	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 5, 2018

Walt Bell

Tallahassee, Florida

Q. During the spring and during the summer, working with the quarterbacks, how have all three done and maybe just areas where you've made the most progress?
COACH WALT BELL: Yeah, especially in the spring, you kind of have Deondre in a little bit of a limited role, so he was more mental reps every day. He was the guy back there in the back ten yards behind everything.

So I thought he can a great job managing his mental reps. You could really see him taking advantage. He probably only going to throw 30, 40 balls in seven-on-seven situations but just to have him back there taking mental reps, starting to get the mental mastery of the system a little bit and then physically, you know, between James and Bailey, I thought both those guys did a great job.

I thought Bailey Hockman had his best four practices the last four practices. I think there's going to be great competition going into camp.

You know, unfortunately, not allowed to do very much with them in the summertime but those guys are anxious to learn, just the amount of time those guys have put into our base install. All summer long, those guys are repping: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4; and kind of keeping everything -- Coach Taggert kind of alluded to it earlier: We're not teaching ABCs anymore.

We're able to go correct things and start teaching the details of the job, the X, Y, Zs of the position, and a lot of the things that you're not able to get to just solely because we're lining up what to do.

Now it's how do I do my job better. So I'm excited to see that and especially integrating these young guys in but all three of those kids have done a great job and excited to see who becomes quarterback.

Q. Will it be all three getting equal with the first team --
COACH WALT BELL: You know, Coach Taggart and I, every day that thing will be changing but all three of those kids will definitely get a chance because they have earned that right, so excited to see who does well with what reps.

As we move forward, every day is a competition. Every rep they took in the spring, every rep, whether it's individual, team, group, seven-on-seven, every one is graded just like it's a game. We have tangible evidence about who does what well.

Again, just that competition will be ongoing and all three of those kids will get a chance to win a job.

Q. Third-and-two at the goal line: Run or pass?
COACH WALT BELL: Depends on who you're playing. There's a lot more that goes into that. I just know how I'm designed and how I grew up. Hopefully if we're in the same situation, we've got a yard to go to win the football game, hopefully we're going to run the football, but you earn that right. You earn the respect.

You weren't at fall camp, that trust, when our lives are on the line, the program, every coach, every fan, when our -- when our team, when you have those types of choices, you earn that in fall camp.

No. 1, it depends on what you're good at and that's what fall camp is for, so we can figure all that out, and more importantly, figure out who are the guys we can trust. That's going to be -- the ultimate goal of fall camp, especially offensively for us is, just to identify the guys we can trust and how do you do that.

Does your position coach trust you to make your unit better? Do your teammates trust you to play as hard as you can possibly play? If you can do those two things, we'll have a chance.

But whether we run it or throw it, you guys hard the boss earlier: It's up to him. It's my job to give him as much good information as I possibly can on game day but that's up to Coach.

Q. Technically, guys come in different places, different ways they have learned, but as far as intangibly, what are you looking for from your quarterback, some of the Inc. tangibles you like to see?
COACH WALT BELL: For me, the ultimate job description of quarterback is as follows: The job description of quarterback is make the other ten guys better. To me, who can do that at a higher rate, that's going to be the guy that you entrust to be the quarterback and for me, there's a couple of ways that you do that.

I think No. 1, you lead from the front. You can't lead from the back. You've got to be a guy that -- and when I say leadership, I don't mean a yeller or a screamer because everybody is their own person and everybody has their own way and everybody has their own style, but I think you've got to be a guy that your teammates can trust, and I think you earn that in a multitude of ways, whether it's how you work or how you speak to people or the relationships you create.

Again, I go back to make the other ten guys better and some of that is, you know, you've got to know who they need you to be that day, whether they need you to be a cheerleader, whether they need you to be a friend, whether they need you to be a confidant, whether they need you to be a yeller or a screamer. I think those are some of the tangibles or intangibles that you kind of rest on, or who has great people skills and then who can be a great teammate and who can be who the other guys need you to be.

