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Assistant Coaches and Players Media Session
November 22, 2016 05:39 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University football coaching staff and members of the WVU football team met with the media on Tuesday, November 22, 2016, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Associate Head Coach (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers) Tony Gibson
On the most challenging thing Iowa State does with their formations
The most challenging thing for us is to make sure our eyes are in the right spot and make sure we’re communicating motions and shifts and all the different things that they’re doing. The good thing with our defense is with five (defensive backs) DB’s we don’t have to move a lot of guys out of the box for their shifts and all that.
On where the defense is right now
Well we’re No. 1 in the Big 12 in scoring defense, we’re No. 1 in the Big 12 in total defense and we have nine new starters, so if you would have told me that 10 weeks ago I would have taken it. People want to talk and think, ‘well you know you did this, you did that, you gave up some yards’, look who we’re playing with and, no disrespect our kids because they play hard, they play extremely hard. These guys, it’s all their first times starting and the things that they’ve done, they should be proud of what they’ve done. They still have two games to accomplish our goals, but we have an opportunity to be the best defense in the Big 12 in yardage and in scoring defense, so yeah they’ve accomplished a lot, and I am proud of them.
On what has surprised him the most about this group
Just what I told you, where they’re at. It’s a group that keeps fighting and keeps learning, and they’re playing well. Yeah, we gave up some points the other night against a good team but that’s football. It’s going to happen. We’re not going to shut everybody out, we’re not going to hold people to 20 points every week in this league. I’m proud of where they’re at.
On Sunday’s practice
Yeah, I got on them. It wasn’t easy to sit there and watch the film, but we got mistakes corrected, and I thought the kids were eager to get in and learn and see what happened, so it was good.
Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator/Fullbacks-Tight Ends) Joe Wickline
On offensive performance against Oklahoma
I think it’s a combination of things. I don’t mean to ride the fence here but a lot of it has to do with Oklahoma. They’re not a bad football team. We called key plays, and had key concepts and schemes that we need to deliver. Guys need to make plays. Whether that be a block, a decision, an angle, whatever it is. We need to make plays. You know it’s something that we’ve done a pretty good job of. As you play in the Big 12 and you look at games week in and week out, get ready, it doesn’t work out every time. We’re going to walk down the field and do this or do that the very first drive. It is what it is. You correct the things you make mistakes and you move on. And every play you have from that point on, we want to score. We want to move the chains, score touchdowns on every single play. So that’s our goal, at the same time remembering down and distance and stay in front of the chains and converting on critical downs and third down, time of possession, and balance and running the ball, all of those types of things. It’s all week long.
On what he has noticed about Iowa State that the offense can attack
That’s what’s interesting. We’ve been looking at that since Sunday morning. It feels like it’s been a week now but they’re a good football team. They’re a team that’s getting better. They’re a team that put a new defense in. They’re a team with whole new personalities. They’re a team that you can see getting better every week on what their assignments are, gap responsibilities, their pressures, coverages, and it’s impressive to watch how they’ve done a really nice job. They’re a four-down football team which is obviously remarkably different than what our guys do. They bring various types of pressures. A lot of it is to stop the run, get you behind the chains. A lot of it is to pressure the quarterback. Overall, they’re an even front, put a lot of corners on the man free and they’ve gotten better. You can tell, you can watch it on film week by week that they’re getting better and better and better.
On Iowa State holding Texas Tech to 10 points
What you do is you take the body of work and you break it down formationally, down and distance, zone the field. You look at spacing, you look at fronts, configurations, and then you adjust on what you do and how it ties together. Ultimately, I never have studied all the reasons the entire game, from one play to the last, and just look at formations, down and distances, and then put our game plan together. We take one week at a time and what’s important is this week.
Senior Quarterback Skyler Howard
On the offense bouncing back after the last week’s game
Yeah, we’re not going to change anything we do. Moving on to the next week, get better, be better every day. I wouldn’t change a thing.
On the seniors being more vocal later in the season
I don’t think it’s changed. The senior leadership has been there since the off-season. As seniors, we only have two more regular season games and one more game to be determined. You know, whenever, wherever but I feel like it’s always been there and if anything, yeah, it may pick up a little bit because we’re realizing how much time we have and how valuable it is to us as seniors and as the whole team because we can still do something special this season, so nobody is down and out. Of course we’re frustrated but just prepared to win the next one, that’s all you can do.
