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UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 29, 2017

Reese Morgan

Iowa City, Iowa

REESE MORGAN: Good afternoon, how's everybody doing? We've had four days of spring football, this is, if you're a football coach and you love to teach, this is the absolute best time of the year when you've got quality time and you don't have to prepare for an opponent. We're into our fourth day, second day of pads, that's when you find out if everybody is really ready to play.

But we're excited about the group of guys that we have, and excited about Iowa football. I'll open it up to questions.

Q. You have talked about depth, are you starting to develop that a little bit?
REESE MORGAN: Not yet, no. We're just trying to get guys lined up right now. We're trying to work through that. We really would like to though. That's a great question. We'd really like to be able to play a lot of guys. Especially this year, we're going to be a little young inside at the tackle position. We're going to be young in terms of the players that we have, and probably not as -- not have the size and girth that we've had before with the seniors that are graduating. So we're going to have to play a few more guys inside and so forth.

But we're trying to develop depth. I think we're going to have an opportunity to do that with a lot of different guys. And I think each day, each opportunity is going to provide a lot of different opportunities for different guys to experience getting on the field.

Q. Have you approached either of the Nelsons or Hesse about moving inside, what are those conversations?
REESE MORGAN: They've been very positive. Actually, Matt brought it up. We always interview our players right after the season, after recruiting's over with. So Matt just says, Coach, I just want you to know I'll do whatever I can to help this football team. I'll move inside, outside, you just tell me where to play. And you just love that attitude. He's been like that from day one.

He had a couple snaps inside. He's played outside. The plan would be to utilize him in both positions if we can.

Q. Have you coached any 6'8" defensive tackles?
REESE MORGAN: No.

Q. Does it pose some challenges?
REESE MORGAN: I think leverage is always a concern. Being the low man is going to be something. But the one thing about Matt is he's got a lot of pride, he's very intelligent, he understands leverage. Even at the defensive end position, he was able to have great leverage, vertical leverage and get underneath the pad of the tight end or tackle who he was going against.

When the NFL people come around, they like to have certainl measurables. Obviously, we're not as interested in that. We just want to find the best guys, the best four, five, six, seven, eight guys that we can and do the best we can to prepare them and get them on the field.

But to your point as well, he may have vertical leverage, but he's got great length. So he creates a lot of frustrations for an offensive lineman. If he uses that length consistently, boy, he's going to be hard to block wherever he plays.

But that's a good question too.

Q. When do you expect him back?
REESE MORGAN: When do we expect him back? Has there been an official injury report yet?

Q. Well, he was wearing a boot.
REESE MORGAN: Yeah, I know. You guys saw it and stuff. I just didn't want to go down that road yet. But as soon as he's been cleared by our trainers and doctors, he'll be ready to go. You know, what that does though for Matt now, now Matt's role has changed. Now he's become a great mentor and another coach on the field. He's going to have an opportunity to really work with our younger guys.

We have a couple of young defensive ends that need the mentoring, need the constant coaching and support. So Matt's role has changed. He's really been good about his situation. He was devastated when it happened, as all players are. But boy, the way he's responded, he's such a -- has such strong values that just helps him get through everything. Great support system.

Q. It's rare in the spring to ask about incoming freshmen, but you've never had incoming freshmen of A.J. Epenesa' pedigree. Have you thought about ways that you can use him or are you really just focused on the task at hand today and not thinking big picture?
REESE MORGAN: Yes to both questions. I think our primary objective right now is to work with the guys we have and do the best we can at developing them. In the back of your mind when you talk to people, I think he's such a unique athlete from a physical standpoint and his maturity level is pretty strong.

So does he have the ability? We'll find out for sure in August. But we certainly think he does. Will it be an opportunity -- when he reports, as the others report, whoever the best players are going to play, will play.

I realistically don't think from a physical standpoint would be a concern at all. There's a lot of stuff you ask guys to do. Very few times does a true freshman play on either side of the ball. I got a chance to work on both sides. It's just so physically challenging, but I think he is one exceptional athlete that would have the ability and mental attitude to do that.

Q. Some of those younger defensive ends that red-shirted like Golston and Simon, and maybe some others here, but could you go down the list of what those guys bring and what you're looking at from them in the spring?
REESE MORGAN: First of all, we know about the three guys that played, Anthony, Matt and Parker. We know about those guys. I think a guy that sometimes gets lost in the whole mix is Sam Brincks. Sam has really been a great team player. He's lettered for the last two years played on special teams and has been a great role player. If you go back and look at our last game, the bowl game, Sam probably played as well as he's ever played in a situation where a guy went out with an injury. So he's really done a good job.

