"I'm excited to be along for the ride here with Coach Riley here as it's early in the process as we look to work this thing."
What did you gain from Cal week assessment?
"Yeah, it was a unique opportunity just from a timing standpoint the single game left for the guys. So I had an opportunity to go out there to a couple practices to like you said, have an opportunity to evaluate. I think it's a minimal evaluation, that's the responsible thing to do with some of the things in terms of what's being asked schematically and all those things and some guys are different stages from a health standpoint that late in the season. But I think the biggest thing as we go into this thing as we evaluate the roster, is No. 1, saying, where are we deficient? And be real honest about that evaluation. And also with that is don't simply raise a bunch of red flags or sound a bunch of alarms based on minimum evaluations. So I go back to that week and say, there's a little bit of a baseline here, you got a little bit of an understanding of who's played and keep it in that very specific category then as we come back here in these first weeks of January, now into February is evaluating based on what do they weigh on a particular day, how are they doing in the weight room, how are they doing from a conditioning standpoint and then combine that with some of the things that they've done in the past. And so with that what we need to do is make sure we're enhancing the roster, No. 1. So, ok, where are we deficient? Sometimes it's easy to identify those things. But most importantly is we gotta enhance those individuals that are in the program right now. So there's a lot to be done in a short period of time but what you saw was I think a fairly competitive group. That's something that's kind of early on in the process saying a lot of guys looking to compete which is a good starting point."
How would you explain your defensive scheme and how it's evolved?
"Yeah, I think it's constantly evolving, man. I think the game has changed. I think one of the things is you go through and we kinda took this system, the kind of core of this system when we were at the University of Missouri in the SEC, that's 10 years ago now, but it was designed as a single gap approach in terms of the defensive front. So allowing guys to play in the gaps instead of playing to the man. And what that produced was the opportunity for guys again on our defensive front to have production. We took that system out to the Pac-12 in Washington State and saw similar outcomes and similar results that way. And with that the coverage schemes that are used behind it, a lot of the times when the RPO became so prevalent in college football over the last decade, so marrying that up with that, again, single-gap mindset in the front. And then adapted it again, took it out to the Big 12 in Oklahoma. And we've seen a little bit less of the quarterback run game and more of the RPO, or what used to be what teams would dabble in now has a tendency that every single down in football there's about three plays that you have to defend. Jet sweep action, receivers going down the field, they can hand off the football and the quarterback can carry it. So in any event, as I would describe it again, single-gap approach. We use the term downhill, we want guys to play in the opponent's backfield, have an opportunity for the guys to be competitive in coverage and impede receivers' ability to run the route that is called. So we would want to put as best we can our coverage grasp and [technical term, couldn't hear] -- that's the backend approach. And ultimately what we want is the space and speed game that is college football, and obviously the same thing in the NFL, but to make sure that from a personnel standpoint that we have the speed to be very competitive to take away the space that so often offenses are trying to take advantage of."
How do you coach tackling?
"So much from a tackling standpoint, one of the things we try to hard on with our guys is there's no such thing as solo tackling. And that goes back to the (strain animal? No idea what he said). That goes back to the guy jumping the football, the gang tackle type of approach. Now, truth be told, obviously there's opportunity for solo tackles. So making sure, one, from a personnel standpoint, there's gotta be speed to put yourself in position to be on ball carriers as best you can before the play develops. Again, going back to that space and speed. Space plus speed is a major advantage from an offensive standpoint, so trying to eliminate those things. Put ourselves in a position from a schematic standpoint, personnel standpoint and simply strength to the football that we have a chance to before an opponent can get to max velocity give ourselves the best chance to put him on the ground. And then two, making sure that there's more bodies at the point of tackle than simply one. And then the final phase of things is just an elite tackle team from our approach. I know a lot of people use the phrase rugby tackle. We will be similar in that way as we go into the actual specifics. But it's a critical element, every down in football requires just that, an individual on the opposite side of the ball that's carrying the football has to go to the ground and there's no extra credit to get the ball carrier on the ground. So that's something we constantly work on. I don't know the deficiencies in the past but obviously that's something that is a constant in defensive football."
How crazy was the 24 hours after Bedlam game?
"I think, I'm still not over the fact that we didn't win that game. We won a lot of games in our time at Oklahoma and loved our time there so I appreciate you bringing up one of the losses. In any event, anytime you have an opportunity to be a part of elite leadership, that's very rare in this sport, it's not talked about enough. It so often whether it's a college head coach or coaches and character in terms of how people look at them but when you see the inner workings, when you have the opportunity to, I'll say it again, be under elite leadership as an assistant coach, that's very rare in this business. To be under elite leadership and at elite institutions, now all of a sudden that is opportunities that you don't want to pass up. So I had a tremendous opportunity to work for Coach Riley at the University of Oklahoma and a tremendous opportunity to work at another elite place in USC so very excited to do it."
