On the difference in Jacob Park from pre-season camp a year ago to now:
It’s really not even close. You’re talking about a young man who had gotten here really in the middle of the summer last year. And missed, I’m guessing back to what it was, at least the first seven practices because he had the mumps. Cause we had the mumps really running through our team. So it’s incredibly night and day from a guy who was learning the words, learning the language, starting to learn his teammates, not getting all the reps that clearly he began to earn, and is not even the same guy, really, that finished the season. He’s put a tremendous amount of work into his preparation, his mental preparation, his physical preparation. And he’s been playing terrific football.
On where Park’s ceiling is at now:
I think as soon as we put a ceiling on anybody it’s probably unfair. You let these things just develop however they can develop. We have to keep finding what does the quarterback do confidently? And the more a guy does confidently then the more we can really do on offense. But Jacob has, he really plays with a lot of confidence. It’s not false because he knows what he’s capable of doing. So the more he can do his job - and have so many of our other players on offense doing their job to the best of their ability - then we’re going to find out how high we can rise.
On Park’s capability of throwing for 4,000 yards as he said on media day:
If a guy has in his mind production goals like that, it takes a lot of work. It’ll take some luck that he stays right on schedule and that everybody else on the offense that we expect to depend upon are being able to play at a very high level, too. Let’s talk about wins because with winning is going to come all of that stuff. That’s not to squash anybody’s goals; that’s not my point. Win a lot of games and there will be a tremendous amount of players that will have been really productive.
On the benefit of Park’s familiarity with so many returning skill players:
Well it helps tremendously. These guys are never apart. Nowadays in college football, these guys are together 11 months out of the year. They have their little NCAA-sanctioned breaks but these guys are together all year long. So they are extremely familiar with each other, with the work that they’ve done together, a lot of it on their own in the summertime. And then obviously through the spring and really from the middle of October last season. There will continue to be great chemistry because each one of those guys that returns, their skill set might be improving as well. So there’s evolution all the time. There will be evolution from today through October 1st through November 1st through December 1st. We’ll keep adjusting and changing and recalibrating, if you want to use a term like that.
On the backup QB battle between Zeb Noland and Kyle Kempt:
Well, Zeb is certainly getting more physical – I won’t say day by day – but clearly week by week since we have started practice. And really everything is picking up steam for him, but he was incredibly limited in the spring, justifiably. And [he] has been working as hard in the training room as he has been in our classroom as he has been on the field. So he’s coming along probably at the right kind of pace. Kyle has played, has practiced very hard, very well, as a fifth-year player in college. He’s got a steadiness about him and he understands what he’s doing, what he’s trying to do. Understands his role. Has not submitted to anything but does understand how he can help his teammates. And frankly, how he needs to play as the quarterback. Probably knows himself better than many players because he’s been doing this for quite some time. So he’s doing a really good job. Had a really productive first scrimmage for us last weekend, too, and he keeps trying to build upon that.
On Devon Moore’s injury and how he’s been dealing with it:
I’m not sure at this stage with a young man who suffers an early injury in training camp, I don’t know that there’s much that prepares you for that. I’m not the one who helps him through it as much as the fact that he knows how to deal with it since he had a really significant injury as a junior in high school. And that I’m sure, there’s pain to an injury, clearly. But his experience with it I’m sure was the flashback in the first 24 hours of how can this happen to me again? And he’s been terrific and very positive ever since that first 24 hours after his injury – he understands what he’s about to undergo again. Different from somebody else who may have been injured for the first time. It’s just frustrating. And he’s got knowledge of what he’s going to have to go through, which is going to be hard. But he’s experienced with it. You don’t want to have to be experienced with it, but he is. And he’s really somewhat of a grown-up guy for his age. So we’re going to root for him and he’ll be in great care certainly with our training staff. And he’ll work really, really hard. And I know Zeb will be able to give him some emotional support since he went through it within the past 12 months.
It’s really not even close. You’re talking about a young man who had gotten here really in the middle of the summer last year. And missed, I’m guessing back to what it was, at least the first seven practices because he had the mumps. Cause we had the mumps really running through our team. So it’s incredibly night and day from a guy who was learning the words, learning the language, starting to learn his teammates, not getting all the reps that clearly he began to earn, and is not even the same guy, really, that finished the season. He’s put a tremendous amount of work into his preparation, his mental preparation, his physical preparation. And he’s been playing terrific football.
On where Park’s ceiling is at now:
I think as soon as we put a ceiling on anybody it’s probably unfair. You let these things just develop however they can develop. We have to keep finding what does the quarterback do confidently? And the more a guy does confidently then the more we can really do on offense. But Jacob has, he really plays with a lot of confidence. It’s not false because he knows what he’s capable of doing. So the more he can do his job - and have so many of our other players on offense doing their job to the best of their ability - then we’re going to find out how high we can rise.
On Park’s capability of throwing for 4,000 yards as he said on media day:
If a guy has in his mind production goals like that, it takes a lot of work. It’ll take some luck that he stays right on schedule and that everybody else on the offense that we expect to depend upon are being able to play at a very high level, too. Let’s talk about wins because with winning is going to come all of that stuff. That’s not to squash anybody’s goals; that’s not my point. Win a lot of games and there will be a tremendous amount of players that will have been really productive.
On the benefit of Park’s familiarity with so many returning skill players:
Well it helps tremendously. These guys are never apart. Nowadays in college football, these guys are together 11 months out of the year. They have their little NCAA-sanctioned breaks but these guys are together all year long. So they are extremely familiar with each other, with the work that they’ve done together, a lot of it on their own in the summertime. And then obviously through the spring and really from the middle of October last season. There will continue to be great chemistry because each one of those guys that returns, their skill set might be improving as well. So there’s evolution all the time. There will be evolution from today through October 1st through November 1st through December 1st. We’ll keep adjusting and changing and recalibrating, if you want to use a term like that.
On the backup QB battle between Zeb Noland and Kyle Kempt:
Well, Zeb is certainly getting more physical – I won’t say day by day – but clearly week by week since we have started practice. And really everything is picking up steam for him, but he was incredibly limited in the spring, justifiably. And [he] has been working as hard in the training room as he has been in our classroom as he has been on the field. So he’s coming along probably at the right kind of pace. Kyle has played, has practiced very hard, very well, as a fifth-year player in college. He’s got a steadiness about him and he understands what he’s doing, what he’s trying to do. Understands his role. Has not submitted to anything but does understand how he can help his teammates. And frankly, how he needs to play as the quarterback. Probably knows himself better than many players because he’s been doing this for quite some time. So he’s doing a really good job. Had a really productive first scrimmage for us last weekend, too, and he keeps trying to build upon that.
On Devon Moore’s injury and how he’s been dealing with it:
I’m not sure at this stage with a young man who suffers an early injury in training camp, I don’t know that there’s much that prepares you for that. I’m not the one who helps him through it as much as the fact that he knows how to deal with it since he had a really significant injury as a junior in high school. And that I’m sure, there’s pain to an injury, clearly. But his experience with it I’m sure was the flashback in the first 24 hours of how can this happen to me again? And he’s been terrific and very positive ever since that first 24 hours after his injury – he understands what he’s about to undergo again. Different from somebody else who may have been injured for the first time. It’s just frustrating. And he’s got knowledge of what he’s going to have to go through, which is going to be hard. But he’s experienced with it. You don’t want to have to be experienced with it, but he is. And he’s really somewhat of a grown-up guy for his age. So we’re going to root for him and he’ll be in great care certainly with our training staff. And he’ll work really, really hard. And I know Zeb will be able to give him some emotional support since he went through it within the past 12 months.
