Press Conference Comments from Michigan Head Coach Lloyd Carr
9/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Press Conference Comments from
U-M Head Football Coach Lloyd Carr
Previewing Iowa (Oct. 4); Reviewing Indiana (Sept. 27)
Opening remarks ... "I was shocked to watch the film and see that we turned the football over four times in the first 20 minutes. I didn't really think that happened, but the film doesn't lie. We call it the 'eye in the sky.' That's what happened, we turned the football over four times, but fortunately for us Steve Breaston and our punt return team came up with a great play and Jeremy LeSueur came up with a great play and we got the lead. But certainly we have to find a way to take care of the football if we're going to be successful as we go forward. Defensively I thought we had a lot of guys play well. Grant Bowman and Norman Heuer are both playing extremely well. I think Marlin Jackson had his best game at safety, and Marlin, despite the fact that he missed one game, is leading the team in tackles. I think he's really helping secure the big plays. I thought he made a great interception there at the half, so our defense played well.
"We're going to play an Iowa team that I think is as talented as any defensive team in the country. I think they're better than they were a year ago. Their front seven is talented. I think Howard Hodges is a great football player, a relentless pass-rusher, and a great athlete. And of course all those other guys are outstanding too. They're all back. Chad Greenway is leading the Big Ten in tackles and Abdul Hodge is a young kid that's enormously talented. Bob Sanders is, I think, the best strong safety in college football. It's a great defensive football team with outstanding special teams. They obviously have an outstanding running back. So they're going to run the football and play to their defense and special teams and play for field position. It's going to be a great challenge for us to go into Iowa City and try to find our way home."
On Iowa's defense ... "They're playing a defensive front, a 3-4 front that we played at Michigan here for a long time and it's based on, first and foremost, stopping the run and not giving up big plays. Anytime you can stop the run and not give up big plays, you've got something special. Their tackles are going to be almost head-up on our tackles. Their nose guard a lot of the time is going to be head-up on the center, which creates very small seams to run inside and they're going to make you run east and west. They're very talented. They're not complicated, but what they do is they play extremely well together, they're extremely well-coached, and they're extremely physical. They're a very strong defensive front, very well-coordinated, very well-coached."
On the turnovers in the Indiana game ... "If you look at the turnovers as they came, the first interception, John Navarre had a guy wide open and didn't set his feet, reset his feet and made a bad throw. The wind was significant at that end of the stadium so he didn't have a lot of velocity, the wind took it and he threw an interception. The second interception bounced off Chris Perry's hands, and then of course the one fumble came off a run for a first down deep in their territory. The other came when Chris was running for good yardage and was a little loose with the football. I think all of those are very preventable, but obviously, you can call it what you want to call it, but the truth is, we turned the football over four times in 20 minutes and that's a recipe for defeat."
On whether he thought Chris Perry would carry the load this season ... "Absolutely we thought he'd be carrying the load of the running game. You want your best football player to have the football. Now that doesn't mean that he can play an entire game, and I think as we go forward we've had enough experience. Our young guys, Pierre Rembert has done a good job in there, David Underwood has been banged up the last couple weeks, but I think both those kids have played enough that we feel confident that when they have the opportunity to spell Chris they'll do a good job."
On wide receiver Steve Breaston ... "The disappointing thing in the spring was that Steve pulled a hamstring and missed almost the entire spring and was not able to run full speed until late in the summer. So he missed a lot of valuable time with the quarterbacks and that delayed his progress. If you consider the fact that he missed spring practice and missed one week of practice in there where he was banged up a little bit, I think he's made outstanding progress."
On wide receiver Carl Tabb ... "I like to see Carl play because he's a dedicated, tireless worker, a guy that's in great shape and a guy that has made a lot of good plays in practice, and I have a lot of confidence in Carl Tabb. He's had enough experience now that what happens is, all of a sudden, a guy gets nicked up and can't play and if a guy's had some experience then he's going to go in and play with a lot more confidence than if you didn't have an opportunity to play him earlier in the season. We've had an opportunity to do that with a number of kids, and I think as we go forward that will prove very beneficial to them and to the team."
