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Mark Snyder Press Conference Quotes

We're excited, the season is finally here, we're excited to be home here in the Joan for our first game going against a very good football team in Illinois State. Coach Johnson does a great job, they are very sound in all aspects of what they do. They kind of look like a Big Ten team, I think their whole conference is going that way a little bit. They are very sound on defense and very aggressive on special teams. We'll have to come to play, they have a very good football team. Anytime you go into the first game, halftime adjustments are going to be very crucial because both sides of the ball are going to have things that will need to be fixed.

On the offense: As I look at our offense at a whole, starting back at spring practice, I have been very pleased with our offensive line and our quarterbacks. Mark (Cann) has got some moxie and Brian Anderson   needs to understand that he is one snap away from going in the game and Jonathan Garner needs to understand that he is two snaps from going in the game, but I think the improvement in that group has been a pleasant surprise. They'll continue to get better as the season goes.

On Mark Cann: Coming into camp, we felt like that (quarterbacks) would be a weak point for us, but Mark has been getting better every day. He has poise, he lets things bounce right off of him and has the ability to focus on the next play. He has been doing a good job of running our offense. I've also been very pleased with Brian Anderson. His arm strength has improved and he has also been running our offense very smoothly, Jonathan (Garner) is not quite there yet, but we feel like we have three quarterbacks that can come into the game and win for us.

On Albert McClellan and the defense: Albert has been going full tilt, the good thing now is that we have depth and can roll some people in behind him. You'll see Vinny Curry  come in a little bit for Albert and also John Jacobs. All of the great defenses I've been around have rolled guys, all except for linebackers and safeties. We're going to be playing a bunch of new guys on defense, but we feel as if those guys are going to keep getting better and better, the upside for those guys is phenomenal.

On a team theme going into the season: One game at a time, we bought into that theme and it worked well at the end of last year.

On the team captains for the season: It will be our senior class. All of the seniors. Those guys have done a great job of leading. They bought in and have done a great job of leading this summer and through preseason camp. I know for a fact when you name four or five guys as a captain, the others tend to move to the back of the group a little bit and we did not want that to happen. We want those guys to keep pushing, coaching, being the leaders in the locker room and off the field, getting guys to class and helping this coaching staff. You will see all the seniors go out for the pregame coin toss.

On Ahmed Shakoor: He has done good, he has some natural leadership ability in him, he can run well. We're excited about him.