press conference transcripts

Opening remarks:

“What are you shaking your head about? Don’t start this like that. I want positive karma out of you. Hi. How you guys doin’? Heiko, what’s happenin?”

MGo: Not much.

“Always good to see you.”

MGo: It’s good to see you, too.

“You didn’t mean that.”

MGo: I’m really sad that you didn’t run any pistol formations.

“We don’t have any pistol formations. How could we run it? But if you’d like us to put them in we’ll be happy to do so just to make you happy.”

MGo: That would be great.

“Because my life revolves around your happiness if you haven’t figured that out by now.”

MGoHeartAsplode.

“... Okay.”

The first play from scrimmage was a 30-yard pass down the sideline to Amara Darboh. Was that to show people that they don’t need to worry about the wide receivers?

“Heh. No. That wasn’t what I was thinking. No, we were just thinking -- it’s always a good idea every so often in coming out on offense to try and take a ball deep. Our defense isn’t necessarily like this, but a lot of defenses will get a little reckless, you know? They’ll try and create a safety or whatever. A deep ball sometimes is a pretty good deal so we just decided at least once we were going to try and do that. That’s the reason for it.”

Opening remarks:

“You guys get me McGary yet?”

Isn’t that your job?

“Heh, no. I’m done with recruiting.”

For good?

“No.”

How consistent was your four-man rush this spring and what’s the potential?

“Well we worked very very hard on it. We made a definite [goal]: ‘We’re going to do that.’ We worked hard all spring on it. The thing about pass rush that makes it something that you can achieve is that’s a phase of football you can work on all summer. That’s something like catching passes, like throwing passes. You can’t go out and hit a guy one on one, you can’t do all that in a summer, but you can improve pass rush technique better than anything else. And with our belief of that being important and our kids believing that, I think that’s something we’ll just continue. They did show some signs in there, but they also showed why you have to be a technician when you do it, and everybody’s got to be on the same page. We’re kind of in the growing stages of it, but we’re growing in the right direction.”

Bullets:

• Blake Countess and Fitz Toussaint should be back for the season opener. 
• Jake Ryan could be available as early as mid-October.
• Devin Funchess got dinged up during the game but should be fine.

My nice camera is broken, so here is a high-res iPhone shot. Note the bling.

Opening remarks:

“I think we got 65, 66 plays in, which is about where we wanted to be. We got some situational work that I wanted to get done. We need to really get a lot of the young guys up front on both sides of the ball. We want to continue to improve some of the fundamentals on both sides of the ball. Running the football is one of them, and playing the run and getting off blocks -- we have to do a little bit of that. We got to do a little bit of red zone. That’s one area that we need to continue to work on on both sides of the ball. The guys went out there, it’s the first day we’ve been outside, which is unusual. But we got done what we wanted to get done.”

That was the first time you practiced outside all spring?

“Mmhmm. Yup.”

Talk about Devin’s first long completion, and some of the passes he threw today in this weather?

“Well, Devin naturally throws a tight ball. When you throw a tight ball, and he’s got good arm strength -- he has good velocity on it. He can cut through the wind pretty well. He’s always thrown a long ball pretty well. He had a pretty good day.”

Talk about Jack Miller at center and Chris Wormley’s return?

“You know, I think Jack has really -- there’s great competition, him and Graham Glasgow at the center position. I think Jack has really grown as a player. Again, so much of this is about the fact that he’s made some real strides in his accountability and about being the bell cow when you look at the offensive line. Chris was a little tentative early in the spring, but I think he’s had a good spring. His recovery, confidence and those things [are good].”

Receivers?

“I think the young guys and Jeremy Jackson -- I think Jeremy’s really having his best spring. You look at Jehu [Chesson] and Amara [Darboh], I think both those guys have really come a long way. They both are very talented and do a lot of different things. Joe Reynolds. I think Joe keeps pushing everybody. Joe’s a guy that’s played a lot of positions, and that’s real positive.”

What about Graham Glasgow makes him able to rotate through all three positions?

“Smart, number one. Very intellient. He’s tough, which you need to be, physically and mentally. He has a real passion for the game.”

Talk about your pass rush -- looked like Taco got to the quarterback a couple times and actually hit him …

“Freshman.”

Was that something that you saw consistently throughout the spring?

“Well I think we’ve grown. I think we’ve got some young kids who have some ability. With Greg and his passion with how he teaches rushing the passer, the work that’s been put in … and the guys are excited about it. They know what we want to do. We’ve worked on it. We’re not near what we can be and will be, but I think we’re a little better at it.”

Thoughts on Blake Countess’s spring and the secondary in general?

“Well, Blake, he’s healthy. Kept him out of contact. Same with Fitz [Toussaint]. I think that’s just the best way to go about it. They both played a number of snaps. The secondary, the competition level at a core position -- you want it there. You can say the same thing about the safeties. Jeremy Clark is a guy who’s a pretty good player. Marvin [Robinson] has shown great glimpses through his career here. Thomas is having a real solid, real good spring. He’s been very much the leader. And then Jarrod played quite a bit a year ago, but he’s come along.”

What was your evaluation of the backup quarterbacks today?

“I think with Brian [Cleary] and [Alex] Swieca, it was good to give them snaps with people here. People in the stadium, playing in this stadium. Both of them handled themselves well. We put the ball on the ground on a snap, which we can’t afford to do. Whose fault was it, I’m not sure. But we need to do a better job with that. As far as the growth that they both have made, it’s been positive.”

James Ross was in the middle of a lot of plays today. Have you been seeing that from him all spring?

