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Other thoughts from Petrino and a few players: Petrino's initial thoughts: “I thought there was some real good things, and like anything, some things we’ve got to get better at it. There was a couple things execution-wise that made me mad. We shouldn’t have had a couple mistakes that we had with all of spring ball and all of them working on their own all summer. But overall, I thought the effort was good. I thought guys were flying around. It was exciting to see some of the new guys. You look around the field and there’s a whole bunch more speed here. But the execution’s got to improve a lot.” Petrino said four of the five starting offensive line spots are locked up at this point — Mike Marboe at center, Jesse Davis and Cody Elenz at tackle and Dallas Sandberg at guard. The other guard spot was occupated by Niklaus Von Rotz for some of Monday's practice. Marboe and defensive end Maxx Forde had good things to say about Davis, who switched to the OL in the middle of spring. Said Marboe, “Yeah, he’s doing great. Jesse’s just a big man. So it’s nice to have him over there. He’s a football player, so he’s adjusting. He’s still got a little bit to learn. He’s my roommate at home, so he’ll still ask me questions every once in a while. But he’s (coming) along great. He’s going to be a great asset for us. Like I said, he’s a football mind; he’ll get it. He’s come so far. He got thrown into the fire in the middle of spring, so he’s doing great.” Asked what he watches for in practices like this one, Petrino said, “You just look at stuff one play at a time. And then you go in and watch tape. Looking at assignment, alignment and get-off every play. And then whether they’re executing the technique they’re supposed to do. That’s one of the big things that we’re trying to make a big deal of is that we’re going to be great, technically sound football players and understand our fundamentals. And that allows you to play the game fast.” Petrino on which players have most clearly gotten bigger or stronger, “Cody (Elenz has) gotten bigger. Roman Runner looks like he’s leaner and quicker and faster. I thought Maxx (Forde) looked like had a little more burst to him today. Quinton (Bradley) looks like he’s a little bit bigger. And then there’s some new guys here that are fast, real fast. So that’s good to see.” Petrino said a Vandals' leadership council met once a week for the summer, and different players are starting to emerge. “But when that will really show up is about five days from now, like next Monday when we got two-a-days after a long scrimmage. It’s easy to be a good leader today.” As far as leaders for each position group, he mentioned Marboe and Davis on the offensive line; Kris Olugbode at running back; Roman Runner and Najee Lovett at receiver; Forde and Quinton Bradley on the D-line; Marc Mllan and Broc Westlake at linebacker; and Solomon Dixon in the secondary. Regarding the QB competition, Petrino said Chalich, Taylor Davis and McCain all did good things. “I think the No. 1 thing in the quarterback (race) is just whoever can get you in the end zone the most. That’s really what it comes down to. We’ll have long scrimmages and whoever can get us in the end zone the most, that’s who will be our quarterback.” Petrino said Lovett, Dixon, Richard Montgomery and Rueben Mwehla are the likely candidates to serve as kick and punt returners. Chalich on ranking the practice speed on a scale of 1-10: “I’d say about probably an 8. It’s the first day; there’s going to be some kinks and getting back to where we were in the spring. We worked really hard during the summer, just everyday in the film room and getting out and working.” More Chalich on tempo: “It’s something else. It’s not like anything I’ve ever done before. But it’s that college level. It’s bigger. It’s pretty much a full-time job for us. It’s something that we pretty much get paid to do, but, you know, it’s our scholarship and we’re going to come out here and keep getting better everyday. And we’re going to win some games this year. read more: http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sportslink/2013/aug/05/vandals-first-day-books/