[Barron]
Karan [Higdon] mentioned you had him watch a lot of NFL tape. Were there any teams you spent time with this offseason or any coaches you worked under?
“I’m close with the Baltimore Ravens’ running backs coach Thomas Hammock but no coach in particular, no team in particular. More so plays, finding NFL examples of plays that we run and just looking through different scenarios, different things that our guys could end up seeing. Just trying to get a lot of experience, mental reps, in terms of watching the pros.”
What’s been the biggest adjustment for you in terms of going with another position?
“That’s a tough question. I mean, it’s all different so I don’t know if there’s a ‘biggest’ adjustment, but new guys and everything but they’ve been great to work with. They’re all working really hard and it’s a really, really good group. Nothing stands out as being any bigger adjustment than anything else.”
How much do you lean on what you saw out of these guys last year or did you come in [with a] clean slate?
“Yeah, none. None at all. It’s a clean slate. I mean, I knew what those guys were because you see them play and everything, but it’s a new season and a relatively new offense in terms of all the things that we’ll do. So, it’s kind of a fresh start for everybody.”
You came in having never coached this position before. Did you play running back at all?
“No. I’m sure you could guess that just by looking at me. I carried the ball a few times growing up. I scored on one, just for what it’s worth.”
[After THE JUMP: development in RB protections, the evolving offense, and what to watch in the spring game]
What did you do to prepare for this? It was announced in January. What did you do to cram for this, if you will?
“I mean, I don’t know about cramming because the way coaching works is if you’re doing it right you’re kind of absorbing everything. So, I’ve worked with quarterbacks before in Baltimore and spent a great deal of time with them and in that world you’re talking about protections, constantly talking about protections, so you learn that.
“With tight ends there’s route running, there’s run-game blocking, so there’s the run game. So the only thing that’s really different kind of is just running the ball, and luckily we’ve got talented guys that are good at doing that on their own and then I can help them at least with guidance in terms of hey, read this, the ball should have gone here or there. It’s probably a little bit not as big of an adjustment as it would be made out to be.”
Is this something you wanted to do or is this something where your dad said ‘You’re going to coach running backs and you don’t have a say in this’?
“It’s something we talked about but I was excited for it. He told me—I think was in Houston at like 11 or 11:30 at night, he called me and we talked about it and I hung up excited and I just laid in bed awake thinking about running backs so I was excited about it.”
Between Oregon State and the Ravens you’ve done a lot of jobs, right? Does that prepare you to switch positions a little bit? Is there some value to that?
“Yeah, that’s kind of what I was getting at before but maybe I didn’t say well. But just, there’s a totality in coaching, whether it’s offense or defense, of seeing the big picture. I think being with tight ends, it’s kind of a hybrid position so it helps. Being in the quarterback room in the NFL for three years is really helpful because you learn the big picture.
“So, certainly being in a few different spots is really, really helpful, I think. Most other coaches that are older in their careers, everyone’s done it at some point, so I think most coaches could speak to that with similar experience.”
Would you like to find a lead guy or is it everybody mixing in? Are you using a lot of backs?
“Yeah, the guys are going to be put in the position to do the things that they’re good at so it might be a certain run for a certain guy, a certain type of scheme for another guy. Obviously any coach would like a guy to emerge that you can trust, but in reality I’d like everyone to emerge. I’d like to be thinking, Hey, I’d like this guy to be in but I’d really like to be playing these guys, too.
“So, you’d like to be able to trust your whole group. I’ve never liked thinking about running backs like that, like you’re assuming two or three guys aren’t going to be good enough. I want everyone to be good. It’s pretty simple, but for some reason that’s never talked about.”
De’Veon was kind of acknowledged as the best blocker of the bunch last year. Do you have a guy, two guys, that are standing out in that area?
“They’re all doing a much better job. Ty Isaac has improved quite a bit. He’s been excellent so far. Both fullbacks have been tremendous, Khalid and Poggi. Some of the other guys are coming along, too. I think we need some more live reps. The spring game will tell a lot in terms of just live bullets flying and seeing how people react, but those guys are standing out.”
How has Kareem Walker been doing?
“Doing really well. He’s done a great job. He’s coming along slowly but steadily and getting better and better at everything we’re asking him to do. I think he’s going to be able to contribute for us, most definitely.”
Karan said you guys post the depth chart pretty regularly and you keep updating it. Is stuff like that a motivational ploy or is it that these things change and they’re pretty fluid practice to practice?
“Yeah, it’s certainly fluid. Things chance and it’s a meritocracy around here, so it just makes sense for everyone to understand and have it be out in the open that hey, this guy’s doing the best and this guy’s doing the second best and so on and so forth.
“In terms of it being a motivational ploy, I think if you’re lower down there then yeah, you could take it that way and if you’re high up on it maybe it’s motivational in the same way. You want to get your edge and try to keep it and make sure you’re getting playing time.”
Do you update it every practice in the spring?
“Not quite. Maybe every few. I’m not certain that there’s any particular pattern to it, but if things change, things change. Certainly we reward good performance and guys who make plays and do what they’re asked to do.”
What do you hope to see Saturday, and do you get anything more out of that than a normal practice?
“Oh yeah, no doubt. Especially with the running backs, because O-line and D-line, and to a large extent receivers and DBs, even when it’s not live in practice, it is live. The speed is nearly game speed minus the tackling. Running back is the one position, and quarterback, where live tempo and tackling really reveals something because you get to see—in practice if you’re just tagging off or what we call thud tempo, you don’t necessarily know what would have happened. So, in a a spring game it’s definitely exciting to see who could create yards after contact and all that.”
It’s a different offense this year. Are there things specific to the running backs that are really being emphasized, that you have to be able to do this well?
