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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 22, 2015Phil ParkerCOACH PARKER: Good afternoon, appreciate you guys being here. We're going on our 13th practice today. And we've made a lot of progress from the first practice through the 12th, still developing our depth. Who is going to be the first team, who is going to be the back up guys. But right now we've got three more practices to go, and we've can accomplish a lot in the next three days if our guys focus. And I guess after that I'll just open it up for questions. Q. Where do you feel like you've improved the most this spring defensively? COACH PARKER: I think there's ‑‑ I think moving the line backers around, moving Bo Bower back inside and Ben Niemann coming up, and I think the linebacker group is working well. Josey Jewell went back to mike as a full‑time guy, which he can play both. I think the depth at the linebackers really helped. I think our defensive ends have really improved through Drew Ott and Boone Myers. Both of them did a great job. Matt Nelson has really made a lot of improvements as he developed as a freshman and he's just getting bigger and stronger, and we're really pleased with the way he's making progress. And Jaleel Johnson inside, he's made a step forward. And Budget I think he's done a good job and I think they're all moving forward a little bit. I think that linebackers are getting in the pieces of learning how to do it, moving Bo back from outside to inside. It's not easy to do, it's different reads. And your keys are different. So he's really developed over the last couple of weeks. We're happy with that. Q. What did the defense learn coming off the Tennessee game? COACH PARKER: What we learned? Obviously we didn't show up. I think obviously we're prepared, and there's times when we're in position to make plays and we didn't make it. And then just tumbled there. Kind of reminded me a little bit of what happened in the Northwestern game a little bit when we started out and it was like 21‑0 in the first quarter. 21 or 28‑ nothing, and then it snowballed on us a little bit. Defensively there it was the other way around. Q. When you say you didn't show up, how do you explain that? COACH PARKER: Well, we just didn't play Iowa football the way we were used to playing since I've been here. Making good tackles, and we were in position at at times and we just didn't make it. A credit to them, they made some plays. But just nothing that we're used to playing, given the big plays. And we've got to concentrate and focus a little bit better doing the play and being in tuned to what is going on. Q. Your perimeter defense, you guys had some struggles there last year, everyone kind of jumped the scheme, you guys are doing the same stuff, just trying to get better? COACH PARKER: I think a lot of people tried to attack us from the perimeter because it's hard to them guys to run up inside. They do different things to try to affect you, and try to stretch you out a little bit more and we've just got to be better prepared and have some answers for that. And I think we worked on that. But I think it all starts with fundamentals, and that's what we've been working on, and I think playing a lot of basic defense, running the ball, make sure you've got your eyes where they need to be and read your keys, and I think that's the goal of everybody on the field. It's hard to play without your eyes if you don't really use them, and what information they're giving you. Q. How did that motivate you in the off season, leaving a bad taste in guys mouths coming back? COACH PARKER: I don't think we approach things differently. We're going to be coaching the way we coached for the last 16 years. Is it disappointing? Does it hurt? For a while, yeah. But you have to get back up and get back after it and start coaching the guys the way we've always coached them. I think guys are more involved. I think the players are more involved and in tune to what they have to do. I don't think you change the way you coach. I'm not going to change the way I did it, my approach. You always look the a your scheme. Is your scheme good? What's the breakdown? There are some things we've got to fix. Q. Would you say that the Nebraska game was guys in certain positions, first year freshmen? COACH PARKER: You know, I think some other guys that didn't make plays in the game, too, but it's hard for a young buy. And obviously those guys got a year experience on them, going into their second really full season. So I think that experience is going to help them and they'll be prepared for the game and going to a bowl game, you're sitting there playing, it's hard for these kids. But I think as they grow, you've got to move on and build from it and learn from it. Q. Tennessee and Minnesota blocking a little differently than they had previous game. Minnesota was a little more downhill team, but they went outside and Tennessee seemed to be more in and out. Did you think they saw something in your speed or your personnel that allowed them to go on the perimeter more? COACH PARKER: I think there's a lot of people, that you go back to four or five years ago, Michigan was doing the same thing to us with the quarterbacks that they had. They were trying to reach the perimeter more instead of running inside. And I think they're trying to give you misdirection keys and stuff like that. And sometimes they're not even blocking certain guys, trying to just get outside and trying to out run you. You have to prepare for it and what you're going to see. And I think we've improved on that. I'm happy with what direction we're going in right now. Q. Talking about increased pace, how do you stress that? COACH PARKER: Well, it really comes down to basics. Football is a simple game. You have to make sure you get lined up, you get a good stance, your linemen, your keys. And you go through your read progression. The most important thing to me is effort to the ball. And everybody says what kind of effort do you take? You've got to make sure when you're tracking a guy that