[Fuller]

Things Discussed

• How Warinner simplifies the offensive line
• Juwann Bushell-Beatty and Mike Onwenu's progress
• Warinner's coaching methods
• Turns out the OL has been kinda good the last few weeks

[After THE JUMP: Stuff and things]

Coach, talk about Juwann (Bushell-Beatty) and just how far he’s come

 

“Juwann, you know, the thing we really challenged him with is to be consistent. And I think he has. He’s become more consistent. He’s out there every day, practicing, gets lots of reps, working hard. And he’s improved himself physically. He’s in much better physical condition, maybe even than what I thought, for sure in spring, I guess in the past, too. So, I think he’s grown a lot. More confident. Talks more, communicates better. So, still has a lot of things we want him to get better at, so we’re still pushing him along. He can still be a better player than he is, but he’s made a lot of progress.”

 

Consistent in what way?

 

“Just his — consistent in how he plays, at the level he plays during games. Consistent just in how he practices. Consistent in how he’s in meetings, so all that. Cause it’s all a process — if you’re bad in meetings, you’re not gonna be good in practice. If you’re not good in practice, you’re not gonna be good in the game. So it starts with learning in the meetings, growing in the meetings. He’s doing a really good job there, and then taking it to the practice field. How do you practice? When you practice — when you have a good week of practice, you usually watch a guy have a pretty good game on Saturday. If they have an average practice, if they have a couple bad days, a couple good days, that’s what you’ll see on Saturday. So, we’ve challenged him to be consistent day-in and day-out in all areas of football. And I think he’s doing that.”

 

Ed, it looked like you guys really improved in pass pro this last game. There was clean pockets. Has communication unlocked some of that progress or is there more to it than that?

 

“I think that’s always the key. I think it’s been pretty solid, just overall, if you look at the sacks — I mean, there was one sack that you wouldn’t say that was on the offensive line. There’s, I think been four that you wouldn’t say are on the offensive line, so you take those out of there, you’re talking about three in five games, that’s pretty good. We’re trying to improve that area. We’ve simplified our protections and our guys are getting real comfortable with them. And the communication of that, because we’re — the offensive line tries to set that. Cesar (Ruiz) will try to call the protections, but Ben (Bredeson) is his right hand man, Ben and him are looking at things. We have the tackled involved in that, and the quarterback’s involved in that. So, it’s a group effort. Give the quarterback the time to look through his progressions and when you see that he’s doing that, now the quarterback’s having some time to go through his progressions and we’re getting some hits downfield. I think it’s just consistency in their technique and then understanding the protections and then not changing them on them.”

 

So you’ve kept them pretty similar?

 

“Yeah, we’ve been consistent on how we’re doing it. Real pleased with our balance. Right now offensively, I think there’s three yards difference between our rush yards and our passing yards. So when you look at your stats, I mean here it is. (Reading from sheet), rushing yards, 1,028. Passing yards, 1,031. So I would call that balance. I mean, what’s the odds of being a half a percentage point off, the two areas. So averaging over 200 yards a game in both of those. So that bodes well. And still, there’s opportunities, as everybody can see, that we’ve left some yards and points off the field, that we didn’t really capitalize on some at times. So, try not to do that this week.”

 

Where is the area that this line has improved the most since the fall?

 

“Just very — I think they’re a group. I think they are very much more confident. I think they believe in what’s going on, and just consistency. You know, consistency. And I think those things are so important — how you practice. Cause I’m always about, it’s not about who we’re playing, it’s about us. It’s about, how do we prepare, how do we learn and study our opponent? How do we practice? And then how do we finish up the week on Friday and Saturday? The things we do, the walk-throughs, the things that we do to finish off the week. But just the preparation and the consistency of that, and go for it. And the group’s stayed together, they’ve stayed healthy, they’ve all practiced. And so, I don’t know what the biggest improvement is. I’m really pleased, we have one holding call in five games. We have two illegal procedure penalties in five games, so I would challenge anyone to say who has less penalties on their offensive line in five games. We have three. That’s pretty good. Our negative yardage plays are down, our sacks are way down. So those things show you that good things are happening, they’re making progress.”

 

You’ve been doing this a long time with a lot of offensive lines. What’s the biggest hurdle between taking one that maybe — a line that’s maybe not where it could be yet and getting it to that point? Know what I’m saying? What’s the biggest mountain you gotta climb to get them really clicking?

