	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

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 14, 2011

Will Muschamp

COACH MUSCHAMP: First of all I want to congratulate Mike Holloway and our SEC indoor track and field team, here at the University of Florida and very happy for him. I want to congratulate Jeff Demps winning the SEC and national championships again in the 60-meter, hopefully Charlie can figure out a way to get him in some space this year and make a play or two, which I think was supposed to be funny, but it wasn't. (Laughter).
Really proud of where we are right now. We just finished a five-week off-season program and really put the players through a lot, worked four days a week, as far as agility system, plyometrics, endurance training, lifting with Mickey in the weight room, so real proud of their effort.
I really think in the off-season, that's where you build your football team. You build the mental toughness it's going to take to be successful. You find out a lot about individual players at this time what they are willing to push through. You find out a lot about where your leadership is on the football team and that's what we need to continue to address and work on. But you start to identify your identity in the off-season. I'm really pleased with where we are, and I'm excited about what those guys accomplished in our off-season program.
Excited about Pro Day tomorrow for the Florida Gators, a lot of guys put an awful lot into this program and excited about them working out, hopefully fulfilling some of their dreams and tomorrow is a big day for them so we really want to wish them all the luck in the world.
Spring ball starts Wednesday. You get in this off-season program, you enjoy that and I love the off-season program. I think that's really where you start to develop an identity as a football team, and having this five-week program for us was great, to have spring break set where it was was perfect, we came back, running a little bit today to get the spring break out of them and to start on Wednesday is an exciting time. It's certainly for us, the staff, we are ready to get on the grass.
We are obviously ready to close practice for obvious reasons in my opinion and it's important on both sides of the ball and in special teams focus on what we need to do to be successful now. And we need to do that in closed quarters. I understand from a media standpoint that you have a job to do and understand our fans love the Gators and want to be a part of that.
And certainly on April 9 we want a full packed house and that's when we will get an opportunity for our fans to watch us play. But really I feel like we need to concentrate on us and get better and need to continue the identity to develop on both sides of the ball and special teams.
Offensively I know there will be lots of questions and Charlie and Dan will address you, we want to be balanced in what we do. I can't sit here and tell you what we are going to be because we are not sure. We have not worked with the young men yet as far as football is concerned. We them run and jump envelope football and shorts but you play football in pads. It's interesting to see the guys that run and jump well don't always translate to the football field very well. So we have evaluated film from last season and watched a lot of that but again in our system, terminology, how they will respond to our coaching, our scheme, our situational football, the things we need to see them do and progress well with, and that's what we are looking forward to, to getting started on Wednesday.
Defensively we want to be multiple. I think we will be more of an overt team,3-4 team, a one-gap team at this point and we will could mingle some 3-4. Dan has some great ideas of some things I have done in the past but we have an outstanding defense staff and I'm excited about what the guys are bringing to the table; what can our players handle and who will be our playmakers, that's the big thing to me going into the spring. What can they handle within our scheme and what we need to do as a staff is a great job of what can they do and what do they do best.
I said from the first night we talked, it's not about taking a scheme and throwing it on our players and saying this is what we are. It's our job as coaches to evaluate what our players can do and that's a huge part and really what spring is for.
We will not get as much opponent work done in the spring because we will be installing our scheme and making sure our players feel comfortable about that so that when we hit the fall we are able to start running hard.
Special teams, it's critical to control the vertical field position in every game. Caleb will be limited a little in spring starting out but we feel like he will be full go as far as we work through the spring there, excited about his prospects as a kicker and we obviously need to find a punter. Kyle Christy is a young man we brought in here mid-year. And we are excited about him but we will work through all phases of special teams in spring starting with our field goal PT block and protection units day one and our punt units.
We feel it's important to go and get those things in as well as solidify a return game, have a returner, punt returner, kickoff returners, with our speed we ought to be able to have some guys that can do an outstanding job of that and I know we did this past season and excited about being able to look there. But again, develop the leadership, come together for that communicate purpose.
I know we will all be excited on Wednesday. I want to see how we are practice 12. That's really where you find out what kind of team you've got and they will all be excited on Wednesday there, but we want to be a blue-collar overachieving unit. That's really what we want to be. We have got some good football players, I've said from the beginning, we have got a good football team on campus and we have to come together as a cohesive unit, build for that common purpose but develop that workmanlike attitude.
The players are a reflection of their coach and that's what I've told our staff what I want us to be. We are a blue-collar team, that's really what we are. We are a blue-collar unit and that's what our identity should be. I've given a depth chart out today and I don't know if that depth chart is worth the paper it's printed on. It's a starting point for us, we are a new staff and a lot of guesswork being done based on film from last year and our evaluation through our five-week off-season program, so a lot of guesswork. There are some guys that will not partake in spring because of various issues including injuries, surgeries, Genoworth (ph) obviously with his shoulder surgery, Neiron Ball has a congenital syndrome and no decisions have been made on his football future but he will not partake in spring. Jeff Demps, outdoor track bridging, and we are excited about his season. And Mike Blakely first had surgery when he reported to campus and we felt it was better to get it cleaned up now, as opposed to waiting through the summer.
Some guys that are limited: Matt Magents (ph), David Young, James Wilson, Omar Hunter and Jaylen Watkins are all guys that have been all or part of our off-season program not been able to do everything. So at this point they need to work themselves in to being full speed because when they hit the field they need to be full speed for the games and if they are not at that point yet they are not ready to be in the two deep. Nothing against those guys, but for whatever reason for injury standpoint they have been able to partake full board.
For a couple position changes from last season, Leon Orr has moved to defensive tackle. Athletically he's a guy that's a bigger body guy that can hold the point, especially with some of the two-back run teams we are going to face, felt like he was suited for that and we will take a look at that.
Gerald Christian has moved to linebacker and he will continue to be on offensive and some short yardage and goal line situations at tight end and fullback. He has good lower body explosion and a guy that certainly is bright enough to play two positions and we are going to look at that a little bit with him. He played linebacker at Dwyer school for Jack Daniels and was an outstanding high school linebacker. And looking at depth as far as guys that played in games and play-making ability, we felt good about that move.
And Jordan Reed will be a full-time tight end and we feel like a guy that can stretch the field vertically, can be a matchup issue for defenses with his athleticism. Excited about him.
Trey Burton at the F position for us, as you will see on the depth chart is really a multiple position. We could be in 21 personnel which is two-back tight end and two wides and being a three-open wide-out looking set or a four-open with Jordan flexed.
So with those two guys athletically we feel like we have some mismatch issues for a defense, me being a defensive guy looking at it, I know that there's problems involved in that. So we are excited about the versatility Trey will play for us at the F and at the H position in some third down work.
But again, the depth chart really is a place to start. It's really and I told the players last night, it not about where you start, it's about where you finish. They are about like preseason polls; they mean nothing.
So cross-train at multiple positions on both sides of the ball. You do that to prepare for injury and depth on your football team. So we are going to ask a bunch of guys to play two positions. Especially on defense because of the different things that happen defensively and as you work through the season, injuries, those things happen and you have to prepare for the worse, and that's what we plan on doing as far as that's concerned.

