Bulls Near Midway Point of Spring Drills

Excitement is the theme of the spring

Turner Gill

BUFFALO, NY- Saturday afternoon at UB Stadium marked the football team's sixth practice of the spring campaign. Just shy of the halfway mark of spring practice, head coach Turner Gill, Domonic Cook (Buffalo, NY/St. Joseph's) and Naaman Roosevelt (Buffalo, NY/St. Joseph's) voiced their opinions of how spring practice has been going.

Head Coach Turner Gill

What he's looking for on the offensive side of the ball:

The starting center position is one of the first positions we are trying to get solidified. We are also trying to find depth at all of the other positions on offense.

What he is looking for on the defensive side of the ball:

We are trying to shore up some things at the linebacker position. We have a lot of experience in the secondary, but we are trying to teach better technique.

What he is looking for on special teams:

We are making sure we find a punter. We are trying to make sure we are doing the right things with our holder and our snapper.

On the attitude of the team:

There is a lot more excitement. Everybody is moving a lot faster than they have in the past. They know what the expectations are and how we practice and go about doing things.

On the expectations of the team:

You have got to have higher expectations. If you donât have the belief and the ability to think about the expectations of accomplishing higher goals, then youâre in the wrong situation. We want our guys to be thinking about high expectations because we are trying to win championships and bowl games.

Cornerback Domonic Cook

On the play of the defense:

The defense is coming along. We are trying to get as much in as we can to get better. We need to believe in each other and believe in what we can do, what we have to do for next year to prepare for UTEP and what we have to do every day. Coach Gill believes in us and we need to believe in each other.

On the attitude of the team:

Everybody wants to win. We hated losing before, but now we know that we can win. The five wins proved that last year and it should have been more. Now, everyone is hungry for that bowl game.

Wide Receiver Naaman Roosevelt

On the expectations of the team:

Everyone is really excited. You can see how hungry everyone is to win the MAC Championship. Just having a piece of it last year was a great feeling and coming into this year we want to have it to ourselves and go to a bowl game.

On the progression of the offense:

Coach has been talking about less turnovers and scoring more points. Our main goal is to score a lot of points. We have everyone back except Jamey (Richard) and everyone is experienced. Our big thing is going to be scoring points.

On the play of Drew Willy:

Drew is getting better and better every practice. He has a great arm and his accuracy is great, too. You can tell how he wants it this year. He is a leader, he is getting us prepared and we all follow after him.

UB has six more practices before its annual Blue/White Scrimmage which will be held at UB Stadium on Saturday, April 12 at 2:30 pm.

03/29/2008