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ROSE BOWL GAME: IOWA VS STANFORDDecember 28, 2015Phil ParkerPasadena, California An Interview With DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR PHIL PARKER Q. When you look at Stanford, Kevin Hogan specifically, what did you notice about his command and what they're doing offensively? COACH PARKER: One thing about it, they have a great understanding of what they are. It's very similar to some of the teams, maybe more like Wisconsin. They know what they want to do. They want to run the ball. The thing that they do is they formation personnel you, and they do a good job of taking control of what they want to do, and they do what they do, and we do what we do. It's going to be an interesting battle. They're a very good team, well coached, and we're looking forward to the opportunity. Q. When you look at a guy like McCaffrey, how do you stop a guy like that? Do you just continue to play your defense or do you have to mix things up here and there? COACH PARKER: I think there are obviously on some certain downs you're going to have to change up what they do. They try to get them on some linebackers by themselves, and I think that's a concern a little bit for us. But we're going to do what we do. He's definitely a great athlete. You've got to make sure you know where he's at. He's at the quarterback, he's at wide receiver. They put him in the back field. They do a lot of different things with him. So it's a challenge for us, and I think it all goes back to being fundamentally sound at what we do, and play your keys, know what you're supposed to do within the defense. You know, it's going to be hard. It's going to be a good competition for us. Q. You've done a better job this year, Coach, of preventing the big plays. What is your thought process there? COACH PARKER: Well, we attacked it last year, we looked at it, and you look at the big plays you give up. I think going back and studying it for the last year, and we figured if we give up maybe three or less big plays in a game, then you're going to keep the score down to about 13. Anything after that, above 3, you're probably going to give up like 23 points. So it has a lot to do with giving up big plays. I think we cut down on it. I think our guys were a little bit more focused in what we're trying to do and fundamentally sound. It all goes back to studying and preparation. Q. How about Desmond and what he's able to do? How does that help you prevent big plays? Do they have to go to a certain area? COACH PARKER: Well, Desmond obviously has done a good job this year. He's a very good player. Obviously, do they throw away from us sometimes, sometimes he's very instinctive. He has great balance, he can tackle. So they're going to attack him just like I think everybody else. But he's done a really good job for us and helped us with the turnover ratio. Q. Asking some of the Stanford players and coaches, one guy that stood out, they mentioned Josey Jewell. What's he meant to your guys defense? COACH PARKER: Josey is -- obviously the middle linebacker's in charge, and you need somebody up the middle. You always need a guy as a defensive tackle, up the middle, or you need the Mike back or you need a safety. You've got to be good up the middle. What Josey brings is his toughness and effort, and he demonstrates by what he does on the field, and it kind of creates a little bit of an attitude for our defense. Q. How much do you think of Norm on a daily, weekly basis of his philosophies and what you learned from him? COACH PARKER: I think a lot about Norm. Obviously this year there were a couple games where I thought he was looking over and just smiling a little bit. Last time I was here, I was here with Norm in the Rose Bowl. I was a GA for him in 1988. So to me it brings a lot of memories, and I'm sure he's looking down from above, and I know his wife, Linda, is here also. Q. Your defensive line going up against what Stanford does. Do you have to try to do things a little different or just allow them to know where you are? COACH PARKER: That's part of our game plan. We usually don't load up the box that much and bring an extra guy down. So a lot of times we do some twisting with those guys up front. We're going to have to be very good up there. If we have to add a guy to the box, we will. But usually what we try to do is eat up the box with a couple guys inside with a twist or a gain or something like that. Sometimes they've got to squeeze it off. We play heavy on our guys, and it's going to be a good challenge for us. Q. Have you ever tried to scheme or game plan against a weapon like Christian McCaffrey? COACH PARKER: I think he's -- for what he does in a lot of different things and not seeing him every week, at least when we're in the Big Ten you see the guys a couple times, here you have to go back and you go 13 games back and you see all the things that he can do to hurt you, the preparation is definitely difficult for us. And you've always got to go back and keep on looking and making cutups of plays that they have and designed for him. Q. Is there anything you can take from their game against Northwestern and kind of build upon that at all? COACH PARKER: You look at it, we're very similar in defense between us and Northwestern. I don't know what it was. It doesn't look like the same team, so we really don't look at that as much. I think it was the timing maybe when they played. There's a lot of different things. It was the first game, so you look at it and say, yeah, but they're a whole different team, I think, than when they played in the first game of the year. Q. When you hear