UCF Football assembled inside the Nicholson Fieldhouse Friday morning for their first workout spring practice. Afterward, head coach Josh Heupel spoke to attending media about the day. The team was gathering for a post-practice meeting, so it was a little shorter than usual. Here's everything Heup had to say:
On the first day of spring practice:
"Awesome. Great to get out on the grass. Ton of energy and excitement and effort from the players throughout the entire practice. We spent all that time in the weight roo, working and competing and making strides off the field, changing your body, learning some of the scheme stuff that we're going to implement, but there's nothing like getting out and competing out on the grass."
On what he's preaching this spring:
"Ton of things. For us, we use the word attack. It's how hard we're playing from snap to whistle. I think effort and energy can overcome anything. Whoever plays the hardest and longest is the one who usually wins. That's important to us. We've been stressing that in our offseason. Turnovers is the other piece of that puzzle. You look at conference champions in this league and typically it's a 2-for-1 ratio. Last year wasn't. That's typically the ratio. You look at the games we lost and turnover margin was 9-2. We lose in those three games. Each one is worth seven points. That's being stressed for our kids. Non-playing penalties has been a big part as well. Just playing with the discipline you've got to have. Play hard snap to whistle and then line up and do it all over again."
On Dillon Gabriel's drive this offseason:
"He's living in our building. Comes in, does the workout, gets extra workouts, spends a lot of time in the film room. Obviously with Coach Halzle being in there, there's a ton of fundamental things that he and all the guys have a chance to really make some strides with. He's not the only guy that's been like that in the offseason. We've had great effort. Guys are pushing to become their best. If you want to become a great player, you've got to separate yourself. Every decision is a building block to take you where you want to be."
On looking at the young guys in spring:
"Spring is a great time to look at everybody inside your program. 125 guys. It's an opportunity for every one of those guys to make strides. They all work offense and defense. Everybody is getting reps. Special teams is a great place where a lot of young guys develop. All those skills translate into offense and defense as well. It all works together. It's an opportunity for those guys to earn some playing time. Through our first two years, you've seen a lot of guys get their first snaps on that side of the ball and grow into being a great player on offense and defense."
On whether quarterback is open competition:
"It's open competition at every position. You've got to go earn it every single day. We grade tape. We evaluate every single day. The strength of one position can never be one guy. I don't care if that's d-line, offensive line, quarterbacks, linebacker. It's got to be a collective and group effort. It's great to have all those guys back. There's some consistency in that room. Because of that, I think we can continue to push and be the room we need to be to do the things that we want to when we get to next fall."
On WRs stepping up in the wake of Gabe Davis leaving:
"It was great to see Gabe do fantastic last night in the Combine and represent himself and put his best foot forward. Proud of him, what he's done and excited to see. Nevelle (Clarke) as well. That's the great thing and the hard thing about college football. A quarter of your roster, give or take a few guys, turns over every single year. Leadership roles are there to be taken. It's great to see guys starting to find their voice and thrust themselves into that role as well. Then obviously on the football field, the production that you lose, those are snaps and opportunities for somebody else to go take."
On whether there is a position he wants to see the most growth this spring:
"There's not just one position. Every position has got to grow. We've got to be better on special teams. We've got to be better in creating turnovers. We've got to be better in taking care of the football. Each position group has to push to become the absolute best they can be. That's not just one guy, that's everybody inside of that room."
