	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

PURDUE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 2, 2008

Joe Tiller

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the first press conference the year. Purdue is taking on Northern Colorado this weekend at 12:03 p.m. We'll open up the floor to coach Tiller here.
COACH TILLER: Thank you. Any questions?

Q. Could I ask you a little bit about your relationship with Scott Downing. I know you've had a long-standing relationship with him at Wyoming and Purdue. Could you tell me if you've given him any advice on basically how to handle building a program from the ground up?
COACH TILLER: I wished him a lot of good luck. But, you know, it's a challenge certainly. I think patience is a virtue certainly in a situation such as Coach Downing has gotten himself into at Northern. When I say 'gotten himself into,' I think he understood exactly what the parameters were, you know, that till you become fully funded, et cetera, it's a challenge, then oftentimes you have some leftover issues to deal with. Just to be patient and stick by your philosophy.
I know that we've talked. You know, I think you have to stay true to yourself. That's about the only way you can build a program and maintain your sanity both.

Q. Scott was joking at a luncheon this summer. He was trying to trade Air Force so Air Force could play you. Are you going to take it easy on your old colleague?
COACH TILLER: No (laughter). You know, I don't know about games like this. You know, you get into them. Sometimes on paper one team clearly looks superior to the other, particularly when you're playing on the different classification levels. I'm still not sure about the subterranean bowl level or whatever. So I call it D1 and IAA. I know it's defense. But they can prove to be very competitive games.
I really don't know how the game will play out with Coach Downing and the Bears. But, you know, we'll play our guys. Hopefully we can make some hay and get some things done.
I don't know what the game will look like late in the game. So who knows.

Q. I understand you're coming back to Buffalo, Wyoming, next year.
COACH TILLER: Right.

Q. This makes you one of the few coaches in America who knows what he's doing next year. Could you talk about how Purdue has always shown such class handling the transition. They did that with Coach Keady and with you. You look at what Colorado State did.
COACH TILLER: I think it was unfortunate what happened there in Fort Collins. You know, we're fortunate here in the sense that I knew in advance when I was going to stop coaching. So my discussions with the athletic director here had been along those lines.
Therein I think lies the difference between myself and Sonny at CSU. But, you know, it certainly was a transition that was very successful here at Purdue with Coach Keady, the basketball, with Matt Painter coming in here and taking over. I certainly hope the same thing will occur in football. But it was nice we could plan accordingly and not be disrupted.

Q. Talk to me about your team this year. What are the differences between the guys, the group of guys you have this season as opposed to heading into last season?
COACH TILLER: Well, I think last season, particularly when you look at guys like Dorien Bryant, Dustin Keller, you know, I think we had some big-play guys that had been around here for a while. This year I don't think we have those guys from a reputation point of view. I'm not saying we don't have big-play guys on our roster, but the guys, they haven't played that much, with the exception of Greg Orton.
I think an outsider would look at us and say, Hey, we've lost a lot of firepower. You know, we're going to look a little bit different as a team this year. But I certainly hope we'll be able to score some points once again.
Defensively I think we run a lot better on defense this year than we did last year. And I think that's true pretty much at all positions. So I think we'll be an improved defense. And I think offensively I hope it's business as usual here at Purdue.

Q. Offensively who are you trying to get the ball in the hands of?
COACH TILLER: Alan The Horse Ameche. Well, he's not here (laughter).
Orton, of course. Greg Orton. I think it's really interesting. For instance, Greg Orton is a guy that's not considered to be a premiere pass receiver. I think he's caught 120 passes in the last two years. Last time I checked, that was an average of 60 per year. Oftentimes that will lead teams in receptions. As a matter of fact, it could lead conferences in receptions. And yet he's not viewed upon as being the marquee-type guy.
My point being, certainly when he steps out behind the shadow of Bryant or Keller, he has the capabilities of putting up even bigger numbers than he has in the past. So I think that will prove to be fruitful and productive for us.
But we have a number of receivers, whether it's Keith Smith or Whittington or Whitest or Valentin or Curry. Whoever you look at on the Purdue roster, Tardy, we're going to play at Purdue seven or eight receivers. And when they haven't been starting because of who we've had at the positions in the past, it's hard for me to stand here and predict this guy's going to catch X number of passes and that guy is going to catch X number of passes. I just know we're going to continue to pass the football.

