Aug. 14, 2007

EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette Athletic Communications staff caught up with head coach Frank Tavani on Tuesday for a quick Q & A about the preseason.

How are the freshmen adjusting to camp and being part of this football team?

"I think they're doing very well. They got their first taste of some live-scrimmage work yesterday when we scrimmaged the new guys and some young upperclassmen. They had a 30-play scrimmage. I saw some nice things out of all three freshman quarterbacks. The three freshmen receivers had a nice day out there, and we also had some great plays on defense by some of the young kids."

What's the biggest challenge for players transitioning from high school football to Division 1 college football?

"To me, it's patience. They all come in and they're highly touted and heavily recruited, and then they come in here and they go from being King of the Hill and then suddenly it's like starting high school as a freshman over again. That's a hard adjustment for kids."

How's the battle for quarterback going?

"I think it's going pretty well - it's a very competitive situation. It's really no secret I think that Michael DiPaola, being the seasoned senior veteran, is still certainly ahead, but I think Robert Curley is right there on his heels. I think Josh Jones is making up some ground. We're letting the freshmen be freshmen and not putting any pressure on those kids."

When do you need to make a decision on who your starting quarterback will be?

"As long as I make it by the snap of the first game against Marist! No, ideally you're zeroed in in another week or so. It'll take care of itself in terms of who is going to get the reps in practice. You can really only truly rep two guys. You can say you're giving a third guy some reps but you have to limit that.

I've felt all along that until we got in against another opponent we would have a hard time determining who can lead this football team, and I fully expected to go into Marist aware that we were going to play two guys and see how this thing goes. It's kind of how it went with Pat Davis and Brad Maurer in 2005 a little bit too, so hopefully the result will be the same."

What has really impressed you in practice?

"Well I think they are really coming together as a team already. It seems they're really unified as a group and everybody's taking care of each other. That's a credit to our senior leaders and the leadership of our captains. I think the enthusiasm is great and I think we're in a lot better condition."

What still needs work?

"The kicking game is really a concern right now. With punting, David Yankovich is coming on as you would expect for a senior and is doing a nice job. But the placekicking and the kickoff guy is still yet to be determined, so special teams is always a concern and we're continuing to work a lot more on that now that we're moving closer everyday."

What made you decide to switch your afternoon practices to the evening?

"We kind of thought we might utilize this alternative plan B on the two-a-days and really it was two-fold. One, I think there's better rest time and more focus and concentration on meetings in between, but most importantly our staff has a lot more time to review practice film and be prepared for the meetings. The kids are refreshed. They just love being out here with the lights on; there's a different bounce in their step. So we're going hard in the morning in the heat, every other day we're in the middle of the afternoon for three hours, but we're also practicing at night. If you were out there the other night, everybody really enjoyed it, including all the coaches. So why not go with a good thing?"