OPENING STATEMENT:
“There were a lot of things that needed to be cleaned up after our last game. Ball security was one. Communication from sideline to press box to player is always a concern heading into the first game. Blocking leverage points on both sides of the football needed to improve. Our kickoff coverage was not very good. It was poor to say the best. There were some critical situations toward the end in the fourth quarter such as, fair catching a punt and not allowing it to hit the ground. Before going into halftime, obviously you have to call a timeout or go down to kick a field goal. These were some things that we talked about. I think the team is well aware of those situations. We need to clean that up going forward. It is a process. A lot of young players are going to play again this week as we anticipate for the rest of the year. That is just the way it is. So, it is good to get a win. It is always fun to win. Now, we have another opponent. I was sitting at home watching the USC game and then I look over and they (Sacramento State) scored 77 points. I said oh boy because 77 points is a lot of points. They do a nice job offensively. Coach (Troy Taylor) was at Utah. He does a nice job. The defensive coordinator (Andy Thompson) does a good job as well. So, a very well coached football team for their first time out scoring that many points and playing pretty good defense as well.”
ON JAYDEN DANIELS’ FIRST GAME AND SPECIAL TEAMS’ MISTAKES:
“A lot of it was youth. The coverage team was one. The punt return situation toward the end, we needed to field the punt rather than let it hit the ground. They got the ball in deep territory, we ended getting out of there. The punter saved us a couple of times with his leg changing the field position. It is just mechanics of the first game, of all those things coming into play, now it is real. The clock is running, the players are all over the sideline, and coaches are trying to communicate. That is what you do not get without playing a game. It was good we got that one under our belt and fortunately we were able to win. Out center (DohnovanWest) played pretty well for a freshman. He did a nice job. The quarterback did okay. There probably were a couple of throws he wishes he could take back and maybe look down the field a little more. But, the thing I like about Jayden is that he is willing to take a profit. He is going to get the ball out of his hand and keep the chains moving. It is hard to teach quarterbacks that. That is a little bit of his DNA. If it is not there, he will take what they give him. He is patient that way. He made a really nice throw to Frank (Darby) down the boundary there. The play to (Brandon) Aiyuk kind of reminded me of N’Keal (Harry). It was the same similar kind of play. He caught it on one side, went up the middle, split and ran. We made a couple of big plays. There are some more plays that we need to make down the field. We feel like we have some receivers with some speed. We need to get them down the field a little bit though to push the defense back some. They were trying to crowd the line of scrimmage because they want to stop the run, which we said they were going to try to do. They did a good job in the first half. In the second half, we made some adjustments and we got to run the ball a little bit better.”
ON BLOCKING AND PROTECTIONS:
“We are still trying to improve. When you get that many moving pieces, you lose your center (Cohl Cabral) two days before the game, and then the freshman center (Dohnovan West) has to play. We were trying to get the guard situation established and we have to get someone that was playing center and move them to guard, all of that is part of it. It will be interesting this week because these guys (Sacramento State) play a little bit of that Bear front so that will be interesting to see how we handle that. The more we see things and the more we can play together, we know a center is a center. Unless he gets hurt, he is our center. He is going to be the guy playing. I think all of the positions are set for the most part. Now, we need to continue to build on that.”
ON PLAYING JAYDEN DANIELS LATE INTO FOURTH QUARTER:
“It was a 10-0 score at half. In the third quarter, we did a nice job and got 17 points but, as the game played out it was just one of those games where I just felt like we had to get him some more reps. He needed to play with the line and play with the players. He has a bunch of different young receivers now. There are so many young guys. That is the problem - I would like to say that I will play these other guys. The problem is that I need to get the quarterback familiar with some of these young receivers. We had a freshman tight end (Grant Miles) and two other freshman receivers (Jordan Kerley and Ricky Pearsall). All of a sudden we have all of these moving parts. How do you get that done? Well, you have to play in a game to get that done. It is one thing to practice it, but you need to play in a game. If we had a veteran group, it would be a different deal, but we do not. That is the downside of it all. We would like to get some guys in if we create a lead in certain games, but that unit has to play together. That offensive line and that quarterback have to play together. Those receivers that are rotating in and out of there have to learn how to play together. It is a work-in-progress.”