Q. As far as running the ball, Jaycen Taylor was injured in the pre-season. How much was he expected to play and how do you compensate for him being injured? Is it all about Kory Sheets now?
COACH TILLER: Pretty much so. I think Kory is going to have to be the real workhorse. You know, I think we've got a number of young guys, just like the wide receivers, as the season unfolds, I think they'll maybe come into focus a little bit better.
But I think Kory, obviously with his experience and talent, will be in the lead.

Q. Can you talk about the characteristics you saw in Scott Downing that you thought might make him a good head coach.
COACH TILLER: What would make him a good head coach?

Q. Yes.
COACH TILLER: Well, Scott was extremely well-organized. He's a very personable man. He's a compassionate guy. He's knowledgeable. I really felt like Scott had all the qualities.
I'm not that hung up on titles, yet it seems like today we have to have a title for nearly everything. But, you know, when given the opportunity, he was the assistant head coach both at Wyoming and at Purdue for us here. And the reason for that is because he had been a head coach, but also just his demeanor and the way he carries himself. I thought, you know, it fit the bill in terms of being a very good head coaching candidate.

Q. I know you also know our defensive coordinator (Cody Deti). What do you remember about him as a player at Wyoming?
COACH TILLER: Not much (laughter). He might get a chuckle out of that. He came to us as a walk-on player and was a pretty good football player, quite frankly. But he always was pulling hamstrings. I used to joke with him, you know. I said, You have to be a sprinter before you pull a hamstring. Why three consecutive, a fall, a sprain, a fall, do you come up with pulled hamstrings and you can't get into much practice? His dad being a very, very successful high school coach there in Laramie. I think he knew if he had a pulled hamstring, he wouldn't have to worry about getting critiqued at home or some such thing.
But he was a good, knowledgeable guy. Really into football. He's one of the few guys, I think in my however many years I've been a head coach, I'm not sure we've had three. I'm sure I could name three guys who were playing that we allowed to come out and coach and help work with our other players. He was one of those guys because he was really a football junky and really into football, really into studying the game, et cetera.
You could tell early on that this guy was going to be a football coach from a professional point of view.

Q. Kory Sheets, he's an aggressive runner. Has he improved on ball security?
COACH TILLER: Well, we certainly hope so. You know, that's been a big point of emphasis for us. Once again, I guess we won't know till we get out there. In our scrimmages this fall, he's done a very good job of hanging onto the football.
It's one of those situations, and you know this, sometimes you can talk about something and you almost become paranoid about it, so you're better off not talking about it.
Kory is fully aware of some of the issues he's had in the past regarding ball security. I think he's made a very, very conscious effort this fall.
He is a very reckless runner. I think if you are a reckless runner, you know, you're probably subjected to getting the ball knocked out of your hands occasionally. But hopefully that won't occur very often, if at all.

Q. Cory Benton, after five years, finally going to get his start. What did he do to separate himself to get that position from the competition?
COACH TILLER: Well, he's gotten bigger every year, a little more physical every year. That really helped. You know, he's been a tough guy all along. Corey's biggest dilemma, quite frankly, is that he was undersized as a walk-on player when he first showed up at Purdue, and he remained an undersized player for about three years. I say that because each year he would gain some weight and improve his strength somewhat, but he really wasn't up to Big Ten standards from a physical point of view.
Last year as a junior, really a fourth-year player, he really started to come into his own. This year certainly he's developed, you know. But it's his fifth year in this program. He's done a good job. You know, he's a guy that his experience shows now. Although he didn't start that much for us, he got quite a bit of playing time. He's a relaxed player, which as you know is the best guy. You want a guy that's intense, but the other side of the coin, you don't want a guy that is so nervous he can't think and function at the position. Of course, at the center position here at Purdue, where you need to call out a lot of the blocking schemes, you need a guy that has a lot of composure and can handle it.
Corey is a smart guy, and I think that helps in that area.

