Complete Transcript of Football's Media Day Press Conference
Aug 10, 2011 | Football
Aug. 10, 2011
NEW ORLEANS -
Opening statement
"First of all, let me start by welcoming you all to the start of a new season. Like everyone else, we are extremely excited to get going. It's a great time of the year. Everybody is undefeated so everybody is excited and happy. We started the other day and we had 98 players. That's the most players we've had since we've been here. We've got 85 scholarship players and 13 walk-ons. That's really going to be helpful, particularly when we get into the season as far as scout teams and that goes."
On the Green Wave's first three practices this fall
"We've already gone through three practices. We've had two practices with helmets and today we had a practice with helmets and shoulder pads - which we call shells - and we've got another one tomorrow. This is all mandated by the NCAA. Come Friday, we'll put on full gear - full pads - and we'll step up the tempo just a little bit more."
On the state of his team
"We have continued to get better. I think our off-season program and our summer program was outstanding. Derick Atchley, our strength and conditioning coach, has done a great job of getting our guys bigger, stronger and faster. He's done a fantastic job. We also believe we had another good recruiting class. This is really an outstanding class and you'll see some of these guys contribute early. The thing about them that has been impressive is they look like athletes, they're strong, and they play like athletes. We're really pleased with them. I guarantee you when we get off the bus this year, we're going to look like a football team. It's exciting. I don't know if we'll win any games, but we'll look pretty coming off that bus."
On the level of experience his team has
"Two year ago, as you know, we played 18 freshmen. Last year, we played 20 freshmen. So we've played a lot of young guys. Actually, we only have 12 seniors on our football team right now and I would venture to say that maybe half to two-thirds of them will contribute this year. But we are really a sophomore/junior football team. It's a young team, but it's no longer an inexperienced team. It's no longer a weak football team. I'm really pleased with the progress we've made. We feel that with the off-season program and the recruiting that we're starting to develop some pretty good quality depth. That is kind of what has really hurt us in the past. We've had some pretty good players, those guys get hurt and we don't really have a lot of people to step up and contribute from there. I feel good about that now."
On the Tulane team's attitude
"The attitude of our football team has been super. These guys have been with us for several years now. They see the progress that we've made as well, and they are excited as well as the coaches. We have a lot of continuity within our coaching staff and that has really paid big dividends for us."
On the Green Wave defense
"Defensively, we've got seven starters returning. Steve Stanard returns for his third year as the coordinator and he's done a great job. We have become consistent defensively. We have become better defensively. We have developed more depth defensively. Our front seven is really good, I believe. We have one player on our starting defense that is slower than 5.0-flat. We've really developed a pretty good group there. Now it's important to take that next step as we go."
On who he expects to lead the defense
"If you look at some of our players on defense, we're led by middle linebacker Trent Mackey. As you know, he is up for the (Lombardi Rotary) Award. He was a preseason All-Conference USA pick. Last year, he was one of the leading tacklers in the nation for the first few weeks and ended up as the 17th-leading tackler in the nation. He's off to a great start. Last year, he had a broken bone in his foot and he injured his knee in a game. He's healthy and he's really playing well in the three days we've been out there. Also Dezman Moses, our defensive end, was one of the Top 10 leading tacklers for loss and one of the Top 10 leading sackers in Conference USA last year. He's a senior and he's going to have an excellent year if he continues stays healthy. Cedric Wilson, our defensive tackle, really had an outstanding spring and has come into his own. He's a strong kid and fast. He's really kind of stepped it up and he's ready to have a great year. And Ryan Travis - who was our nickel back last year and we moved him to corner - he can play nickel if he had to. He's had a great three days already and he has really matured into a heck of a football player. We're excited about him"
On the Tulane offense
"Offensively, we also return seven starters. As you know (former offensive coordinator) Dan Dodd has left and has taken another position so I kind of readjusted the staff. Mark Hutson, my line coach, is going to be the run-game coordinator. He's been with us all five years. Greg Davis is going to be our pass-game coordinator. He's also been with me all five years. And I'm going to assume the responsibility of calling the plays again like I did a few years ago. I have not called plays the last couple of years. I've kind of suggested things and called some special plays, but I'm back calling plays and I feel good about that. I think by being back involved with the offense and calling plays, I think it will give me an opportunity to get closer to the football team. Once you become a head coach and you're a CEO, you kind of back off and you really don't call offense or defense or whatever, it kind of separates you from the football team. In just the little bit of time I've had already, I feel a lot closer and they fell a lot closer to me. I've hired Rickey Bustle as our quarterback coach. You all know Rickey from Louisiana-Lafayette and he also coached at Virginia Tech for years. I interviewed several guys for this position and I was extremely impressed with Rickey. Obviously he has a lot of experience and has a lot of knowledge. He's a fun guy to be around. I want good people around me. He's a great person. What struck me is that philosophically, he had the same philosophy that I had offensively - not only in schemes, plays and those types of things, but in coaching the quarterback. Rickey will coach the quarterback and I will be call the plays."
