VIDEO
The highlights:
OPENING STATEMENT
"We had a really good practice yesterday. Continued with good preparation today. This is the kind of team that I think tries to beat you with execution, good fundamental football. They do what they do extremely well and when you play teams like that, it's even more important that you can execute over and over and over again because if you don't, you're going to have to pay for it because they're going to be very fundamentally sound in what they do. This will be a challenge for us defensively because we haven't played against a lot of regular people this year. When I say regular, I'm talking about a tight end and two backs, two wide receivers. They have a very good running game and a very good play action game so to get our players to respond to that, we're going to have to continue to get good work for the rest of this week.
"Defensively, they've got eight starters back and they do a really good job of executing and it's going to be important that we do a better job than we did last year for three quarters. Obviously the year before we struggled, so playing on the road is always more difficult for the offense. We're working on the noise and trying to get that worked out but the defense has to travel and defense has to play well. I thnk in games like this, special teams is always very, very important.
"We don't really have any new injuries or anything to report. So everybody is OK and moving in the right direction."
With Blake Barnett's departure, have you thought about reducing designed runs for Jalen?
"We have confidence in Cooper Bateman. He's been a backup quarterback for us in the past and has some experience and has a similar skill set. We certainly don't want to do anything that would get our quarterback injured in any way, shape or form. But I think his skill set is what it is and we have to use the things that he can do effectively in our offense. We continue to try to make improvements in the passing game. I think one of Jalen's great assets as a player is that he can make plays with his feet and I don't think we can totally inhibit him from doing that. I guess if he gets injured doing it, then it'll my fault. I guess if he gets injured by sitting in the pocket throwing a pass, then it's OK. (It's) football. I don't worry about guys getting hurt. We're going to do what we have to do to try to give ourselves the best chance to be successful and give him the best chance to be successful."
What have you seen from Bradley Bozeman this season?
"I think Bradley has done a really good job, making the transition to being the starting center and I think each week he has played better and better. I think with the position goes the leadership role that he's sort of embraced and taken ownership, making calls, doing the right things, getting people to work together up front. So I've been very encouraged by that and the improvement that he's made and the improvement we've made up front because of it."
Ronnie Harrison dropping the ball on Saturday on his touchdown. Did you notice that and did you address it?
"Yeah, absolutely. We addressed it before the game ever started and we showed the whole team that play."
How have some of your other defensive linemen in the second wave like Joshua Frazier developed?
"We're working hard with those guys. Josh has done a good job of playing nose guard. We haven't played a lot of regular people where the nose guard plays a lot but he has played some in nickel and improved. Worked hard and got his weight down and moves a little better, the pass rush is a little better. I think in a game like this, he's going to get a lot of opportunity to be in there. This is his kind of game. He's done a really good job. Johnny Dwight, we're trying to work with and develop him. Raekwon is still developing. I think Dakota Ball has done a good job all year long. We just have to keep working with these guys so that they can be more consistent in how they play, technique-wise as well as understanding assignments and being able to execute them on a consistent basis."
The NCAA DI council made several recommendations today, including one for the 10th assistant coach. Could you revisit your thoughts on that?
"I think one of the big things is that for the number of players we have involved, if you do the player-coach ration in any sport, football is the least. I mean, we have the most players but ratio-wise, we have the least number of coaches. I think it's always difficult with nine to break up your staff in a way… Special teams has become a really important part of the game and for a guy to try and coach a position and be a special teams coach is really, really difficult. So I've been an advocate so that we could have a special teams coach. I think it would help from a numbers standpoint in terms of ratio. Then you'd have five coaches on offense and four on defense and I think it's much more workable staff-wise if you have it that way.
"The one thing that I was informed of before we came in here was the proposal on early signing dates. I am absolutely, positively against any kind of early signing date, especially a June signing date, before a guy plays his senior year. If we want to have an early signing date after the season, then, I would be more for that. But we moved the recruiting calendar forward, which creates lots of issues and problems when it comes to not only evaluation of a guy as a player, but more important is the evaluation of his character – what kind of person he is, what’s his academic status, does he have his academic requirements up to his junior year, what’s his test score – do you’re trying to make decisions about guys way ahead. You know I’ve always talked about football being a developmental game. That doesn’t give a guy who’s a little bit of a late bloomer, that maybe does a good job during camp over the summer, and has a really good senior season – there’s going to be more and more guys signing early, and more guys visiting, well have guys visiting in the summer … I just, I really don’t, I don’t get that. I just don’t really get that.
If that existed would you have a player like Joshua Jacobs on the roster this season?
"Probably not. Because we would probably be full, and that’s what I’m talking about. We would probably make some academic, character and maybe evaluation mistakes, because you aren’t even seeing a guy play during his senior season. The other thing from a high school coaches’ standpoint, I mean what is really the guy’s motivation to play, and really work hard to get better to play for his team in his senior year. So I … I don’t … I know that guys making commitments doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot, I think we just kind of accept that, we keep recruiting. I think that whole early commitment thing is largely a thing that’s been created by the attention that players get, from a media standpoint. I think it is what it is. Ultimately, every player should have the opportunity to make official visits, to develop relationships, and now you’re doing that earlier, and earlier and earlier. I just don’t … I don’t see it. I agree with Urban Meyer on this one. He wrote like a three-page of a scenario of why we wouldn’t want to do this. I’m 100, total, percent in agreement with what his assessments are."