Q. On the defensive side of the ball, Kevin Green. Watching him in the spring, he runs real well. Good sideline-to-sideline player. At times it looked as though he was thinking too much and it kind of hindered him playing tenaciously. Is he more on the go now or is he still thinking?
COACH TILLER: I think he's taking another step in that area, but he's not where we would like him to be just yet. Kevin is a talented guy and could be a very good player. But he hasn't been the most physical middle linebacker we've ever had. Just like ball security for Kory Sheets, playing physical has been a point of emphasis with us as a coaching staff with Kevin Green.
I thought he improved a little bit last spring in that area. I think he's improved a lot this fall in that area. You know, this will be his first year as being a full-time starter, just a sophomore. You know, we'll see how the young man responds.

Q. You mentioned working with Kory Sheets on holding onto the ball. Do you change the way he holds it when he's running it or how do you work with him about that to try to keep him from fumbling?
COACH TILLER: Well, you always talk about pressure points and the proper way to secure a ball. You coach that. So, no, we didn't change the way that he holds the ball, but just the emphasis.
You know, the one thing that I think players with a ball in their hands tend to forget is how significant it is or how important it is to cover the ball up in the contact area. In other words, when we're running in space, we can allow the ball to get a little bit away from our body to allow for more arm action, a little more fluidity. Is that a word? We got a yes vote on that (laughter).
Anyway, you can run easier with the ball when you're not constricted against your body. But when three defenders are closing in on you, they have you pinned in against the sideline, you're going to drop your shoulder, try to make another yard or whatever, you can't have the ball loose or away from your body. That's the contact area. That's where you really need to cover it up and get a second hand on the ball.
That's been a point of emphasis for Kory, but not necessarily how he's been gripping the ball.

Q. How do you go into this year knowing it's your last? Sounds like the passion for football is still there. Any thoughts going into this year? You could say stuff because you know the guys will never get back at you.
COACH TILLER: No, but that's a good idea. I like the way you're thinking (laughter).
You know, I've made comments around here locally that I haven't thought much about it. I actually avoid thinking about it because this is I guess the 44th year that I've been doing this, which is quite a chunk out of one's lifetime.
I think right at maybe the end of the season we'll get a little more emotional when I realize I'm running out there for the last time or some such thing. My wife probably will be in attendance on the field. I'm a little concerned about that because she'll probably be an emotional wreck. But I have really avoided thinking about any of that. I'm into the season. I'm anxious to get started. I want to see this football team get going. There are challenges every year that you're presented as a coach. I look forward to those.
I'm just thinking about football and the football season. I'm not thinking about a career and a career ending as a coach. So maybe towards the tail end that will change, but right now I feel like it's my first year as being a head coach.

Q. How comfortable are you leaving the program in the hands of Danny Hope?
COACH TILLER: I'm really comfortable. Danny was with us at our prior stop. He was with us here early. You know, he's a very capable guy. He's a guy that's passionate about the game.
If you talk to any of his position players that we're here at Purdue when he was an assistant, he still stays in contact with those guys. They call him. It's always easier, by the way, when a player calls you. You might call him six times and never be able to reach him. But based on their schedules, it's a lot easier if they call you.
I know he talks time to time to (indiscernible), he talks with Matt Light, Gene Mruczkowski he talked with just this past spring. Actually trying to talk Gene into coming back and being a GA. I don't think he's had any luck.
My point is, all those players really enjoyed playing for him. You know, I think the same will be true for the entire team. I'm very, very comfortable with Danny's role right now. He's very, very good about being a line coach. He's not a guy that's standing at the door at my office each day wanting to know when he can get in and sit in the big chair. He's not that way. He's more focused on O line play and trying to get the offensive line straightened out and the right guys at the right positions, et cetera.
I think he's going to fit in perfectly.