On returning starting quarterback Ryan Griffin
"Offensively, we will again be led by Ryan Griffin. Ryan had a bone removed from his foot, he had his shoulder operated on in the offseason, he had a thumb that was damaged, but he came back after that surgery on his foot and his shoulder and played in spring ball. He led us this summer. He was like the coach on the field. He took the whole team, directed them during summer workouts and did a great job. He's had several really good days of practice. Of course, he had an opportunity to go to the Manning Camp, spent time with a lot of quarterbacks over there and had a great experience. When the Saints were here, he and Drew Brees befriended each other. He got a lot of good things from Drew, and I'm thankful of Drew for that. If he can stay healthy, he's going to have a heck of a year."
On other key offensive players
"Also, we have Ryan Grant. He's a preseason Biletnikoff Award Watchlist member. He's got a lot of work to do. He's a young guy who caught 30-something balls last year. But it's nice to have a guy who is mentioned in those terms. Orleans Darkwa is being mentioned as a Doak Walker candidate. Obviously he had an excellent year as a freshman last year. He was the fourth-leading freshman runner in the nation and was an All-Conference USA second-team player. I think if he can get healthy, he's going to be pretty good. Right now, he's got a little bit of a ligament problem in his big toe. It happened a couple of weeks ago when he was working out. Hopefully, it's not too serious. By resting him a little bit, I'm sure he'll be back and be able to play. It's a long season so I'm not going to rush him and get him back until he's ready to go. Also, Harris Howard - our left guard - he's a four-year starter now and he's shown a lot of leadership on the offensive line. He's really doing an outstanding job there."
On Tulane's special teams
"Special team's wise, we've got three specialists who are returning. We've got our long snapper, Jonathan Edwards, who was an honorable-mention All-Conference USA player. He's doing a great job of long snapping. He's been doing it for three years now and he's got another year after this. Our All-Conference USA Freshman kicker, Cairo Santos, was 13-of-16. He made more field goals than any freshman in the conference. Today, we worked on kickoffs and all of his hang times were over 4.0. He's kicking the ball close to the goal line. He's developing more strength and of course he's extremely accurate. He only missed one field goal all spring. He kicked a 45- and a 48-yarder in the spring game. He's going to be a heck of a kicker for us. Because of our Achilles heel, we also hired John Hendrick whose last job was at South Florida. He's going to be our special team's coordinator. He's got a lot of experience, a lot of knowledge and he's brought a lot of enthusiasm to that position. I expect us to be a much improved special teams as a football team. If you look at it, we probably lost more football games special teams wise than we did offensively or defensively."
On Tulane's season captains
"Our team picked captains. Offensively, Ryan Griffin was selected. Defensively, Cedric Wilson was selected. What we'll do each week, I'll have John Hendrick pick a special teams captain and then we'll pick a game-week captain so we'll have four captains, which is an NCAA rule."