 

“Number one, how hard can I push them? You just gotta push people, make them uncomfortable, you gotta make them do stuff they really don’t want to do. That comes with trust. So, they have to trust that what you’re doing and what you’re telling them will make them be a better player, make the team be a better team. So you develop trust, then you push them to challenge them to do more than they’ve done in the past, do it better than they’ve done in the past. And you hold people accountable. Never let a rep go by where a guy does something that’s not correct, either effort-wise or not correct assignment-wise, and let it go. Cause the minute you let something go, you’ve just reinforced it’s ok. ‘Well I did that yesterday and you didn’t say anything, so it must be ok.’ No. So, they don’t ever have a play off. They don’t ever get a play off in practice, where somebody isn’t coaching them or evaluating them or making sure that, if you see it live in practice, it gets addressed amd then it definitely gets addressed when we watch video. But there’s no — I’m not gonna say anything bad, I’m not gonna say anything to Cesar about that. No, no, no, no, no. We — everything’s addressed. Everything, if it’s not a championship-level play, in practice or in games, it gets addressed. In a positive way, to help them get better. To help them understand what the standard is. The standard is, we’re trying to win every game and we’re trying to be at a championship level and compete for a Big Ten title. That’s how we coach ‘em. So it’s not about who we’re playing against, it’s about how we’re performing. To get kids to do that, they have to see themselves getting better. The most inspirational thing as a player is when you improve. You can say what you want. The scoreboard talks about the team and the program. The individual playing well and getting better is what really resonates. Cause we all — I have kids and I’ve coached lots of kids. ‘I had a great game.’ ‘I know, but you guys lost by touchdowns.’ ‘I know, but I had a great game.’ That’s all that, in today’s society, that resonates with kids, is, ‘How did I play? Am I getting better? Am I doing what I’m supposed to do?’ And they are connected to the team and the program, I don’t mean that, but you know what I’m saying. Deep down in their heart, so, but anyway, I think we’re just challenging, continue to grow and get better. And I think they trust me, and I trust them. I think we have fun together. I think we work hard together. I think they know that if they show up not ready to work, it’s gonna be an uncomfortable day. If they show up and do what they’re supposed to do, then it’ll be a really joyous day with everybody working hard. So, they get to decide that. Cause I’m not changing. So, because I can’t. I can’t let them have days off, I can’t let them not practice well. I can’t lower the expectations, or we won’t be what we need to be. But that’s success in any profession. Corporate, sales, medical, whatever it is, you gotta be challenged every day to be your best or you’ll take days off, take practices off, take — you know what I mean? That shows up in the bottom line, so we don’t let that happen.”

 

Did you get any pushback early on? This mindset you talked about, did you get pushback from anyone, just cause you’re new?

 

“Not really. I didn’t feel that, but I just think that until something you tell them shows on film, where they can see themselves doing that against our team or somebody else, that’s when it really becomes reinforced. Like, ‘I haven’t given up a sack this year. These pass protection drills — cause we didn’t do these drills last year. Or I never did these things.’ Like, what? So things like that. Well, so things like that, that’s where trust has developed, you know what I mean? What we’re asking them to do is reinforced by, does it work for them when it counts? I think that’s been really good. And they’re a great group of guys. Everybody wants to be good. Everybody wants to be the best. But not everybody knows how to get there, and that’s my job is to help them go where they can’t take themselves. I always say two things as a coach that I’m responsible for: take the player where he can’t take himself and make the complicated seem simple. And if I do those two things, I’ve done my job and we’ll be better. So, cause it is complicated playing offensive line. It’s very complicated but somehow you have to present it and teach it in a progression that makes it simple in their minds so they can play fast and with confidence. And somehow you have to make it somewhat uncomfortable enough to work hard, to go beyond, to stray, to do extra that will end up making them better. So those are the two things I think are the primary role of a coach, other than whatever the head coach wants, I do as hard as I can do. That’s my role as an assistant to him is, what does he want? How does he see this thing going and how do I do that to the best of my ability? But to the players, those are the two things I do for the players.”

 

Mike Onwenu’s a big guy, how is he doing when you’re asking him to pull? And how much can he improve in that area?

 

“He’s improved a lot in that. Obviously that’s a big man pulling. And he’s done pretty well. There was a play in the game on Saturday where we asked him to pull and the defensive end just shot seven yards in the backfield. I don’t know if we have anybody on the team that would’ve got that guy blocked. So, that wasn’t the reaction that we thought we would get from that defensive end, but we got him a few plays later. So, you know what I’m saying, you play off what they’re doing. So, anyhow. But as far as his pulling, he’s improved at that a lot. I always tell Mike, his deal is footwork and using his hands. When he has great footwork and uses his hands, he can be dominant. And that’s where we’re trying to get him to grow. That’s where I’m on him every day, about his footwork. If he uses his first two steps are good, when that body gets moving in the right direction, look out. And if he uses his hands legally, look out. Those are two things that can make him a dominant player, so that’s what we coach him on. But Mike’s grown a lot. His pass protection’s really gotten better. Everybody, even inside the program, has noticed that. That, when he goes 1-on-1s with our best defensive guys, he’s solid. So it’s been good there. Mike’s one of those guys who’s improved a lot, it’s all because of how he practices.”

