Quotes From The Spring Football Press Conference
April 5, 2001
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The following are excerpts from Thursday's Spring Football press conference with head coach Ralph Friedgen:
"I can tell that you guys are going to have a field day with (our new football theme) `Fridge Fever,' but that's alright. I have been called a lot worse and probably will be again.
"I would like to make a brief comment on the uniforms, Nike had already put (last year's) uniforms on retail so we will re-design the uniform next year and Nike is working up some designs for us so it will be a custom uniform. I have talked to them in terms of giving me some samples as far as modernizing the uniform, maybe in the Denver Broncos or University of Miami mode. I think our players would be excited about that.
"As far as the helmet is concerned, I am not an Oleg Cassini, but I have had Nike's people look at this, I have had my wife look at it, I have had (Athletic Director) Debbie (Yow) look at it and the players have looked at it...this was the predominant choice. I think we have done a good job and I have kind of spread the blame, also. What I wanted to do was bring back some of our traditions and yet not stay totally with the tradition - try to bring something new to the program.
"Spring practice - I am really excited -- is finally here. I am also excited that our new video equipment is here and it's working, now we just have to pay for it. But I think it is a great teaching tool. A lot of our coaches who aren't familiar with it are just amazed at what it does and since we haven't broken any film or tape down yet, they haven't even seen all of the benefits that it can provide. It is kind of a good way to break in, knowing how to break our practice tape up and use our voice-over and how to make tapes for our kids so that we can be very explicit in what we show them.
"Practice has been going very well. We have had two days in shorts. We have installed a lot of our offense and a lot of our defense. The kids have done a great job of grasping it - to be honest with you, I thought they would have hit the wall by now but they haven't. They have done a good job of understanding what we are trying to get done. They haven't perfected it yet and although I have seen some mental mistakes from some, it hasn't been what I expected and I am sure that any day now, they will hit the wall.
"Yesterday, we were in pads and had our first contact work. Today, we will have a brief scrimmage at the end of practice...it will be a goal line scrimmage. I won't scrimmage a lot or go very long -- I can't afford to lose anybody -- but we still have to get the job done and so we are going to continue to work at it.
"Our pace has been very fast. We have been running about 170 plays at practice as a team or a `skeli,' and they have adapted pretty well. It also becomes good conditioning for us, too.
"I see this team improving every day and if we can do that, I will be satisfied. They've got to bring a certain work ethic to practice, I want them to punch the clock and think football when it's football time. I want them to know what I expect when it is time for them to hit the football field."