On which new faces have caught the coaching staff's eyes
"Some of the newcomers who have caught our eye - I know you guys always want to ask those questions and up until a couple of days ago I couldn't have told you because I've never seen them on the field. After watching them a little bit, I'll tell you what, there are a couple of defensive lineman. Michael Pierce, whose daddy played here at Tulane, I think he's going to be something special now. He's a big guy and he can run. He played linebacker in high school and we have him as an end now. I think he can play a bunch of positions on the defensive line and he is explosive. Corey Redwine is a young man we brought in and we weren't quite sure what he was going to do. He's a big guy, 300 pounder, very athletic and very explosive. He'll give us depth at the defensive line position. Tight end, Evan Tatford from St. Thomas More, has made a lot of great catches already. He's very smart and is catching on to the offense. I think he has a chance to contribute as a true freshman. Our running backs, and both of them are from New Orleans, Robert Kelley and Danté Butler have been very impressive. We're excited about them and if they can remain healthy, they'll have a chance to contribute. One of the things we're going to do offensively is we're going to have some personnel groups where we utilize more people then we've used in the past. We'll get little packages for each guy. Both of them will hopefully stay healthy, learn and be able to contribute. And we've got some wide receivers. Brandon LeBeau is from right here (in New Orleans). He played quarterback in high school and played corner in the All-Star game. He's really special. He's the fastest freshman on our football team. He's up to 200 pounds and he's made some phenomenal catches already. He's a bright young man and I think he's going to have a great career here. Marc Edwards is from St. Aug has a lot of speed. He catches the ball well and has a lot of speed. He'll probably be the mayor of New Orleans someday. When you talk to him, you get excited. And then there's Xavier Rush. He's come on. He's got good size, speed and great hands. I think those three guys will help us. And last but not least, Leon Blouin IV, the quarterback from Baton Rouge. I'll tell you what, he's got a quick arm and a strong arm. We saw him two years ago at our camp in Baton Rouge and Memorial Stadium. He impressed us. He committed to us and I'm glad he stayed with his commitment. He's a very talented athlete and a guy who down the road can help us play."
On the make-up of his team
"Right now, we've got 36 players from the state of Louisiana and I want to continue to get more as we go into recruiting. Like I said, we only have 12 seniors which means we only have 12 scholarships. But we've already got three-quarters of those commitments and a lot of those guys are from Louisiana. We're excited about that."
On the 2011 schedule
"As far as our schedule...we open with Southeastern Louisiana. We play Army on the road, we play Duke on the road, we play Syracuse at home, and then we end up the season at Hawai'i. We play 13 games and we don't have a bye. Of those 13 games, seven of those teams played in a bowl game last year. We feel very good about the year, but hopefully we can start fast. We play two of the best teams in our division - Tulsa and Houston - at home in the Dome, and hopefully that will help."
On Tulane's goals for the 2011 season
"I've talked about this to a lot of people. In the past, we said we wanted to become competitive. I believe that last year we were as competitive as we've been since I've been here and we lost several games that we felt we could have won and that would have got us to seven or eight wins. Well, I don't think it's any good any longer to just be competitive. I want to win and our players want to win. Our goal now is to win a conference championship and go to a bowl game this year. Anything short of going to a bowl will not be good in my opinion. We're looking forward to that."
On the importance of getting off to a good start
"You've got to play good. You've got to be ready to go out of the gate and you've got to win that first game. It gives you a chance to be 1-0 and go on and with another one. You've got to start fast and our big thing this year is you've got to take one thing at a time. We're going to play that game, win or lose, put it behind us and we'll come Tuesday we'll start again because I'm giving them Monday off."
On why he thinks this team will be successful
"I think its attitude. We had over 90 percent of our players stay this summer and work out. That's the most players we've ever had. Again, we as coaches can't be there so our players have to be the coaches and our older guys took the younger guys under their arm. Each senior is a big brother. He's got a little guy. He's a mentor and each one of them grabbed a freshmen and they coached them over the summer. It's an attitude right now. Out attitude right now is tremendous. They believe they can win. You've got to start believing so you can win, and then you got to go do it. But I think the attitude of our football team is tremendous."
Of if there is an open battle for the starting quarterback's position
"No. Griffin is the quarterback. I hope to heck he stays healthy because then you'll (the media) have to play and then I'll be in trouble. But no, all kidding aside. I think D.J. Ponder has really come on and progressed as a backup right now. He knows he's a backup but he also knows he's got to be ready. We've had several quarterbacks go down over the last few years, so they got to be ready. Taylor Bullock is trying to be a backup and then we've got the two freshmen we're taking a good, hard look at. And like I said, both of them are pretty good. I'm telling you, I'm impressed with Leon right now with his arm quickness, his arm strength and his athleticism."
