Head Coach Brian Daboll

Q: Who's not going today?

DABOLL: (Defensive lineman Rakeem Nuñez-Roches) Nacho, (running back Tyrone) Tracy (Jr.), (defensive lineman Chauncey) Golston, (kicker) Graham (Gano), and then (offensive lineman Aaron) Stinnie, they just had a baby about two hours ago. It's another one. Him and his wife. First son, so, pretty cool.

Q: How's (tackle) Andrew Thomas been and do you expect him to be able to handle now a full workload? Has he built up to that point?

DABOLL: I think he feels good. We'll see how it goes throughout the game, but definitely more reps than he played. I think we'll just see where he's at. But he's in a good spot. Feels better. He's gotten better each week. It's good news to have him out there.

Q: You said on Monday that you were going to evaluate everything. Obviously, we've been focused on one change. I'm just curious, are you making any other changes or is a quarterback enough for one week?

DABOLL: I think we play a lot of guys. Guys play in different spots. So, we'll do what we think each week we need to do.

Q: How has this week been for you? Obviously a big change to change your quarterback in the middle of the season.

DABOLL: Yeah, you've got to have blinders on. You've got to get ready to play a game against a good team. You have your meetings. You go through and meet with the defense, offense, special teams. Have meetings, have practice. Status quo.

Q: How much extra have you been meeting with (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart)?

DABOLL: I meet with him throughout the year. It's only been the first few weeks. I meet with him every Tuesday. Just him and I, we go through a few different tapes. But all the quarterbacks, the quarterback is a position where there are guys in here early, they stay late. There's a lot of stuff to do with quarterbacks. So, I would say not much different.

Q: I think it was reported that you met with Jaxson for 10 hours on Tuesday. Is that true? And then what did you spend the time on?

DABOLL: I met with him on Tuesday. I mean, we meet a long time. I don't punch a clock or anything or look at how long we met. But we met like we normally meet. Probably a little bit longer this time just because there were some more things to go through. But quarterbacks are here a long time, I would say. All the quarterbacks are.

Q: You've talked about how when you're the quarterback, you're not just in front of the offense, you're in front of the entire team. People back at Ole Miss talk about how Jaxson is really involved with offense, defense. We've talked about special teams. Have you seen that part of his personality come out this week now that he's the starter?

DABOLL: I've seen that personality come out since he's been here. He's got a good way about himself. Interacts with a lot of different people in the building. Not just the players, but I would say the staff, defense, kicking game, trainers, strength guys, people in the cafeteria. He's got a good personality that way.

Q: How have you seen that evolve this week as the starter? Has he come into more of a leadership, are you seeing that come out?

DABOLL: He's getting ready to play a game. He's dialed in. Dialed in in the meetings. Focused. Coming out here, doing what he needs to do at practice. He's getting ready to play a game.

Q: What do you tell him on Sunday? He's going into his first career start. What's your advice to a quarterback in that position?

DABOLL: Well, he's prepared. We'll have another good day of preparation. Go out there and do what your coached do. Play the game the way you know how to play it.

Q: I know you always say you don't take guys' aggression away. Do you advise him about sliding or being a little cautious when he's running the ball?

DABOLL: I think there's times to be smart, no question about it. Then there's times where it's hard to do. You look at all the quarterbacks, those are some of the tapes that we do go through of when's a good time to slide. When's a good time to try to make some more yards. You don't want to take many unnecessary hits, but he's a guy that's an athletic guy. I trust him with the ball in his hands. I trust him to make the right decision. Again, those are split-second decisions and instincts have to take over. When to get out of bounds, when to slide, there's certainly times to definitely do that.

Q: Do you think you urgently need a win to reaffirm for ownership that you're the right person to lead this team? Or do you think Jaxson's presence and the development of him buys you time regardless of how the team performs?

DABOLL: The way I look at it every week, regardless of how many wins or losses that I have, is each week we're trying to do the best you can to get a win. That's what we try to do, that's what I try to do and that's what we're going to try to do this week.

Q: A lot is always made about Jaxson's swagger. We see how it manifests itself in public. I'm just curious, behind the scenes, how does his personality manifest itself learning and meeting with you, behind the scenes with other guys? Is there a difference, or does it just come out in a different way?

DABOLL: No, he's the same guy every day. He's got a good personality. He's outgoing. He's a good communicator. He's a jokester at times. But when it comes to football, he's all business in terms of his preparation. He calls me late at night last night about red zone, where they got it, and it's pretty late. I said, 'Get some sleep. We'll hit it in the morning.' But he's on and it's all football for him.

Q: How much pressure do you feel for this to work relatively quickly? Because you're 0-3. I know you have a rookie quarterback. You say no rookie is really ready to play, but you kind of need results at the same time.

