WVU Football Assistant Coaches' Quotes
August 07, 2013 01:03 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University football assistant coaches addressed the media today, August 7.
Associate Head Coach (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe DeForest
On in-game action being completely different than practice for kickers
For a newcomer, it is different, and both of them are newcomers. Whoever is going to kick or punt for us is going to be a newcomer. You can’t simulate game situations or atmospheres, so we’re going to try to do the best we can during practice to try to simulate as volatile a crowd as we can get.
On simulating crowd noise and pressure in practice
We’ll try to create noise and get the team around them as they kick a field goal. Just simulate things like that.
On what DeForest is working on with the kickers during one-on-one time
It’s like any other position. We have a kicker, a punter, a snapper, a holder and a kickoff. So there are five positions you’re trying to fill. You do individual drills with them for each specific position. It’s no different than any other position. You just rep, you chart things, whether it be snap time, field goal time – those types of things.
On the depth of this team
There are 88 spots to fill in the big 4 – punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return. With two deep at each one, that’s 88 spots. What you have to do is evaluate guys during the special team period, as well as on defense. We see how they move around, and evaluate if they can make plays in space.
Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator) Shannon Dawson
On what the offensive coordinator looks for when pads are worn for the first time
You’re going to have to live with some screw ups, especially with some younger kids. Mainly, the game is about blocking and tackling, when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it. It’s also about being able to have effort. When we have routes to learn, that is going to take time for younger kids. But up front and at receiver, the aggression part of the game is what we’re looking for. I don’t care if you make mistake, as long as you make it going 100 percent. Being hesitant is something we have to cure early. That’s been our main emphasis in the couple of days we’ve had in pads.
More on effort from team
I just want to see you play hard – that’s it. For us, we want to see a mentality that you’re going to finish every play in a dominant position, and that you’re just working your tail off. Be decisive – that’s the thing. There are more problems with being indecisive, rather than making a decision, going hard at it, and if you’re wrong, we can get that stuff fixed.
On what Dawson is looking for right now from his quarterbacks
Their deal is about execution. We’re not doing a very good job of taking care of the football. We’ve had way too many fumbled snaps, even in the shotgun. We have to be able to take care of the football, that’s simple stuff. Handoffs, and stuff like that, they’re just something that has to mean something to you. We have to take care of the football at the quarterback position.
Assistant Coach (Defensive Coordinator) Keith Patterson
On targeting rule change
To me, the rule hasn't changed other than the consequence for targeting. It is something we have talked to the defense about. We want to be the least penalized team in the country defensively. We have talked about no stupid penalties and to me, sometimes there is going to be helmet-to-helmet contact, but targeting is a whole other issue. It is about leading with your crown and hitting a defenseless player. We do the best we can about educating our players and defining targeting.
On making the team better at forcing turnovers
I think it is an awareness issue, really. It is about being physical. That is how you force turnovers. You need to get people playing with tremendous effort. The more people are around the ball, the more opportunity there is to generate a turnover. It has been interesting, there have been years that generating turnovers has been incredible and the years we are not, all of a sudden our tackles-for-loss and quarterback sacks go up. They are both something that we emphasize daily with our players. We have a turnover coach, and we count them out and talk about them after practice.
On evaluating players now that pads are on
There is a lot of competition at every single position, and we are trying to create that competition. That will make for a better defense. I haven’t seen a lot of difference in as far as what we have done. We are trying to pay a little more attention to the details of the schemes now and getting our guys to go through a thought process before the ball is ever snapped. We are really challenging our players to become students of the game and understand the defense.
On changing the mentality of a player
It is a process and takes time to do that. It is being consistent every single day, and we have a communication progression that we follow. I tell the players that a silent defense is a defeated defense. If you can’t communicate with one another then you are going to leave people on an island by themselves. If you can’t communicate, that tells me that you do not know what we are doing.
Assistant Coach (Defensive Line) Erik Slaughter
On having pads on and evaluating talent
We are still not going live, so really up front, whether it is pads and shorts or full pads, it is not that big of a deal. As far as tackling goes, we still don't know, because we haven’t done it yet. As far as what we want to do upfront, we are a work in progress, just like we were last year. We are farther ahead of what we were, but we have a long way to go. The thing I like about it is the effort and enthusiasm is there. As camp goes on, we will see how that goes, but everybody in the country is doing it. I am happy where we are at right now, but we have a long way to go and that is my job.
On having more of the type of athletes wanted
We all know we took some growing pains, but our guys have grown up, eaten, and they look good. This time last year, four of those guys that were in the rotation just showed up out of high school. To throw them in the Big 12 and play upfront, I though they did okay. We are a long way away from being where we want to be, which is the best defensive line in the Big 12. They are getting bigger and getting older, we just have get them better.
On playing deserving players over playing because of need
If you can help us win, I am going to play you. If you can't, then I won’t. In the Big 12, because of the tempo, you better have more than three or four guys or you will be in a lot of trouble. There were probably some games last year that we only played three or four guys, and we got in trouble. We played well early and were bad late so having more is a lot better, especially in this league.
