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BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: AUBURN v OREGON

January 6, 2011

Darron Thomas

GLENDALE, ARIZONA

Q. How much fun is it to run this offense?
DARRON THOMAS: It is a fun, tight offense, equal opportunity offense. A lot of people can score touchdowns.

Q. Are there any nicknames for the offense that you guys have come up with given how quick you snap the ball?
DARRON THOMAS: No nicknames, just "Speedy Ducks."

Q. What have you seen other defenses kind of wear down? What is that like during a game when you guys see fake an injury? Did you see them getting gassed?
DARRON THOMAS: We see guys getting gassed. That's working with our tempo and things like that. That's where we want to come out, and do.
So it happens a lot in the second half because we start to wear teams down. But like when it happens, we start to get more amped and go more faster.

Q. Do you feel like no one can stop you given -- I know Cal came close. What's the mind-set there as you approach this game?
DARRON THOMAS: We just feel like nobody can stop us but ourselves. We go out mentally prepared, ready to go. Nobody can stop us but ourselves.

Q. What has been the best part of the week for you?
DARRON THOMAS: Staying focused, staying on top of our game and getting back crisp with the passing game and things like that. Just practicing and getting ready to go.

Q. Coach Kelly is all about staying in the moment and not looking ahead. Are you finally glad to have one game and knowing now it's finally going to end and we can focus on that and look ahead to just one game?
DARRON THOMAS: We just focus about this game, not really worry about nothing else. This is the last game, so we are going to leave everything on the floor.

Q. Are you worried about the size of Auburn?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really because each game is like that. Everybody is bigger than us. So just a regular game.

Q. During the recruiting process what told you this was the offense and this was the program for you?
DARRON THOMAS: It was similar to the offense we had in high school: read, look, things like that. Whenever I went, I knew I was going to make it work.

Q. Did you come close to not being here? You had committed to LSU?
DARRON THOMAS: This is my last pick, so I really didn't have no indecisive pick about this, because the pick I wanted I knew in my heart.

Q. Watching film on Auburn's defense, what do you see?
DARRON THOMAS: Big guys, fast guys, real sound. It is going to be a test for us. We just got to make sure we come out mentally prepared and ready to go and just ready to adjust anything they throw at as you.

Q. What do you say about Nick Fairley?
DARRON THOMAS: He is a big guy. Everybody has seen him. He is a good guy. Quicker than most people think he is. He is going to be a big task for us.

Q. Are you surprised how quick he is off the snap as big as he is?
DARRON THOMAS: I have watched him before. I know he is similar to the guys on our team. We have a quicker D line. He is a good guy.

Q. Looking at their defensive secondary, obviously you want to exploit your receivers and speed. Just talk about that.
DARRON THOMAS: I got a well-rounded secondary. Some guys stay on their keys. We can do some things to get those guys mixed up.

Q. What's it like being the other quarterback with Cam getting so much attention?
DARRON THOMAS: That's good because I can climb under the radar and focus on the game.

Q. What's it like running this offense?
DARRON THOMAS: That's a good offense because equal opportunity offense. Everybody can get the ball at any time and just all work together.

Q. Is it hard to learn? Hard to run?
DARRON THOMAS: It is hard to learn because there is a lot of mental preparation, really got to get in the books. Got to stay on your film break because it is kind of a difficult offense.

Q. With 35 days to prepare, will we see a lot different with this offense? Or is it a case of what got you here?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really. What got us here, just cleaning up some things that we got messed up in the season and just coming out and doing our job.

Q. Can you walk through the process of playing so quickly, by the time a play ends and when the play comes in. It has to be a big deal, I would imagine.
DARRON THOMAS: I just right after the play get my eyes to the sideline. That's one of the things we were taught, just moving while you are looking at the sideline, everybody gets their positions, things like that. Just getting the play, running the play, make sure you know where to go. Make sure you got it mentally in your head what you got to do and where you need to line up.

Q. Are they usually one word? I don't want you to give away secrets, but how do you get so fast?
DARRON THOMAS: I don't know. It is a lot of words, but everybody is being mentally prepared and everybody making looks, they know what they have to do.

Q. I think LaMichael had a 42-yard touchdown against USC and you lined up fast on that play. Is that an example of what you can do to line up so fast?
DARRON THOMAS: Yeah, it is a tempo offense. We got to come out and line up on the ball fast. Make the defense show us what they are going to do so we can adjust off that.

