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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 8, 2010

Randy Shannon

MIKE FINN: We're now joined by Miami head football coach, Randy Shannon, whose 12th ranked Hurricanes travel to Columbus, Ohio for a game against second ranked buckeyes at Ohio Stadium. The game will have a 3:40pm kickoff and be televised nationally by ESPN. And this game will be one of those that ESPN offers in 3-D as well as HD. With that, we'll bring on Coach Shannon, ask for a brief opening statement and go to questions. Coach?
COACH SHANNON: Mike, thank you. This week's opponent is Ohio State. It's going to be a great match-up, I think, between two teams that have had a lot of success throughout the years. Which Ohio State has great tradition and is a great place to play.
I really respect what Coach Jim Tressel has done all these years being at Ohio State. I think this is a big challenge for our football team to go and play a great team and look at it as far as where we need to be at.
I think this game is the second game of the season, which is unusual, but it's a great opportunity for us to get better. And I think once you look at it from this point in the second game of the season, no matter what happens we'll be a better football team at the end of the season. I think this is a game where we can improve and set you up for where you need to be at the end of the season.

Q. If you would indulge me a question not related to Ohio State, but just Jon Beason, one of your former players down there. With Julius Peppers gone here from the Panthers it looks unquestionably like Beason's defense. Wonder if you have any good examples or just can speak to the leadership he displayed while he was with you in Miami?
COACH SHANNON: Oh, sure. Jon is one of the most unbelievable guys that I've been around as far as coaching and being part of him as this process going through the University of Miami.
He leads by example because he's going to try to outwork anyone that's working out with him. He's going to get in the film room and study film until he finds out what he can get better at, but also he's going to be vocal about it. He's an energetic guy. Has a lot of charisma. Plays the game with a lot of emotion and a lot of excitement. When you have a guy that can lead in those three phases, the team can follow.

Q. Were there times that Atlanta -- I mean, did you see him evolve as a leader as he grew and matured?
COACH SHANNON: Oh, yes, definitely. He came in outworking everyone, and he always had that competitiveness in him. He always wanted to be the best, and he's going to continue to strive like that. Even in the off-season he came out and worked out down here in the off-season when the NFL was closed. And he really did a fantastic job of working and competing with these guys that we have on our football team. It was good to see him.

Q. Given some of the things that you've been through in your own life, I wondered if that's helped you create a bond with some of the kids that you recruit that not a lot of coaches can. How do you think that that link has helped you both recruit and coach them?
COACH SHANNON: Well, it's a great situation for myself that we were able to come in and recruit some of the players that we have here. These guys have really bought into what we believe in at the University of Miami. You can see the progress we've done off the field, the steady improvement in the classroom, and the steady improvement on the football field. We try to make sure those guys understand and understand me as a coach of what we're trying to get to.
I think that the things I've been through, they see me as a person that, hey, if coach can do it, I can do it. Coach is a guy that wants us to do well. I tell the guys all the time, I will be in the best interest of everybody on the football team if they believe in what we're trying to get done at the University of Miami, and we'll all be successful.

Q. I spoke with Vaughn Telemaque yesterday a little bit about some of the talking that he does on the field. He said that you're strict about it, but you do give them some leeway. I wondered if you could say what you allow and don't allow?
COACH SHANNON: Anything that is within the rules. I always tell the guys any time you get a 15 penalty -- and I tell both sides of the football. If it's third down offense and defense, and we get off the field and you get a 15-yard penalty for taunting, well, that's a problem with me.
The same thing offensively. If you get a first down to move the chains and you do something and now we're back in the negative, I have a problem with that.
I tell those guys when they go out, enjoy the football game. The rules tell you that you can celebrate with a teammate, you can high five with a teammate, you can jump up in the air and do a lot of things with your teammates as long as it's not orchestrated. I think those guys believe it, bought into it, and they play hard that way.

Q. I'm curious, we were talking to Kirk Herbstreit the other day and he said he looks at this game as a Heisman showcase between Jacory and Terrell, and whichever one plays the best will vault up into the forefront of that conversation. Do you have any thoughts on that topic? Do you see things in the same way? Do you think this is a match-up between obviously two good teams but two good quarterbacks too?
COACH SHANNON: I look at it from the standpoint that it's a nationally televised game. It's really going to be a Saturday of a lot of football, but I think it's a game that everybody wants to watch in America. It will be shown on the east coast, west coast, and a lot of people will be watching it. You have two talented guys at quarterback, but also two great teams.
I think this will be a stepping stone for not just the players, because I know they have other players on their football team up for a lot of awards, but for both teams.
I said earlier in the statement, whatever happens, both quarterbacks, both teams, both Butkus nominees and trophy nominees and Jim Thorpe Award nominees, whatever it is, both teams will be better and the players will get a lot from it also.

Q. Do you wait, if you were to have a Heisman candidate, would you wait until later in the season to start pushing something like that? Do you believe in campaigning for a player?
COACH SHANNON: No, not at all. I think a player showcases his talent by what he does on the field. I'm not a guy that's going to campaign and politic, because I think when you have a team, you emphasize the team. A performance will go predicated on what other players do around the football players.
If you have a running back that gets to 2,000 yards, a lot of credit should go to the offensive line and also receivers down field blocking, because if those guys weren't there it wouldn't become that way. So I'm really a team guy and preach those things all the time.

Q. What challenges does your defense face with that Ohio State offense and Terrell Pryor?
COACH SHANNON: Over the years watching Coach Tressel and the offense, their number one thing is they want to run the football. If you look at years of watching them and what they've done, he's going to run the football and pound the football with his tailbacks.
I think his offensive line are all veteran guys and have returned a lot of guys that have a lot of playing time and experience at the offensive line. He's going to use those guys to his ability.
It's not going to be a lineup and throw the ball 40 times for Terrell Pryor. That's not Coach Tressel's MO. He's going to lineup and say let's control the football game and use the talented guys we have, which is our offensively and our strength and see what we can do.
Terrell will obviously throw the football, but I don't think it will be 40, 50, 30 times a game. I think it will be a typical Ohio State. Let's see what both teams can do to lineup and stop the run.

Q. Do you think containing him, defensive guys, front guys are pretty capable of doing that?
COACH SHANNON: I think that you can't just lineup and say let's worry about Terrell Pryor when you're playing Ohio State. We have to have guys in their pass-rush lanes doing the right things. But also you've got to be able to like I said before, stop their running game.
If you aren't able to stop their running game with the tailback, no matter what happens in the game, Terrell Pryor may not have to throw the ball if we do that .
MIKE FINN: Coach, thank you for being with us. Good luck this weekend, we look forward to talking to you next week.
COACH SHANNON: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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