[Upchurch/MGoBlog]
How impressed were you with Rashan Gary and what kind of progression have you seen from him just from week one to week two?
“It’s been very good, very outstanding. Tough guy. He’s been—he got a finger dislocated about the first week of practice and they took him in, put him under the x-ray, and the trainer was like, ‘Man, what is that?’ or something to that effect, and Rashan was like, ‘That’s football.’ Taped it up and went back out. Another time he was cramping and I took him out of practice, and then about six plays later saw he was back in there. He’s really good like that. Real football player. Doing a great job. Played the whole game today, looked like, most of it.
“And along those lines I felt the lines really took care of business today. That was something we felt was gonna be necessary and could get accomplished. Wouldn’t call it dominating but it was—took care of business, both the offensive an defensive lines. Did a very good job.”
Just asked Wilton about [how] in week one he didn’t really get hit; barely touched. Today he did get hit a few times, sacked a couple times. Just as a quarterback, what can that do for you? He said it’s not like he wants to get hit all the time, but it kind of gets him in the mode. Curious your thoughts on that.
“I thought, first of all, quarterback throws for four touchdowns and over 300 yards, that’s a great performance. Would not be going out on a limb to say he’s probably going to be our offensive player of the week, of the game. Had some good courage plays where he had to stand in the pocket and either a blitzer or a rusher was coming. Even made an improv play, improvise and adjust, to kick it out to Poggi in the flat. Thought that was a smart play. Hit two post routes. I mean, the hardest routes to hit, in my opinion. I played the position and watched for all my life [and] it’s a hard route to hit, and both Chesson made a great catch and so did Darboh for a touchdown. For the quarterback to hit those, that’s the toughest route, I think.
“And also the backs. I thought the backs--right from the get-go our backs were getting hit. Big hits and really good formed-up tackles by UCF and they hung onto the ball. It was a hard-hitting game all the way through, and also feel like we’re building up a callus with our team. Didn’t come out of this game with any injuries. And we delivered some blows, too. It was a good, real football game.”
How do you balance getting a running back in a rhythm versus keeping him fresh and getting other guys carries?
“Um…by getting him in there every couple. Today we were rotating backs. De’Veon had some unbelievable runs, especially the one drive—I think we ended up getting a field goal out of it—breaking tackles and pickings up the first downs. Two first downs he picked up by extra effort, and running with the ball, getting hit, three, four, five hits on the same play. Always thought it was smart to put a fresh back in when you have a run like that. But I thought he was exceptional. There were definitely drives we don’t get points on the board without the extra effort he was making out there.”
What’s your concern level on the quarterback scrambles, and is that something that’s pretty easy to clean up?
“Yeah, we made the adjustment in the second half. We were getting behind the quarterback. We’ve got to either retrace or spin back into the lane to keep the quarterback from leaving the pocket and getting all those rushing yards that they got. I thought Don and the staff did a nice job of making adjustments in the second half.”
[After THE JUMP: special teams, Speight under pressure (from the opposition), a minor injury update, and the wonder of the MRI from a non-doctor’s perspective]
Did you like what Wilton was doing with his feet? We don’t talk much about his speed or feet or escapability, but seemed like he moved away from rushes a little bit today.
“Yeah, that’s something that he’s been adding to his game that’s really helpful, moving in the pocket, getting to the quiet spot in the pocket, and also evading rush. He had a couple where he had to bail out of the pocket and made some really good throws on the run. Good decisions out of the pocket today. Yeah, that’s the one that’s really come the last couple weeks that he’s been working on, making those subtle moves in the pocket to get to the quieter spot in the pocket.
“Two weeks ago he started to get some nice loft on the screens and flares out of the backfield. Yeah, just—it’s coming together. Doing a nice job, and when he really focuses on something to get better at he goes right to work on it and he gets better at it every day.”
You mentioned the tackle-breaking run De’Veon had, but for much of the day it seemed like they were slowing your tailbacks down. Is that things they were doing or things you guys weren’t quite--
“Yeah, they—we had a lot of run blitzes to stop the running game, and we took advantage of it with the play action pass. We just--especially in the first half and the second half, with numbing repetition just kept going back to the play action. It worked well for us today.”