Q. How did your signaling change from last year to this year? In the off-season there was suspicion. Is it more complicated now? More reads?
DARRON THOMAS: Just made it -- just changed it up. Whole different change, just new signals. New words for everything. Kind of similar to last year, just a different pronunciation.

Q. Is it hard to remember all of them? Does it take a while?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really, when you practice it every day, all day every week.

Q. What's the first thing that happens when you start to sense the opposing defense is -- the first sign of wearing down and the first sign of fatigue?
DARRON THOMAS: We want to go faster so we maybe come out faster than what we were running before. So we want to come out and run three or four plays as quick as we can and quicker.

Q. How can you tell?
DARRON THOMAS: I get it from the offensive line. I don't see it because I am so focused on the defense and things like that. The offensive line comes back and tells me that the guys want to get up the game. A lot of times they are talking to the offense, like, Y'all need to slow down. Telling us we need to slow down. It gets our linemen ready to go. We can out physical them guys like that.

Q. Can Auburn's defense keep up? Are they quick to the line as well?
DARRON THOMAS: It is going to be a challenge. We don't know what they will come out and do. We know we have to come out and do our thing and be ready to go.

Q. If they decide to take LaMichael out of the game and put it on you?
DARRON THOMAS: That's what they are planning to do. It happened to us all this year, and we still made adjustments off of it. I'm happy with the ball in my hands.

Q. Not many people would have thought you guys would be here in this game this year. But if you were, they wouldn't expect you to be quarterbacking. But you did. Can you talk about your confidence and knowing this was the year for you to play and you are ready to do it?
DARRON THOMAS: I just came out working from the jump, knowing there is an opportunity I need to take advantage of. Just knowing I had to be the quarterback of the team and the leader of the team and be mentally prepared and ready to go.

Q. As a young guy, though, on the depth chart, what made you think that you would be the starter, you were ready to be the starter?
DARRON THOMAS: I just knew it. I had to just take everything heads up because I got a lot of older guys, I was the only guy that didn't play on the team last year, that started this year. So I was just the last piece of the puzzle. I had to work extra hard because I was the new guy.

Q. Can you talk about your similars and differences -- similarities and differences between you and Cam Newton, looking at him and knowing what you do?
DARRON THOMAS: I think we do a little bit both. They got a lot of read plays and things like that. He may run the ball a little bit more than me, but that's the design of our offense. We both throw it.

Q. Similarities between your offense and Auburn's offense?
DARRON THOMAS: That's a lot of zone reading, getting guys out on the edge, running fast. I don't know. There are a lot of a lot of (indiscernible) run. We are more of a diverse team doing a little bit of both 50/50. I think it is a similar offense. It will help us out with our defense.

Q. What makes your program successful?
DARRON THOMAS: The running, the tempo, everybody wants to score points, puts up the stats. I wanted to come here and continue that.

Q. Is that hard -- I mean, you guys are a traditional football power. Is there a little bit of leap of faith saying, Yeah, I will try to win a national championship in Oregon?
DARRON THOMAS: I know in my own heart. I didn't have anybody pushing anywhere. My family let me make my own decision. We lived with it.

Q. Did any schools in Texas come after you very much?
DARRON THOMAS: I was Texas A&M, Texas Tech. Of course, I was going to Texas A&M when I was a younger guy because they had a similar reading offense with the zone reading. But not really.

Q. You guys have been so great in the second half, coming back and everything, but so has Auburn. Getting down and knowing that the Auburn offense --
DARRON THOMAS: I was going to try to come and get on top of those guys.
We know it will be a battle. We don't think it will be a blow-out game or nothing like that. We know it will be a battle to the end and we've got to play all four quarters.

Q. (Question about Auburn's defense)?
DARRON THOMAS: Big defensive line, one of their strongest points. That's one of the things we got to adjust off of and be ready for.

Q. Auburn making bigger plays with their secondary?
DARRON THOMAS: We got some things for the secondary. But we're also still going to do our regular thing, going to come out and run the ball and pass the ball. Going to do a little bit of both.

Q. Auburn's defense ranked 55th nationally. Is there a danger that you won't respect Auburn's defense, and how do you combat that?
DARRON THOMAS: No, not at all. We are coming out like they are the No. 1 defense, going our hardest. We are not really practicing against their defense. We are practicing against our vision that we got to come out and do big things and be ready to go.

