more.

• Running Back Depth -- It's no secret we have a stable of good backs (check out the RB preview from last month). Between Parks, Shepherd, Smoke, and Hamm, we have four quality runners that all want touches. Sadly for Hamm, as a walk-on, he'll get the fewest attempts. That leaves Parks, Shepherd, and Smoke. Parks will be the go-to guy, but coaches have acknowledged Smoke will have an increased role (probably the 3rd-down back). So where does that leave Shepherd? He'll probably be the positionless, do-it-all back. He'll help in the return game (ugh...) and be split out wide on occasion (he caught a TD pass from the slot in these highlights from training camp). Still, Shepherd seems to be the odd-man out.

Coaches like Shepherd, but are there enough touches to go around?

• Eli Harold is Bigger -- Eli Harold has gained 20 pounds from last season, and is now up to 248. That's big (pun intended) for our defense. Harold can be a dynamic pass rusher, but his lack of size has always created problems in the run game. With that extra bulk, Harold will hold up better against the run and should only improve his pass-rushing finesse. And as a side note, Max Valles has also gained weight (no specifics here). Now we'll have two bigger end rushers in our nickel package.
• Offensive Line Shuffle -- Our oline play was shaky last season. And then we lost two starters to the NFL. This group is going to struggle. The biggest problem is we have no clue who our starting five will be. In my oline preview, I predicted the starting five, from left to right, would be the following: Smith, Davis, Tetlow, Burbank, and Olanrewaju. So far, this group has not practiced together. Eric Smith has only played the right side, while Conner Davis has seen time at both tackle spots. Ryan Doull has seen time with the first unit at LG, while Jackson Matteo has also taken first-team reps at center. Through a week of camp, there has been a new starting five every day. It's safe to say we'll have no idea what this group will look like until August 30. (Note: they want to pick a starting five by two weeks before the opener).

Is this guard our LT?

• Secondary Switch Up -- With Demetrious Nicholson still battling his turf toe injury (more on that in a second), the starting four has flip-flopped. Our first team corners are Canady and Phelps, while the first team safeties are Anthony Harris and Quin Blanding. Phelps, who played safety each of the past two seasons, is now at his more natural position (as London admitted). Blanding has been impressive from what I hear. Even when Nicholson comes back, I see no reason to remove Blanding from the starting lineup. He's a top-10 recruit -- let him play. I'm surprised Hoskey's name didn't come up, but he'll be the starting nickelback covering the slot.

Finally. The cornerback is playing...cornerback.

• Starting Wide Receivers Still Unknown -- We came into camp with little idea of who our starting receivers would be. One week hasn't been enough to solve the puzzle. Expect Keeon Johnson to be the starting X-receiver, but outside of that, all is a mystery. Coach Hagans advised his players to not say a word about any possible lineup. London brought up Dockins, Severin, and Gooch as players that have impressed (they have a combined 17 career receptions...). Darius Jennings impressed in the spring, but there haven't been any recent reports on the senior. And freshmen Jamil Kamara and Doni Dowling are both expected to see time this season. Shouldn't at least one of them redshirt? Are our receivers that bad or are the first-years that good? I'm not sure even the coaching staff knows at this point.

Johnson...and who else?

• Injuries -- Unfortunately, injuries are a part of any sport. Especially collegiate football. So far, the biggest loss has been projected LT Jay Whitmire, who will miss most -- if not all -- of the season with a bad back. This loss has been part of the reason for the uncertainty along the offensive line. Prized recruit Andrew Brown -- along with Nicholson -- is still recovering from a lingering turf-toe injury. Both of these guys need to be on the field for the defense to succeed. A good pass-rush and secondary make a good defense. It's that simple. And the underachieving Dominique Terrell might or might not take a medical redshirt this season. Ultimately, it matters little. He had his chance. It's time to give that same opportunity to others.

I'm sure there are more nuggets, but those are the ones that stood out to me.

Future Posts -- I'm not sure how everything will shake out, but I know I'll have at least two detailed posts before football season begins. First will be a post outlining reasons for optimism and reasons for pessimism for the 2014 football team. Then probably the week before the season, I'll give my predictions for each game in 2014. I'll update y'all on Twitter in the coming days.