Dec. 18, 2015 Terry Smith
Defensive Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach
Opening Statement
TS: We are excited to go down to the TaxSlayer Bowl and we are working hard. We have a big weekend ahead, where we are scheduled to get going on preparations for Georgia. Our guys are getting healthy and are ready to head down south for this game.
Q: What can you tell us about Georgia?
TS: Their running back is really good, even though he is the "backup." Georgia just has a stable of running backs and he is a legit 1,000-yard rusher. They have three receivers that are really good, and they are very explosive in the return game. I think they have three return touchdowns this season. They are dangerous in terms of if they are able to get out in space, they have speed. We have to be able to contain the running game and force them to pass the football. We have to limit the big plays.
Q: Can you talk about the depth you have on the defensive line and how some of the young guys have come along this season?
TS: There are quite a few guys up front, when you talk about Robert Windsor, Kamonte Carter, Shareef Miller. The wild dogs will replenish, even though we lose some experience in [Anthony] Zettel and [Carl] Nassib, but those guys will be pretty good in a year or two. We have had the opportunity to look at those guys over the last few weeks and they are promising guys for the future.
Q: How are the younger guys in the secondary coming along?
TS: Those guys, we're really looking forward to those guys in the spring, allowing those guys to compete for some playing time and contributing, whether it be on special teams or in the secondary itself. And then at the corner position, you know, a guy like Amani Oruwariye, who is in his second year here, he's showing some promise. Daquan Worley is showing some promise. And then the true freshmen like Garrett Taylor, who has had a great last month.
So there are guys that are showing a lot of promise, and we're just looking forward to having the opportunity to work with them more and more.
Q: I wanted to follow that up about Kevin Givens. Is he still an end or is there any chance of him moving to defensive tackle?
TS: Kevin is still at defensive end. I did not omit him on purpose. There's just so many guys up front on the defensive line. Kevin is having a great year for us. We're really excited about him. He's really explosive and powerful and he could be a similar-type player as an Aaron Donald like we watched last night [playing for the St. Louis Rams.] He has that type of pop and explosion and clearly he has some work to do to close that ground but he's going to be fun to watch.
Josh Gattis
Offensive Recruiting Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach
Opening Statement
We're excited to get back together as we start our practices for our Bowl game. We are looking forward to a tough competition by Georgia and look forward to getting down to Jacksonville and play a really good football team.
Q: The theme of the day so far has been young players you guys have been able to get a look at in developmental practices. Who are some of the guys that stood out to you on offense?
JG: A lot of our young guys have really taken advantage of these extra practices, guys like Irvin Charles, Juwan Johnson, Sterling Jenkins, Steven Gonzalez and Ryan Bates. So we're really excited about a lot of the young talent we have in the program. These guys have a really high ceiling and they will continue to learn. They are a very talented group but they are also a very smart group when it comes to football. So they take a lot of pride in learning the offense.
So we're excited for what the future holds. These guys obviously have to continue to develop, but they all have bright futures.
Q: You talked a good bit in the preseason about what we could expect from Chris Godwin, but how much did he exceed your expectations? Were you confident that he could be so great at the 50/50 balls and have the kind of year that he did?
JG: I was very pleased with Chris Godwin's performance this year. I think people saw a glimpse of what I was talking about [in the preseason.] He's a very talented player, a very mature player. He takes a lot of pride in how he practices and prepares himself, and I think that showed up in his production on the field.
He has a very bright future. He's a great kid. He's an awesome teammate. He's truly a leader for us on our team and he's a guy that we're really, really excited about and he's only going to continue to get better. As you can all see, he had a great season, and he's looking forward to building on that in the bowl game.
Q: Irvin Charles and Juwan Johnson are two of those bigger body guys that you have. How difficult did you think it was for them not being able to be out there this year, because obviously everybody wants to play. What have you seen from those two specifically?
JG: They handled it great. They are competitors, so they did want to go out [on the field] and contribute. Those two guys, love the game of football. That's one thing that really stands out about those guys. Juwan is always in doing extra work. He's always in the weight room getting an extra lift in or going outside with the quarterbacks. You see him and Tommy [Stevens] going outside and throwing. They just do that because they love the game of football.
We are really excited about those two guys just as much as we are about everybody else in our program. They are going to have a bright future here, and we are really excited to get them on the field here at some point.
Q: In the coaching profession, you guys all know each other. How much do you guys keep tabs on coaching hires? How much do you talk among yourselves, how much is that of interest internally?
JG: You see things through social media or through the Internet, but we don't spend a lot of our time during the day reading up on a lot of that stuff. We can only control what happens in our program and in our building and make sure that we have the best staff, the best players, and we get those guys ready for the game.
There are a lot of coaching changes that happen in college football, that's the nature of the business, but we mostly focus on us and focus on everyone that's in our building.
Q: Have you met Joe Moorhead before and what are your first impressions of him?
JG: My first time meeting Coach [Joe] Moorhead was at the Pittsburgh Nike clinic. I listened to him speak there and was very impressed with his presentation. He knows what he's talking about and he's been very successful as an offensive coordinator and play caller. His offenses produced really, really good numbers. It's a friendly offense for every position on the offense.
We are excited. Coach Moorhead has been kind of buried away in the office these past few days studying our roster, studying our film and going through a lot of the HR stuff that he has to do early on.
I know our players are excited. We're looking forward to having Coach Moorhead around from here on out, and you know, after the bowl game, we'll switch over and make the switch and start learning his offense.
