Heupel: "Our guys will be ready"
Each Monday, offensive coordinator Josh Heupel holds a media teleconference. Read the transcript of today's chat with Heupel.
Opening statement: “Obviously I was pleased with a lot of the things our guys were able to do on the field. I thought they handled themselves in a mature way, competed the entire ball game. When we stubbed our toe and didn’t do things the way we needed to they responded in a good way, good energy, competitive nature on the sideline and carried that to the field. Some young guys I thought they played well, in particular the two guys inside up front, Trystan Castillo and Tre’Vour Simms. Good to get them a lot of action. I thought the most important thing, maybe the thing we’ve been stressing the most is just competing without the football. It’s fun to see those guys take pride in that and do that at a high level for 60 minutes, in particular our skill guys out on the perimeter, our wide receivers. If we can keep that going it’s going to help us as we get ready for conference play here this week.”
Q: When you say competing without the football, I assume that means blocking primarily. How big a part of the success was that, in particular Dimetrios Mason and Johnathon Johnson sprung a couple of big plays on some of those screen passes?
Josh Heupel: “Those are the ones that everybody can see. A year ago our kids didn’t compete as hard as you have to out there on the perimeter. It’s been a challenge from our coaching staff, from coach Hill. Those guys answered. Johnathon Johnson, obviously a phenomenal job on J’Mon’s first one down the sideline. J’Mon’s second one, I believe in the second quarter as well when JJ ended up putting him on his back. K-9 (Mason), you see him on the very first play of the game, ball’s not thrown to him, he doesn’t wait, doesn’t hesitate, he immediately goes and closes out on his corner. But there’s other ones during the course of the game as well. Emanuel Hall and Richaud Floyd on Damarea Crockett’s touchdown run going toward the closed end there. We had a perimeter screen and Richaud Floyd ends up putting a guy on his back. Emanuel Hall doesn’t get it on a perimeter screen, but he makes the block on a safety who’s going to make the play maybe at the five-yard line so he turns it into a touchdown. Those are important things for us.”
Q: Where will you see the biggest upgrade in personnel when you go from playing an FCS team to the SEC?
JH: “I think across the board. Up front, they’re going to be thick, stout guys inside. They’re anywhere from 305 pounds to 320 inside so that’s going to be different than what we saw a week ago. Their ends are going to be longer and thicker as well. They’re going to be 275. That’s different. Their linebackers are longer, more explosive and do a good job of running downhill in the run game. And then the speed on the back end’s going to be different as well. It’s different everywhere. Our motto is it’s just about us, it’s about how we prepare, it’s about how we play and compete for 60 minutes and eliminating the things that we didn’t do well a week ago and being one week better. We’ve got a big test in front of us, obviously it’s a big ball game, conference play, divisional opponent so it’s extremely important.”
Q: Obviously Drew (Lock) had a big game. Was there any part of that that surprised you or you were pleased to see signs of growth from last year?
JH: “I think as much as anything taking things he’s shown in practice and those things coming to fruition during the course of a 60 minute ballgame. I thought he was decisive, he was poised, was accurate with the football most of the day. A couple of deep throws that he’d still like to be a little bit more accurate with, but at the same time, when you’re pushing it down the field like that, we understand you’re not going to hit every one. The key for us is throwing those aggressively so when they are touchdowns we’re hitting them in stride. I liked all that. He made a mistake on the scramble and he comes back on the next drive calm, poised and confident and just continues to play ball.”
Q: Did you go into that game with a plan to play more quarterbacks?
JH: “I mean, you don’t know how a game’s going to unfold. We played it as it was, how the game unfolded.”
Q: Were there two or three throws that Drew made that impressed you the most?
JH: “Have to think about that. To be honest, one of them was a throwaway. That doesn’t sound great, but I think he was in the pocket and he goes to his second read and it’s covered on that side of the field, throws the ball away and goes to second and ten. I thought that was a really good sign from him. Those are things that he hadn’t done. I think there was a pass where he’s keying a safety and read it right and had his eyes in the right place. All those things are things that you feel really good about with him.”
Q: We saw your offense on a couple occasions last year put together a game like Saturday, but then not be able to follow it up. How important is it in taking that next step to come back with another strong performance?
JH: “We didn’t play good early last year against Florida and LSU. I don’t think we were ready to compete at that level. Our competitive spirit is different than it was a year ago. Our maturity is different than it was a year ago. We may not have the same output we did a week ago but I think our kids are ready to go compete. We won’t play perfect, but we will compete for 60 minutes and I think that’s a big part of where we progressed a year ago at the end of the year and how our kids have been since we got back in January. End of the day, you got to go up and line it up and you’ve got to go make a play. Our guys will be ready.”
Q: When you look at the South Carolina defense, what strengths stand out to you?
JH: “To be honest, I think their balance. I think their second level players are guys that have the ability to get to the football and make a bunch of plays. In particular, number 10 (Skai Moore) and number 6 (T.J. Brunson). Those guys can get to the football. They do a good job of reading their keys and getting to the right fit. Their nickel, number 21 (Jamyest Williams), an explosive young player. Know he’s a freshman, but you can see that he’s physical and can run. Does a good job in coverage. The corners were a big test for us a year ago and were competitive to the ball. Those are matchups that are going to be competitive all day long. Then their front four is really good as well. In particular, the thickness and the stoutness up front on the inside. They have quality players on all three levels, first, second and third level players, and it’s going to be competitive in all facets of the game because of that.”
Q: After seeing Damarea Crockett on Saturday, what is his ceiling as a sophomore?
JH: “I think he’s excited about going out there and competing. He understands that he can play at a championship level in the SEC. Obviously he’s disappointed with a couple of the things everybody could see last week, the turnover and the touchdown that got called back. But I think he’s ready to go compete and have a great year and he’s extremely confident.”
Q: When you have an established slot guy like Johnson, how can that impact your whole offense?
JH: “That slot player can eliminate some of the roll coverage to one of the outside guys. I think his ability to play fast inside and maybe be a matchup issue for some defenses as far as do you want to keep a third backer out there or do they want to play with a nickel, and how that affects the run game, I think it’s critical to how you game plan as an offense and also how defenses are game planning for you.”
Q: Drops were an issue at times for the wide receivers last year. Were you happy with the way they caught the ball this week?
JH: “Drops are always an issue. They may be worse than a pre-snap penalty. Pre-snap penalty you get the down over. For the most part, our guys caught the ball well on Saturday. There’s a couple that a couple guys would like back, but you don’t get to redo it so keep pushing. Those competitive plays we’ve got to be able to make this week. Their two corners are going to be in your hip pocket. You’ve got to anticipate and expect tight coverage and you’ve got to play strong and catch and put the ball away immediately and secure it.”
Q: You didn’t have a scoring drive of three minutes and you ran a play every 18 seconds. Is that the pace you want to go at this year?
JH: “At the end of the day we’re going to do what it takes to win a football game. Tempo is a portion of what we do, it’s not exclusively what we do. It can tilt the scale in our favor I guess. As far as how long it takes to score touchdowns, at the end of the day, as an offense, I don’t care if you’re huddling or not, the goal is to score touchdowns and get your butt in the end zone. How we do it isn’t as important to me as actually doing it.”
Head Coach Barry Odom will have his teleconference at 2:30 and we will post the full transcript of that call later this afternoon.