Q. How does it feel to be the other quarterback here? Yesterday Cam Newton was here and it was an absolute swarm around him. Do you feel like you are the other quarterback, or do you feel like he is a Heisman winner?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really worried about it. I'm just happy I get to fly under the radar and just stay mentally prepared and not worry about a lot of the media and things like that so I can be ready to go.

Q. Is that your plan, fly under the radar and surprise them on game day?
DARRON THOMAS: Oh, yeah, that's what I like. Been doing it all year.

Q. (Question about Nick Fairley)?
DARRON THOMAS: He is one of the top defensive lineman. He is a top NFL guy. He jumps out a lot to you.
He is not the only D lineman we got to look out for. They got a lot of good guys that can run on their team, good defensive ends. He is one of those guys that you will be like "wow factor."

Q. He has been pretty hard on quarterbacks this year, knocked a couple guys out of the game. In the SEC a lot of people say he is a dirty player. Has that jumped out to you?
DARRON THOMAS: Yeah, we seen he has a lot of dirty plays throwing people around after the plays. That's just football.

Q. Do you think about the whole Pac-10/SEC thing at all?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really worried about that. We're just going out playing against whoever we got to play against. And Pac-10, SEC, ACC, wherever they go, it will be a battle. We won't take nobody lightly.
I think a lot of Pac-10 teams are good also.

Q. Do you worry about those alleged dirty plays at all?
DARRON THOMAS: I'm not really worried about it because it is a physical game. If it happens, it happens. You got to get back up and be ready for the play.

Q. Talk about Maehl as your top target (indiscernible).
DARRON THOMAS: He is one of the big-time players on our team. One of the guys that really feared not at all. He want to come out and win. He is a big winner. He will do anything to win.

Q. Auburn says they not concerned about your pace. Is that hard for another team to simulate in practice, your offensive pace?
DARRON THOMAS: Oh, yeah, going into each week, these teams said they are going to be up on our tempo just because they started running the tempo.
But we have been doing this all year, so we got the tempo. Nobody can just come out the first week and just start doing our tempo that week. We have been doing this all year. We are ready to put it on.

Q. When you see Chip Kelly talk to the media, you guys smile every once in a while when he might give us a little attitude. Is that a different guy than you see every day?
DARRON THOMAS: No. He is really the same guy. He is a really focused guy, really just worried about keeping our eyes on the prize, not really worried about the outside media. He does a lot of media because he doesn't want us caught up in the media.
And he's really -- exactly how he acts with all y'all, he act with us.

Q. Are people saying you are so far away from home in Houston?
DARRON THOMAS: Yeah, when I went back home, there was a lot of SEC -- it is SEC bound out there. There is a lot of Auburn fans. I got to show them, just like I showed them I can come all the way to Oregon and do the same thing.

Q. Has it hit you that you are here?
DARRON THOMAS: Yeah, it has already hit me. We are here. We are ready to go. We are focused. It is not going to be a surprise to us. We will come out and do our thing.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
DARRON THOMAS: That's what I come out to do. I'm a quarterback here. The ball is in my hand every play, so I got to make the right decision.

Q. Are you seeing what others are talking about, that maybe the second or third layer of their defense may have some spots?
DARRON THOMAS: I know they got a defense all around. They said our secondary is reading us, but we are going to come out, play them like they are going to be the best secondary. We got to come out and do our thing. Their front eight, got a good front eight, good, well-round tackling. They never played a team like us.

Q. Did you play this season with maybe a little bit of a chip because when Jeremiah left everyone said, Oh, well, that's it for the Ducks?
DARRON THOMAS: It was a big question mark, to come in and fill in the spot that got left behind, come out and do good things for the team and lead the team to victories.

Q. (Question about cleats)?
DARRON THOMAS: I already broke them in. Just ready to go. Already had them on at practice back at home. So they are already broken in, ready to go.

Q. Did you go over this game in your mind when you are alone at the hotel?
DARRON THOMAS: Everybody thinks about the game. We got three or four more days of practice to get mentally prepared and things like that. Just ready for the game.

Q. In practice, have you all focused a lot on the pace, getting plays off really quickly? Is that sort of your goal to try to wear down their defense?
DARRON THOMAS: We haven't really changed up nothing we haven't been doing all year. Just knowing we got to come out and just do our thing, do our deal. One of the things is tempo, so we have been practicing tempo all year-round. We say we got to go faster because we are playing against Auburn.
We just got to come out and do our thing.

