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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 16, 2016

Reese Morgan

Iowa City, Iowa

REESE MORGAN: Any opening comment I have, I'll just address to questions. But we're excited really about the opportunity to play in the Outback Bowl, play an outstanding Florida team. We've been working on them the last couple days.

The more you watch, the more you see the talent, how well-coached they are. We're excited for the opportunity, but this is a very good football team we're going to have a chance to go against down in Florida.

Q. Can you talk about Jaleel Johnson. He has gotten better.
REESE MORGAN: He got better because he made a conscious effort to do that. Jaleel, he and I both came at the same time. That was really an opportunity.

He's grown as a player, there's no question about it. But I'm really proud of him growing as a young man, as a student-athlete. Jaleel is going to walk across the stage Saturday with his degree from the University of Iowa. That might be the most significant accomplishment he ever makes.

As a football player, he's always had a good motor, but he hasn't been as focused and as detailed and disciplined as you'd like him to be.

He's embraced that role. He understands how he fits into the defense, and now he's playing better and better. He's probably played his best football the second half of the season. He's really done a nice job.

He's fun to be around, but he's still a work in progress. I have to say that.

Q. He said when he got here, he was really bad at everything technique-wise. Was he being hard on himself?
REESE MORGAN: No, I think he's accurate with that. See, when they come here, everybody comes like that. Everybody comes with a different background. Depends on where you are, what school, what kind of coaches you had.

But he really bought into everything we're trying to do in terms of the technique and the fundamentals.

Q. You say he's fun to be around. He's kind of a jokester, isn't he?
REESE MORGAN: I think he's got a good sense of humor. He loves being around the guys, he really does. I mean, the time around here eating dinner, down in the locker room, down in the training room, out on the field, I think he enjoys being a part of something special. That's really what all of us are in it for. I mean, whether you're a jokester or you're serious, you enjoy being around good people and do good things. It starts at the top with Coach Ferentz.

Q. Faith has said that something clicked for him, too, this year. Have you noticed that? What has happened with him?
REESE MORGAN: I would go back maybe to the last couple games of last year. I'll take you back to a moment in the Big Ten championship game when Faith was really playing. He had to play. We had an injury. Nathan went down. He was out there playing a lot.

He went across and took on their left tackle, who was a first-round draft choice. Really played him very physical, put him on the ground.

I think he's got it now. He steadily worked at it. He again has been a work in progress. I think he's played his best football the last three football games. There's no question about it. He's playing with a lot more confidence. He's been a lot more productive. He's having a lot of fun.

Both those two guys sit in the front row right in front of you. Pretty hard to miss those guys.

Q. Time of year where you start to look at who's going to replace guys. Have you noticed that certain guys have gotten better?
REESE MORGAN: We've had the opportunity to do developmental work with our older guys. Did some work earlier. They were out. So we worked with some of the younger guys.

Nathan Bazata aside, because he's been injured and so forth, we've had a chance to work with some of the younger guys.

I think Cedrick Lattimore has a great future inside. He really could have played outside, but, man, he's put on 30-some pounds since he got here. He has plenty of work to do.

We kind of slid Brady Reiff inside. We had practice one day, needed a tackle. Brady went ahead and played there. Same thing, just a little tighter than you are on a tackle.

He went inside. He's a tough kid. He plays hard. He's extremely competitive, extremely competitive. That's what you like best about him. He doesn't say anything, which you really enjoy about him, as well.

Those two guys have played a lot. I think there's other guys within the mix that are starting to emerge. Garret Jansen is in there. Sam Brincks has steadily been getting better and better. I'm not talking about the six guys that played a lot of reps in there. But I think those guys are coming around.

I think we've got a good freshman class of guys maybe on the edge that can help us a little bit with Chauncey, Brandon Simon. I know there's more guys in there. Then Jake Hulett has been hurt most of the year so he hasn't had an opportunity to do anything. We've had several guys that have been injured. They're in there learning and so forth, but they're not on the field getting the work.

Q. What was an inexperienced position now is a semi-experienced position on the outside. You got three guys who look like they have really bright futures, really coming on. Do you anticipate at all a Christian Ballard situation or Matt Nelson, 6'8", moving inside once in a while, or even a Parker Hesse?
REESE MORGAN: It's been discussed. The thing that's good about it is you want to put your best four guys out there. In some cases maybe the guys have to change positions. Inside you're looking for a certain kind of guy. Outside you're looking for maybe a little more speed on the edge and so forth.

But I think he's got the ability to do that. We've talked about it. But right now he's doing a real good job. Those three guys have been good.

We're playing six guys right now, obviously if you watch us play. We'd like to have more depth. It would really be nice to play eight, get more guys on the field. But those guys are it.

