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Coach Dana Holgorsen Media Conference
September 13, 2016 04:02 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Tuesday, September 13, 2016, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
No crowd today. Must not have a big game. So what do you guys want to talk about?
On shuffling the offensive line
We will. We will. I thought we played okay up front. Nothing special, honestly. We’ll continue to move those guys around. (Redshirt freshman offensive lineman) Colton (McKivitz) had a rough day, he played like a redshirt freshman. (Redshirt junior offensive lineman) Marcell (Lazard) didn’t show the progress that I feel like he needs to show. Inside we were just okay. I give Youngstown State some credit. Those ends were pretty good. I mean those guys were really good. Played hard. Don’t be surprised if those two ends get drafted fairly high. But yes to answer your question. (Redshirt senior offensive lineman) (Adam) Pankey is going to continue to play tackle and guard. Move him around a little bit. Move Colton around. Expect them all to get better.
On what he’s learned two weeks in
Nothing. It’s still early. It’s still early. We’re a work in progress. That’s one of the things that I like about this team is they understand that. They know that they don’t have anything figured out. They’re going to continue to work hard. This is a big week for us here. We’ll go out there this afternoon, tomorrow afternoon, Thursday and continue to progress and get a jumpstart on BYU obviously, but they need to keep playing. We’re playing a lot of bodies. We played 55 guys last week. Wish we would have played a little more, honestly, but just continue to play. Continue to get better. I think the one thing that I’ve learned is these guys understand that, and they like to play and like get out there and like to play the game.
On tackling and if they have to do more scrimmaging this week
No. You have to be careful with that. We didn’t forget how to tackle in the week. We were bragging about the tackling effort two weeks ago. I think that has a lot to do with motivation. It has a lot to do with frame of mind. It’s not technique. We didn’t forget how to tackle. We didn’t forget how to block. Sitting here bragging after Missouri that we blocked better than them and we tackled better than them. I could argue that Youngstown State blocked and tackled better than we did. I think that’s a frame of mind more than anything. We had a lot of loafs, too, on both sides of the ball. Why? I don’t know. I don’t think you can get up and play your absolute best every single week, but at the end of the day we did good enough to win.
On the balance between development and BYU this week
It’s probably about half and half. We won’t do a ton of scrimmaging, honestly. We’re going to introduce BYU. They do some challenging things. They’re a good team. They have to play. They’re a new staff, so we only have two games on them right now. Having a third game will be beneficial to us next week. We’ll introduce them and get ahead a little bit, but we’re always going to continue to develop, so a lot of those guys are going to continue to play.
On redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell III’s performance
He has. Yeah he has. He’s been good. I’ve been happy with him. I thought he played his best game since he’s been here on Saturday. Game one we were pretty happy with. We were happy with (junior running back) (Justin) Crawford obviously. This past game we were happy with (freshman running back) (Kennedy) McKoy. He’s the old man of the group. He’s experienced. He’s playing good. I’ve been very happy with him.
On what he’s looking for in a quarterback
Well, just guys that makes plays more than anything. I’m proud of (senior quarterback) Skyler (Howard). He’s doing well. I rarely give the player of the game to the quarterback. Those guys always get pats on the back. If he plays good you guys are going to write about him. If he plays bad you guys are going to write about him. The crowd is obviously either going to cheer him or boo him, one of the two. That’s just part of that position. Last week he battled through a lot. Didn’t practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, got in there a little bit on Friday and practiced, and then came out and played his best game he’s had since he’s been here. That’s just the type of kid that he is and when people tell him he can’t do it, he typically does it. I need to probably remember that and tell him he’s terrible every Saturday morning. I don’t know. I‘ve had all shapes and all sizes. He continues to impress me just based on the fact that everyone tells him he can’t do it, and he gets out there and he does it. I’m happy with his performance right now. The recruiting aspect of it, we can spend the rest of the press conference talking about recruiting. That’s kind of a crap shoot a little bit. You never know what you’re going to get until you get him. The story has been written a lot. He’s passed over by everyone. Continue to use that as a motivational factor.