Associate Head Coach (Special Teams Coordinator) Joe DeForest
On in-game action being completely different than practice for kickers
For a newcomer, it is different, and both of them are newcomers. Whoever is going to kick or punt for us is going to be a newcomer. You can’t simulate game situations or atmospheres, so we’re going to try to do the best we can during practice to try to simulate as volatile a crowd as we can get.
On simulating crowd noise and pressure in practice
We’ll try to create noise and get the team around them as they kick a field goal. Just simulate things like that.
On what DeForest is working on with the kickers during one-on-one time
It’s like any other position. We have a kicker, a punter, a snapper, a holder and a kickoff. So there are five positions you’re trying to fill. You do individual drills with them for each specific position. It’s no different than any other position. You just rep, you chart things, whether it be snap time, field goal time – those types of things.
On the depth of this team
There are 88 spots to fill in the big 4 – punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return. With two deep at each one, that’s 88 spots. What you have to do is evaluate guys during the special team period, as well as on defense. We see how they move around, and evaluate if they can make plays in space.
Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator) Shannon Dawson
On what the offensive coordinator looks for when pads are worn for the first time
You’re going to have to live with some screw ups, especially with some younger kids. Mainly, the game is about blocking and tackling, when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it. It’s also about being able to have effort. When we have routes to learn, that is going to take time for younger kids. But up front and at receiver, the aggression part of the game is what we’re looking for. I don’t care if you make mistake, as long as you make it going 100 percent. Being hesitant is something we have to cure early. That’s been our main emphasis in the couple of days we’ve had in pads.
More on effort from team
I just want to see you play hard – that’s it. For us, we want to see a mentality that you’re going to finish every play in a dominant position, and that you’re just working your tail off. Be decisive – that’s the thing. There are more problems with being indecisive, rather than making a decision, going hard at it, and if you’re wrong, we can get that stuff fixed.
On what Dawson is looking for right now from his quarterbacks
Their deal is about execution. We’re not doing a very good job of taking care of the football. We’ve had way too many fumbled snaps, even in the shotgun. We have to be able to take care of the football, that’s simple stuff. Handoffs, and stuff like that, they’re just something that has to mean something to you. We have to take care of the football at the quarterback position.
Assistant Coach (Defensive Coordinator) Keith Patterson
On targeting rule change
To me, the rule hasn't changed other than the consequence for targeting. It is something we have talked to the defense about. We want to be the least penalized team in the country defensively. We have talked about no stupid penalties and to me, sometimes there is going to be helmet-to-helmet contact, but targeting is a whole other issue. It is about leading with your crown and hitting a defenseless player. We do the best we can about educating our players and defining targeting.
On making the team better at forcing turnovers
I think it is an awareness issue, really. It is about being physical. That is how you force turnovers. You need to get people playing with tremendous effort. The more people are around the ball, the more opportunity there is to generate a turnover. It has been interesting, there have been years that generating turnovers has been incredible and the years we are not, all of a sudden our tackles-for-loss and quarterback sacks go up. They are both something that we emphasize daily with our players. We have a turnover coach, and we count them out and talk about them after practice.
On evaluating players now that pads are on
There is a lot of competition at every single position, and we are trying to create that competition. That will make for a better defense. I haven’t seen a lot of difference in as far as what we have done. We are trying to pay a little more attention to the details of the schemes now and getting our guys to go through a thought process before the ball is ever snapped. We are really challenging our players to become students of the game and understand the defense.
On changing the mentality of a player
It is a process and takes time to do that. It is being consistent every single day, and we have a communication progression that we follow. I tell the players that a silent defense is a defeated defense. If you can’t communicate with one another then you are going to leave people on an island by themselves. If you can’t communicate, that tells me that you do not know what we are doing.
Assistant Coach (Defensive Line) Erik Slaughter
On having pads on and evaluating talent
We are still not going live, so really up front, whether it is pads and shorts or full pads, it is not that big of a deal. As far as tackling goes, we still don't know, because we haven’t done it yet. As far as what we want to do upfront, we are a work in progress, just like we were last year. We are farther ahead of what we were, but we have a long way to go. The thing I like about it is the effort and enthusiasm is there. As camp goes on, we will see how that goes, but everybody in the country is doing it. I am happy where we are at right now, but we have a long way to go and that is my job.
On having more of the type of athletes wanted
We all know we took some growing pains, but our guys have grown up, eaten, and they look good. This time last year, four of those guys that were in the rotation just showed up out of high school. To throw them in the Big 12 and play upfront, I though they did okay. We are a long way away from being where we want to be, which is the best defensive line in the Big 12. They are getting bigger and getting older, we just have get them better.
On playing deserving players over playing because of need
If you can help us win, I am going to play you. If you can't, then I won’t. In the Big 12, because of the tempo, you better have more than three or four guys or you will be in a lot of trouble. There were probably some games last year that we only played three or four guys, and we got in trouble. We played well early and were bad late so having more is a lot better, especially in this league.
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