Q. When you look at this game on Saturday, how do you prevent your team from being overconfident? Is that one of your biggest challenges this week?
COACH TILLER: Well, I hope not. I think you need to respect every opponent. I think overconfidence is perhaps created more by lack of respect than anything else. I think our players have a healthy respect for Northern Colorado. None of them here know Coach Downing. If we've been playing him five years ago when the players on the team would have known Coach Downing personally, they would understand that he's a serious guy and a very competent coach and will have his team ready.
You know, that's what we've told our team. I think our team is anxious to play a game. I don't sense any overconfidence on our players' part. I think we're anxious to get out there and play a football game. Whether it's Northern Colorado or University of Anchorage, it really doesn't matter.

Q. What can you learn from a game like this or what do you expect to learn?
COACH TILLER: The players in our rotation as far as receivers are concerned, we're going to try to play a lot of different guys in the defensive front because what we'd like to do, we say this every year, we haven't had much success with it, but we'd like to play a lot of front guys. We think that's an advantage, particularly in this conference.
Offensively all those guys missed so much time in the spring. We're anxious to see if they're back up to game speed right away in the O line. You know, we want to see how the young running backs respond. We're anxious to play the game because we think we can learn a lot about our own team. We don't need to worry about the opponent. We've got plenty to worry about when we think about ourselves.

Q. Can you go through the rotation of your running backs.
COACH TILLER: Well, Sheets of course will start. From there on I think it will depend on who gets out there and does something. Dan Dierking is kind of the odds-on favorite to get the first call in a substitution situation, but it might be Frank Halliburton. It might be Justin Siller. You know, it will depend on what the situation is.
But we feel like we've got four, maybe even five running backs that we could play in the game. We're anxious to play a game and see what those guys bring to the table and truly who will surface as the first sub, if you will, for Kory Sheets.

Q. Is Siller's future going to be as a running back at Purdue?
COACH TILLER: I think so. You know, I would strongly encourage that. He's not an accomplished running back by any stretch of the imagination today. But I think he has tremendous upside. Here is a young man that's been a quarterback all his life. Now he's playing a much different role, much more physical. He's noticed that already. He's a little sore in his shoulders, his rib area, where he didn't have to deal with that as a quarterback. So I think he's learning a lot about the demands of the position.
I think in the off-season when he gets in the weight room, he will be on a different lifting program. It's hard to change much during the season because things move so fast, you know, you're always on the go. But in the off-season, if he's left at running back, he will have a different lifting program which I think will get him better prepared to play as a running back.
So I see a lot of reasons why he should stay at running back. Now, I'm not going to be the head coach here, so that's not going to be my call. But if I were here, he would remain at running back.

Q. Coach Keady said he wasn't comfortable coaching against friends. What is your philosophy on that? Are you uncomfortable with it?
COACH TILLER: Well, yes and no. It doesn't bother me. Obviously you want to win the football game. You hate to see a friend lose a game. But the other side of the coin is, I'd rather him lose it than me.
So, you know, I'm not that uncomfortable with it.

Q. Based on the depth chart here, I assume you don't plan on having Ryan Kerrigan or Jared Zwilling?
COACH TILLER: I was sitting there eating lunch today and I was thinking about, What kind of questions am I going to get today? I'm going to have some questions about the health of our team. You guys know I say this, I've said this a hundred times, I'll say it again: Monday's our off day so we don't see them. As it turned out this week because of the open day, we gave them Sunday off, so they were off both Sunday and Monday. We haven't seen Jared since last Saturday.
The reason I bring that up is because oftentimes I never know what the status of a player is till we get to that Tuesday practice in the afternoon. I really wish this particular thing were on Wednesday because I would be much better equipped to answer that question. I'll try to answer it anyway.
I think Kerrigan is out. We might be able to play him, but I would like to think that we can do the smart thing and not play him. I think that Zwilling is out, but I haven't seen him in a couple of days. He has a lesser injury than Ryan does. So we've got a chance to get Jared back. But I don't know until I see him. I didn't see a trainer's report before I came over, so I don't know how he's responded to treatment the last couple days.
The fact we had the two days off, instead of getting one or two treatments a day, he can get four treatments a day. Both those guys may have moved quite a bit from where they were last Saturday.

