[Upchurch/MGoBlog]
News bullets and other items:
- Jeremy Clark is out for the season. They’ll attempt to get him a sixth year. Watson, Long, and Hill will get most of his playing time.
- Jabrill Peppers is really good at football.
- Mone might play this week. Have to wait and see if he can practice today.
- Having multiple backs that deserve playing time is a good thing if, like Harbaugh, you subscribe to the more-is-more philosophy of life.
- Harbaugh said Newsome was the best O-lineman against Penn State. He also liked the offensive line’s pursuit in this game as backs got downfield.
- Harbaugh hasn’t contacted Les Miles or Cam Cameron about analyst positions or Les being an honorary captain, but he said he looks forward to talking to them soon.
- Jabrill has the most helmet stickers. They might release a sticker chart every week since no depth chart has been published this season. (Harbaugh thinks depth charts are irrelevant in an age where tape is readily available, as it can be teased out from watching film, which, like, I get that.)
Your thoughts on Wisconsin, what they’ve done so far, and the challenge they present?
“Big team. I’m wondering if the field’s gonna be wide enough. They play extremely hard. Run effort--I had the pleasure of coaching Chris Borland a few years back, and it’s a team of Chris Borlands. High, high energy, tough, guys that can run, and a big, physical, team. Very impressed.”
Looking at Hornibrook, that was his first start against a very good team defensively. You guys [are] strong defensively. What do you think of that dynamic between the two defenses and two young quarterbacks as well?
“Yeah, that’s very, very interesting from all those perspectives. Alex had a heck of a good ballgame. Really acquitted himself well. Made a name for himself. Very impressed with how he played, the accuracy of his throws, the poise with which he played; it was impressive. Wilton has also been impressive in that regard as well. He’s played with great preparation and confidence and poise. It’s unusual to be that new to playing, really, in big games.
“I think back, you know, when I was the same age as they were, the same kind of experience of playing in your first couple ball games. Both of those guys are doing better in my mind than I did and some other guys did when we were young. Playing with more poise and awareness and preparation and confidence, all those things. Both those guys have been impressive in that regard.”
[After THE JUMP: I mean, sometimes I didn’t get [it out]. It’s, ‘Jabr—’ and he’s, ‘I’m here, Coach! Right here!’ It’s exciting. He’s good at football.”]
What is it like when you have to go back-to-back on the road at Michigan State and here? Going back to his first start, how big is that for a quarterback? What does that do to a young quarterback who’s trying to get settled?
“I think he acquitted himself very well. He’s been in there, he’s had that experience already, right? I would think he would be very confident in what he can do.”
Having a player like Jabrill, how does that test your staff’s creativity and flexibility in terms of finding ways to integrate him into different areas?
“I don’t know. It’s just, over and over again, it’s daily with the team where, ‘Look what he did. Look what he did there. Look what he did today.’ And he does it with a real, genuine enthusiasm for practice. So those eye-popping plays happen every day.
“You give him something new, for example, whether it’s an offensive snap and you know he hasn’t done it before, then he goes out in practice and everybody just looks, like, nobody’s done it that well. Guys who play that position don’t do it that well, and now with him we just look at each other. Players will look to other players or players to me or me to other players; we just [go], ‘He’s really good at football. Jabrill’s really good at football.’ It’s just kind of become what we say. I think it says it all. He’s a foot-ball player. Jabrill Peppers is really good at football.” [/grins]
I think it was the second series of the game where De’Veon blew up a couple guys in pass protection. Is he the most proficient guy in that sense on this team, and how hard is it for a back to become a very solid guy in pass pro?
“It’s a process to become a good blocker as a running back. I’ve seen that process from not being able to do it at all to becoming very good at it. He takes a lot of pride in it. Backs that have that, where they take a lot of pride in being a pass protector—Frank Gore was like that. He wanted to be the best pass protecting running back in the National Football League. He took a lot of pride in doing that, and I think he was. I think he was that.
“He’s the best I’ve seen, and De’Veon, he’s doing the same thing. Takes a lot of pride in it. Wants to be extremely good at it. He is the best pass protecting back on our team. He’s very far along at being a good pass protecting back, which is something that, when you draft guys into the NFL, when you see good running backs coming in, we’re starting at the beginning here and teaching this youngster how to pass protect. But De’Veon, he’s far along in the process. It’s good.”
You mentioned you thought Jeremy Clark was probably an ACL [injury] on Saturday. Do you know whether he’s done for the year or not?
“Yeah, he tore his ACL.”
I know you got Jourdan back this weekend, but where does that leave the secondary in terms of depth? You’ve had a lot of guys rotate through. Do you rely more on some of those freshmen?
