[Campredon]
I usually try to go with a play that isn’t the first one you’d rip from the boxscore, but exceptions can always be made. A play where Higdon pushes Onwenu through the hole, the tight ends block it so well that Onewenu spins around like someone just took the tray of grapes away from training table, and Higdon outruns two defenders in pursuit seemed like a good time to make an exception.
What were you seeing from Rutgers’ front and what were you expecting at that point?
“Yeah, they were in a three-down front. They kept stemming and playing these line games. They felt like they knew our calls which actually made it easier for me because they were telling me where they were going to go, so I was able to cut behind them, follow my fullback, follow the linemen, and make things happen.”
So were they tipping on this play what they were going to do?
“Oh yeah. The linebackers were telling us they were either going left or right. It just made it that much better.”
I’m guessing you have an idea of where you’re going to go and where the hole’s going to be before the play. Do you re-read the defense as you get the ball in your hands?
“Yeah, of course, because it’s not a piece of paper. So you would like to think you know exactly what they’re going to do or how a player’s going to play but sometimes you just never know, so you analyze what’s happening in front of you and you’ve just got to make decisions very fast.”
One thing I’ve heard coaches say is that once a player starts thinking too much their feet slow down and they get into trouble, so how do you balance that, being able to analyze versus reading and reacting?
“Yeah, I actually just read and react. I don’t try and overthink it, I don’t try and do any of that. I just see what they’re giving me and just react to it.”
Is that something that gets better over time?
“It gets better over time.”
Is that from watching film or drills or full-padded practices? What helps the most?
“It’s all, it’s all. it’s football as a whole.”
So it all comes together—
“It all comes together, from watching film to practicing it to practicing cuts or pressing the line or just studying your playbook, it all comes together. You’ve got to know what everybody’s going to do: the O-line and the fullback, the quarterback, the receivers, and you’ll be able to put the pieces together as it unfolds.”
That play was so well blocked that Mike [Onwenu] pulls through the hole and it’s pretty much clean. Does that throw you off at all when your guard goes through the hole and there’s nothing to block?
“Nooope. It’s Big Mike and Big Mike, I’m going with Big Mike wherever Big Mike goes. I know he’s gonna take me where I need to be.” [laughs]
When you got to about the 10-yard line it looked like you might be checking the scoreboard to check pursuit.
“Right.”
How helpful is the scoreboard as a tool for that?
[laughs]
“I really don’t ever worry about pursuit.”
[laughs again]
“I don’t. One thing I learned: if you get out, you better go. If you get caught from behind, don’t come home. I don’t really ever use the scoreboard to check for pursuit, I just know I’ve gotta get out of there and get into the end zone.”