Photo by: Parker Waters
MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews USF at Weekly News Conference
Oct 30, 2018 | Football
Willie Fritz Weekly News Conference – USF
Listed below is the complete transcript from Green Wave head coach Willie Fritz's weekly press conference leading up to Tulane's matchup vs. USF on Saturday.
Opening Statement:
"Just kind of touching on the Tulsa game, I believe it is the first time Tulane has gone to Tulsa and come away with a win, so I'm excited about that. Their record is a little bit similar to us in regards to the fact that they've had a lot of close losses. As a matter of fact, the team we're playing this week kicked a field goal with one second left on the clock to beat them (Tulsa), South Florida did. So, a good ballclub, and we really played good defensively. I thought it was a good total team win. We needed to get a score, we got the score. We needed to get a stop defensively, we got the stop. We haven't done that as often as we need to around here, so proud of the guys, proud of the way they fought through the tough loss the week before, and going on the road and coming away with a win.
"South Florida, 7-1, they were ranked in the top 25 this past week. They went over to Houston, and it was a lot closer score than the game indicates. It was pretty close to being an even game late in the third quarter and Houston got a couple of scores late to pull away. But you know they've got a big, huge team. This'll be the biggest team that we play. Their offensive and defensive line are gigantic. They're tall and long out in the perimeter offensively and defensively. They've done a nice job other than the Houston game finding a way to win in the fourth quarter. I think they've come from behind in wins four or five times this season. So a big, big test, playing a in a big stadium. We'll go down on Friday, practice a little bit there in Raymond James Stadium. A Tulane alum owns the Tampa Bay Bucs, so hopefully that'll give us some good luck going into that stadium."
On carryover from a strong finish against Tulsa:
"I hope it gives a lot of confidence. We've got a pretty young ballclub. Twelve guys who are on the team were here before I got here. So, we just don't have a whole lot of guys who have been through the process with us. The young guys are learning how to win as well, closing out games. I'm very impressed with Justin McMillan in his first start since he was a high school guy. I thought he showed a lot of poise. There's probably a few throws he'd like to have back. There's one on the goal line and one on fourth-and-5, but he really got out of trouble probably four or five times. You'd been worried about having a sack, and as I've said many times before, it's the quarterback, it's the offensive line, the running back, the tight ends, the receivers making sure that you stay away from those. I think this is the first game we've had where we had zero sacks. So good job by him just playing with a lot of poise in his first collegiate start, his first really extended period of time playing in a collegiate game."
On difficulty of beating USF on Saturday:
"They're all tough. We've got to play our A game in order to come away with a win. We've just got to play well in all three phases. They've got a dynamic kick return game. They've got three guys – this is really unusual – they have three guys who have had a bunch of big returns for him. So we've got to shut that down. Offensively, they'll really go and change tempos up and go a lot of fast tempo. They've got a great back in No. 20 (Johnny Ford). He's not very big but he's a powerful guy. He's quick as a cat. Defensively, they'll play a bunch of man coverage. We've got to take advantage of it. We know what we're going to get from them defensively. Some weeks we're not quite sure when we get to the game, but they're going to have a lot of confidence in their defense and we have a pretty good idea how they're going to play against us."
On the resilience of the team after a sack was called back due to a Tulane penalty, and Tulsa took a 17-7 lead on that drive instead of punting:
"That was a big play. Unfortunately we had a face mask and it would have been huge for us because I think it was going to end up being fourth-and-14 or something with a sack. But you've got to keep playing. You don't know the script for the game until the game's over. Hindsight's 20/20 and everybody can figure it out then. I'm glad we just kept playing, playing hard throughout the game. Like I said before, I'm impressed with the fact that we got the score when we needed to have a score and also got a big stop at the very end of the game. Sometimes that's eluded us."
On OL Corey Dublin's snapping penalties against Tulsa:
"You know they [Tulsa] were making a sound. Their nose guard was making a sound over there. We were trying to get the officials to hear it and call it and see it. Unfortunately after the game, their guy told our guys he got South Florida to jump a couple times as well. I went back and watched it and I saw a couple times where the guard was pointing at him. It's something – if you're a clap team – we've had it happen before here with a couple different teams have clapped. This was making a noise prior to the snap. One thing about McMillan, he claps loud. You can hear it from the upper deck. So that's something I've just got the officials aware of. That's a tough call for him to make in there. Hopefully we don't have that happen anymore."