“Yeah, I think so. There’s Brandon Watson, who we trust as a good football player. You mentioned Jourdan Lewis, who’s a great football player. Then both David Long and Lavert Hill are going to step to the fore now. They’ve been practicing and playing a little bit, and now they will be called on.”
Khalid Hill made a big impact again this weekend. What have you seen as far as his development as a fullback goes, and what do you project for him as he goes forward?
“Really good things. I think it’s his spot. It’s a real natural position for him. He’s tough. He’s got the size and the strength to be a prototypical type of fullback. He’s got the catching ability, and he’s got the added attribute of being able to run with the football. Sometimes people don’t even ask the fullback to do that, but he’s got that added ability as well. Just keep progressing and I think he’ll have a chance to play that position [and] make a career out of it. I really do.”
I think Jeremy’s at 30% or whatever that rule is. Are you guys going to entertain getting a sixth year for him?
“Yeah. Yeah, we’ll definitely look into that and try. Yeah.”
On that same topic, he gets put on the cart and your whole team goes out there and surrounds him. What does that say about how they feel about him and maybe the closeness on this team right now?
“It says a lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before, but it was that way in the locker room as well. We came together as a team after the game in the locker room and half the team went into the training room to see Jeremy. He’s a highly respected person on our team.”
Jim, you mentioned on the TV show that the rotation of the backs, you felt that helped them be fresh and they’ve all got a role through three or four games. Is that something that was designed from the beginning? Is that something that’s evolved through time and can continue to have all four involved?
“Mmhmm. Yeah, both those things. It’s evolved and it was designed. I think all four running backs have really shown that they belong and they can make plays and deserve to be out there getting playing time.”
Have you done something like this before where you’ve had so many guys and no one’s gotten really more than 11 or 12 carries?
“I don’t know. Maybe similar. Maybe not quite four.”
Are there obstacles to that?
“Yeah, I mean, I think that—I don’t know that there are. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen obstacles to multiple good players. Always looked at that as a good thing. I guess if you took the less-is-more philosophy in life you might be able to find an obstacle. I’ve always subscribed to the more-is-more philosophy. More always seems better. More good football players always seems better. Did I veer off the topic there?”
People were talking about--
“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was brought up within the first week. Rhythm and getting somebody in a groove, that kind of thing. I suppose that would be it, yeah. If you’re somebody that less is more. Comes back to that. More good football players, stronger team.”
At what point in camp did you realize Devin Asiasi was physically ready to play, and talk about his progress so far?
“What point would that have been? Pretty early. First third of training camp. Within the first week and a half, two weeks. Yeah, physically ready. That’s a position that takes a lot of football awareness and there’s a process there learning all the things that a tight end has to do, because they’re so involved in the pass game and are equally in terms of volume and bulk of the running game. I mean, it’s a lot, especially for somebody that’s really good blocking and really good at running routes.
“He’s really in that process of becoming an expert, a real polished guy but is way ahead of schedule because he’s a smart football player, and he’s mature and physically talented and gifted and gives a lot of effort. It’s accelerated. He’s already into the AP tight end play in college. Taking the AP courses now as a freshman. It’s exciting.”
The program as a whole hasn’t beaten any top-10 teams since 2008. At this point in your rebuilding of the program or that whole process, does a game like this carry extra weight in terms of believing that you can win games like this, or do you think that was taken care of last year?
“You know exactly where we’re coming from there. We start at the beginning of the season looking at every team on our schedule as teams that we were going to have to highly prepare for and respect will be at the highest going into each and every one of those games, and we would have to have our best week of practice, have our—play our best game knowing that we’d be tough to beat and every opponent on our schedule will be treated that way. That’s what we’re striving for.”
Bryan Mone: any update on his status?
“Yeah, could be…hopeful for this game. We’ll see today. But, I mean, we’re hoping that he may practice this week and possibility he may play in the game.”
I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with Les Miles, but your reaction to his firing? Is he someone you could possibly bring in as an analyst or even as an honorary captain this season?
“Yeah, those are…yeah, I haven’t—good suggestions. I have the utmost respect for Les—Coach Miles—and Cam. I haven’t talked to him yet, but I hope to soon.”
With the run game and offensive line, was that as solid a day from Erik [Magnuson] and Kyle [Kalis] as you’ve seen in a while here? It looked like they were moving people all day long.
[long pause]
Or am I off on that? Was somebody else better?
“Yeah, no, I agree. The right side was very good, and I’d also put up Grant Newsome. Thought Grant had his best game and probably the best performance on the offensive line was from Grant. I think as a group they’re really playing well together, jelling. Good to see. Like so many things, De’Veon had his—boy, does he run hard. He had one of his runs early in the game where he broke in there six or seven yards and bounced off a tackle, did the spin, kept going. Somebody was trying to hit him and still going. He’s just running so hard, and that is—to watch our offensive line, that’s what really got me excited was our offensive line notices, too, when De’Veon’s running the football.
