Emptying the Notebook: Offensive Player Interviews 8/13

Hey everyone! With the site's shiny new press credentials, I will be going to media availability now and throughout the season. Right now I just plan on getting as much time and as many quotes as I can, and then just dumping them wholesale here for everyone's consumption (I'm basically the Costco of Hokie football quotes).

Soon I'll let everyone know when I'm going, and I'll post it on the forums. If you have any questions for anyone (players or coaches), post it on the thread that I create and I'll do my best to ask.

This week I transcribed quotes from receiver Deon Newsome, tight ends Kalvin Cline and Bucky Hodges, running back Shai McKenzie and offensive tackle Jonathan McLaughlin.

Deon Newsome

On whether he's in the discussion for either punt or kick returner:

"I'm going to be in the mix for kick returner."

Who else is back there returning kicks?

"There's maybe like six or seven, something like that [different players]. Der'Woun Greene, Demitri, J.C., some of the freshmen.

Is Greg Stroman one of the freshmen back returning kicks?

"I think he's doing punt return"

On competition at WR:

"It's very competitive in our room now, we got a couple of good guys that came in. Everybody has to work that much harder to try and get their spot."

Does he feel more ready compared to last year?

"I feel a lot more ready. Last year I didn't really know my plays, so I know my plays now. Now I can just focus on getting my routes, doing better on my routes, now that I know everything."

Shai McKenzie

Shai on coming in early:

"Yes it was a huge benefit. Came in got a lot of plays down. Got the feel of being here, and I adjusted real well."

When did he get cleared:

"Late May, and I was full go to do everything. I felt a little bit sore around that time, but as I progressed I got better with rehab and everything."

How does he feel now?

"A little bit sore on my opposite knee, I think I've been using it too much they say. So it's a little bit sore. But overall my surgery knee has been fine."

Is he back to being himself yet?

"I feel like I'm on my way. I'm not all the way there just yet, but I've been practicing really good, and the playbook's been fine so I'm going to get there."

Did enrolling early help the rehab process?

"Yeah it was a real good move. The trainers here are real good, and back home it wasn't real great. It was an opportunity to get here early and get the playbook and everything down."

On how the RB competition is going, and is it tough to get reps?:

"Yeah, we're all competing. If you're not in, just a lot of mental reps. Trey and J.C. just leading the way for us, showing the younger guys what to do, but overall it's been good."

On whether or not he can contribute this year:

"I feel like I can play. Coach [Shane Beamer]'s been talking real good about me and I'm trying to do what I can to just run the ball like I like to do. Like I said, the playbook's the main thing and I'm doing a good job with that."

Is pass protection a problem to pick up?

"Actually I'm a little bit slim at that, but I'm getting better at that. Like you said, just coming in it's hard to adjust to. We didn't do a lot of it in high school so it's a big adjustment but I'm catching on to it."

On his playing style

"More like a balance. More like a power, a little bit of speed. Overall I like to go between the tackles and just run downhill."

Who does he mold his game after?

"I like to watch Adrian Peterson. I'm nothing like him, but I just like to watch his style. He's more of a bigger back and likes to run between the tackles, runs hard, so I like watching him a lot."

Jonathan McLaughlin

On whether the coaches just didn't want him to get complacent by moving him to second string:

"I've got that mentality as well. Just because I had a good year last year, or a decent year, doesn't mean anything this year. It's a totally different year."

On why Searles moved him from the left to the right, and how he'd adjust:

"I'm not sure, but as far as adjustments it's not a big deal because I played right tackle at Fork Union, left tackle all through in high school, left tackle last year, right tackle now. So either way, it's going to be good for me."

When did he make the move, and did Searles say why?

"During the summer, and I'm not sure the reason. He just, I guess, wanted me to try right tackle."

Is right tackle where he'll stay for the season?

[laughs] "We never know, we never know."

How has the adjustment from Jeff Grimes to Searles gone?

"Coach Searles is a great coach. He's very hard on us, and wants everything right. He's a good guy as well, you know, going to his house and everything, meeting his family. Great guy, great family, great father, I just like coach Searles a lot."

Did Searles tell him that he had to earn a spot or any reason for the move at all?

"I'm not sure the reason. But I kind of needed that as a wakeup call. Just because I had a good year last year doesn't mean anything, just because I started last year doesn't mean anything."

On the differences between Grimes and Searles:

As far as terms and stuff, it's been different, you know, different calls and everything, but it's basically the same thing. Same coaching style, I like coach Searles a lot.

What he thinks is the biggest thing the OL needs to do this year:

Just be physical, that's what we have to do. Just knock people off the ball and do our job. And know everything we're doing, know the defense, study the defense, everything coach Searles has put in front of us, that's what we got to do.

On if the staff was trying to give him a kick in the pants by moving him down:

"Um, yeah. I feel like that I needed that. I needed that to not be complacent and stay on my toes, and do what I have to do."

What does he want to build off a good freshman campaign last year, and where can he improve?

"Well, first things first, I'm not a freshman anymore, and I have to do things that I didn't do last year, as far as be the best in the ACC."

