Practice is starting now, so I'm heading to the intramural fields.

This is some of what Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads had to say to reporters after yesterday's practice. You'll notice some of the same questions being asked repeatedly. That's because not everybody's there asking questions at the same time.

On how Ryan Williams factors in at cornerback:
He definitely can be a factor. Any time that you miss as much conditioning that he did, you’re behind other people. The game of football has changed the fact that your whole football team’s here all summer. That’s a lot of conditioning that takes place and as he gets in better shape, he’ll show up more.

On how he feels about the depth at safety and cornerback:
It takes two of each, so we’d better have at least two.

On how the freshman DBs have played thus far:
I don’t know if anybody’s stepped up head and shoulders above. I don’t know if anybody has tailed off. I think they’re all struggling, I think they’re all showing bright spots. After two days in pads and four total practices, that’s exactly how it should be.

On who has caught his eye:
I think our veteran players have caught my eye. No. 1, there’s good leadership from our veteran players. I think they’re pushing. You’ve gotta remember, all this is new to them also. They went through a hurried bowl preparation against that and then they went through spring ball. Now camp, it’s all new practicing in this kind of tempo, in this kind of format, so there’s gonna be some adjustment and transition. We’re all feeling that right now a little bit and I think they’re doing a very good job of responding to it.

On Aairon Savage's injury:
It’s a sad but true statement – when it happens at whatever position it happens to, somebody’s the backup, and somebody backs up that person. You just step up and you move on. That sounds sorta cold-hearted, but that’s just the way it is. Aairon was in a battle to see if he could start with a number of other guys, and the number of other guys will now have to step up for this football team. Tomorrow could be some other position – knock on wood, it isn’t – but that’s just the state of this sport and that’s what you do.

On whether that attitude about moving on is the same when someone decides to leave like DeRon Furr did:
Things like that happen. Whatever form of attrition, that’s all you do – you step up and move on. The thing with Aairon right now just makes you sick to your stomach because he’s such a tremendous young man and he’s worked extremely hard to be in the position that he was.

On Walter McFadden and Jerraud Powers being the presumptive starters now:
I feel very much comfortable with them. I would have felt comfortable with any of those three, and matter of fact, with all three of them healthy, it would have been a good committee and a good rotation. Preferably that’s nice. Three corners is ideal to stay fresh through the course of a game and stay fresh through the course of a season, plus nickel and dime. But Walt and Jerraud would step up and be mature in any light and they’ll continue to do that.

On starting practice in full pads Wednesday:
You know what, we do so much in shoulder pads and helmets that I don’t look at it really as any different. The place that it will be different is how they can carry them, how they bend their knees, how they sink their hips, how over the course of two hours does their condition carry them. But physically, we truly won’t do anything different tomorrow than we did today.

On what he’s seen from the freshmen:
Both good and bad, and that’s accurate to what it should be. They’re learning, they’re trying to swim and not sink. There’s bright spots, there’s hustle, there’s plays on balls and then there’s other times where they’re absolutely in the wrong position. So a lot of time being spent in the meeting room trying to get that fixed and then you go back and go at it again. They’re all very eager and I’m very pleased with their attitudes at this point.

On if there’s any significance to Neiko Thorpe running with the No. 1 defense at the end of practice, with Jerraud Powers leaving early to take a test and Aairon Savage out with injury:
No, just that I was searching to try to keep guys fresh and playing hard from snap to whistle. It’s the first time that Neiko had done that and that probably alerted some people, but so was Hood, so was Jerraud, so was Walt, so there was a number of guys that were rotating with that group.

On whether they might play three safeties sometimes when they play nickel defense:
We’ll have to sort that out. I can’t remember in the last eight years since I’ve been a coordinator that I haven’t had a true freshman playing somewhere in the secondary. If you can play somewhere early on defense, I think it is on the back end because the physical game isn’t as fierce play in and play out. This year, this scenario, there just might be more than one. We just might have a group of them – nickel, dime, corner, safety – how that all effects, we’ve still got 25 more opportunities to find out.

On which of the young guys look like they might be able to help immediately:
Nobody more than anybody else right now. I think they’re all showing bright spots and they’re also showing that they’ve got a lot to learn. The biggest thing to their advantage right now and that is they’re all staying very eager and intent trying to be that guy that stands out.

How hard is it for a guy like Harry Adams who hasn’t played much defense?
It’s hardest for him. That’s easy to answer. It’s hardest for him because everything is new. Not only the scheme, but playing a lot of technique is foreign to him and being coached at this level is foreign to him. So I’m sure he’s scratching his head right now and trying to figure out what collegiate football is all about.

Is Drew Cole still a cornerback?
He is still at cornerback. Whether he remains there or not will be determined on what’s the best fit for our football team. Drew might be as unselfish a player as we have when it would come to that.