WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ- Monmouth University wrapped up first day of 2015 Camp at Monmouth Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
 

The Hawks hit the field in the afternoon, dodging area thunderstorms for the opening day of camp. Coach Callahan was pleased with where ther team picked up from the spring sessions.
 

 "Most of the guys were around here for the summer," said Callahan. "I think today was just a continuation of where we left off in the spring. We're further ahead in day one than we have been in previous years."
 

Click the video above for a comprehensive interview with Coach Callahan and senior cornerback Joe Johnson (Manchester, NJ/Manchester). Johnson, who will start for the third consecutive year, finished fourth on the team with 45 tackles. He led MU with four interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
 

"There's no question that he's the leader of the defensive secondary, or even the defense," said Callahan. "The guys are going to look up to him, he's been on the field, he was forced to play as a true freshman. Possibly before he was even ready to play, but he used the experience from that year to help him become a better player in years two and three and I expect him to take yet another step in year four. The guys look up to him because they know that he's a guy whose been through it, he's a guy that's been put on the field, has had both success and failures he was able to overcome and learn from, but he's taken it all in and made himself a better player. The young guys look at him and say that's the path I've got to take."
 

Johnson a two-time Academic All-District honoree will graduate this year and is the midst of applying to law schools.
 

"He's been really bright on the field and off the field for the last three years," said Callahan. "He picks things up very quickly; he's got great instincts. He's got a great vision and gets the big picture of what's happening on the field. And what's more important is that he can come off the field and communicate that, exactly what he's seen and what's happening out there, which is really important, specifically during the game."

The quarterback competition is still wide open, with redshirt junior Ben Onett (Glenn Dale, MD/St. John's College HS), redshirt freshman Cody Williams (Springfield, MA/Central), junior Devin Ray (Bedminster, NJ/Bernards/Rutgers) and sophomore Christian Runza (Norwood, NJ/Old Tappan) all vying for spots on the depth chart.

"It's still a competition as we talked about at the end of spring practice. I thought they all made progress and they all took a step in their development. The one thing we didn't see that we had hoped to see was someone within the group separating themselves from the others, and we didn't see that in the spring. It might've been too much to hope for being that none of them had a lot of game experience, they only had 15 practices to do it."

Callahan noted that he would like to have a starter named within the next two weeks.

"I would've liked it to have been settled three weeks ago," said Callahan. "No but honestly, the first two weeks of practice will be important. I don't think you want to go into game weeks with the position unsettled. Hopefully that will be the case, that we'll see a steady progress and someone emerging in the position."

Monmouth is back on the field tomorrow at 3:30 PM. The Hawks have two scheduled scrimmages, one on Saturday August 22 and one on Thursday August 27.
 

Additional Quotes
Coach Callahan on the early practices without pads
"It's tough to really assess where you are in terms of being game ready, but I think there is a lot of things you can look at in terms of how much guys retain and if they're able to build on the progress they've made in the spring. Based on day one, I don't get the sense at all that we're starting over or we're back at square one. We installed an awful lot on both sides of the ball for the first practice, and I think that's just a tribute to how much these guys have retained, how much they've remembered, and how much they've accomplished in spring practice."

Coach Callahan on the experience of the defensive backs
"The group is pretty experienced because three of them have at least one year under their belt, I'd like to say they've all been here for three. One of them is Joe Johnson, but the other guys got valuable game experience last year, which I feel really enabled them to progress more quickly than they may have, and I think now they are experienced players having been in those games."