[Campredon]

Your initial impressions of Wilton?

“I’ve been very impressed with Wilton. Wilton is a conceptual learner, and so some of the things that we’ve put on his plate up until this point in the spring, I mean, he’s a quick study. And football’s important to Wilton. Winning is important to Wilton. So, very impressed with him.”

I don’t want to say you’re inheriting a quarterback, but he was here before you got here. What are the challenges of that, because he was actually here before Jim got here as well—what are the challenges of stepping in and having a guy who’s already been tabbed the starter and going from there?

“I wouldn’t say that it’s a challenge for me. I think it’s probably more of a challenge for Wilton to adjust to a different style of coaching than what he was used to, than what he had in years past. We haven’t had any issues. I think Wilton understands that, as the quarterback for the University of Michigan, the expectations

You’ve moved back to the college game from the pro game. Do you have to change how you coach or your expectation level when you’re dealing with a college kid as opposed to who you’re dealing with in the pros?

“No, you don’t have to change how you coach, but you have less time with your players. I think it’s more of a challenge when you’re trying to put a lot of volume or put a lot on their plate to get them to the point where they can handle all of the information and all of the strategy that you try to implement at times. But the kids here at the University of Michigan, they’re tough and they’re smart so they’re able to adjust and adapt to some of the concepts, for example, that we’re going to use this upcoming season.”

Why come back to the college level?

“I want to win a national championship.”

[After THE JUMP: working with Wilton, rotating centers, and Don Brown’s headache-inducing defense]

You use the term ‘conceptual learner’ with Wilton. Is he different? Do all your past quarterbacks fit into that category of being a conceptual learner?

“Well, not all of them, but it’s preferred to have guys that understand the why, that get it the first time. I think it helps them to ultimately be good decision-makers post-snap, and that’s something that you see in Wilton when you watch him.

“You just go back and watch his film. He can manage bad plays and he does a good job of playing situational football.”

You’ve been around a lot of teams over the years. How does this team compare talent-wise to some of the better ones you’ve had?

“You know, I don’t know. I don’t know just yet. I think we have a lot of young talent, but you can’t teach experience. I think it’s important that these kids get an opportunity to get out there and practice and then get in the film room and learn from some of their mistakes, and then continue to put work in in their spare time.

“They have tough decisions to make. You know, when I’m not studying, do I pick up the Xbox controller of pick up my iPad and continue to study my playbook? We’ve challenged them to do just that and they seem very receptive to that challenge.”

You said you came back to college because you wanted to win a national title. Is there a difference between chasing a college title and a pro title or was it to work with Jim again or is it more than just ‘I want to win a title’?

“Yeah, I think it is different. It’s different without a doubt. I think it’s a lot more fulfilling to have an opportunity to coach a young man and watch him mature and grow to be an adult. I had that opportunity at Stanford. I had an opportunity coach some guys on the college level and then coach them well into their pro careers. It’s fun to watch them grow and develop and realize their full potential as players over the years.”

What have you seen from the receivers so far?

“A lot of raw talent. A lot of raw talent. Guys that are explosive, guys that are fast, guys that have a lot of work to do to be able to just consistently win versus man coverage.”

How about blocking and route-running?

“All of the above, yep.”

If the season started today, who would be the starters? Who would be the backups?

“That’s a tough question.”

You mentioned that you can’t teach experience. What do you have to do to turn that talent into something and what are the biggest tasks of turning that raw talent into something?

“Well, just to continue to make sure that in practice that we’re working on the things that they need to work on. To be able to go out and win one-on-one matchups for the receivers. For the quarterbacks, to be able to go out and execute an offense at a high level, to manage bad plays—I’ll continue to say that—and be playmakers. Score the ball at the receiver position; throw touchdowns as a quarterback; runners, they have to create their own yards and they have to run in touchdowns. It’s our job as an offensive unit to score the ball. That’s what we’ve been charged with; that’s our challenge.”

What did you take from Hue Jackson in your one year there in Cleveland?

“Oh, wow. He was consistent in his energy with which he challenged the players.”

Is that something you think you’ve done that in the past or is that something you want to better incorporate into your methods?

“Oh no, I’ve done it in the past. I don’t know that I’ve been around other head coaches that have been as involved in all aspects of motivating players on a daily basis.”

It sounds like Kugler’s getting a lot of reps with the ones at center. Do you see a rapport between him and Wilton at this point? Are they working pretty well together?

“You know, we’re rotating our centers. Kugler’s gotten reps, Cesar’s gotten reps, Mason Cole’s gotten reps. It’s still early in the process, so we’ll see.”

Players mentioned you brought some new terminology with you. Are there any other changes you’ve made to the style of offense or maybe the playcalling?