DABOLL: Just focus on this week. I think that's what you need to do. Do what you need to do each week to try to improve. Put together a good plan for the whole team. Not just the quarterback, but the whole team. And go out there and play and coach as good as you can.

Q: How have you seen the rest of the players respond to the change?

DABOLL: It's been good. I think it's most important that everybody does their job as good as we can do it. Jaxson has a job, and it's not solely on Jaxson. It's not solely ever on a quarterback. But it's his first start, I'm sure there's going to be some ups and downs. There always is when you're playing young players, and particularly at that spot. Keep a level head, keep improving, make good decisions, take care of the football. You don't have to go out there and be a hero or do anything like that. Just do your job.

Q: Because you've gone through this with multiple young quarterbacks in this first start, what you've learned throughout the years to tell them, has anything stuck?

DABOLL: I think every situation is different. It's different. Each person is different. Each situation is different. You do the best job you can with the person that you're working with, and I enjoy working with Jaxson.

Q: Why did you believe Jaxson would give you a better chance to win this week than (quarterback) Jameis (Winston)?

DABOLL: I think Jaxson's done a good job since he's been here. He's played well in the preseason. Again, he's done everything we asked him to do. Like I said the other day, that's why I decided to go with him.

Q: When we met with you yesterday talking about the idea of the decision to practice outside in the rain versus inside, at one point you talked about the medical people and you kind of used air quotes.

DABOLL: I heard about that.

Q: What was your feeling on that? What was the idea behind it?

DABOLL: Well, we have a group. It's not all medical people, should I say. There's a groundskeeper on it, there's a head equipment manager on it, and any time there's a certain type of weather, I'll say, 'Hey, I'd like to do this.' There's about seven people that talk about, here's my thoughts on it, whether it's legs on the turf, whether it's slick. We've got new fields. (Director of coaching operations Laura Young) LY is in it, my assistant. So there's a fair amount of communication between (head groundskeeper) Rob Davis, the guy that does the fields, (director of equipment operations Tim Slaman) Slay, (senior vice president, medical services/head athletic trainer) Ronnie (Barnes), (executive director of player performance)

(executive director of player performance) Aaron Wellman, LY. I talk to those guys pretty much on a daily basis when there's, I'd say, concerns with the fields, if there's concerns with the fields.

Q: Was it any displeasure on your part with the medical people in the decision to be outside?

DABOLL: Absolutely not.

Offensive tackle Andrew Thomas

Q: You full go? Good to go for a full game?

THOMAS: We haven't talked about snap counts, but I feel good. Took more reps at practice this week, so we'll see how it goes.

Q: How did you feel like last week went in the game? Did you like the plan that you guys had?

THOMAS: Yeah, I did. We stuck to it. Definitely felt a little rusty, some things to clean up, but it's progress. That's the first time playing a real rep since October. It was exciting to be back out there but looking forward to playing more and being more effective out there.

Q: Was it more challenging for you than you thought going in, sticking to the plan as the game's going on? You're kind of standing out there, and I'm sure you felt like, hey, I can get out there a little bit more but being smart about it.

THOMAS: I would say my younger self probably would have been a little more frustrated, but now I'm trying to think about the future a little bit more. That was the plan that we set, and I wanted to stick to that. And I felt pretty good after the game, so hopefully that works for me.

Q: I don't know if you know the science behind it – how'd you land on 25 as the magic number for the first game?

THOMAS: That's just what they said. In a normal practice day, I would get around 20 reps. It will fluctuate depending on the day how I felt. So, they didn't want me to go from 20 reps a day to playing 60 snaps or whatever it was. That's just what we were at.

Q: How have you felt this week? I know you said you've done more, but how has the foot responded?

THOMAS: It's responded a lot better. Another week doing three days in a row, doing more reps this week, so hopefully it's feeling good on Sunday.

Q: What makes you think you would be able to last and do a whole game's worth of reps at this point?

THOMAS: I think it's almost like a preseason wrap up. You play a few drives, and then each game it increases going into the regular season. So hopefully it responds well enough, and I feel good to go.

Q: What are your thoughts on the rookie quarterback getting this opportunity? I know for the rest of the guys, they have to get used to a new guy. But for you, what were your thoughts on (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) and what you've seen so far?

THOMAS: I would say as an offense, we're just trying to rally around him. Obviously, he's a young guy, but he has talent. We're just doing our best to make sure that communication is on point. And up front, doing our job of opening up the run lanes and protecting him so he can make some throws.

Q: Is it any different with his scrambling ability to get out there and run a little bit from where you're at? I mean, is he going to hold the block more, knowing that he's going to kind of break things if things break down? Or what's that take like?

THOMAS: Not necessarily, I think all of our quarterbacks are mobile. And as an offensive lineman, you don't really know when that's happening. In my mind, I'm setting up to protect the quarterback at whatever depth he's supposed to sit at. If he breaks into a scramble, then we try to adjust after that.