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during camp? Shoop: "Overall, I'm pleased with the way Rob has performed. I think he is too. But it's just like I said — I don't mean to sound like a broken record — he knows there's room for improvement. There's a lot to feel good about, but there's a lot to coach off of and get better at, too. He's just got a lot of work to do. He was pretty efficient (Saturday), but son of a gun, he's going to look at some of those plays and think, 'How did I miss that one? What was I thinking there?' Until you can put it all together and develop that mental endurance, he's not going to be the player that he can be. He's working his tail off to do it; I'm trying to help him for sure." Q: Where were his biggest strides from the start of spring until now? Shoop: "You know what he's done pretty good? And I give him credit for it — I think initially his instinct has been to take off and run. I think now his instinct is to take off, look down field and if the guy is there, give it to him and then maybe run, you know? That's part of endurance and durability when you're playing that position, letting other guys take the hits, letting other guys work for you. "I think Rob understands, I think all our quarterbacks understand: 'My job is a facilitator,' and we think of our quarterback as the type of point guard that's not necessarily a scorer but an assist guy and letting all the other guys do the work. If he gets a bunch of superstars at running back, tight end and wideout, and lets them get everything they want, our quarterback will be pretty doggone efficient." Q How do you feel about the right side of the offensive line? That's an area you switched personnel often during camp. Shoop: "First of all, Coach (Jim) Bridge is just doing a great job, trying to find the right mix. Moving (Trevor) Foy from left tackle to right guard really helped him and helped us. He's been in a right-handed stance his career, he played some right tackle here. And I've been around guys (like) that: He came and said, 'I'm having trouble in the left-handed stance and I've been right-handed,' and I told him, 'You ain't the first guy that that's been the case,' and when we moved him to right guard he looked a lot more at home and a lot more comfortable. And it's 31 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 1 not just that he had sideboards (players to his left and right), he just looked a lot better on the righthand side. "I feel good about the right guard position with he and (Jordan) Roos and even Cody (Davis) is going to be in the mix there. At the right tackle position, (Justin) Kitchens and we've got to get (J.J.) Prince back a little bit, but we'll be OK. I think it really helps that Foy is in the mix there; there's a guy who has some snaps under his belt from a right-handed stance. That makes a difference now, really makes a difference." Q: What are your thoughts on the defense? Shoop: "If there's one thing I'm going to talk to our guys about it's that we really didn't have any big plays (in the scrimmage). If we got to the last level of defense, they got us for the most part. Any time a defense can make you go the long, hard way over time they're going to win. They played great zone defense and had 11 pairs of eyes on the ball every step of the way and were gang tackling. Shoot, it's a son of a gun going against them every day. It's really hard, our D-line has really made our offensive line better. Those guys are uncommon talents, they really are." j f