How did Kyle Ford not approach the situation as if he were being recruited over last offseason?
"It wasn't even really a conversation. We did add several receivers. But I think that any receiver if they think they're good enough and a good player, why would you not want to play in this? With the history that we've had offensively, the quarterbacks, and then you combine that with the history of this school offensively, quarterbacks, receiver position. To me the only reason to want to leave here would be if you just don't think you're good enough deep down. Kyle has belief in himself. He did some really nice things in the spring, we were really impressed. He probably would have been teed up to play more in the first half of the season if not for getting injured in camp. He had to miss probably the complete second half of camp, and time early in the season as well. So I mean you miss that much time, other guys step up, it's just the nature of the beast. It's just the nature of competitive athletics. But he has done a good job hanging in there, working, making the most of opportunities and has really clawed himself back into it and played at a high level for us the other night. If he continues to do that, he'll continue to earn more opportunities."
Tuli has said he doesn't necessarily feel like a leader or someone who stands out from the rest of the team?
"The leader deal's interesting because you can't make somebody that they're not. And what Tuli's never going to be is he's never going to be an overly vocal leader. I don't think that's just his personality. But that doesn't mean he can't be a great leader. And in fact a lot of great leaders say very little and when they do talk it's impactful. I do think he's absolutely grown and embraced that role. There's times when we gotta get out in front and he's done it, he's talked to the team on a number of occassions, which I don't know if he would have done before. So he's got the confidence to do that and he understands that it can be impactful for this team. He's not our rah-rah guy, he's not a guy you're going to hear every day but he's had some really strong impactful moments with this team. I've seen him more vocal around his teammates, whether it's encouraging them or challenging them or anything in between. And so I've been impressed with him because he's had to get out of his comfort zone a little bit. And he's never going to be the most vocal guy in the room but we needed him to have an impact and he has and like the rest of this unit performing, leading, whatever, this closing stretch we're going to need him to have an even bigger impact."
Most impactful assistant coaches?
"I would say very difficult to separate them. I'm very thankful that USC gave us the resources to go out and hire what we felt like was a national championship-caliber staff. I look at this staff and feel like it's as strong top to bottom as any I've been a part of, from recruiting to in a lot of ways the same way the team has gelled the staff has really gelled. I mean, it's not a high-ego staff by any stretch. Guys get along, guys work well together. Just the same way, that's been the talk, the whole year, all the new players come in and how do they react in all these different situations and challenges, and same way for the staff. In a lot of ways, the staff's going to set the direction for the players and just like the players are going through new things together, in some ways we are. There's obviously some of us who have worked together but this group as a whole hasn't and obviously some people on this staff that have never worked together. I've been really proud of the way that everybody has come together. I feel like our team is progressing. I don't know that there's a position out there that I don't feel like we're making progress and doing the things that we needed to do to develop, that we're not recruiting. So yeah, long answer, I've been impressed with it. And then the other thing I would say, too, that doesn't get talked about a lot, we got a lot of really good young coaches on this staff. The GAs and the quality controls that we have have been extremely impactful for our football team, for our staff. We've got a really good group of very, very promising young guys that are going to be big-time coaches in this business and are really, really good and are making an impact here as well. So yeah it's a long answer but the staff's really done a nice job. Have we been perfect? No, we haven't, but we don't have a lot of weak links on this staff."
What progress has Raleek Brown made and what do you see for his role moving forward?
"Getting better, getting better. As we’ve said a couple times on here, it’s been good to have him back healthy the last several weeks. We’ve been able to play him a little bit, involve him on offense, involve him on special teams. He’s had some impactful plays for us, obviously. Then the great thing that’s happened is past the plays on Saturdays, he’s been able to get a lot of reps in practice. THat’s what really hurt him when he got injured. Obviously, you want all these guys to get as many game reps as they can, but the practice reps for a young guy that wasn’t here in spring ball, there’s so valuable because you just want to continue that development, right? You want to continue that knowledge. Because all of a sudden, a guy like Mike Jack or any of the guys that stepped up last week, all of a sudden, maybe they haven’t had a bunch of opportunities, but they get them on the practice field, and that big opportunity on Saturday comes up, and they’re ready for all of it. Take Bryson Shaw. That’s the difference between a freshman that gets that versus a guy like Bryson that’s played a lot of ball, didn’t have a bunch of opportunities, all of a sudden, he does and he’s got a huge role on Saturday, and he excels. We think Raleek is heading in a great direction. He’s very, very talented. Our hope is that if he continues to progress, he’ll continue to have more and more of an impact in the back half."
What's the latest on Jordan Addison, Eric Gentry and Ralen Goforth?
