Head Coach Lloyd Carr Spring Football Press Conference
3/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Press Conference Comments from
U-M Head Football Coach Lloyd Carr
University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr sat down with the media on Thursday (March 17) to preview the Wolverines' 2005 spring drills that open Saturday.
Opening statement ... "Happy St. Patrick's Day. I want to begin by congratulating Mr. Troy Nienberg who has been admitted to the Michigan Law School. We're excited for him. And I want to congratulate John Fallon. He is the new president of Eastern Michigan University. John and I were fellow Mott interns in the Mott Foundation 30 some-odd years ago. I am excited for him and I think they got a great man to run that program.
"We've just completed the first phase of preparation for the 126th team at Michigan. That program includes winter conditioning and weights - getting bigger and stronger and in better condition is the objective of that phase. Now we go into spring practice, which is one of my favorite parts of the year. It's really a new team which is always an exciting time because you have to find replacements for a lot of guys who left and do the things that you need to put another team together.
"One of the problems we have, probably more so than any other year that I can remember, is that we have a number of guys who will be out of spring practice. We have some who are limited, which speaks to the punishing nature of this game. It's certainly one of the reasons - you look at the number of guys and the number of surgeries - but I don't think we're any different than anybody else. You come off and you have that many injuries it speaks to the already extensive length of a season, the stress and all of the things that any intercollegiate athlete goes through - but I think it's particularly true in football. Of course the twelfth game is certainly not in the best interest of the guys who play the game.
"We go into spring practice where we have 15 days and once we get out of the first weekend we'll practice Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. What we want to try to do more than anything else is work on individual improvement of the players. If we can come out of there with every guy improving, then we'll be a better football team. There are the fundamentals and techniques that can help a guy be a better player and then from a team standpoint we want to work on the team concept, which is really the basis of Michigan football. We want to introduce our scheme in every phase of the game and we'd like to increase the understanding of the principles with which we'll play football here at Michigan."
Will you entertain questions about last season ... "I can entertain questions about this team and part of this spring practice is to take things that happened last fall. I don't think there's any question that every coach in this country and every program is faced with probably the biggest change in college football since I've been in the game, since the wishbone, because the nature of the spread offense has changed the game. If you look at the total points scored, if you look at what has happened across the country, that offense has had an incredible impact. We're all involved from a defensive standpoint, and that is the issue. The two back offenses have been replaced in terms of the number of snaps. You just don't see as many two back sets as you did. We're still a team that believes very strongly in the two back offense, even though we have changed dramatically in the last two or three seasons. We run more snaps from the one back than any other offensive set we have. The flexibility of the spread offense creates a lot more formations. You have five guys out and nobody in the backfield but the quarterback - you've got all the other sets, the motions. Defensive coaches are up against it. We'll take the things we've evaluated, every single player and every phase of our game, we have set goals that we want to improve on and accomplish during the spring practice and then we'll see where we are and move from there."
On the loss of David Baas, Marlin Jackson and Braylon Edwards ... "I look at it as a position. You don't replace a guy like Braylon Edwards. You don't replace a guy like David Baas overnight. What you do is you hope as a group of receivers our young guys will develop, our young guys will come in and make great contributions and then you hope that guys like Steve Breaston and Jason Avant will have their best years of football in the fall. They have a foundation and if they can stay healthy, they are both outstanding football players. In the offensive line we've got a challenge because we've got Adam Kraus - who will be right in the thick of what we're trying to do up front either at center or at guard - is out for the spring. Jake Long is out for the spring. Leo Henige is out for the spring. This really changes what we can do from a scrimmage standpoint because we just don't have the number sot do some of the things we'd traditionally do in the spring."
Who's taking snaps in the spring other than Chad Henne ... "It's a great opportunity for Chad Henne to take a lot more snaps then he normally would have. He's still a very young quarterback, so normally he would rotate in there half the time or a little bit less than that. Here he's going to get a lot more snaps then he normally would get which will certainly help his development. Matt Gutierrez, one of the things we're very happy for is that his progress has really been excellent. He's throwing the football. He will take part in a lot of passing drills and will get a lot more work than we would have anticipated at the time of his surgery. He will not have any contact, so that changes some of the scrimmage situations. Jeff Kastl will get some and I'll take a few."