Q: How much of a grind was it leading up to the dead period in recruiting, and what's it like when that switch is flipped? Is it a relief or are you kind of in the mode of I still should be talking to people and that sort of thing?
JG: It's a grind. After the last game, you don't get a chance to put that game to rest because you're moving on to recruiting. So we hit the road and we've been going for the past two weeks, so it seems like a lot of time that we have been away from our players. We're excited to get back and get around our guys and get more into these developmental practices, as well as starting to prepare for Georgia.
Recruiting never stops, but right now we're in a dead period, so we are able to take some days away from being on the road and be around our guys. We have to continue toward building on our future, as well as developing the players that we have in our program today.
Q: Austin Johnson and Christian Hackenberg submitted paperwork to the NFL Draft Advisory board. You played in the NFL for a little bit, did you go through that process and can you describe what that was like for you and what type of advice would you give to somebody nowadays looking to get that type of information?
JG: Yes, I did go through that process. I was fortunate enough as a player, I submitted the paperwork just to get the feedback. As a player at that time, I knew I was coming back. I didn't have the options that some of these other guys have but I did go through that process.
As far as getting the feedback from the NFL, it's a very honest feedback that the NFL gives you and they tell you what's in your best interest and each kid has to sit down and weigh their best interests, not only from a football perspective; their academic, as well as their social life and family life structure standpoint.
Obviously it's a stressful time for a lot of kids because they want to make the best decision, and you can imagine, 19- and 20-year-old kids getting pulled into lot of different directions, not necessarily are they all for the benefit of the kids. The kids just have to make sure that they are leaning on the people close to them, leaning on making the right decisions that are not only going to help them be successful for the next four to 10 years of their NFL career, but the next 40 years of their life.
It is a stressful time, but those guys have handled it great. They have stayed focused on the season. We haven't had any distractions. That's first and foremost. They have been great teammates throughout this whole process and they are looking forward and they are excited for the bowl game.
After the bowl game, as Coach has always stated, those guys will handle things the right way and any decision they make, they will release it in what time manner that they decide with Coach Franklin. We are all 100 percent supportive. Obviously we love those guys as players, we love those guys as teammates, just like each man in that locker room, but we know in the end, that those kids will make the best decisions for them.
Q: On the feedback, what exactly is it? Do they give you sheets of paper with strengths and weaknesses? Is it personal or what round we think you're going to go?
JG: It's usually from a {NFL Draft] round standpoint. Now that was 2006 for me, so things could have changed. It's just like getting a test score back from an ACT or SAT. You open it up and it has a round that they kind of see you at as far as if you're a top three [round midyear guy, or if they see you going in the later rounds. Then, they do give you the feedback that it would be your best choice to stay in school.
I think the NFL has been cautious over the last few years because you've seen a number of college athletes declare early for the NFL Draft and the percentage of that number that are not getting drafted is increasing. The NFL is taking a hard approach about how they are evaluating these younger athletes, because ultimately, we want what's best for each athlete, and what's best for each athlete is that they get their college degree. No matter if you go to play two years or 10 years, you're always going to need that degree to fall back on.
So they want to make sure that they are given the best advice possible to make sure that these kids go ahead and be successful in life, not just on the football field.
Q: What kind of improvements have you seen from Brandon Polk this year, what strides have you seen him take?
JG: He's taken a lot of strides. As a young guy, a lot of people don't understand how hard it is to come in and play as a true freshman. Not only is he juggling learning an offense, but he's juggling taking 12 credits and getting acclimated to his college schedule. His maturity put him in the position where he's able to handle a lot of things.
Obviously he's a very talented football player. When the ball is in his hands, he's one of the very few players in college football that is electric on the field. He's grown as a receiver in his route running and his ball skills, and really understanding concepts and understanding spacing. So he's another kid that has a very bright future. I love working with him each and every day he's developing. I'm very, very pleased with where he is.
Obviously when we're playing the amount of players that we are playing, some guys may not get certain opportunities as others, but he's truly made an impact. And he changes the game in a number of different ways which a lot of people don't notice because when you're a defensive coordinator and you're on defense, you've got to account for that guy being on the field. There's some things behind the scenes that maybe he does to certain defenses that he may not get credit for as far as making them have certain calls, making them have certain adjustments to the sweeps or whatever.
But you notice on film how defenses play when he comes in the game. We are very pleased with his production and very pleased with where he is in his development and really excited about him moving forward.
Q: Saquon has 14 of his 15 catches over the last four games. As a receivers coach, do you work with the backs in that realm, if at all, and how would you evaluate the strides he made with that part of his game?
JG: Coach Huff does a great job [with the running back.] I don't work with Saquon and the running backs at all. Coach Huff does a great job preparing those guys in every facet of their game as far as the run game, pass game and protections. He is completely in charge of having those guys ready as the game plan goes out each week and preparing those guys to go out and be successful.
And that's one thing in our offense: We don't want just one-dimensional players. We don't want guys to just go in there and pass block or just go in there and run the ball or pass or catch the ball. We want well-rounded players. That's an area where we try to develop our players to be well-rounded in every aspect of their games and Saquon has done that. He's a very mature kid.
Obviously we all know how talented he is, but he's a guy that is a football junkie. He loves football. He asks questions every day. He prepares extremely hard and so his success has only come off his preparation and really proud of the way Coach Huff has handled him and continues to guide him.