On play of CB Jaylon Monroe:
"I thought he really stepped up and played well. That was the best look and demeanor I've seen from him. During the game he got beat on a play right after he got in. He didn't let that effect him. Corners have got to have a short memory, and he really played well throughout the rest of the game. I was really proud of his approach and how he competed in the game. He's another young guy who is starting to grow up and get a lot of meaningful minutes and get better and better."
On CB Thakarius Keyes' status:
"Oh, he started cramping and was just having a hard time warming up throughout the game. We just felt like it would be better to keep him out. Hopefully he'll be fine this week."
On TE Kendall Ardoin and WR Jacob Robertson Jr.'s status:
"I think they'll be okay this week."
On Justin McMillan's running ability:
"You know I watched his high school tape, and he had a lot of plays where he was running the football doing a nice job. Didn't do much of that at LSU in scrambling situations, but he's got really good speed. That was a really nice play by him - the 39-yard touchdown. He'd seen it happen a couple times before, we talked about it on the sideline, do you feel good about it? You've got a gap there on that side, pull it, run, he was very definitive with the decision. He went untouched into the end zone. It was a nice play by him."
On difficulty of learning when to run and when to hand off:
"Yeah, you know if you haven't done it much. Almost everyone in the country is running some type of zone read play. I think in his senior year [former Clemson QB] DeShaun Watson had 162 carries, so everybody's doing it. [Ed: Watson's final year at Clemson was his junior season in 2016 where he carried 165 times] He was a pretty good player last time I checked. It's an advantage in the college game. You just need to know when to get a first down, get a touchdown or to get down and not get hit. He'll get better and better at that."
On McMillan's passing game:
"I think sometimes it's understanding when to take something off a ball, too. Because he's got an extremely strong arm. Sometimes he throws it showing us that arm when he really doesn't need to. I know there's four or five throws he'd like to have back. If he gets those back, he had a really, really outstanding football game. He did a very, very nice job."
On McMillan's running ability and aggressiveness:
"He's got good speed, and he's a big guy too. He's 6-2/6-3, 205/210 pounds. He's got good speed. He's a competitive young man. That's good when he can do that. You've just got to pick your spots, know when you need to do that. I thought a really nice play was when he showed his poise was when we had a third-and-6 I believe, we ran kind of a cluster route with a couple of the tight ends and the back out. A lot of guys would have waited, but he hit the back, Amare Jones. He ran about 12 yards for a first down and moved the sticks. A very simple play, but sometimes you don't get that."
On McMillan's path to Tulane strengthening him as a player:
"I think he had three coordinators over there [at LSU] I believe, and a couple different head coaches. He comes from a great [high school] program. Cedar Hill is probably going to win the state championship again in Texas. He came from a great high school program with great tradition, obviously. Didn't get the job that he wanted to have over there, and I think it's a credit to him that he stuck with it and come in here and adapted to another new situation and has showed a lot of savvy. He's heard a lot of different jargon and terminology and how people call things, and he's able to pull out the important stuff that we're doing and forget about [past jargon]. That's hard sometimes. I've had eight different offensive coordinators and sometimes I start scratching my head. You've got to make sure to give him credit for being a smart young man."
On McMillan's leadership:
"The leadership, the rallying the troops, that's going to come probably after spring ball. The disadvantage of not being here for all of camp is really getting acclimated to the team and having discussions with the coaches. A lot of those things occur in the offseason and the summer more so than the fall. Just concentrate on doing your job and you'll grow into the quarterback position. We talked about that, the guys you're wanting to emulate. Obviously there's a guy in town who would be good to emulate in [New Orleans Saints QB] Drew Brees. Then you've got Watson over there and the [Dallas Cowboys QB] Dak Prescott guy and [Seattle Seahawks QB] Russell Wilson and [New England Patriots QB] Tom Brady. Those are the guys, but it takes time to build that confidence. They didn't do it in their first day or their first start."