Q. You were talking about leadership and looking for. It what have you seen and from whom during the off-season that you would say are guys who are developing as your leaders?
COACH MUSCHAMP: In our off-season program we had some guys that we signalled out as far as Hammond, Green, Clark, Carr, Brantley, Stephen Alli, Jeff Driscoll for a young guy that were guys that came out and competed; Cody Riggs, that came out and competed every day. They came out and played to a championship standard as far as their competition is concerned in the weight room, and off the field.
.now we have got to continue to develop more of that but you have to develop leadership. It's not just something that is happens. Ten percent of the world are innate leaders; they just have it when they are born. And 90 percent of the guys that work for it, they are the situation leaders that find the niche of when they can lead, but it's our job to develop that on campus, too.
We have to develop that within our organization and we have great support from our administration as far as how we are handling that. So we are implementing leadership development, and we have character development, all of those things, mental conditioning for our football team, and that's something that goes -- a part of being a good football player is being a good leader. And we have defined that as being a guy that can positively affect everybody around him. That means you can't be negative; that means you can't complain about what we are going to do, if we are going to run after practice or before practice or whatever, you just do what you're asked to do and positive about it.
You have to be a productive player to be a leader. You cannot be standing on the sideline by me and be a good leader; that's not being a good leader. You don't have to be vocal to be a good leader. You really don't. Some of the best leaders I've been around led by example and led by the way they worked and their work traits and those things, and you have to be a guy that's dependable and durable. You can't be just show up on game day. That doesn't work through the week. That causes discord on your football team; a guy that works all the time.
So those are some of the things we have identified of what they are and we have to continue to do that and being a leader is hard, because it's every day, it's every single day; you have to show up for work and you have to do your job and you have to do it at a high level here at Florida, and what's what is expected of me. We feel like we have to continue to develop that. That's not something you can throw up your hands and say we don't have any leadership. That's our job. We have to develop leadership.

