Tyrone Willingham approached the Conibear Shellhouse Friday afternoon looking very much like a lifeguard, dressed in flip-flops, shorts, a t-shirt and shades and sporting something around his neck that could have been a whistle (but really were just keys).
Once he began addressing the media, it was mostly the same, with little news. Jordan White-Frisbee was in a boot to protect his formerly broken foot, but Willingham said that was just a precaution, the same reason E.J. Savannah has been wearing a red shirt at practice. Left tackle Ben Ossai is back from his head injury but Scott White and Darrion Jones are still limited by their bumps on the head.
There was no news on the academic situations, though with Friday being the final day of summer quarter, it’s likely a resolution will take place in the next couple days. In fact safety Ashlee Palmer was at practice on Thursday and may be out there againt today (we’re about 15 minutes away from the start of practice).
I asked Willingham if any position was farther ahead than he expected them to be at this point, and he quickly said the quarterbacks, pointing out that Isaiah Stanback and Carl Bonnell were both playing well.
Willingham did not award any gold jerseys at practice yesterday, the first day he’s done that, though the number of gold jerseys he has been handing out has dropped the last couple days. Willingham said the reason for no jerseys awarded on Thursday was that it just wasn’t a good practice.
The coach spent some time talking about the level of expectation he has at practice, and that he tries to set the bar high but also makes it reachable, but that the team is not there yet.
Willingham said the backup to Juan Garcia at center would be either Ryan Bush or Clay Walker. He said it’s likely that all five starters on the line will be able to play all five positions.
Johnie Kirton sported an incredibly impressive Afro during lunch on Friday, bringing to mind Julius Erving at his peak. Willingham said he has no problem with that (pointing out that he had a rather nifty Afro in his day), and only asks that players keep their hair off the shoulder pads so they can’t be grabbed, and that they keep themselves presentable.
Willingham does have a fairly wry sense of humor that he even displays from time to time. On Friday, he was asked if the ice on Marlon Wood’s hand was serious. The coach’s response? “To Marlon.”
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