Defensive Coordinator Lance Guidry spoke to the media Saturday and answered questions concerning depth, and provided his overall perception of how the defense has progressed thus far:

"Like always, good, bad, ugly. Some really good things, some good plays by kids, good execution, and the bad, like always, busted assignments. When you quit on plays, that's the ugly. As long as you don't quit on a play, you make up for it, maybe get the guy down, and go to the next series. It's about where I expected. We are putting a lot of stuff in, the offense putting a lot of stuff in. It's just kind of you know guys messing up because they haven't seen something before, but that's just all part of it."

On playing cornerback Tecory Couch at different positions and the players standing out in the secondary:

"Yeah, he's playing on the outside as well. We're going to move up, start playing a little bit of nickel on tomorrow. He hadn't played a lot of nickel yet. Star position, but he'll start playing some tomorrow. The [Jadais] Richard kid went up, leaving him at the corner for a couple days. He's doing really well, along with the Brown brothers [Damari and Davonte Brown, both of them. So we got a lot of choices to choose from. Also, the [Jaden] Davis kid is playing the star position probably the best right now. It's been good. Have a lot of different guys that we can plug and play, which is awesome."

On the performance of the defensive line after fall practice four:

"It's been a bunch of guys that have stood out upfront. Bunch of guys getting to the quarterback. Today wasn't one of our better days stopping the run, which is non-negotiable; you got to be able to stop the run better than we did today. But yeah, they are getting after it. I think they're rushing the passer really well. For the most part, playing the run today just wasn't a good day for us."

On the younger players standing out:

"[Rueben] Bain is consistent against the run and pass. Of course, he's still got a lot to learn, but I expect him to play a lot. Jayden Wayne, it's up and down. Plays like a freshman, of course, but he's doing some good things as well. Nyjalik [Kelly] is still very young as well. That's the three young guys that really stand out that will be deep in the rotation if not the starters."

On the backup safeties:

"Kind of up and down. [Jaden] Harris has had a really good camp so far. He's got a couple of interceptions. He probably plays the ball the best. I think Markeith Williams knows the defense a little bit better than he does right now but Harris has made a bunch of plays already, and it's good to see."

On the defense giving up big runs in practice:

"Yeah, we had some big runs. A couple times, we got cut out of some gaps. Really because we weren't really attacking the blocks, and sometimes they get on the perimeter, they kind of cut the DB out of the run fit, and that can't happen so, but good for the offense. They've been struggling a little bit at times running the ball. Today was a good day for them, which was awesome. You want that. You want a back-and-forth battle. You don't want it to be one way or the other. When you look at film, you can tell that it's a busted assignment. If it's not a busted assignment, and they just whipped you on the block, then that's a good thing.

On evaluating the team with not being in full pads:

"It's hard to evaluate how good of a tackling team you are. You have to get in there and have good posture as you play, have your pads down and all that, but until you start taking people to the ground, you really don't know if you are a good tackling team. And we are not going to get a lot of that. We will have some scrimmages, which will be live of course, and you go into the first game and you just got to tackle well. You got to get a bunch of numbers to the football. If you got a bunch of guys running hard, playing hard, getting to the ball, you usually tackle well."

On the competition at linebacker:

"Oh, it's a competition all in that backer room, and we've been plugging and playing a bunch of different guys; as we get into full pads and get a little bit further along and start installing more, they'll probably start to separate themselves because, in the course of a game, things change. So you got to identify plays, and you got to rely on past experiences, and that's where probably KJ [Cloyd] is probably going to catch up or beat some of the guys because he's just played a lot of reps."

On veteran linebackers Corey Flagg and Francico Mauigoa:

"Corey Flagg's playing really well. He's probably, out of all of them, he's probably looked the best in the fall compared to the spring. He's had probably the biggest improvement, but the foot was holding him back in the spring. But KiKo [Francisco Mauigoa] is still playing really well at the backer."

On the level the players are grasping the defense:

"We're probably at 75 percent of what we put in. We're going to keep adding and throw it all on the wall and see what sticks and see what they do best. Is it blitzing? Is it sitting there playing man free? Is it sitting there playing zone? Right now, it looks like they like to pressure. They like to disrupt, which is so different than last year. I think they're more comfortable when they're attacking and not sitting there waiting, but we'll see, and sometimes it depends on who you play and what you want to do. But it looks like blitzing them and getting them started is what they like to do."

On the Jack role with the defense:

"Jack is more of the end that does a lot of dropping. He's a pass rusher, but he does play the run. Really built for more athletic defensive ends. The ones to the fill are kind of the big guys, they got to play four-eye a little bit where [Akheem] Mesidor and all those guys are at. Bain, that's where he plays. Nyjalik and all the rest of those guys, that's where they play. The slender guys that's where they play, put them on the boundary."

On defensive lineman, movement taking place pre or post-snap:

"Both. We try to change up protections for the offense and run schemes by going from a four down to an odd, odd to a four down. We haven't got to bear yet. We going to get to bear, and from that, when a ball snapped, moving and stunting, so it's a lot on the offense. A lot on the offensive line for protection, and I think that's why they cut a couple guys loose at times. Really not trying to get anybody to jump offsides, just trying to change up their rules and just moving right back to where we came from. Doing as much as we can to confuse the O-Lineman and the quarterback."

On the freshman linebackers adapting:

"It's a lot for them. Each play and each day is a different thing for them because they are trying to learn what we're doing offensively and trying to adjust to college football and seeing all that stuff on the other side of them. It's hard for young freshmen at linebacker and safety to play because that's the brain trust of the defense; you got to make all the checks, and you got to be right. It takes a little time; we won't know about them, which one will be able to help us yet."

On freshman cornerback Damari Brown and UCF transfer Davonte Brown:

"At times, it looks like he's been here a while, and other times he looks like a true freshman. Both Brown boys are doing well. They both have the same demeanor. They don't get too up, too down, which is good at the corner, you don't want them too emotional, but they both have great intangibles. The older Brown kid, runs really fast. The other one probably moves a little bit better in and out of breaks, but they're both tall and big corners, which is what you want."

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