But Chauncey and Brandon are two very talented young men. They're still learning the defense, they're still learning the tempo, they're still learning the fundamentals and technique. We think they have a good upside. They probably maybe are a little bit ahead in the pass-rush game than they are in the run game.

We ask our guys to play heavy techniques and to, you know, we ask those guys to take on a big offensive tackle, tight end or double team. So that would be an area they continue to work on. But they're still works in progress. Before we anoint them, we should make sure that they can lineup correctly and do the things that they have to do in our team defense.

Collectively, if we have four guys playing as one, we're going to be a whole lot better than if we have one guy that is really outstanding or doesn't know what to do or doesn't get to the proper assignment.

Q. You're asking a lot out of Cedrick. He's making a huge leap this year. Is he ready?
REESE MORGAN: Right now, no. I don't think Nelson's ready. I don't think Anthony's ready. All the guys aren't ready yet. Without being sarcastic, I think the thing about Cedrick that you love is he loves football. He's got a lot of pride. He cares passionately about the game. He doesn't want to let anybody down. It bothers him a great deal when he makes a mistake, probably to a fault.

So he's a guy that has a lot of pride, wants to work, wants to do well. He will continue to improve, but he's a freshman. He's a true freshman on campus. He's getting a ton of reps. He's being coached every single snap, and he's really fun to work with and be around. But I think he's going to be ready. He doesn't have an option. What he brings is he's got good size, he's a competitive young man, and he's a coachable kid. He's just fun to be around.

I mean, our room, guys, if you came and sat in that room and just watched the way the guys care, the way they listen, the way they want to learn, you'd be really, really impressed with them.

Q. Cedrick put on 35 pounds in the year, how has that extra weight helped him on the field so far?
REESE MORGAN: I don't know what he's put on, quite honestly, without checking our weight charts. But he has put weight on. When you're a young player and you put weight on, Chris does a tremendous job of kind of gauging how much to put on. We have target weights for all the guys that they have to be within two pounds of, and hopefully on that plan, and Chris is historic for doing this, gradually build into a position and get to a point where you're not awkward, where you have a growth spurt like you do in high school where I'll think of Matt Tobin. Matt Tobin was 6'1" when he was a sophomore. He was 6'5" when he was a junior in high school, so he went through a huge growth spurt. With that growth comes a little bit of getting used to the body.

But I think he's doing okay. Geez, I don't know. You give me stuff to think about at night now.

Q. Nathan's been hurt a lot. Late last year and it looks like he's out again this spring. Is that kind of -- he had a pretty good trajectory going, and now he's kind of not.
REESE MORGAN: Yeah, I think it's a lingering thing, an injury. After the Wisconsin game when he had that high-ankle sprain in the Wisconsin game he really was never able to get back to 100%. He played, but he played limited. So hopefully we've got the medical staff and our training staff have a plan. He is a guy that is a great technician. Obviously has great vertical leverage to do his height. He's a real competitive guy. Has a lot of pride. He's our senior right now, the senior in the room. Jake Hulett is a senior as well, but Jake's gone through several injuries. He's a guy that provides a lot of leadership and garners a great deal of respect from everybody in that room.

Q. You were on the other side of the ball for so many years and there is a veteran group there. How is that helping your side of the ball, especially the interior that's relatively inexperienced?
REESE MORGAN: Right. I think it's really good. I think it's good for us every day to go against an outstanding offensive line. Brian and Tim, Tim's going to be a great addition. I tell you, he's outstanding. But Brian's really developed these guys and we have really good players.

So now each and every day we're going against really an excellent group. That's going to pay off further when the season hits after we get through August camp and so forth. Because you've got guys that have played, guys that are good players and have played at a high level. So I think it's going to really help us a lot.

Q. Has Brady Reiff last year moved from defensive end to tackle, it felt like it was an experiment, now you kind of need him, don't you?
REESE MORGAN: Well, I tell you what, I like that experiment. He's a guy inside that when you think about it, he's a little bit undersized for a tackle. But, you know, you don't measure a guy by his size. He's very explosive. He's productive. He's disruptive. Hopefully he'll disrupt them more than he'll disrupt us though as you learn things. But I think he's going to provide a lot. I think he's a guy to really get excited about for a younger player. You think of guys in his mold and certainly can't be compared to guys, but you look at guys like a Mitch King, Karl Klug, kind of a smaller guy inside that can move and do some things, and we're hoping that he can do that. He goes every day against -- we've got some guys that are already pretty good players that are going to be really good players inside, but I think he's a guy to keep an eye on.

Q. Nebraska switched to a three-four, it seems more teams are doing that. Is that a big deal?
REESE MORGAN: No, not here. If that's where you're going.

