[Upchurch]
Getting any sleep?
“The usual in-season sleep, right?”
How much is that?
“Oh…we get a good amount of sleep. Enough to be full-go the next day. Who’s starting us off today?”
What were your thoughts of Wilton in the first game?
“I was real happy with the way he played. I don’t think you could have asked for too much better. We missed three throws out of the 13 we attempted. One of them was I think a jump ball or up for grabs for Amara, which he probably underthrew just a little bit, and then one of them was-kind of got turned around on a flat route that he threw. And then the first play of the game, which he rushed and Jake really didn’t run a great route. Ball never should have been thrown at that point in time, but other than that made all the right decisions.
“Threw some beautiful balls. Hit, I think, 11 different receivers or something to that effect. Played smart, played good. You know, that a tough deal [when] your first throw is an interception and then the next time you throw you’re on the minus-seven yard line or whatever it was. Threw that slant and did a great job.”
He made a point of saying how much Jim almost laughed off the first one, said, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it.’ How do coaches make the decision between hard coaching and just giving a guy confidence there?
“What I was always—kind of the school that I was from was you coach them as hard as you want on Sunday-Friday, and then on Saturday, I mean, you’ve got to be their advocate on gameday because they’re the only ones that are really going through the war on that gameday situation. To second guess and to question things on gameday, to be overly critical on gameday, I don’t know where the value is.
“Sunday we go into the film review or Monday and look through it and make all the corrections necessary. Our job at that point in time is really to support them and try to give them the best chance to succeed.”
What are the things that set him apart and how hard a decision was that?
“It’s a decision that went down to the end. The way I described it to the quarterbacks was Wilton kind of had the pole position after spring. He kind of had a little bit of an edge, and the race started and the green flag was waved and people were trying to pass people but he just kind of never got passed. He never got passed. He just continued to play better. And Coach Harbaugh always says iron sharpens iron. I think what happened was as John and Shane started playing better so did Wilton, and it was just one of those deals where nobody lost the job. Wilton just, going into the opening day, won the job.”
Grant Perry said Wilton really prepared for this job, studied film, and kind of slipped himself under Jake Rudock’s wing. How did that preparation give Wilton an edge in that competition?
“I think they all did that, to be honest. I mean, John lived with Jake all last year, so John knew exactly how Jake prepared. Shane is constantly up here. You can always see Shane watching film and studying. Wilton has a quiet way about himself. Doesn’t really go out on the forefront and tell you what he does, but he worked very hard at it.
“He’s very prepared. I think that has a lot to do with it. You obviously want to show up and be ready to execute and be ready to understand the plays that are being called and call them fast, get out of the huddle quick and let everybody know that you know the offense.”
[After THE JUMP: the mentality of and expectations for every backup QB, team speed, upgraded weapons, and Speight’s development]
From where Wilton was the first spring you guys had him to where he is now, is it almost startling how far he’s come?
“He’s made a big jump, there’s no question about that. From at this point in time going into game one of last year, I think he only had about 75 reps in all of camp. Then to where he’s at at this point in time, yeah, it’s a huge jump, and I give him a lot of credit for it. I think he gained confidence in the game he went in. I think he gained confidence having some snaps, and really the second half of training camp of last year till he just continued to improve. Spring ball was a lot for him a year and a half ago or so, but he’s really improved every week and become more and more comfortable. It’s a different Wilton nowadays. It’s definitely a more confident guy.”
Is there more upside with this offense than last year’s? Are there more weapons?
“Yeah, I think so, because we really didn’t lose any weapons. They just got, I hope, better. In terms of the perimeter, everybody’s back and hopefully they’ve just gotten bigger, stronger, faster, and more comfortable. The tight ends, they’re all back but hopefully they’ve just gotten bigger, stronger, faster, and more comfortable. And then when you add into it the running backs, they’re all back and then we’ve added to it. So really the two guys left are center and quarterback, and Mason did a great job. And then our quarterback, we’ll see how each week goes, right, if he can continue to improve.
“The weapons side of it, I mean, all we’ve done is taken what we’ve had [and] made them better. We’ve brought in Eddie McDoom and Kekoa Crawford and Chris Evans and plenty of others, Devin Asiasi. You start bringing those guys in and don’t lose anybody, you’re going to be better.”
Is there anything you guys did specifically with Wilton to get him from point A to where he is now, or is it simply he went into that Minnesota game and found out he could do it?
“Well, I think we coached him consistently every day and we didn’t let him get away with anything. We stayed on top of the details, which you would expect to do. He really prepared like—when he became the no. 2 last year…when you’re the no. 2 you’ve got to prepare to be the no. 1, and you’ve got to realize you’re one play away from going in the game. I think the reality check came when he went into the game and we weren’t winning, right? Then you really realize that not only are you one play away from having to go in the game, you’re one play away to have to try and win the game, and I think that really helped him.”
When you say you didn’t let him get away with anything on the field or whatever that is, what does that mean?
