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CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: FLORIDA VS MICHIGAN

December 27, 2018

John Hevesy

Atlanta, Georgia

Q. When you prepare this defense, most of the film, I would imagine, is Gary and Devin Bush. They're not going to play. How different do they look?
JOHN HEVESY: It's hard because they're out there. It's okay. How do you take them out? For us, there's individual things you look at with each of them, what they do. Devin, you watch him run. Devin reminds me a lot of a linebacker from LSU.

All of a sudden, they got a perimeter play running. Okay. How do you get a big play? Out of nowhere, there he comes. Comparison to him.

Q. Is it good for you they're not there?
JOHN HEVESY: It is and it's not. Like you say, you don't prepare for one person. But scheme-wise, if you've need to take two, obviously the leaders out of their defense. And I don't know (no microphone) with the team, but you still got to prepare for the scheme and what the offense can do schematically.

For me, the biggest thing is for our kids, we haven't made a big deal of hey, Number 3 is not playing. You concentrate on who they might substitute in, whether it's Number 6, whoever is going to fill those voids. But there's still enough talent on the field you've got to worry about regardless, I'm sure, like anybody else.

Someone steps out, someone is going to step in. Are they in the other room? All of sudden, they're like, well, they're gone. They're not going to play with them. They're not going to play with nine. Someone is going to step in. I think 12 is the backup that's been there all season. He's played in a bunch of games. So for us, we're going to do our job.

Q. Can I ask you about Van? Obviously, the Shea Patterson/Van transfer?
JOHN HEVESY: I forgot about that.

Q. Shea said he's the route runner he's ever been around.
JOHN HEVESY: His dad's an NFL coach. His dad has probably harped on him. The problem is I'm a cornerback coach and my dad's offensive line, so I can't give him the same things. But Van's dad probably worked on him being not just, hey, go catch a ball. Like be meticulous with route-running and footwork, mechanics, fundamentals.

He's smooth in terms of running routes. Teachable things. He has the fundamentals, the concepts of what you're trying to do. I forgot Shea and Van.

Q. How much have your young guys benefitted from the extra bowl practices and where do you think those guys are at now, the freshmen?
JOHN HEVESY: I think the biggest thing is the young guys in terms of freshmen, the new redshirt rule has been huge because they've actually got themselves -- and not just the first game of the season where you kind of throw them in there and get them out. It's whether they play a couple snaps in the Florida State game or a lot of snaps in the Idaho game. That's the biggest thing, to be on the stage and a learning experience.

I met with them right after each game. Do you understand the difference? There's the difference. But I think it's been huge. It's been huge for them.

I guess we had about, I think, six practices of just developmental practices, which is just against them. Some of them have been on scout team all year, to get back in here (no microphone).

Archive that film for next week. So when we come back, we're just going to rest. When the kids come back, okay, here's -- we got to start from here, not start from last June. We've got to build off of this. For us, that's just an extension of the spring practice.

Q. I read a story recently that reminded me of you.
JOHN HEVESY: Good or bad?

Q. It was neutral. It was on offensive line recruiting. It was like -- I feel like I've heard it before where it's like the star system, and like how hard it is to identify offensive linemen. A lot of coaches said in the article that can't really go by that, because it's different.
Why is it so different when you go to different positions?

JOHN HEVESY: You can tap a star on a 6'7", 315-pound kid that runs as five flat. But the mentality of the offensive line to me, it's the lunch pail work, which is -- you can't necessarily see on film.

You can see, can they bend, can they run, can they move, can they lateral. Evaluate it. It's do they show up doing the dirty work all day. The glory works become media guys, which there's not one here. There's not one they want here. So to me stop worrying about the stars and all the things that come with it and worry about do they show up for every day and do the work.

Q. How do you do that?
JOHN HEVESY: Getting to know them. The people around them, their family. I'm big into their families, how are they raised. You talk to a kid, if -- kids are going to get homesick, the first month, easily. The biggest thing is mom, dad, whoever's at home, who is that kid going to call and what are they going to say? If they're going to baby them, say it's the coach's fault, it's this, look out because you're not getting back there.

It's when you call home and mom says go back. You ain't coming home. And that mentality. I learned that in my freshman year. I'm 30 on the depth chart. Yeah. Great. Work. Work harder. I'm going to transfer. Better get a job first, because you're not coming back here for a while. You have your opportunity, take advantage of it.

You look at the kids as tough kids that want to work, to become great. They're willing to work to do it. None of them are signing up for the initially. To get there, building the mentality, whether the high school coach says, what everybody in school says about them. Find out about a kid, get that information.

If there leaks in there, you're going to get it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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