On the strengths of freshman quarterback Nick SanGiacamo
"Fundamentally, I was really impressed. He's got really good fundamentals. Talking to Rickey, he knows how to drop. He's got a quick arm and is pretty accurate. At times he throws a really tight spiral. He throws some wobbly ones too, but so did I when I played every once in a while. I think he's a lot like Griffin was when he was a freshman. That's what he reminds me of so I think he has a good future."
On defense line disrupting things early on in practice
"First of all, I think our defense is pretty good. It's the best defense we've had since we've been here. Obviously we need to do a better job of stopping the run because we were not very good last year. When you're first in the league in pass defense, that tells you something. It means you're not very good in run defense so we got to do a better job at run defense and Steve's worked very hard on coaching that up. We can't give up explosive plays because that hurt us last year, too. But our defense is good. Our front seven is really good. We've got a lot of depth at defensive line. We've got a lot of depth at linebacker and those starting linebackers are really good, so I feel good about the front seven right now. They're going to give our offense some fits but I've always believed that defensively, you're always ahead of the offense early. I don't worry about it. We don't have to win practice. We don't have to win scrimmage. We've got to get better we got to prepare ourselves for that first game."
On his statement of being disappointed if the team does not make a bowl game
"It's time for us to do something. I've tried to build this program on a solid foundation. It's a tougher job than I thought it was going to be. We've had some high points but we've also had some low points, and it's just time to put up. I'll be disappointed, to be honest with you, if we don't get to a bowl game. And that's me speaking."
On how much a quarterback affects a program
"If you don't have a gunslinger, you got to problem. Look at all the great teams. They've all got quarterbacks. Look at the Saints. Look at the colts. Look at a couple teams in our conference. Case Keenum is a heck of a quarterback at Houston. G.J. Kinne is the same thing at Tulsa. If you've got a quarterback, you've got a great beginning. If you don't have a quarterback, it makes it really difficult."
On the health of Ryan Griffin
"Griffin is feeling really good. He had the bone removed in his foot. He had his shoulder operated on. He's worked extremely hard. He got some great advice from Drew Brees. When Drew Brees was here, he showed him a program he calls `prehab.' Instead of rehab, he's doing `prehab' so he's got to routine where he lifts weights and works out to get his shoulders stronger because you get hit in the shoulders a lot. So drew helped him incorporate a program to help him so hopefully he doesn't get injured."
On the state of Tulane's special teams units
"From a special teams standpoint there are a lot of things. No. 1, you've got to have a snapper. We've got to great snapper in Jonathan Edwards. He's really good. You've got to have a kicker. In Cairo Santos, I think we got to great kicker. You've got to have a punter. He was a true freshman who punted last year. He's gotten better, but he's got to continue to improve. Then you've got to have returners and that's something we're working at. We're trying to find the best possible return guys so were auditioning several guys. If you look at the Bears, they're a good special teams team because they've got Hester. The Saints had Reggie Bush returning punts and they were a good special teams team. Now they've got Spoles. So players make special teams. Skilled athletes make special teams. When you start talking about 53 1/3-by-100 yards and you spread people all over the field, you're talking about athleticism. That's what we're trying to improve - our speed and athleticism. We've got the little guy from Destrehan that's at Tulsa, you're kicking the ball, you get him in the open field and it's like a chicken running around with its head cut off. You can't catch him. We got to make sure we do a better job at special teams and I think because of the things I just said, we will be better."
On who he is trying out in the return game
"Well, we've got Derrick Strozier who did a little bit last year and then he got injured. Jamar Thomas, one of the freshmen running backs, was another one. Carlos Wilson, who is actually a walk-on, is really talented. We tried to test him in the spring game. And then were looking at a couple of freshmen. From a kickoff-return standpoint, we need the same type of guys returning kickoffs. We're going to have Steven Barnett back there. We had Darkwa for a while, but he won't be doing that this year. Then we're going to audition a couple freshmen running backs to see how they can do at returning kickoffs. They're not really punt returners."