“I think you can decide you’re only going to coach a starter a certain way or a backup a certain way, but if you just hold everybody to the same standard—and I think that’s what we tried to do with all of our quarterbacks. There’s not a certain standard for different guys; it’s the same standard. It’s—we expect certain things from every one of our players.
“We expect them to call the play in the huddle the same way whether you’re the first quarterback or the fifth quarterback. Your cadence should sound the same way whether you’re the first quarterback or the fifth quarterback, and I think what he realized is that’s the standard we’re going to have here and because of that hopefully your only option is to improve.”
Besides that deep shot to Amara, the one you talked about earlier, it didn’t seem like there were many shots downfield. Is that something you try to ease a quarterback into with shorter routes or is that just what the game called for?
“I think the nature of the game at that point. We didn’t have to throw the ball downfield. I don’t know what that would have really done for us or for anybody to just start launching balls with the score the way the score was. We just…move the chains. We thought that was important. Move the chains, stay on the field, see if we can convert third downs. We were fortunate; we only had seven third downs in the game, right? And converted on all seven. Five of them were 3rd-and-2s, so if you can run the ball like that, run the ball for 300 yards, and then only have to worry about converting 3rd-and-2s, you don’t need to take shots.”
Last year it was kind of an ongoing process with Jake getting that deep-ball timing, that sort of thing. Is that something you want to work in even if the next couple games have lopsided scores as well?
“Yeah, I don’t know. Different situation. It’s a different deal. It’s a different quarterback, it’s a different team.”
At what point in fall camp did you know McDoom was going to be able to help you with his speed?
“Oh, well, we knew when we recruited him that he was going to be able to help us with his speed. There was no doubt about that. He’s got elite speed, and then we heard that from the strength coaches that that information was correct. And then we got out there and we started seeing how he ran and what he could do and realized that there’s some value there with that speed that we needed.”
With the young weapons that you guys do have on offense, is there a balance? You know what they can do, a lot of potential, but is there a balance there where you don’t want them to maybe do too much, you don’t want to force them into young mistakes?
“Sure. You gotta look into that. We don’t need to overwhelm them, and I think that’s part of the whole process of gameplanning and the whole process of trying to figure out what’s best for those guys. And give guys packages. Give them certain things to really focus in on, and while they’re focusing on their smaller packages they have to absorb the whole thing, and that’s what the younger guys are doing. They’re focusing in on their certain plays and as it goes they’ll start getting more of those, and in turn they’ll improve.”
With guys like Eddie and Kekoa, do you feel that they’re more apt to handle a bigger workload?
“Uh…I don’t know in comparison to anyone but I think that those two guys can handle a good workload and are doing a good job for us.”
Do you have a philosophy about quarterbacks working in the offseason with quarterback gurus, like Wilton did this summer?
“Oh, I think Wilton spent a day or two with Tom House and a day or two with Steve Clarkson, maybe. Yeah, I think it’s great if that’s where they’re comfortable. I know that he’s had a relationship with Steve Clarkson for a lot of years. We can’t work with them in the summer, and I think it’s good. I think there’s some value there. And those guys are really good, whether you’re George Whitfield or any of the other guys people go to. Those guys are great. We appreciate what they do. I’ve been around quarterbacks that have really flourished by having a guy they can go back home to or have somebody that can work or tweak a mechanic or somebody that they’ve seen since seventh grade or eighth grade and can see a certain development they can help with. I think it’s great.”
You guys have been adamant about not switching quarterbacks, about picking your guy and then rolling with him. Why is that the right strategy in terms of a quarterback’s confidence throughout the season?
“Yeah, I don’t kn—you mean because last year we didn’t change?”
I’m saying you’ve said you wanted to find a guy for day one and then have that be the guy and not switch in the middle of a game.
“I don’t know. I think that we’ll evaluate the guys each week and let them compete, and competition is always ongoing. And, you know, just continue to watch them keep getting better and I think that’s kind of what it comes down to: just get better, and hopefully they continue to do that.”
Is O’Korn as ready now to come into a game and win it, as you say a backup sometimes has to do, as Wilton was a year ago?
“Yeah, I think he’s more ready than Wilton was a year ago because John has played twenty-something games, right? Twenty games or 19 games as the starter, so I’d think he probably has gone into games before and started games and won games, where Wilton, the only games he was going into were high school games prior to last year.”
Do you see Chris Evans becoming a factor in the passing game?
“Sure. He’s a good player. He can catch and run, I think, and play special teams and do all those things. They all could do that and they’ll all be factors there.”
Do you have to check in with John to make sure he stays on board and ready to go every week after Wilton won that competition?
“I think you have to. That’s the expectation. You have to be a play away [and] you have to be ready. You’ve got to be able to go in the game and play two. He better be ready to go. That’s the mindset.”
How much faster is this offense? You talked about McDoom and the quickness he’s added. You’ve got some other pieces, new pieces. How much faster is this team versus last year’s offense?
“We’re definitely faster. We’re faster for two reasons: we’re faster because we’re more physically faster and we’re faster because we know the offense better, so you can play faster. So it gives you—there’s less thinking and more reactions and instincts.”