ON POST-GAME AWARD:
“It is not a defensive award, it can go to any player. I think the offense thought it was a defensive award. Frank (Darby) came up to me and asked me how we can get one of those things. I told him there were three guys in the running. It was the punter, the quarterback, and it was Khaylan (Kearse-Thomas). He ended up winning the award. I said every time we win, you wear it to practice. Eventually, I want to get a black helmet. That is what we do. A lot of teams do different things. We prefer to do that. It is kind of a fun award. Our players were kind of excited about it when I presented it to them. I did not realize it, but the offense thought that this award was a defensive award since a defensive player won the award. It is not. Whoever the MVP is for that game, will get the award. It is a fun award and they are excited about getting it. I told them you have to win to get it. So, if we keep winning, then they can get it. The guy that is the MVP of the game wears it the whole week. It is a week award when we win.”
ON IF THIS AWARD WAS GIVEN OUT TO NFL TEAMS:
“No. You pay them lots of money when you win. We do not do that in college football. We give them awards.”
ON WHAT DOHNOVAN WEST DID WELL AND IF COHL CABRAL WOULD BE MOVED BACK TO CENTER:
“No thoughts at all about moving him. There was a conversation, but we just said the guy of the future is him. So let’s let him play and he did a really good job. As far as protection goes, far as moving people, he’s very competitive. Think about this, you have a freshman quarterback and a freshman center and there was not any bad handoffs. There were no bad snaps, but that’s the first thing you worry about. He was very comfortable and that’s what we saw. We saw that in practice and I got to the point where I just said, ‘start him.’ Just don’t mess around, just start the kid and let him play, and he did a really good job.”
ON MICHAEL TURK AND CRISTIAN ZENDEJAS’ PERFORMANCE:
“Zendejas does not know until we go to warmups, basically. I am in the locker-room with coach (Shawn) Slocum, I said ‘Here is the deal, go take him out and figure out if the kicker can kick.’ Coach said ‘Do not let him kick,’ Zendejas is up. Kid comes in and I tell him he’s kicking. I look at the other kid, (Josh) Plaster, tell him you are kicking off. That’s how it went. He went out there and kicked the ball and did a great job. The punter (Turk), you saw it in practice and I was just wanting to see if he was going to do it in a game. Low and behold, he did it in a game. He hit that ball, it was fun to watch. That changes the field, there is no doubt. When you get into a defensive game, which it kind of was in the first-half, it was only 10 to nothing. You need to trade field position when you are stuck and we were stuck a couple of times. He got it back inside their 20, I believe he had three touchbacks. That changes field position, that is invaluable in a football game, especially tight games.”
ON WHY FRESHMEN IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ARE PLAYING MORE TODAY THAN EVER:
“Most young guys now are used to the pressure of playing in big moments because high school games are now all on television. Some of these guys come out of really good programs, quarterbacks especially. They throw the ball so much now that it is just human nature. A lot of the offenses kind of fit with what they have done in high school. Now the speed of the game changes on them, but the athletic ability they have. More of the coaches now are going, if he is the best player, then you need to play the guy. You live with the inexperience of it and if you are trying to establish who your quarterback is, then you have a young guy and you have to live with some mistakes. Going forward, if that is your future, the quicker you can play that guy. You see that in the NFL, back in the day you did not think of starting a rookie quarterback, they sat on the bench for two or three years. Now they come in, and offenses are really tailored to a lot of these guys strengths. You have to live with that, but you put them in a comfortable situation, where you are not asking them to do a lot and they flourish. As you continue to play, they grow. Can you imagine where they will be in their second year? After going through 12 games, whatever it may be as a college player. Their second year, they are a whole entire different guy. You just play them and live with the consequences of when they make some mistakes.”
