Strong's press conference was brief and to the point.
The defensive starters:
DE Davis
DT Jackson
DT Brown
DE Reed
LB Jinkens
LB Edmond
LB Hicks
CB Thomas
CB Diggs
S Thompson
S Hall or Haines
- Hammad is gone. He didn't elaborate and wished him well.
- They'll do a simulated scrimmage on Saturday to establish game day routines. Sunday is a rest day and then they'll got into normal opponent weekly preparation for North Texas. I doubt they'll hit too much next week. Probably just Tuesday.
- Praised Daje Johnson's ability. Asked by reporter what Daje can do to stay around and contribute to his potential. Strong: "That's his decision." Looks like expectations are clear. If he meets, he has a big role. If he doesn't, he won't.
- Tyrone Swoopes is the #2 QB. Seemed emphatic on that point.
- Praised work habits of Gray and Brown.
- Shipley is doing drills, but not fully practicing or running routes. My interpretation was that they were shooting for him to play against BYU or UCLA, not North Texas.
- Strong was asked about walk-ons. His philosophy: "I just look and say 'there's a football player we need to go develop." Sort of what I was driving at in my article two days ago. Perception doesn't mean a lot to him. Chop wood, carry water.
- Strong confirmed that Jason Hall and Dylan Haines were still battling for starting safety. Hall is the more physical of the two.
- Offense is in flux. Still working out WR. John Harris is getting heavy reps.
- Praised Ash heavily. Good camp.
- You can tell very easily where the defense is vs. the offense at this stage based on his tone and non-verbals. The offense is behind - if you need that spelled out.
- No word on how long the suspended players will be suspended. I don't think he's being coy - I think he has a set target, but player actions can extend it. So best not to comment and have reporters ponder why he'd say one thing and do another.
Quick rule of thumb I'm learning about Strong: take the most logical, simplest most straightforward explanation possible to explain any possible ambiguity and you'll be right 98% of the time.
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