Oakland Raiders Head Coach Lane Kiffin addresses the media at the team's Napa Valley Training Complex.

Tony Gonzales

Oakland Raiders Head Coach Lane Kiffin addessed the media on the field at the team's Napa Valley Training Complex in advance of the Silver and Black hitting the practice field for the first time in Napa in 2008.

Head Coach Lane Kiffin: We just ran a conditioning test and [all the guys] made all the conditioning, everything we put them through. So it’s real good to see everybody back, and real good to see the guys in really good shape.

Q: How many players might be restricted to the second practice?

Kiffin: Yeah, we’ll go one-a-day with Javon Walker, Ronald Curry, Tommy Kelly, Jarrod Cooper, Jake Grove, and that’s it for one-a-day guys off the top of my head. Those are all guys still coming back that we want to be careful with and we’ll re-evaluate that after the first week whether we throw them back into two-a-days or not.

Q: So they’ll miss the contact ones?

Kiffin: Well, what we’ll do is we’ll alternate guys sometimes. Like, for instance, the receivers, there’s two of them, so they’ll practice different practices so that our numbers are better, and we’ll lean more on when they’re at one-a-day guys, the position of another guy, they’ll be there for the padded part.

Q: How’s JaMarcus’ weight and conditioning?

Kiffin: JaMarcus was great. Where he’s at, he’s basically at where he left us, and he ran well today. For him, he weighs more than everyone else in his group that he has to run in, so he’s 50 pounds heavier than the other quarterbacks, so it’s a disadvantage for him and he still made everything.

Q: Coach, what are your expectations for JaMarcus this year with a full offseason and training camp?

Kiffin: Yeah, we have real high expectations for JaMarcus, as he does for himself as well. You know, but he’s gotta take it one step at a time and, you know, you’re not winning the Super Bowl by what you’re doing next week, so we’re not worried about that. He’s going to come out and practice really well, and he’s prepared so well, and he came back early again to get ready for this, and you just see the way players are around him. Players are really starting to embrace him.

Q: How different is your approach in year two as year one? Last year you were instituting a program for the first time. You were animated, you were out there in between all the drills, you were really talking. It seemed like during the offseason you were maybe laying back a little more. Is there a difference of styles since the program is in?

Kiffin: Well, I think when you first come to a place you have so many things to do right away and it’s almost like you have to shock them into the system. Well, you go into year two, most of your guys are the same guys, so they know your expectations, so you don’t have to go about it the exact same way. We still have really high expectations for our guys individually, none of that’s changed, but as far as, 'do I change a little bit?' - maybe about how I have to set the tempo right away, well, yeah, because eventually when you become really good and you start winning a lot of games, that comes from your players taking over, that comes from your players disciplining the group themselves and that’s what really good teams have.