Bobby Petrino transcript post-U of L scrimmage

I'm in a good mood today so I went ahead and transcribed the entire Bobby Petrino chat with the media after Saturday's scrimmage at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

I also transcribed this because I should always do it. I also did it because my dad called in the middle of me filming Petrino's talk and ended my video. Always put it in airplane mode, Jeff. Always.

Anyway, here's the full transcript from the post-scrimmage conversation with Petrino:

Overall thoughts

I thought we got a lot accomplished. We certainly have a long way to go, but as we watch the video, I know we're going to see some things that we really like and some things that we really need to clean up technically and some mental mistakes that we're going to have to make sure that we get taken care of, but there's a lot a lot there that we can really build on and a lot that we can correct.

Some of the day is not just how we do out in the scrimmage. We try to go through a game day, how we're going to go through the way we act in the training room, how we're going to go through how the locker room's gonna be. We had what we call a clap session, so we tried to get our players to learn and go through and let that run. Those things were well done. You can see that we have a lot of senior leadership and a lot of experience on the team. They took the field with good energy and went out and competed. Obviously we made some mistakes but overall I thought it was a good day.

On QBs

They really showed that they can play the game. We have to be more consistent. We made some msitakes. We had some protection issues. We didn't see certain blitzes come at times, but when we had things right and they were able to set their feet, they both can make the throws that you need to make. I thought Will (Gardner) executed pretty well for the most part. I tried to get him out of the game one time just to put pressure on Reggie (Bonnafon) to step in the huddle and jump in there with all the seniors and take over the huddle. He did a really nice job with it. I was impressed with his poise in doing that. Something you always try to do with a young guy is throw him in there one time.

On Bonnafon's 65-yard TD pass to Matt Milton

That was a great throw, right on stride. It was a great job by Milton, too. He ran the route exactly the way you want to, left him enough room on the sideline, showed his speed and ability to run down the ball. We tried to throw the ball deep a number of times and that certainly was the best one.

On Bonnafon being ahead of schedule (he's a freshman)

A little bit, yeah. He really is. He's very poised. He's a very good student of the game. I'm happy with the way he's performed in camp.

On Michael Dyer

Michael Dyer's had a really good camp. He's running real well. He's as quick and as physical as he was since we've been here. He's seeing things. He's giving us a lot of energy out there. He did get his knee hit, and it's just a bruise, but there's swelling in it and (head trainer Kyle Johnston) decided to hold him for the rest of the scrimmage, but we anticipate it'll be fine.

On Dominique Brown

I like the way Dom Brown's camp went and how he's performing. He's big and physical. We're going to have to run the ball. That's gotta be a good part of our offense.

On the tight ends

They're doing a really good job. Gerald (Christian)'s a guy who came back in great shape, as fast and strong as I've seen him. He's very, very reliable with his hands and ability to get down the middle. (Keith) Towbridge has really improved since spring -- his ability to block and his toughness has really improved, which we really need.

On the offensive line

You've always gotta watch the video, especially when you're calling plays, because I'm looking at the defense and the secondary and how the play ends and not really focusing on the offensive line. I know that we had time, we had some good holes running the ball, but as far as individually looking at them, I have to watch the video.

On the defense

We're way ahead of where we were in spring. I went back last night getting ready for this and watched all our scrimmages and spring game and we're way ahead of where we were. We're better at safety. We're better at the nickel position. It's always hard to really understand how the defense does until you watch the video, too, because I'm trying to beat 'em, calling plays and moving the ball. There were a number of times when they had stops and you'd be off the field, but you go over again.

I didn't like giving up the big plays, particularly with the No. 1 defense in there, so we've gotta improve on that. We are going to be able to rush the passer. Our defensive front is very active. It can really come off the ball. They really know how to attack protections.

On linebackers and Keith Brown

He's very impressive. He's tough. He's quick. He has a great what we call FBIs, which are football instincts. I think he's a very good football player. He's going to help us a lot.

On special teams

We have to do a better job in our return game. That's what we'll really focus on this next week, staying on our blocks. We've got guys with great speed and good ability to cut, but we've been splashing off blocks a little bit and we have to do a better job on blocking. The specialists have performed well in camp. I've been happy with what I've seen from there.

On tempo

We mix it up a little bit. We still like to huddle and gain some advantage by huddling. One of the things we tried to do today was, after a big play, that 40-second clock really comes into play. To me, that's been the biggest difference on the 40-second clock, when you have a big play and your offensive linemen have to waddle their way down there. It takes time off of that clock. We were working hard on that. That was a big emphasis today, getting down there after a big play and getting in a formation and running the plays we wanted to.

On the two-minute drill

It took us a while to get going. The "two" offense didn't do a good job of it. You've gotta get that first completion. That's huge. It's good for us to see all the situations that came up. There at the end was a little bit interesting because it actually would have been a 10-second runoff. We could have let the clock run down and kick the field goal with three seconds left. Everyone will learn a lot from that situation.

On the safeties

Holliman's playing better. Moving Floyd in there has really helped. Sample's addition and his maturity, the way he studies and prepares for practice -- he's fun to watch practice because he goes hard in practice and he's a very good tackler. That helps us a lot.