On safety Marlin Jackson ... "Marlin moved to safety in about the last week of spring practice. We don't have full scrimmages very much in the fall, very limited, most of the contact work we have is physical up front, but when we get to the secondary we tag off and sometimes the ball breaks through there in a game and you have to have some experience tackling in the open field with the ball in front of you. As a cornerback everything is coming from the inside out to you. But that's not true as a safety, the ball can break a number of ways and get to you in a hurry, but I think he's made a lot of progress and I like the way he played Saturday."
On Iowa's offense ... "I fully expect Ed Hinkel to play. Ramon Ochoa is an outstanding athlete. When you look at what he's done as a returner, he's a guy that can make something happen with the football. The one thing they're trying to do is run the football, and more than anything else offensively they're dedicated to staying out of third-and-long. They want to be third-and-two, third-and-one, so defensively you have to be prepared to stop the run and that opens up the short passing game. So that's the problem they give you."
On the linebacking corps ... "Zach Kaufman, my experience has been that with knee injuries it's two years before you're back to playing where you were. Zach has still been hampered, but he still has occasional swelling, so his role has been limited, but we expect that he's going to continue to do a great job on special teams. Lawrence Reid had one of his best games on Saturday. Lawrence is a guy that was starting to come on last year when he was hurt and that injury set him back, but he's starting to feel much more comfortable. Carl Diggs played very well on Saturday, and of course Scott McClintock is getting a lot of playing time and he's playing well. Pierre Woods played very well on Saturday. So if we can continue to improve and continue to play with good intensity on defense and not give up big plays then I think we've got a chance here."
On Iowa quarterback Nathan Chandler ... "It's much more difficult when your experienced receivers like Maurice Brown and Hinkel are not there. That makes it very difficult and I think that's part of the problem that they've had. Brown was their go-to guy. He's a guy that's made a lot of big plays, and he's a tough, physical player. They liked him on the flanker screen, where they throw him the ball and he comes back in toward the formation. So I think that hurt their passing game some, but I like the way he plays. He's only going to get better. He's like any other guy that plays quarterback. It takes time to gain complete understanding of the offense, it takes time to feel comfortable starting. I think he's a very talented guy with a very good arm. He's a guy who has great size and he's strong, and I think he's a smart guy."
On playing through injuries ... "Several weeks ago, Pierre Woods played with a finger injury and I don't know how he did it. Of course Norman Heuer had surgery Tuesday and played on Saturday against Oregon and this past week played very well. It's a decision that you have to make as a player: Can you deal with the discomfort There's always going to be discomfort and some guys mentally can overcome that and play with discomfort and some can't. Heuer is one of those guys that can, and he has, and he's doing an outstanding job."
On how the team decides whether injured players play or not ... "I do not have my medical degree yet, although it's not too late. I may pursue a medical degree when I leave coaching and at that time, if I return to coaching, I'll be able to make those decisions. Until then, we have the greatest medical staff in this country and the one thing I want nothing to do with is deciding whether a player plays or not. I can tell you that no one plays at Michigan when there is any danger to his health or well-being in terms of an existing condition. I would not sacrifice any player under any circumstances in that way, and certainly our doctors wouldn't. That's the way it is. Now, if you're talking about a finger, if you're talking about what Heuer had, like what Pierre had, those are decisions that you have to make as a player."
On Iowa offensive lineman Robert Gallery ... "Robert Gallery is probably going to be the first offensive lineman drafted in April. He's 6-7, 320 pounds, with the mentality of a defensive player. He's tough and just a tremendous football player. I mean, this guy plays every down. He's the real deal, that's what he is."
On playing Iowa on the road ... "I don't think there's any question that playing a game like that on the road should prove to be beneficial to us. Anytime you play on the road it helps if you can get the lead and take control of the game. That's always the goal and it's easier said than done, particularly against a team like Iowa, but there's no question that individually and collectively we'll take some things that we learned in Oregon and hopefully we'll benefit."