How much of the playbook is available to Jalen?
"First of all, we’re trying to execute and not do more than what Jalen is capable of doing. I think it’s important that we get a lot of repetitions and we decide early in the week what we’re going to do offensively so we can go practice it. I think that’s true for all players. I think when you have a young quarterback that’s especially important. What we’re talking about, basically, is you have a play call, you have a pattern that develops, and the guy has to read, sometimes whether the middle of the field open, whether the middle of the field is closed, as to which side he’s going to throw the ball to. So that’s one of the things that we think about. Other times you’re just trying to limit the side of the field he’s going to throw the ball to, he’s reading some kind of a high-low, which is a little bit easier for him to do. He’s a very bright guy, I think he get it. He just needs turns so that he can get the kind of experience to feel comfortable and confident in doing this, sort of that same old over and over and over and over thing. Everyone thinks that you practice something to get it right. You really practice it until you can’t get it wrong. There’s a difference in that."
Did it take much convincing to get Eddie Jackson to switch to DB in college?
"No. I don’t know what Eddie would say if you asked him, but Eddie’s always pretty much always done whatever we’ve asked him to do. He played corner to start with, and then we asked him to move to safety because we needed him to play safety, and he went right in there and never said a word, just did a good job and learned how to do it, and it turned out to be a pretty good move for him. He’s been a really good player for us, and also a good leader. We kind of recruited him with the idea that he’d be a defensive back and I think he kind of came here with that idea. I think everybody in high school likes playing offense, likes scoring touchdowns, likes catching passes –largely because most of you guys write about that more than somebody who plays defense."
The highlights:
- No new injuries. Sounds like everyone is in good shape for Arkansas.
- Yes, he's aware of Ronnie Harrison's dropped ball on his return on Saturday. He addressed it with the team during film review.
- Doesn't sound like there's going to be major changes to the offense and designed runs for Jalen Hurts after losing Blake Barnett. He didn't say there won't be any changes but they're sure not eliminating them.
- Two key points about the recommendations to change some rules in D1 football:
- Saban reiterated his support for a 10th full-time on-field assistant. "Special teams has become a really important part of the game and for a guy to try and coach a position and be a special teams coach is really, really difficult. So I've been an advocate so that we could have a special teams coach."
- Said again that he's against the idea of an early signing period. He says he just accepts that commitments don't mean a guy's recruitment is done. With an early signing period where 20 players sign in July or August before the season, they probably wouldn't have gotten Joshua Jacobs: "Probably not. Because we would probably be full, and that’s what I’m talking about. We would probably make some academic, character and maybe evaluation mistakes, because you aren’t even seeing a guy play during his senior season."
OPENING STATEMENT
"We had a really good practice yesterday. Continued with good preparation today. This is the kind of team that I think tries to beat you with execution, good fundamental football. They do what they do extremely well and when you play teams like that, it's even more important that you can execute over and over and over again because if you don't, you're going to have to pay for it because they're going to be very fundamentally sound in what they do. This will be a challenge for us defensively because we haven't played against a lot of regular people this year. When I say regular, I'm talking about a tight end and two backs, two wide receivers. They have a very good running game and a very good play action game so to get our players to respond to that, we're going to have to continue to get good work for the rest of this week.
"Defensively, they've got eight starters back and they do a really good job of executing and it's going to be important that we do a better job than we did last year for three quarters. Obviously the year before we struggled, so playing on the road is always more difficult for the offense. We're working on the noise and trying to get that worked out but the defense has to travel and defense has to play well. I thnk in games like this, special teams is always very, very important.
"We don't really have any new injuries or anything to report. So everybody is OK and moving in the right direction."
With Blake Barnett's departure, have you thought about reducing designed runs for Jalen?
"We have confidence in Cooper Bateman. He's been a backup quarterback for us in the past and has some experience and has a similar skill set. We certainly don't want to do anything that would get our quarterback injured in any way, shape or form. But I think his skill set is what it is and we have to use the things that he can do effectively in our offense. We continue to try to make improvements in the passing game. I think one of Jalen's great assets as a player is that he can make plays with his feet and I don't think we can totally inhibit him from doing that. I guess if he gets injured doing it, then it'll my fault. I guess if he gets injured by sitting in the pocket throwing a pass, then it's OK. (It's) football. I don't worry about guys getting hurt. We're going to do what we have to do to try to give ourselves the best chance to be successful and give him the best chance to be successful."
What have you seen from Bradley Bozeman this season?