Q. Why are you so high on Keith Smith? You seem very enthusiastic about him.
COACH TILLER: Well, I don't know, sometimes you get a gut feeling about a guy. He's a physical player. He likes the physical part of the game. He's 180-degree turnaround from what we've had at the slot position. He's not a finesse guy. He does have good hands. He's athletic. But he's physical. He'll come out there and he'll put his noggin on you and block you and get after you. So I like his physical style of play. I like the fact that after he catches the ball, you know, unless something happens really quick, it usually takes more than one guy to get him down, sometimes three, because of how physical he is. I don't see him running away from anybody. I see him making good routes, breaks on the routes, et cetera, getting open, but I don't see him catching the ball and going 70 yards. But he can break tackles against anybody.
So, you know, it's just such a different style of play at that position that we've had in quite some time that I'm just anxious to see the guy play.

Q. Is there anybody you can compare him to that you've had in the past?
COACH TILLER: No.

Q. Your only big slot receiver I think you had was Daniels.
COACH TILLER: I was going to say, if there was anybody, it would be like Chris. Chris had a phenomenal senior year with 120 or 121 catches. Maybe Keith will be that way, too. But Keith is not in Chris' final year, he's not in that same category today. But he's young and he could work his way there. But he would be similar.
I would think he might even be more physical than Chris because he's pretty strong, although Chris Daniels as a senior, he threw up 340 or 350 or 360 pounds on the bench. You don't have receivers doing that. So Keith is similar to that.

Q. Obviously started as a quarterback, moved to secondary, back to quarterback. He's relatively young as a sophomore. Did you ever wonder if he was ever going to find his place, so to speak?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, I actually thought he'd end up in the secondary. But what happened the last year when he was in the redshirt situation because of the family issues, et cetera, when he dropped out of school, he obviously had a redshirt year available, what happened last year is he jumped over there as a scout team player. We were short a receiver one day. He jumped over there 'cause he's a good guy and a team guy. He said, I'll go do that. He went over there and made three really good catches. All of a sudden it was like, Not so fast, Keith, maybe you ought to go over there with the receivers and not be with those DBs. That's kind of the evolution of him as a receiver to date.

Q. I always ask you about true freshmen. Carson is going to kick off for you probably, probably play maybe Carlino. Anybody else?
COACH TILLER: I was just going through that in my mind on the weekend. I think we have three freshmen that could play for us. There's four, but one of them is in New Jersey. We have three. I think if we were to try a field goal at 50 plus yards, we would send Wiggs in there to kick the field goal. As strong-legged as Chris Summers is, Wiggs is even stronger. He's not as consistent as Chris. I think Chris Summers will be our place kicker. But if we were to try a last-second kick, we were over 50, we'd have Carson Wiggs kick it. He hit one from 59 the other day. He hit it like with three or four yards more than he had on the kick.
Anyway, a guy that we're not going to play right now, but I wouldn't hesitate to see us put him on the field, is Kevin Green. I think he's really made great progress and he covers you up. I think he could go out there and play. The last one is Carlino, Chris. I think Chris is a guy that will play for us this fall. Those are the only three freshmen at this time that I see playing. We don't even have Kevin Green in the two-deep. I can tell you this right now, the more and more reps he gets, the more difficult he comes to get open again. He's one of those guys that's a natural. He's not awestruck by the position or the reputation of the receiver, whatever. I mean, he kind of gets in your hip pocket and stays there. Whether we play him or not remains to be seen.

