A.Q. Shipley

BETHLEHEM: There is a saying pro sports that hits the mark on describing injuries to those athletes whose chances of making the team are on the bubble.

“You can’t make the club from the tub.”

That saying applies to several players in Eagles training camp but no more so than center A.Q. Shipley. Shipley, in his first season with the Birds, after spending his rookie season on the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad, spent more than a week out of workouts at Lehigh University coming back from an ankle injury.

Shipley is battling veterans Mike McGlynn, Jamaal Jackson and Nick Cole for playing time on the interior line.

The former seventh-round pick out of Penn State was back on the practice field today and hopes to be ready to face Jacksonville on Friday in the Eagles preseason opener at the Linc.”

“It feels great to get a couple days work in before the game,” Shipley said. “I feel pretty comfortable. After taking a week off, you lose a little bit but it only takes about a day to get it back. Getting back out there…I got a couple extra sets with coach (Juan) Castillo. I hope to feel comfortable by the second practice tomorrow.”

Shipley said he knows he needs to trust his ankle right away.

“The trainers have done a good job getting me out here, weaning me back in,” Shipley said. “From that aspect…yeah…I trust it. I feel good with it. I’m one of those guys where I trust it and if it ends up hurting me, it ends up hurting me. I’m not going to go out there and favor it, I won’t do that.”

Obviously Shipley is counting down the hours and days until Friday.

 “It’s a good opportunity for me to get out there and get some good reps, especially with Nick out, Jamaal being out right now,” the 6-foot-1, 322-pounder said. “I can’t wait.”

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From Eagles Offensive Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg’s morning Press Conference

Mornhinweg said quarterback Kevin Kolb was reading blitzes and handling pressure well. 

“He’s doing an outstanding job and we’re giving him a bunch of work versus the blitz, and he’s done an outstanding job of that,” Mornhinweg said.  “As you know, it takes players around you to play at that high level, and so those other players are doing a fine job in all of those periods, as well.”

 On how excited he is to see Kolb Friday night in a game situation:

“I’m excited to see him, along with many other players. It’s an exciting time for many of these players. For some of them, it may very well be their first NFL experience in a game. So you have to anticipate just a little bit of excitement by some of the young guys, and the challenges that they will have will be to run the play and to execute the play just have they done many times out here on the practice field and do it just like that in a game, because many of them will be psyched for their first game experience in the NFL.”

On whether some players had stage fright during the Flight Night practice on August 5:

“Well, that happens. That’s real. I think that’s a real thing. And I’m glad we went through that before we get to the preseason and regular season games. I think that’s a real thing. That’s my responsibility, as well, because it was a very similar process that we went through last year, if you remember, and I sort of anticipated that just a little bit better.”

Mornhinweg  commented on guard/center Mike McGlynn.

“Mike McGlynn has a great opportunity right here, and he’s making the most of it. He’s had some excellent plays, and as you know, as center, he kind of runs the show up front. We do an awful lot up front. [Offensive line coach] Juan [Castillo] does a great job in their preparation, both in the run and the pass game, and the center sort of directs all of that. It starts with him, and Mike McGlynn has done a fine job. He’s still in that learning process, but he’s done a fine job up to date.”

On the differences between where RB LeSean McCoy is now and where he was last year at training camp as a rookie:

“It’s night and day. He’s so much more comfortable. There’s very little thought process that he has to go through. He’s breaking the huddle, he’s getting lined up, he’s playing fast. Whereas, at this time last year, he was coming out of the huddle and it’s normal for a young man in his first year, his first training camp, thinking. It took some time to allow his natural ability to show, if you remember. So, this year, it’s just night and day; 180 degrees opposite. He knows the offense; he’s got experience, game experience, as well, so his confidence is at a high level. He knows how to play the game at this level, as far as what it takes physically and mentally, and he’s doing an outstanding job—one of our leaders, certainly, on the offense.”

Other player quotes:

DE Brandon Graham

 On his interception at practice today:

“Yeah because [TE Brent Celek] pushed off of me and rolled behind me, and I just stuck with him in there and it ended up coming right in my hands.”

On his speed:

“Yeah, I let them know, once I get going then nobody can catch me [laughing].”

Tackle Jason Peters

On what the biggest difference is with QB Kevin Kolb and RB LeSean McCoy this year compared to QB Donavan McNabb and RB Brian Westbrook:

“There’s no difference, they’re the same guys, and I just do my assignment. It’s going to be the same play and the same outcome.”

On how this training camp is going as opposed to last year:

“It’s really simple for me. Last year I was learning, I was trying to get the technique’s and stuff down. This year it’s a little bit easier, I know the stuff and I have the technique down. I’m still learning a little bit, but it’s easier this year.”

On whether he is excited with the challenge of going up against DE Trent Cole:

“Oh yeah, he’s one of the top five defensive ends in the league, and that’s helping me and it’s helping him. On Sunday it will be that much easier for me and him.”

On how he thinks it went his first year here:

“From a one to ten I’d say I was about a six and a half or seven. I think that I can do better, that’s what I’m working on this camp, just getting my stuff down. Last year I was learning, trying to feel out Donavan what his steps were like, and that’s what I’m doing this camp.”

WR Jason Avant

On the importance of mentoring the younger wide receivers:

“It’s a big deal with all of the negative role models out there, they need to see somebody that’s living a life that’s meaningful, that has no contradictions.  A lot of times people tell kids what to do, do what I say and not what I do, but it’s a blessing for a kid to see someone that lives a life that has no contradictions. So if you can be a mentor to a kid and your life is right, and you’re living it before God in a way to please him, I think that these kids will take after you. And not only will it impact their lives, but it will do a whole bunch for them because they know that you’re somebody that practices what you preach.”

On having the reputation to be able to catch anything and whether he was that good in college:

“I won’t pat myself on the back, I try my best and I try to concentrate, the Lord’s has given me a gift to do it and to play. And I’ve always been able to do it since I was a little kid, I just started playing receiver when I was in junior high school, and didn’t start playing football until I was a sophomore, so I just always had a gift for hand-eye coordination. I’m thankful for it, but it’s just a gift.” 

On how he can impact the younger receivers:

“The biggest thing that I can do, they have the physical talent, there’s no question. [WR] DeSean [Jackson] has some of the most God-given, I’ve played with a lot of players and all of the guys that are first round picks and all of that, but he has, him and [WR Jeremy] Maclin, they have some really good God-given abilities that none of those other guys have. And so the best thing that I can do is to tell them about the detriments off of the field, because that’s the only thing that can hurt them. It’s not that the game, injuries can’t but the biggest thing for them is the stuff off of the field that comes along with playing football in the National Football League. So it’s my job to let them know about the traps and it’s my job to tell them, they’re men and they have to make the decisions on their own, but at least I can be there to tell them, and live my life in the way that they can see that if you do it right, it’s good.”

Eagles media relations staff contributed to this story.