Listed below is the complete transcript from Green Wave head coach Willie Fritz's weekly press conference leading up to Tulane's matchup vs. USF on Saturday.
Opening Statement:
"Just kind of touching on the Tulsa game, I believe it is the first time Tulane has gone to Tulsa and come away with a win, so I'm excited about that. Their record is a little bit similar to us in regards to the fact that they've had a lot of close losses. As a matter of fact, the team we're playing this week kicked a field goal with one second left on the clock to beat them (Tulsa), South Florida did. So, a good ballclub, and we really played good defensively. I thought it was a good total team win. We needed to get a score, we got the score. We needed to get a stop defensively, we got the stop. We haven't done that as often as we need to around here, so proud of the guys, proud of the way they fought through the tough loss the week before, and going on the road and coming away with a win.
"South Florida, 7-1, they were ranked in the top 25 this past week. They went over to Houston, and it was a lot closer score than the game indicates. It was pretty close to being an even game late in the third quarter and Houston got a couple of scores late to pull away. But you know they've got a big, huge team. This'll be the biggest team that we play. Their offensive and defensive line are gigantic. They're tall and long out in the perimeter offensively and defensively. They've done a nice job other than the Houston game finding a way to win in the fourth quarter. I think they've come from behind in wins four or five times this season. So a big, big test, playing a in a big stadium. We'll go down on Friday, practice a little bit there in Raymond James Stadium. A Tulane alum owns the Tampa Bay Bucs, so hopefully that'll give us some good luck going into that stadium."
On carryover from a strong finish against Tulsa:
"I hope it gives a lot of confidence. We've got a pretty young ballclub. Twelve guys who are on the team were here before I got here. So, we just don't have a whole lot of guys who have been through the process with us. The young guys are learning how to win as well, closing out games. I'm very impressed with Justin McMillan in his first start since he was a high school guy. I thought he showed a lot of poise. There's probably a few throws he'd like to have back. There's one on the goal line and one on fourth-and-5, but he really got out of trouble probably four or five times. You'd been worried about having a sack, and as I've said many times before, it's the quarterback, it's the offensive line, the running back, the tight ends, the receivers making sure that you stay away from those. I think this is the first game we've had where we had zero sacks. So good job by him just playing with a lot of poise in his first collegiate start, his first really extended period of time playing in a collegiate game."
On difficulty of beating USF on Saturday:
"They're all tough. We've got to play our A game in order to come away with a win. We've just got to play well in all three phases. They've got a dynamic kick return game. They've got three guys – this is really unusual – they have three guys who have had a bunch of big returns for him. So we've got to shut that down. Offensively, they'll really go and change tempos up and go a lot of fast tempo. They've got a great back in No. 20 (Johnny Ford). He's not very big but he's a powerful guy. He's quick as a cat. Defensively, they'll play a bunch of man coverage. We've got to take advantage of it. We know what we're going to get from them defensively. Some weeks we're not quite sure when we get to the game, but they're going to have a lot of confidence in their defense and we have a pretty good idea how they're going to play against us."
On the resilience of the team after a sack was called back due to a Tulane penalty, and Tulsa took a 17-7 lead on that drive instead of punting:
"That was a big play. Unfortunately we had a face mask and it would have been huge for us because I think it was going to end up being fourth-and-14 or something with a sack. But you've got to keep playing. You don't know the script for the game until the game's over. Hindsight's 20/20 and everybody can figure it out then. I'm glad we just kept playing, playing hard throughout the game. Like I said before, I'm impressed with the fact that we got the score when we needed to have a score and also got a big stop at the very end of the game. Sometimes that's eluded us."
On OL Corey Dublin's snapping penalties against Tulsa:
"You know they [Tulsa] were making a sound. Their nose guard was making a sound over there. We were trying to get the officials to hear it and call it and see it. Unfortunately after the game, their guy told our guys he got South Florida to jump a couple times as well. I went back and watched it and I saw a couple times where the guard was pointing at him. It's something – if you're a clap team – we've had it happen before here with a couple different teams have clapped. This was making a noise prior to the snap. One thing about McMillan, he claps loud. You can hear it from the upper deck. So that's something I've just got the officials aware of. That's a tough call for him to make in there. Hopefully we don't have that happen anymore."