On his first career start at Iowa State in 2014
Not a blur. That game was a lot of fun to me, coming back late in the game. I think they’ve made some renovations to their stadium since then. I remember it was cold but it wasn’t too cold. Snow on the ground, but it was kind of warm. It’s going to be a good atmosphere and they play everybody tough. They’ve improved a lot over the past two years since I have been here. They’ve got some returning guys, and they move around. They all play, they swarm to the ball like no other team and they played everybody tight.
On what he sees after watching Iowa State’s film
Yeah, they’ve definitely been playing above that. They’ve been leading in games going into the third quarter more of the time than not. They’re 3-8 if you look at them but they’ve played everybody we’ve played tough.
On if junior running back Justin Crawford can be a primary running back
Yeah no doubt. I’ve always had that confidence in him, and I think he’s always had that confidence in himself. He’s been doing it, when he gets in there he has been making plays, moving the chains. We just have to get in the end zone more. When he breaks out and gets an open space, I like to see him go score and I know he wants that also. I’m sure he’s going to continue to get better just as everyone does who has his work ethic and characteristics. He wants to get better, he wants to be great, so he’s just going to keep on getting faster and become a great back.
Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver Shelton Gibson
On Iowa States’ secondary
They play with a lot of aggression, a lot of effort. They fly to the ball and they are really physical.
On Iowa States’ secondary playing one-on-one
If they line up one-on-one than it is up to the outside receivers and the inside receivers to get the ball and do what they do.
On if he likes practicing on Thanksgiving week
Yeah, because we can focus on football for the whole week, and not have to worry about school or exams or anything like that. We can just focus on our competition this weekend.
On if there is a lot to play for
Definitely, we just changed it. We are not playing for the Big 12 anymore so we just have to find out what is next and what we are playing for now.
Redshirt Senior Safety Jarrod Harper
On how hard Iowa State has been playing
We don’t pay too much attention to their record. When you watch film you can see that they have some athletes. They have two good running backs, they switch it up with their quarterbacks. They have a quarterback who will come in and run the wildcat-type stuff and they have another quarterback who is just a good athlete, he’s not afraid to run the ball but will also throw the ball too.
On what the focus is right now
Definitely a lot to play for still. We still have our goals set ahead. We can still be one of the best teams to come through West Virginia as far as finishing the season winning out and being 11-2. There aren’t too many West Virginia teams that have finished 11-2. Our plan is, our goal is, we want to win out and just send our seniors out with a bang.
On being in Morgantown for Thanksgiving week with the team
These guys are my family, so that’s my family away from my family. Everyone wishes they were around their family, parents and stuff, but Thanksgiving it’s all about football. Even growing up there were always games on, always watching games, and now we get to live that experience that we had when we were little kids. Its 100 percent focus on football this week and no classes or anything, no distractions, so we’re focused on this week and this game.
Redshirt Junior Linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton
On Iowa State’s two quarterback scheme
So far from what I’ve watched it’s hard to get a beat on downs and situations when they try to use them. Like he said, this is kind of random but just looking at it and trying to figure out what plays they like to run when each one is in. I think it’s less important to try to figure out when exactly they’ll bring them in as much as what they like to try to run, what the scheme and game plan will be for whichever quarterback is in, so that will be the biggest thing.
On how Iowa State can make it difficult on the defense
I wouldn’t necessarily say making it difficult. You know like (Associate Head Coach (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers)) coach (Tony Gibson) Gibby says all of the time no matter what scheme we run or defense he calls, there’s always a guy covering the dive, and there’s always a guy covering the quarterback. The hardest part will be making sure that everybody understands their job and doesn’t try to do too much and tries to do someone else’s job and get out of position. That’s how you get beat on those quarterback runs and things like that, so just make sure everyone stays home and everyone does their job.
On making statements on first down
It’s every game. It’s every game, every series. You want to control first down like you said, take away those second down and third down options that they have when it’s second and short or third and short. Try to force their hand and put them in positions and we’ll know the kind of plays they like to run on certain downs, on second and long, third and long, things like that, so that’s always a key no matter who you’re playing, no matter what game we’re playing. You want to manage first down then allow the play calling to ease up and you can actually get more of the things you want to call as the series goes on.
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