ON THINKING OF PUTTING ENO BENJAMIN BACK IN GAME:
“He wanted a hundred yards and I was going to get him a hundred yards. When I told him he only has one carry and if he did not do it now, then I don’t know what to tell you. You better figure it out and the lineman knew it too. It is one of those things where if it was a situation where it was a pass, I am not doing that. Because I am not trying to get guys stats on passes, I just do not believe in that. That was the big argument with Tony Gonzalez and myself, we had in Kansas City. We were up and it was towards the end of the game. I could of threw him a couple of hitches or something to break the record, and I did not. He was mad, he was furious at me and I talked to him the next day. I talked to him the next day and explained my situation and he explained his. I said Tony, ‘You are going to be a Hall of Famer, this day will pass.’ I am old school, I was taught by a lot of great coaches. A great head coach in Dick Vermeil, when the game is where it is at in certain situations, there are certain things you just do not do. I regard the game of football too highly to do that stuff, I am not a stat guy, I am a winning guy. I just want to win and whatever it takes to win, we are going to do it and I do not believe giving guys false stats at the end of games when the game is over. Eno one-hundred yards, you give him the ball, he has to run the ball. It is not like I am throwing a pass, you actually have to run the ball and everybody knows we are going to run the ball. He has to earn it. That is a little-bit different for me, when it comes to that.”
ON IMPORTANCE OF DEPTH IN SECONDARY:
“To continue to have a rotation. We need a rotation. We play five guys. You are going to play ten-to-twelve guys back there. They have to play on special teams too, but we like to get a rotation going with the corners and safeties. In today’s world because of these speed-up offenses and everyone wants to go fast; the more athletes you have back there, you do not go from one level of athleticism to drop. Some of them do not have experience but as they grow. I keep saying this, we are trying to build a team, you have to let them play. A year from now, we are going to be a lot better, a lot better because these guys are playing. It is no different than Aashari (Crosswell) and those guys that played last year. Now we have another five or six guys that are playing as freshmen and they are going to play together. Now, you are starting to build something that is fun to watch. They can run the defense. Eventually these players will run the defense, they will flat run it because they will know it and they all played together. They can start giving hand signals of what they want to do and I can check this now because I am comfortable. That is going to be fun to watch.”
“There were a lot of things that needed to be cleaned up after our last game. Ball security was one. Communication from sideline to press box to player is always a concern heading into the first game. Blocking leverage points on both sides of the football needed to improve. Our kickoff coverage was not very good. It was poor to say the best. There were some critical situations toward the end in the fourth quarter such as, fair catching a punt and not allowing it to hit the ground. Before going into halftime, obviously you have to call a timeout or go down to kick a field goal. These were some things that we talked about. I think the team is well aware of those situations. We need to clean that up going forward. It is a process. A lot of young players are going to play again this week as we anticipate for the rest of the year. That is just the way it is. So, it is good to get a win. It is always fun to win. Now, we have another opponent. I was sitting at home watching the USC game and then I look over and they (Sacramento State) scored 77 points. I said oh boy because 77 points is a lot of points. They do a nice job offensively. Coach (Troy Taylor) was at Utah. He does a nice job. The defensive coordinator (Andy Thompson) does a good job as well. So, a very well coached football team for their first time out scoring that many points and playing pretty good defense as well.”
ON JAYDEN DANIELS’ FIRST GAME AND SPECIAL TEAMS’ MISTAKES:
“A lot of it was youth. The coverage team was one. The punt return situation toward the end, we needed to field the punt rather than let it hit the ground. They got the ball in deep territory, we ended getting out of there. The punter saved us a couple of times with his leg changing the field position. It is just mechanics of the first game, of all those things coming into play, now it is real. The clock is running, the players are all over the sideline, and coaches are trying to communicate. That is what you do not get without playing a game. It was good we got that one under our belt and fortunately we were able to win. Out center (DohnovanWest) played pretty well for a freshman. He did a nice job. The quarterback did okay. There probably were a couple of throws he wishes he could take back and maybe look down the field a little more. But, the thing I like about Jayden is that he is willing to take a profit. He is going to get the ball out of his hand and keep the chains moving. It is hard to teach quarterbacks that. That is a little bit of his DNA. If it is not there, he will take what they give him. He is patient that way. He made a really nice throw to Frank (Darby) down the boundary there. The play to (Brandon) Aiyuk kind of reminded me of N’Keal (Harry). It was the same similar kind of play. He caught it on one side, went up the middle, split and ran. We made a couple of big plays. There are some more plays that we need to make down the field. We feel like we have some receivers with some speed. We need to get them down the field a little bit though to push the defense back some. They were trying to crowd the line of scrimmage because they want to stop the run, which we said they were going to try to do. They did a good job in the first half. In the second half, we made some adjustments and we got to run the ball a little bit better.”
