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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 6, 2016Tracy ClaeysMinneapolis, Minnesota Q. Tracy, I talked to you a little bit the other day about the offense. On defense, how do you guys think you guys did especially in the second half? COACH CLAEYS: I thought, with the players we lost and having to play some young guys, I think we did a good job. I thought -- I think we had the four sacks, and we kept pressure on the quarterback, and, you know, their one touchdown the second half came off of the dropped punt and short field and obviously we like to hold them to a field goal in that situation and not give the touchdown. But defensively, in the second half, we really did a nice job of slowing them down. And the offense, too, the fourth quarter and into the third, is that from the time they took the lead, come back and answer that with an ADR drive. I thought offensively, we saw some things good late in the game also. Q. Jonah mentioned that they were rewinding tape to show the good plays, the knockdown blocks that they had. What did you see out of the offensive line? COACH CLAEYS: Who is that now? Q. Jonah Pirsig. Rewinding the game film, to show the positive plays of them knocked down Oregon State players. How did you feel like they played in the first game and also there's kind of the knockdown cup for pancake blocks that they'll have this year. How do you feel they played and kind of the reward for doing good things like that? COACH CLAEYS: You know, each group has their own little things and for me to tell you I know exactly what all of them are doing, I don't. You know what I'm saying? You know, when I looked at the film, we tried to play physical. I think we played hard. We can continue to improve up front of playing physical, and I think we can get more people knocked down on the ground than what we did. But for the first game out, and the changes we've made, I think that I was pleased with the offensive line, any time you don't give up any sacks. Same with Mitch. I mean, he made good decisions and didn't give up any sacks. So, the negative yardage plays definitely took a step backwards, which they needed to. But there's the pre-snap penalty things, though, that we got to get better at. We control that. And, so, you know, and obviously, the two bad snaps, so there's sloppiness there, but we'll go to work on it. And if you watched the games all weekend, very few teams looked perfect, and we all have problems and the good teams get them corrected each week, that show up and get ready to go for the conference. Q. Tracy, one thing watching other games this weekend is that targeting call, just kind of how inconsistent it can be sometimes. You guys obviously had a good night the other night. But just what are your thoughts just in terms of is it being enforced consistently enough? COACH CLAEYS: I can't make that comment after one week, you know, Sam, but there's some gray area in there, and unfortunately, I don't get to make the decision on it, you know? I just got to live with the decision. So, obviously, I think the rule is good for the game. The intent is good. I would make the same argument, there's a gray area in what is considered a catch, you know, when you watch some of those replays, and so as we move along, hopefully we can get rid of some of those gray areas, but what we'll work on controlling, we control, and that's getting the target down a little bit lower and continue to play hard, but, you know, obviously whatever they decide off replay they decide. Q. What is if about the last three or four years, FBS teams seem to be -- it's not stunning when they beat an FBS team. It happened more the last two years than it used to. COACH CLAEYS: Right. I think that they get some awfully good kids. If they don't go there initially, what we call bounce-backs, you know, kids close to home that went away and were good football players and for whatever reason decided to come back closer to home and play. Number two, is that when you coach at that level, and you didn't have to worry much about motivation the week you played bigger schools, because all of those kids felt like they should have the opportunity to play the Big Ten or a Power Five school, and now they get their chance to show everybody that they can do that, and so the games are always fun. You know, when we were there and playing against bigger schools, and so they'll play hard. Again, you know, that's a big step for them, if they're able to win, and so, you know, we'll have to bring energy, and we'll have to play well fundamentally in order to win. Q. Tracy, Huff seemed like he was around the ball the other night. Is he becoming more of an every down linebacker for you? COACH CLAEYS: He is. You know, he still makes a few, you know, things that you go, what is that? But for the most part, they're not near as much as a year ago, and he's strong, he's full of a lot of energy, and so you the deal with Nick out, is that -- and John being out the first half, is -- we'll start Julian. He'll start, and Cody will be in the middle. So he'll get his opportunity to start, and see what happens. Q. He can really sort of harness his live wire energy a little bit? COACH CLAEYS: I think he wants to -- there's a difference between playing fast and being out of control. And at times, he does, he gets out of control. And so he needs to somehow slow down a little bit. Maybe got to take him out and run a mile or so before the game, I don't know what that is, but at the same time, a voice said you rather have to tell him "whoa" than to tell him "go" all of the time. Because he's a kid you don't have to tell "go," that's for sure. Q. We know Carter was slowed -- Carter Coughlin was slowed by a knee injury. Do we expect to see him relatively soon with the things you have going on at linebacker? COACH CLAEYS: We'll see how he practices this week. If he practices well enough and shows he's ready to go, then we'll do that. This is an important week for us in evaluating people and how injuries go, and trying to get an early idea on who will redshirt and who will -- what we'll play. You know, you try to redshirt. Injuries always play a part of what goes on. Yeah. So Carter, we'll see how he practices this week and get him enough reps, and there's a chance he could play. Q. How did -- you have Devers again. He's 215 now. What was he like when he came in? COACH CLAEYS: He was only like 180 pounds, I want to say, 85 pounds, you know, and so, yeah, yeah, you know, we felt like he could get to the 230 eventually, you know, and that was like three