What did you gain from Cal week assessment?
"Yeah, it was a unique opportunity just from a timing standpoint the single game left for the guys. So I had an opportunity to go out there to a couple practices to like you said, have an opportunity to evaluate. I think it's a minimal evaluation, that's the responsible thing to do with some of the things in terms of what's being asked schematically and all those things and some guys are different stages from a health standpoint that late in the season. But I think the biggest thing as we go into this thing as we evaluate the roster, is No. 1, saying, where are we deficient? And be real honest about that evaluation. And also with that is don't simply raise a bunch of red flags or sound a bunch of alarms based on minimum evaluations. So I go back to that week and say, there's a little bit of a baseline here, you got a little bit of an understanding of who's played and keep it in that very specific category then as we come back here in these first weeks of January, now into February is evaluating based on what do they weigh on a particular day, how are they doing in the weight room, how are they doing from a conditioning standpoint and then combine that with some of the things that they've done in the past. And so with that what we need to do is make sure we're enhancing the roster, No. 1. So, ok, where are we deficient? Sometimes it's easy to identify those things. But most importantly is we gotta enhance those individuals that are in the program right now. So there's a lot to be done in a short period of time but what you saw was I think a fairly competitive group. That's something that's kind of early on in the process saying a lot of guys looking to compete which is a good starting point."
How would you explain your defensive scheme and how it's evolved?
"Yeah, I think it's constantly evolving, man. I think the game has changed. I think one of the things is you go through and we kinda took this system, the kind of core of this system when we were at the University of Missouri in the SEC, that's 10 years ago now, but it was designed as a single gap approach in terms of the defensive front. So allowing guys to play in the gaps instead of playing to the man. And what that produced was the opportunity for guys again on our defensive front to have production. We took that system out to the Pac-12 in Washington State and saw similar outcomes and similar results that way. And with that the coverage schemes that are used behind it, a lot of the times when the RPO became so prevalent in college football over the last decade, so marrying that up with that, again, single-gap mindset in the front. And then adapted it again, took it out to the Big 12 in Oklahoma. And we've seen a little bit less of the quarterback run game and more of the RPO, or what used to be what teams would dabble in now has a tendency that every single down in football there's about three plays that you have to defend. Jet sweep action, receivers going down the field, they can hand off the football and the quarterback can carry it. So in any event, as I would describe it again, single-gap approach. We use the term downhill, we want guys to play in the opponent's backfield, have an opportunity for the guys to be competitive in coverage and impede receivers' ability to run the route that is called. So we would want to put as best we can our coverage grasp and [technical term, couldn't hear] -- that's the backend approach. And ultimately what we want is the space and speed game that is college football, and obviously the same thing in the NFL, but to make sure that from a personnel standpoint that we have the speed to be very competitive to take away the space that so often offenses are trying to take advantage of."
How do you coach tackling?
"So much from a tackling standpoint, one of the things we try to hard on with our guys is there's no such thing as solo tackling. And that goes back to the (strain animal? No idea what he said). That goes back to the guy jumping the football, the gang tackle type of approach. Now, truth be told, obviously there's opportunity for solo tackles. So making sure, one, from a personnel standpoint, there's gotta be speed to put yourself in position to be on ball carriers as best you can before the play develops. Again, going back to that space and speed. Space plus speed is a major advantage from an offensive standpoint, so trying to eliminate those things. Put ourselves in a position from a schematic standpoint, personnel standpoint and simply strength to the football that we have a chance to before an opponent can get to max velocity give ourselves the best chance to put him on the ground. And then two, making sure that there's more bodies at the point of tackle than simply one. And then the final phase of things is just an elite tackle team from our approach. I know a lot of people use the phrase rugby tackle. We will be similar in that way as we go into the actual specifics. But it's a critical element, every down in football requires just that, an individual on the opposite side of the ball that's carrying the football has to go to the ground and there's no extra credit to get the ball carrier on the ground. So that's something we constantly work on. I don't know the deficiencies in the past but obviously that's something that is a constant in defensive football."
How crazy was the 24 hours after Bedlam game?
"I think, I'm still not over the fact that we didn't win that game. We won a lot of games in our time at Oklahoma and loved our time there so I appreciate you bringing up one of the losses. In any event, anytime you have an opportunity to be a part of elite leadership, that's very rare in this sport, it's not talked about enough. It so often whether it's a college head coach or coaches and character in terms of how people look at them but when you see the inner workings, when you have the opportunity to, I'll say it again, be under elite leadership as an assistant coach, that's very rare in this business. To be under elite leadership and at elite institutions, now all of a sudden that is opportunities that you don't want to pass up. So I had a tremendous opportunity to work for Coach Riley at the University of Oklahoma and a tremendous opportunity to work at another elite place in USC so very excited to do it."
