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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 10, 2016

Jimbo Fisher

Tallahassee, Florida

Florida State - 52, Charleston Southern - 8

JIMBO FISHER: -- played since we been here. Believe that or not, some of the games we've been in. It took a lot out of us, getting back late, and the five-day turn-around. So very proud of our guys, doing that, did what we were supposed to do. Now we gotta get better and do play Louisville, a heck of a football team.

Q. (No microphone.) How is that going to change preparation?
JIMBO FISHER: Oh, drastically. The thing about this week this week that I hate, you get better every week of practice. This week, I don't know if we got better, because we couldn't. You know what I'm sayin? Wednesday had to be like a Monday and Thursday had to be like a Thursday. And so those days aren't really development days. You're just trying to hone the things you've got, and there is not a lot of work in between, a lot of individual drills.

You lose that week of development, which is very critical, and we need that, because even though we have experience, we're still a very, very young football team, and they need that practice time, and it was a shame from that standpoint, but it will be a lot better having the days and getting ready to play.

Q. (No microphone.)
JIMBO FISHER: No, we'll have to wait and see, see what the doctors say.

Q. How tough are those games to coach, to manage the balance of wanting your starters to get reps and --
JIMBO FISHER: I said, 10 minutes, 11 minutes left to go in the game, and I said we're going to play 'em two series and get out. That's what our plan was. Because we had not -- we had busted the coverage in the first and we were trying to play efficient and wanted our guys come back out in that situation. You can second guess yourself all day, but that can happen walking down the street, and I'm sad it happened -- if it happened, I mean getting injured. We don't know what the extent is and maybe he's okay.

Q. Jimbo, was the lack of physical practice time this week, did that change how you wanted to approach this game as far as how long you plays your guys?
JIMBO FISHER: Most definitely, because we didn't get much during the week, and you're going to play an up-tempo, no-huddle team next week who is going to put a lot of plays out there. If you didn't -- we couldn't work 'em hard during the week. We had to get 'em some work, get them energy for the condition going back into that game, and the heat and everything else, and we wanted to play well.

Q. You talked about wanting to see things on both sides of the ball. What did you like in all three phrases and what didn't you like in all three phases?
JIMBO FISHER: Early I thought we kept great leverage on the ball, created turnovers, tackled well in space on defense. Covered well on kicks. Kicks we really covered and kept great leverage on, for the most part.

Offensively, I thought we were really efficient on third down in the red zone. I mean, we made those plays and knew where we were going with the football. We still gotta be more physical. We gotta run the ball a little better on offense, at times, but they were bringing a lot of blitzes, crowding the box, and giving us the easy throws and things like that and numbers game, but we still want to do that.

Defensively we had a couple busted coverages. For instance, the play that Derwin made the hit on, we had a busted coverage, he wouldn't have had to make that play. You know what I'm sayin'? We busted coverage on a route that -- so still communications and all those young guys, it's processing all that -- because when you go to from option to pass, that's -- there's a lot of info on that stuff.

Q. You got a lot of young guys out there, especially in the second half. Anybody impress you out there, Brian Burns?
JIMBO FISHER: Brian Burns, you can see the ability in there. The two linebackers at times, you saw their abilities, young DBs flashing around, Kyle Meyers and Levonta and those guys, they did a nice job. I really liked Amir Rasul. You see why I like Amir. He hit that thing hard now, running downhill on those runs?

Jacques had a nice day, there. You saw we got Tate, we got Nyquan in the game. We got those guys. And saw Tate in the red zone, got him a couple nice catches. You seen Nyquan's explosiveness and the things he did. Number 5 had a couple nice catches. Was trying to get Keith Gavin -- we gotta get Keith Gavin -- Keith Gavin is going to be a really good football player. I'm really high on Keith Gavin a lot, and we got to get him a bunch of time and get him going in that regard. Then you got Pops, young tight end, couple of those young lineman. I can't see that. We'll have to look at the film.

Q. How did Landon Dickerson do?
JIMBO FISHER: Played pretty solid. Early there was a couple things here or there, communicationwise but seemed to function pretty well. I don't think we had too many -- we had a lot of just getting over him on the sidelines, things that were his fault, so we'll wait and see the film.

Q. Could Wilson play if he had to?
JIMBO FISHER: It would have been tight. He had an ankle that was bothering him. He played through to the game and it was okay, and he came out next day at practice and it was just swollen. Thought it was okay. He could having ready on an emergency deal, but wasn't no reason to do it. Like Sean, Sean could have played if he wanted to, we said why put that pressure on him, give him another week to heal, and he'll be ready to roll.

Q. Have you ever been involved in a game before where a team had to suspend players like this beforehand, and how was that?
JIMBO FISHER: I have to think about it. Yeah, Florida State! We had 30 of 'em, first bowl game I was here. Don't you remember? We had to go play Kentucky? We had 30; we had more than they did, wasn't it 30?

