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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Petrino Q&A after second fall scrimmage

Paul Petrino went easy on his players Saturday morning, at least compared to what they're used to. Idaho scrimmaged just over 120 plays -- instead of their customary 150-plus plays -- over the course of about two hours in the Kibbie Dome.

Petrino's full comments to the media are below.

*****

Overall thoughts?

You know, I thought it went good. I thought both sides of the ball got to be more consistent. We started out, critical zone, the defense has got to get stops and not give up touchdowns all the time in the critical zone. Then we started moving the ball and we missed a couple open touchdowns and the defense got a couple stops and got some interceptions. So i thought that was really good on their part. Bad on the (offense). We can’t be turning the ball over like that. And I thought as the day went on, the offense came back and made a bunch of plays. So I’ll watch the tape, but walking off the field I’d say it was pretty equal. Pretty equal. Both sides got after each other, and that’s kind of what you want. That’s why I didn’t go as many plays as I normally do, I don’t think. I only went 110 or 120. But we 100 plays of tackling in on Wednesday and Thursday too. For the most part, I was happy with it.

What did you think of the QBs?

You know, they can’t turn the ball over. I got to watch it on tape because they both had really good weeks. They both got way better during the week. They can’t turn the ball over and they can’t miss wide-open touchdowns. And they both had a little bit of that. But just got to continue to get better. We’ve got two more weeks. We’ll keep improving. They’re both young and we’ll keep moving on and getting better. They came back and made good plays, too.

Players that stood out?

At any position? Fourty-three (Quinton Bradley) stood out. Fourty-three was getting after it. I thought our running backs ran it really well. I thought our running backs ran well. I thought there were some good catches made by the receivers. But right (off) the bat, 43 stood out. Six, the big free safety Chris Edwards, stood out. Those would be the guys that just bounced out at you, really played well.

The D-line play well. Did you stop counting sacks?

Well, yeah. A lot of those aren’t sacks. In the real world, when you barely run by somebody and tag them, that’s not a sack. But I told them to quit calling them. … But 43 had a good day.

What about Justin Podbrasky today?

Made some really good play. Made some really good catches. That was good to see. If he can keep doing that, that really helps the quarterbacks. Anytime a tight end can make plays like that, it really helps the quarterbacks out. Kind of their safety valve. Him and Matt lit it up all the time in our Sunday night scrimmages. So I know Matt likes to go to him, and Chad had a good connection today. So it was good for both of them.

Got to be pleased with the defensive side with interceptions.

No, it was good. It was good to get those interceptions. We just can’t be throwing them. That’s for sure. But it’s good to see them make them.

Will David Ungerer see time at receiver?

Will Ungerer? Yeah. He’ll probably play as a freshman. You know, most of our freshmen — (Aaron) Duckworth will play, Ungerer will play, Jordan Rose will play. Hopefully Jake (Luton) doesn’t have to play, but Jake can really throw it. And then Dorian Clark is a pretty good player, so we’re very happy with our freshmen.

Jordan Rose getting times with the 1s?

Yeah. He’s been playing a bunch with the 1s. There’s a good chance he could end up being a starter.

Matlock played as a true freshman last year, so you’re not afraid of that, right?

No, I’m not. ... You like Jordan’s toughness, you like his competitiveness. So there’s a real good chance he could be one of the top five guys



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