Brady Hoke Monday Press Conference: Minnesota Week
9/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
• Game Notes 
| Game Central
• Press Conference: Coach Brady Hoke 
| Chesson, Countess & Ryan | Mattison | Nussmeier
• Inside Michigan Football
J. Ira and Nicki Harris Head Football Coach Brady Hoke
Opening statement ... "Number one, thanks for coming out. We start Big Ten play this week, and something that we have always fixed on is the Big Ten Championship. Getting started is important. It is a new opportunity. As far as last week, we did some good things, and we did some things not as well as we need to. Those are things from a coaching standpoint we always need to do a better job in our coaching of it and in our execution that we need to have. There are some positives, and we want to repeat those positives to the guys. Yesterday, I think we did a good job staff-wise in the clarity of the mistakes. We like how they came to work, like how our team has competed and challenged every time they go out, like how they have done a nice job with the leadership within the program and how they have gone out to work, and I have said that before."
On how the leadership on the team suggests fixing the offense ... "I don't think that's what they are all about. I think what they are all about is how the attitude of the team is. Their attitude has been great. The way they have gone about and treated each other has been great. We just need to keep that up and keep working hard."
On if they know who the starting quarterback is today ... "No. We will make a decision tomorrow. We will make the decision tomorrow."
On how QB Shane Morris and QB Devin Gardner looked on film ... "I think they both did some really good things, and they did some things that were not so good. You are looking for if there was one guy that played better than the other. I don't think so. They both know what they need to do better, and they will. They both competed and made some good decisions, also."
On how to avoid major changes after poor starts from the offense ... "Tuesday we will make some decisions, or we will let you know the decisions, let's put it that way. You look at everybody, then look internally, then look at everybody and see what combinations of whoever in that starting 11 give you the best chance to win. Maybe it is a different personnel group. Maybe it's more two tight ends, three tight ends. As Jake (Butt) gets healthier, he will be more a part of the offense. We will see how that goes."
On how a quarterback decision will be reached ... "It is more competition, and then there is the leadership end of it too -- who commands the offense. They have both done a really good job all year with that. I don't expect any of that to change from that standpoint. I think we would rather not (play both quarterbacks). That has not been in our discussions."
On the punting situation with P Will Hagerup and coverage breakdown ... "That's on me. The miscommunication or whatever happened there has to be on me. Do we need to count? Yes, we need to count. We need to count on the field and off the field. Will has struggled a little bit. He is a better punter than what he has shown. He had two snaps that he had to go down for. He had a pooch kick that was perfect that Jehu (Chesson) caught on the two-yard line. We have got to do a better job with placement of the ball and a little better job with our hang time."
On getting into the red zone ... "We never had a rhythm. We come out in 12 plays, have a great drive, the defense does its job, we kick the field goal, and we get points. We come out the next drive on first-and-10; we get a holding, and it makes it first-and-20. Later in the game, we had a procedure penalty. I think we had eight negative plays total. Four of them were sacks, two of them were penalties, and two of them were tackles for a loss on runs. Every time you get a negative like that, you get yourself out of the sticks a little bit. We were 9-for-19 on third down. You look at third-and-12-plus, and we're not near as good as we are on third-and-six to eight. Not hurting yourself and having a rhythm in your offense that you need to continue with, those are things that we need to work on, they are working on, they are mindful of, and they are competing with it every day. You get first downs, you move the chains, you don't get penalties, and you don't have any turnovers."
On if the program is in a crisis situation ... "No. It won't affect the course that we want to go, I can tell you that. This whole getting into coaching and coaching for those 115 kids, and the mentorship things that we want to do to help kids, that's where it starts. The frustration level people may have, don't think those kids have the same frustration. Don't think that is part of it. What they do have is a great belief in each other. They have a great belief in the program. They come out and compete and challenge each other every day, and this will be a good football team. No."
On if he thought the program would be further along in his fourth year ... "I don't know. I never judge anything like that. Who thought we would go to the Sugar Bowl in the first year. Did you? No. The point is we are building a program with a great foundation, and that is important from the academic side to the athletic side. That is important, the foundation that we have. We are a little older on defense. We have some older guys that have played a lot of football. On offense, we have one scholarship senior starting on the offense. If he wasn't the starter then we would have two juniors and everyone else is a redshirt freshman or a sophomore."
