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FRANKLIN AMERICAN MORTGAGE MUSIC CITY BOWL: TEXAS A&M VS LOUISVILLEDecember 29, 2015Todd GranthamGarrick McGeeNashville, Tennessee TODD GRANTHAM: First of all, this is a special group to me defensively. We came into this year losing seven starters from last year and really worked hard throughout the season to find a combination of guys that allowed us to win seven out of our last nine games. I think these guys have worked really hard. They have probably ventured the University of Louisville into the hardest schedule in the history of the school. Didn't start out the way we wanted it but guys kept grinding and guys kept working. Like I said, we won seven of our last nine games, thought guys played really well and were able to turn it around and do some great things. So we are looking forward to sending our seniors, the few guys that we have out, the right way and cap it off with a victory. GARRICK McGEE: Yeah, just like Todd said, we are really happy with this team, the way that they stuck together throughout a really tough season. You know, on offense, when you got so many young people playing, so many true freshmen playing, it's hard to find true leadership and guys that you can really hang your hat on throughout the game. I just think that our captains, Aaron Epps, Kelby Johnson, those type kids, they really good a good job of keeping us together so that we could fight through the tough times that we had and then we get an opportunity tomorrow night to send our seniors out the right way; and to get our young kids headed in the right direction for next season. Really excited with the season but I think our kids are really excited to be the day before the game. Q. (No mic.) GARRICK McGEE: It's been said a lot that our approach with them when they got back was to go back to training camp, because Lamar got there in June and it was his first time to even start learning any of the terminology. So we were able to go back the first week or so of Bowl preparation and teach him the offense as if he didn't know anything about the offense. And he ended up learning a lot more because he heard some of those terms before, because he knew some of those concepts, but when you go back and re-teach it, I think he has a much better grasp right now than he did after the Kentucky game about the way our concepts and our protections and things really work. And then fundamentally, we got a chance to just go back to day one basics, getting under the center, getting your feet in the right position, how to handle the ball under the center. And I think you'll see some development from him in the game tomorrow, as being a true quarterback. Q. (No mic.) GARRICK McGEE: Well, there are some more different concepts that he's able to handle now. You're going to see him in some different situations than you've seen him in the past because he's a little more developed. I think we've had 11 or 12, maybe 13 practices, which is almost spring ball. So after 13 practices, you should be a lot better than the last time you played. Q. (No mic.) TODD GRANTHAM: Well, first off, you've got to have good leaders and you've got to have guys in the locker room that are going to be voicing the things that you're talking to them in meetings. I think our leadership is really strong. I think we've got some guys that are workers. But the other thing is, after each game, you have to take a critical look at the tape. So we always came in on Sundays, took a critical look at the tape and there were things we did really well but at the end of the day we didn't win the game. The most important thing is you didn't win the game and you have to find ways to finish the game. Our players bought into that and they kept grinding and the biggest thing is they didn't listen to the exterior noise. They listened to the guys in our building, they listened to our coaches and they listened to our leaders. Guys kept grinding; you could see on tape. We are really close to finishing those games off and the biggest thing we had to do was just really take a critical look at your tape and find ways to make yourself better and if you make yourself better, then you take a team approach, then our team is going to be better. And that's really what we did, and we took it one game at a time and kept building on it and got some momentum at the end of the year. GARRICK McGEE: No, it wasn't for us at all, because we were 0-3, but when I went and talked with them about all three of those games, they were one-possession games. We lost to Auburn by seven points, Houston maybe a three-point game and Clemson a three-point game and I think we had seven freshmen starting at that time. So they saw it as not only are we in college but we are actually out there competing against some of the top teams in the country and we are going to be fine. We've just got to continue to get better. So it wasn't hard for us. We just had to keep grinding them, keep them confident and hopefully things start to slow down at some point for them. That was the plan as we started off so slow. Q. (No mic.) GARRICK McGEE: It's a little different for us because we were so experienced last year. We had a lot of seniors last year. Well, this year, there's a bunch of young kids. So the preparation is a little bit different. These kids are looking towards next year. I think that's why when Coach talks about the attitude of the team every day, they are really pushing to get better. We challenged everybody to get better in their fundamentals and techniques every single day, not just focus on this game but focus on becoming a better player. And so it has not been -- it's been a lot different this Bowl preparation has been for us on offense. TODD GRANTHAM: Yeah, defensively, we are really young in the sense we are other losing four players that played for us in the course of the year. These guys are workers. They want to send the seniors that are leaving out the right way because of the leadership that they provided through the beginning of the season, and really, just what they have meant to our program. I mean, to be able to take a program into a new conference and be able to have the success that we've had over the first couple years is exciting. And you know, we want to send those guys out the right way but we also want to kick-start our season for next year. Q. (No mic.) TODD GRANTHAM: Well, you are always working for depth and each year is a lot different, we were different last year personnel-wise than this year because of the guys that we had coming in. It's going to change a little bit next year with the addition of a few guys. I'm big into cross-training guys. I think it's important that you're able to play multiple spots because at the end of the day, defense is about winning one-on-one match-ups and you've got to find ways to get your best players on the field at the same time and you can only play with 11. So sometimes a guy has to play more than one spot. Josh Harvey is probably a great example of that in the sense that he's played our star position but he's also played safety. Sheldon Rankins has played inside for us as a defensive tackle but yet he's played outside for us. And by being able to cross-train guys, you can get your better players on the field together, and it's always about what is the best combination of players that you can put on the field to help you win the game. So that's the big part of it, is really just being able to cross-train guys and getting the experience they need. Q. (No mic.) TODD GRANTHAM: Not really. When you look at their team, first of all, they have done an excellent job of recruiting. When you look at the players that they have, up front, they are young, but they have got talent and they have gotten better throughout the year and they work hard to finish blocks. They have got a downhill runner that can move and it turn a three- or four-yard gain into a six-, seven- or eight-yard gain or double-digit run. And then when you get outside, they have got guys that are tall with length and they have guys with speed. They create mismatches that way and then they are fast and well-coached. It's really more about the system, than necessarily one player. You are always going to tweak things relative to the personnel that you're going to see but for the most part we are preparing for that system the same way. Q. (No mic.) TODD GRANTHAM: Well, first of all, because of these guys are leaving to go home for Christmas or I should say new years, and they were there during the Christmas holidays, so I've had conversations with those guys to give them some information to look at. Because they have got to think through some things and they have got to make the choice that's best for them. And it needs to be an educated decision because you are talking about the future and it's an investment in them. This is their brand. This is a future for them as a business person. I mean, so they have got to really look at it and do what's best for them. Each guy's different. I've kind of talked to each one about my opinion on it, and where they should go or stand. And they both have got to make the decision that's best for them and I think the biggest thing is you provide them with the information to allow them to make an educated, calculated decision moving forward. Q. (No mic.) GARRICK McGEE: Yeah, well, it's really important to win any game. It takes a lot of pressure off your quarterback when you are able to run the football and what we have been talking about is running the football with our tailback, not just Lamar running the ball. But at certain points during the game, you end up doing whatever you have to do to win and if that means Lamar is carrying the ball, then it is what it is. We don't want to get cared away with making sure everyone else is running the ball and Lamar not running the ball, because that would not be what's best for our team; that he is one of our most explosive players, he's one of the most dynamic players probably on the field. So to give us the best opportunity to win, we need to let him do what he does best. And you know, so we are not going to get cared away in a one-game situation with making sure everybody else touches the ball. We are going to let Lamar carry it if he needs to carry it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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