ON BLOCKING AND PROTECTIONS:
“We are still trying to improve. When you get that many moving pieces, you lose your center (Cohl Cabral) two days before the game, and then the freshman center (Dohnovan West) has to play. We were trying to get the guard situation established and we have to get someone that was playing center and move them to guard, all of that is part of it. It will be interesting this week because these guys (Sacramento State) play a little bit of that Bear front so that will be interesting to see how we handle that. The more we see things and the more we can play together, we know a center is a center. Unless he gets hurt, he is our center. He is going to be the guy playing. I think all of the positions are set for the most part. Now, we need to continue to build on that.”
ON PLAYING JAYDEN DANIELS LATE INTO FOURTH QUARTER:
“It was a 10-0 score at half. In the third quarter, we did a nice job and got 17 points but, as the game played out it was just one of those games where I just felt like we had to get him some more reps. He needed to play with the line and play with the players. He has a bunch of different young receivers now. There are so many young guys. That is the problem - I would like to say that I will play these other guys. The problem is that I need to get the quarterback familiar with some of these young receivers. We had a freshman tight end (Grant Miles) and two other freshman receivers (Jordan Kerley and Ricky Pearsall). All of a sudden we have all of these moving parts. How do you get that done? Well, you have to play in a game to get that done. It is one thing to practice it, but you need to play in a game. If we had a veteran group, it would be a different deal, but we do not. That is the downside of it all. We would like to get some guys in if we create a lead in certain games, but that unit has to play together. That offensive line and that quarterback have to play together. Those receivers that are rotating in and out of there have to learn how to play together. It is a work-in-progress.”
ON POST-GAME AWARD:
“It is not a defensive award, it can go to any player. I think the offense thought it was a defensive award. Frank (Darby) came up to me and asked me how we can get one of those things. I told him there were three guys in the running. It was the punter, the quarterback, and it was Khaylan (Kearse-Thomas). He ended up winning the award. I said every time we win, you wear it to practice. Eventually, I want to get a black helmet. That is what we do. A lot of teams do different things. We prefer to do that. It is kind of a fun award. Our players were kind of excited about it when I presented it to them. I did not realize it, but the offense thought that this award was a defensive award since a defensive player won the award. It is not. Whoever the MVP is for that game, will get the award. It is a fun award and they are excited about getting it. I told them you have to win to get it. So, if we keep winning, then they can get it. The guy that is the MVP of the game wears it the whole week. It is a week award when we win.”
ON IF THIS AWARD WAS GIVEN OUT TO NFL TEAMS:
“No. You pay them lots of money when you win. We do not do that in college football. We give them awards.”
ON WHAT DOHNOVAN WEST DID WELL AND IF COHL CABRAL WOULD BE MOVED BACK TO CENTER:
“No thoughts at all about moving him. There was a conversation, but we just said the guy of the future is him. So let’s let him play and he did a really good job. As far as protection goes, far as moving people, he’s very competitive. Think about this, you have a freshman quarterback and a freshman center and there was not any bad handoffs. There were no bad snaps, but that’s the first thing you worry about. He was very comfortable and that’s what we saw. We saw that in practice and I got to the point where I just said, ‘start him.’ Just don’t mess around, just start the kid and let him play, and he did a really good job.”