On linebacker LaMarr Woodley ... "I think LaMarr will play more as the season goes on. He's improved and he learns more every day. He's a kid that really enjoys the game. He's made some absolutely unbelievable plays in our kicking game. We chart all the production of our special teams and LaMarr is one of those guys that make things happen. He's a great athlete and he's only going to get better as the season progresses, but he's done an outstanding job as a true freshman, especially at that position."
On fullback Kevin Dudley ... "Dudley brings toughness and an attitude of doing what some guys don't like to do. He's one of those blue-collar guys that every team needs and is invaluable. What I know of Kevin, from the day that he decided to come here, one of the things that I liked about him was his toughness. He's not one of these guys that talks a lot, but he's a quality guy, a quality kid. He has a good family and came from a good football program. I spent some time down there and I really liked the things his high school coach had to say about him, and he was exactly right. He's going to do the things you ask him to do as a coach, he's going to be a great team player, and that's what he's done."
On center Dave Pearson ... "The thing I liked about him, he sat in my office, it was the first week of camp, and Bobby Morrison brought him in and he said, 'Lloyd, we're not going to offer Dave a scholarship right now. We'd like to wait and see how he plays once the season has started.' And I sat down and I talked to David for 25 minutes and the thought came to me, I want this guy on my team. I want this guy at Michigan. I knew he was very bright, but the things that he had to say, I knew that he loved to play and I knew that he loved Michigan, and I knew from watching film on him, I felt he was big enough, and I felt there was someplace we could play him. Of course as a defensive lineman he didn't have the mobility that we were looking for, but he had the toughness and so at some point there we moved him and that's been a good move for us. I think more than anything else what came across was a guy that was serious about what he wanted to do, and he's a great student. I just liked the set of his jaw. Sometimes there's a gut feeling. I knew that he was tough, that's what you like. You like toughness. You like guys that love to play the game."
On Iowa's kicking game ... "You hope to keep them out of field goal range, because you know when they get in there, there's a good chance they're going to come away with points, but I don't think that dictates how you play the game. They've got a great kicker, so they're going to make some field goals if they get opportunities unless we find a way to block them."
On Kinnick Stadium ... "I think what I really appreciate about Kinnick Stadium is the fans there really love the game and they love the Iowa Hawkeyes. It is a crowd that gives them unbelievable support every time I've been there. When somebody on Iowa's side does something good, they get excited. There's a great enthusiasm about the crowd, it's unlike some of the other places."
On punter and placekicker Adam Finley ... "What we're trying to do with Adam -- it's really what I was hoping would happen right from the beginning -- is I want to allow Adam to concentrate strictly on punting the football. I think it relieves the pressure of trying to prepare for both, and I think Garrett (Rivas) has enabled him to do that. We don't just have one guy kick the ball."
On what the team learned from last season's loss to Iowa ... "In every competitive situation you ever enter, as you compete you learn lessons. Of course that's especially true in football. There were a lot of lessons out there on that Saturday afternoon, I can promise you. What you do at the end of the season prior to going into spring practice, you address the reasons why you had some success and you always address the issues of why and what caused you to fail. As you go through spring practice and you go into the fall practice you're trying to take those lessons, good and bad, and make them a part of your fiber so that you don't repeat those mistakes and those things that caused you to lose. You don't go into a season thinking about what happened 365 days ago. I think there are enough lessons that you don't dwell on the things that happened three days ago. Because if you, you're going to get your brains beat out. You'd better be taking care of today. I don't know all the things that they think. I'm not omniscient, despite the evidence to the contrary. Different strokes for different folks. Different things motivate different people. If you're a guy that played in that game a year ago, there are things that you remember, absolutely. But do you come in and try to base everything on what happened last year No. It's a different team, it's a different year. That was 2002."
Media Contacts: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
