- Joker Phillips who stood in for a absent Rich Brooks said that everybody's competing for a job and some are trying to make the team. They spent Friday's practice gearing up for the first major scrimmage Saturday. "I told them to get some rest and get reay to have good day tomorrow," Phillips said. "The amount of reps you get in the fall are determined in the spring.? He was asked what he was going to be looking for? "Offensively we look for effort. We talk about effort, we've got to be assignment sound and we've got to be a tougher team offensively. All three things have nothing to do with talent - we know we've got talent here. I want to see guys flying around.
- Special teams coach Steve Ortmayer was asked about where he is in attempting to replace Tim Masthay, who was the punter and kickoff guy, and who stands an excellent chance to play at the next level? Alluding to Ryan Tydlacka, he said the punting will be in good hands. The holders for place kicking will be Randall Cobb and Tyler Sargent. Place kicking chores will be handled by Lones Seiber and Tydlacka. Attempts to replace Masthay in the area of kickoff is an effort in futility expressed Ortmayer. Masthay had a touchback percentage rate higher than anybody in the SEC and third in the country.
- We spent some time using the stop-watch feature of our cell phone to clock hang-time of Tydlacka. They were consistently hang up there 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8 seconds with very distance. We confirmed that timing by Tydlacka. Tydlacka was used a lot last year as the pooch-punter and we asked the young man was a technique difference to accomplish that feat? He said - "A lot of the time it not the swiftness of the leg swing but where you drop the ball. Usually you have the ball down low and flat so when the ball hits the ground and it has a spin on it and bounces backwards instead of forward. He said his brother Wade Lydlacka, who punted for the Louisville Cardinals, is who he learned from and still confides in from time to time.