you have your eyes on him to track him and you've got to read his body language and see if he's going to cut back or what direction he's going. Just because you're just running and is taking off running and don't have your eyes on him a lot of times our guys get in you believe electric. You can see it. They just take off, they run. And they lose the ball. And most importantly is the guy with the ball, how do you attack them. I think we emphasize, one thing I'm looking for, I want to see effort. I don't care if you make a mistake, you have a bad alignment. That stuff is going to happen, you get blocked, but what's your effort at the end of the play as you're running to the ball, that's what it's going to come down to. Q. Was that more executing? COACH PARKER: I think it's a combination of both. I can't say we were loafing out there. I didn't see that. I didn't see the effort. Not that I did see the effort, they hit us on some plays and got up and then started snowballing little bit. Q. Have you seen separation between Taylor and Snyder, is it neck and neck? COACH PARKER: Well, we've been moving around a little bit. And we kind of tried to figure out what's the right combination. I think Snyder and Anthony Gair are trying to figure that out, too, seeing if they're in the right spot, to create some competition. But the last practice I seen some stuff I liked out of Brandon Snyder a little bit. So we'll see. It's still a long ways to go. Q. You talk about eye discipline, how do you gauge that? Especially with young linebackers, last year those were in before their time, and how do you gauge improvement? What's the approach? COACH PARKER: To me it's one preparation. And you would sit down and watch them on film and see where their eyes are at sometimes. If maybe a guy pulls one, he doesn't see it, how come he didn't see it. To me with the secondaries and safeties, I'm always looking at kind of got three layers of looking at them. Look at the offensive line, back field action, quarterbacks, and see if they're seeing the same thing I'm seeing. You can tell. What's the offensive line doing, what's the running backs doing, what's the quarterback doing, are you picking up your reads fast enough. You can tell if they don't react. And it's all film study and rewatching the film. If you're slow on your read, how can you not see that, and why. Are you doing enough studying of the film. Are you paying attention in practice. Q. Is Miles Taylor your starting strong safety if you played a game on Saturday? COACH PARKER: We've still got a couple more days. Today he might go out to start. I think we're going to rotate some guys in there and give them a chance with the first group over there to see where he's at. But right now he's lined up as today, yeah, a good change. Q. You have veteran corners, too, not only Keane and Maven, Keane seems solidified, Mabin had up and downs, good and bad. Is he solidified as the corner? COACH PARKER: I think he is. You look at the corner position, you have three or four guys, maybe five guys coming um the. I think Fleming has really made a push this spring to where you could categorize it, there's only two now playing, can you get three of them on the field at the same time is something we always look at, especially with the personnel group. But I think there's three of them that are above the other guys right now with maiden and Keane and Fleming. And then Draper. And I'd like to see what Rucker does. I think we'll see more from him. Q. Chuck, is that a move that you kind of needed wearing both hats, the corner hat and the secondary hat? COACH PARKER: Yeah, I think it helps. He's been and worked with him before, he knows how I'm coaching. So that's helpful. It gives us another set of eyes back there. If you're playing with four or five guys, I might not see something on one side, he can see it. But it gives me an opportunity to go down and see that, so it kind of alleviates a little bit of my help to go down there and see what's going on. Q. When you first came here there was only one spread team of Purdue, then Northwestern came along. How has that changed in your philosophy, the philosophy of the Iowa football team that you're incorporating Raider packages. How much deviation is there now than what there was 15 years ago? COACH PARKER: Well, there's a little bit more. Getting more speed on the field has helped over the last couple of years. But we didn't do it, really. It still comes back to how you're coaching with the first and second down. The reason why we went to the Raider package was it was something that we needed more linebackers on the field with speed. And that's what helped us out. And we kind of continued with it and expanded on it. But, yeah, it's a little bit different. Every team you face right now there's going to be a spread. There's only a couple that start run downhill. Q. Has Jordan Lomax kind of taken over more of a leadership role? COACH PARKER: He's done a great job of his leadership, it's hard to say when we first started back there a year ago, it's hard if you haven't started at that position, to go ahead and say, hey, I know what we're supposed to be doing and taking a leadership role. I think you've got to be a starter for a year and get that respect. But I think he's earned that respect. Just the way he carries himself, the way he practices, the way he studies the game, I think he's earned it. Q. Seems like in the Saturday practice, he seems more comfortable? COACH PARKER: Yeah, it's not easy to switch from a corner to a safety. A lot of people say it's a defensive back position, but it's a totally different read for you. You're reading a different angle. The other way you're responsible for a lot more people. And free safety is more of the dictator, he's responsible for the back seven angle to make sure they're in the right stuff. So there's a lot of responsibility making calls and communicating, and I think he's getting more comfortable understanding what he needs to do. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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