It's been a couple of weeks since my last posting here, and now that the first bye week is over and done with, let's get caught up on the happenings today from the Burton Family Football Complex.
Zach Frazer met with reporters this morning before coach Randy Edsall. Frazer is feeling more confident and comfortable with the offense, saying the playbook is "wide open" to him. Center Keith Gray echoed Frazer's evaluation, noting that his apartment-mate wasn't down more than anyone else after the North Carolina loss, but that Frazer took the defeat as added motivation.
"Things are going good. ... I feel like I'm fitting into the offense more and more each day," Frazer said.
The redshirt sophomore philosophised that feeling good in practice and away from the field translates into how you feel and play during games. There has to be truth to that statement, nothing of an absolute nature, but certainly its encouraging.
Darius Butler, who plays on both sides, said that Frazer has looked good in practice but emphasized it is only practice and that "everyone looks good in practice."
I'll dish Edsall's words on Rutgers until later. He did have some nice tidbits...
Asked about whether Butler's play at corner has led to teams throwing more toward Jasper Howard he said, "I think that some people have a tendency to throw away from where Darius is, which would put a little more pressure on Jas. I think he's responded well to it. He has to understand that when you have a guy like Darius that people might tend to stay away from him and go after the other guy because he's the new guy on the block. I think he's responded well, He;'s got to get better; he's nowhere near where we want him to be or where he wants to be. he's making progress the more he plays, he's just got to get better with fundamentals and doing the technique exactly right. He's not a big guy, so if he can play his technique the right way all the time he has a chance to get better each game and each year."
Asked about former Husky Dan Orlovsky's play in his first career NFL start for Detroit against Minnesota, Edsall sent his former star a text message after the Lions' loss. Orlovsky committed a blunder when he ran out of the end zone for a safety against the Vikings.
"He never did that while he was here. I felt bad for him. ... I told him not to let one play get his confidence down. I'm sure he'll never do that again."
Everyone was asked how they spent the bye week. Rob Lunn went apple picking with his girlfriend, Frazer went to Boston with his girlfriend, who was visiting, Donald Brown went home for a day. Edsall had the chance to see his son, Corey play football Saturday night and checked out the new film, "The Express."
Being a Syracuse graduate, Edsall had a little more perspective on the film than most would have. That wasn't what stood out to him, however.
"I thought it was a good movie. ... To me, it was too long in the making. For kids nowadays, I don;'t think they can relate to the time frame in terms of when that took place. To me, with what Ernie Davis did, that should have been made 20 years ago.
"There probably as much football, but the racial situation he had to confront during those times. It's just interesting to see the way it was."
It doesn't happen too often that something other than football is discussed at these pressers. But that was a nice, brief break. It was followed by a great question asked by Desmond Connor of the Hartford Courant regarding Edsall's stance on his players being outspoken on various issues.
"I think if people have a cause or if they feel strongly about something, I think they should go ahead and pursue or be active in whatever role they want to partake in supporting that cause or bringing attention to that cause but understanding they can't let that affect what their jobs are. That's to be a student and to be an athlete, first and foremost. If they have the time to do those things and not affect those other areas, I'm all for that. If you are going to be involved or champion or be an advocate for certain things, then you need to make sure you are thoroughly prepared to discuss those issues and be able to have your points to get out. I never want to see one of our players do it be the seat of their pants or a fly-by-night thing because then it turns back the other way against them. If you feel strongly about certain things, in this country, you have that right to be able to express yourself. As you express yourself, make sure you have all your ducks in a row and your prepared to discuss it and handle any questions that come back at you. I think that's all part of the growing process, that's all part of the total person philosophy that we have within our program. We want to develop that. When they leave here, the majority of them are not going to the NFL. They're going to go out into all walks of life and you better be ready to communicate, you better be able to stand up for yourself. If you have that forum, if you have that platform while you're in college, just do it the right way and handle it the right way."
That's it for now. In the next post, we'll see what Rutgers coach Greg Schiano had to say, as well as Donald Brown, Darius Butler, Cody Brown and Keith Gray.
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