You have to earn it in practice. You have to show us in practice that there's enough trust by your actions and your knowledge of the defense and your execution and production that you deserve the opportunity to go out and play on Saturdays.

Q. Speaking of Matt Nelson, people wondered if he would play tight end... Did it take much convincing to have him play where he is?
REESE MORGAN: I don't think so. A lot of people don't realize, Matt loves football. He likes football. It's important to him. I think he's improved. The last game against Nebraska might be the best game he's played.

He's hard on himself, which is really good. That's what most good players are. They have high standards for themselves. The details within his fundamentals are the things that he really improved upon. He still has a lot of work to do. Obviously when you're that tall, leverage is always an issue, yeah.

Q. What stood out when you watched the game?
REESE MORGAN: I think it's separation, getting his hands inside. He was sloppy with his hand placement, just things that most people don't notice. You know, we see it on tape.

But the daily simple things that you do over and over and over time was more precise and more detailed. That's probably the best thing to say.

Q. Anthony Nelson seems to be a pretty unique athlete with you guys. Kind of like Matt, but seems to have a little more step in the pass-rush.
REESE MORGAN: I think he's probably a little more quicker. I think he's probably athletically pretty darn good. I mean, he was really a good basketball player. I remember watching him in high school. We went actually to watch a guy from the other team. I came back to coach. I said the best football player is Anthony Nelson. Really stood out what he could do. Athletically I think he does some good things. He's getting so much better in the run game. He's got great leverage. He does a good job with his hands.

He's part of that group. You have three different guys together, but they're like best friends, they hang out together, doing things together all the time. I think he really has a very, very bright future.

Q. What is your opinion on the no-visit policy, how recruiting has changed in that regard outside this building?
REESE MORGAN: Coaches made a policy. It's been discussed in our staff. We think it's in our best interest. There's a lot of ways of looking at it.

But realistically we think if someone makes a commitment to us, we're holding a spot for them. If they decide to go look somewhere else, then they're really not committed to us. They're just saying, Hey, we want to be committed, but we still want to go look at this school or that school.

So before you commit, you better do your homework. You better make sure that's the right place for you, the right fit. I think everybody in this building is onboard with that philosophy.

There's some places where it's all the time. We've been on both sides of it.

Q. Has recruiting changed much since you've gotten involved?
REESE MORGAN: I think so. I think technology is the biggest issue. There are things that went on unnoticed. Nothing goes unnoticed, nothing does. I can't believe how many people are so involved in recruiting, it's so much a part of their life. Obviously I'm talking to the choir here. You guys love reading it and stuff. You know more about it than I do, I'll promise you. I'll promise you that you do.

But, you know, in this day and age, you have to embrace technology. I'm still holding on to my paper and pencil.

Q. You talk about how much there is now, but there's a Josey Jewell who can still slip under the radar. You have to see him and convince the coaches here. That still happens, though.
REESE MORGAN: I think there's still guys out there, and I think Coach Ferentz has really done a good job of reminding our staff, Hey, look, some of our best players, whether they're local or far away, have come from us getting to know people, studying tape, learning more about them.

You look at some of the guys we've taken in January. Micah Hyde, Mike Daniels, Desmond King, three guys that I can think of that aren't from Iowa right here late in the recruiting process, who are really excellent players.

Q. (Question about recruiting rankings.)
REESE MORGAN: What does it mean? Is there a direct correlation between recruiting rankings and success, other than if you look at Alabama, which we are looking at them when we look at Florida, they've got guys on the field that could play for anybody, okay? I mean, they're really good guys. They're extremely well-coached.

But recruiting rankings, no. That's just a personal preference.

Q. What is coach looking for in a recruit?
REESE MORGAN: Love for the game, passion. Is he tough. Does it show up on tape. Is this guy tough, physical. Is he all about the team or is he a guy that's a high-maintenance guy that talks about me or I.

You want somebody that has high character, that's going to make good choices, someone that academically can succeed here, and somebody that has a very, very strong work ethic and a desire to improve.

You can't put yourself above the well-being of the football team.

Q. (No microphone.)
REESE MORGAN: I think a lot. You can find it from a variety of sources. I think tape is one. But there's a lot of people in that building that work with that young man from custodians to counselors to teachers to assistant coaches to secretaries. Then you go beyond that, who are the teams that they play. There's a lot of information to be gained by talking to other coaches, other people around and so forth.

I think you get all that information, you put together a profile, you go from there. But it kind of starts with Coach Ferentz, everything that we do. You have to know what kind of young man is going to be successful here. Is he going to be the kind of guy that's going to do the things that we ask our guys to do. Can he work under the best strength coach in the country, Chris Doyle, and adhere to the discipline and the grind that our guys are asked to do. Does he value hard work and fundamentals.

We're not a big schematic team, on defense at least, we're just very simple. We try to get guys lined up and try to execute whatever Phil calls.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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