[Barron]
What do you see from Minnesota that you’re preparing for?
“Well, they’re gonna run the rock. Their mantra, you can tell, is they’re big, strong. I think the best offensive line we’ve played to this point in terms of run blocking, and they’ve got multiple running backs that can carry the load so we’ve got to do a great job in controlling the run game and then obviously doing a good job on third down from our standpoint.”
With Aubrey Solomon getting the start, what did he do to earn that start?
“Wow. Just a big boy growing up. He’s learned the system, he’s minimizing errors, and he’s kind of solidifying himself as a solid guy we can depend on on a three-down basis. And it’s not rocket science. I mean, on third down, we’ll do whatever we want to do anyway to get off the field, so with some of those things he’s involved and some of ‘em he’s not involved, but he’s a tremendous run defender and a very solid pass defender.”
On that second touchdown drive against Rutgers they hit a couple plays where your guys were right there on them. Is that going to happen and are there times where you as a coordinator just tip your cap?
“Well, I tip my cap on the pass. The kid made a one-handed catch. I thought Tyree was in great shape. You want to be able to lean into him and go through his hands and all that but at the end of that day it was like that [mimes a one-handed catch away from the body].
“So, you know, the bottom line is… let me paint a picture for you. You’re in zone coverage, okay? And we played a bunch, by the way, last Saturday, but we play combination coverages so guys are—we don’t want guys running free. We don’t want, oh we’re in zone, this guy dropped him. We’re not doing that, okay? So I’d rather spend my time teaching great technique, great fundamentals, let B. Smith and Mike Zordich do their deal and also be able to mix in, when we decide, other concepts that will cover people. Not people running through air and then relying on those zone pieces. I mean, that’s just not what we do.
[I had to split this answer with THE JUMP because posting novellas to the front page during the season is discouraged]
“The key thing there is was the throw contested? Did he go in, lean in, go after the rock? And the answer to that is yes. Did he make the play? No. Okay. So, I dunno. They had 90 yards passing. There’s 21. We were zone coverage and they got us for a 30 yard pass. Now, again, we were right like that [smashes fists together]. Noah Furbush is right like that on the tight end. Get your eyes back, play the rock. So, you know, life goes on, but they’re going to make a few plays, too. The fewer the better.
“The one play that just irks the hell out of me was the run play. I mean, that’s a simple counter. Guard pull, Y pull, one of our guys misses the pull, so obviously that’s on me. It’s not on him. Didn’t run it enough or something, okay. So you’ve got to make sure you get on the pull BUT still got a middle third defender coming down. We’ve still got a backside that I don’t think was flying to the rock, so we’ve got to fix that. That’s what we talked about is if you eliminate that run play right there and one other play, I mean, come on. Come on. That’s pretty good defense.
“At the end of the day, what did they get? 195, something like that? So the day was solid. Especially when you have a young group that’s come off a game where we didn’t play as well as we’d have liked to, and now you’ve got to regroup and go. So at the end of the day, I thought we played really well. Don’t forget: five sacks, 11 TFLs, and they went back 21 times to throw the ball and he was on the ground 11 of the 21 times. So, that’s getting back to business. It’s getting back to who we are, so that’s a good thing.”
Speaking of the Penn State game, a couple of the defensive players have said they needed that to humble them. Is that how you look at it in retrospect?
“I’m just gonna say this: the last two weeks in practice have been unbelievably good, period. I mean, I come off yesterday’s practice, we can’t go much harder. If we go much harder, somebody’s gonna get hurt, and that would be dumb. That’s on me. I think we’re—it’s kind of a sense of urgency. I don’t think we were fat-catting it by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly re-focuses your energy and your enthusiasm and your passion to get the thing right. I mean, obviously Penn State’s a pretty good offensive football team. I think they scored 35 in the first half. Correct me if I’m wrong. So, they’re pretty good, but we didn’t play our best game.
“And I’m not making any excuses—they had a lot to do with it—but we’ve got to be better than that. That’s the experience part of it you’re looking for, I think, is get your young people to understand how we’ve got to go about our business and our approach more than the end result. Focus on your approach, focus on your preparation, how we need to practice, and then the end result will take care of itself.”
How much of that is your players taking the lead on that as opposed to you having to push it?
“It’s all them. I coach the best young people in the country. I say that all the time. I mean, it’s a great room. Come on in, sit in, it’s a blast.”
What time?