"Good week for em. Good week for em. Really good progress. We’ve been able to use them all a bit in the back half of the week, which has been promising. I think we’re going to be right up on the edge and have to make some tough decisions here right towards tomorrow afternoon and into gametime on where these guys are at. Been pleased with the progress. That’s been important obviously. None of these guys had ust simple, out a couple of days injuries. But a lot of improvement. The bye week obviously helped. It was good to be able to get through the last game without playing those guys and that time has certainly aided in it. So we’ll have a bunch of close calls leading into Saturday."
What is the thinking in not having a special teams coordinator?
"Ryan certainly has a big role on our staff. He’s not able to communicate with our guys on the field, but he has a big role with all of our coaches that are coordinating a special teams unit, really in a way it’s Ryan and the selected position coach that are coordinating the different units. Fortunately, we knew that we were going to do the staff this way. I don’t believe in a singular special teams coordinator. Not with the current limits on staff. If we get to a point where the staff rules change and this becomes deregulated, then that'll be something we have to reevaluate. But I’ve never believed in one coach that’s doing something for two periods of practice a day, then what’s he doing the rest of the time? Let’s have guys that are coaching guys all the time, everywhere. Not saying that way is right. There’s plenty of success stories on both sides of it, but it’s just something that we very much believe in. And having a guy like Ryan that’s been a big factor for us on special teams in terms of coordinating and helping gameplan and do all the things he does. He’s one of the more valuable guys on our staff. Then also when I put together the staff, it was sitting down and looking at – and obviously we had first hand experience with a lot of these guys, but who has coordinated special teams in the past? Who has been impactful on different units? As we put together the staff, it was with that plan in mind. It wasn’t, well, let’s get all these guys in here and figure out who can coach the kickoff team. There was a little more thought to it than that. I feel like our roles are very well defined. We have all of our bases covered in terms of who’s assigned to people and who’s coaching people. Specifically with our specialists, I don’t know many teams that came in with three new starters at the main specialist positions that have performed like our guys have, especially, you know the punting thing was up in the air obviously and had to make some last minute changes. I think our guys have by and large performed at a high level. So been pleased with the way the specialists have played. Denis’ emergence has certainly been a big factor there. So yeah, we’ll continue to go and if the rules ever change in terms of staff regulation, we’ll go back and evaluate."
"It wasn't even really a conversation. We did add several receivers. But I think that any receiver if they think they're good enough and a good player, why would you not want to play in this? With the history that we've had offensively, the quarterbacks, and then you combine that with the history of this school offensively, quarterbacks, receiver position. To me the only reason to want to leave here would be if you just don't think you're good enough deep down. Kyle has belief in himself. He did some really nice things in the spring, we were really impressed. He probably would have been teed up to play more in the first half of the season if not for getting injured in camp. He had to miss probably the complete second half of camp, and time early in the season as well. So I mean you miss that much time, other guys step up, it's just the nature of the beast. It's just the nature of competitive athletics. But he has done a good job hanging in there, working, making the most of opportunities and has really clawed himself back into it and played at a high level for us the other night. If he continues to do that, he'll continue to earn more opportunities."
Tuli has said he doesn't necessarily feel like a leader or someone who stands out from the rest of the team?
"The leader deal's interesting because you can't make somebody that they're not. And what Tuli's never going to be is he's never going to be an overly vocal leader. I don't think that's just his personality. But that doesn't mean he can't be a great leader. And in fact a lot of great leaders say very little and when they do talk it's impactful. I do think he's absolutely grown and embraced that role. There's times when we gotta get out in front and he's done it, he's talked to the team on a number of occassions, which I don't know if he would have done before. So he's got the confidence to do that and he understands that it can be impactful for this team. He's not our rah-rah guy, he's not a guy you're going to hear every day but he's had some really strong impactful moments with this team. I've seen him more vocal around his teammates, whether it's encouraging them or challenging them or anything in between. And so I've been impressed with him because he's had to get out of his comfort zone a little bit. And he's never going to be the most vocal guy in the room but we needed him to have an impact and he has and like the rest of this unit performing, leading, whatever, this closing stretch we're going to need him to have an even bigger impact."
Most impactful assistant coaches?
