Opening statement...
"I challenged our guys to be honest with yourself last week, assess your performance and then come out this week and get better. I thought our guys had an unbelievable week of practice. I thought our Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday may have been the best in seven or eight years. I was very impressed with the way they handled the practice, regardless of who it was. We needed to practice better than the previous week and we did that. I was proud of the energy and enthusiasm that sparked us. I was really excited about aht. Mews continues to do that and he provides energy. I think it's kind of like basketball where you play really good defense and it helps your offense. You play really good special teams and it helps your offense. So we're able to do that today. A lot of guys contributed. Our goal is to have a lot of guys be able to contribute and I was proud of that. A lot of good. A lot of things we can continue to work on and we definitely need to be better."
On the slow starts on offense...
"I don't know about today. We took the ball and drove down the field. We had one play, a third down, where we didn't execute. And that hurt us. Carson fumbled and it's concerning because you can't have that. The ball got away from him, we harped on that last week. When he made the guy miss and he scored, the ball came and was not secured. We talked all week about how if you're going to take off and run, you have to protect the ball. It comes out and we miss the field goal. Outside of that we had a three-and-out and a drive stop after that.
They were doing a very good job of clock control. They had a plan of shrinking the game and did that. I would've done the same thing if I was them. Stayed in the huddle until the last 10 seconds. I think in the first quarter we had two possessions. That's rare when you get the ball first. So really after the first drive we did good things. We had only one other possession."
On Javon Bullard's injury and how Dan and David played in his place...
"They both did some good things. They practice every day with the 2s and 1s and roll in there. He has an ankle sprain and the severity of it I do not know. I do know he could not return."
On Mekhi Mews...
"Well Ladd has been hurt. He's provided a spark. We trusted him last year, he was Ladd's back-up, he got a couple of returns. I think he returned a couple against Georgia Tech. He does it every day in practice. He's done it for 3 years and done a great job as a scout team guy. And when you go against the guys he's gone against in our place, you're going to get better. To be honest, I love Mews. He's done a great job. But there are 10 other guys out there that are elite at holding people up. THere's Malaki Starks making blocks, Marcus Rosemy out there making blocks. Those are really good football players out there that are holding people up for their teammate."
On the clock change rules...
"I don't know about statistically, but right now across the country it's taken more than that. It's taken away more plays than that. No one really knows way. Teams aren't going as fast intentionally, there's been a lot of large margin of victories. You could attribute that to that. But at the end of the game there they were trying to take all the clock and not get a play in. I think when you get into conference play you're going to find out exactly how much it's taking away."
On Dillon Bell and if he was signed with the idea that he could play RB...
"No, we didn't sign him thinking that. We came to camp and worked him out as a wide receiver. We liked him at wide receiver. He did some really good things. He played all wide receiver last year. There was never a thought of that. That's only come up because of the situation at running back. He's provided us some explosiveness and he showed that today."
On the team’s three interceptions today…
“Lucky is what I call it. There’s no, we didn’t create those. I think Malaki’s was a great example of, he had a play very similar to that the week before. He didn’t make the play. We talked about, hey Malaki, those are the plays you’ve got to make if you’re going to get interceptions and turnovers. He made an elite timing of the ball and jump, caught the ball at its highest point, really great play. He forced that one. The others were luck. You’re not always going to be able to rely on luck. It’s kind of like, the one they got was a little bit of luck, caught the tipped ball there with Carson in the second half. You can’t count on those things, but I can say this. We didn’t catch the tipped balls last week and we caught the tipped balls this week. We took advantage of the opportunity they gave us.”
On assessing Carson Beck’s first two games…
“I’m extremely pleased with what Carson’s done. He’s making good decisions with the ball. There were a couple plays today that I thought that didn’t occur in the last game where he got flushed or he got in trouble and he got rid of the ball. You can’t make it dangerous when he does that. He’s got to live for the next play and move on. He’s getting the ball out of his hands quick, he sees the field. He can tell you what coverage it was, he keeps his eyes down the field. Had a max blitz today and cut a guy free, he stands in there and throws a touchdown to Marcus Rosemy. Not a lot of quarterbacks can do that. He does a good job playing that position.”
On the injury to Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins…
“He’s dealing with a, he’s really been dealing with a foot injury the entire fall camp. We shut him down, I think it was two weeks before camp and probably three weeks into camp, I don’t know how long it was, four or five that he didn’t get to do a lot. He came back, he was functioning good and felt good. He felt it a little bit in last week’s game. We’ve been advised to shut him down right now. He’ll be week to week. We hope to get him back.”
