Muschamp's Monday Press Conference Video and Transcription
Monday, September 8, 2014 | Football
Florida Gators head football coach Will Muschamp spoke with the media on Monday about the Eastern Michigan game, this week's contest against Kentucky and more. Fans can watch the video of the full press conference in addition to the transcript below.
Opening statement…
Offensively, player of the game was Jeff Driskel. Offensive lineman of the game was Max Garcia. Max did a really nice job there moving a little bit inside and got us in a lot of the right situations we needed to be in with the run and the pass game. Big plays, there was a bunch -- Mark Herndon, Treon Harris, Demarcus Robinson, Mack Brown, Quinton Dunbar, Matt Jones, Kelvin Taylor, Brandon Powell and Darius Masline. Defensively, player of the game was Neiron Ball. Hard hat was really from special teams, again, Jarrad Davis did an outstanding job. Ball hawks were Duke Dawson, Caleb Brantley, Antonio Morrison, Neiron Ball, Daniel McMillian, Mike McNeely and Alex McCalister who forced the interception there with a nice pressure. Special teams player of the game was Andre Debose. It was great getting him back in the Swamp, playing and playing well. [He had a] big-time punt return and is just a big-time threat back there. Scouts of the week -- offensively, Gideon Ajagbe; Khairi Clark on defense; special teams was Case Harrison. Those guys did a great job of getting us ready.
Injury wise, Jake had his surgery after the game, it went very well, getting out of the hospital today. I'm very disappointed for him and I've talked to Matt and Carol, the parents who were in town and I hurt for him. Moving forward there are no decisions that have been made, it's very premature in the process to discuss any of that moving forward.
D.J. Humphries, we think we'll get him back after the open week. He's dealing with a little bit of a high ankle sprain as well as the bone chip. As we move forward we'll know more but he'll definitely be out this week.
Marcus Maye will be good to go and J.C. Jackson, we're going to look at his shoulder; it slipped out during the game and also happened in training camp. We're going to take a look at him today, see where that is.
On to Kentucky, first SEC game. Mark Stoops has done an outstanding job there. Much, much improved in all areas in his second year.
Neal Brown is offensive coordinator, a guy that I'm very familiar with. They do a nice job in the run and pass game. They're a tempo team. They're going to be on the ball. They're going to play as fast as anybody that we play this year. They settled on Patrick Towles, which is 6-foot-5, 240-pound quarterback that's a dual threat guy. He can run the quarterback power and the quarterback draw as a threat to pull it down in the passing game when we lose discipline in our pass rush. We've got to do a real nice job of that. They're extremely talented at the running back position. Braylon Heard is a transfer from Nebraska, was hurt the first game that he had two carries for two touchdowns and about 120 yards. Jojo Kemp from DeLand is a dynamic guy in the open field. Stanley Williams is a freshman from Georgia that's a good player. Mikel Horton is a kid from Cincinnati that's a good player. He's a true freshman as well. Balanced in what they do. They're right at 40 points a game, 233 yards running and 296 passing. They haven't had a turnover this year offensively. And Ryan Timmons is a very good player that's good there.
Ryan Timmons is a young man that we offered here. Thought he's a heck of a football player. He does a really good job in space. They get him the ball in a bunch of situations in the passing game and the running game, very skilled guy. Defensively, they've gone really to an odd structure they did last year now, it kind of looks exclusively, moving forward. Forced seven turnovers, Dupree and Smith were the two guys that catch your eye. Two very good pass rushers, you've got to account for those guys on the edges. They run extremely well at linebacker, but the thing you see is they're playing fast, they're playing with a lot of confidence defensively. Mark's done an outstanding job there. Special teams, they have a 53 yard field goal in the last ballgame so that's a threat and their net punt's over 40 so we need to be prepared there. 7:30 kickoff in The Swamp so I know our fans are going to be excited. We need to do a good job of keeping them excited and I'll open it up for any questions.
On whether or not the offense displayed its peak speed…
Well, I think we can change tempo based on the game situation and how we want to go about things. That's never really presented itself. We felt pretty comfortable in the rhythm we were in. There was a little uncertainty of what they were going to be in defensively on what we do, so that's why Kurt wanted to take a little slower approach, be on the line and see what they do, identify that. Jeff did a fantastic job of getting us in and out from the start.
On Demarcus Robinson's performance…
He played a lot in the first half, you know we had a lot of opportunities with him, but he's a guy that's got really good catch radius. I mean he's able to get the ball in a lot of different spots, and he's able to go get the ball and attack the ball. He's got natural ability to do those things, he's a very explosive guy, so he's a very talented young man.