Q. As a defensive coach, when you see what Charlie Weis tries to do, especially at the collegiate level, through the eyes of a defensive coach, what do you see as being a tough thing to handle?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Good players. That's every week, you have good players, you have match-up issues. You're able to put a good receiver, whether it be a tight end, a back, or whoever on a miss-match coverage-wise. They are able to attack you up front. You may not be able to hold the point and play blocks as well and I think that Charlie's experience, obviously, will show with that in my opinion as far as where we are offensively right now and the things that we are going to try and do.
That will be tested over time, but also players buying into the system which obviously, I think part of buying in is instant credibility; and he brings instant credibility as a football coach because of what he's accomplished. So our players understand what he's talking about is good and it works and it's worked before and it will work again and it will work for us this year.

Q. When Chris was first recruited, he said he might be playing middle linebacker; what was your decision to putting him as back?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think he was will pass rush skills and good pass rush ability and can move his hands and feet in the rush and that's a natural talent and not easily coached, and he's a got good length; freshman, he's young. He's going to worry about how we tell him to play.

Q. Issues last season --
COACH MUSCHAMP: That was last season. This is this year.

Q. This year --
COACH MUSCHAMP: I said you're going to do it our way. Change is inevitable; growth is optional. It's going to happen. It's either you do it our way or you leave.

Q. Charlie is known as a guy, pretty strong-minded guy, he openly admits that as a coach; do you welcome that? Do you like that?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think it's great. I think it's good. I think you hire guys that you have tremendous confidence that you know their abilities. And you hire the best coaches available. And we have been allowed to do that here because of our support of our administration of Jeremy Foley, our Dr. Machen and what we have been able to do is be able to go out and hire outstanding coaches.
But I want to hire the best in the business. I don't want a bunch of yes guys. I don't want a bunch of guys that are going to agree with everything I say, because I don't claim to have all the answers and I don't have all the answers, especially on the offensive side of the ball. That's something you hire and somebody that's got high expertise on that side of the football and that's what we did.
Again, I think if you want a bunch of yes guys, that's not going to be good for you in the long run. And I want guy who is disagree. I love the saying, it's okay to agree to disagreement we can disagree on something as long as the end of the day we make a decision and walk out of the room, this is what we are going to do, and that's that Charlie Weis has been doing at a high level for a long time. I didn't hire a bunch of yes guys.

Q. Do you know coming in that you would attack it this way in terms of close-ended practices for the reasons that you stated and did you also expect to get maybe a little feedback on that for fans?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, I think that -- and again, I've got to make a decision for what I think is best for the program and winning football games and doing it the right way and I think that is the best thing right now are us to do.
Unfortunately in my position when you make decisions that will affect an awful lot of people and there's always going to be a percentage that doesn't the decision that's been made.
It's like pregame meal. Some guys want to eat green beans and some want green peas. When you choose green beans, those that wanted peas are going to be mad.
Our nutritionist, I tell her we have to get green beans some days and peas on the other days.
We are going to make good decisions for our program and that decision and that will something that will be evaluated in the fall by me and in the spring by me. And if I think it's the best thing to have our practices closed, they are going to be closed but we are going to make decisions on what is best for our football team.

Q. You looked at film last season, is there any position you thought you looked thin at or is a special area of concern?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I don't know that it's evaluation interest last year. Like looking at the film from the size and speed standpoint and looking at some of the players, but we are thin on both lines of scrimmage at this point, and we would like to address that. I like the quality of players and I like the quantity of players and in this league, the SEC is a line of scrimmage league. You'd better be good up front or you're going to have some long days.
So you have to be able to rush the passer and affect quarterback with four guys. You have to be able to protect the quarterback and obviously dent the run game offensively; and play blocks defensively up front and get off blocks and make plays, because this is a tough league. I mean, it's a line of scrimmage league and we are going in a little bit thin but that's the cards that are dealt and that's the way we'll play them.

