CHEEZ-IT BOWL: OKLAHOMA STATE VS MIAMI

December 27, 2020

Blake Baker

Camping World Stadium

Miami Hurricanes

Q. We haven't spoken since that regular season finale, the defensive performance against UNC, what do you attribute to what happened that night, that evening, and is what kind of conversations have you and Manny Diaz had since then?

BLAKE BAKER: I think, you know, the bottom line is, we got to coach better and we got to play better and you know, when you really unpack it all and obviously we've had a lot of time to do that with Coach Diaz and myself, you could attribute to a bunch of different things. But at the end of the day, those two things hold true. We have to coach better and we have to play better and we will do that moving forward.

Q. I know you want to put that North Carolina game in the rear-view mirror, but in the front mirror, or right straight ahead is a team that also wants to run the football and has done it with multiple backs. Give me an idea of how you see the Oklahoma State offense and maybe the matchups that are important for you.

BLAKE BAKER: Yeah, I think you just said it. They want to run the football. They have been very, very effective running the football. I think they average over 200 yards a game and they have done it with a variety of different backs who are all complementary of each other and have a different skill set. When you try to put a different hat in the box, they have two really good receivers on the outside that can go and get it.

So they present a lot of different challenges, and then you top that off with extreme tempo. We have to be able to get our cleats in the ground, get the calls and get lined up just to have a chance.

Q. What have you seen out of Spencer Sanders, the Oklahoma State quarterback, dual-threat guy?

BLAKE BAKER: I think the biggest thing that you see out of him, first thing, I should say, is you see a guy that's got some swagger about him. Great toughness. I think he's a natural leader, at least that's what the tape shows from the outside looking in. Smart football player. A lot of times knows where to go with the ball before the ball is snapped, and you can tell that he is very well-coached. He's done a nice job in that offense. But he's got all the tangible and intangible things I think you look for in a quarterback.

Q. Yesterday we were talking with Manny Diaz and he revealed that you had been trying out Zach McCloud at defensive end recently. Wanted to know how that came about, initiating by him, you guys? And how has he practiced in that role so far since however many -- I don't know how you're allocating snaps there.

BLAKE BAKER: I think it came about kind of organically with losing Jalen and Quincy for this Bowl game. You know, there's a natural need there, right and then something that we kind of tossed back and forth with Coach Diaz and I, and I kind of brought up to Zach -- actually, I believe Zach brought it up to me and said, "You know, I'm going to play defensive end."

It all organically happened so, we threw him in there last week at practice, and man, he obviously has experience dating back to his high school days. But he's done a really, really nice job for us there. I would expect to probably see him there at both. He's played both at Will linebacker and at defensive end for us.

But I've been pleasantly surprised just with his natural instinct down there; a guy that is very quick twitch, hard to block and place with tremendous effort, and I think that obviously always gives you a chance.

Q. Curious about your overall thoughts on the linebacker development from your young guys and there's a multitude of guys with Brooks and Tirek Austin-Cave; your overall thoughts on that group. And secondly, we haven't talked to you since signing day. You have to be excited about the guys you guys signed. Can you give an overview of that, as well?

BLAKE BAKER: Yeah, I think when you talk about the development of the linebackers, the one thing that you can truly say is they have gotten better every week. I've really been impressed with their progress, and there's been some up and down moments, obviously, but it's a group that takes a lot of pride in what they do; a group of guys, in my opinion, that all -- they are all pulling in the same direction. There's no jealousy.

They all want to play, and obviously we've played a bunch this year. I think we talked the other day; we've played seven, for a variety of different reasons, we've played receive indifferent linebackers in meaningful snaps this year which is truly uncommon, but really a fun group of guys to coach. Hard-working, blue-collar and just work every day to get better.

To touch on the signing class, I think we signed as good a class as anyone in the country, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I know there's a couple spots out there that we could possibly fill in a variety of different ways being high school kids or transfer.

But when you look at our overall signing class, a lot of the needs and wants that we had going into it, we were able to nail do you know on signing day and really look forward. I think I want to say maybe there's 13 early enrollees in that group. Get the chance to get our hands on them here pretty soon, as well, which is pretty exciting.

Q. Generally, how would you assess the defense this season this year, especially in light with that last game, and also, how important is this Bowl game considering what happened? It's hard to forget that, you know, UNC.

BLAKE BAKER: I think when you look at the overall body of work, we have to prove that this was an outlier. This was just a blip on the radar. You know, I thought we played pretty good defense and obviously if you can take that one game out from a statistical standpoint, you could probably say the same. But you can't. And that's something that we own.

And like I said, we are not going to make any excuses for it. And the ability to be able to play another game is very, very important. Not only for this defense, but for this program. I think winning a Bowl game is huge when you talk about the amount of times this program has won a Bowl game in the last some-odd years and just learning to win. The development that these guys have been able to get in, this isn't a typical year where you're able to get ten to 15 Bowl practices in, but we were still able to get in extra practices and have the ability to kick it off the tee one more time and get that taste out of our mouth.

So I know the guys are excited to play, and I know as a coaching staff we were excited to roll up our sleeves and get back to work and get this taste out of our mouth.

Q. We talk about having a nose for the football and I see your team ranks high nationally in tackles for loss and fumble recoveries. Is that something you can teach or what are you guys doing that allowed them success in those areas over the course of the season?

BLAKE BAKER: I think a lot in my opinion, this game allows for it. You know, when you look back historically within this scheme, one of our goals is to always end up be finishing in Top-5s for tackles for loss and usually it correlates now with third down percentage with turnovers.

You know, turnovers to me, obviously, you harp on it. You drill it. Sometimes when it rains it pours and they come in bunches, and then sometimes you can go on a little bit of a drought. Sometimes the game dictates that. I think turnovers are probably more the of a misnomer sometimes with you I definitely think tackles for loss and sacks and those type of numbers, you can definitely coach.

Q. Talking about the last game and how important this Bowl game is -- obviously you didn't realize that was going to happen obviously. I don't know if you looked back and saw something you didn't realize that now you can put your finger on. Do you sense the guys are more engaged and into it? Is there anything that gives you a feeling that they are different right now than they were?

BLAKE BAKER: You know, leading up into the North Carolina game, I thought we had a great week of preparation. I think maybe something changed within the game or maybe right before the game, and like I said we can give you a thousand different reasons and at the end of the day, we just have to own what we did.

I think we'll find out, but I believe our guys and as a coaching staff, we have learned from it. So there's only one way to find out and that's to see it up here in a couple nights.

That question will be answered here in the next 48, 72 hours.