“They were pursuing. Their pursuit was almost as good as our defense’s pursuit, and that’s gotten better because they know that they’ve got a chance to get downfield and make a block. Jehu Chesson on that very play had the best pursuit of anybody on our offense. He was even down, at one point, on the ground and got up and ran and got ahead of De’Veon and made a block. Here comes our line pursuing from the backside, so that was—it was a run from about our 30 to about their 40, if you know the play.
“That was—yeah, our offensive line, I’m complimenting them on the play [because] they were pursuing. Also, they know when De’Veon’s running that there’s a good chance that he’s going to break a tackle, he’s going to run strong, and they get in position to make a block for him. Same with our receivers. That’s good football.”
You had mentioned after the first game that Kareem [Walker] was going to focus on academics and not be with the team practicing. Is that going to change or is that going to be the whole season?
“Kareem and I talked on Friday and it’s going really well. It’s going really well and it’s a positive. We’ll see. Since it is going so well, I think that’s something that we’ll continue to do. I think the best—at this point, he would redshirt this year, but the main focus is that he, to see him excited about class and he’s having success and he’s doing well. We’ll see how it goes. He’s also physically training and working out with the team, but yeah, there was an excitement and enthusiasm that he has right now about athletics and school that’s been a real shot up in that regard. We’ll see. We’ll see. Very positive.”
Not that you guys haven’t played physical up to this point but you’ve shown a lot of big-play finesse and speed. Do you feel like the Wisconsin game will be an opportunity for you guys to really showcase your physical side, that hard edge that especially defensively Don Brown’s been talking about since he arrived here?
“We play a very physical opponent, a very good opponent, and yeah, there’s an opportunity to show what you can do up there as a football player. I’ve always believed that good football players, that’s kind of why they get together for games. Good football players going against each other to show who the best is; that’s the best thing about football, that competition.”
One more Peppers question: has it been the case where you’ve gone to him and said, ‘Hey, let’s try you at these other things’ or has he been coming to you and saying ‘I want to do other things’ or how does that work?
“Uh…yeah, he’s made it clear that he wants to do as much as possible. That isn’t a question and there’s no question that all our coaches—special teams, offense, and defense—they’re like a bull pawing the ground. They want Jabrill involved. And then this past Saturday, there was…there were times last year—I don’t know if you noticed but we have a big squad and a pretty tight area there on the bench with a lot of players. There were times last year that [we said] ‘Hey, get me Jabrill! Get me Jabrill! Where’s Jabrill?’ This past Saturday, I would just say, ‘Jabrill!’ And he’d go, ‘Yeah, I’m here Coach! Right here!’ I mean, literally two feet behind me. He’s the same way. He wants to—he’s like a bull, just pawing at the ground, ready to attack. It’s good. I mean, sometimes I didn’t get [it out], it’s ‘Jabr—’ and he’s ‘I’m here, Coach! Right here!’ It’s exciting. He’s good at football.”
Drake Johnson was in uniform on Saturday. Was he injured? Is he available? If he was in uniform I imagine he was available to play.
“Yeah, he had a soft tissue injury that came up before the first game and he worked his way back. Practiced last week and getting back into action.”
How many plays was Jabrill in two weeks ago in the Colorado game?
“I can’t remember. I track it I can’t remember. He had the highest amount that week. Not this week. Ben Braden had the most plays at 80. I think two weeks ago, 80-90. Hasn’t been as much as some of the games last year where he played both ways. I can get that to you.
“He’s also had the most stickers each game. Most overall stickers. Number-one ranked four weeks in a row. He’s the number-one ranked [sticker earner].”
How many does he have?
“He’s got just under, after four games, forty. Maybe 37, 36.”
Is there a close second?
“We’ll find that out today.”
We need a chart every week of that.
“You want a chart?”
If you’re not going to do the depth chart, we at least want a sticker chart.
[/laughs]
“That would be…I can give you guys that.” [Ed. A- I think that’s what he said, but when people are laughing it’s like picking an audio needle out of a static haystack. Not that I’m complaining, mind you.]
So now depth chart this season, though, right?
“I mean, I’m open. If that’s something that would be beneficial or Dave Ablauf, amongst his peers, feels like for respectability he wants a depth chart, I can be persuaded to do that. Just…I think you know my feelings on this. It’s a very outdated task. Probably the best way to do it is you watch the tape of the games and know the opponent’s depth chart [in its] truest form, rather than relying on the public relations director for each team. Is that something you want, Dave?”
DA: “I’m, uh, agreeable to whatever you say. And I think it was 83 plays against Colorado.”
“That sounds right. He’s a crackerjack.”