On evaluating the run game…
“Well, define the run game for me…For me, it’s an extension of the run. There’s these things they call RPOs and bubbles. In football now, those are runs because they’re run down calls. We’re running the ball, but we elect to throw it on the perimeter and we get five, six yards. So to us, that’s a run play. To you, that’s a pass play because that’s what the stats say. That’s not the case. If you say I define the run game as between the tackles and only between the tackles, I’m never pleased with that. I’m never happy with that. I’m only upset when the extension of the running game is poor and the running game that you’re defining as the running game is poor. But I’m happy with the extension of the running game. That sets up things like the play to Oscar Delp. That’s an extension of the running game because that comes off a running play. You’ve got to be good at something. Right now, we’re better at that than we are the interior run game.”
On Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint’s presence for the offense…
“His confidence and just leadership is incredible. He pushes people. He’s a fearless leader. He practices every day. He goes out on special teams, starts on two units as a starting receiver. I don’t know that you can find a receiver in the SEC that starts on two units and starts at receiver. He’s passionate about that. He gives us a confidence and an aura about us that I think is very good.”
On the explanation for Jarvis Jones’ absence…
“Yeah, he’s dealing with a suspension. He’ll be back with us this week.”
On how close Daijun Edwards was to dressing out/playing…
“Daijun? I thought he did dress out… Close to playing? If we needed him, he was going to play."
On how the perimeter blocking was...
"Up and down. We had a couple of plays we had a chance to be really explosive and didn't get it, and then there were a couple of mistakes that we made on the perimeter last week that we fixed. Rara had a great block on the perimeter, he missed that same block last week. We worked hard on it, Mews broke a tackle, it was only a 5-6 yard play but it was perimeter blocking that was good. We had several others that were not so good. If we're going to be good in the extension of the run game then we have to be good at perimeter blocking."
On what can be improved on after giving up just 3 points and forcing three turnovers...
"There's a lot. We're not getting balls out. We're not getting challenged outside on the perimeter. We had several times where we were soft on the run. If they run for 4 or 5 yards with their size offensive linemen and our size defensive linemen, they've won. They had several of those. We're still not playing the run defensively to the standard and my expectation of what an SEC upper caliber defense should do. We're just not doing that. I think you get caught up in stats and outcomes. I'm all about, 'Did we do it right all the time?' And if we didn't do it right all the time, why didn't we?"
On Tykee Smith...
"I'm proud of him. He's a leader. He was a captain today. He challenges people to practice the right way, and he does it himself. I like the way he carries himself."
On Xavian Sorey...
"Sorey, he's been a flash player, man. He shows great ability and then he'll have a mental situation where he might miss something. If we can take those out, he can play at a high level. We need him to be a third - we need to find a rotating backer with Smael and Pop for when we're playing four quarters. Right now we've got some battles going on. Raylen's coming back from his injury. He's not quite 100 percent. CJ Allen's growing up, and Sorey is in that mix. He's got to play with what I call starter consistency to be able to get into that rotation."
On why he thought practice was particularly good this week...
"We've got some great kids, unbelievable leaders. Everybody wants to talk about talent and stars and stuff like that. It's hard to measure. I don't know how talented we are, but I know this - we have kids that care and were bothered by the fact that we didn't have our best practices last week. They had a really physical Tuesday practice, great energy on Wednesday and good focus on Thursday. We got better. We got to go against ourselves, and that's a pretty good opponent when you get to do that."
On Ladd McConkey...
"Yeah, it's still bothering him. Fighting to get him back, and I know he's as frustrated as anybody because he certainly wants to get back."
On Austin Blaske...
"Happened in practice, he was not available. It was an MCL, hopeful to get him back. It might be next week or the following week that we get him back."
On Tykee Smith saying Glenn Schumann told the defense what might be coming before his INT and how often that happens...
"If you're a good one, a lot, you know? If you can predict it, call it, understand it and know what the team's doing, I think that's part of the gamesmanship of being a coach. You're trying to anticipate what the other people are doing. You've got to be right 20-30% of the time, and then when you're 70% is off, you've still got to be able to function. You can't have big misses. And Glenn does a great job. He prepares really hard, he watches tape, he can tell you every tendency they have. Good teams, you know, they don't give tendencies. You've got to play off of what they do.
But that coaching staff did a great job. Mark Stoops said it last week after the game: they do a tremendous job offensively with controlling the clock, short passing game, methodical. They'll drive the ball down the field on you. If they don't turn it over, they're going to have a great year. They gave us two turnovers, really. We kind of earned one."
On the biggest difference in leadership style between Carson Beck and Stetson Bennett...
"I don't know. Neither one of them were very vocal. They don't go command — they don't get all upset and rant and rave in a room or get up and give ra-ra speeches. They're who they are. They're very comfortable in their own skin. Carson's leadership kind of comes through his calmness. I mean, everybody feels like this guy knows what he's doing, this guy's smart, this guy knows protections, this guy knows where to go with the ball. When we call a play, he can recite it whether it's three words or 20 words. He's very bright and a good leader."
