Nine days in, I would define us as a work in progress, which is to be expected. It’s a lot of new stuff, lot of new schemes, situations — every time our kids go out there and do something, it’s for the first time.

I’m very pleased with our guys in terms of their mindset, how hard they’re working, the things they’re doing to get this going in the right direction. We’re a long way from the football product we need to be to get where we want to go this season, but that’s not to say we’re disappointed.

He's had a really good spring in terms of doing the things he needs to do to take his game to the next level. He's extremely athletic. He does a really good job catching the ball out of the backfield.

I think he needs to just learn how to be a running back in the SEC and how to get 4 and 5 yards sometimes right? He does a really good job to get 30 and 35 yards. That's his national athleticism. We got to get him to be a little bit cleaner at the 4, 5 yards and that's what he's working on.

Just because you go into spring is the number one that doesn't really mean anything other than you’re number one going into spring. And Conner had earned that right, we thought, from how he had performed.

Conner knows there's a level of play that he needs to reach in order to continue to be number one and be number one when we play Notre Dame.

I think Jaylen Henderson is becoming more and more comfortable functioning within the system. He’s extremely athletic; he does have the ability to throw the football. I think just seeing the game and then kind of getting the game and slow down for him a little bit so he.. can be a little bit more consistent.

(Reed) has really, really high potential and it's very similar (to Henderson): it's can we get it to be out there every single play and you know, a little less peaks and valleys and a little bit more consistent execution and operation.

I just think it's such a huge jump and so (I’m) happy with those guys. I think they're all working in progressing. I think you're throwing them into the deep end, and they're just learning how to swim.

So every day you kind of see them take steps and take strides. You've got to really put your arm around them at times so they don't get frustrated.

I feel good about where we are at corner. I think we added a lot of really quality pieces.

I think, you know, there are some guys who are maybe better at nickel; they feel the game better as nickels. You look at a kid like Jaydon Hill; I think you’re starting to see that a little bit with Bravion Rogers, that maybe it just suits them a little better. And then you have someone like Tyreek Chappell, who I think has the flexibility to help at both spots.

I think our focus is a lot less on cohesiveness right now and a lot more on like strain, like learning how to strain to finish blocks, learning how to strain through the whistle learning how to do things that are really hard and really uncomfortable because that's the nature of playing offensive line well and so we don't put a lot of stock right now in cohesion. We want to see kids play harder and block better.

I know that our kids are happy. I know that our kids are happy in the direction of the program. I don't think I'm necessarily overly concerned with guys who are clear-cut returning players, difference makers in our program. I think there's a very good vibe around our program right now.

We're going to be very open in the spring portal in terms of evaluating and trying to see whether there's value to be added. If we feel like there's value to be added we're going to try to take advantage of it.

Nic Scourton is having a really good spring. I think he's going to have a big impact on our team. I think (guard) Armaj Reed-Adams is having a really good spring. I think he'll have a really strong impact on our team. The secondary kids, from Marcus Radcliffe, Will Lee, to Donovan Saunders to BJ Mays … we gotta get Dezz Ricks healthy, but every one of those kids has flashed at times, and I think they’re gonna add a lot of value back there.

Bryce is a safety. We recruited Bryce to play safety. We always envisioned him being a safety in this defense. He's he's not playing nickel. I don't think he's a nickel.

I've been really happy with that group. Bryce is having a really good spring. I think. He's really coming into his own back there as a player. I think Dalton Brooks has taken a huge step forward this spring and been really happy with him. I think he is an elite run and hit safety. I think he still has, you know, a little bit of gap to close in terms of processing and understanding everything that we're doing, which he's doing every day. But I do think he's got some really good traits.

Marcus Ratcliffe, I think he’s having a really good spring. Jarred Kerr is continuing to get better. And then we haven't seen Trey Jones yet. He's still recovering from something that happened during the season. And so he's just now starting to get into the mix a little bit, but we expect him to be in this competition, too. That's not even bringing up the freshmen Myles Davis and Jordan Pride. We feel really good about where that room is going forward.

I told him this story because obviously, he was mad at me because we didn't offer him coming out of high school. And I said, if he told me you were gonna look like this, three years later, it would have been a lot easier for me.

From a size standpoint, it was a hard projection. I think he was probably 195, 200 (pounds) the first time I saw him and then he kind of grew to like 220.

To his credit, is he's a completely different human right now in what he's done to his body the way he put him in the weight room, how he's developed. What he looks like, you know, he's a grown man out there playing football right now. And he's got tremendous strength and tremendous power.