The Lions' Pride

Helps explain why theyve put Gress in the starting slot to begin the spring.

Great to hear some of these guys are showing signs already.

Wow if that quote alone doesn't say a million words about the previous training regimine for linemen I don't know what does.

Haven't been as high on Massaro as some. Maybe Fitz's S&C program will give him the explosiveness he lacked to go along with his intensity and drive.

At the tight end position you basically have the Y, which is a bigger guy who is a blocker, traditional tight end. Then we have the F position, that's more of a move guy, more of a receiver than blocker. One of the things about the tight end position in our offense is that, second to quarterback, it's probably the hardest to learn.

You're definitely starting at square one with the schemes and such. There's been adjustments to me. Roster size is a big difference here. You more than double that here in college. You have to make sure that you adjust to that. It's been a big adjustment with time management. We've cut up film for guys to watch on their own. We use New England film and film from Auburn from Ted Roof.

I feel good about recruiting. It's something that's different than it was five years ago. I feel good about where we are right now. You never really know until they sign. We'll keep working hard at it. I want a big, fast football team here. I don't ever want to be wrong on measurements. I also want to be clear that the nine guys on the staff are one team. We have to work together on the same page. We have to make sure that we're recruiting for this team and University. Right now we're off to a good start doing that.

The Blue-White game will be as real as possible. I've heard about it, I know it's a huge deal and I think that's great. For us, it's another opportunity to get better. We haven't talked about it specifically, but I'll be calling plays and Ted will be too. That's a chance to evaluate our team. We'll treat it like a game. I'm excited, but that's very much of a business day for us.

We're going to have to see where the wideouts are right now. I haven't even seen them catch a ball yet. They've got to get open and catch the football. That will be a better deal to ask during the spring.

Maybe it will become a motivator each year and an honor/award for years down the line to be the end of the year captain.

MIke Mauti is 100%. Spring practice does nothing for him, coaches are aware of it.

Sean, can someone find out if Mauti will be participating in the conditioning drills, or is he completely off limits this spring?

Friend of mine is a surgeon in another part of the country and says, with just an ACL tear, he probably was up and able to do light running a few weeks (at most) after the surgery, especially since that was the only damage in knee.

Possibly. I've honestly never heard of that before. In fact, I've heard of teams doing it the reverse way where they have the same captains each and every week and the final home game (and or bowl game) have honorary captains that join the regular game captains.

South Carolina fans on tBB keep talking about how Lattimore is running real well right now. Mauti got hurt before him FWIW.