Q. In spring, realistically, putting in your schemes, how much can you put in these 15 days how fast will you go?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think that will go basically by how we progress as far as where we think we are. I have made the first 11 practice schedules, for an example. But obviously if you get a guy banged up, those practice schedules are going to change. As far as our installation, it's kind of after day one, all right; well, how do we feel about day two; how do we feel about day three.
We do believe a little bit of the theory of throw it in the wall, see what sticks, and keep throwing it on the wall until it does stick. But then it also goes back to your evaluation of players, what can they handle, how well do they learn, how much can they take and that's part of the evaluation, too. I mean, we are going to be sitting there game six and we are going to change the route concept; well, can he learn -- we are going to change route concept week six because this league has got good coaches, too. They adjust, as well, too.
So we have to do a good job of evaluating our team not just from a speed strength play-making ability, that's important but also from a mental capacity of being able to handle adjustments, change, terminology. I mean, there's a lot being thrown at them right now.

Q. I'm sure you know a bit of the history of John Brantley coming out of high school, the expectations, the family of blood lines with this program. Last year went pretty tough for you. At this point, from this point forward, what do you see as what John Brantley might deliver?
COACH MUSCHAMP: He's worked hard in the off-season and he's a talented player. John needs to worry about John's expectations and mine and Charlie Weis's and nobody else's. That's what I think about expectations. Because ours are high, we expect a lot. And I know John expects a lot of himself and we expect him to have an outstanding year, but he's worked awful hard in the off-season and we are excited to get it out and toss it around Wednesday and see him lead this offense.

Q. Can you give a little more insight on moving Christian to linebacker and when you did that and how you were able to do that?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think from a size and speed standpoint and lower body explosion, at the Sam linebacker, the critical factors for us at that position is a guy that's got to play on the end of the line. So you have to be able to matchup against the tight ends in our league. He's got length. He's a heavy-handed guy, strong, lower body punch and power and you have to play stack linebacker and you have to play off the ball and be an instinctive linebacker.
I trust Jack Daniels, the coach, who is a good football coach and said the guy can do it. You kind of go on your gut, a little bit on what somebody else thinks. The guy is intelligent, highly intelligent and you learns very well when you talk to him about things so. That transition was natural.
Also, keeping his hand in offense and it's something that again we want to look at but I didn't feel like we had that guy that had the length, the power, the strike, be able to play stack back or have those instincts, because it's somewhat of a hybrid position based on the way we think we are going to play and that certainly can change obviously how things role here, but going into spring, that's kind of our idea and again, I think that, again, he's a young man that's had a phenomenal off-season and has really worked hard and had a great work ethic. He's about what you want as far as what you want, the way he works. He brings his lunch pail to work every day.

Q. Did Jack Daniels suggest the move to -- inaudible.
COACH MUSCHAMP: No, we are talking and look the at your board and saying we are a little thin here and a little thin there. You look at the job description of each position you want. In a perfect world if we were sitting here what do we want. All right, as we look at it, in the recruiting process, I asked Jack about it and he has several players here from Dwyer about their backgrounds and what they accomplished. Bobby Clark, he's going to stay at every -- inaudible -- but I'm just saying, ask you those questions, tried to do as much research on all of our players. But it just came up in the conversation that he had played linebacker before.

Q. When you talked on Saturday, you said you are still getting to know each other; what do you like so far about the personality of the guys you have and how much of your personality have they kind of picked up on and started to build relationships with players?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, I think that will take place more over time, especially when the football starts.
But again, there's been a willingness and eagerness to learn and we have a bunch of prideful guys in that locker room that want to have a lot of success and understand, and a lot of guys that have been part of high success and understand the work ethic it takes to have success. So those two have been things that I've been excited about.

Q. As far as defensive control, have you talked with Dan at all, what's that going to be like?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Dan and I have sat down and talked about things, as far as more than anything -- Dan and I worked together before, so we rarely have, it's kind of like why we get along so well. We have a philosophical belief in how you play.
So we are going to continue to work through that right now as we work through spring, but I plan on him calling it right now as far as what we are doing but I'm going to be involved, I think again, in my role, you play to your strengths and my strengths is on defense and special teams and recruiting, and that's where I feel like my hand is going to be involved a lot.
And I spend an awful lot of time in the off-season with the offensive staff to make sure where we are and what we are doing as far as what we are doing with it; are we utilizing our personnel the correct way, which obviously I lean heavily on Charlie and our offensive staff, which I'm very pleased with, as well.

