I think the most important thing about a week like this is we've got to have grit to keep doing the things that you need to do until you get it done. Focus on the things you focus on the longest, you usually will be the strongest at. The thing that we need to focus on right now is improvement. There's errors that we can continue to make in games are correctible things that would be very beneficial to us that we need to eliminate. Hopefully we do that by repetitions. I always tell the players you don't do something until you get it right, you do it and do it and do it until you can't get it wrong. Some of it is focus, some of it is discipline, some of it is attention to detail. We had eight penalties in the game that were false starts, offsides on defense, unforced errors, I call them, and things that we need to do a better job of having discipline and attention to detail so that we don't help the other team.
I think that the key thing for us right now is you can't fall in love with what you've done. You've got to focus on the future and the challenges that you have. There's nothing that you've done in the past that's going to help you in the future other than the experience that you got, the learning experiences that you got to try to help you get better.
The practice was good today. I was happy with the players in terms of what they were able to do. It's great that Jonathan Allen was recognized. I'd like to congratulate him as SEC player of the week, Bednarik national player of the week. LOTT Trophy player of the week. He had a great game, did some great things and certainly contributed to the team's success.
Eddie's surgery went really, really well. He should have no future problems. Very similar to the surgery that he had a few years before, which he came back and played on for two years and had no problems with. These are not related injuries. He's going to be fine. This will not affect his future in any way, shape or form.
We're going to practice the next few days and then we'll give the players a couple of days off for the weekend and kind of go from there.
ASSESS BOZEMAN'S PLAY
Bradley's done a really good job for us, and I think he's gotten more confident making calls and getting us to block the right guys. A good understanding of who we need to block up front and what we need to do. I think he's done a very efficient job for us all year long, so we're really pleased with the job that he's done.
BLAKE SIMS SCOUT TEAM:
Blake just got released so he was looking for some place to work so he had a chance to get better. Based on our situation at quarterback and the kind of guy we were playing against, it was really convenient to have him here to help us last week.
We try to stay on top of the rules. We have people in our administration who do a good job of letting us know what we can and can't do and we would never do something like that unless we got it approved by the SEC office, which we did, and the NCAA. I think it was helpful to Blake.
STAY SOUND AGAINST LSU-TYPE TEAM
That's one of the things that we're going to have to do a good job of because we probably don't have as many big guys as we've had in the past, because we were built in the past for teams like LSU who were I-formation, run downhill, very physical offensive line. We're going to have to do a really good job with our guys up front. I think we've got some guys that can hang in there and play that type of game. Some of them played last year. It'll be a challenge for us, but I think it all starts with the interior people holding the point and the linebackers doing a good job of reading the play. You've got to do a good job of tackling. You've got to do a good job of playing team defense when you play against a team like LSU, who's very good at running the ball and has got two great backs, really. This will be a big challenge for us. Last year, we had enough speed that we could play the spread teams and we had enough big guys that we could do the other thing. This year we don't have quite as much depth in that regard, but I still think we've got guys that can play it.
ON AVERY JOHNSON, ADVICE YOU GAVE HIM AND VICE VERSA
One of the things that I told him when he came here was regardless of the fact that he played 13 years in the league at point guard, that if he wanted to play noontime basketball with us hewas going to have to move over to two guard and play off the ball because I was the point guard. That's the first lesson he had to learn, and he was good about it. Nah, Avery's been great, man. He's really been helpful to us. He's been a great addition to the community. We talk a lot philosophically about players. He's used some of the programs that we've used that have helped our players make better choices and decisions. He's very open to sharing his ideas and thoughts on what has helped him be successful because he has some great experience. We've tried to do the same thing to help him. Whether we have or not, I can't tell you that. Having a good relationship with the basketball coach, I think, is really helpful. It's probably the most recognized program here, and we want it to be successful and we want him to be successful and we want the women's basketball program to be successful. We want all the programs to be successful, and we try to help them all. Avery's a special guy. Hopefully he can get things going here and I think he's doing a great job.
SELF-SCOUT: GREATEST NEED IMPROVEMENT
I think that there's specific things that we look at, whether it's how we play the run statistically against a certain front, how we play a coverage statistically versus certain formations. What our efficiency is in the red zone. What our efficiency offensively is in the red zone. You can take just about everything that you have and you break it down and look at it and try to figure out how you can improve it, how you can coach it better. I think that one of the things that we have as a goal this week is to try to work hard on the passing game, be a little more efficient getting the ball to our explosive guys down the field, which to me is not just about the quarterback. It's about the protection. It's about the route runners. It's about quarterback reads. It's about timing. It's about a lot of things that need to come together. But we analyze every running play that we have, what's our average, what's our efficiency. There's a difference between average and efficiency, because if you have one 75-yard play and then 10 zero plays, it's not very good efficiency but it's still a pretty good average. We kind of break it down both ways, see if it's something that we're coaching that we need to do better or how can we do what we're doing in a better way.