And then football stuff, that kind of takes care of itself: Who can drive their eyes in the right place and who can take the right drop and who can react accordingly. Intangibly, the kind of things I always look for every day: Who can be the same guy every day; who can be even keel.

When you get people like me who are super Type A and ultra-organized, it's a good thing, but it's also a bad thing because typically those people don't handle failures as well.

So we want a guy that's nice and even-keel. He's the same guy at practice every day; he's the same guy he is on Saturday. An even-keel personality guy that can fail well and get his teammates to respond.

Q. Coach Taggart said he would be calling plays on game day, but in terms of scouting, week-to-week, self-scouting, putting together a game plan, what will your responsibilities be?
COACH WALT BELL: Yeah, I look at coordinate, especially in this situation, it is a verb.

And my job specifically -- and honestly, not having been through a game week with Coach Taggart yet, I can't tell you exactly, but I think my job this season is as follows: And that's to do everything that I can possibly do, whether it be from an efficiency time management/organization, my job is to do everything I can possibly do where it is as easy as it can possibly be for him on game day.

That's my job to make sure from an organizational standpoint, from a teaching standpoint, from a mentor standpoint; that we are doing everything we can do for our 11 kids on offense to make sure that all Coach Taggart has got to do is call it and it happens the way he wants it to.

Not real sure yet, but we'll know real soon.

Q. Wide receiver depth has been a little lacking over the past couple years, and spring, injuries, so many reps to go around. You brought in a big receiver class. How much do you plan on using them?
COACH WALT BELL: Yeah, they are not going to have a choice. We will lead the horse to water and we will make him drink. Those young guys, they are not going to have a choice.

A lot of those young guys got a lot of valuable reps in the spring but especially the kids that got here in the summer, it's amazing how hard, how much you've seen those guys study installs, how much you've seen those guys invest in themselves to make sure that when they go out there, knowing that you're a snap or two away from being out there on Monday night against Virginia Tech, I think those kids -- all those young wide-outs are doing a great job in terms of just preparing themselves for just this first practice.

I'm excited. I'm like Coach Taggart, I can't wait to go out there and meet them at 6:00, 7:00 and get out there in the morning and watch those guys work.

Especially I think for those young kids, and people don't talk about this very much, but so many of those kids put so much pressure on themselves; if they just go out there and relax and remember it's a kid's game, and actually have a good time; that generally will allow those kids to fail a little bit better; and understand, there's no way to mastery other than failure.

You don't just wake up in the morning the best ever. You have to have a lot of rough times to get there. As long as the kids can mentally handle those mistakes and come back the next day fighting, we'll be all right.

Q. When do you expect to start tackling?
COACH WALT BELL: Great question. You know what, because my answer is probably going to be exactly what you think it is, and that's we're not real sure yet.

I feel like we have got a chance to be really good at the tackle position. I feel like that we'll have, you know, eight, nine guys that we can really trust by the time that, No. 1, we're all healthy and No. 2, everything is said and done with camp. You know, are we incredibly deep at the position? No. But do I feel like that we'll have, you know, the depth needed to get through a season and play the type of people that we're going to have to play? Yeah.

In terms of who the tackles will be, it really all depends on kind of who wins those jobs inside, which will allow us some freedom to possibly move some guys around.

I can't tell you, but the good news is, we're going to start finding out here in about 24 hours.

So we're excited. But we've got work to do there but not in a way that any of us are fearful of. We'll find the two or three right guys, go out there on the edge and do the job, and I feel like we've got the guys to do it. It's just who it's going to be and what order.

Q. I know Coach Taggart talked about seeing the offense on film and that you guys did a lot of similar things but were you surprised when you guys actually put the plays together how similar your concepts were or were you excited to see there were wrinkles that maybe he had that you didn't or vice versa?
COACH WALT BELL: I think it's been really good. First and foremost, you know, when I got here, it was really important to me that I learn it exactly as he did it. You know, it wasn't a, come-in-here-and-try-to-put-my-stuff-with-his-stuff. No.