On how to start games faster ... "You always want to start fast. They started fast, Saturday. Did they put it in the end zone? No. Did we put it in the end zone? No. Obviously that is the goal. We are really good in the red zone, but we have to get there."
On the run defense through four games and its ability to stop Minnesota ... "That is a great strength for them. That is going to be a heck of a challenge. I think from the run defense side of it. We gave up 2.2 yards per rush the other day, 168 yards total in the last three football games, which hasn't been done since 2006. I think with the physicality, Willie Henry makes a great play on a pass play, but he makes five other great plays just taking up blocks and being somebody that is hard to move out of there. That is kind of the same. I think the front seven has been playing well. I think the two linebackers are active, and I think Jake (Ryan) has a knack for making football plays, and it's called instinct. So the front seven has been good. I thought Jourdan Lewis and Blake Countess, talking about two guys who tackled guys. That is what you want from corners, especially on five-yard stops. Get them on the ground and play the next play."
On the offense ..."I knew that, we are not trying to get 80 plays, 90 plays. We want efficiency in what we are doing. Time of possession is way overrated to some degree. Our biggest problem right now is that we need to take care of the football. You talk about a rhythm, you talk about penalties, those kinds of things will throw your rhythm off as an offense."
On why will this be a good football team ... "Because I know how hard they work, what they do everyday day and what they believe."
On "the little things" developing ... "I don't know what you mean by developing -- we out-yardaged Utah and all of that. There are little things every week. There could be one guy not targeting the defensive end well enough; that's something we have to do a better job of. It comes from a coaching standpoint in the technique and fundamentals. I think you are always coaching the technique and fundamentals. No one has ever played a perfect game."
On the noise about the program and the pressure that comes with it ... "Well, obviously with social media and blogging, and everything it's out there. But ultimately it's about what we choose and what we believe, and we have great belief in our locker room."
On the mentality of QB Devin Gardner now that his spot is "up for grabs" ... "He's a leader, but leadership is hard sometimes. But he will handle it like a leader does whatever happens. He is as resilient as any young man you can be around because of what people put out there."
On the defensive performance ... "Well it's not good enough. You know if they don't score they can't win. We have to play better defense so they can't score."
On the team's last performance in regards to comfort ... "I don't know if you can ever have a comfort. I am very optimistic about both sides of the ball."
On the coaches' involvement in trying to overcome these struggles ... "I meet with Doug (Nussmeier) twice a week, and we go over the plan. I will be with him at 10:30 tonight for an hour. We discuss what we want to do and how we want to do it. I'm going to be doing the same thing I've been doing. He is a heck of a football coach."
On QB Shane Morris' progression ... "I think Shane had a really good fall camp, and I think it's continued. I think when I sit up here and say there's competition, there truly has been competition the whole time. We feel comfortable, do we have confidence? Yeah, no doubt about it."
On Doug Nussmeier's position during the football games ... "I like him on the field. I think it's the way he coaches and the hands on that he has. He gets good information from the guys that are up there (in the coaching box). If it was needed, I'd probably say, 'Hey Doug, you need to get up there so you can see.' I think with what he has done has been really positive to the growth of this program."
On the struggles of QB Devin Gardner in the past couple games ... "It's not all him, number one. There are tipped balls in both games, the last two -- one from the defensive perspective and one from the offensive perspective; so maybe if we get two hands on it (the ball), it won't be tipped. There's different things -- guys getting pushed backed into him a little bit, not very often, but it's happened, and the ball hasn't come off right. Has he made perfect decisions? No, and he wants to, and he will."
On defensive secondary making checks and S Jarrod Wilson ... ... "I think you would have to believe that based on the last two weeks, they've done a nice job. I think based off of watching the tape and looking at grades and seeing their efficiency, I'm very happy with how Blake (Countess) has gotten down to his business, how Jourdan (Lewis), Jeremy Clark's made some plays and having Delano Hill is important. Hopefully, Jarrod sometime, we'll see."
On comparing the offense now to this time last year ... "They're not the same at all. They're not the same for the simple fact that it's a new system. Everything is a little bit new to us. But I don't see it being the same."
On small issues becoming bigger problems on the field ... "I think we're second in the league in penalties, in a good way."
On the discipline demonstrated by the team ... "I think we've been pretty good. Sometimes you're going to hold a guy. You can probably call a hold on every play."