“Yeah James has had a pretty good spring. He’s a good football player. Very instinctive. He’s got a burst, movement to the football. He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s not afraid to take on blocks.”

Are Ross’s instincts unorthodox similar to Jake Ryan?

“No. No he’s not unorthodox. He’s going to be a little more of a technician, but it’s still football instincts.”

What are your thoughts on the transtion to pro-style offense?

“I think it’s gone very well. I think I’d be shocked if we didn’t show a whole lot of anything today as far as scheme and all those things. That’s what we’ve run before we came here. We still have elements -- you can still tell from the play-action game standpoint how comfortable Devin is and how good he can be.”

Offensive line was up and down today. How big of a focus is improving the interior line going to be moving forward?

“Look, we’re going to focus on all of it, what we do from here on as a team and what they do together, the seniors and all that. Objectively there were some good plays offensively and there were some good plays defensively.”

How likely is it that you bring in a JUCO transfer at quarterback?

“I -- I don’t know. It could happen. It couldn’t happen.”

Looked like something happened to Funchess …

“He’ll be all right.”

Any update on Hagerup’s status?
“No.”

What would you need to see from a JUCO transfer in order to take him?

“He’d better be pretty good. That’d be the first and what would fit what we want to do with the scheme and what we want in a quarterback. ”

Talk about Fitz’s progress? Other running backs?

“Fitz, he’s made really good strides. He probably could have done a little more, but I think his progress is pretty good. I think Thomas [Rawls] made a nice run in there today, had a really nice cut. [Dennis] Norfleet made a guy miss in the hole. I think Drake [Johnson] ran hard, and Justice [Hayes] protected well a couple times there, but we’re a work in progress. Has there been any separation? I don’t think so yet. We’ll go through some of it in the fall.”

What kind of clarity did today provide as fars as your No. 2 quarterback?

“Well I think Brian is [No. 2].”

Is that your ’97 championship ring there?

“Yes.”

Any significance to bringing that out today?

“Uh, I usually don’t wear it, so … just had it on.”

Just felt like putting it on today?

“Yeah. Went with my … shoes.”

Would you expect Fitz and Blake to be back for the opener?

“I don’t think there’s any doubt.”

What is the likely timetable for Jake Ryan?

“You know, I’m not a doctor. But. Possibly middle of October. Some people react differently.”

Impact of Taylor Lewan on offensive line?

“Taylor’s done a great job with those guys. That’s one reason why he wanted to come back. Physicalness that they need to play with, targeting, all those things that go with that. He’s taken that really personally. I think the group of them, and the competition will really -- it’s been great. They’ll be impactful.”

How much of a strength will the tight end position be, and what kind of role will Jake Butt have?

“Well I think Jake being here has made it a stronger position. He’s a guy who can catch the ball in space, run well, but he’s also a guy that blocks well at the line of scrimmage for a guy who’s been here since January. We’re excited about what he brings added to the guys we have here.”

Opening remarks:

“We’re so proud of those guys. We’re so proud of that basketball program. I mean, what they’ve done with that young team is so special. We’re pulling for them just like everybody else.”

What do you see from Jarrod Wilson?

“I’ve seen him since the day he got here, and he’s one of the first we brought in at semester. He’s very mature. He’s a young man that studies the books, studies exactly what he’s supposed to do by position, has great pride in the way he plays, and he’s a very good athlete. All he needs now is just continued reps in game-like situations, and that’s what we do in practice a lot. He’s a very consistent football player, too. A lot of times young guys will show flashes of why you recruited them, and then you say ‘Aw man’ when you step back.”

Hoke said you talked to Shane Morris after Russell Bellomy’s injury. How does the injury impact Shane, and how does this impact how you coach him?

“Really not as much as you might think. He was going to come in and compete anyway. There’s one less slot there to go through, so that’s really all it impacted. He knows there’s one less body. Doesn’t affect him as much as you might think.”

Does Shane come around a lot?

“Oh yeah. All the time. He’s been around for a couple years, actually. He committed early, so he knows everybody on the team and they all know him. He’ll hit the ground running when he gets here.”

Bullets:

• RS Fr Brian Cleary is now the backup quarterback. Yes, he's a walk-on, but Al Borges talked him up at the NSD presser as someone who might contribute regardless. Said he "looks like a scholarship QB."
• Hoke has not spoken to Shane Morris since Bellomy's injury, but Borges has.
• With Bellomy out, a real spring game is looking less and less likely.
• Justice Hayes is looking good at RB.
• Jarrod Wilson is standing out at safety.
• Will Hagerup is still suspended.
• Brendan Gibbons has been kicking off a little bit in practice whenever Matt Wile can't make it on account of class.
• When Brady Hoke says "Mitch McGary" five times really fast he gets "Rob Gronkowski." 
• Brady Hoke has the hiccups from saying "Mitch McGary" too many times.

Opening remarks:

“We’ve had good practices. The tempo’s been good. I think the competition level has been good. We’ve got to play faster as a team. I think some of that is some young guys getting used to playing a lot, when you get a number of reps, but we’ve done a pretty good job of being competitive. We need to continue that.”

How has Russell Bellomy’s injury impacted the offense?

“I think the impact is how you feel, number one. You feel terrible for him. The impact as far as depth always hurts you when anyone gets out of the lineup. As far as that’s concerned, we’ll move forward and keep developing Brian Cleary and those guys who are behind Devin.”

How’s Bellomy doing?

“He’s doing fine. He’s disappointed, like we all are. We can all imagine how he’d feel, but he’s doing fine.”