It's, let's learn his stuff because that's what he wants to call and the way he wants it done. And along the way, if there's something we can possibly make better, that's up for discussion.

But for me coming in, it was really important just to learn his system. You know, how does he talk. What's the verbiage he uses. What's he call this; what's he call that. How does he want this communicated, so I can communicate to our players that way.

For me, my past, growing up as a player at Middle Tennessee, where there were not a lot of spread one-back offenses -- this is all I've ever done, spread one back and play real fast and play real wide. Really similar.

Just for me, it was really more just learning new terminology and making sure that just even in free communication, when he and I are sitting in a room, that when I say something, it's something that makes sense to him, you know, and so that's really what that thing was about.

But no, incredibly similar in terms of what we really believe from a philosophy standpoint on offense, but even more than that, I think why I'm so excited to be here is I'm around a guy that believes in all the same things that make me want to coach.

He's a guy that's invested in our kids, like there's every coach in America is going to stand up here and say family and talk, they love their guys. But it's a daily, real investment in the growth and the well being and growth of our kids, not just out there on the grass, but as human beings.

So just to be around a guy -- it makes that much more convincing of a salesman, which is also called teaching. Just when there really is a mission that's bigger than what happens in front of people on Saturdays.

Football, how he, you know, lives his life and how he treats our kids, it's been a great marriage so far.

Q. The team will naturally gravitate towards whoever is making the most plays at the quarterback position and whoever you guys put out there, they will get behind. Do you sense that the guys on the offensive side of the ball have a deeper maybe appreciation for James Blackman because he was a guy that was thrown out there last year and having been baptized by fire, do you see anyway that they gravitated to his leadership?
COACH WALT BELL: I'm going to answer your question in two parts just to make sure that I do this the right way.

One, James is an incredible kid. The way his teammates feel about him is 100 percent completely deserved.

The second part is, I wasn't here. I'm a guy that I truly believed that when a new staff comes in, that when there's a new group, if you listen to everybody else, you're going to miss a lot of things. It's amazing what coaching changes can do to human beings. I'm a perfect example of that.

Blake Anderson changed my life. I'm a football coach because of Blake Anderson. Blake Anderson was a position coach that became as important to me as my own father and I wasn't that guy before him. I think that's kinds of the ultimate goal, No. 1, of this business is to make sure that you also pass along that influence.

So I don't care what happened here before. I really don't. I care what happened the day I got hired and moving forward. I think all three of our quarterbacks possess different skills. All three of them have ways to win a football game. And who they gravitate to, that is a big part of the equation and that will be a big part of the equation moving forward.

You always hear me using this analogy -- I've never once talked about a depth chart in six, seven years of coaching quarterbacks or five or six years of being a coordinator. I don't think I have ever talked about a depth chart to the quarterbacks, because the other ten guys, offense, about 12, 15 practices from now, a guy will walk in there and everybody will know, that's the dude.

And then if some other guy walks in, they will get the side eye from me, are you sure you want him in here with us right now. They make those choices. To me, that's the goal of the quarterback is how quickly can you get that done and how quickly will those other guys know, and that's what camp is for.

To be clear, I don't care what happened, I don't care who played and I don't care who they liked. I care about what these kids do from the time we get hired to the day that we're not here anymore. I think all three of those kids have done a great job. They are all trying to grow as people and as quarterbacks. That's why I'm excited about camp.

Q. How hard do you think it's going to be for you on game days, since you have been calling plays for five, six years now, to maybe take a step back? You said your personality is Type A.
COACH WALT BELL: Well, I'm very Type A about being the best employee that I can be (Laughter). I'm very Type A about taking care of my new wife. I'm very Type A about being -- my grand dad was in the military and I've got a brother in the military. I'm very good at following instruction, and I take pride in being a great employee and doing everything I get asked to do, no more, no less.

That's his role. That's his job. My job is to provide him with the best information I possibly can do. I'm not going to be the antsy guy out there spitting out stuff, that's not me.