“Yeah, but I’m serious. It’s a great group to coach. They have a tremendous amount of pride. And I’ll say this: from a concept standpoint, our guys talk football. I hear ‘em and I’m going ‘oh, this is so awesome.’ I mean, they’re talking about Raider coverage and things like that and ‘Hey, Coach, do we switch this’ and I’m like ‘oh, this is just awesome.’
“Quietly, there’s a—and we talked about Aubrey, there’s a group of guys that we’re working with at the second level. I mean… Ben St-Juste made a player yesterday in practice, I went ‘wow.’ I mean, ‘WOW.’ So that’s the side product of practicing two groups. They’re all young. One actually looks like they’re an old veteran group and the other one’s all freshmen, but they’re all getting better because we’re giving them equal work, so it’s a good deal.”
Have you ever had a guy that gets off the ball as quickly as Mo Hurst and is that an art or is that something that’s innate?
“You know, him and I had this guy, Kendall Reyes, at UConn who was the 32nd pick in the draft, he’s very similar. Mo might have a little bit more BOOM. Like, when he comes off, it’s like BOOM but it’s also instinct. The thing that I think he does so well is he understands when the ball’s going to be snapped. Some guys have no clue. They’re [/blank stare]. He kind of ehhhh BOOM. He has that, and when he comes off, he’s in a bad mood.
“We kind of let him—we kind of gave him some freedom to run around last week in our pass rush stuff and slow-played behind him with one guy and I think that that gave him freedom, gave Rashan freedom, gave Chase freedom. Every group every year it’s a little bit different, but the end result is your third down better be good if you’re gonna have any chance at all, and we got back to playing third down the way we’re supposed to.”
Rashan said last week that guys were asking more than usual to re-rep things they messed up. Has that been going on all year or did that start last week?
“It got—usually it’s me-driven. Reload. But it’s nice when the player says, ‘Coach, I need that again.’ Obviously there’s a factor there, a care factor that you get excited about. I’m kind of excited about we’ve played eight games and in seven of those eight, 280 yards or less in seven of eight games is a lot. I mean, that’s a pretty good sample, would you say? That’s a pretty good sample size. It’s just a good bunch of guys. We’re learning as we go. Nobody said we were perfect. No expectations reduced, and we’re getting better every day.
“That’s the whole key is let me tell you, now, is not only are we good on defense, our scout team, without question, with Dylan McCaffrey at the helm, they go, now. It’s next door to what you want on a Saturday, so in terms of giving us a chance from a preparation standpoint, all those things are in place, so it’s a good deal.”
You saw Brandon Peters on the scout team last year. How have you seen him evolve in the past year?
“Um, this guy, it’s like his business to get us ready to play. That’s his business, and he doesn’t approach it like ah, you know, jeez, I’m down here, I gotta do this. There’s a couple plays yesterday where he has to re-center the tight end, re-center the back, and then run this specific scheme, okay? I’d swear it was the quarterback from Minnesota doing it, because he did it exactly the same way. So, you know, our guys got him watching a little tape there, but then to come out and actually do it the same way, I mean, it gives you a chance and that’s really what you’re looking for. It just gives you a chance.”
Is that Dylan or is that Brandon?
“Dylan.”
I was asking about Brandon and—
“Brandon used to come down and whip it around pretty good. You know, it seemed like last year we had a lot more guys we were rotating in and out of there so you’re not really overly paying attention but for like Dylan—and Malzone helps us too, now—it’s his world, you know, and when a guy takes it upon himself like that, he takes the whole group with him and that gives us a chance to have a quality practice. And you don’t realize how important that is until at the end of practice you go, wow, that was really a good practice, we got a lot of work done. And it gives you a chance.”
How rare is that for a true freshman?
“Pretty rare. Pretty rare. This is a special guy, now. I see him in the building all the time, so—and I’m not making a case. [laughs] I’m just saying from our standpoint to get ready, it’s nice when you have a scout team that, you know, they’re committed to the defense. They don’t have to be. They could be, oh, here I am, I’m down here. Boom, take my steps. But these guys take it serious and they help us get ready to play on Saturdays and he spearheads it, so that’s a good thing.”
Just curious, how much do you start looking ahead to Wisconsin, Ohio State down the road? Do you start thinking about them at all?
“Can’t do that right now. Can’t do it.”
I mean, because you were studying Air Force from like January on.
“That’s a whole different—you know, I still have nightmares. I wake up and go, oh jeez. Those are not—that’s just not a fun game to get ready for. It’s just not. And you notice now [/mimics jet takeoff with hand]. Here they come. I think they’re 4-4 now or something so that was a good thing. But, no, I mean, you see them a little bit but in our current situation, we’re just focused on the game that we’re playing.”