MINKAH AT SAFETY?:
We're trying to get the best combination of players on the field that we can in every personnel group that we play, so we're doing a little experimenting this week and probably after this week we'll decide what's the best way for us to go.
PRAISE FOR EVOLVING AS COACH, ACCEPTING OTHER OFFENSES AND PARTS OF GAME
I never thought I was a conservative coach to start with. This is not something that we just did this year. We did a lot of the stuff that we're doing now when Blake Sims was the quarterback, and it was very effective and I think we had the best offense in the history of the school. I think what we try to do _ I think what Lane tries to do, what I try to do, what we all philosophically try to do _ is what can our players do the best? When you start with the quarterback, I think that's the most important guy in terms of what he can do best. I think if there's anything that we've done fairly well, whether it was with Jalen this year, Jake last year, Blake the year before, AJ when he was here, Greg McElroy when he was here.... We've always done a pretty good job of what that guy can do and trying to feature the good players that we have around him. Hopefully those things match up. We feel like we've got some really explosive receivers that we'd like to get more involved than what's going on and make some explosive plays. That's something that I think we need to work on more. We're controlling the ball, we're doing a pretty good job, and think we're doing what our players can do. But I think we need to do more in terms of getting other people involved.
LSU: HOW MUCH TOUGHER PREPARE WITH COACHING CHANGE
We're going to look at what they did prior to and after the coaching change, but we have a lot of respect for their players, their coaches, for coach Orgeron and what he's done in the past and how they've played since he's been the coach. And they have played really, really well. This is going to be a really tough game for us. They're probably playing as well as anybody in our league, for sure, right now. It's a little different style that we have to play against that we haven't played against a lot this year. That in and of itself is a really difficult preparation. They are doing some things differently but it's not really stuff that we have never seen before. But they have really good players. That's the biggest problem. They've got really good receivers. The quarterback's playing well for them. They've got two really, really good runners. The tight ends can block really well and are athletic and they've got a really good offensive line. Their defense is one of the best in our league. They're well coached. They play a new scheme on defense this year. That hasn't changed at all. It's a good team.
JONATHAN ALLEN FOR HEISMAN?
Well, he has a lot of great attributes as a player. If he continues to finish the year like he's played all year long, which he's been fabulous for us, he'll get some national accolades. I think the Heisman Trophy is a very coveted award that if you look at it through the years has gone to, for whatever reasons, mostly skill players. Sometimes linemen get a little bit left out or overlooked. I'm not saying that will or won't happen. I hope he does get considered and I think he would be a great candidate for it.
I think that the key thing for us right now is you can't fall in love with what you've done. You've got to focus on the future and the challenges that you have. There's nothing that you've done in the past that's going to help you in the future other than the experience that you got, the learning experiences that you got to try to help you get better.
The practice was good today. I was happy with the players in terms of what they were able to do. It's great that Jonathan Allen was recognized. I'd like to congratulate him as SEC player of the week, Bednarik national player of the week. LOTT Trophy player of the week. He had a great game, did some great things and certainly contributed to the team's success.
Eddie's surgery went really, really well. He should have no future problems. Very similar to the surgery that he had a few years before, which he came back and played on for two years and had no problems with. These are not related injuries. He's going to be fine. This will not affect his future in any way, shape or form.
We're going to practice the next few days and then we'll give the players a couple of days off for the weekend and kind of go from there.
ASSESS BOZEMAN'S PLAY
Bradley's done a really good job for us, and I think he's gotten more confident making calls and getting us to block the right guys. A good understanding of who we need to block up front and what we need to do. I think he's done a very efficient job for us all year long, so we're really pleased with the job that he's done.
BLAKE SIMS SCOUT TEAM:
Blake just got released so he was looking for some place to work so he had a chance to get better. Based on our situation at quarterback and the kind of guy we were playing against, it was really convenient to have him here to help us last week.
We try to stay on top of the rules. We have people in our administration who do a good job of letting us know what we can and can't do and we would never do something like that unless we got it approved by the SEC office, which we did, and the NCAA. I think it was helpful to Blake.
STAY SOUND AGAINST LSU-TYPE TEAM
That's one of the things that we're going to have to do a good job of because we probably don't have as many big guys as we've had in the past, because we were built in the past for teams like LSU who were I-formation, run downhill, very physical offensive line. We're going to have to do a really good job with our guys up front. I think we've got some guys that can hang in there and play that type of game. Some of them played last year. It'll be a challenge for us, but I think it all starts with the interior people holding the point and the linebackers doing a good job of reading the play. You've got to do a good job of tackling. You've got to do a good job of playing team defense when you play against a team like LSU, who's very good at running the ball and has got two great backs, really. This will be a big challenge for us. Last year, we had enough speed that we could play the spread teams and we had enough big guys that we could do the other thing. This year we don't have quite as much depth in that regard, but I still think we've got guys that can play it.