My job is to be the best offensive coordinator I can be so he can go do his job to the best of his ability. When I say I'm Type A, you know, whether it's -- how I work or how I organize or whatever it may be, you know, but in no way, shape or form will that ever manifest itself in a way that's destructive to us on game day.

Q. Not to disparage the places you were at before, but what is it like for you to have this much talent? How much fun is that for you?
COACH WALT BELL: Yeah, my last year at Arkansas State, where you just kind of knew that even though different level of competition in conference on a week-to-week basis but you kind of know that, you know, you're loaded up pretty good and you're going to have a good year, 2011 at Southern Miss, our last year there, kind of felt that way.

This is the first time in a long time I feel like if we can stay healthy outside the hashmarks, if we can -- you know, we've got -- even though there may be some names that people don't know very well right now, we've got a chance to be really special if we can stay healthy and we can get the quarterback to distribute the football where it's supposed to go.

I feel like we've got great running backs. We've got tight ends. We've got great receivers. We're just young. You know, can we put all those pieces together, and you know, how quickly can we learn and assimilate to the system and really start to master stuff. That's really, coming out of spring, just how many reps it takes to get good.

So that's what we're trying to get done right now. But you know, really excited about the pieces we have in place. Just, you know, some luck involved, got to stay healthy and you've got to handle your business.

Q. You spoke about the young receivers in the spring. The guys coming in right now are coming in for the summer that you hope to contribute, as well. What's the biggest thing they have to show you?
COACH WALT BELL: It's going to sound really stupid because it is so simple, but I think one of the biggest adjustments -- now the good news is, nine out of ten high school teams in the country right now see a signal and play fast. I mean, that's just kind of the way football is.

When I first went to school, there weren't a lot of people doing that. Now, it's what everybody in the world does, from the NFL to Pop Warner football, is people doing zone read and ball screen.

I think, process time; the ability to be efficient in transition. Ball carrier hits the ground, drive my eyes to the signal, get the signal, get lined up and snap it (snapping fingers).

That small window for all these young kids -- not necessarily the first two or three days, because they have been doing that all summer and acclimated themselves.

But when the install really starts to pile up; and maybe a hamstring makes us move this kid to this spot and this another kid to another spot, and the processing starts to, like, bog you down a little bit. I think the ones that can process the quickest and process the most efficiently, I think those are the kids that you kind of trust to go put out there.

Therefore, those kids kind of get more reps. To me, the biggest adjustment is the processing and that's for every young, offensive skill said, efficiently quarterback. So how you have to see a signal, process the signal, call for the football -- do you all of the things we ask you to do, you know, play point guard.

I think the processing time for those young wide-outs will be the thing, No. 1 that shocks them; and then No. 2 is we have got to coach them through moving forward.

Q. Coming in, seems like you and Coach Taggart have an emphasis on establishing the run and that's a big priority for you guys offensively. What kind of a luxury is it to have four or five guys, obviously very talented at the position here and how will you guys in game handle that rotation? Obviously you're not going to run one guy 50 times so how will that be determined?
COACH WALT BELL: The second part of your question, you know, can't really answer right now. Just because we haven't been through camp and they kind of haven't set their own depth chart yet.

The first part of your question, you have got to be able to run the football. And it doesn't matter what style, doesn't matter if you're going to be like Stanford, 33 and 32 and run John Power, or you're going to be an empty and run your quarterback, it doesn't matter, but you have got to be able to run the football.

I think that goes not only for us offensively but if your defense is going to be able to stop the run, they have got to get, you know -- they have got to stop it in practice. The only way to learn to stop the run is to get off blocks and tackle people.

I think not only are you setting yourself for success, but you're also setting the success of your defense by how physical you can run the football.

So No. 1, I think that's just a philosophy thing. If we are going to run the football and stop the run, that's going to be something you're practicing and you have to do every day.

