[Fuller/MGoBlog]
So in improvement week, how’d the guys do?
“Really good. It was a great week. Guys really worked hard, got better fundamentally. Just, I mean, great to go out and play the game of football and get better at it, you know? Really, we’re working hard trying to get better. Really had great focus, want-to. Really pleased with the young guys.”
Do you like the future of this offensive line?
“I do. I really do. It’s only going to get better. How do you get better at football? You play football. We do that here.”
Speaking of getting better, can you talk about the jump that you’ve seen Juwann Bushell-Beatty take in the time that he’s been in here?
“He’s done a great job. It really started with Juwann in the weight room with Kevin Tolbert and his staff. He’s really changed his body, and it’s really important to him. He takes pride in his work to be good. He’s really got good foot-turnover speed. He’s playing with strength, and that comes from the weight room work that he’s had. He’s just done a really, really nice job. Progressed very nicely. Juwann is a very good person that wants to be good at whatever he puts his hands on, so he’s got a great attitude.”
What do you see players that are playing at this level for the first time and really getting thrown in there, where do they gain the most the soonest?
“Just, as I mentioned earlier before, just getting game reps and practice reps. As many reps as you can get playing the game of football and seeing different looks and being quick on your feet, you really become a better football player.”
Did you see a jump from getting thrown into the Wisconsin game to how he played in almost a full Rutgers game?
“Yeah, when he came off the bench against Wisconsin there was not a big letdown. Your concern, you know, first time stepping in in a game, but he did an outstanding job coming off the bench, and then he did better in the Rutgers game. He just keeps progressing, keeps getting better, which is really nice.”
[After THE JUMP: keeping backs fresh, the ways the offense doesn’t change when Peppers is in, and a young-guys update]
When you have a game like that where you’re running for 400 yards and you’re dominating in the trenches, is there stuff you can learn about your offensive line and improve there, or is it just kind of you move on to the next one?
“No, you can always—you kind of find what they’re good at, what they still need to improve on, if they know their landmarks, double teams, if they’re fitting it right, got their eyes in the right spot… there’s a lot of things just by being a coach watching, you develop a better understanding of what guys can do and what they need to improve on.”
Is this line significantly better now than it was in August?
“We’re getting better every day. We’ve made the transition to this point. There’s still a ceiling for us to get better, but yeah, we’re better than we were last year. And we’re pleased with the progress, but there’s still a lot more room for improvement. That’s important that you keep pushing on and keep getting better.”
How high a level is Kyle playing at right now?
“He’s playing very well. Very physical at the point of attack. Can think quick on his feet. Understands what we want. You know, he’s doing a really, really nice job on that. Kyle, he’s playing his best football.”
Some of the young guys, Nolan [Ulizio], Jon Runyan [Jr.], we haven’t heard much about them—
“Jon’s doing really well, progressing nicely. Nolan’s doing really well. They’re all, day by day, in terms of just improving, you can see where we started with them last year to now, they’ve really taken some great steps forward and it’s going to keep getting better.”
Does Mason [Cole] still take snaps at left tackle, because Juwann said they were rotating a little bit after the Wisconsin game.
“Mason’s the center. He plays the center position.”
Right, but does he take--
“I never will talk about reps in practice with you.”
Is it easier to keep a team’s attention when you’re 6-0 and still playing for everything as opposed to a team that might have struggled some early in the year?
“I think it’s just with this this team and this coaching staff and Coach Harbaugh, we’re on to a new week. This is a new week. We have the next opponent. I don’t think about our record. We’ve got Illinois coming in and we’ve got to get a gameplan together and we’ve got to execute at a high level. We’re always checking ourselves to not become complacent, you know. That’s the number one thing is that true competitors go get better, and it’s a new week.”
How do you check yourselves?
“I think going through the gameplan, making sure that you’ve got the right strategy set. You make sure you’re coaching the details hard with your players in the classroom. You demand from your players and the group itself, the team leadership demands from each other for perfection. We’ve got a good [inaudible] of great leaders on this team.”
You guys had some momentum going into the bye week. Do you feel like you’ve kept that? Some of the guys said Sunday was a little sloppy, but how have Monday and Tuesday been?
“Good. It’s been good practice here. Done a good job and we’re right where we need to be for this game and we just need to keep improving this week and keep taking those strides forward to be where we need to be to compete at a high level on Saturday.”
