Woody Marks has already set career-highs for rushing attempts and yards -- did you envision him as that kind of volume workhorse when you were pursuing him in the portal?
"The tape suggested that he definitely could be. He’d had a few issues early in his career staying healthy, so we tried to do our due diligence on that. That was definitely a big point of emphasis when he came in was just making sure that we were doing everything possible from a training perspective, from not just in the training room when you get hurt, but doing everything possible to keep your body in as good of a position [as possible], and that was really kind of challenge for all of us was you’ve got some injuries that happen that – listen they’re going to happen no matter, sometimes things happen in this game. And then, at times, there are things that happen that are preventative. You can try to swing the odds in your favor by the way you work, your professionalism, the quality of rest, how you take of your body, all of that. We really challenged him and our group on that. Because when you turn on the tape and watch the guys game, it felt like he could certainly be an every-down back and someone we’d have the chance to rely on throughout the season.
Do you expect Gino Quinones to petition for an extra year of eligibility?
"My understanding is he’s going to try to. He’s got a year left either way. He’s working to try to determine if that’s one or two. So we’ll see obviously how that unfolds. The second group, we’ve definitely been aided by Killian getting back. Losing him early in the season definitely factored into some things. We stayed pretty healthy with the first unit, so we haven’t had a ton of moving parts there. We’ve been fortunate that way. But you know, Killian has taken a lot of reps. Justin Taunauu has taken a lot of reps – we’ve been really pleased with his progress. Tobias Raymond has taken a lot of reps – also very pleased with his progress as well. I think he’s one of the more improved players on our entire roster. Amos has continued taking a lot of reps, and one of the guys that’s really stepped up is Kaleb Miller. We’ve been really proud of his development. He’s got a real chance here as time goes on, does some really good things. Banuelos has been out for a while, but had a chance to get him, Makai Saina, to get those guys out on the practice field in the last week to 10 days which has kind of bolstered the second unit some and certainly our scout teams as well. Honestly our depth there right now is probably as good as its been. Lolo is back off of injury as well. It’s probably the best it’s been since even before training camp. So in a good place there.
Will you carve out to time for players to go vote Tuesday?
"We will. We will. Fortunate for us, it hits on a bye week. So we’ll carve out time. I’m not a very political person, individually. But I want to not miss my opportunity or, maybe I guess, my responsibility to educate and create opportunities for the guys that certainly want to vote and that we don’t hold them back. And maybe the opposite – we help give them the ability to do it. That’s part of our job as educators and leaders to – don’t ever try to sway anybody on who they should vote for, if they should vote, but I do want them to be educated, be able to make that choice themselves and have the opportunity, for sure.
What has gone into using less tempo on offense this season?
"It’s been a little bit week to week. Some of that is based on how you want to try to attack opponents. Some of it is based on your personnel. And then I think the added benefit, maybe, of being the play caller and also the head coach is there’s an overall perspective to that too, right? The depth of your team, the matchups on all sides of the ball, and do you feel like from an overall perspective, not just offensively, does that figure in to how you think it best to give yourself an opportunity to win games. We’re definitely not against it. We haven’t done it as much this year. And that hasn’t all been offensive reasons. Some of it has just been matchups and some of the other things I mentioned. WE want to be able to have the ability to do it, but it certainly, just the way we’ve evolved, hasn’t been something we’ve learned on. But hopefully we can keep improving on it and do some good with it because it is a good weapon."
What’s personal philosophy on kinds of talent you want to acquire in pass-rush, and how are you personally invested in recruiting that?
“Well, I think, yeah, I think – when you talk about rushing the passer, there’s a lot of different ways to get there, right. I think the first thing people think of is you think of, like, maybe the really athletic edge guys that can win with speed or can win those one-on-ones against tackles on the edges. Which, that’s, that’s definitely, it’s a viable part. I mean, I think that’s one for us that as we look ahead, we feel like we need a few more of those guys on this roster. The majority of guys that we have on the roster are either young and have some of that edge ability like we saw last week, and most of our older guys, those skillsets are a little bit varying – and so, I know we want to have a few more of those skillsets. And certainly, the more impactful thing I’ve always felt is when you’ve got a guy that can rush the passer from the interior. Because then it’s not, obviously the sacks and all that are great, but when you start pushing that pocket or creating pressure up the middle as opposed to around the edges, I mean it’s – neither make it easy on the quarterback, but any quarterback would rather have edge pressure than something he can’t step up into or maybe have the ability to escape and scramble. And so, continuing to develop our interior bodies to not only be stout against the run but to be able to win, to push the pocket and affect the quarterback, and from an interior standpoint.
"In terms of recruiting, yeah, I mean, I think – I mean, listen, we recruit every position hard. I don’t know there’s any position that we spend more time recruiting on than guys on the defensive front, because we know obviously how important they are to any football team. And again, when you’re talking about a complete remake on the D-line in every way possible, that’s, that’s one of those things that – we’ve obviously made progress this year in a lot of ways, but that’s, like I told you guys when we first, we hired this defensive staff and we brought Coach Lynn in, his system, we brought Henny in, I mean, it’s a change in every way that you can change. And so, not just installing the system, not just putting the weight on some of the guys and some of the philosophical changes from a training standpoint within the program, but certainly it’s going to be continuing to add those body types on the edge and on the interior. And they’re always – you could argue, one of the toughest, if not the toughest position to recruit. Because there’s not many great ones, and they’re typically in high demand. Now, we’re really excited about the ones that we have committed, and hoping to add a couple more, and then obviously we’ll see how the portal plays out when that window opens up.”
