Take a look at top quotes from right tackle Trey Pipkins III, Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi and Defensive Coordinator Renaldo Hill before Wednesday's practice:
Right Tackle Trey Pipkins III
On being named the starting right tackle:
"It was awesome. Just really grateful to everybody who has helped me along the way, and everybody in the organization that believed in me. It was really cool to see all my hard work kind of pay off. It was really good."
On the 'validation' of being named the starter at right tackle:
"A lot of validation. I don't know if validation in myself, but more that it felt good to get the belief of everybody around me. That was that was a cool experience, just to put that work in and come back and have people see it, respect it, things like that."
On his 'biggest areas of improvement':
"That's a big question [laughter]. There have been a lot of different areas. I think just in the technical side of my game, there's just so much more that I've learned and so many big things that I've added to my game that have helped me a ton. I think that's probably the biggest area...just in the way that I set in my pass protection, where I place my hands in the run blocking, things like that. Little technique stuff like that that have helped me a lot."
On his journey over the last four years:
"It all led to here, so I can't complain about where I'm at now. There are times that I look back and I'm like, 'Oh, I wish that I played a little better here,' obviously, things like that. But it all led me to where I'm at now, and I'm ready to take advantage of it."
On if his performance near the end of last season provided confidence heading into the offseason:
"For sure. It more validated my own feelings, like I can still do this, I'm still here to play this game and I can still do it at a high level. That validation kind of gave me a little springboard into the offseason to keep it going."
Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi
On Chargers new RB Sony Michel's contribution to the running back group:
"A veteran presence. He's a guy that's had a lot of success in the league. He carried the ball a lot for New England and then last year for the Rams. As we evaluated him, we thought that he would add some value to our running back room. Nothing against the guys we have, we just thought he was a good player that surprisingly became available, someone that we had high grades on. When he became available, it looks like we made the move."
On 'rebuilding' the offensive line over the last two seasons:
"I feel very good about it. I think we're solid across the board. I think we have good depth. I think it's a credit to our scouting staff, pro scouts, as well as the college scouts, that they've done a great job evaluating, [General Manager] Tom [Telesco] making the right picks. I think that we're solid across the board, and we have good depth. I'm more comfortable than I was a year ago, for sure."
On T Trey Pipkins III being named the starting right tackle and the competition during training camp:
"I think that [Pipkins III and T Storm Norton] had really good camps. As you evaluated it, it was close. But when you just looked at them back to back, Trey was maybe a little bit further away from the quarterback when the ball was getting released. In the run game, I think he got a little bit more movement. He's done a really good job this last year, just becoming more consistent. That was the big thing that was holding him back last year. We saw him improve. We're excited to see him go."
On QB Justin Herbert's improvements coming out of training camp:
"Just operating in a more confident fashion and a smoother fashion. I think we've said it before, going through it a second year, the play calls, getting in and out of the huddle, his comfort level with what he's looking at, his comfort level with the offense, it takes the stress off of everybody. Just going through it again, you just keep getting better and better."
Defensive Coordinator Renaldo Hill
On the focus for this week of practice:
"I think the biggest part of this week is just getting back to the fundamentals. Make sure that we focus on the little details of our game. Not much more game planning, but just want to focus on ourselves with our guys' tackling mechanics, blocking structure mechanics, all of those things we can do to get better leading into this first week."
On the run defense:
"We were able to really get our first group, first and second group, out there versus Dallas. It helped us go against that crossover scrimmage with those guys to see how we stack up against them. I thought our guys played the run really well. They got some premium players on that line of scrimmage there and I thought our guys did a good job of handling our business. It kind of gives you that kind of land going forward, but even through those practices, we saw where we can have our growth and be even better."
On DL Sebastian Joseph-Day's attributes in run defense:
"Size, anticipation, uses his hands well. We talked about it in meetings today, that when you do have a 3-4 scheme and have big guys up there, those guys have to come alive and be able to tackle. And that's one thing with him and [DL] Austin [Johnson], along with taking up blocks, they can get off and separate and make tackles. If you can allow big guys up front to make tackles, then it's taking less stress on [S] Derwin [James Jr.] and Nas [S Nasir Adderley] so that they are not sitting at the end of the year with 100-plus tackles."
On DL Breiden Fehoko:
"We thought he improved a ton from last year to this year. Obviously, he is a size guy up the middle. He brings great energy to our group. He is a young guy. Just a few years still in the league. We still see the growth potential with him, but we really like what we get with Brei. Obviously, we were excited that we were able to get [DL Christian] Covington back, as well. We know in this league that a lot of things happen, so we have make sure we have some depth back there in case some of those injuries or anything happens along the way."
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