 

I just want to understand, ‘simplify,’ a little bit more. I mean, the guys have been talking about it since you got here. And you’re saying, offensive line is complicated. In your mind, what does simplify mean? The scheme’s not simple?

 

“Well just how you present it. Like, there’s a lot of things that can happen on every play. And nobody knows what, before the play starts, what of those are gonna happen. And realistically, I know there’s six things that could happen. If I give all six of those scenarios to a player, then he won’t play very fast. So I have to simplify that — what are the two most likely things to happen on this play, in this situation. And it’s A or B, and react to one of those two. And if he’s right 80 percent of the time, we win. Cause if the line grades out at 80 percent, we’re gonna win. You know what I mean, offensively, or winn the play, or win the day. Does that make sense? But if I give him give or six things that could happen, and now he grades out at 50 percent cause he’s worried about too much and thinking about too much, then the play slows down, the reaction’s slowed down and you start chasing ghosts, so to speak.”

 

That starts with you, right?

 

“So, I — it becomes incumbent on me, what are the two most important things on this play that you need to do? It’s A, and if it’s not A, you’re reacting to B. And anything else that happens, we’ll live with the result, play the next play.”

 

You have to live with the results

 

“Yeah, yeah I do. So there’s no heartburn — the kid doesn’t feel discomfort if something else happens that we haven’t really worked on. That’s on me. Right? So, that’s — but I mean, that’s where you have to say what’s realistic in these situations for a player. I mean, what do they do? What are the tendencies of that team? Anybody can do anything, I mean, they can come in and not play any defense that they’ve played. I’ve coached on teams where you had a whole — you played a game and you didn’t run anything you ran the last two weeks. I’ve done that before. Especially coming off a bye week, you can do that. Do we chase ghosts or do we say, this is what they are, this is what they’ve done, this is what we’re gonna be ready for? So, it’s preparation up until kickoff, and then once the kickoff starts, it’s adjusting. Who adjusts the best once the ball is kicked off? Who prepares the best prior to the kickoff? Right? So if they’re doing something different, then sometimes you get stalled early in the game and you sit your guys down and say, ‘Listen, we worked on this and this. They’re not doing that now. They’re doing this and this. Boom, let’s go attack that.’ There’s your adjustments. Boom. You know what I mean?”

 

So maybe you saw some different things from Northwestern last week early?

 

“I didn’t mean necessarily that, but I just mean in general, that’s how I see the game. You know what I mean? That’s how I envision it. Cause the more you put in there, the slower they play. And the less confident they are. ‘What if he does that?’ You know. You get that question a lot. So I love to tell them, ‘Don’t worry about that. That’s on me. You worry about this stuff.’ Know what I mean? That’s my job. And then make adjustments. And if something happens that we’re not prepared for, nobody’s getting yelled at. There’s no stress, it’s just, ‘Hey, this is the answer.’ We have tools in our toolbox to fix all problems, but you can only have two tools in your hands at once. One in this hand and one in that hand. Here we go. You can’t have more than that. So, we need a new tool, we get the new tool out, next series, here we go. So, we always talk about, ‘What’s in our toolbox?’ We’ve faced all these different defenses, we’ve prepared for all this, this is what we think we’re gonna do. We’re going in with this and this. If those don’t work, throw them down, get something else and we’ll go. But you always want them to be able to play fast, play hard, play confident. And the communication means that we’re all on the same page. Maybe we wanted to slide the protection to the right, but the center slid it to the left. But that’s ok. Cause we still have a running back to the other side that is supposed to block somebody — that is on scholarship — to pick up the blitzer. We would have liked to have slid it that way and picked up the blitzer, but if we slide it the wrong way, he’s got a job to do, too and that’s on his plate. You know what I mean? So it doesn’t matter all the time if every decision they make is right or wrong. As long as they’re all connected and all on the same page, you’ll get everybody blocked. It’s not like any play doesn’t have people assigned to people. So, that part of it works out good, too, cause now a kid will make a decision and play hard, and know that — you’ll be like, ‘Why did you slide the protection that way?’ ‘I saw this.’ ‘Hey, I’m telling you, they’re doing this, let’s slide it to this guy — they’re giving you a look.’ You know, and you just make that adjustment and you go. And players play really well when it’s that kind of — you know what I mean?”