<span style='font-family:Trebuchet MS'><span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:yellow'>Bowden talks about scrimmage

Warchant.com staff report

FSU coach Bobby Bowden addressed the media following Saturday's scrimmage. Here is a transcript of that conversation, which was transcribed by Warchant.com's Aslan Hajivandi.

Opening comments
We had a scrimmage where the defense did pretty darn good, did a pretty good job of shutting the offense down. Again the center thing; you lost one, you lost two, your number three, and number four went down today so we probably spent half the scrimmage without him, so it's kind of hard to get going when you're hurt there. The athleticism of some players really did show, some players made some good plays. Lee had three touchdown passes; he's really coming along. Running was good, but didn't have much of a chance, but we had to look at our running game to see how our blocking is coming along. The offense is having a hard time getting the best 11 out on the field. You had Willie Reid out again, (Lorne) Sam was out, Shaw got hurt; it's getting mighty thin in there, but I guess that's what happens during spring training.
What's Xavier doing? It's been a heck of a week for him…
Well, he's getting them in the end zone. Today he had three touchdowns. A couple of them were scrambles, but that's like a golf ball hitting a tree and going in the hole -- it's still a 4. He's moving 'em, I want to see more of him with the (first team) the next time we scrimmage to see what he looks like with them.

Talk about Greg Carr.
Oh boy, Greg Carr, talk about athleticism. He's showing up, that's exactly what it was, he had several good catches, maybe several touchdown passes. We had a lot of receivers out. The tight ends couldn't catch the ball today; they had several first down throws in their hands and dropped them.

What's the status of De'Cody Fagg and Lorne Sam?
De'Cody has a sprained ankle, probably out for the rest of spring, he's back on crutches. Sam hurt that foot that he had operated on and they're going to x-ray it this next week and see the severity of it.

Is Kenny O'Neal out running track?
Yeah, he was out today running track.

You slipped another guy into a red jersey today that made a couple plays for you …
13? I think he slipped himself in, I don't know if Mickey knew about that. He would love to get over there. He'd love to play both.

Would you entertain the idea of giving him an opportunity to do both?
Not unless Mickey said so

What are the odds of that happening?
I really don't know, depends what kind of mood he's in. (laughs) Of course if you were playing in the season and were as beat up as you are today with all these wide receivers, he could probably say, "Yes, use him."

Gerard Ross is a guy that hadn't have a lot of success, yet he's a senior and he comes out here…
I think he's having a good spring. I think he's having a good spring. He made an interception today, a nice interception. I saw him make a couple nice tackles, so I hope his day has come. Still, it remains to be seen. Backs ran good, but there just wasn't anything there most of the time.

How encouraged are you by what you've seen out of Greg Carr?
I'm encouraged. I'm very encouraged. Of course when you get on the field in a game it's different. I mean how are these freshmen who seem to have a good spring and then freeze up in a game? It's kind of a natural thing; if he can maintain that, and he may -- he's a basketball player, a football player, he might have that little thing.

Were you more impressed with his adjustment here on the long ball or the way he went up for the one in goal line?
Both of them would be very good. That means he can do two things instead of one, it's a good sign, like I said it's that athleticism.

You've been getting pretty good effort out of your interior defensive line…
Well we really have. Some of those freshmen tackles, Jones and Dunbar are giving them some good help in there, and a couple of those walk-ons are playing in there too. They're doing pretty good.

Do you think it's because of the injuries on the offensive line?
Well, probably the offense would do better if you had your center and two guards back, but they're not in there and these other guys are getting some great experience. I think (Cornelius Lewis) has made some progress this week. Claude really looks like a player. So at least they're getting in some good work for next fall.

The flip-side to Xavier having a good day is that Wyatt hasn't had one of his better weeks.
We simply can't protect him. We simply can't protect him, if we give him protection he can throw with anybody, but he has not been able to avoid the pressure around him.

Is there anything your looking for from your quarterbacks in the last week of spring practice that you haven't gotten a chance to see?
All you can go by is what they're doing and what they're producing. Today Lee was much more productive. Now, who did he have blocking? Who was he going against? All those things have to be factored in, so that's why I need to see more of him with the first line to see what's happening there

How much of Wyatt's struggles are from holding the ball too long, if that's a problem…
Right now what we don't want him to do is taking sacks on first or second down; third down I don't mind because you're going to punt if you don't make it anyway. If you throw it incomplete you have to punt, you get sacked you still have to punt. You hope your punter can make up for the 5 or 10 yards. Now first and second down we don't want sacks, and we're still getting 'em. He's got to learn to ditch that ball. All right, so what's the problem? Well, number one, he has courage enough to stand in the pocket and take shots and throw the ball; it'll cost you a doggone sack. A lot of guys don't have the courage to stay in there, and they'll come flying out of there when you shouldn't. So there's a happy medium in there somewhere that you got to balance out

Does it make it hard because of what he's got playing in front of him to evaluate him?
Very hard. Very hard, not so much what he has in front of him, but what the other team has in front of him; their first line against ours. We're still mighty young and inexperienced.

What are you trying to do in the final week?
We will probably get in at least two more scrimmages, try to teach fundamentals, and get guys healthy for the fall.
</span></span></span>