Q. Should we expect some surprises from you guys? We have been watching every Oregon game. Will there be some things we haven't seen?
DARRON THOMAS: We will come out and do the same thing we are doing all year, maybe look a little different. But we are going to be doing the same thing.

Q. You are smiling. Suggesting you have some tricks?
DARRON THOMAS: That's what a lot of people think, that we will have a lot of tricks. That's an easy game. A lot of people think we will come out tricking them, but we're just coming out playing smash-mouth football.

Q. (Question about game against Cal)?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really at all. We are just trying to come out, put up points.

Q. Playing a game against Cam Newton, LaMichael James, do you think he is getting the ready?
DARRON THOMAS: He gets the respect after the game. After the game everybody come up to him and said, Man, I thought you were a fast guy. He is a more physical guy and things like that.
I think he gets the respect he deserves. He is a guy that shows it. Not really talk about it, not really in the media about it, but just come out on the field and do it.

Q. How big of a play maker will he be on Monday?
DARRON THOMAS: He will come out -- a lot of people think they will come out and stop him, they will stop LaMichael first. But they don't happen at all this year.

Q. Can you talk about Nick Fairley and the problems he presents?
DARRON THOMAS: He is a big guy. We have played against a lot of big, talented defensive lines. Another guy that we on them. We are still coming out doing our thing. We don't have no special plays for him or nothing like that.
We got to come out reckless and make some adjustments and things like that. Just come out and do our thing.

Q. What are your odds to being able to wear out the Auburn defense in the second half?
DARRON THOMAS: We have been doing it all year. That's our goal. That's just the tempo of our offense. But we don't have to bare them out to beat them.

Q. You have played one SEC team earlier in the year. Any similarities between having seen that type of physicality before?
DARRON THOMAS: Oh, yeah. They are a big team. Tennessee was a big team. Like I say, there are teams in the Pac-10 just as physical, just as fast. Nothing we haven't ever seen before. So it is going to be a similar thing.
But being out there at Tennessee, it is like my second game. So it may be a little bit different.

Q. Which teams in the Pac-10 remind you of the Tennessee?
DARRON THOMAS: Some teams that are bigger, like USC and things like that. Teams like Arizona State who people don't think is fast but there are some big guys, there are some fast guys.

Q. How nice is that little shopping spree?
DARRON THOMAS: I really didn't have no shopping spree. I got a luxury chair just to rest on.

Q. What made you pick that versus the Xbox?
DARRON THOMAS: It's just an athletic chair, something you can rest on. It says it is good for rehabbing. Just thinking about next year.

Q. Who are your secret weapons? Everybody knows about LaMichael. Who are the guys that don't get a lot of attention that are kind of go-to guys?
DARRON THOMAS: D.J. Davis, Kenjon Barner, people like that coming off the sideline, L.T. Tuinei. Also our offensive line, we really don't get a lot of credit for what they do, but they do some things that other offensive linemen don't want to do at all like running around and running down field and things like that. A lot of offensive linemen just want to get off the ball and just smash their player, but the offensive line do a lot of run around and cutting.

Q. What about the game last name with the Lakers and Kobe, did you enjoy it?
DARRON THOMAS: Enjoyed it a lot. Really opened our eyes from being in the spotlight and being ready to go. Let them play the game even more when we see those guys and things like that. Really eyeopening for a lot of the team.

Q. Is your team enjoying the fact that you are somewhat underdogs and the fact that all the media hype and all the Auburn, Auburn, Auburn, you guys (indiscernible)?
DARRON THOMAS: We love that. We know we want to be the underdogs. I like being the underdogs because you don't have a lot of hype around you. Just staying mentally prepared. We know it is a mental game, and we come out prepared. Nothing can stop us.

Q. Are you tired of waiting?
DARRON THOMAS: A little bit. These days will help us get back our legs for recovery to make us have a speedy offense on Monday.

Q. Do you worry about losing your sharpness as an offense?
DARRON THOMAS: Not at all because we have been practicing, I think, this whole month. We had over 19, 17, 18 practices. We have been sharp in all those practices. Everybody just knows keeping their eyes on the prize. This will be a big game and everybody has to be on the Ps and Qs.

