Q. What's it been like this offseason?
    A. "It's been good. We've had a great winter. I think it was documented by some of the numbers that we put on our website. We broke a bunch of school records that had been up there quite awhile in the weight room. We set a lot of personal records and really had a great winter in the weight room. Todd Burkey, our strength coach, continues to do just excellent things with our guys. He works hard at it and tries to find the right mix for what we're doing in and out of season. He seems to get our guys ready to play football. I think that's a blessing."

Q. Do Spring's change depending on what you have back?

    A. "Yes I think so. Obviously we are going to replace 26 seniors, 11 starters, so you are going to be looking at some faces that we have not seen. We brought in a big class a year ago so a lot of those guys have been redshirted. But we're excited about this group. We have a lot of returning guys at the same point in time. We've got to find some pieces to some puzzles and see where it all fits. I think our guys have had a good winter conditioning. I think they are anxious to play football, which is obviously what they enjoy the most. I think the challenge for us is to fill in some holes. We are not as deep going into spring because of the losses of the seniors, but at the same point in time we've got some young folks we are excited about. This will be their opportunity to show what they can do."

Q. Coach, what are some of the things you want to get figured out this Spring?

    A. "Always the first thing you look for is your senior leadership. I think that started when we came back when school started in January. You're looking for senior leadership. That has improved since we started. All of a sudden you went from sitting over on the side and everything is in someone else's hands to all of the sudden everybody's attention is on you. They're watching to see if you go to class, whether you miss workouts or whether you are a little bit late and how hard you are working. All of a sudden you are in a leadership role whether you want to be or not. That's the one thing about seniors. You know how important seniors have been to this program and will always be. They are the voice of the locker room. They're the guys that are going to represent our team, speak for our team and go out and play. That's the first thing, how our seniors are going to perform and lead. They've done a good job through winter conditioning. They get better and better every day. I think they realize the responsibilities. And now we are going to go play football and now they are going to go practice and lead a team through spring drills. The ups and downs of scrimmages and pads and four weeks of Spring practice. That's the next battle they have to battle.

    Secondly, it's just looking at young guys and the older guys and seeing where everybody fits. How to get the best 22 guys on the field, that's the challenge of coaches and players. Figure out who they are and figure out how they fit in to what we are doing. The best guys wherever they may fit and whatever we have to do by the end of the spring, so going into summer we've got a handle on who we can count on, who we think the best 11 are now and how do they fit in to this play or this defense or that defense. Those are the basic things. Leadership obviously and getting a look at your young guys and old guys. And getting a way to figure out what you can do defensively and offensively so that at the end of the day going into the first game next year we've got the best 22 guys out there playing."

Q. Can players win positions during Spring?

    A. "I think so. You can always compete to win. This is a 15-practice period and when you come back from the summer you have 28. The one thing that the summers have done this day and age when the guys are working out on their own, is that you can win a position in the spring. I think you can lose a position in the summer. There's a chance that you can see he's one of our best 22 guys, but in those months between the end of April to when we come to camp on August 5, you can lose your position. With 28 practices as well, guys can change over the summer. I think a guy can come in and say hey you know what I was a second guy in the spring, but I'm going to train this summer and with 28 practices heading into your first game I think they can win a position back. It goes both ways."

Q. Is a concern of yours the running back spots where you lost quite a bit?

    A. "I think that's where you lost the oldest group and I think the secondary too. You lost three out of four starters and really four out of the last five on defense in the back end. When you take Jason Perry out and Codera Jackson out and Chris Goffer, three seniors, out of the secondary, those guys had all been around for the most part. That's an area there's more concern a little bit more so then normal. You need one guy to play tailback, you need four guys to play in the secondary. As you look at that, that becomes a depth concern also. We've got some guys coming in in the summer and some of those things, but those two areas obviously we've got to develop. We've got to find out who out of this group the tailback will be and then the secondary is the other area of concern."

Q. You still think between now and the fall practice you will have another running back or two?

    A. I think a lot of things will happen. We'll sort through this team that we have here now. In fairness we will continue to look. Then there is academics and how guys do this spring in school and summer workouts, all those things have an effect on who you can or cannot bring to camp. We will continue to keep looking. This day and age of FCS football there's not a day that goes by where you're not looking for more players. That's just the law of the land. There's not a team out there that's not. It's crazy to sit here today and say hey we're not taking anymore guys or we're not going to look at anybody who wants to transfer or any junior college kids that got overlooked. Those days are over. You have to constantly keep your ears open and keep studying film everyday on guys. People are still sending tapes and we are still calling around. It's another whole set of recruiting between now and summer."

Q. Did the offseason go quicker because the season went longer."

    A. "In fairness, it was quicker. It happens faster. We were finished, then we were in finals and then we were gone. Then you are back in January. Coaches, we finished the game and we were on the road recruiting. It happened so fast that you really don't have down time. We're not behind. You just don't have the extra time that you sometimes have to plan and maybe go on a spring trip to watch other teams practice. Our guys have done a good job. We have snuck out for some days here and there to some different places. We had an opportunity we were blessed with, the Indianapolis Colts allowed us to go out there for a day. It was very productive. They are really great folks. We had a chance to do that. Coach (Jim) Caldwell out there, who Sam Eddy knows, and coaches the Colts quarterbacks is someone we have gotten to know. We've gone out there a couple times and that's been really good and they've taken care of us. So that's been a benefit. Other than that and some other one day trips, we didn't take a big trip like we did a year ago. I'm ok with that.

Q. Can you sense the success of last year still carrying over?

    A. "I think so. Our guys are excited and I think they know the task at hand. As I told them the other day, the reality is right now we are sitting here as an average football team going into Spring. I think that's fair. We haven't done anything. Team 2007 hasn't played any games. We haven't practiced anything yet. We haven't lined up as a unit yet. We've got a lot of new faces. The potential to have success is very, very good as I've told them. Through spring and summer we've got to become a good team. As the season starts, we've got to become a great team. Reality says we've got some work to do. We have some great guys to lead us in individual positions and we're going to count on some young guys to step up. Right now, going into spring we're like every other team in the country. We're trying to find out who we are and how we can get as good as we can get. Once we get as good as we can get, then we have a chance to be great and that's the process that this team's going to have to take. The other thing that we have to understand is that when you're back-to-back Gateway champions and you've been to the final four, there isn't anywhere to hide. I think our guys are aware of that. Every team we play is studying us and preparing for us. That's the blessing of having been through those scenarios when I was here in the '90s. I know what's coming and our goal as coaches and job as coaches is to make sure our guys are prepared for it and understand it and not to be afraid of it, but to understand that there's no sneaking around. Youngstown's alive and their out there preparing and we just need to do the same."

Q. Anybody who won't practice because of injuries or anything?

    A. "Jeremiah Wright will be out in the spring obviously with a knee injury. Greg Jacobs is banged up and is day-by-day. Jesse Smedi is another guy who will not participate in the spring. He is also recovering from an injury. For the most part everybody should be out and ready to go."