Q. 27.
JIMBO FISHER: 27, like that. I was on that team. Coaching, that was tough. They're a very well coached team, good football theme. That team -- I would be shocked if they're not in the 1A playoffs, going for a championship. They're a well-coached team.

Q. Did Jacques show you more of what you were looking for in his game today?
JIMBO FISHER: He did better. I thought he did well last week. We're kinda keep getting him touches, getting him in the mix, and we're very pleased with his progress right now.

Q. The punt return --
JIMBO FISHER: That was wonderful.

Q. Is that a combination of coaching or talent?
JIMBO FISHER: We're doing a better jog of -- again, hold-ups at the line of scrimmage. We're doing a better job at the line of scrimmage, and we're getting hands on guys, and that was one of our goals to give him some room to make the run, and he's a talented guy. And Nyquan does a good job back there, and those guys all can be great punt returners, but nobody can be a punt returner when you're kissing -- if they're standing on top of you.

Q. How good was it to see Dalvin bust one like that?
JIMBO FISHER: It really was. It was really good. The run before that, the swing-out, he had a stretch play over there and just getting back in the groove and I think getting used to our blocking. We are starting to block at the line of scrimmage and got things going, you know. I think the first game, you know, maybe me keeping him -- he got the first scrimmage. He got tackled six, seven times, and I got him out. The second one I let him get hit but not tackled, you know what I mean?

But you got to protect 'em. But it's hard for a back to play if they don't get tackled. You get the fast part of the game and get goin'. The first game he made some nice runs, but I thought he was a little bit too quick. You could tell from not -- missed some cuts. There were two or three cuts on the power play and he cut back and got nothing in that first game, and really could have came out of there with 10, 12, 15-yard gains.

But you gotta play-- everybody says -- let me tell you what: You can't get better playing in football by sitting on the bench. It's too fast and too physical, and the way it is, you have to play it to get back, and it was good to see him get back in that groove. That was a heck of a run.

Q. (No microphone.)
JIMBO FISHER: Oh, that was, exactly right and made that special. And I think we're spoiled, man. Sometimes those things, everybody in the world -- you take those things for granted, make 'em all the time. Well, people don't make those all the time. He does, and I think he will when he gets goin' and we will keep getting better around him.

Q. Deondre, it was interesting to see how he would play his first game. First time he was able to play and --
JIMBO FISHER: I was more curious about how the quick turn-around would happen, because there wasn't this ton of reps in what we're gonna do, a lot of looks, you got to see, because their defense was different than Ole Miss', you know what I mean? And all the looks for the young guys. Do they really comprehend the concepts of how you're coaching, because when you teach in routes, you're teaching conceptually. So they have rules for -- if there are certain things you put out there and we hadn't ever seen, he should still be able to function within that because of how you teach, you know what I mean?

And I was very anxious to see how he did that, and for the most part, he seemed to do really well, because they were totally different -- and he didn't have the number of reps in practice, but it would be great to have a full week of practice. What was he? 25 for 32 for 262. He had a nice, solid day, couple throws down the field. We gotta protect a little better on some of our deep routes. We were trying to get the ball down the field deep a couple of times, and got some pressure, so we gotta do a better job there.

Q. Your kicker now has made seven in a row. (No microphone.)
JIMBO FISHER: (Knocking on table. ) Well, I think, when you are out on the field and the lights are on and you do it, then I think you realize you can and you start to relax and, your true talents come out and hopefully he will keep doing it.

Q. What are the things you really, really like going into Louisville? They've been a team that has had a hot start to the year as well.
JIMBO FISHER: They looked awesome. I caught some of their game last night. Happen to catch a bit of it after our meetings. Went in sat down and happened to turn the TV on, I definite realize -- I know that sounds crazy, I didn't realize they were playing, happen to turn the TV on. I live in my own little world sometimes trying to get ready.

But, you know, just that we know how to compete, we've been in a big environment. We've been in one of those, we've came back, we started well today. So we were kind of -- we've done a little bit of everything, and we're going to be severely tested next week, so we better be ready.

Q. What did you think of them watching them on TV?
JIMBO FISHER: Very athletic, got playmakers all over the field, on offense, guys on defense can cover, run and rush, kicking game very solid. Bobby is a heck of a football coach. He does a great job. I mean, they're an excellent, excellent football team. They looked as sharp as anybody to me, little bits I've seen. I haven't seen a lot of college football. They look as sharp as anybody.

Q. (No microphone.)
JIMBO FISHER: We were talking about shooting. We thought Kareem would be back my Monday, we thought he'd be back. Wilson should be back in the mix, we're hoping, and then you've got Minshew back in the mix, so hopefully those guys will be -- we're going to need 'em.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks.

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