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ROSE BOWL GAME: OREGON v FLORIDA STATEDecember 28, 2014Don PellumPASADENA, CALIFORNIA DON PELLUM: When we took over, we had a conversation or I had a conversation with all those guys, pretty much everybody on the defense. Q. One‑on‑ones? DON PELLUM: There were several one‑on‑ones, and then there were some groups, as well. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: I talked to DeForest, yeah, I did. Yes, I did. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: I think all their linemen are really good. You go back and watch the games and there's some different combinations but all those guys are really good. They're all athletic, strong, they're locking on people and they just move them. Q. Does that say something about the freshmen behind them? DON PELLUM: I think he fits right in. I don't see a big drop‑‑ now maybe there is, and I have not studied‑‑ you'd have to talk to Coach Aiken about specifically his strengths and weaknesses (inaudible) and how can we attack it. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: You know, when I think of Florida State, what I think of is a great team. Here's what we know‑‑ it's every year. You have one of the best teams and one of the best high school talent bases with Florida State out of the state of Florida. They're always talented. Before I watch Florida State even before I watch film, I know those guys are good. They're the best team in the state of Florida, so they have to be good. You watch the film and you start looking at the run game and the pass game, and then the run game, what it is, what I saw is that it (inaudible) I don't know if that's based on the offensive linemen. I just know all of a sudden the running back‑‑ all of a sudden they started being more productive. You look at their running back is really fast. But there's a ton of runs where even in the backfield people can get sacked. The best things their running backs do, they run through tackles. If you go back and watch film, half those plays are guys running to tackle him. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: You know, they use a tight end who's very athletic, and what they're able to do with the tight ends, they've got a bunch of guys that can catch the ball and go. So a lot of the plays that you might use a tall receiver for they use a tight end for because they can escape from a linebacker and it's a lot more for a DB to handle. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: Not much. No, not much. Two, three times a year. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: I don't know, it was one other game. That's about it. Q. (Inaudible.) What have you seen from the guys behind him? DON PELLUM: I think the skill set is good. I think they're solid players. I think the difference is people have so much experience. When you go from a guy that you're playing some, you're rotating so you're getting some reps to a guy that's been a starter for three years, that's the drop‑off for me is the experience. Q. (Inaudible.) He was known as a really good back. Are you concerned about the physicality? DON PELLUM: No, I'm not, because for us to be successful it's going to take‑‑ everybody is going to have to get off blocks and run the ball. You're not going to tackle these guys one‑on‑one. They're too good. Everyone is going to have to be off blocks and run to the ball. If the first guy misses, shakes the guy, there's a second guy and there's a third guy. That's how you're going to have to handle this team because you're not going to tackle them one‑on‑one. They're really good. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: Throughout the season we've rotated everybody, so our seconds and thirds‑‑ in particular our seconds get a ton of reps. They get the same amount of reps every day as our firsts, and then the thirds get a little bit, so everyone has had plenty of reps. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: You know, I think the fact that we had at the end of some games, were able to put some guys in and get them some experience, that's always valuable. I think even more valuable is the time the guys have rotated in the beginning of those games, because they're different. They're different, and so that's the battle tested part of it, and I think our system has helped us from that standpoint. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: You know, it was just really natural. I mean, there wasn't a lot of extra‑‑ it was Nick left, and in the case of my position, Nick left, here's what we had been doing, here's the change, but from the structure Coach put in, here's what you have, take it and go, so it wasn't a lot. I think the players felt really comfortable, so it was kind of seamless. Q. How important was it for you to (inaudible)? DON PELLUM: The biggest thing we've done, the biggest thing that Coach Helfrich has done, is maintain the overall program. In fact, he's increased the responsibility to the culture, the buy‑in to the culture. He's increased that. If there's one thing to point out how we continue to be successful, I think we had a D coordinator two years ago, now this year, and then all those guys that were here when we first moved to the Natty, all those things are gone. The one thing that's continued to get better is the culture. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: Absolutely. It's a big part is that the older guys are going to tell the young guys what to do. Here's the Oregon standard, here's the Oregon way, and that helps us out a lot, and then if obviously the young man is not taking care of that, then that's when the coaches have to get involved. Q. (Inaudible.) Are you aware of that? DON PELLUM: Yes. Q. But you've never addressed it outright? DON PELLUM: No, it's not so much everyone is afraid. Just the approach had to be beyond reproach. The approach had to be beyond. There's no questions, there's no this, it's just, this is it, and that's the way it's been in the inside linebacker room for a long time, and that's where it emanated from, those guys going, we know what happens with the inside backers. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: Well, yeah, high standards. High standards and not compromising, absolutely. Really. We're pretty demanding that way. Very fair, very fair, but very firm. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: Not really. At that point everyone understood what‑‑ the early standards were about work ethic and commitment. It was about how hard we worked, it was about what did you do with your free time. You're here to be a football player. How do you manage your life and where does football fit into your life off the field, and then what are you doing to get better because if you have a scholarship, you're on the team. Playing is a privilege. What are you doing to get better? How are you going to make this program better? Everyone has a gift, whether it's in the weight room or running on the field, but everyone has a gift. Are you using your gift to make this program better? That's what those conversations are about. At the Arizona game, we knew what that was. We made some mistakes. We left a bunch of plays on the field. Q. Tell me the biggest reasons for DeForest Buckner's improvement. DON PELLUM: To me, I think Coach Aiken has done a fabulous job going back to basics with that entire group because D‑Fo has improved, but the entire D‑line has. All those guys are playing at a really, really high level for us right now. I think the other thing is we've encouraged those guys to be leaders. When we took over, there was not a senior defensive lineman. They were all juniors, so they were really all sophomores from the year before. They were just kind of sitting behind a group of guys playing a little bit, then all of a sudden they're juniors, and Coach is coming over going, you guys are seniors. We need senior leadership from you today, and they put it on their back, and they've been carrying it. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: I think he grew into it, but we forced the issue. I mean, like D‑Fo, we need to get this done, okay, Coach. Let me put it this way. We put more responsibility on him and he handled it well. That's the correct way to say it because that's how it evolved. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: It's a tough question, because it just happened, and it's almost unbelievable. And that's why the expectations are fine, because of superstructure. Everything else around it has all grown up. Back in those years there wasn't anything, so to dream of sitting there going, we're going to have all this and be this caliber program when you didn't have anything, that's really dreaming. But as the success on the field started to happen and all of a sudden the superstructure, all the infrastructure and everything around it started to grow. Then all of a sudden the expectations were high, but we can work with this. We have a chance. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: From a recruiting standpoint? I mean, just from a recruiting standpoint we didn't have player meeting rooms. For years we had all coaches in one room, right, and recruiting, you're not going to bring the players and show them your meeting‑‑ you don't have meeting rooms. I can't tell you some of the creative things we used to do, but I'll give you an example, we give a campus tour, and we come back, the office is next to Mac Court. We couldn't take them to the office, we'd go sit in Mac Court. Mac Court was old, but to end the tour in that court and not to walk down through where our offices were at that time, and I'm dating myself, that's back in the late 80s, early 90s, but just, you know, we had a decent weight room, but we didn't have a meeting room for the players. We were meeting down in classrooms on campus. It was just different. Q. So at that time you were hoping (inaudible)? DON PELLUM: Well, at that time we were trying to get to a Rose Bowl. Coach Brooks was trying to get to a Rose Bowl, and we were just going to do it with coaching. We were going to develop players. We were going to take the best athletes and make them players, and that was the basis of this program. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: I think every person that's ever played at Oregon and coached at Oregon, it's all of us. It's all of us because we kept it going, kept it going. I always said, the guys left their blood on Hayward Field because that's where they played before, and this is for all of us. Everything we've achieved, we stand on the backs of those that came before us. Q. (Inaudible.) DON PELLUM: Player‑wise? Talent‑wise? I don't know. We've had some talented teams. The '93 team that didn't make it, in my eyes, was probably the most talented team. This is the best team. That was the best group of guys we've had, players, athletes, but this is the best team. This right here is the best team we've had. In '93, we went 6‑0 and then dropped a bunch, because we had a bunch of guys that didn't know how to handle it. But this is the best team. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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