On his overall impression of BYU
Well they’re all over the place on defense. We’re talking about a bunch of grown men. They’re old. Obviously, from an age stand point they’re older, but they’re depth is good. They play a lot of bodies. I’ve studied way more on defense than I have on offense, but they’re a good team. They play a challenging schedule. They’re not scared to play anyone anywhere. Still getting a feel for it. I think we have a few days to be able to do that. They’ve always won. They have a winning program, and they have guys who believe in what they’re doing.
On BYU going for two with 19 seconds left against Utah last weekend
I knew they were going to do it the minute it happened. The minute is happened I said, they’re going to go for two, and they’re going to try to win it. That’s like what the “Backyard Brawl” is for us. That’s right up the road. They’re like 20 miles apart. They have unbelievable history and all those kids know each other. There wasn’t a doubt that they were going for two.
On redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Grier
We’re going to redshirt (freshman quarterback) Cody (Saunders) too, so he’ll do some scout teams stuff. (Associate head coach defensive coordinator/linebackers) (Tony Gibson) Gibby, he loves Will now. He says I want him with me the whole time, and I was like well you’re not going to get him the whole time. He has to keep progressing with us. We put him in all the meetings and all of the individual stuff, he’s there. We can’t afford to give him practice reps right now, live team reps or any of that, but he’s going to be with us as much as he possibly can. He’s doing a great job.
On how guys handle having to sit out for a year
Is that a question? That’s true. Very true. To me, being a starting quarterback comes natural to guys. Some guys have to work on it a little bit more than others. It really comes natural to (redshirt sophomore quarterback) Will (Grier). He gets in the huddle, and he’s great on the sidelines and really does a good job, so happy he’s here and happy with his progression at this point. Hopefully he can rub off on some on these other guys as well, which I think he is.
On his recruiting schedule this week
I’m going to go to Mississippi on Thursday. Going to try to find another (junior running back) Justin Crawford. We’ll go watch a couple of games, me and (assistant coach offensive coordinator/fullbacks-tight ends) (Joe) Wickline. (Joe Wickline) Wick is a former junior college coach at Mississippi, so he’s going down there with me. We’ll be hitting several of those games and schools.
On NFL and college football not being the same game
It kind of is. They still play with 11 on each side. There is a lot of things that I look at from a scheme standpoint. There is a lot of things that I get from them and there is a lot of things that they get from us. I see a lot of similarities in the game. I went down and spent time with the (New Orleans) Saints in the preseason, I went up and spent time with (Pittsburgh Steelers) coach (Mike) Tomlin up there for a little while and I see a lot of similarities. From the kid’s point-of-view, I can’t speak for them but there is probably some things that they can get from it from a technique aspect. It’s probably a completely different deal when it comes to mentality, you would have to ask them that.
On when the coaches start showing BYU film to the players
That’s a good question. There has been times that I wouldn’t let our coaches show video until Sunday. I have changed my thought process on that. We’ll get started with it today. I think you can overkill an opponent, you have to be careful about that. We’ll introduce it, and do some BYU work today, but it won’t be a full-fledge Tuesday where the whole thing is BYU. I think there is a good mix there, I don’t think there is a lot of harm in introducing it but I think there is a lot of harm in overkilling it, and you have to be careful about that.
On being able to use backup quarterbacks
It is critical. They practiced a whole heck of a lot better than they played. I think everybody would be excited about that, it would be almost impossible to play worse. It was good for them, we put (redshirt sophomore quarterback) Will (William Crest) in towards the end of the game and I thought he did a lot better. He went in there and moved the ball forward and all that. Their attention on the sidelines was a lot better, which is what I was looking at more than anything. I would ask them questions and I would turn and look to make sure they had their helmet on and it was buckled up and they were paying attention. Everybody says ‘you have to be ready because you are only a play away’ but until you actually have to go through that I don’t think you understand that. I think they both learned a lot from it. They got a lot of practice reps last week and I think they got better. I wish he could have played them a little more.