On play of CB Jaylon Monroe:
"I thought he really stepped up and played well. That was the best look and demeanor I've seen from him. During the game he got beat on a play right after he got in. He didn't let that effect him. Corners have got to have a short memory, and he really played well throughout the rest of the game. I was really proud of his approach and how he competed in the game. He's another young guy who is starting to grow up and get a lot of meaningful minutes and get better and better."
On CB Thakarius Keyes' status:
"Oh, he started cramping and was just having a hard time warming up throughout the game. We just felt like it would be better to keep him out. Hopefully he'll be fine this week."
On TE Kendall Ardoin and WR Jacob Robertson Jr.'s status:
"I think they'll be okay this week."
On Justin McMillan's running ability:
"You know I watched his high school tape, and he had a lot of plays where he was running the football doing a nice job. Didn't do much of that at LSU in scrambling situations, but he's got really good speed. That was a really nice play by him - the 39-yard touchdown. He'd seen it happen a couple times before, we talked about it on the sideline, do you feel good about it? You've got a gap there on that side, pull it, run, he was very definitive with the decision. He went untouched into the end zone. It was a nice play by him."
On difficulty of learning when to run and when to hand off:
"Yeah, you know if you haven't done it much. Almost everyone in the country is running some type of zone read play. I think in his senior year [former Clemson QB] DeShaun Watson had 162 carries, so everybody's doing it. [Ed: Watson's final year at Clemson was his junior season in 2016 where he carried 165 times] He was a pretty good player last time I checked. It's an advantage in the college game. You just need to know when to get a first down, get a touchdown or to get down and not get hit. He'll get better and better at that."
On McMillan's passing game:
"I think sometimes it's understanding when to take something off a ball, too. Because he's got an extremely strong arm. Sometimes he throws it showing us that arm when he really doesn't need to. I know there's four or five throws he'd like to have back. If he gets those back, he had a really, really outstanding football game. He did a very, very nice job."
On McMillan's running ability and aggressiveness:
"He's got good speed, and he's a big guy too. He's 6-2/6-3, 205/210 pounds. He's got good speed. He's a competitive young man. That's good when he can do that. You've just got to pick your spots, know when you need to do that. I thought a really nice play was when he showed his poise was when we had a third-and-6 I believe, we ran kind of a cluster route with a couple of the tight ends and the back out. A lot of guys would have waited, but he hit the back, Amare Jones. He ran about 12 yards for a first down and moved the sticks. A very simple play, but sometimes you don't get that."
On McMillan's path to Tulane strengthening him as a player:
"I think he had three coordinators over there [at LSU] I believe, and a couple different head coaches. He comes from a great [high school] program. Cedar Hill is probably going to win the state championship again in Texas. He came from a great high school program with great tradition, obviously. Didn't get the job that he wanted to have over there, and I think it's a credit to him that he stuck with it and come in here and adapted to another new situation and has showed a lot of savvy. He's heard a lot of different jargon and terminology and how people call things, and he's able to pull out the important stuff that we're doing and forget about [past jargon]. That's hard sometimes. I've had eight different offensive coordinators and sometimes I start scratching my head. You've got to make sure to give him credit for being a smart young man."
On McMillan's leadership:
"The leadership, the rallying the troops, that's going to come probably after spring ball. The disadvantage of not being here for all of camp is really getting acclimated to the team and having discussions with the coaches. A lot of those things occur in the offseason and the summer more so than the fall. Just concentrate on doing your job and you'll grow into the quarterback position. We talked about that, the guys you're wanting to emulate. Obviously there's a guy in town who would be good to emulate in [New Orleans Saints QB] Drew Brees. Then you've got Watson over there and the [Dallas Cowboys QB] Dak Prescott guy and [Seattle Seahawks QB] Russell Wilson and [New England Patriots QB] Tom Brady. Those are the guys, but it takes time to build that confidence. They didn't do it in their first day or their first start."
Players Mentioned
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