On Jarvis Jones' arrest and if putting in policies and structures in place would prevent situations like his...
"Do I believe if I put policies and structures in place that it won't be an issue? I don't know that a policy or structure will ever prevent what is happening all across America, you know what I mean? But certainly that's our goal."
On the special teams providing a spark after a slow start offensively...
"Well, it's team football, you know? We always say complimentary football, but we want to be really good at special teams,? I mean, everybody does, right? So we're not doing something different that they're not doing. We put our best players on it. We go out there and coach the hell out of special teams, and we try to be elite in special teams, you know?
Our only goal right now is to be elite at getting better. Like, that's the competition. You guys are trying to observe and give input on what you see. What I'm trying to do is get elite and getting better. So where do you do that? Practice, you know? So, like, we're trying to get way better at special teams, we're trying to get way better at defense, and we're trying to get way better at offense. Sometimes you get the chance to see that out there — sometimes you don't 'cause the window is small compared to practice."
On Daylen Everette's play through two games...
"He's getting a little more confidence. I thought he played the fade ball there on third down that they tried to throw, he played it better than he did the week before. He and Julian are both doing a good job. They're competing. AJ Harris is coming on and playing good. Nyland made a good play today, so we're going to continue to grow those guys and we're going to need them all before it's over."
On figuring out your offensive identity before the season versus it naturally developing...
"Well, I think it's neither. I think it's what you have. So what you have in the offseason might not be what you have in the season, which is what we're learning right now 'cause, you know, in the spring we had Daijun and we had Kendall healthy. Right now we haven't had that, you know? So I think you're always identity offense comes off what you have — like, who are my players? The tight ends, the tight ends we've got or the receivers we got. Who are the guys that you can get to touch the ball? What we've been really good at is spreading the ball around. I think we did that again today. You know, we're not sitting here throwing it to one guy all the time — we're throwing the ball to a lot of guys. And we've got ways to get touches to guys, and a lot of what we do offensively is dictated by where the defense. If it's this look, we're doing this. If it's this look, we're doing that. And you take what they give you. I don't know if that answers your question."
On what Christen Miller's injury was...
"I don't know. I didn't ever find that out. I went over there to check on him and actually never heard. So I don't know. I thought it was his knee, but I don't know if he was cramping or his knee. I don't know."
On the confidence Roderick Robinson gives you...
"I thought he made some people miss today. That's the trait, the No. 1 trait of a running back, secure the ball and make people miss. Can you secure the ball, and can you make people miss? He made some guys miss. He made a cut on the touchdown run. I'd like to see him run behind his pads a little better for a big man, but he did some nice things."
On the Georgia-South Carolina rivalry and it ending next season...
"I'm looking forward to the rivalry. I think it's a great game. It's one of the big ones for us every year because it's a state that's so close to us geographically. But as far as the scheduling, it's the last thing on my mind. I know you guys make a big deal about it, and the passion of the fans. But for me, I'm more worried about who we play next."
On how you evaluate if the defense is flying around...
"I don't think we've really been tested. I think it's, if anything, I was disappointed with the adjustments we made. I think guys didn't carry those adjustments over. Coach Schumann comes over and says, 'Hey, the next time they do this, this is what we want to do.' It's like the little game Memory. You pick the little card up and see the cherries, and then you go over here, and you pick the little card up. Then you have to put it in and remember what was where. What was that? Where was that at? So we've got guys that can't play memory good. We tell them on the sideline, this is what we want you to do when this happens. Then they go out there and don't do it. Then they give up a 9-yard play, and everybody goes, 'Oh, golly, man, Ball State got 9 yards on the Georgia defense' and make a big deal about it, and we just had a teaching session over what you should and you didn't do. We're have to play Memory better if we're going to be any good."
On Gabe Harris playing outside linebacker and contributing on defensive line...
"He's doing both. He's not a wholesale defensive lineman. With Ty being injured, we've repped him there more, but there is no difference in that position when we're in our four-down front. So he's a defensive end 50-60 percent of the time, but he's different sometimes when we're in an odd front. As far as playing more, that has to do with the score right now because we play those guys based on: Can they play winning football? Right now, when we have a lead, we want to get him in because he plays really hard. He does it on scout team. He plays really hard. He has a high motor. We want to reward that high motor with playing time, but he's got to earn our trust to earn what I call meaningful minutes."
On Kendall Milton's health...
"I don't know that. I think you'd have to ask Kendall that. I think you'd have to ask Kendall that. I thought he was much better this week. His stamina was better. His energy was better. I don't know. I can't say that he's 100 percent or 95 percent, but he was in better shape, and I know he felt a lot better coming into the game."