Q. You talked about not really having expectations for John Brantley, what are the expectations you want to see him make a big improvement this spring and where you think last year --
COACH MUSCHAMP: Again, I wasn't here last year so I don't know that. So I just know from the quarterback position, and I don't mean this in a conservative manner, which I know everybody is going to take what I say as conservative. It's managing game. And Peyton Manning manages the game. Tom Brady manages the game. They don't turn the ball over. They take care of the ball. They provide great leadership for their offense and their football team. They convert on third down. They check and get in the right run. They check and get in the right protection. They see the pressure coming and they slide the offensive line. That's managing the game and that's what we want to see and he's got the ability to do all of those things.
That's really what I want to see and that's really true at every position, manage the game, play the game, play the game the way the position is supposed to be played to the best of your ability.

Q. Obviously you've got a bunch of coaches here that you've never worked with before, so would you talk about building the relationships with them, how that's gone, and how pleased you are or displeased or whatever you are with your staff so far and what you've seen?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, we are undefeated, so it's great. (Laughter).
But it's going fine. I think that we have hired some really good football coaches. I'm really proud of how those guys have come together, have bought into the common purpose. We talk about it with our football team a lot, but so much carries over to our staff and that's part of buying into that common purpose of what we need to do, seeing the big picture. Don't just look at how it affects me. Don't look through the keyhole, look through the whole door, see the big picture here, understand that it's not just about what happens for Dan on defense or Charlie on offense.
It's the big picture of everything that happens and I think that we have a bunch of guys on our staff that -- because of their experience. You have a staff with over 50 years of NFL experience, six Super Bowl rings. And it's easier for me from not just a coaching standpoint and dealing with the players and managing the locker room, but from a recruiting and all of those things, I think we have done a really nice job to this point. None that have matters to this point. It matters in the fall for y'all. But for us right now, it's going smooth.

Q. Even before spring practice starts, you had these five weeks to implement your program, what you want done. What have been your biggest surprises positively and have there been any disappointments during this five years?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, it's Florida's program, it's not mine. It's for the record's program. I'm the steward and I'm driving the ship but it's Florida's program. Again, I think that there's been an eagerness, a willingness to learn, to work, to buy in, to understand that, again, like I said earlier, change is inevitable, growth is optional. I've told them that from the beginning. There's going to be changes, that's good sometimes. It's bad sometimes.
But you know, we are going to do things our way, and you either are in or you're not. So jump in and be a part of it or jump out. That's fine with me. We are going to be good. Florida won a bunch of games before any of us showed up and they won a budge after we are all gone. So either be a part of what we are trying to do right now or move on. That's been not an ultimatum or anything for them but they understood that that's the way things are going to be done.
So it's been very positive to this point. Again, we are all enthusiastic now. Let's talk practice 12. Let's go August 21 when you're in about practice 19 and ball camp and see how enthusiastic we are then. Those are the things that you start to find out about your team and leadership and the core values of your organization; not right now.

Q. How do you think you've done so far as far as delegating and making sure you don't do too much and do what you need to be doing?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think from a structure standpoint of, we spend time on football in the morning and I'm either involved with the offense or defense or some days we have implemented some special teams. We spend time either with our team as far as work outs, or, we spend time recruiting as far as evaluating tape, transcripts on the phone with high school coaches, character evaluation, those sort of things that we are doing, and you just kind of manage through that.
And that's, you know, I don't think that that's been anything overloading to this point. I feel very comfortable about where we are defensively schematically. A lot of that will depend as we move through spring and then offensively just sitting in there and listening to our ideas come together about developing our identity offensively. But I feel comfortable about where we are. And I think a lot that have comes with the confidence in the people you've hired.
I have a lot of confidence in Charlie Weis talks to me about something offensively and Frank Verducci tells me how we are going to block it and had they adjust to this front we are going to block it this way and it makes sense and I understand why because I've been on the other side and I understand why they are going to block it that way. But I think a lot of it comes from the confidence in the people you hire and you hired them to do a good job, and then you demand them to have the excellence to do a great job but there are guys that have a lot of pride in what they do, as, from a coaching standpoint, not a player standpoint. So that to me has been pleasing.

Q. Also, do you still live in a hotel?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Yes. I make the bed every day, it's great. I was out for a week, the walls separated and I moved back in and they started coming back in again. But it's been nice.
The bed thing is pretty nice. My wife, 11 years, she ain't made a bed. (Laughter) No, she has, so don't put that out there. I'm dealing with this long-distance thing enough. Anything else? All right, thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297