ON AVERY JOHNSON, ADVICE YOU GAVE HIM AND VICE VERSA
One of the things that I told him when he came here was regardless of the fact that he played 13 years in the league at point guard, that if he wanted to play noontime basketball with us hewas going to have to move over to two guard and play off the ball because I was the point guard. That's the first lesson he had to learn, and he was good about it. Nah, Avery's been great, man. He's really been helpful to us. He's been a great addition to the community. We talk a lot philosophically about players. He's used some of the programs that we've used that have helped our players make better choices and decisions. He's very open to sharing his ideas and thoughts on what has helped him be successful because he has some great experience. We've tried to do the same thing to help him. Whether we have or not, I can't tell you that. Having a good relationship with the basketball coach, I think, is really helpful. It's probably the most recognized program here, and we want it to be successful and we want him to be successful and we want the women's basketball program to be successful. We want all the programs to be successful, and we try to help them all. Avery's a special guy. Hopefully he can get things going here and I think he's doing a great job.
SELF-SCOUT: GREATEST NEED IMPROVEMENT
I think that there's specific things that we look at, whether it's how we play the run statistically against a certain front, how we play a coverage statistically versus certain formations. What our efficiency is in the red zone. What our efficiency offensively is in the red zone. You can take just about everything that you have and you break it down and look at it and try to figure out how you can improve it, how you can coach it better. I think that one of the things that we have as a goal this week is to try to work hard on the passing game, be a little more efficient getting the ball to our explosive guys down the field, which to me is not just about the quarterback. It's about the protection. It's about the route runners. It's about quarterback reads. It's about timing. It's about a lot of things that need to come together. But we analyze every running play that we have, what's our average, what's our efficiency. There's a difference between average and efficiency, because if you have one 75-yard play and then 10 zero plays, it's not very good efficiency but it's still a pretty good average. We kind of break it down both ways, see if it's something that we're coaching that we need to do better or how can we do what we're doing in a better way.
MINKAH AT SAFETY?:
We're trying to get the best combination of players on the field that we can in every personnel group that we play, so we're doing a little experimenting this week and probably after this week we'll decide what's the best way for us to go.
PRAISE FOR EVOLVING AS COACH, ACCEPTING OTHER OFFENSES AND PARTS OF GAME
I never thought I was a conservative coach to start with. This is not something that we just did this year. We did a lot of the stuff that we're doing now when Blake Sims was the quarterback, and it was very effective and I think we had the best offense in the history of the school. I think what we try to do _ I think what Lane tries to do, what I try to do, what we all philosophically try to do _ is what can our players do the best? When you start with the quarterback, I think that's the most important guy in terms of what he can do best. I think if there's anything that we've done fairly well, whether it was with Jalen this year, Jake last year, Blake the year before, AJ when he was here, Greg McElroy when he was here.... We've always done a pretty good job of what that guy can do and trying to feature the good players that we have around him. Hopefully those things match up. We feel like we've got some really explosive receivers that we'd like to get more involved than what's going on and make some explosive plays. That's something that I think we need to work on more. We're controlling the ball, we're doing a pretty good job, and think we're doing what our players can do. But I think we need to do more in terms of getting other people involved.
LSU: HOW MUCH TOUGHER PREPARE WITH COACHING CHANGE
We're going to look at what they did prior to and after the coaching change, but we have a lot of respect for their players, their coaches, for coach Orgeron and what he's done in the past and how they've played since he's been the coach. And they have played really, really well. This is going to be a really tough game for us. They're probably playing as well as anybody in our league, for sure, right now. It's a little different style that we have to play against that we haven't played against a lot this year. That in and of itself is a really difficult preparation. They are doing some things differently but it's not really stuff that we have never seen before. But they have really good players. That's the biggest problem. They've got really good receivers. The quarterback's playing well for them. They've got two really, really good runners. The tight ends can block really well and are athletic and they've got a really good offensive line. Their defense is one of the best in our league. They're well coached. They play a new scheme on defense this year. That hasn't changed at all. It's a good team.
JONATHAN ALLEN FOR HEISMAN?
Well, he has a lot of great attributes as a player. If he continues to finish the year like he's played all year long, which he's been fabulous for us, he'll get some national accolades. I think the Heisman Trophy is a very coveted award that if you look at it through the years has gone to, for whatever reasons, mostly skill players. Sometimes linemen get a little bit left out or overlooked. I'm not saying that will or won't happen. I hope he does get considered and I think he would be a great candidate for it.
