I think we're improving every time out. A lot of teams take a step forward and then go backward a little, but this team hasn't done that. I'm pleased with our progress.

Typically, when you're giving out 63 scholarships, you have 15 freshmen who aren't ready to play. A 12-game (regular) season is a lot of football with 48 guys.

Daryl has certainly been a bull. He's a young man with great balance and he's extremely strong. He's able to lower his shoulder and run over people. It takes a couple of people to bring him down. He's been great as a blocker, as well as when we put him back in the I [formation] or the one-back. He's got very good hands, too.

We saw some guys at the (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) Media Day -- Rodney (Hughes) and Vernon (Edwards) -- and we talked. There are no ill feelings. I'm looking forward to seeing them. I'm thinking about giving a chest bump to Larry Summers. He and I used to do that all the time.

We were very disappointed in the way our special teams played. Those things got us off on the wrong foot and got Virginia State off on a high note, and we never recovered.

We've got to get better. We had four or five scoring opportunities. When you have two tipped passes that would have been completions that go for interceptions and hurt you, well, fate is not with you that day.