MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University football player quotes during Friday's media session at Milan Puskar Stadium:

Jeff Braun

On how the offensive line is coming along …
We are doing real well. The starting group has a bond that I haven’t seen for a while, especially the interior three of me, Josh (Jenkins) and Joe (Madsen). I think we are doing really well right now.

On the bond between the offensive linemen …
As many games that we have played in collectively, I think we understand what is going on and then with the edge guys, they have starting experience so it is not like we have to explain stuff to them. They have already seen a lot of stuff. It is just them getting more reps in practice and working on our technique.

On the depth …
Right now we have two freshmen working with the twos, which I haven’t seen since I have been here. Those two are doing really well. It is tough to do offensive line and come in here and crack the two deep and for them to be doing that is a testament to them. Both of them are athletic. (Adam) Pankey is bigger, and he is huge. Tyler (Orlosky) is a very good athlete. It is a testament to them. (John) Bassler is in the middle there, and he knows what he is doing. He has been here for five years too. Curtis (Feigt) is doing a heck of a job. I have seen tremendous improvement from him just even from the spring. Something clicked over the summer, and it is definitely showing.

Shawne Alston

On what it means to be a leader during camp…
Being a leader is just an essential part of any good team. Every team that you can think of that has always been great has had good leaders. Someone that can just reiterate what the coaches say. Things are different when you hear it from a coach then when you hear it from one of your peers, just because with the coaches, that is their job. You keep hearing them yelling and saying the same thing, and sometimes people might start to block it out, but when you got somebody beside you that is your age and doing the same thing that you are doing, then it may be just a little easier to take in.

On how everything is developing for the running backs…
We are doing good. Me, (Andrew) Buie, (Ryan) Clark, Donovan (Miles), Dustin (Garrison) is starting to get more reps and also Torry (Clayton), he is looking pretty good too. We are going to have a good rotation going on right now, and I think we need to get better at it every day that we come out to play.

On Dustin Garrison coming back…
He has definitely looked good. He is getting hit a little bit more now. People were a little nervous to hit him the first couple of days back, but now he is getting hit, and he is saying that he is still feeling good after taking hits, and that is a good thing. Mentally, he is back into it.

Geno Smith

On the 20 plays at the end of practice yesterday…
Those are very important. I don’t think anybody had a better day. We all gained from it, and it was kind of a back and forth battle. Pat Miller was talking to me earlier, and it is kind of like a heavyweight fight. One guy gets knocked out and defense comes back and responds and offense comes back and does the same. I think as long as we continue to make progress in those areas, I think we will be fine. I think we did a great job in those situational periods that we had.

On having the defense gets some plays on the offense…
It was great. We expect that. Those guys are out there competing as hard as they can, and we are doing the same. At times, they are going to get us. We understand that, and we need that in order to learn from it. I made a pivotal mistake down in the red zone. I threw an interception on a play, and that is something I can learn from as well. I am a senior, and we have seniors and we have young guys, and we are all learning the same way.

On the blocking that the running backs do for him…
I think all those guys do a great job. Coach Gillespie does a great job of making sure they understand who they are responsible for and need to pick up. They are tough guys, and they do a great job stepping up there, keeping those guys off my back. They give me enough time to find my reads and make accurate throws.

Brodrick Jenkins

On how camp has been going…
It has been going well. I like the intensity, I like that both sides are competing, and trying to get better. It looks like we could have a real good squad if we keep it up.

On what the focus has been defensively…
Chemistry. We have been working on just trying to be fast and create turnovers, and become a defense that we know we can be. Coach really emphasizes turnovers so we try to play fast and get to the ball and just try to stay fundamentally sound, and I feel like that is what our main focus is.

On this defense playing in the Big 12…
Knowing that our coaches have come from there, I feel like we have a lot of confidence. I feel like this defense lets us play, and its much simpler then our last one. I feel like with the players that we have now; we can go into the Big 12 and take this defense and really use it to our benefit.

J.B. Lageman

On what surprises him about the young newcomers…
The physicality of the younger guys. Normally, you get guys who come in, and they are still stuck in high school and being the big man on campus, and I feel like a lot of these guys haven’t really gotten shocked by the size and the level that we are on. They go out and plug away, and they got after it just as hard as they can. I think they are progressing really well.

On the new coaching staff…
Obviously being under Coach Kirelawich for four years and then other guys, it is different. It is just different people and different types. We are all getting acclimated with each other, and I think we are really starting to build a good relationships, especially defensive line Coach Slaughter and the other defensive coaches. I don’t think there is any tension or separation there. I think we are really coming together well as a defense.

On the tensions between offense and defense in the Oklahoma drill…
Every day we are out there competing and just trying to get better. Right now, we go against our enemy. They are our opponent, and we are their opponent, and we just try compete as hard as we can and whatever it comes out to. We have gotten scrappy a couple of days, but overall we are just trying to get better and help each other.

Jared Barber

On how camp has been going…
It has been going really well. We started out slow just trying to get back into spring ball and everything that we learned from there. We have installed some new stuff, and we
are looking pretty good.

On the installation of the new defense…
Really well. I think the coaches have done a really good job of taking it slow and letting us learn day by day, letting us make our mistakes and then fixing it. I think that it has worked out really well, and it is going to benefit us.

On benefiting from time on the field with coaches versus time in the video room…
I think a little bit of both. I am out there, and I make mistakes. We are blessed enough to have a great facility where we can come back and watch film and correct our mistakes. You have got to get the feel for it out in the field, but also go in there and see what you did wrong.