Head coach Dirk Koetter spoke to the media on Monday after a day off and discussed practice and also the upcoming game against Miami.

(On the offensive line)
“You’re never quite sure in preseason who’s going to be available until you get right up to the game because we’re practicing in pads today and practicing in pads tomorrow and we lost a couple of guys today as well, until they’re evaluated. It seems like every year there’s a pattern where there’s a position that gets harder and right now we’re a little dinged up on the O-line and we just have to overcome it and during the preseason game we’ll do what we can do.

“They’re working hard. Brad (Seaton) was with us for a little bit last year, and Cole (Gardner) is a rookie. With those guys, you have to go next man up in preseason because you’re going to be playing three groups anyway so all of these guys are going to play. Some of these guys are going to play with a quarterback they might not have played with but we’ll have to adjust accordingly and we might have to adjust the play calling accordingly.”

(On how the quarterbacks will impact playing time)
“We have a plan for how we’ll do the reps in all three preseason games, if nothing changes. We have the quarterbacks to consider, but we also have the logical progression that most teams do with their one’s, two’s and three’s as we move closer to the season opener. All of those things go into it and we have to get Griffin ready but someone’s got to be playing out there all four quarters.”

“There’s no written rule. That’s what we’re trying to figure out and we have to communicate with those guys and we have a plan for it but we have to see how that goes.”

(On being cautious with Demar Dotson)
“Cautious. I’m talking with the doctors and the trainers every day. Not just Dotson, he’s just barely working back into 11-on-11, and he’s improving daily, he looks better and better, but anybody that we think isn’t 100% long term isn’t going to be out there. We aren’t going to take a risk with anybody, we’ve got plenty of guys.”

(On Bobo Wilson this season, compared to last year on Hard Knocks)
“He’s come a long way. Again, Hard Knocks is a reality show and they pick and choose their spots. So if they portrayed a player in a not so pleasant light, that might have been one time out of one hundred, but that’s the spot they chose to show because it’s good TV. Bobo is very coachable right now, he’s improved a lot, he’s been one of the most improved guys. There’s some other guys out there that are doing well, but Bobo came in and played for us at the end of the year and if he was in the position to play with us now then he’d do fine.”

(On Noah Spence)
“Noah’s weight has fluctuated a lot for a guy that has a lot less body fat than I have. When he came out of college he was in the 240’s, he got way down last year into the 230’s, and now he’s back into the upper 250’s or mid 250’s. If you look at Noah he’s all muscle and he’s worked very hard, two shoulder surgeries, he’s worked very hard to come back from that and he’s lived in the training room and the weight room. I think he’s still got the same motor and the same speed that he’s always had and we’re anxious to see him get out and do it in real football.”

(On Vita Vea)
“He’s progressing. He’s working hard. He’s on a training regimen inside and he’s doing what he can do in the pool, on the bike, in the meeting rooms. He’s getting his weight down which is something with a guy that isn’t practicing at his size that you can worry about but he’s doing a great job on that. We’ve just got to let that calf get all the way healed up.”

(On injuries today)
“Anybody that gets hurt in practice, they go in and the doctors take a look at them and usually I don’t even get the injury report from today until later in the afternoon, between four and five o’clock. We had a several guys leave practice today, about four or five, and it’s unfortunate but we’ll have to just see what it is and hope that it’s not serious.”

(On Vea’s conditioning without being on the field)
“Probably not all the way because football’s different then riding a bike or being in the pool, but that’s all we can do. We have to make the best of the situation and it isn’t the first or last time it’s going to happen but it’s just something that has to be done.”

(On players improving from last year)
“Anybody that was with us in years past, they’re being developed all the time. Sometimes you only have so many spots at a position so sometimes we have to trade a guy out, but these guys improve a lot, they just might not always get their opportunities. Especially for the linemen, it’s hard for the linemen to improve on what they really need to do in the offseason. In the NFL, what’s the most important thing a lineman has to do? Pass protect. But they can’t ever work pass protection in the offseason, so that part’s hard. And I think that all of our O-linemen are seeing that our defensive line is so much deeper right, and we’re seeing such a ferocious pass rush every day, which is a great thing, and while it slows us down a little in practice I think it’ll be really good long turn.”

(On having help at practice)
“Chuck’s (Pagano) a good friend of mine and we invited him to come out. He said that he’s going to be here today and tomorrow and Chuck’s going to be working with the officials a couple days like Smitty did the year that he was out, a couple days a week in New York, and he’s a good football coach, a good friend of mine and we’re glad to have him out here for a couple of days.”

(On the right side of the O-line)
“I would say it’s injured. I’d say it’s injury riddled right now and I don’t think anything on the right side of our O-line is long term but we’ve just gotten hit hard at that spot. We’ve got three or four guys that play on the right side of the line that aren’t practicing right now so that just tests your depth. We’ve got to work through it and they’ll be back before too long and it helps the other guys get better, but in the meantime we’ve got to tough it out.”