Q. You never really get a chance to practice 17, 18, 19 times for one game except maybe leading up to the first game. How do you keep it fresh? How do you just not get bored with the plan and stuff like that? What are the coaches doing?
DARRON THOMAS: Changing it up every day. Getting different defensive looks. It makes it even harder that the defense knows what we are doing, so it makes it harder on our offense to -- maybe not. I don't throw my first read, I got to throw the last read and things like that because the guys know our plays and things like.
It just makes us better, gets us a little bit better. Guys know our plays, so come out and make us work harder.

Q. Talk about the stage here. The game. The game everybody has been shooting for all year.
DARRON THOMAS: This is one of the biggest games of our lives. We are taking it. This is one of our biggest games. I don't think nobody on our team has been in a game like this. Coach tells us about it every day that this is going to be one of our biggest games, a lifetime opportunity.
So I think everybody just staying focused, not really worried about the BCS and the championship. Just worried about coming out and winning this game and hopefully celebrating at the end.

Q. How much are you enjoying this?
DARRON THOMAS: I really haven't enjoyed it yet. Like I said, I want this victory more than anything, not being worried about nothing going around or nothing like that. Just worried about winning this game. Then after that, maybe we can have fun after that.

Q. Have you added some new wrinkles to the playbook the last few weeks?
DARRON THOMAS: Not really no new wrinkles. Just cleaning up some things that we did before, just making it a little bit more crisp and coming out better.

Q. Have you had a "welcome to the BCS championship" moment where you just had to step back and go, wow, here we are?
DARRON THOMAS: Not at all yet. Hopefully that happens at the game. Really haven't been to the field or nothing like that. So we haven't really seen it. We have just been practicing and going back to the hotel.

Q. When you are watching Auburn film, I'm wondering as a quarterback, has there been any particular Nick Fairley hit that has made you cringe.
DARRON THOMAS: He got a lot of hits on the quarterbacks, things like that. That comes between the game. I haven't got it this year. That's just football. Everybody gets hit. We just got to worry about what we got to do.
He is going to hit somebody. I know our offensive line has -- is really dialed in to him. Want to make sure he stays up off me and LaMichael and things like that. I think it is going to be a good for the offensive line and defensive line.

Q. The way you guys are dependent on rhythm and timing in your offense, how important is it to keep him from disrupting?
DARRON THOMAS: It is going to be one of the big -- one of our big challenges, one of our big question marks coming into this game, how he is going to come out and play the Heisman or handle our fast-tempo offense. We will adjust off him. We don't know if they will come out and do some new things. We have to adjust on the fly like we always do. People always come out and try to do something different. They usually show a film against us.
It is going to be just a big adjustment thing.

Q. A lot of players from all over the country, different places, you all come together like that. How do they adjust to you being from Texas and how do you adjust to them?
DARRON THOMAS: Just being a big family. One thing our coaches do is always keep us together. We are really not separated a lot. Maybe at fall camp. Right now this is really a lot of bonding.
A lot of our players come from a lot of different places. We have a lot of different places with a lot of different styles. We know people from Florida, people from California, Texas. It is good to have them from everywhere, not being in the same spot. It is competitive also.
Me being from Texas, a lot of guys from Cali are very competitive at the beginning of the season, but now they are happy I am on the team.

Q. Statistically the Auburn defense doesn't rank in the top ten of any category. But what on film do you see? What makes them effective and has kept them winning all this season?
DARRON THOMAS: That's similar to our offense. Once their offense gets to start scoring, I mean, they are really similar to our offense. Once the offense starts scoring, they are ready to stop the guy, ready to get out there and ready to be put on the shoulder.
Once the offense starts scoring, they are unstoppable.

Q. How would you describe LaMichael?
DARRON THOMAS: He is a guy that's that will fly under the radar. He is a big, physical guy. Most people think he is a speed guy and things like that. But he is a guy that will run between the tackles. He is a guy that's really focused. A lot of his runs that he breaks is because he knows -- he knows film work and things like that, where to cut back lanes and stay closer -- not just going out running the ball. He know where a play is designed to go.
He is a smart guy. He picks up blitzes and takes pride in that.