years, you know what I'm saying? But all of a sudden he got his weight up to where it's decent. I mean he just -- he's very explosive off the edge, and just -- he showed up in practice last spring a little bit, and then he had a great summer, and then during fall camp, he just kept, I mean, making plays off the edge, and so -- so I think he can help us in that regard, obviously, as he showed, you know what I'm saying? I hope that as time goes on, he gains a little bit more weight and can be more of an every down type of player, but again, that's what I think the spread offense is, that's what it's allowed you to do. It's allowed you to take a couple kids like that, because not everybody got big old bodies in there playing a phone booth anymore, you know, so it lets a kid like that run and make some plays. Q. Do you think it's his size or inexperience that was one of the reasons he wasn't highly recruited. You were one of the only schools that were looking at him or offered him? COACH CLAEYS: The size, you know, like he was a 180-pound defensive end, but you got to look at everything. He was 17 years old. We figured we'd grow, and again, if you can get him to 220, I think they can be edge rushers, you know I believe that, with the spread offenses now. You know what I'm saying? So, and obviously, hopefully, he'll grow a little more. Q. One name we did see on the depth chart is Eric Carter. How has he progressed? COACH CLAEYS: I think we put him on there. He's on there. Q. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I saw him on here. How has he progressed? COACH CLAEYS: Well, he's been cleared, so we'll see what happens. Again, you know, we'll see how practice goes, but he has been cleared. Q. Any update on Brandon Lingen? COACH CLAEYS: Both him and Shannon's appointments were this morning or over the lunch hours, and so I hope to hear something this afternoon on what's going on there. But I think both of them have a chance this weekend, but I'll find out before practice this afternoon. Q. Do you know what if Still, could that be longer term? We talked about him being out for one game? COACH CLAEYS: It's amazing, things get Tweeted out, everybody puts stuff out there. It's not two or three months. Okay? He's probably going to be out four weeks, okay, is would be my guess, depending on how he heals. All right? But it's not two, three months, and, no, we're not considering red-shirting him. That's not an option. All right? Q. It seemed like Rodney Smith, after the run, made something out of nothing. Did that show up on film, too? COACH CLAEYS: Yeah, it did. And that's why Shannon, too, we get both of them back. They're tough kids now. They will make a hole when there's not one. And his pass protection, I mean, he had one great play that he picked up the blitz and let Mitch get off on a third down and let us keep the chains moving, so I thought Ronny played awfully well, you know, and punt stuff, so, he played well for us, and we just need to get -- get Brooks back to -- he doesn't have to take as many snaps, and I think they'll both be really good on that regard. Q. Seemed like the past couple years you guys actually got off to a better start in conference play than nonconference. What are the reasons, you think? COACH CLAEYS: Well, this first game, like I said, if you don't play the same nonconference teams every year, you know, Oregon State changed their defensive coordinator. They change things on offense. But this quarterback -- that's why first games are hard, you know, unless you know exactly what you're going to get. And so they came out and showed us a couple things against our defense -- or, their defense that we weren't quite ready for, and at the same time, I think in the first three series, I think Rodney will tell you, he missed two or three cuts that would have went out the door for big plays, you know? But, so, it just -- you know, new coaches, just takes a little time, and we'll get it figured out. I mean, we'll -- I expect just to make a big improvement this week, and Mitch will tell you he can play better. You know? That there's a lot more on his plate, and you know, he missed a few things here or there, but nothing critical. That's the thing that pleased me the most. We stayed away from any of the critical areas, blowing any protections and things like that, so, I think, you know, again, the inconsistency sometimes in the nonconference, it's you're not in common against opponents that you play a lot of times. Q. You guys are thinking more rather than playing and reacting than just -- COACH CLAEYS: Well, you're going to think a little bit when something shows up that you're really not expecting. So that's the whole key to it. And you work against as much stuff as you can, but eventually, when you get to game week, you got to put your best guess on what you're going to see, both offensively and defensively. And on defense, at times I was wrong. You know, the first two drives, people moved the ball on us, first two drives, and you're going to get their best on what they worked all week and thought was going to work, so I think that has more to do with it. That's why the ability to adjust, and just keep playing, is -- will have a lot to do with who wins. Q. Do you think we'll see some more changes with the offense as the offense gets more comfortable with Coach Johnson? Do you think that's fair to say? COACH CLAEYS: I guess we'll see. That's what he was hired for. Whatever we have to do to score points, that's his job. Q. Were you given any indication during the preseason about the targeting rule, maybe it was going to be more closely enforced, so you can change the coaching style, or was it kind of surprising? COACH CLAEYS: Yeah, being a change, like I said, I have been a coordinator the last four years, and it's been the same targeting rule. Kids got a little excited and, like I say, John's was hard. Tai'yon's a young kid, he's got to learn. And we were playing against a shorter quarterback, too, and all that. That quarterback is hard down the puck, because the zone on that quarterback is really smaller than a strike zone in baseball that you can hit that guy now, and so, you got a game full of speed. People are running around fast and changing direction and pad level. It's not an easy thing. So we just work on it and talk about it, and -- but when you launch, and do things like that, like Cody's was, and leave your feet, that is -- you can control that type of stuff, and we can eliminate that. All right. Good, thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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