"I would say very difficult to separate them. I'm very thankful that USC gave us the resources to go out and hire what we felt like was a national championship-caliber staff. I look at this staff and feel like it's as strong top to bottom as any I've been a part of, from recruiting to in a lot of ways the same way the team has gelled the staff has really gelled. I mean, it's not a high-ego staff by any stretch. Guys get along, guys work well together. Just the same way, that's been the talk, the whole year, all the new players come in and how do they react in all these different situations and challenges, and same way for the staff. In a lot of ways, the staff's going to set the direction for the players and just like the players are going through new things together, in some ways we are. There's obviously some of us who have worked together but this group as a whole hasn't and obviously some people on this staff that have never worked together. I've been really proud of the way that everybody has come together. I feel like our team is progressing. I don't know that there's a position out there that I don't feel like we're making progress and doing the things that we needed to do to develop, that we're not recruiting. So yeah, long answer, I've been impressed with it. And then the other thing I would say, too, that doesn't get talked about a lot, we got a lot of really good young coaches on this staff. The GAs and the quality controls that we have have been extremely impactful for our football team, for our staff. We've got a really good group of very, very promising young guys that are going to be big-time coaches in this business and are really, really good and are making an impact here as well. So yeah it's a long answer but the staff's really done a nice job. Have we been perfect? No, we haven't, but we don't have a lot of weak links on this staff."
What progress has Raleek Brown made and what do you see for his role moving forward?
"Getting better, getting better. As we’ve said a couple times on here, it’s been good to have him back healthy the last several weeks. We’ve been able to play him a little bit, involve him on offense, involve him on special teams. He’s had some impactful plays for us, obviously. Then the great thing that’s happened is past the plays on Saturdays, he’s been able to get a lot of reps in practice. THat’s what really hurt him when he got injured. Obviously, you want all these guys to get as many game reps as they can, but the practice reps for a young guy that wasn’t here in spring ball, there’s so valuable because you just want to continue that development, right? You want to continue that knowledge. Because all of a sudden, a guy like Mike Jack or any of the guys that stepped up last week, all of a sudden, maybe they haven’t had a bunch of opportunities, but they get them on the practice field, and that big opportunity on Saturday comes up, and they’re ready for all of it. Take Bryson Shaw. That’s the difference between a freshman that gets that versus a guy like Bryson that’s played a lot of ball, didn’t have a bunch of opportunities, all of a sudden, he does and he’s got a huge role on Saturday, and he excels. We think Raleek is heading in a great direction. He’s very, very talented. Our hope is that if he continues to progress, he’ll continue to have more and more of an impact in the back half."
What's the latest on Jordan Addison, Eric Gentry and Ralen Goforth?
"Good week for em. Good week for em. Really good progress. We’ve been able to use them all a bit in the back half of the week, which has been promising. I think we’re going to be right up on the edge and have to make some tough decisions here right towards tomorrow afternoon and into gametime on where these guys are at. Been pleased with the progress. That’s been important obviously. None of these guys had ust simple, out a couple of days injuries. But a lot of improvement. The bye week obviously helped. It was good to be able to get through the last game without playing those guys and that time has certainly aided in it. So we’ll have a bunch of close calls leading into Saturday."
What is the thinking in not having a special teams coordinator?
"Ryan certainly has a big role on our staff. He’s not able to communicate with our guys on the field, but he has a big role with all of our coaches that are coordinating a special teams unit, really in a way it’s Ryan and the selected position coach that are coordinating the different units. Fortunately, we knew that we were going to do the staff this way. I don’t believe in a singular special teams coordinator. Not with the current limits on staff. If we get to a point where the staff rules change and this becomes deregulated, then that'll be something we have to reevaluate. But I’ve never believed in one coach that’s doing something for two periods of practice a day, then what’s he doing the rest of the time? Let’s have guys that are coaching guys all the time, everywhere. Not saying that way is right. There’s plenty of success stories on both sides of it, but it’s just something that we very much believe in. And having a guy like Ryan that’s been a big factor for us on special teams in terms of coordinating and helping gameplan and do all the things he does. He’s one of the more valuable guys on our staff. Then also when I put together the staff, it was sitting down and looking at – and obviously we had first hand experience with a lot of these guys, but who has coordinated special teams in the past? Who has been impactful on different units? As we put together the staff, it was with that plan in mind. It wasn’t, well, let’s get all these guys in here and figure out who can coach the kickoff team. There was a little more thought to it than that. I feel like our roles are very well defined. We have all of our bases covered in terms of who’s assigned to people and who’s coaching people. Specifically with our specialists, I don’t know many teams that came in with three new starters at the main specialist positions that have performed like our guys have, especially, you know the punting thing was up in the air obviously and had to make some last minute changes. I think our guys have by and large performed at a high level. So been pleased with the way the specialists have played. Denis’ emergence has certainly been a big factor there. So yeah, we’ll continue to go and if the rules ever change in terms of staff regulation, we’ll go back and evaluate."