On the addition of defensive line coach Steve Stripling ... "Any time you hire a new coach, you're going to get, depending on what his experience is, more than just the things at his position. I met him twenty years ago. He was coaching at Indiana at the time with Bill Mallory and of course coach Mallory had very close ties to this program through his sons and through his relationship with Bo. I met Steve a number of years ago. He has spent a lot of time in this conference. He has coached at Minnesota with Glen Mason and coached at Michigan State with John L. Smith. He's been around and is highly regarded and I feel very fortunate that Steve wanted to come to Michigan. I think he is going to be exactly what we need up front because he brings and intensity that I think our players will really benefit from."
Does Stripling like the 4-3 or the 3-4 ... He's coached a lot of different sets. He has more experience in the 4-3, but what you're teaching up front are techniques. If you're a multiple front team, which we have been, it's not a drastic change. What you want to be able to do is be able to be flexible enough so you can get your best eleven on the field - and that changes over the course of the season. We had a number of injuries a year ago and situations that would make us rely on one front more than another. It's the same with linebackers. Hopefully you have enough flexibility where you can do different things and get the right people on the field. That's what we're always trying to do."
Were you pleased with the 3-4 and the flexibility it gave you last year ... "I think we got some good things out of it. If you're doing both it certainly presents preparation problems for your opponents. From that standpoint it's a great advantage. Obviously the more you do - depending on the experience of your players C the more it can create issues of knowing exactly what to do. I think that's one of the great challenges of coaching. You have to do enough and make enough changes on a week to week basis not only because of the problems your opponent give you but trying to create problems for them. The fine line is knowing when you're doing too much. It's like winning and losing."
On defending the spread offense ... "I think the spread offense is extremely misunderstood by a number of people. The great advantage of the spread offense is that if they run it, it allows them great flexibility with their personnel. If you look at the NFL, they are all looking for quarterbacks, because there aren't a lot of guys who are really gifted - the prototype drop-back quarterback. If you look in the NFL over the past ten years you've seen a dramatic change in the types of quarterbacks that are playing and having success in that league. When you consider the fact that there are 117 Division 1-A schools, and they can't find enough in the NFL with thirty-two teams, so finding those quarterbacks is difficult. The spread offense enables a team to take advantage of the skills of the quarterback. Those schools that have guys that are really athletic can incorporate the quarterback into the running game. Traditionally, when you run a one back offense you've got one back that can carry the ball. In a spread offense where you have a mobile quarterback you can block plays. You spread the defense out and you can block plays just like you had two backs and the quarterback carries the football. It puts enormous pressure on the defense. A lot of teams will use the quarterback - depending on the defenses they get - to run the option. Now you are running an option team. The spread offense, in my judgment, has not changed football in terms of the throwing game. It has changed football in terms of the running game. If you look at all of the teams that are running the spread offense, they are all a little bit different. Some are four wide receivers with a quarterback and a tailback. Some are three wide receivers and a tight end. Some are two wide receivers, a tight end, and two backs and they spread one of the backs out. Every week when you play that offense it's a different offense depending on what their personnel is. There are enormous issues out there for everybody."
On who might be making position changes in spring ... "Morgan Trent came in to see me. Morgan could be the fastest person on our team. He sees an opportunity over there on defense. I think as far as people changing positions, it is from offense to defense or vice versa. We may move guys from guard to center or center to tackle. I would say Morgan Trent is probably a significant change. He is going to be a cornerback."
On the speed of the defense ... "The thing that you have to do to be an outstanding defense is you can't give up big plays. When you do you're going to give up a lot of yards. When you give up a lot of big plays, you are going to give up a lot of big points. The spread offense takes patience. If you don't have patience you end up with people overcommitted and you end up giving up big plays. In terms of becoming the kind of defense we want to be, it begins with eliminating big plays. That is first and foremost. Now, how do you do that You keep the ball inside and in front of the defense. People have assignments and responsibilities and if they don't execute those you're going to give up big plays. If you give up big plays you are going to give up a lot of points. If you give up a lot of points, you're going to end up in shootouts. When you get into shootouts, the statistics show you that you are going to win about half of the time. So I would prefer not to be in shootouts."
