Football: Quotes from the first week of spring drills

"Overall, I was really pleased with the intensity and focus and the way our guys came out and attacked this first day in full pads," said Speir on Saturday afternoon. "I thought both sides were very, very spirited and that led to an intense practice. We had a lot of individual improvements, and I was very pleased with our first day in full pads."

"I really thought our defense stepped up. It was by far the best defensive day we've had just five days into our spring," Speir said. "Our offense was able to move the ball, sustain some drives and score some touchdowns - all positive things for us offensively; but improvement we showed from last year is that the defense didn't give up any big plays over 15-to-20 yards. That's a positive and something to build on."

"I was very impressed with Michael Johnson today. He's impressed me as a SoCon-caliber running back, showing some nice moves with some good, strong runs today. I also felt offensively that Shaun Warren had a really nice day, as did receiver Jacoby Mitchell and Tyler Klipa - he's fighting his rear-end off as a walk-on, sprung two nice plays during group work with blocks on the outside," said Speir.

"We had three turnovers on offense which are negatives on that side of the ball - we're really stressing to hold onto the football as that was a big thing that killed drives a year ago. But forcing the three takeaways on defense was a positive thing for us there. We've got to get better on our pass rush with our front four; it's a positive for our offensive line in the way we protected the quarterback, but we've got to find a way to get more pressure from our front four."