Head Coach Chan Gailey
Sunday, May 13, 2012
On the three day Rookie Mini-Camp:
We had great effort. We got to see some guys run around and try to retain what we had taught them for three days. It was very good work in my opinion. We were able to get outside all three days and we were able to get a lot accomplished.
On if he was impressed with the information retained by the players:
Yea, impressed with some and not impressed with others. But that's the way it is. You're trying to find that out. You can watch them run, jump and change direction but you don't know their mental capacity. That's the one thing you don't know off film, so you're trying to get a good gauge of that going into this weekend.
On what grade he would give to the nine draft picks for retaining information:
They did a good job. I don't give grades. Grades show up on Sunday afternoons.
On if CB Stephon Gilmore had the look of a first-round pick:
He did a great job during the weekend. He is a big, long corner that can run and has a great feel for the game. He did a very good job during the weekend.
On having six of the nine draft picks signed and being able to keep them working under the new CBA:
It's great. That part of it is good, not having a major threat (of a holdout). I guess there's still a minor threat of a holdout but there's not a major threat of it. And you can sort of depend on things a little bit more than you could've in the past.
On OL Zebrie Sanders:
He did a good job. We left him at right tackle the whole weekend and I thought he did a good job of picking up things. He got better. His stance got better. His sets got better. I thought he did a nice job. He's got a ways to go just like they all do but he did a fine job during the weekend.
On if he gives the rookies any advice for what to seek from the veterans:
I don't give them any advice because what can happen is if you start giving advice then that's the direction they look. I want them to be themselves. I want to see if they can fit in and if they know what to ask. They need to be able to be accountable to themselves, not to me. So I want to just see how they handle things as they go forward dealing with veterans.
On assessing the performance of the three rookie offensive linemen draft picks (Sanders, Mark Asper & Cordy Glen):
Well, you can assess sets. You can't assess contact, that's what you can't assess. You can assess sets and some technique work. You can assess some knowledge retention as I stated earlier. But that's a contact place on the field in those lines so it's hard to assess guys in shorts on the offensive and defensive line.
On if any of the 21 tryout players impressed him:
Yea, we had a couple that impressed us well enough. We're going to go in and discuss exactly who we might need to bring onto the team or not to bring onto the team.
On his first impression of Gilmore and his self-assuredness that he carries:
Confidence is something that's vital, especially at the cornerback position. It's vital at some other spots, but it's really vital at the cornerback position. He played well and did well in this camp. Now, when he goes against the other guys he's going to lose some. How does he handle getting beat? He didn't get beat a lot out here, so how does he handle that? He's going to go through some emotions so that maturity and that confidence will help him I think. He's played in a tough league. He knows what it's about.
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On how eager he is to see Gilmore go up against the team's current receivers:
Coaches are eager to see anybody go against anybody. We don't like running around here not being able to compete because the game's about competition. We'd like to be able to compete but there's a time and a place for that and it'll come.
On if there were any injuries:
Nothing to note.