On whether the defense was impatient last year ... "I think it was a whole gamut of things. You are either going to get better or you are going to get worse. That is every day. That is for you and for me. That is for every player and every coach. You are trying to get better as a coach, which means that you take the things that you haven't done well and assess yourself. I assess everyone in the program, including myself. We all have to get better because if we don't get better than the competition is going to go right by us. You approach it from that standpoint. Can we get better You're darn right we can. Do we want to get better Yes."
On Pierre Woods ... "Pierre has had nagging injuries, primarily related to developing his strength. He has not been able to lift and do some of those things. He's had some injuries that have impacted his playing time and his performance. He's had a very good winter and we'll just have to see. The proof is during the season. Some of these injuries you can play with, but you don't play as well."
On reviewing schemes against the spread offense ... "You have to tackle better and that is a challenge because some of these guys are such great athletes. When you get people spread out, now you are isolated as a defender, which means you are going to be asked to make tackles in the open field. It's not like twenty-five years ago where there were two or three backs in the backfield. It is a much different game. That is why today, everyone is looking for guys that can run and guys that can tackle. They are still human beings out there playing. I've never met a football player on defense that didn't miss a tackle. What we have to do in terms of limiting big plays is that if we're going to miss a tackle you've got to know where to miss it to. If you are on the perimeter, you have to miss it inside or on the outside if you are close to the sideline, so he gets out of bounds. If you let the ball outside the defense you are going to give up big plays. When you give up big plays, you know the rest."
On the fullback position ... "Brian Thompson is going to miss the spring. He broke a bone in his foot. This seems to be one of the most prevalent injuries in modern day football. I don't know if it's the shoes or the size of the players but it's a frustrating injury. Brian would have been right in the thick of things at fullback. He does have enough experience that he'll be back in the thick of things in the fall. Obi Oluigbo made some strides last fall and Roger Allison, a freshman from Lake Orion, is an extremely talented guy. Late in the season he had a nerve injury which really impacted his ability to compete so we'll just have to see what he can do with that. We do have the finest training staff and medical staff in the country. Nobody will be playing that shouldn't be playing."
About your long snapper position ... "Turner Booth and Pat Sharrow would have competed for the position this spring. Turner Booth made great strides at the last half of the season. I think he is extremely capable. Pat Sharrow had a foot injury that required surgery and will be out for the spring. We will have to see how he does when we come back in the fall. There are a lot of things that we can do in the kicking game. We can work on the coverages and protection and catching punts. It's about working on techniques and assignments that make up special teams. We are somewhat limited until we can get outside so that is why we need to get a facility here so we can work on the kicking game in the wintertime."
About Kevin Grady ... "I think for Kevin, going to the bowl game, was a great opportunity for him to get to know his teammates, to get into meetings and know the routine of practice. The way practice goes, the drills and obviously he got a lot of repetitions that will enable him to go into the spring practice already having some foundation. I think during the next 15 practices he will continue to build on that foundation as will Max Martin. I expect our running back situation, if we can stay healthy, should be as competitive as its been in a long time."
Do you expect Tim Jamison and Jeremy Van Alstyne to be out this spring ... "Jeremy Van Alstyne will be out for the spring. Tim Jamison is like Matt Gutierrez and Leo Henige is another guy. I would put Henige and Jamison in the category with Gutierrez that they will be limited in the beginning and then we'll see how they hold up and how they progress. We will have to see how they progress during the spring but hopefully we can get them some good work, at least I'm hopeful."
Is Jerome Jackson still in the mix at running back ... "Jerome has had some discomfort during the conditioning and has missed some workouts. We will have to see if he is ready to go this weekend. It shouldn't be anything major but we're certainly hoping he is able to come back (this spring)."
What guys really stepped up or you've seen a major improvement from as a result of winter conditioning ... "Will Paul is a guy that really impressed me this winter. Will is a guy that can really run. I think he has made some real progress. I think both Shawn Crable and Prescott Burgess have made strides. I don't think there is anyone that has been through it that hasn't improved but certainly if you look at those guys today, in comparison to a year ago, you see some significant increases in strength and size."
How much pressure do you think Jim Herrmann places upon himself going into this season ... "I think any coach if he's worth his salt will put more pressure on himself than anyone else can put on him. I think the key to being successful in anything is being able to stay focused on the things that you can do, the things that under your control to get better, to improve and then you have to have the toughness to ignore all the critics, all the people who think they know more about what you're doing than you do. It's about working hard to increase your knowledge, to stay abreast all the things that are going on around you. If you can do those things in your profession you'll be very successful."