On what stands out about Kentucky…
Defensively, their speed is definite. They're big inside, they've got some junior college players inside, both ends are really good players, Smith and Dupree. You've got to account for those guys. Very good rushers. They run extremely well at linebacker and they added a junior college safety that's made a lot of plays for them and done a nice job in the first two games. You know, it's year two offensively in what they're doing. I think that they've got some true freshman that's playing for them at wide out that you can tell athletically. Gary Johnson's a young man from Orlando that's a very good player we recruited. Ryan Timmons I talked about, their Demarco Robinson's a player that's been there for a while is a very good player from Georgia so all those guys combined with them creating space. At the running back position some dynamic guys with the ball in their hands, and you can't miss tackles against these teams. You've got to be able to tackle in space. You've got to be able to cover down. There are some similarities in the run game as far as some things that we do, as far as quick game off of that versus a bad box you're going to be in some long one situations. You've got to tackle. And that's where they created a lot of explosive plays in the first two games.
On Florida's win streak against Kentucky…
It's a 2014 Florida team versus a 2014 Kentucky team. That's all it is to me.
On the situation at tackle…
Chaz will bump over to left tackle and Rod will be the right tackle. And David can play either/or and Trenton will also get some reps at the right tackle position, which he's done in camp. So we feel good there.
On other linemen climbing up the depth chart…
No. I mean Riles will move up at guard and get some reps when Trenton goes outside. We feel pretty comfortable with where we are.
On the situation at tight end…
Tight end right now, Westbrook and then DeAndre Goolsby will figure in a little bit more. As far as some things we had planned for him in the first game, never got to it. But now with the situation with Jake, we're going to move forward with that.
On challenges for Rod Johnson and David Sharpe…
Just go out and play the way Rod Johnson is capable of playing. In my opinion, he's going to be very good. He played extremely well early on in the game. Obviously, there was some anxiety in your first time playing in those situations. But as the game wore on, we thought he played very well. Climbed on the second level and the run game. Did a nice job of doing some of those things, really settled down as far as protection was concerned. Rod is certainly capable of playing very well. I think he will. Chaz [Green] can bump over to the left side and clean up some things that he ended up having to do in the second half. As far as technique things and pass sets are concerned, David [Sharpe] is a young guy who is a very good big athlete. He's 6-6, 330 pounds. He moves his feet extremely well. Trenton [Brown] has got enough reps at the right tackle position for us to feel very confident in all four players playing well.
On areas that are in need of improvement…
Number one on offense is our ball security. We had some issues handling the ball. It didn't hurt us but it certainly can. We've got to clean up some things in the run game and clean up some things in protection. We had a couple routes run at the wrong depth. We need to clean up as far as those things are concerned. Defensively I thought that we tackled very well for a first game. We only had six missed tackles which is always a concern going into the first game. Defensively we played a little high at times. I thought our perimeter run defense was poor as far as how we leveraged the ball. We played some perimeter things and screens that we will certainly see this week. That's something that we have to get cleaned up.
On the relationship between Matt Jones and Kelvin Taylor…
I think they're both great teammates. That's part of what we identify in guys in the recruiting process. One of the things that we look at is the ability to put the team first. That's important. To have guys that have that ability to be able put the team first and understand the big picture. See through the door instead of the keyhole as I tell the players. Both of those guys can do that. Both of those guys are outstanding people. They're fun to be around, they're fun to coach. But they understand the big picture of this thing and we're going to be playing 75-80 snaps a game. They're going to have their opportunities. They've got to make their opportunities count. They understand we're going to go with the guy with the hot hand, but we need both of them. It's a long season, so they understand that.
On the performance of the linebackers…
Not a whole lot got to them. I think we did a nice job of playing blocks up front for the most part. We were a little high at times, but we were able to clean some things up for them. We mis-leveraged a couple things from inside-out, which was disappointing. As much as we face against our offense as far as the perimeter things are concerned, I thought we'd play them a little better than we did. But I thought it was solid. I think it was a solid performance.
On Treon Harris' command in his Gator debut…
He did a nice job. We had one situation on a late snap, and that was more of a cadence issue than it was anything else. But again, first time going out there and standing in there and throwing the ball. We felt like we had the hitch there on the one ball to Mark, and they rolled up into a Cover 2, which they hadn't done much all day. Took the ball in the right spot where you're supposed to go with it, so I thought he made two huge plays for us and showed a lot of confidence in what he was doing. That's something that really appealed to us in his process. He's been a guy that's able to make plays, and that's something he does well.
On recognizing signs of confidence from Treon early on…
I think so. I can't really speak for the summer, but as far as moving forward in fall camp, he's a guy that has a knack for making plays. He's done a nice job, and he showed that obviously on Saturday.