On worst referee mistake he has been involved in as a coach
Can I say last weekend? Nothing like that, man. That’s a tough one. I can’t imagine what those guys are going through right now, that’s a tough one. We have never had an ending like that, I have never won on a hail mary or a bad, bad call, I have never lost one either. Let’s keep it that way. Do you think they should reverse it? What are they there for? The one thing that is aggravating as a coach is the instant replay thing, obviously if it works out for you, you are happy. There has been times where instant replay doesn’t get it right, so what’s the point? You aren’t going to reverse it, I don’t know, I think they probably should.
On if you could make a case that the last play of the Oklahoma State – Central Michigan game never should have happened
You could, in real life you would. It was a heck of a play by Central Michigan though now. I have never seen anything like it. You talk about a hail mary that’s one thing, but a hail mary-lateral, holy-moley, that was pretty good. Give them a lot of credit for that, but it is a tough one.
On if the team spends time practicing last second situations
Yeah, every week. If we need that play we’re going to line up, our guys know where to line up, how to line up, and what to do. I would assume that everybody does. We do defensively too. It seems like, and I don’t know why, but it seems like, they are becoming more successful than they have been in the past. I don’t know if that’s just happenstance or guys are actually working on it. You can’t work on it to the point where it is a skill. I mean there is a certain amount of luck involved in it.
On if Assistant Coach (Offensive Coordinator/Fullbacks-Tight Ends) Joe Wickline is in his element recruiting in Mississippi
Oh yeah, eating catfish, turnip greens, and cornbread. I’ll be eating some of that on Thursday afternoon. My nephew is at Northwest Mississippi (Community College) so I’m going to watch him on Thursday night. He’s (Wickline) going to a different game. I think we are already scheduled, unless it changed, three weeks from now we are going to go back to watch Clint (Trickett) coach. There are good players down there.
On if he has decided where the assistant coaches are going for recruiting yet
Yeah, I can’t tell you where. It’s usually done a month in advance, so unless something changes, it has all been scheduled out.
On if this recruiting class needs to recruit players from junior colleges
No, it’s like it always is. Our take on it is pretty much the same as it has been the last three or four years. If you can get guys that can come in and fill needs then you need to get them. It’s obviously one way to do it. The ones that we got a year ago are paying off pretty good. We have had success with them in the past, and we’ll continue to do that.
On challenges that BYU presents defensively
Defensively they are a lot like we are. They play three down with a bunch of guys everywhere. You would have to ask (Associate Head Coach (Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers) (Tony) Gibby (Gibson) at this point, I haven’t watched it enough to be able to comment on it.
On the punishment for making mistakes
Yeah, put someone else in. Just replace them, we are not going to run sprints or anything, we aren’t going to do grass drills. We are going to go out and practice. They are noted, we watch it, we make everyone see it and if they don’t change it than they are probably going to get replaced. There wasn’t a ton across the board if you look at our depth chart, we will release it a week from now, there won’t be a lot of changes on it. If something is glaring you will see a change.
On if the problem against Youngstown State was due to poor effort or poor technique
More effort, there is always technique stuff, I think it kind of caught up to us in special teams. I was really happy with special teams two weeks ago, pleasantly surprised, and then this past week it was just ok. If you aren’t playing with great effort on coverage teams then they are going to return the ball on you, which happened. It’s blocking and tackling in space on special teams is apparent. We had those problems on offense with blocking, we had those problems with tackling on defense, and on special teams it kind of comes to light. I wasn’t as happy with that aspect of it.
On if he was happy with how the team handled the second half against Youngstown State
Very much so. I don’t want to come off as we lost. I don’t want to come off as that because I was really happy with the way (we played), and nothing that happened, I sat up here and told you all after the game that I wasn’t surprised with what just happened. Youngstown (State) is incredibly well coached (Head Coach) Bo Pelini has proven it for how many years at the highest level. They have a lot of guys that have played at this level. They are well-coached and they are going to win a lot of games. Their motivational factor was a little higher than ours. 14-14 at halftime I said ‘this is not surprising, don’t panic, let’s go in and coach them up, and lets go out and play better in the second half.’ The third quarter was arguably our best quarter that we have had so far so yeah, I was really happy with what they did.
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