In terms of the depth, I've never been anywhere where we had -- I've been places where you could play four or five guys, but I don't know if I've ever been any why where you had four or five this talented. Really excited.

But the one thing I can tell you is that is always is going to take that many. It's the only position left in this game where nobody cares. Quarterbacks protect it. Receivers protect it. Kickers protect it. Defenses player, protected. Run backs, ain't nobody protecting them. It's one of those kind of the last positions in this game where there's still an aspect of violence to it where you know that those guys aren't going to be able to carry it 20, 30, 40 times a game.

So I'm excited to have all those guys and excited to see how it shakes out. And on top of that, not only have we got a bunch of good players, but four or five of those kids, all good dudes. Good people and they are fun to coach. Until they prove otherwise, I expect that room to be really successful.

Q. Do you know if you'll be in the box during games?
COACH WALT BELL: I believe so. I can 99.9 percent say with confidence that I'll be in the press box. Prefer it up there.

And then on top of it, if Coach Taggart is calling the plays from the football field, my way to help him the most is to be his eyes in the press box and make sure that he's getting all the information that he needs.

Q. Just talking about the running backs and establishing the run, with your inexperience at tight end and wide receiver, how much of a benefit can they be in the passing game --
COACH WALT BELL: Yeah and that is one thing that -- I got asked a question earlier, about Coach Taggart's system and how it came together. I think one thing that is really evident after being through a spring with Coach Taggart is how much the backs and tight ends are involved in the throw game.

I think that's a way that we can kind of create more touches even for that position even if it's not necessarily me handing you the football. And so, really excited.

The ability to play two and three tailbacks at a time in terms of personnels, I mean, and a lot of those kids also have, like receiver skills. It's not just throwing those guys the ball out of the backfield but lining them up at receiver, in the slot, outside, inside. We are able to do all those things and we're able to do all those things in the spring.

I think it's another way to create touches and create some mismatches, as well.

Q. You mentioned the intangibles at quarterback. What is it you're looking for in this offense?
COACH WALT BELL: I think one of the great things about this system, had a kid like Flowers had a certain set of tools in his toolbox that were a little bit different and they had great success with him. And then he goes to Oregon and, they have a 6-6 kid that is a good athlete but not as good a runner and they kind of build the system around his skills.

For me, in terms of their physical tools and what we're looking for, we're just looking for a winnable set of skills. You always hear me talk about a quarterback's toolbox and whatever tools in that toolbox are sharp. There's always some that are sharp and there are always some that are a little bit dull and we have to continue to sharpen, and that's what practice is for.

We have to identify what those winnable skills are; what are their sharpest tools; and make sure that whoever that guy is that wins the job, then we put them out there on Saturday and we're making sure that we're not asking him to do something that he doesn't do well; or for lack of a better with a way to put it, that we are playing to his skills and making sure that we're putting him in a position to be successful. Because if that kid is successful, typically the offense is successful.

And so I think in terms of what we're looking for, I don't think there's a cookie cutter mold. I don't think you've got to be this height or run this fast or you've got to do this, because for every one of those statements that I will make, everybody in here can think of another guy that was a great quarterback that may not meet one of those criteria. So logically, not real smart of me to say, you have to look like this or throw it like this or here, here, here.

I just think identifying their winnable skills and making sure we cater to those skills on game day I think is the biggest thing for us.

Q. What's it like to be one-on-one in a meeting with Coach Taggart? What's the interaction like?
COACH WALT BELL: I think he's got a really special gift and just kind of how he is in here. I think he's got a really special gift and it probably will -- I am sure, not probably will, but I'm sure it has helped him kind of create the cohesiveness with his staff. He has a way of being very direct in getting his point across in a way but for some reason, you like him for it.

I am not that way. I just can't do that. It's not my personality. Not who I am. But he has an incredible way about him to communicate very directly, very clearly and make sure everybody understands the message, but you've got a smile on your face when you hear it.

