Bullets:

• Quinton Washington and Jibreel Black have been splitting snaps situationally. QWash could get more snaps against Iowa because of Iowa's offensive style.
• Hoke is disappointed that Taylor Lewan wasn't an Outland Trophy finalist.
• Justice Hayes's future is at slot receiver, but he'll do some spot duty as a third-down back.
• The Borges transcript will be up tomorrow morning because I am forever delinquent.

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Opening remarks:

“Really good practice yesterday. The energy level, the execution of things was really good on both sides of the ball. I’m real proud of what the kicking game did last week. We need to do the same thing this week, only we want to see if we can get a little more out of the return game. Some of that was predicated by wind and everything else, but we though the kicking game was something that we wanted to improve. The young guys on that team have continued to improve. That’s helped us a lot in a lot of situations, but we’ve had a good week so far.”

Have you been able to sort out your tailback situation at all?

“No, we have another day today and we’ll go through practice, bu tlal three of them there’s things they do well.”

How do you divide the snaps between them?

“Almost in thirds. It really depends on what part of the game you’re in. You get to some of the passing game, one of them may be better at that. That’s part of it, too.”

You said there’s a role for all three of those guys. How do you envision that?

“Well I’m not really going to talk about what the role is.”

Will it be even or will one of those guys have to step up?

“I think at the end of the day you need to somebody step up.”

MGoQuestion: Greg Mattison said Quinton Washington had a good game last Saturday. What’s keeping him from seeing more snaps?

“Well, we rotate those two positions between him and Jibreel. They both have – they’re both very good football players. They both have had good games. Both of them probably not as good a game as they liked to have had. So it’s really 1A and 1B.”

MGoFollowup: Will the ratio of snaps between the two change when you play a team like Iowa?

“It depends. It depends what you’re going to see. Jibreel’s a little better of a pass rush guy. Got into a game where third downs become a big third and longer downs, then he could get some more snaps. Or if it’s a smash-mouth game like it will be with how they like to play, Q could get more snaps.”

Do you think Jake’s 100 percent?

“Yeah I think so. I don’t see anything that’s slowing him down.”

No pain when he comes off the field?

“Nope.”

MGoQuestion: Play action is a big part of your offense. What do you think of Iowa’s ability to defend play action?

“I think they do a pretty good job because they stay in quarters most of the time. I think Phil Parker, the guy who coaches the secondary – I worked with at Toledo years ago – is a very good football coach and does a nice job.”

MGoFollowup: What does running play action on an obvious passing down accomplish for you?

“Well, it depends. Field positions matter. You have field zones where second and long or whatever, you may run the ball still. Some teams do, some teams don’t. Sometimes play action is good there. You really have to check the discipline of guys playing. And what I’m saying is the discipline of the defensive backs. Everything is feet discipline and eye discipline at that position.”

Third down woes against Northwestern – what was the issue there?

“Well I think some of it is we’ve got to block better. We had some chances in there to make some of those on the ground, so I think some of it was that. The other thing is we missed some throws and dropped some balls that were manageable.”

You said you moved Justice Hayes to receiver and then moved him back …

“Justice has been in the program long enough and he knows the protections, even though we moved him out to the Z receiver, slot a bit. Because of his maturity and being around, he can do both.”

Is the long term goal for him to be receiver?

“I think that’s where we’d like to get him trained most of the time.”

Derrick Green said he is now down to 230. He said the coaches did want him to lose weight. Do you notice a difference now?

“Oh yeah. I think so. His speed in and out of holes, his acceleration, that burst you need to have.”

He hasn’t played as much as some thought he would. How has his patience been?

“Well, missing a little bit in fall camp probably – I have to go back and look at the days, but it was a decent amount of time. That part of it hurt him, set him back. Getting more in football shape was part of it.”

Do you think he’s in prime shape?

“No. He won’t be in his prime shape yet. He has to be Wellmanized and all those things. Summer, winter, spring football. Those guys haven’t tasted it all yet.”

Do you think Taco Charlton could have a future on the interior of the defensive line?

“Yeah. I think he could. Looks tall, got long arms. Long legs.”

MGoQuestion: You handled Iowa pretty easily last year. They look like a similar team this year …

“No, they’re much different. Much different. They’re a much more physical team on offense, Scherff didn’t play a year ago. He was out for the game. Weisman was beat up in our game, coming in with an ankle. I think Bullock has given them a lot of good things as a change-of-pace back. Defensively, the three senior linebackers, they’re seniors. When seniors hit that mark, they’re playing very active and very well. They’re a very different football team.”

Schemewise, how similar are they with how they were 10 years ago?

“There’s a lot of similarities. The one thing I will say is they’re pressuring a little more. I think they feel from the standpoint – and I shouldn’t even answer the question because I’m not them and I’m not there every day – but I think they feel more confident in their linebackers and their back end. So you see them blitz a little more.”

You’ve struggled on the road. What do you emphasize to a young team?

“There’s no doubt in the consistency you want to play with and the carryover you want from one week to the next. The belief that they have in each other and how they perservere and all those things. You want to build off that and build off the momentum of that.”

What do you like about how Taylor Lewan has improved this season?

“What he’s done physically to himself and the discipline throughout. With that offensive unit line-wise, his direction, the coaching he gives them, he’s into it with them. That’s another step in growth.”

He was left off the Outland finalist list.

“Yeah. Am I disappointed? Yeah. Really disappointed.”

You think he belongs in that conversation?

“Yeah. No doubt. No doubt.”