“No, not really. I think just how we call plays are how we call plays. I think a lot of what we’re gonna do is just a continuation of what we did at Stanford when Coach Harbaugh was there. You know, we’re adapting to our players as opposed to guys having to adapt to the system.”

Obviously it’s not all the way there yet, but how did the relationship with Wilton develop?

“Um, I don’t know. I think you’d really have to ask Wilton. I don’t know that I would call it a relationship. I think we have a good understanding of what my job is, and that’s to help Wilton be the best Wilton he can be.”

What have you seen from Cesar [Ruiz] so far as a true freshman coming in?

“Well, he’s really ahead of what you’d expect from a kid who was in high school three or four months ago. [Inaudible] his approach to the game as well as his physical talent.”

Wilton was talking about how when your son comes around you throw the ball back and forth and he related to that because of him and his dad. It’s a football thing and not a personal thing mostly, but what’s it been like getting to know him and making this your home personally?

“Well, I think once we finish spring ball and maybe while we’re over in Europe we’ll have a chance to actually sit down and get to know each other better.* A lot of our time has been just grinding on football right now, and thank goodness Wilton is mature enough to manage all his affairs off the field very well. It’s been all ball, all the time.”

Mechanics-wise, was there anything that jumped out that you liked about him or wanted to change? How did you evaluate that?

“I thought that he had above average physical stature for the position. He can function from the pocket. He has great field vision and he can deliver the ball under duress. I felt like that was an extreme positive. There are some things that we have to work on, but he’s still a work in progress in that regard. I don’t know that I want to divulge into too much information about what we’re working on.”

How much does the fact that you’ve worked with Jim previously made this transition easier or less stressful?

“That factored into it. It factored largely into my decision to be a part of his program. I know that Coach is going to find a way to win, and his teams always win. That’s important for myself as well as it is for the rest of our staff to have an opportunity to win.”

What’s it like going up against a Don Brown defense?

“Oh, wow. It’s a headache. It’s a headache. From day one you’re preparing for things that are…extreme, should I say. At the same time, iron sharpens iron. It gives us a great opportunity to test our rules, test the rules of our protections. It forces us to communicate and solve problems on the fly.”

After having spent time in college and then going to the NFL and coming back, how has that helped you as a coach to get a little bit of a different perspective?

“Well, I’ve had a chance to learn from my mistakes. I’ve survived some of my mistakes—not all of them. And I feel like I’m better prepared to help these young men better realize their full potential.”

Is there anything that you take away from the pro game that you’re able to maybe implement into the college game that--

“Oh, there’s a lot. There’s a lot. Most of that is probably schematics, strategy, but we’ll see. Anytime we’ll see if we can improve our overall function and efficiency as an offense.”

Does it help already having a guy who’s started a year as opposed to coming here and having to develop a starter?

“Oh yeah, absolutely. It really helps to be able to go back and watch last season’s film and have a great idea what his strengths are. Now we can build on his strengths and it should help us once we start playing games to really come up with a strategy that’s going to give us the best chance to score touchdowns.”

Is there anything different in how you approach Donovan [Peoples-Jones] and Tarik [Black] being two freshmen coming in at the wide receiver spot? Do you do anything different with them just because they’re learning it for the first time?

“Well, no. You can’t. There are rules in regard to the amount of time you can spend with your guys. When they’re young and you ask them to do something and they ask why, you tell them, because I said so.” [laughs]

How have those two been doing?

“Good.”

How about the other quarterbacks? Are they pushing Wilton at all?

“Oh, absolutely. They’re all working hard. They all want to play. They’re all very talented, but I think that’s just part of it. Only one guy can play. Wilton has an opportunity to continue his growth and development as a leader of this program and I’m sure he will.”

Prior to coming here, I know you were busy in Cleveland, but had you ever heard of Wilton? Had you seen him play, or was it you come here, get the job, and that’s when you were introduced to him?

“Well, I actually had a chance to watch Wilton play lacrosse when he was in high school. I was recruiting a defensive end that was at Collegiate High School down in Richmond, Virginia. I was coaching at Stanford at the time, and I went and watched the kid play in the lacrosse game and I saw this 6’5”, scrawny lacrosse player out there that was extremely quick and athletic for his size and it was brought to my attention that that was Wilton Speight and he was the quarterback of the team. I think they told me he was going to NC State or something at the time and lo and behold, I have an opportunity to work with him.”

Kind of odd years later?

“Yeah, absolutely.”

When did you place the connection that the guy you watched play lacrosse years earlier was--

“Oh no, I knew. I knew as soon as I decided to be a part of Coach Harbaugh’s program who I was going to have an opportunity to work with.”

Was he good at lacrosse?

“He was pretty good. I don’t know much about lacrosse, but…”

*Speight said that his initial meeting with Hamilton started with them shaking hands, then Hamilton immediately drawing up defensive formations on the whiteboard and asking Wilton how he’d handle each of them.