2019 spring practice

What has Mazi Smith brought to the d-tackle spot and are you pretty confident with the depth you have there?

“At d-tackle?”

Yeah.

“Yeah, yeah. I feel really good about it. You know, I think the bigger key is Carlo Kemp; 290+, more athletic than a year ago. I think he’s really brought a sense of maturity to the inside position. And the guy that’s probably made the biggest jump in one year is Donovan Jeter. You know, just…big, strong, always looked like a pro defensive tackle to me but now head’s screwed on, body’s tight, understands the position and playing at a high level.

"Mazi’s coming along. It’s a learning process. He should have been going to the prom this spring and being at home and he’s here playing major college football, and has shown flashes. But this 15 practices, really just a piece of his development, which will continue on in June, July and then preseason camp. But love the man, love what he brings to the table—he’s one of the strongest guys in the program—[but] we just need him to translate that strength, that physical prowess on a down-to-down basis consistently and that’s hard to do when you’re just walking in the door. But real happy with him, no question.”

Josh just got done talking about how he thinks his offense can help protect a defense. Usually it’s the big clock-consuming kind of offense that you hear about protecting a defense. In what ways do you think this offense could help protect your defense?

“Well, first off, you got to stand up on your own two feet and take care of your own business, so that’s one thing we need to do. But obviously if they’re moving the football and controlling the clock and finishing drives, there’s nothing more important than filling up the scoreboard with points. That kind of—it’s nice when you can sit over there and those kinds of things happen.

“It’ll be interesting. Last two years we’ve averaged 64-66 snaps defensively, which is not a lot, now, you know. So it gives you a chance to really, when you get on the field, put your life on the line in that sense and get after it, but hey, the beautiful thing is when you’re sitting on the sideline and the offense is moving the football. That’s not only a chance to recover but it also builds confidence in your defense knowing they can go out there and lay it on the line and we have a chance to score a lot of points.”

How do you assess your linebacking corps from—

“Unbelievable. Right now I’m really excited about the direction that group’s gone. Khaleke Hudson’s playing at a high level, which I knew he would. Has really—you know, he was sick yesterday, so I’m assuming—and actually Phil came in and said, ‘You know, I don’t think he’s gonna end up going today’ and I’m like ‘Okay’ because he had gone the whole—so I go up to him, ‘Hey, you’re probably not going today.’ He goes, ‘Coach, where am I from?’ I’m like, ‘McKeesport.’ He’s like, ‘I’m going today.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ So he’s playing really well. His coverage skills are up, his pressure mechanics and his techniques and fundamentals there are excellent, understands the linebacker position. Michael Barrett’s playing behind him and really doing a good job. Josh Uche’s kind of filling in there; he’s our swiss army knife, he’s all over the place. Rush end, package get out there and be a Cheetah, you know, all the things that we ask him to do he’s doing really well.

“Josh Ross—that’s probably been the most frustrating for me. I mean, he has not gone at all but if you said to me who is your smartest linebacker, I would say it’s him. He just—again, he’s sitting right next to me and he’s engaged and understands concept and Biggs [James Ross] is with us as one of my graduate assistants, his brother, so there’s not a lot of lost translation in concept but one man’s frustration is another man’s opportunity and I think Jordan Anthony, who logged if not the most he’s up in that 1,2,3 for participation award, [and] Cam McGrone—Cam McGrone is fast. Now, I’m finally saying ‘Cam McGrone is fast,’ which means brain’s on, I know how to go, I know where to go, I know what I’ve got to do, and now his ability to play fast is being met with concept understanding, so happy with him. I think he’s played really well the last four, five practices and couldn’t be better.

“Now, over at the Will position you’ve got Devin Gil playing very solid. Body, he’s really done a good job with his body. He’s faster. He never makes a misstep, but he better watch out because ol’ Glasgow is making a lot of plays and, again, he’s another one of our guys, he’ll play some Viper, he’ll jump in there and play in the packages, but he’s making a case for playing a lot of Will linebacker as well. I’ve never been this deep. I’ve never had this many guys that I can go [karate chops] bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp, they can all jump in there and play. Now, it’s gonna be—competition breeds success and let’s see where the fall takes us, because, you know, you can only play one at a time so you either better find a way to get in that rotation or win the job outright, so that’s the exciting part and that’ll carry over to the fall and I’m excited about it for sure.”

[The most I've transcribed in 5+ seasons after THE JUMP]

It seems like you guys showed some stuff with Mike Sainrisitl on Saturday, lining him up in the backfield. Is he a guy you can get the ball to in multiple ways?