"I think Bradley has done a really good job, making the transition to being the starting center and I think each week he has played better and better. I think with the position goes the leadership role that he's sort of embraced and taken ownership, making calls, doing the right things, getting people to work together up front. So I've been very encouraged by that and the improvement that he's made and the improvement we've made up front because of it."
Ronnie Harrison dropping the ball on Saturday on his touchdown. Did you notice that and did you address it?
"Yeah, absolutely. We addressed it before the game ever started and we showed the whole team that play."
How have some of your other defensive linemen in the second wave like Joshua Frazier developed?
"We're working hard with those guys. Josh has done a good job of playing nose guard. We haven't played a lot of regular people where the nose guard plays a lot but he has played some in nickel and improved. Worked hard and got his weight down and moves a little better, the pass rush is a little better. I think in a game like this, he's going to get a lot of opportunity to be in there. This is his kind of game. He's done a really good job. Johnny Dwight, we're trying to work with and develop him. Raekwon is still developing. I think Dakota Ball has done a good job all year long. We just have to keep working with these guys so that they can be more consistent in how they play, technique-wise as well as understanding assignments and being able to execute them on a consistent basis."
The NCAA DI council made several recommendations today, including one for the 10th assistant coach. Could you revisit your thoughts on that?
"I think one of the big things is that for the number of players we have involved, if you do the player-coach ration in any sport, football is the least. I mean, we have the most players but ratio-wise, we have the least number of coaches. I think it's always difficult with nine to break up your staff in a way… Special teams has become a really important part of the game and for a guy to try and coach a position and be a special teams coach is really, really difficult. So I've been an advocate so that we could have a special teams coach. I think it would help from a numbers standpoint in terms of ratio. Then you'd have five coaches on offense and four on defense and I think it's much more workable staff-wise if you have it that way.
"The one thing that I was informed of before we came in here was the proposal on early signing dates. I am absolutely, positively against any kind of early signing date, especially a June signing date, before a guy plays his senior year. If we want to have an early signing date after the season, then, I would be more for that. But we moved the recruiting calendar forward, which creates lots of issues and problems when it comes to not only evaluation of a guy as a player, but more important is the evaluation of his character – what kind of person he is, what’s his academic status, does he have his academic requirements up to his junior year, what’s his test score – do you’re trying to make decisions about guys way ahead. You know I’ve always talked about football being a developmental game. That doesn’t give a guy who’s a little bit of a late bloomer, that maybe does a good job during camp over the summer, and has a really good senior season – there’s going to be more and more guys signing early, and more guys visiting, well have guys visiting in the summer … I just, I really don’t, I don’t get that. I just don’t really get that.
If that existed would you have a player like Joshua Jacobs on the roster this season?
"Probably not. Because we would probably be full, and that’s what I’m talking about. We would probably make some academic, character and maybe evaluation mistakes, because you aren’t even seeing a guy play during his senior season. The other thing from a high school coaches’ standpoint, I mean what is really the guy’s motivation to play, and really work hard to get better to play for his team in his senior year. So I … I don’t … I know that guys making commitments doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot, I think we just kind of accept that, we keep recruiting. I think that whole early commitment thing is largely a thing that’s been created by the attention that players get, from a media standpoint. I think it is what it is. Ultimately, every player should have the opportunity to make official visits, to develop relationships, and now you’re doing that earlier, and earlier and earlier. I just don’t … I don’t see it. I agree with Urban Meyer on this one. He wrote like a three-page of a scenario of why we wouldn’t want to do this. I’m 100, total, percent in agreement with what his assessments are."
How much of the playbook is available to Jalen?
"First of all, we’re trying to execute and not do more than what Jalen is capable of doing. I think it’s important that we get a lot of repetitions and we decide early in the week what we’re going to do offensively so we can go practice it. I think that’s true for all players. I think when you have a young quarterback that’s especially important. What we’re talking about, basically, is you have a play call, you have a pattern that develops, and the guy has to read, sometimes whether the middle of the field open, whether the middle of the field is closed, as to which side he’s going to throw the ball to. So that’s one of the things that we think about. Other times you’re just trying to limit the side of the field he’s going to throw the ball to, he’s reading some kind of a high-low, which is a little bit easier for him to do. He’s a very bright guy, I think he get it. He just needs turns so that he can get the kind of experience to feel comfortable and confident in doing this, sort of that same old over and over and over and over thing. Everyone thinks that you practice something to get it right. You really practice it until you can’t get it wrong. There’s a difference in that."
Did it take much convincing to get Eddie Jackson to switch to DB in college?
"No. I don’t know what Eddie would say if you asked him, but Eddie’s always pretty much always done whatever we’ve asked him to do. He played corner to start with, and then we asked him to move to safety because we needed him to play safety, and he went right in there and never said a word, just did a good job and learned how to do it, and it turned out to be a pretty good move for him. He’s been a really good player for us, and also a good leader. We kind of recruited him with the idea that he’d be a defensive back and I think he kind of came here with that idea. I think everybody in high school likes playing offense, likes scoring touchdowns, likes catching passes –largely because most of you guys write about that more than somebody who plays defense."
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