“Nothing different in that regard in terms of what’s being asked of them, no.”
What is different about the offense and how is it evolving?
“C’mon. C’mon!”
I mean, don’t give me the playbook, but is it morphing in a particular way based on the last couple of years or based on the new coaches?
“I mean, certainly with the new coaches things change because there’s terminology that’s more familiar to them and things that they like to do. There’s things I think we’ve improved on that we did in the past , different ways of teaching certain concepts to try and help the guys learn better and operate under stress better. In terms of specifics, I probably can’t go into that.”
How much has Chris evolved from the end of last year? I know he gained weight, but where’s he at right now?
“Chris Evans? Overall, he’s the same as he always has been in the sense that he’s just getting better every single day and he’s doing all the little things required. And on top of that, he’s always seeking out extra, always honestly assessing his weaknesses and working hard to improve them. So, in terms of where he’s at, he’s ahead of where he was and tomorrow he’ll be ahead of where I’m saying he is now. It’s gonna be exciting, I think, to watch him in the fall.”
You’re still working with special teams as well, right?
“Yep.”
The return game: who’re the guys you’re looking at on kick and punt?
“As return men?”
Yeah.
“A lot of people. There’s no telling at this point. Way too soon. We’ve had, shoot, DPJ, we’ve had Ways, Crawford, Karan Higdon, Kareem Walker, Ty Isaac, Lavert Hill, Ben St. Juste…Tyree’s caught punts.”
Those are all punts?
“Certain type of ball attracts a certain—and guys weed themselves out. Khaleke Hudson’s done it. We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve done things like that in the past, so the only way to find out who can do it is let everybody try and the ones who aren’t very good, just slowly start weeding them out. We’re getting there.”
What is the biggest challenge you face in coaching a new position group?
“Uh…I don’t know. I’m not sure. There’s nothing—like I said before, there’s nothing particular that stands out as being like ‘Man, this is really hard.’ I already knew the guys, so there’s a certain level of trust and familiarity there. But, uh, I’m not sure. Like I said, probably seems like there should be something but nothing particular.”
You mentioned you knew them before but when you got to that room, was there some level of building those relationships up to what you had with the tight ends, maybe, just to get that level of comfort and trust both ways?
“Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s not like—you’re right, it does take that, but it’s not anything like intentional like ‘Hey, let’s do a trust fall exercise’ or that kind of thing. It’s just kind of the way you interact with people that you teach them and coach them day to day—you build that. You show that all you’re interested in is their improvement and then you just coach them hard and love them and tell them the truth and in the end that earns guys’ respect, hopefully, and that earns trust. So, yes, you’re right, but it just happens as kind of a byproduct of trying to do things the right way, I think.”
Is there anything you take away having been coaching the tight ends the last couple years from that position that helps aid what you’re doing with the running backs?
“Yeah, I kind of already answered that question, I feel like. But, uh…like I said, it’s just everything because you’re coaching how to run routes, you’re coaching how to get open; well, that translates. You’re coaching the run game and how to fit up a block fundamentally; well, that carries over to pass blocking and occasionally run blocking as a fullback, so there’s those things. But then just understanding the scheme of this is how we want to block this particular front or this particular front; well, that helps in terms of the back, saying, ‘Listen, this is a really hard block for this individual’ as you watch the tape and getting them to see things that maybe they didn’t consider before. So, uh, hope that answers it for you. I’m just messing with you.”
Sorry if you already got asked but Ty was saying you’ve kind of drawn on being around coaches for more or less your whole life in adjusting to the new position. Are there any coaches in particular that taught you something about coaching running backs?
“The Baltimore Ravens coach is a good friend of mine. I coached with him in Baltimore, Thomas Hammock; he used to be at Wisconsin. He’s a guy that I’m close with and I’ve learned a lot from just being in Baltimore.
“And I talked about before, it’s just kind of osmosis. I’m sure occasionally you guys hear someone ask a question and you’re like, damn, that was a pretty good question; I like the way they worded that. So it’s the same thing. The more you do it, the better you get at it, so if you’re around really good coaches at a high level, unless you’re just not paying attention, you’re gonna absorb some of what they’re doing. So certainly. And that’ll be the case just throughout for the next year and five years and ten years.”
What will an NFL team get from Jake Butt? And you watch the different projections; where do you think he should fall despite the ACL?
“Round-wise I couldn’t tell you. I’ve heard all kinds of things. In terms of what a team will get, they’re gonna get a guy who’s team-first, he’s a winner, and he’s really…when he gets back to his true self, he’s gonna be one of the rare guys who can kind of do anything. He can run block, he can get open, he can win versus man coverage, he can pass block, so he kind of can do it all, and that’s just a rare thing in the NFL where there’s a guy who can do everything. There’s big money out there for a guy who can do that. So, if someone sees that, I think he’ll go earlier than a lot of people would suspect.”
Doing anything in particular to try to figure out how to get the most out of your time in Rome, both from a football sense and in general?
“I haven’t thought about it yet. I probably will think about it a little bit next week. That’s a good question, but I think everyone is just collectively pretty excited. I know I am. It’ll be fun for the team to do something like that together.”
When Jim mentioned it to you for the first time—he said the idea came to him on a flight in June going to Baltimore—did you think it was nuts or what did you think when he says ‘Well, let’s go to Rome’?
“I thought it was a tremendous idea. We like to be on the cutting edge. I was just pumped up. We trust him and we’ll do whatever it is he wants to do and he has some darn good ideas, so we’ll always follow his lead.”
Are you going to have a destination wedding there?
“No. Well, the wedding will be in Puerto Rico. That’s where my fiancée is from, so I don’t know if that counts as a destination.”