On the importance of having someone who can both catch and return punts
"I mean, the reason we had Casey Robottom back there when they punted was because he was going to catch the ball. He could close his eyes and catch a B.B. in the dark he had such great hands. Unfortunately, he got hurt one game and we put another guy in there who is no longer in this program, he fielded a punt inside the 10, dropped it, and that ended contributing to us losing a game. So you're right. You've got to have a guy who can catch the ball first of all and then hopefully be a good runner. If you get a guy who can catch it and is a good runner, then you've got a special player and that's what we're looking for."
On the defense giving up big plays last season
"I think it was a combination of things. Sometimes it was guys doing a good job against us. Army did a good misdirection running and that big physical fullback they had that got us. So we were maybe out of position at times and gave up a lot of explosive pass plays. We led the league in pass defense, but we gave up the big explosive plays and we gave up some big explosive runs...This is a new year."
On how aggressive he will be as a play caller
"I will probably be fairly aggressive. I have been very aggressive in the past. I think the thing is, you need to take some shots down the field and we've been too much of a safe and simplistic team. I think people catch up and I want to create more problems for the defense. If you talk to Steve, who has been defending us now, and you look at some things from the past, I want to create more problems for the defense. I'm not opposed to taking shots. I think we need to take more shots, and obviously I'm going to have some trick plays every game. We're going to do some of that too, and that's for momentum-type plays to hopefully score a touchdown and to make it exciting and entertaining."
On if he thinks his team learned from the Saints while they were on campus
"I think they did. They learned great work ethic. These guys didn't have any coaches out here. I'm telling you, these guys were working their butts off. I was in my window looking down and watching them. They're in the weight room, in the meeting rooms meeting...They were out there busting their butts. I was impressed. Our players saw it. They were impressed."
On if Brandon LeBeau has been a surprise on offense
"Yes. Steve is still mad at me for not playing him on defense, but he played quarterback (in high school). When we recruited him, he was about 180 pounds. Now he's over200 he ran a 4.5. He was out there working with Griffin and I came in and asked Griffin, `What do you think?' He said, `This guy's really good,' so the first day we were watching him. Today, he made some phenomenal catches. We were saying `Hey, let's look at him. He can help us maybe here. He can help us maybe at corner.' And then I asked him what he wanted to do and he said, `I want to be a receiver' so were letting him go where he wants to be first. Now, if he couldn't have done it, I would've moved him to defense. But I think he's going to be a real threat."
On ending the regular season at Hawai'i
"They approached Rick Dickson and he asked me if I wanted to go to Hawai'i. I said `Hell yea. Are you kidding me? Why not?' And so I said, `Let's go! I'll accept that. Bring 'em on!' Then he said, `Well, you've got to win seven games.' I said `Bring 'em on, baby! Let's win seven.' But I think it's great. I played over there six times. I coached the Hula Bowl over there, an All-Star game. I've had some great experiences. That's a great place. A tough place to play. And we're going to leave on Tuesday so it's not a vacation. It's not a bowl game. It's an important football game for us and I hope we already have seven wins before we get there. But if not, we've got to go and win that football game."
On the development of kicker Cairo Santos
"He must've worked hard because he did pick up from where he left. We kicked field goals this morning and wow! He was kicking then and Greg Davis, who coaches him, was over there salivating. `Coach he kicked four 80-yard kickoffs.' He was so excited about kickoffs and I'll tell you what, he was really good last year. He's going to be really good this year. Kicking off will help us tremendously. He's a little stronger this year from the weight-lifting program. He's kicking a little bit deeper and a little but higher with more hang time. He's a heck of a kicker."
On if he is pleased with where his football team is right now
"Like I said, I've worked extremely hard along with the coaching staff and these players to get in position to be where we need to be right now. We have laid a really solid foundation. I've played really young guys that weren't ready to play but we had to play them. Three years ago, we had 17 season-ending injuries. I've never had that in my life. And then the last two years, I've played freshmen. I've redshirted freshmen. Now we're a sophomore/junior football team that's played a lot of football. They're a lot stronger. They're a lot more athletic. We are a lot better than we've ever been. Does that equate to more wins? I don't know. We'll all find out. But I feel a lot better getting off that bus for the first game than I've ever felt since I've been here."
