[Fuller/MGoBlog]
When I talked to Ryan Glasgow back in November after the Minnesota game, he said that he had kind of been able to pick up on how the offensive linemen were standing and pick up some tells whether the play would be a run or pass. When you’re lined up across from a receiver, are you able to pick anything up from them during a game or from watching film? Do they have certain tells?
“Yeah. It’s always about feeling the game and just knowing what they’re going to do. A team always has a gameplan coming into a game, so it’s a script and sometimes they go off the script and then they come back to the plays that they hit you on so you know. You have a feel for what they’re going to do next, so honestly it’s just feeling that, what your receiver likes to do, and just getting in that feel.”
Do they ever tip what route they’re going to run based on how they-
“Yeah. Linemen always tell. The formation is a big teller, and it’s just…yeah, it’s pretty much the feel, honestly.”
You’ve played a lot of man-press this year and you’ve talked a lot about technique, and I know your coaches say it all the time too, that the most important thing isn’t size or speed but is technique. Walk me through that; when you’re lined up in press, what are you looking to do as soon as the ball’s snapped?
“Be physical at the line of scrimmage. Disrupt them. Just do anything I can to bother them at the line. Just being in his hip pocket—you know, that annoys them, just knowing that you’re always there and they don’t have space to move and the quarterback has to put the ball on the spot, so honestly that contributes to incompletions and pass breakups and stuff like that because once you keep getting that tight coverage you know sometime that line’s going to break down.”
What if you have to take a guy a little bit deeper down the field? Say you’re 15 or 20 yards down the field. What’s the technique then?
“You’re trying to push them to the sideline. You’re trying to get them to the sideline, and then you’re trying to stay up under the route and get up in his back hip and turn around and try and look for the ball.”
[After THE JUMP: how to break up a pass and not get burned, a Florida scouting report, and a week of preparation]
Speaking of that, obviously you had a lot of pass breakups this year. What’s the most technically sound way to go about those?
“Basically in a fade sometimes you can’t really turn around. Sometimes you’re kind of like beat, but on fades you always play through the hands. So, whenever he puts his hands up you play through his hands. Honestly, it’s just playing through his hands; whenever he puts his hands up you put your hands through them. That contributes to a lot of my success.”
What have you seen on film so far from Florida’s receivers?
“They can run. It’s a lot of vertical routes and there’s a lot of play action and pop passes and stuff like that, so it’s a lot where they get out and they’re running. It’s a lot of down-the-field shots.”
Are they similar to anybody else you played this year? Just the receivers.
“No, honestly. They’re the most vertically imposing team. They can air the ball out.”
What’s a typical week of preparation like? I know with the bowl schedule it’s different, but during the season what’s a normal week like?
“So Monday we’ll really watch film. We really hone in on what personnels and different formations they like to get in and we’ll get out there for about an hour and just run through some of their main personnels, and then as the week goes on we’ll work on second down, third down, goal line situations, stuff like that. Then Friday we put it all together and practice some of their main concepts, stuff like that.”