What didn't he do last year?

"It was, you know, just some freshman pains I guess they'd call it. But it was just some things that I didn't know my first year in the college football world. Picking up adjustments, knowing the defense and everything like that."

On if being thrown in there as a freshman is the best way to learn:

"I wouldn't say that I was thrown in there last year, I would say that I was well prepared and ready, but I was going to work to do my best, work my hardest."

"These past two years, not Virginia Tech standards. Winning 11 games is, going to a big bowl game, going to the championship is. That's the standard, and we're getting back to that standard."

Was the summer depth chart a surprise?

"It wasn't, it was just a motivation tool for me to get better. And I'm going to do all I can to get back to where I need to be."

How much work has he gotten on the left?

"Not much. I'm mostly on the right."

Bucky Hodges:

Was it important to do something at quarterback (the wildcat) after move to TE?

"Whatever the coaches want me to do, like I said, if they want me to play wildcat I'll do it, but my focus right now is to get better as a tight end every day."

How hard is it to not think of himself as a QB?

"I mean, I don't think of myself as a quarterback. Once I started playing tight end I thought of myself as a tight end, so I mean I never look back, always look forward."

Is it difficult to do that after playing only quarterback for so long?

"I mean, they never told me to play tight end. It was the UNC week, they asked me if I wanted to play it and I said yeah, and the next week with the guy they were playing, they asked me how I liked it and stuff, I said I liked it a lot, and asked me if I wanted to play it again and I said yeah, I like that position. "

So was it a situation where he just wanted to get on the field?

"Yeah. Any way I can get on the field and help this team, that's what I want to do."

Kalvin Cline

How much more can they do with him this year as opposed to last year?

"I feel like now that I know the playbook a lot more, I'm able to do a lot of different things, 'cause last year, you know, I was told a week before that I was playing so I had to learn the basic stuff as well. So now that I have a broader understanding of all these routes, you know all the assignments all the tasks they're trying to have us do, and then they can put us different places. Now we have two tight end sets, we have three tight end sets, they can split us out here, move us in, motion us into the backfield, we can do all kinds of stuff now."

With Malleck and Bucky, are they interchangeable or does each have strengths?

"I feel like we're all interchangeable, and with Bucky's speed he's able to do that wildcat, and we love that. Me and Malleck will line up out there and block for him, using that wildcat. You can't really stop that kind of stuff, you've got three big bodies out there that all can run, all can block and all can catch. I mean, you can do so many different things with that."

How much has the wildcat been worked on in practice?

"Yeah, we do it here and there. So I mean with that, I mean we're just doing it. You don't want to put too much on us mentally right now, trying to get, you know, prepared for different teams, different schemes and stuff like that, so I mean I'm sure we're going to get more into it during the year, but right now it's in there every once in a while."

Is it just Bucky at the wildcat, or Durkin too?

"Durkin, yeah, we have some other ones working in back there, you know as well with the quarterback situation. Just trying to figure out what's the best situation right now."

His scouting report on Bucky:

"That dude's a tremendous athlete, he can do it all, he can run, he can block, he can catch. You can line him up anywhere and he will do what you ask him. It's great to have that kind of versatility in the backfield."

"They're asking a lot from him. He's got to be in the wildcat, he's got to be able to be out at receiver, as a tight end. They're trying to trying to keep it, you know, where it's not overwhelming as well. You know, any person, it would be a lot for them to learn all those types of positions, but they're doing a great job coaching him up and getting him in the playbook as well."

Are things coming easier now for him (Cline) after playing just one year of football in high school?

"Like I said earlier, the playbook, I really focused on that. They can put me anywhere now and I know what I have to do, I know the routes, I'm able to read defenses more. Because before I didn't really understand football, and I was out there lining up, running a route, catching the ball. That's pretty much what I was doing. Now I'm able to do different things, play the defense better. So I feel like that's going to help my overall performance."

Thoughts how hard it is playing as a true freshmen:

"I feel like with our receivers, I know those guys are ready. I mean, you can tell they've been football, they've been seasoned with football, they know football, they understand football, and I feel like just the way they've been performing this camp, they're going to be ready to do some things this season. "

On his size compared to a year ago:

"When I first came here I was 220, now I'm around 250 right now, so I put on a lot of weight. And I feel like that's going to help me overall, blocking, and it's been good weight. I'm still able to move the same. I've had an injury this past offseason, but I think I can get over that hump."

Is he battling the injury bug?

"I had a knee and then about a month and a half ago I pulled my hammy, so I've been dealing with that. That's what's having me out right now. So it's been a struggle, trying to nurture that a little bit, stay off of it as much as I can, but still be able to rotate in so we can work on some of those packages that we're trying to do."

How much has he been doing in camp with the injury?

"So far I've probably been making it through about sixty percent of camp. I try to stay out of the drills as much as possible and [practice with] the team so we can actually work on our stuff, work on our formations and stuff. But right now I'm about sixty, seventy percent running, and here and there I might tweak it there, so I try and just keep it calm as possible. It's a long season, and you know you don't want to injure it and have to sit out some of the season."