Q. A complete back?
DARRON THOMAS: Complete all-around back, blitzes, whatever he had to do to win the game.

Q. Holmes admitted you surprised him some. He didn't realize you would be this good at the beginning of the season. Did you surprise yourself at all?
DARRON THOMAS: I have been working hard from the jump. Been like this since high school. I knew that hard work would pay off at the end, just keep working hard. Some of the things I have been doing hard, keep working hard.
I surprised a lot of guys on the team because a lot of my offensive line is seniors, never had a young guy step in and be as enthusiastic and ready to go as I was. So I knew I had really eyeopeners for them, but that made them want to play harder for me. So I got them guys on my side, and I'm happy they're on my team.

Q. In your young high school, you were a sophomore?
DARRON THOMAS: Oh, yeah.

Q. Was it kind of the same situation?
DARRON THOMAS: Really a similar situation. Like I said, there were guys from everywhere, California. They are used to playing with Jeremiah, they didn't know if I could come out and do the same thing Jeremiah did.
So at the beginning of the season, I really wanted to come out. They asked me to be a leader and things like that, vocal leader. But I was kind of the new guy. They really wasn't listening to me. I wanted to show them what I could do in the field.

Q. When do you think you won them over, the point where you thought, okay, I think they're following me?
DARRON THOMAS: After the Tennessee game and just the leadership that they said I had on the game. I was going out and doing my thing, playing the game. I knew it would just come down to me. I am a guy that really shows it, not really want to talk about it.

Q. Darron, your O line is undersized just about every time out. How do those guys get the job?
DARRON THOMAS: Our offensive line is really not similar to a lot of people off the line. Our offensive line runs around. They do things that offensive linemen don't want to do. They are an athletic group. Get down field, 30 yards down field, get chop blocks.
Our offensive line is big is a guys and smash-mouth in the trenches and things like that. Offensive line can do a little bit of both. They can get in the trenches and they really can get down field and get on the little guys.

Q. How much preparation for this game is mental for you as a quarterback?
DARRON THOMAS: It is a lot of mental preparation. That's one of the things we got to be mentally prepared, ready to adjust to anything. Our coaches put us through so many different situations because we never know what they are -- their defense is going to come out and do. They show some things on film, but we know they got some wrinkles in there and come out and do some different things that they may see other teams do.

Q. Chip Kelly, he is so short with us. Borderline rude sometimes. Is it completely different? What's he like with you?
DARRON THOMAS: He is a guy -- Coach Kelly, I tried to explain, he was one of the guys that stays focused, keeps his eye on the prize. He is not a guy that will go off talking about other things. He is worried about this game and what we got to do about this game. He just got to stay focused.

Q. In particular, I mean, the fact that he had the faith to go with you this year and a lot of people thought he would go with the senior, what does he mean to you?
DARRON THOMAS: It means a lot to me. He put his trust in me, him and the offensive coordinator, Mark Helfrich, told me from the jump that they will put it to me. If I mess up, they will not throw my spot away. They will go through the whole season. Just building my confidence and things like that. They did a lot of things by helping my confidence and just getting me prepared and ready to play.

Q. You have a lot of confidence in Jeff when you throw the ball his way that he will make a play. Can you talk about that?
DARRON THOMAS: Jeff is one of those guys, two or three guys on him, he is one of the guys that will come over a lot of the big catches on the year.
Like I say, our all-around receiver group did a good job all year, not only just catching the ball on one of the big plays, but like D.J. Davis flying under the radar, making a lot of key plays on the team that a lot of people don't see because the blocks down field, sometimes the L.T. Tuinei's are making the plays, things like that, getting down the field, LaMichael running the ball, really people not seeing because they're so focused. But those guys have been one of the big helps, one of the big surprises on the team.

Q. What about Coach Helfrich? He is an offensive coordinator for a guy like Chip Kelly and Chip gets all the attention. What does Coach Helfrich do? What's his input?
DARRON THOMAS: He keeps me mentally prepared. He is one of the guys I come to. Coach Kelly is the guy that's overseeing everything. But Coach Helf is one of the guys I would talk to about what we need to do. He has the game plan. He is really one of those geniuses. Both Coach Kelly and him are the geniuses and know the rule book about what we are doing.

Q. What's the last month like for you? Are you studying more film for you? Really hunker down? Feel like you are relaxed?
DARRON THOMAS: I have been really -- really like another spring ball, just getting it to the offense. Man, just been a lot of practicing. We like to practice because we know the preparation is going to pay off.

End of FastScripts

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