Most Notable Things Dino Babers Said in Spring Game Press Conference

Syracuse football's head coach spoke with the media following the annual spring game.

Q: What did Justin do to earn the chance to go out there with the first team?

Babers: He won the coin flip. That was it.

Q: He took all of the first team snaps pretty much throughout the game. Was that also decided by the coin flip?

Babers: I thought they were rotating. I think it just comes down to how it comes out. Sometimes the drive goes further and sometimes it doesn't.

Q: What did you see out of both of them tonight?

Babers: I thought they were a little nervous to start off with from the beginning. Our whole thing is to make sure they settle down. Things are not always exactly right, because when you're working with ones and working with the twos. On offense it’s so big that nobody makes a mistake so everything can be pure for the quarterback. On defense, you can try to hide some mistakes with fantastic effort and stuff like that. I think they both did a good job overall.

Q: What did you think of the effort from everyone who took the field tonight?

Babers: It was fun to see the young guys play. You see guys out there making plays, they had big smiles on their faces. Little bit different than practice when you got the fans in the stands, so it was good.

Q: What’s your take on the backup quarterback through the spring?

Babers: We got to go through the tape. There's checks and all kinds of stuff that those guys are doing. We got to go through the checks and the tape and then we can make a decision.

Q: Some big plays by true freshman Jalil Smith that we had a lot of things out of touchdown just out of that particular way.

Babers: I think those young guys are starting to make some plays. Some of them have been here a year, some of them not even six months yet. But they're a talented group. They'll make plays and they'll grow up and get bigger.

Q: For Justin, where have you seen this maturation process of rookies?

Babers: I think anytime you talk about those quarterbacks, those extra reps are going to be the key. Those guys have gotten a lot of reps and sometimes when they say “oh, the quarterback messed up,” it's a receiver or an offensive lineman. Like I said, everything's got to be exactly right for those guys so unless they’re working with the ones, sometimes their picture can be a little dirty and then you just want to see them make a play. I thought they did go out there and do some things with their legs and make some plays.

Q: Isaiah Jones, you said that last year you were told that he was the best receiver. Having seen him this spring, where is your judgment on that?

Babers: He needs to continue to get better. I thought that last year, he really was one of our best guys. I think that he's had some injuries he had to overcome. We [are] still extremely high on him, but I think some other guys have closed the distance on him.

Q: What did you think of the defense, not in the 3-3-5 as much today?

Babers: You know, the cool thing about this defense is it can be a lot of defenses, and then when it's moving, it's hard for people to figure out what it is. We have the ability to go back and forth through things. I think Rocky talked about that a little bit before we kicked the ball off today. And that's just part of the flexibility of the defense. I think when we get our linebackers… back to start practicing all through the summer, I think you'll get to see some of the traditional stuff.

Q: Before watching the tape, what’s your initial reaction, who stood out to you?

Babers: I don't know. I mean, I've been in it too long to do that. You know, I thought that Juwaun Price looked good. I thought he did some things. But outside of that, that's about as far as I go.

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