Here is what UMass coach Don Brown said in relation to where the team is at this point.

(inaudible, where you want to be?)

I think this. We’ve just shifted to where we’re tackling. We did something Saturday. We did something today. Probably do some Thursday. Probably a little bit on Saturday. But that’s probably the area we’re behind, in terms of assignments and running and competitiveness and all that. I think we’re kind of where I want us to be.

(As the portal comes open, where are you with that?)

I don’t know. Obviously, are we ready to do business? Yeah, we can do business. But, there’s got to be business that fits us, and that people that we want. So that just remains to be seen. But today is a day where that’s going to come to fruition.

(Your shopping list is what?)

Just from a numbers standpoint, a couple more d-linemen wouldn’t hurt. Couple o-linemen wouldn’t hurt. Running backs wouldn’t hurt. Maybe a tight end. Still could go for a couple DBs. And it’s really not a knock on the guys who are here, because it’s really about just making sure that our depth is set so that we can be competitive for 12 straight weeks, if we had to be.

(Your starting quarterback has been out. How do you feel about how much better they’re getting?)

You just hit it on the head. That’s the value of this, is now we’ve got a number of guys that are getting that work under center. And that’s big. That’s big.

(What’s the area you’ve been happiest with? And what are the areas you need the most help with still?)

I think o-line we’ve improved. D-line, I feel us around the quarterback. That’s an important piece, otherwise you’re wasting your time. I think those two areas, the o-line improvement. We’ve got a lot of wide receivers now. Obviously, (Anthony) Simpson’s, he’s as good as anybody there is in this country at the best of five.

(Of your quarterbacks, who has stood out the most?)

I think (Ahmad Haston) is doing a good job. I like the way he goes . . . and he’s such a good kid. So, I’m happy with him.

(Between now and the spring game, what do you hope to get accomplished?)

Just keep getting better. The one good thing is, we came out Week 1, Day 1, first day of practice, went hard as hell and haven’t really stopped. If you said to me, what about today, I would say today might have been the day we’ve had some . . . But, again, we’re interjecting new drills, because the tackling changes some things. So, you’re not going to walk out and start tackling people and be clean as a whistle. So that’s an area we’ve got to make improvement on. We will, without question. It doesn’t matter how we tackle in April. It really matters how we tackle in September, August.

(Do you feel the spring game is going to be a little more football-y because you’ve been healthy?)

We’ll do that. Last year, we did one period, run-through period of thunderstruck, where it’s a fast tempo. Contemplating that, then we went three quarters with the clock running, but we tackled. I could see us doing that.

(Do you feel like you’re in a position to be more physical now, barring things happening?)

No doubt. But, I’m going to tell you this, the important thing is, tackling in August and September, more important than April, not that we’re not practicing it. It really comes down to where our health is next week.