Aaron Moorehead on Caleb, Coles, and the wideouts

Wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead discussed his players on Monday afternoon.

On Joel Caleb ‘s role at tailback: “It’s just something we’re experimenting with right now.  We want to see how he can help us in different ways.  We think he’s a great player who has the ability to do different things.  He’s a big, strong guy, and we need to try and get the ball in his hands.  We’re going to see what he can do at tailback, and he’s going to get reps at both [positions].”

On Caleb’s move being similar to the new role for D.J. Coles : “Find different roles, find different ways for our playmakers to touch the ball.  We’re going to see how he is.  If he’s doing a great job back there, he might stay back there.  If he struggles a little bit, we might tweak it and have him doing both.  We’ll go from there, but it’s something that we want to see.  He’s up for it, and that’s a good thing.”

On the health of D.J. Coles : “He looks good.  DJ’s doing a good job.  The big thing with DJ is can he return to his old form?  That’s what everybody wants to know.  It’s what I want to know.  It sounded like he had a pretty good summer.  We’ll see here in a little while.”

On Coles’ current weight at 234: “It’s a good weight for him, being able to move and do some of the blocking that we’re going to ask him to do.  I think he’ll shed a little bit during camp, understanding that it’s hot and he’s going to be doing all that stuff.  He likes to be around that 230-235 range, and that’s where he’s at.”

On Charley Meyer: “I think Charley’s going to be a good player.  Obviously I haven’t seen him [play] this summer, but I’ve seen him and he’s gotten bigger, gotten stronger.  He’s a tough kid, he catches the ball well, he did a great job this spring.  The first couple of days we’ll see how he’s doing, but we’re expecting him to do some things on offense.  We’re hoping he can, I’m hoping he can.  He’s got the mentality that you like.  He’s not scared of anything, it doesn’t matter if we’re playing Alabama, Western Carolina or Blacksburg High School.  He’s going to go out there and compete and that’s what you want.”

On Demitri Knowles taking the next step: “I think he’s just got to continue to progress.  I’m not going to go out and put pressure on Demitri.  He needs to go out, play good football, and he needs to play fast.  That’s what he really does well.  He’s the type of guy who needs to be relaxed, he needs to have fun out there, and that’s how I’m going ot treat him.  He’s going to try and challenge for that starting job, and that’s what you want, that’s the pressure you want, but he needs to be able to have fun.  If he can go out there and consistently catch the football, continue to get better at route running, he’ll be just fine.”

On E.L. Smiling and his chances of playing with Kevin Asante gone: “Anytime an older guy has been here for awhile, they’ll take anything they can get to potentially get that break they need.  E.L. and Willie Byrn are two guys who have been around here for awhile, and in my mind it’s time for them to make that next step.  With E.L., it’s never been about knowing what to do, he’s a smart guy, he understands football.  Now it’s about when the lights are on, you’ve got to go make the play.  He’s got to be consistent.  Once he gets that, he’ll have a chance.  If he doesn’t, someone else will.  We’ll play the best guys, I don’t care if six guys play or three guys play.  Whoever is going to make us win on Saturdays is going to play.”

On Mark Irick and his status: “Mark is injured right now.  He won’t be with us during camp.  We won’t be able to see him until the fall.  It’s unfortunate for him.”