You guys got your hands on four different kicks on special teams. Is that something schematic or it that just individual guys making plays?
“Both. Wormley doing a great job getting push up in the middle. You just don’t want to ever concede points on the board, whether it’s an extra point or a field goal. It’s been an eight-, nine-play drive or six or seven and guys are tired but they just commit themselves to one final push to keep points off the board. I thought guys did an excellent job. Our special teams has really performed well. Been very pleased. Get those blocks…but also had a very big return today. Jabrill got it all the way down to about the 12. Get the turnover with the kickoff team, some big tackles on the kickoff team, thought it was really good. One mistake. One dropped punt by Kenny, but keep your chin up. More games to play. We can improve that.”
Since the bowl game, what have you seen Wilton Speight do to develop chemistry and consistency with his receivers?
“Um, he’s just gotten better. It’s like we were talking about earlier, he gets something to work on, he works on it. Gets improvement made really fast. He’s a smart guy that’s very dedicated to getting better at something, so anything we’ve given him, Jedd or I have talked to him about in terms of improving his play, he’s been all ears and he goes right to work on it.”
Chase Winovich has played three positions since he’s been here. He seems to have found a home. Talk about his progression and the ability to start here today.
“Yeah, it was really good. I think he played most of the ball game today and, yeah, it was—going from linebacker to fullback/tight end to now defensive end, I think that’s his spot. Glad we found it for him. Glad he found it for himself. Always known he’s a very talented athlete, very physical, high motor, aggressive guy that’s a good football player. Think he’ll keep blossoming. Feel good about where he’s at right now.”
You sounded very optimistic about Jourdan’s health earlier in the week and he didn’t play today. Is that again your call and is there a regression in his health?
“Uh, yeah, something different came up. Just a muscle strain. So it was different. Different location.”
Longer term, do you expect?
“I don’t—I don’t know. I didn’t get my doctor’s degree. We’ll see. We’ll see. Not going to take any chances with him. Did an MRI and there was a signal there, and it was a near type of pull. You know, he’s just too good of a player and he’s worked too hard and we’re not going to put him out there in a position where it’s just kind of silly to just go ahead and get the muscle pull. That’s where it’s at. It’s called a near pull but it shows up on the MRI.
“Glad that we can do MRIs around here. Glad that we can do that for our players and give them the best treatment available. Shoot, man, when it comes to their health and their welfare, it costs what it costs. Happy that we’re doing what we’re doing.”
David Long, did he dress today?
“No.”
Is that a serious thing with him or is it just a minor injury?
“You know, it’s just—as you know, I’m not going to come in here and have the ‘health of the team’ meeting with you guys every week or every day. Talk about the ballgame? I’d love to.”
This past week when we spoke with Rashan he said that his first start, he was nervous, he was excited. What have you seen from him just in the past week? He was able to get in the backfield, TFLs, and not just him but the defense in general was able to get in the backfield. Specifically with Rashan, what do you like about his ability?
“I like everything about his ability. I thought our lines played extremely well, both the offensive line and the defensive line. We were getting knock back from our defensive line. They did get some runs out on us. Maybe four runs accounted for most of the yardage today.
“That was legitimately—they ran a lot of plays. They were getting them off about 15-17 seconds a down, which is great for our team and our offense. When you’re getting those stops, those three and outs you’re getting the ball right back. That’s what our defense was doing. They were getting the knock back. They were stuffing the run early for most downs, and I thought our defensive line had a huge hand in that. They really got the job down physically.”
Did you sense any nerves with Rashan at all?
“Uh, I didn’t, no.”
Is Bredeson earning his way into a bigger role with this offensive line?
“He is. And Ben Braden was playing today, and that was great to see. Had held him out last week. Same kind of precautionary type, being proactive kind of thing. Just felt that it was best to go rotating [and] rotate Ben today. Glad that Ben got a part of a game under his belt and feel like we can go forward from here. But Ben Bredeson is also doing a really fine job as well.”
[pause]
“Okay, good? Onward.”