Q. Can you talk about Ryan Baker and what you see in him, how he's progressing.
COACH TILLER: Yeah, Bakes is a good guy. He's stronger, more physical. Sees things better today than he ever has. Plays hard. Not much about Ryan Baker has changed, quite frankly. I think the two things that have changed about him is he's a little bit stronger than he was a year ago - not significantly, but a little bit. I think he sees things much better than he did as an underclassman. It's hard to fool him anymore with wraps and draws and screens and those type things. He just has a nose for the football, which comes with experience.

Q. The linebacker depth, how do you see that?
COACH TILLER: Well, I think we're okay. We finally moved Joe Holland up there. Joe has done a really good job. I see him playing on a very limited basis this year because of his size. The guy has yet to get a B at Purdue. He's a four-point student. The reason I bring that up is he's one of the guys that takes that on the field, too. You show him something once, he's got it. You don't have to repeat anything with Holland. The reason I bring that up is he may get on the field for that very reason. He's an undersized guy, but he plays the position very well.
Otherwise, you know, you see who the starters are. There really hasn't been a change with Haston. Carlino has been there for a while. The big change at linebacker in the last 10 days has been the emergence of Joe Holland.

Q. Looks like you'll go with Hedstrom. What has he done this last year to jump up as the third guard?
COACH TILLER: He just is a more knowledgeable player. I think he's trying to be more physical at the position. Eric, for as big as he is, body weight to strength ratio is not that great. He was a high school basketball player. Never a guy that spent a lot of time in a weight room. His strength is improving rapidly now, but he's behind everybody else at his age.
You know, what he's done, he has a much better understanding of the offense. We trust him more.

Q. What do you like about Brandon Whittington?
COACH TILLER: I just think his composure on the field. He's a guy that's been around the block. He's paid his dues. He's waited his turn. He's had a good training camp. He broke that ankle right there at the end of the spring. He's come back from that. I think maybe the last four or five practices have been his best. He's finally over that ankle thing. I think when we started in the fall, he wasn't. I think he's ready to go.

Q. He's been a good blocker for you.
COACH TILLER: He catches the ball pretty consistently. I say that because I'm not sure he's going to catch every ball that comes his way, but he's going to catch his share of 'em and do a good job with it. He's a guy we feel like we can trust.

Q. (Question regarding Ralph Bolden.)
COACH TILLER: I think that is going to be determined on how the other backs do. If we don't feel we're getting the productivity from the other backs we're looking for, then we might move Ralph a little bit further up the line. But I think right now he's having a redshirt year.

Q. Halliburton, is he a fullback type or is he becoming a more all-around guy?
COACH TILLER: Frank is an interesting guy to me. He's a big man who thinks he weighs 178. He weighs 251. He would much rather get involved in a finesse game than a physical game.
Now, he has improved in the physical approach to the game, too. But he's not a punishing runner. I can't remember the guy's name, but the last really what I consider to be punishing runner in our league was a kid from Michigan State last year. I thought he was a punishing-type runner.
Frank has that guy's body. He's not a type guy that drops pad on you and punishes you, that type stuff. He might want to try to stiff arm you, kick outside, try to get up the sideline or something like that. Has pretty good speed actually.

Q. All-around back then?
COACH TILLER: Whatever you want to call him, you go ahead.

Q. You were talking about the excitement about Keith Smith, his physical abilities. Does he also have the physical ability that helps him at the line of scrimmage?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, I would this I so. We don't come up and press him because we know physically we can't. We haven't done that much against him. I think his first test will be probably during the season itself. We don't have anybody coming up and pressing him.