On +5 turnover margin and no Florida turnovers committed on offense…
We always emphasize it. I said it after the game, I was a really good turnover coach when we had Earl Thomas. I was a really good turnover coach when Matt Elam was here. So I think a lot of it is guys that have the knack of being in the right spots, and understanding getting the ball off people defensively, the guys that have confidence to do that. And I think we have some of those guys. Vernon Hargreaves is a ball hawk. Antonio Morrison is a ball hawk. Dante in the pass rush can be a ball hawk, Neiron Ball. I mention just those guys, but we've got more. And then, offensively, I think we were pretty fortunate, to be honest with you, that we didn't have more turnovers. We had some ball security issues that we've got to get cleaned up and that was evident on the tape.
On Driskel's accuracy…
Jeff's been really smart with the football. And that's a day-to-day process you've got to go through. But I think, again, people saw the command that we've seen in camp and the comfort level he has in what we're trying to do.
On the young defensive backs…
They did okay. You know, eye control for a young player, especially on the back end, is a major issue, and we had some major issues. So that's something that was expected. I don't think we were as physical as we needed to be as far as playing blocks and tackling. We were really soft. But, you know, again, you are coaching some guys with some ability and they're going to continue to improve, they're going to continue to take steps forward. A couple of them commented to me after practice, 'now I understand what you talk about, urgency in getting aligned.' We had some times we got lined up late, we didn't get in the right spot. It caused our eyes not to get into the right spot, and they don't always understand that generally -- and I'm young but old-fashioned from the standpoint of how you practice is how you play. I've taken cutups from practice and shown the same player the same exact play that happened in the game and say, 'this is how you practiced, and that is why you didn't get your eyes in the right spot, and that's why you gave up a Y cross for 13 yards.' If you do the right stuff and you play with a sense of urgency at practice, then on game day it's easy and it all slows down for you, which for a young player, that's hard to simulate at times. Again, overall, pleased, but we still have a long ways to go with some of these guys.
On whether the younger players will stay in rotation moving forward…
Yeah. I mean, right now Marcus [Maye] would be the nickel and Brian [Poole] would stay outside. But we're going to play upper to 80 snaps, you've got to get ready to play. It's going to be humid, it's going to be hot. You've got to have guys ready to play. It's a long season, so we've got to be able to keep guys on the field.
On Brandon Powell's future role in the running backs rotation…
Well, he's going to be a guy… when you talk in terms of offensively, we've got to have more touches for Andre [Debose]. We've got to have more touches for Brandon Powell. You've got to put it in the hands of guys who can score touchdowns. Those guys have the ability to do that. As far as moving forward offensively, that was something we talked about yesterday as a staff, creating opportunities for those guys to get the ball in their hands.
On the young tackles knowing who to block…
They're much better off from a standpoint when Trip Thurman is by them and when Tyler and Trenton are by them, they're much better from a standpoint of communication. When you have another freshman by them, you know, 'Where do you go?' Some stuff is going on. When you have a more experienced player as far as identifying the front and making sure they're aware of where they need to be. David having Trip by him was very good for him. It helped him be able to calm down and play a little bit better. It's no different when you're dealing with the secondary. You've got Jabari Gorman back there with a young safety. He's able to be a calming factor for him and make sure we're… (ends his thought). That's what happened a little bit late with us in the secondary. We were all freshmen back there. There was a lack of communication and all kinds of stuff going on back there.”
On Clay Burton…
He's changed his body a little bit. He's slimmed down. He's quicker than he's been, he's faster than he's been. He worked extremely hard all summer. He hasn't had many drops at all through fall game and working into game week. All those things. He's a player who has done everything we've asked him to do to put himself in a position to be successful, and he certainly was Saturday.
On Burton's ability to convert third downs…
Well, I think that would probably be accurate, more of a move the chains guy, do some things he did for us on third down. He's got really good football instincts to sit in spots as far as zone and those things are concerned. He does a nice job with those things.
On assessing extra tight end options…
De'Andre right now would be the only one. Right now, on today's conversation and yesterday, we plan on activating him and getting him going. That means you've got to get him going on special teams and get him going on offense. That's our plan.
On throwing Hunter Joyer into the tight end rotation…
Yeah, there are some things Hunter can do very well. Because we are a little different offensively, there are some things on the line that are little more difficult. There's that length you need to have to get your hands on a 6-5 defensive end. That's a little different, but there will be a role that he certainly will have.
On concerns about penalties and managing the clock…
Well, I'm very concerned about the three procedure issues. Jeff has to be aware when the clock is ticking down. We've got to get the ball snapped. That was on the one time in the game with the situation where the cadence with Treon. Trip had two false starts, which you just can't have. And Leon's block behind the ball is stupid. Those are things that I am concerned about. We'll address those.