“Yeah, just like I said from the start, we’re a personnel-driven offense, so when our best playmakers step up, we’re going to find creative roles, whether that’s putting guys in the backfield [or] flexing them out. Everybody has to learn the offense conceptually here. The running backs have got to know what the receivers are doing, the receivers got to know what the running backs are doing, so we will be very advantageous to be able to create matchups, to try to create favorable matchups for us by getting our best players involved however we can do it. That was just a small little taste, a small little glimpse, and then we’ll keep continuing to build and keep developing our players and put them in the best position to be successful.”

Overall, how do you feel the offense did in the install and from beginning to end?

“I’m really pleased. I’m fortunate just for the kids that we have and the coaches that we have. First and foremost, our assistant coaches did a really good job installing the offense throughout the spring, making sure our kids came out prepared for practice, and our kids did a really good job developing themselves. You look at the progress from really practice one where it was completely brand new to them and it was kind of a little bit eye-opening to this last practice and just to see our growth offensively. And one of the things that was really exciting [was] to see some of the things that people might perceive as challenges for us with the lack of depth that we had at a number of positions, but seeing other guys step up and have success.

“Overall, from a schematic standpoint everyone had to learn the offense and there was no excuses, there was no setbacks. We rolled out there. We continued to get better each and every day and it really showed throughout the spring, so I’m really excited. Now our challenge is gonna be to continue this momentum throughout the summer. That way we don’t take a step back when we come back in the fall. We continue taking steps forward to take this offense where we want to take it.”

How will you look at that other challenge of working the other weapons that were out this spring back in come fall?

“Well, you know, I think we did a number of different things this spring to kind of put on tape as far as [to] create our library and when we’ve got that library of plays, it’s easy now to go back and teach on that because we’ve got the film, we’ve got the plays on tape, so it’s really just a plug-and-play situation where overall schematically we’ve got the concepts, we’ve got the plays. Our kids understand what we want to accomplish out of those plays, and now we’re just plugging and playing the different players back into it.

“And so it’s unfortunate; the players that we did have out, they missed a lot from a development standpoint. They were able to learn offensively but they missed a lot from a development [standpoint], so we’ve got to catch those guys up individually within each and every position group, make sure we develop their skillset to allow them to go out and be successful. But if they just play within the framework of the offense and trust the details and trust the coaches, we’ll be in position to be successful.”

[After THE JUMP: On the progress of the offensive installation, ways an offense can help their defense and exert pressure on both sides of the ball for the opposition, Harbaugh's involvement, and more]

So how is it replacing David Long?

“David Long, tough player to replace.”

Don said coming in that he was sort of worried about where the secondary would be but then Ambry [Thomas] came along—

“Ambry’s come along, Vincent Gray’s come along, Jaylen Kelly-Powell’s come along. You can’t count out Gemon Green. So, we’ve got some—guys have been working extremely hard and doing really well and then, you know, we’ve got DJ coming in this summer, so it’ll be interesting.”

MGoLOLThoughtIWasTheOnlyOneWhoWouldAskAboutGrayAndI’dSlowPlayItAllCoolButLookTheThirdQuestionIs What’s different about Vincent this year from last year?

“He’s just comfortable. He’s very comfortable. He’s a very naturally talented, gifted guy. So he knows the system now and now he’s just going out there and playing, he’s not thinking. It’s really a beautiful thing.”

Does the new offense give more of a challenge for your guys?

“Yeah, it’s great for us, really. The RPO deal, we love it. You’ve just got to be very disciplined on the backend. The linebackers got to be disciplined. I think it’s gonna help us tremendously going forward for sure.”

Has anything surprised you about the group so far?

“Well, I guess you could say I’m pleasantly happy that Vincent has come along, that Jaylen Kelly-Powell has come along, and that Ambry is just—the sky’s limit with that guy. He’s really had a great spring, so happy for those guys and certainly happy for us as a defense that they’re playing well.”

Where has Ambry made the most improvement from this time last year?

“Well, I think in his technique, in places at the line of scrimmage, and the fact that he knows that he has an opportunity to start, he’s really embraced that role and he’s becoming a leader. He’s becoming a leader in our room. He’s been great all around.”

Does it sometimes hold someone back when they know it’s going to be tough to break into that group? Like last year Ambry clearly wasn’t going to be a starter.

“Right. Well now, see, that’s the great thing about it: they see that there’s light, they see that there’s a opportunity, they see that there’s competition for the other spots that are open so I think it’s helped everybody along the way get better. Definitely.”

[After THE JUMP: on Lavert, who's at nickel, the act of enrolling early, and the Ohio State game]