I think especially in today's -- and I've worked for plenty of coaches where that's not the way. But just I think he's -- just his demeanor, he's fun to be around. Not that there aren't things that we don't get coached on. That's his job is to coach us, not that there aren't things that we don't get coached on and coached hard.

He's himself and very authentic and genuine. He doesn't act one way in here and completely change who he is when all the doors are closed and nobody else is around. I just think the authenticity of him is, for me, you know, very refreshing and made me even more excited to be here knowing that you're working for a good guy.

Makes a lot better salesman and a lot more apt to buy into the mission when you believe in that guy. I think our kids can tell you the same thing.

Q. Before you met Coach Taggart, what did you hear about him? Did you inquire about him?
COACH WALT BELL: No, I didn't -- I did not know Willie Taggart at all. I've told that story publically. I got a random text message after a game, you know, and then another text message in late December and then we talked that night. Then he offered me the job on Monday night at a Hilton at Perimeter Center in Atlanta, and I got in my car and drove.

You know, I don't mean this as a slight to Coach Taggart at all, I don't. I know that guy will score a ton of points and I know that his kids love him and to me, that's -- that's all that I really needed to know.

More importantly than that, was it's Florida State. I mean, I do not mean that as a slight to Coach Taggart at all. But I used to run around my front yard pretending to be Charlie Ward. There's six or seven places in the world that when they ask you to come, you don't ask questions and you just go. This is one of them.

I've got an incredible amount of respect, for just what Coach Taggart did at South Florida. In off-season studies I think going into my second year at Arkansas State as the offensive coordinator, studying those guys; didn't know him from Adam. Didn't call him.

Just really invested in some of the things they did, quarterback-run game driven because our quarterback at the time was really similar to Flowers in terms of his winnable skills.

So studied them going into our second year at Arkansas state, but just being an admirer of -- again, I think the ultimate mark of a coach is how the kids play. When I say "play," I don't mean like, do they score or do they not score; but just watching them interact with him. I mean, they love that guy.

And as long as you can get that kind of bye-in, doesn't matter what you do: Triple-option, throw it every play, run it every play, you'll find a way to be successful.

Part of the thing that makes me so excited is being around a guy that makes me feel that way about him.

Q. What are your impressions of Coach Barnett and bringing the same things from Michigan State?
COACH WALT BELL: I think in terms of preparation, how hard are they to prepare for, they are not really. They line up and they do what they do, but I don't think that's -- again, schemes and X's and O's, there's a million guys in this business that can do that. There's a lot of guys that are unbelievable on chalk boards.

I think what makes Coach Barnett and what made Michigan State so successful is everybody in the world knew where they were going to be. They were going to line and they were going to be in a four-down front and play press on the outside and safeties were going to be eight yards deep and levelled off and everybody could probably spit on the football, and that's what they do, you know what I'm saying.

There's not a whole lot of questions. They have a great third down package which is I think one of the things that's more underrated about those guys in terms of third and mediums and longs. But normal down-and-distance don't do a whole lot, but I think what makes them so special is how hard they play, you know, how they tackle.

I think one of the strengths about -- you'll hear Coach Taggart say lethal simplicity. I think one of the strengths about what Coach Barnett and those guys do, is they are not all worried about what are we doing. And because they are not always installing new stuff, and it's not, you know, nine different defenses or 12 different calls; there's one or two calls.

So when you're not teaching all the time, scheme, you can teach what really matters: Tackling, turnovers, what are the offenses actually trying to do to you. I think the strength of what they do is they have the confidence to not do a ton of stuff.

It scares some people to death when you don't feel like you have enough stuff on that little sheet, and to basically say, you're not important. I think they play very confidently, and when I say "confidence," they don't care that you know.

Every coach in the country on offense can tell you where they are going to be on first and second down, you know, and they are still one of the top defenses in the country every year. It's how hard they play, the details in their jobs and how they play the game that makes them so special.

And you can see that happening right now. I fully expect, as long as they can stay healthy and things happen the way we need to happen over the next month, I fully expect those guys to be pretty good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297