Q. Talk about giving the team Sunday off. An extra day of getting their legs fresh, two days back to back?
COACH TILLER: A couple reasons. That was one of the reasons. I thought about giving them Saturday off and practicing Sunday, then Monday off. I thought maybe two days in a row off would be more time for them to get away. I also think mentally we pushed them and pushed them and pushed them. I think stepping back away from the game was good, particularly in light of the fact that on Sunday they had no class or anything. I thought it truly was an off day. During the season, Monday is our day off, but they're going to class. Many of them have labs at night. It might be a day off for us, but it's not a day off for them. Whereas Sunday was truly a day off. As it turned off, it's Labor Day, so...
I look for us to have a good practice tonight, upbeat, moving around, our legs underneath us, getting with it.

Q. (Question about Garret Miller)?
COACH TILLER: Miller is the only other guy with an ankle, but Miller has improved rapidly. Actually practiced some Saturday. Now with a couple more days, I'd say he's a hundred percent.

Q. Kory, do you notice a difference in him since the injury? Not that he's jumping up and down. Just the fact that he knows now the ball is in his hands.
COACH TILLER: I think there's a greater sense of urgency by him, not just from a productivity point of view but also from a leadership point of view. He seems to be a little more vocal than he was. Kind of left that up to Taylor in the past. I'm not going to say he's Jaycen Taylor, but he's more vocal than he has been.

Q. Mike Neal, you talk about him staying healthy. Everybody seems to talk about his strength as well. Can you kind of put that in perspective, where he kind of ranks in the team? Are the numbers he's able to put up really that inspiring?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, I think he benches a ridiculous number. He probably could bench 500. I wouldn't be surprised, he has another year left, I wouldn't be surprised to see our first 500-pound bencher. I don't know if he will, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did.
One of the reasons for that is because he really enjoys lifting weights. Sometimes guys, they get strong because they've got a long way to come from. Their strength improves rapidly. He came in here enjoying the weight room.
But Mike is a strong guy. We talk about him staying healthy. That pretty much summarizes it up. We have yet to see Mike Neal play a season. If he plays a full season, I think we will be better able to judge what he contributes.

Q. Sounds like he gets teased a little bit for his size. I guess he used to be a bouncer in a club.
COACH TILLER: I don't know anything about that.

Q. Has there been any clarification? We know about Orton, Smith, but any clarification in terms of other receivers stepping up?
COACH TILLER: I think a guy that's made a move here during camp has been Aaron Valentin. The only thing that just really - isn't that out horrible - sticks out in your mind, the one dropped pass. He had a really good scrimmage last Thursday. Caught balls, made a great catch along the sideline, has really bought into being physical, being a blocker, did a great job with that. We decided to do a two-minute segment. He was about as open as I am right now, and he dropped the ball. Hit him in the chest. So you think about that. Well, you forget about the three really good catches and the good blocks he made during the day.
I guess if he can catch 75% of the balls thrown his way, we'll be very pleased with him. But he's made a big move, in my opinion.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
COACH TILLER: Curtis, he's the type of guy that I would expect, but I have yet to see him do it, walk into my office with a spit cup in his hand. A guy with cowboy boots on, jeans. He kind of gives you that impression. But he's not that way. But he's very stable. Sometimes it's hard to tell when he's excited and when he's not because his demeanor is as close to being the same at all times.

Q. How comfortable are you with your return game?
COACH TILLER: That's one of the questions we need to answer. Right now we're returning by committee. Besides Des (Tardy), we have half a dozen guys catching punts every day, catching kickoffs. So we'll see.

Q. You were talking about not having a reputation of having big-play guys this year. Are you okay with that? Can you go through a whole season without knowing we have a certain field player? Do you like having kind of the team concept?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, I mean, I'm fine with that. It actually can help your defense if you're a ball-control type offense, keep the defense from being on the field too much. If we have a bunch of eight-yard gains versus a bunch of 80-yard gains. I shouldn't say a bunch. If we have a bunch of eight-yard gains, instead after few 80-yard gains, which is what we've had in the past, that helps your defense. I think we're okay with that.
THE MODERATOR: That's it for today, Coach. Appreciate your time.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297