About the success of Chad Henne and Mike Hart last season and how much better can they become ... "I saw Mike the other day and told him I've seen a lot of one-year wonders. The truth is that whenever you have as much success as they've had it adds to the pressure and to the expectations. How do you handle pressure, you embrace it by continuing to work hard to stay focused on the things that you can do to make yourself better. It's the same thing as being criticized. If you listen to all the people who tell you how great you are you most assuredly will go downhill. Its about staying focused on what you want to do and if you want to be great than stay focused because if you don't your going to suffer. I think what both of those kids did was remarkable and yet the world is full of people that have had one great day or one great year. The measure of greatness is an outstanding achievement. My belief is that it is measured by consistency and that really is a challenge because we all live in a world where people tell us we can't do this or you can't do that and all that stuff. Well, I think those two kids have a special maturity. I've told them that you don't measure a great season by the number of yards that you run or pass for, Chad Henne could have a better season next year and not statistically do some things, or how many touchdowns you score or pass for. You need to do the things that you're asked to do and sometimes those are out of your control. I tell them to be in better shape, be stronger than you were and be smarter than you were. You should improve in all of those areas and if you do you've got a chance to be a better football player this year than you were last year. To me that's what they will try to do."
Can you talk some more about the linebacking corps ... "Chris Graham is very impressive. He is not a very big guy but he has gotten bigger and stronger and he is a very aggressive guy. I think John Thompson is going to be a very good football player. This is a great opportunity for him to develop. Of course, Scott McClintock has had a lot of experience and he should get better. David Harris I'm hoping will bounce back following major knee surgery. I think major knee surgery today is a two year proposition as far as performance goes. The guys that I've seen come back the following year but they just don't play like they did. It usually takes two years and this will be two years for David. He has had a very good winter and is healthy. We are really counting on him because Lawrence Reid was certainly an unexpected development. Lawrence did a great job here at Michigan but it just reached a point where the doctors just felt like it wasn't going to get better. So the decision was made that he wasn't going to come back."
Is LaMarr Woodley an outside linebacker or defensive end ... "He is whatever you want him to be."
Has your opinion about early enrollees changed now that you have Kevin Grady ... "It is a great advantage for Kevin Grady and his development. There is no way that it couldn't be. He has been in meetings and been at practice. He knows the drills. He gets repetitions with the plays. He learns the protections. You can't buy that. His foundation is going to be far superior to a freshman who comes in August.
On telling other recruits to come in early ... "If a guy wants to come in early that is great, but I am not going to recruit a guy and tell him you should come in here and start school in January. I think that is a decision that he needs to make. You only get one time to be a senior in high school."
On the injured players ... "When you have 85 scholarships and 22 of them aren't in yet because they are freshman, we probably have six guys that are out, and another four or five that are limited, so you can do the math there."
On the center position ... "Rueben Riley is moving to center. Riley is a great athlete and did a great job last fall stepping in. This is an opportunity for him to become a starter so he is going to move to center. Like any of these other positions we'll have to see how that goes. I think we're confident that Rueben can handle that. Regardless of how that goes, we may move him back to guard. If we do, by working him at center, we'll create better depth situations for us if something happens to somebody else."
On Steve Breaston ... "I think you saw in that last game, how much the injury had limited him previously. It was late in the season, I think after the bye week, and all of a sudden it was like a new guy showed up. In the meantime, he fought through that terrible finger injury. Hopefully he can stay healthy because he is such a fun guy to watch and is a fun guy to be around. Anytime he gets the football, you better pay attention because something big might happen. I think we missed almost an entire season of what he could have done because he was never healthy."
On Breaston being a marquee receiver next season ... "We'll have to wait and see. Certainly he's a guy you'd like to get the football too. Our challenge every year is to find those guys that can make something happen and then get them the football."
On Carl Tabb ... "Carl is another guy that can help if he is healthy. At one time I think he had some hamstring issues and sometimes a guy just has bad luck. I'm really hopeful that he has some good luck."
On Jacob Stewart ... "He's another guy who has had horrible luck. He was an outstanding guy on special teams but he's had some hamstring problems so we moved him to linebacker last fall and he'll be in the mix there."
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