UCF's defensive line will have a new look this fall and particularly at defensive end after the graduation of Paul Carrington and Glenroy Watkins. Chris Welsh is out for the duration of spring practice with an injury, so that makes senior defensive end Kareem Reid the veteran of the group.

Reid, who transferred from Kentucky two years ago, saw his first action for the Golden Knights last fall, appearing in all 13 games and finishing with 21 tackles and one sack.

UCFSports.com caught up with Reid after Saturday's practice to get his thoughts about spring practice so far.

How was the third day, the first day in full pads today?

"It was our first day in full pads so it was real physical today. That's the way Coach O'Leary ordered it. We got after it a little bit. We got better today.

What was the last drill you guys were doing there? What is that called?

"There's a variation, people call it different things. Oklahoma's, meat grinder. We just basically line up three down linemen, three defensive linemen, a running back and a linebacker and go at it from there. It's all about shedding blocks, coming off and making a good tackle and stopping the other team."

It looks like the guys get all fired up, gets the emotion going a little bit.

"It's an exciting drill. Coach likes to start off practice like that. It gets you loose and gets you going, gets you used to the contact."

Were you guys excited to get back on the field this spring? I know you guys had a pretty good year last year, went to your first bowl game, are you ready to get things going again?

"We're definitely excited. Only goood things are ahead for us. We'd like to build on what we did last year and do even better. Win a championship this year. That's probably going to be our goal. Coach hasn't told us yet, but everybody wants to win it this time. We don't want to go in there and lose it."

Talk about yoru defensive line a little bit. I know you lose Paul Carrington, Frisner Nelson and Glenroy Watkins and you won't have Chris Welsh this spring.

"Those are big losses, but that means somebody else has to step up, including myself. I'm putting all this on myself to take some of the young guys under my wing and show them the way because right now this spring I'm the most experienced defensive end that we have. Coach is kind of leaning on me to help these other guys come along a little faster and mature a little faster than they have to."

I know you've been here for a few years, you transferred from Kentucky that one spring. Are you working on any areas in particular this spring? Are you trying to get better in any certain areas?

"Oh yeah. I'm always trying to improve. My game needs a lot of work. I need to improve in every area. You can always get better. Coach wants me to more of a physical player, a lot more often. That's one thing I'm trying to become, be as physical as possible."

I know the guys always talk about the strength training, Ed Ellis and those guys, and I know it was another intense off season I'm sure. Did the team get better in some areas? Did you guys get a lot stronger in the offseason?

"We definitely improved in our winter conditioning with Coach Ellis in all areas. It's showing on the field and it does translate for us because I can tell from when I first got here, the contact and the power wasn't there in everybody, and now you can definitely see we're all bigger, faster, and stronger since they've come in. They've done a good job with us."

I know you guys lose a few key players on defense, but have you been impressed by anybody so far this spring? I know it's only been three days, but has anybody caught your eye a little bit so far?

"The defense as a whole, the retention, we all remember. This our third year in the system so there's not as many mistakes as there used to be. I'm impressed with everybody's retention rate on the defense and the calls and there's not as many mistakes. We're just working on fundamentals and getting fundamentally sound."

Are you guys looking forward to the season? It's a few months off, but you have seven homes in front of the home crowd. Last year it was the other way around, you were on the road every other week it seemed like, you have seven home games, you get to play Florida a few miles up the road in Gainesville.

"It's going to be an exciting season. A lot of great out of conference games, some good trips, the Swamp, it doesn't get any better than that. That's probably the No. 1 college atmosphere in America. We're looking forward to it. We're excited. We just want to play ball. We have a couple telelvision games on ESPN this year. It's time for us to put UCF on the national map."