ON MICHAEL TURK AND CRISTIAN ZENDEJAS’ PERFORMANCE:
“Zendejas does not know until we go to warmups, basically. I am in the locker-room with coach (Shawn) Slocum, I said ‘Here is the deal, go take him out and figure out if the kicker can kick.’ Coach said ‘Do not let him kick,’ Zendejas is up. Kid comes in and I tell him he’s kicking. I look at the other kid, (Josh) Plaster, tell him you are kicking off. That’s how it went. He went out there and kicked the ball and did a great job. The punter (Turk), you saw it in practice and I was just wanting to see if he was going to do it in a game. Low and behold, he did it in a game. He hit that ball, it was fun to watch. That changes the field, there is no doubt. When you get into a defensive game, which it kind of was in the first-half, it was only 10 to nothing. You need to trade field position when you are stuck and we were stuck a couple of times. He got it back inside their 20, I believe he had three touchbacks. That changes field position, that is invaluable in a football game, especially tight games.”
ON WHY FRESHMEN IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ARE PLAYING MORE TODAY THAN EVER:
“Most young guys now are used to the pressure of playing in big moments because high school games are now all on television. Some of these guys come out of really good programs, quarterbacks especially. They throw the ball so much now that it is just human nature. A lot of the offenses kind of fit with what they have done in high school. Now the speed of the game changes on them, but the athletic ability they have. More of the coaches now are going, if he is the best player, then you need to play the guy. You live with the inexperience of it and if you are trying to establish who your quarterback is, then you have a young guy and you have to live with some mistakes. Going forward, if that is your future, the quicker you can play that guy. You see that in the NFL, back in the day you did not think of starting a rookie quarterback, they sat on the bench for two or three years. Now they come in, and offenses are really tailored to a lot of these guys strengths. You have to live with that, but you put them in a comfortable situation, where you are not asking them to do a lot and they flourish. As you continue to play, they grow. Can you imagine where they will be in their second year? After going through 12 games, whatever it may be as a college player. Their second year, they are a whole entire different guy. You just play them and live with the consequences of when they make some mistakes.”
ON THINKING OF PUTTING ENO BENJAMIN BACK IN GAME:
“He wanted a hundred yards and I was going to get him a hundred yards. When I told him he only has one carry and if he did not do it now, then I don’t know what to tell you. You better figure it out and the lineman knew it too. It is one of those things where if it was a situation where it was a pass, I am not doing that. Because I am not trying to get guys stats on passes, I just do not believe in that. That was the big argument with Tony Gonzalez and myself, we had in Kansas City. We were up and it was towards the end of the game. I could of threw him a couple of hitches or something to break the record, and I did not. He was mad, he was furious at me and I talked to him the next day. I talked to him the next day and explained my situation and he explained his. I said Tony, ‘You are going to be a Hall of Famer, this day will pass.’ I am old school, I was taught by a lot of great coaches. A great head coach in Dick Vermeil, when the game is where it is at in certain situations, there are certain things you just do not do. I regard the game of football too highly to do that stuff, I am not a stat guy, I am a winning guy. I just want to win and whatever it takes to win, we are going to do it and I do not believe giving guys false stats at the end of games when the game is over. Eno one-hundred yards, you give him the ball, he has to run the ball. It is not like I am throwing a pass, you actually have to run the ball and everybody knows we are going to run the ball. He has to earn it. That is a little-bit different for me, when it comes to that.”
ON IMPORTANCE OF DEPTH IN SECONDARY:
“To continue to have a rotation. We need a rotation. We play five guys. You are going to play ten-to-twelve guys back there. They have to play on special teams too, but we like to get a rotation going with the corners and safeties. In today’s world because of these speed-up offenses and everyone wants to go fast; the more athletes you have back there, you do not go from one level of athleticism to drop. Some of them do not have experience but as they grow. I keep saying this, we are trying to build a team, you have to let them play. A year from now, we are going to be a lot better, a lot better because these guys are playing. It is no different than Aashari (Crosswell) and those guys that played last year. Now we have another five or six guys that are playing as freshmen and they are going to play together. Now, you are starting to build something that is fun to watch. They can run the defense. Eventually these players will run the defense, they will flat run it because they will know it and they all played together. They can start giving hand signals of what they want to do and I can check this now because I am comfortable. That is going to be fun to watch.”