Jim had mentioned that Illinois’ tendency is to stack the box and attack the run. Is that kind of what you’re seeing [on film]?
“Lovie Smith, we played against him in 2012 in San Francisco. Lovie Smith, I believe, was a head coach for 14 years in the National Football League. Nine out of his 14 years, he was in the top ten for turnovers in the National Football League. Lovie’s an outstanding coach and Hardy Nickerson’s an outstanding coach. Yeah, they know how to stack the box. They know how to take people out of the box. They’re experts at what they do. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fun game and we love games like this.”
When it comes to turnovers, that’s kind of been your strength so far. What has gone into your ability to take care of the football?
“I think it’s a point of emphasis with it. The coaching staff does a good job, Jedd and Tyrone and Jay and Jim, just making sure you’re preaching about it, you coach it, and you show examples of not allowing that to happen. I think you make a point of emphasis on it.”
Going back to that 2012 game you just cited, what do you remember about that game against Lovie’s team? What stood out to you about that team, or both teams, actually?
“Very well coached. Very good defensive front. Did some nice things. Both two good teams playing against each other. It was so long ago, sometimes you forget, you know, but if I see a play I could tell ya.”
How does your offense change when Jabrill’s in there?
“You know, Jabrill does a nice job when he gets in there. Does it change? We still run the same types of plays. Nothing changes. We can run it, we can throw it, we can do whatever we want to do. You know, it doesn’t change.”
You talked about the offensive line as better than it was last year. Beyond stats, how do you quantify that?
”Well, they’ve had so many reps, game reps, in there. When you go in the classroom and you teach, they do a good job of really absorbing what you’re teaching. They ask the questions. They might be a step in front of you, and they’ll cover you as a coach. Maybe you didn’t get a chance to get to that but they’ll ask on the field, and they’re coaching the younger guys, because they know what you want. You just look at older guys that are very locked in and want to be successful in whatever they do, it’s neat. it’s a fun deal when you walk in a room like that. And it’s neat because they’re laying a great foundation for the younger guys, because we always say that tradition never graduates.”
Last year Graham said he’d be the guy in there instructing them a little bit. Is there somebody who’s stepped into that role?
“You know, they all have: Kyle Kalis, Magnuson, Ben Braden, Mason Cole. But it’s a very interactive room. We want to be interactive. Any time you’re teaching people, you want to make sure they’re asking questions. It’s important they understand what you really want so when they do step on the field for practice, it’s crystal clear that they understand. We don’t want anything where they’re not sure.
“We’re always open for ideas, too. We listen to those players. The players are the ones who’re out there doing it. We always want to know what they think and can we do it this way to help you play at a higher level, so that it’s easier for you to think… it’s pretty neat. And it’s neat here because we’ve got guys who really, really love football.”
What do you still need to see from Juwann for him to get fully entrenched there as a guy you’re fully comfortable with at left tackle?
“He needs to keep doing what he’s doing, keep improving. I feel absolutely comfortable with him at left tackle. I really do. And just keep getting better, like all of them do. There’s not one thing we need to pinpoint out with Juwann. Everybody has different things they need to get better at.”
You mentioned the turnovers. I think it was the game at Maryland last year where Ty Isaac had a few fumbles and then his carries kind of went down. Was that setting the expectation there as part of the process of teaching the emphasis on turnovers?
“Eh… well, we always start training camp talking about turnovers and talking about the importance of—we always teach the game of it, and we’re always preaching on it. And Tyrone does a great job, Jedd, they all do, Jay—just always reminding and coaching keeping the ball tight to your body and don’t become relaxed with it when you’re about to go down.
“I think anytime in a game situation when you come back, there’s always teaching moments you can teach. It might have been that time but there’s other things you can teach, different things.”
Drake Johnson coming back; I don’t imagine you’re going to spread the carries among five backs, right? Does it kind of depend on the week of practice, who gets the carries?
“No, it’s really—with that situation, we love just kind of spreading it around to different guys. It helps them for the National Football League because I really believe in the NFL, you don’t want to take a guy who has a bunch of carries. They want a guy who’s a little bit fresher, because they want to be able to get to that level and play at a high, productive level, so I think it helps them. You don’t want to handoff to a guy who’s gotten a bunch of carries and taken all those hits. You want to save a little bit of energy and life in them as ball carriers.”
