Quick Hits: CJ Donaldson's Role, Dante Stills' 'Best Game', Areas That Need Work + More

Areas that need improvement

"We didn't catch the ball well enough. We dropped six balls in the game. I think I minimized that and I was wrong. We dropped six balls. We've got to clean up some protection issues up front. We gave up too many hits. We've got to tackle better. That's something we've done really well here the last three years. That's the standard is that we tackle well. We've got to do a better job of that. We had some alignment issues. And we gave up too many explosive passes."

Edward Vesterinen's progress

"He just plays super hard. Relentless is a word that I use with him a lot. He's a fun guy to coach. Coach Lesley gives him a hard time. He says, 'yes', 'no', and 'coach'. He's got progressively better. He's been intentional about learning football, obviously, it's new to him. He's picked up on it faster than our other international players to this point. He plays with low pads and uses his hands well. He doesn't stay blocked. A lot of times when you watch d-linemen when you stop their initial charge, that's about it. But he's relentless. He's going to continue to play. He's got some versatility because he can play our 1-technique, our nose, and the 3-technique."

Injury updates

"I really don't know just yet. We're waiting on some guys. Charles Woods got hurt in the game. I don't really have an update on him right now. Jordan White, he's moving around. I think he's probable for the game. Probably know more after practice today. [Tirek Austin-Cave] didn't play. He'll be questionable again. He has not practiced since our second scrimmage full speed. He's going to get some work today. Tomorrow, we're going to see, but I would say questionable. [Jalen] Thornton, he was out. He's been limited. He's probably another week away."

If CJ Donaldson's role will grow

"I've sat up here and said his name several times during fall camp. And that doesn't always translate in fairness to him. We felt like it would, but you're never sure. You're always hesitant to put much on a young player early on. But obviously, in the first half, he had the big run, and then we got him more involved there in the second half. I think his role will continue to grow without a doubt. He played well. I think he'd be the first one to tell you, we blocked pretty well when he was in there. The thing that I like about him and that Chad [Scott] likes about him is he's decisive. He doesn't stop his feet. He makes a cut and he goes. All of his runs were productive. If we went back, we probably would have played him a little bit more later. That was one of our concerns was in pass protection, especially in your first game where you really don't know what your opponent is going to do. But man, he picked up No. 7 two different times, and one of them was a big-time collision and there was no flinch by him. That was as impressive as anything he did all evening including the blocked punt."

JT Daniels' first game

"I felt like he'd be even-keel. I didn't think that a hit would bother him or a dropped pass or any kind of setback and he was. He was even-keel. I thought he was really good in-game being able to tell you what he saw and that's not the case with every quarterback. I loved the interview he did after the game. Just talking about his teammates and his belief, I thought that was powerful stuff. And I thought he threw the ball really well. We dropped six balls for probably 100+ yards and if you're sitting there looking at his stats and you put those six passes in with those yards, that's a wild type game. I think he'll continue to build off of that too."

Officiating

"Greg Burks handles the officials in our conference. And our commissioner was at the game and he was helpful. Greg does a really good job. I don't have any complaints with him. I think the game is extremely hard to officiate. My issues in the game were, the first one was I knew both those guys fair caught the ball. It just took a little longer to get it right but they got it right. Credit to them. As far as the last catch or non-catch goes, there's two plays that went to replay. On their last scoring drive when they were on offense, they threw the ball to the tight end across the middle. They called it a catch on the field and they let it stand. And to me, the ball hit the ground, which I think you can see on the shot. So the ball that Reese [Smith] caught or was ruled a catch on the field as well goes to replay, you can see it hit the ground just like you can see that other ball hit the ground. So my argument is either both of them are catches or neither one of them are catches. That's where we agree to disagree. It wasn't hostile or anything like that but you have those discussions and I think our league office does a good job of responding. I was frustrated at the end of the game because I didn't get a response from the head official when I called that timeout. I called that timeout because I wanted to get a response of what was said on replay and he's the only one that knows. I thought the game overall was officiated pretty well."

Dante Stills performance

"Best football game he's played in his career. He played within the scheme, still really productive. Created opportunities for other guys to make plays. He was mentally in the game. It was the best shape he's ever been in. He looked like what we expected him to look like. I felt like it was his best, most complete football game since we've been here."

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