Passes and tackles and catches, oh my!

JACKETS FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE
Well, here we go. On the 1st official day of practice, the Jackets had to wait 30 minutes on a rain delay. In the meantime, Coach Gailey and some players addressed the media - link here. I love his comments on PJ Daniels:

P.J. humility? "That's him. That's not a show. That's who he is. He believes that. He believes he's been given a gift from God, but it takes everyone to do something great. That's not a guard. He's not saying it for show."

I thought this was an interesting comment about comparing the program where it is today versus where he wanted it to be. He says you cannot compare, but then he talks about judging where you are on how many "plays" you are from closing the gap:

"I don't like to compare it to where you want to be because the only thing you can compare it to is winning a championship and we haven't done that. So we are short of where we want to be. I believe we are getting better every year. Now, the gap. I don't know what that gap is. Sometimes you're six plays away from closing that gap pretty closely, sometimes you're 30 plays from closing that gap pretty closely. It depends on what games you are talking about, how many close games you had, could you have won this, could you avoided that loss. We had about three or four games that could have thrown into that category last year. All of a sudden it is totally different. We could have been sitting up there with nine or ten wins instead of seven. So I think you have to look at everything. We are not were we need to be depth-wise. Our first 22 are pretty good football players, but we have to stay healthy, we have got to have guys come on at specific positions, linebacker, receiver, offensive line in a hurry and play well.

Now this is funny, commenting on the potential 5-year eligibility change being considered by the NCAA:

"...I think it would be good for him (the player). I think it would be good for the school. I think it's a win-win all the way around, which is why the NCAA doesn't want to do it."

Very interesting comments on Reggie Ball's emotion and that Reggie is one of the few people he has coached who lives on the edge with his emotions, but that he doesn't want to tone it down, just not let it lead to poor judgement.

Nice comments from Eric Henderson on potential team chemistry:

"To be honest with you, I've never been around a bunch of guys that have really looked forward to the season like this team does. Everyone has been working hard, we've been sweating together and it has been a really hard summer and we're just looking forward to the season."

Nice to hear.

Also nice to see that PJ Daniels actually hangs out with guys from the O-Line and he is constantly expressing his appreciation for what they do.

D-BILBO LETTING GO OF QB DREAM
Very truthful article on D-Bilbo finally accepting his role as a WR and letting go of the QB dream. But one thing is for sure - he is being hyped as having incredible potential as a WR. Look at this quote:
Now, I am the first to say I am excited about our future with Calvin Johnson. But can you imagine if both he AND Bilbo break out? We are talking 6'3" on one side and 6'4" on the other. A 43" vertical leap from CJ. I mean we are talking incredible physical tools and potential. Can the potential turn into reality? If so, with a maturing R.Ball, our next 3 years could re-write the record books at WR. And we cannot forget about the other talented athletes we signed. Talking about potential is a dangerous thing - but wow is it fun.

PJ DANIELS HOPING FOR MORE AFTER BREAKOUT SEASON
Nice story on PJ - humble as ever. No doubt this is one of the great stories in college football. The kid comes to school with no scholarship and 7th on the depth chart. He earns a ship and continues to work hard. Through injuries to others he gets a shot to excel and only leads the ACC in rushing. Wow.

BALL TALKING TOO MUCH AGAIN?
No, not really, but read this article, where Ball draws a parallel to 1990, when the hoops team reached the Final Four, then we know what happened to the football team. Coach Gailey's reaction?

"He pointed that out?" coach Chan Gailey asked. "He can think it. Just don't say it."