people, mostly outsiders, describe your defense and you hear "not flashy," things like that, do you cringe, or is that kind of a compliment for you? COACH PARKER: To me it's always what our defense has really been, hey, we're not about big-name guys and statistics. Our biggest point of emphasis is don't give up points and don't give up big plays. I think our guys walk around maybe with a chip on their shoulder. I mean, a lot of these guys are not highly recruited, but they're fundamentally good football players. That kind of goes back to the guys really standing up and taking charge. And the chemistry of the team has really improved, and we're excited about that. Q. Can you talk about how this team, when you had them in camp, progressed throughout the year? Obviously, you're unbeaten. Final drive of the Michigan State game notwithstanding, but can you give us specifics on what you felt these guys did as a unit as they developed throughout a really historical season? COACH PARKER: I think it went back to January about being together and understanding that we probably didn't finish the season a year ago the way we wanted to, and the guys took charge and it became leadership and the slight-edge concept of the little things count and the details and the preparation of our kids and the chemistry. I just know when I was sitting in the meetings and when you can have a group of guys sit there and talk about a game plan and talk within themselves and try to discuss what things are going on, that's when you know you have a good team. Sometimes you don't even have to coach after a while, you start getting into the third, fourth day of meetings and they already know what's going on. It really makes a great difference in the game plan. Q. Did you see this coming? Or have they exceeded your own expectations? COACH PARKER: I think the kids are working hard. You just never know. Everybody's out there trying to win. There are some times we didn't play really clean probably in the last game that we probably thought we should have had a better chance to win that game. But I didn't probably see it coming all the way. I know that we'll be good and we'll be sound, and I think the guys will be together, but it's hard to predict an undefeated season, even though our goal is to win every game. Q. You've been here, I think this is your 17th year. What's kept you here and what do you like about this place? COACH PARKER: The one thing about The University of Iowa, and Iowa City, to me, it was a great place to raise a family. I came here, and my two kids were in elementary schools when they came here. My biggest thing was to have a foundation for my kids and make sure they go through the high school here all the way through grade school all the way to high school. I think the community really kept me here. The one thing before I came here, I understood that coaches always stayed here for a long time from afar. Before I left the University of Toledo, I knew that was a big factor in what I wanted to do. The other opportunities were out there. I did everything based on my family, and I think it's been great. Working for Coach Ferentz, he's the best to work for, and it's been really good for me here. I've had a good job. Q. Talk about Christian McCaffrey and what makes him so good when you see him on tape. COACH PARKER: Well, one thing, he's hard to tackle. I mean, I think he has good quickness. He has great vision. He sees the holes before they open. People bounce off him. You better be able to tackle and wrap him up. And I think we've got to do a better job of that. Especially after last game, I think he does a good job. You see guys hitting him, and he doesn't go down. I think he has great vision. I think he can put his foot on the ground and go. Q. Does it help that players have been comparing them to Wisconsin? Does it help that it's maybe a Big Ten-type offense you're going up against? COACH PARKER: Yeah, I could say that a little bit. But I think what he does and some of the schemes they do and do it with different personnel, it's very similar to Wisconsin. But maybe not as much as Wisconsin. But I think he's harder to tackle. I really do. I think he's a good football player, obviously. Q. They've run quite a few trick plays. You've seen them. Does your defense fit that well assignment football? COACH PARKER: One thing about it, everybody has an assignment on defense. When you sit there and draw up a defense, you should defend everything. If you're reading your keys and doing what you're supposed to do and responsibility, that's the first thing you've got to do is take care of your job first and then if you can help somebody else out. If everybody takes care of the job, everybody's responsible for something. Now, some people might not recognize that, like whose fault it is, but everybody has assignment. So if everybody can do their assignment and take care of their job, that should eliminate big plays and trick plays. Q. Have you had any bowl prep or any young guys that have stepped up and caught your eye so far? COACH PARKER: Yeah, I think there are some guys that we do developmental. We've done it for the last 17 years I've been here. Any time we have an opportunity to go out there and develop the young kids. I think there are some younger guys that we're really impressed with. One is Josh Jackson. Even though he's playing, he's really improved moving from a wide receiver to a defensive back and being a big part of our third down package. To see him develop and get better as a player, I'm really excited about him. Q. Last year in practice every day you went against the Outland Trophy winner in Brandon. Can you