MADISON, WIS. -- Bobby Engram heads into his third full month as Wisconsin's offensive coordinator. Within that, he and the Badgers near the midway point of the program's spring practices later this week. The decorated former player and assistant coach displayed positivity when he chatted with reporters on Monday morning inside the McClain Center.

"Two weeks in, six practices down, just pleased with the way the guys are working," Engram said. "It's been exciting, and got a competitive group on both sides of the ball, so it's been fun to watch those guys compete. And then as we still get the offense in terms of installations and the details of it, it's been great to see how those guys just continue to grow. So we're looking forward to the last nine (practices) and finishing strong."

BadgerBlitz.com captured Engram's full session with the media on Monday as seen below. Questions and answers are lightly edited for clarity.

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What did you know about Graham (Mertz) when you came here based on what you heard or what you'd seen and what have you learned about him?

"Just knew he was a highly recruited, talented guy, and it was a pretty, pretty big get for Wisconsin at the time, if I remember correctly. Dean (Engram) was here, so Dean liked them a lot, and Dean spoke highly of him, his competitiveness, and just him as a person.

"I've learned that Graham wants to be great, in terms of like his approach, professional approach, his work ethic, and just really trying to own the offense and own his leadership role in the offense."

Are there any specific things he's been working on in terms of fundamentals and stuff to try to get better?

"Yeah, I think you're chasing every detail, and that's with every position fundamentally. I think I mentioned last time with him is small things like getting under center. How are your hands? How's your drop? Really tightening up his drops. We've been doing a lot more from under center. We obviously gonna continue to use the (shot)gun, but it's been some intangible things as well, just in terms of his communication, with the guys in the huddle, with the guys at the line of scrimmage.

"As a quarterback, all of those things matter, so we're chasing every detail, and he's working hard at."

Paul said, one of those details is controlling the ball, limiting those turnovers and making good decisions. Where have you seen Graham improve in that aspect?

"Six practices in, we actually had a drop, a snap on this one practice, so we talked about that. Just looking the ball in, but I think that just going through the progressions, and to me is like getting to the check down. He has an aggressive mentality, which you like. You want to make the big plays. But at the same time, let's take the ones that they give to us.

"We had a 3rd-and-3 on Saturday, and he took a shot. Great throw, didn't come up with the play, but we had a first down on an underneath route right in front of us. So those are the things that we'll continue to talk about, and he's seeing the offense.

"You like his mentality, you recognize the matchup, and he's taking the shots, but also just talking how we play the game situationally."

To kind of follow up on the turnovers, when you guys looked at the turnovers that were committed by all the quarterbacks last year, were you able to identify some of the reasons? Was that one of them -- maybe not taking a play that was there and taking a risk, or were there some fundamental things that you guys were able to pinpoint?

"I can't think back to all of the turnovers right now. Obviously, quarterback play is just taking care of the football, whether that's a read, whether that's protecting the ball in the pocket. So like I said, we've addressed that, but we've moved on. I can't really comment on those things, but what we want to do moving forward, the guys are very clear on."

Have you seen guys protecting the ball in the pocket better, because I know there were some strip sacks last year?

"Yeah, absolutely. We've been doing some drill work, and it's been a point of emphasis, and you can't avoid all of those. But at the same time, how you move in the pocket, how you push up in the pocket and just understanding sometimes when you need to take a loss or when you need to get rid of the ball and throw it away. Sometimes throwing the ball away could be a great play."