The Chas QB Club met yesterday at the Embassy Suites in Charleston. About 90 people attended. Coach Kueck was the speaker. Because it was "Marshall Day" at the legislature, a nice group of Marshall dignitaries also attended. Here are the highlights:
1) Bob Anderson spoke about the Spring Practice in South Charleston this Saturday (April 9) at 6:00 at Oakes Field. A lot of events are planned around the practice. A fun time will be had by all. Look for the QB Club's table with membership applications ($25 for the entire year) and our members circulating thru the crowd with 50/50 tickets. Open your wallets, as this is one of the Club's major fundraisers, along with the Valentine's Dance and the annual golf tournament. Speaking of which, the golf tournament will be held at Berry Hills on June 6th. The QB Club will sponsor a dinner and auction of Herd memorabilia on June 5th, also at Berry Hills. ALL money raised by the QB Club goes directly to the football program.
2) Thoughts/Quotes from Coach Kueck:
a) On Saturday's practice: "Saturday's practice will last anywhere from 1:45 to 2 hours. It will be a situational scrimmage. We'll work on down and distance, trying to do specific things. We'll also work quite a bit on the kicking games."
b) On the team's progress thus far: "We're running around pretty good out there. One of the problems we have is only about 12 of our players are old enough to shave. But we're learning through our mistakes. I tell them to go full speed now, and we'll eventually iron out the mistakes."
c) On areas of strength (after talking about the experience and ability in the secondary): "I think we have a great group of young LB's. They're tall, lean, and they fly around to the football."
d) On injuries: "We expect to have Toby Bullock back by two-a-days. Marcus Fitzgerald will not practice on Saturday, so he can fly to Minn to attend an annual memorial service for his mother."
e) On the QB situation: "We have three really good football players at quarterback. We probably won't decide on a starter until we begin preparation for the first game. But the competition is a good thing. We have three guys who are really working their fannies off because of the competition. And that's how you build a really successful program. When you have guys on your team who are fighting for a position every single day, and trying to make themselves better every single day, that's when you've really got something."
f) On Bradshaw: "He is a gen-u-ine talent. I really feel he can be the best RB in C-USA next year. Because of that, though, we may not rep him as much on Saturday.... he's not going to get any faster! He's just a great ballplayer. He's really jumped on the opportunity to move positions. That's hard for some players, but he's really chaumped down on the bit. We are moving him around so we can get the ball in his hands. He's just a super ballplayer."
g) On practice: "We want to make everything up-tempo. We want to hit the field running, practice hard, and run in the locker room. That's how you go about your business. The effort and enthusiasm have been really good."
h) On classroom: "We are checking EVERY single class every single day. We tell them this university was here before the football team was here. If they miss a class, they have a 5:00am conditioning session with me. Regarding our other kids, I don't know how much I can legally say, but we should know something on the prop kids around May 15."
i) On recruiting (he qualified his answer, and several other answers, with "depending on what happens [with the coaching decision]"): "We'll start recruiting 7 days after spring ball ends. We are looking at recruiting new regions to go along with our new conference."
j) On o-line coach Mike Cummings: "We are enjoying him and his enthusiasm. He is a great coach. We are lucky to have him."
k) On o-line: "We are a little thin there right now. We had a 90-play scrimmage the other day and had 6 scholarship linemen. You'd like to have about 10. We've gotta get deeper along the o-line."
l) On Matt Morris: "He's what, in football terms, they call a 'tweener'. He's a big receiver and a small tight end. He runs a 4.5, so we've been playing him at the slot this spring, and we think he can do some good out there. We may rotate him from slot to TE in 2-a-days to create a matchup problem for the defenses we play."
m) On coaching: "If I get the job, I'll hire a QB coach."