One thing that Dennis can do is that he can do all the things we are going to want to do offensively in order to be as successful as we possibly can. I know that all the guys on the team have a tremendous amount of respect for him, they know that he has ability and they know that it's their job to make his job easier.

I knew physically that he had the ability to do it. It was just a matter of him learning his assignments and the things that he had to do from a mental standpoint of playing the position.

He's the type of guy that's going to do all the things that you want to do. He understands the scheme that we're playing very well. He has experience at his position and he's going to play hard all the time. That's what he's been able to do. His experience and his ability to understand what's going on have put him in a favorable position.

We feel Jonathon has speed and athletic ability coming off the edge if we play him as a defensive end. In college football you don't need to have all those big people up front rushing all the time. Plus, with his athleticism, it helps us with some of the other things we do with our nickel package.

He's demonstrated to me to have the best work ethic. He has the most passion of the next best tackle that I think we have on our team. He has the size, the strength and the athletic ability we're looking for. I just felt as we head into spring that he's going to line up there. It's based on what he's done and what other guys didn't do.

You want to get your program to the point where every day kids go out and know that they have to compete to get better because if they don't they know there's somebody behind them who has the ability if they slack off. Overall we're at a point in our program now where we have more competition than we've ever had before.

When I saw him at our summer camp, (Hurd) demonstrated a lot of athletic ability. And he showed good speed for a big man. We'll put some weight on him and where we plays ... I'm not sure yet ... but I know he's going to keep getting bigger and better.

We knew about his athleticism when we recruited him. We wanted to utilize his speed and athleticism and his ability to get to the ball. He's a tough kid, too.