Q. Why does four-three work for Iowa?
REESE MORGAN: You do what you know and what you have confidence and belief in. More so than that, you do it the way you can make adjustments, because you can learn something. You know, I remember back in 1979, okay, Bent Community, we had a good second year. We've got to change our defense, so we went and studied the split four. The four-four we're going to change with that. Went out, went all over, talked to people. Guess what? We went 4 and 5 that year. Okay. We did a poor job of coaching because we didn't understand the adjustments.

And I think you have to know the adjustments, how to make them, how guys fit in. It's really pretty good in our room because Phil's run that the whole time, Seth's been there, time and again he's gone out and run the same defense somewhere else. Kelvin's come back and played and coached in that system. So there is a lot of continuity. And we're always tweaking it. It doesn't look like it on the outside, but believe it or not there are a lot of things we're trying to do to improve.

But in regards to a three-four, I tell you, there are some teams that do a tremendous job of running that. You look at Wisconsin and the job they've done, and they've done it with different coordinators, different head coaches and they've come up and done it and done it well.

I know the pro guys were just here the other day. The Jets are running a three-four, and they were asking about a couple of our guys and so forth where they would fit in and so forth. But we really believe in what we're doing right now. We feel good about knowing that particular defense and how to teach it. So I think we're probably going to be stubborn and stick with what works.

Q. Having more interchangeable parts and less girth you're talking about, are you going to mix up some fronts and stunts a little more than you'd usually be able to?
REESE MORGAN: I think that's a good thought. With smaller guys, you try to do more movement and so forth. We'll continue to do what we do, but we'll probably have some things that we'll package and have movements or shifts or something to put some pressure on a guy. We probably won't just have a 250-pound guy lineup across a 330-pound guy and say, okay, beat him 72 snaps in a row. We probably won't do that all the time, unless we have to. And if we do, we do.

Q. Jake Hulett was kind of your fourth guy in that rotation, and then he got hurt early and was out pretty much for the year. What do you expect from him now? Do you see him on a similar trajectory as he was before he got injured?
REESE MORGAN: Good question. Jake is coming back from a couple different injuries he's had in the last couple years. Here he is a senior that's really been a tremendous leader, a good player, a guy that's invested in every phase of the program, outstanding student and all this stuff. He's just coming back.

So he's got to do a couple things. Number one, he's back on the field and he's playing. So after four practices, he's getting used to game speed and that stuff. Then he's got to develop the confidence in the rehabilitation and injuries that he's had. Can he go and do it? He's working through that right now. I think he's doing a great job.

You trust Jake. He knows what to do, and he's going to give the team everything he has. Just a great young man.

We'll know a little bit more probably in a couple weeks. But he's back. He's improving every day. He's getting better, and we're going to need him. We're going to need him to step up.

Q. How have things changed for the coaching staff with Brian in charge of the offense now? What's that done for you guys facing him?
REESE MORGAN: Well, I tell you, it's been good. It's really been work. Everybody gets along really well. Brian and Phil get together and talk about practices. Not that we didn't before, but there will be a lot of communication on both sides so that you're prepared for all the different things that you're going to see and so forth. I think it's been good.

It's competitive. It always will be. You know that. You've got Phil Parker and Brian Ferentz, come on now. If they were playing Ping-Pong, somebody's going to come out of there a winner. But I think it's been really good. With Brian, I think he's certainly very ready for it. His background, his knowledge, a lot of people think he's just -- he knows about the secondary pass. He really has got a great pedigree when it comes to coaching football and all the different positions. So he's got that.

Then the staff that we've assembled. Obviously, Levar Woods, tremendous coach, recruiter, now going to be the leader of our special teams and will do a great job there.

You've got Ken O'Keefe. Bringing Ken back has been great. Ken brings the experience. You know, he's been here. He knows what works here about us, but he also brings a wealth of NFL knowledge back. Our two new coaches, Coach Copeland and Coach Polasek those guys are perfect fits. Our kids are, you know, they're going to benefit greatly from being around those men and the leadership and mentorship that they'll provide.

Q. We know Coach Ferentz talked or kind of joked last fall about sending you to North Dakota to find some players. Did it ever go that far?
REESE MORGAN: No. We actually did offer a kid. Played left tackle for Nebraska, North Dakota from -- I can't remember the town. But he was a good player. Brent Qvale, if you can remember the name, we did offer him. It was interesting. It was the year of the flood 2008. It was at the Wisconsin camp. Somehow, somebody at Wisconsin told him you can't get into Iowa City. The whole town's flooded. We were going to have him come down for a visit and somehow he didn't make it. So I don't know how that would ever happen. But apparently the DOT had a road block on highway one there on the way down from Madison. Thank you very much.

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