Kyle said on Monday that the backs were more patient this year, that they create a hole and then they can get through it. Do you see that, and why do you think that’s the case?
“You know, I think they let the play express itself a lot better, and I think just because of more reps at it. Just seeing the play and getting the feel of how those guys are blocking it up front, you know. I think it’s all everybody just getting better.”
Are there bigger holes this year than there were last year?
“No, I don’t think there’s bigger [holes].”
Not bigger holes?
“No, I think everybody’s just more comfortable. It starts with the playcalling in the huddle and getting up and getting down, it’s how fast the quarterback can get back, get to the halfback, the point of attack where we’re aiming the back, the fit by the linemen, it’s the receivers blocking, it’s all 11 guys—the quarterback carrying out his fake. Just doing more of it and getting more comfortable with it.”
If I remember correctly, back at Stanford you guys did have a back that got 30-35 carries a game. Is that something you learned to try and keep them fresh? Is that something you’ve adjusted since then and learned from?
“Yeah, I think just coaching in the NFL you just kind of have a better understanding as you sit in those draft meetings, you understand what GMs and scouts are looking for and you hear them talk and you see how important it is to that level and you just kind of have a better awareness and appreciation of the health of somebody and making sure that they have a bright future and a good career.”
Like a baseball coach saving a pitcher’s arm?
“Yeah, same type of deal. Yeah. Don’t want to throw them too much, can’t come out kicking too much.”
But if you have a guy that can—Gerhart obviously had a ton of carries, but if you have a guy that can handle that, you’re not afraid to do that, I assume?
“Yeah, but I think that was a different thing at Stanford at the time. Not to go back, but sometimes you’ve got to look at the depth of what you’ve got behind, you know. Do you have a quality enough guy to be able to do it and do you have enough depth after him, so it’s different things at different places, but yeah.”
Kyle and Erik both have pretty big personalities. Does that add anything to the field or to the locker room?
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s fun. When you’re in the room with them they keep it light, but it’s important to them. Yeah, it’s nice to be able to talk to them and joke a little bit and keep it light in the room but it is fun when you have to lock down and keep it serious, too. It’s neat.
“It’s neat to share things with these young people, too. Sometimes there’s more things than football. There’s a lot of things about life and helping these guys. Someday they’re going to get married, right? Someday they’re going to be husbands and fathers and all that good stuff and it’s important that you teach them life lessons.”
Have you seen ‘Gone PIggin’,’ their TV show?
“What’s that?”
Have you seen their little TV show?
“No, but they said they want me to be a guest on it. So, I’m excited for that. I’m kind of waiting. I’ve never been on TV before. Never acted before, so that could be kind of fun.”
Did you get a chance to see Graham [Glasgow] at all on Sunday or were you working?
“I was working, but my son Zach was texting me, tell me about Graham. I’m really proud of him. I shot him a text, so it was good.”
Grant’s not out of the woods yet, but were you relieved to hear he’s probably going to be back next year?
“Absolutely. Yeah, he’s doing good. I go up there and see him and he’s doing good. Gosh darn…he’s got the look in his eye that, hey, this isn’t too much for me, I’m gonna get through this. Talk about a selfless guy. I mean, I mentioned it earlier but my wife and I went up to talk to him when it first happened and he’s laying in bed; the first thing he asked was ‘Hey, how was Zach’s game on Friday?’ Wow. Talk about a guy, you know. It gets me a little choked up because someone’s child is sitting in that hospital bed, you know… but we’re gonna get through it. We really are.”
You mentioned Graham and texting him. Did he help open doors for his younger brothers and their expectations to be here and contribute?
“Yeah. I think any time you walk on it’s—as a walk-on, I mean, gosh darn it, you’ve got a chip on your shoulder, you’ve got a want- to, you’ve got a work ethic to be great. I think that shows and proves to anybody that anybody can walk on here, earn a scholarship, be a starter, and play in the National Football League. You just need an opportunity, and we’re willing to give anybody that opportunity.
“We never compare a scholarship player to a walk-on because it’s about the game of football, it’s about teaching, it’s about giving back what football has given to you, and to give opportunities to these people who make something great with their life. I think that’s a great story for every walk-on in the United States of America or far across the world, the globe, how important Michigan is and how we give people opportunities to do that.”