"The tape suggested that he definitely could be. He’d had a few issues early in his career staying healthy, so we tried to do our due diligence on that. That was definitely a big point of emphasis when he came in was just making sure that we were doing everything possible from a training perspective, from not just in the training room when you get hurt, but doing everything possible to keep your body in as good of a position [as possible], and that was really kind of challenge for all of us was you’ve got some injuries that happen that – listen they’re going to happen no matter, sometimes things happen in this game. And then, at times, there are things that happen that are preventative. You can try to swing the odds in your favor by the way you work, your professionalism, the quality of rest, how you take of your body, all of that. We really challenged him and our group on that. Because when you turn on the tape and watch the guys game, it felt like he could certainly be an every-down back and someone we’d have the chance to rely on throughout the season.
Do you expect Gino Quinones to petition for an extra year of eligibility?
"My understanding is he’s going to try to. He’s got a year left either way. He’s working to try to determine if that’s one or two. So we’ll see obviously how that unfolds. The second group, we’ve definitely been aided by Killian getting back. Losing him early in the season definitely factored into some things. We stayed pretty healthy with the first unit, so we haven’t had a ton of moving parts there. We’ve been fortunate that way. But you know, Killian has taken a lot of reps. Justin Taunauu has taken a lot of reps – we’ve been really pleased with his progress. Tobias Raymond has taken a lot of reps – also very pleased with his progress as well. I think he’s one of the more improved players on our entire roster. Amos has continued taking a lot of reps, and one of the guys that’s really stepped up is Kaleb Miller. We’ve been really proud of his development. He’s got a real chance here as time goes on, does some really good things. Banuelos has been out for a while, but had a chance to get him, Makai Saina, to get those guys out on the practice field in the last week to 10 days which has kind of bolstered the second unit some and certainly our scout teams as well. Honestly our depth there right now is probably as good as its been. Lolo is back off of injury as well. It’s probably the best it’s been since even before training camp. So in a good place there.
Will you carve out to time for players to go vote Tuesday?
"We will. We will. Fortunate for us, it hits on a bye week. So we’ll carve out time. I’m not a very political person, individually. But I want to not miss my opportunity or, maybe I guess, my responsibility to educate and create opportunities for the guys that certainly want to vote and that we don’t hold them back. And maybe the opposite – we help give them the ability to do it. That’s part of our job as educators and leaders to – don’t ever try to sway anybody on who they should vote for, if they should vote, but I do want them to be educated, be able to make that choice themselves and have the opportunity, for sure.
What has gone into using less tempo on offense this season?
"It’s been a little bit week to week. Some of that is based on how you want to try to attack opponents. Some of it is based on your personnel. And then I think the added benefit, maybe, of being the play caller and also the head coach is there’s an overall perspective to that too, right? The depth of your team, the matchups on all sides of the ball, and do you feel like from an overall perspective, not just offensively, does that figure in to how you think it best to give yourself an opportunity to win games. We’re definitely not against it. We haven’t done it as much this year. And that hasn’t all been offensive reasons. Some of it has just been matchups and some of the other things I mentioned. WE want to be able to have the ability to do it, but it certainly, just the way we’ve evolved, hasn’t been something we’ve learned on. But hopefully we can keep improving on it and do some good with it because it is a good weapon."
What’s personal philosophy on kinds of talent you want to acquire in pass-rush, and how are you personally invested in recruiting that?
“Well, I think, yeah, I think – when you talk about rushing the passer, there’s a lot of different ways to get there, right. I think the first thing people think of is you think of, like, maybe the really athletic edge guys that can win with speed or can win those one-on-ones against tackles on the edges. Which, that’s, that’s definitely, it’s a viable part. I mean, I think that’s one for us that as we look ahead, we feel like we need a few more of those guys on this roster. The majority of guys that we have on the roster are either young and have some of that edge ability like we saw last week, and most of our older guys, those skillsets are a little bit varying – and so, I know we want to have a few more of those skillsets. And certainly, the more impactful thing I’ve always felt is when you’ve got a guy that can rush the passer from the interior. Because then it’s not, obviously the sacks and all that are great, but when you start pushing that pocket or creating pressure up the middle as opposed to around the edges, I mean it’s – neither make it easy on the quarterback, but any quarterback would rather have edge pressure than something he can’t step up into or maybe have the ability to escape and scramble. And so, continuing to develop our interior bodies to not only be stout against the run but to be able to win, to push the pocket and affect the quarterback, and from an interior standpoint.
"In terms of recruiting, yeah, I mean, I think – I mean, listen, we recruit every position hard. I don’t know there’s any position that we spend more time recruiting on than guys on the defensive front, because we know obviously how important they are to any football team. And again, when you’re talking about a complete remake on the D-line in every way possible, that’s, that’s one of those things that – we’ve obviously made progress this year in a lot of ways, but that’s, like I told you guys when we first, we hired this defensive staff and we brought Coach Lynn in, his system, we brought Henny in, I mean, it’s a change in every way that you can change. And so, not just installing the system, not just putting the weight on some of the guys and some of the philosophical changes from a training standpoint within the program, but certainly it’s going to be continuing to add those body types on the edge and on the interior. And they’re always – you could argue, one of the toughest, if not the toughest position to recruit. Because there’s not many great ones, and they’re typically in high demand. Now, we’re really excited about the ones that we have committed, and hoping to add a couple more, and then obviously we’ll see how the portal plays out when that window opens up.”