talk about Stanford's offensive line and going against another Outland winner? COACH PARKER: I tell you what, you look at that offensive line that they have, they're excellent all the way across the board. Not only do they play with five, they sometimes bring six or seven offensive linemen in there. Even though they might have different numbers on, these guys are well coached, good fundamentally, and those guys can block guys. That's the challenge that we're going to have to do is get off blocks and make sure we leverage the ball. Q. What advantage is it to have Jaleel Johnson and the kind of push he gives? COACH PARKER: Jaleel has definitely improved all year. I think a big guy like that that can move and be violent, and he does disrupt, even in the passing situation, he really takes up a couple guys if he can. As long as he's not getting up field, we'll be in good shape. Q. With how complete a cornerback Desmond is, what opportunities does that allow you to do, knowing that he'll take care of his business no matter what's happening? COACH PARKER: I think it's nice to have a guy like that. I think Greg Mabin does a really good job on the other side, and it really allows us to play with two high safeties and be able to read the box a little bit. It gets to be harder a little bit the way the offenses are changing, but to have Desmond out there and know you can rely on him, he's done a great job. He can support the ball, he can defend a run. I think he has great instincts, natural instincts. Besides the balance and stuff, and his quick feet, and he has really good hands. Q. The way Stanford uses their tight ends, they'll look like they're in a heavy personnel and then they'll split everybody out wide and go empty. How do you think Desmond matches up with some of their tight ends? COACH PARKER: That's definitely a challenge when you get a big guy outside. I'm sure that's what they'll try to do. But we have some big guys. Our big guys try to do that to us on our offense when we go against each other, so that kind of helps out. We have some good tight ends that are big-sized tight ends and sometimes they lineup outside, and Desmond has to take care of those guys too. He's been having to work for that for the last two or three years. Q. Desmond was talking about how he still hasn't decided whether or not he'll return to school or go into the NFL draft. If he does come back, what would you like to work with him on next year? Where can you still continue to develop? COACH PARKER: I think Desmond can be more consistent. I think sometimes being a good player, I'm expecting him to play at the highest level at every play. For him to get beat in one play is not good enough for my standards and for him. It's my job to make sure that he plays his best on every play, and sometimes that gets to be hard when you're using him at so many different places as a return guy, punt return guy, kickoff return guy. You put him inside, you're playing the star, you're playing so many different defenses and he's at so many different spots, sometimes you've got to be really careful how much you're really wearing him out. Mentally, can he take everything, which he's a very sharp football player, just probably not having too much. Just be a little more consistent maybe. Don't get too lazy. But I think he's really worked hard. It's easy for a guy with that kind of accolades to go ahead and take it easy. But he's been practicing really well doing the prep for the Rose Bowl. Q. I know you haven't watched Stanford's defense, but Blake Martinez has 80 more tackles than their second most tackler. Is that an unusual gap? COACH PARKER: Well, it all depends. We look at, I guess, I need to study that a little bit. But maybe they put him in the right spots. It all depends on what kind of defense they're running and who they're trying to clear up. But in our defense everybody up front for us plays real heavy. I think our linebackers are probably going to have most of the tackles along with our safeties. Q. Have you ever had a guy who has had ten more tackles than the next number two guy? COACH PARKER: I don't think so. I think it's a lot more balanced by the way we play. Q. Christian McCaffrey, what makes him a special player? COACH PARKER: I think his edge. Obviously I think he has great vision. I think he has the ability to see the hole open before it opens. I think he does a great job of sticking his foot in the ground and changing direction. I think when guys try to tackle him, he's very well-built. He's got great balance, and it's hard to tackle him. It's hard to get your hands wrapped around him and make tackles. I think you've got to leverage him, and you've got to make sure that you can contain him. There are a lot of times when he gets out in pass coverages and he's one-on-one with somebody that he does a very good job of setting up his route and really makes good cuts out of it. So not only is it in the passing game, but it's also in the run game. Q. They've dominated the time of possession it seems like in every game. Is that something that you've looked at? How do you -- is that just stopping them? COACH PARKER: Yeah, you've got to definitely get off the field. What they do is they really -- you don't have too many third-down-and-long plays for them, third down and 10 plus or third down and 11 plus. There are a lot of third downs, 4 to 7, 4 to 8. They manage their down and distances very well. They do a good job on first and second down, and that's where we're going to have to be good is on first and second down. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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