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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPENSeptember 29, 2011Nick WatneyLAS VEGAS, NEVADA COACH O'KEEFE: So hard to teach them everything, and like when -- I'll just make an example. When Hodge and Greenway were the linebackers, you could say, remember the way Indiana did this against us two years ago; I got it. I know what this is. Well, these guys, they have got no 'remember whens.' This is just all new. So you have to learn on the job, learn on the run. And you try to learn on the run and these guys are speeding up the offense, that's not making it any easier either. Q. Going into the season with Adrian and Christian and Karl were all going to be gone, what has been the message to the young guys? You've had some consistent messages for them -- what has it been for them? COACH O'KEEFE: They have to pick it up. It has to be their turn. They have to fill those gaps and you know that realistically, you are not putting that pressure on them. I don't expect the new guy to be Adrian Clayburn, but you have to go out there and be as close to Adrian Clayburn as you can, and then you've got to get better every week. Not only were we young at those linebacker positions, Dominic Alvis had never played before. This guy, before our first game, this guy has never played. So Miller, the free safety, he's never played before. It's all new. But the thing that is good is they are young, they are eager to learn, they are willing to learn, they are not afraid to say, Coach, I blew it, teach me how to do it. If you criticize them, they have to understand the criticism, it's not them as a person, it's how you play the play. But they don't -- like you're confronting them personally; okay, I'll try to do it better next time. They can't be more willing than they are. That Iowa State game, the quarterback running around outside, that's elementary football, elementary and we blew it, but it was guys that had never done it before. We put in a couple of drills to try to solve that problem Q. You got your bogey for the week out of the way on 10. NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I hope it continues that way. It's definitely not the way I like to start, but overall, I'm pleased and you know, hopefully continue to play well. Q. Are you mentally fresh coming into the tournament? It's an easy commute but you're coming out of a big stretch of golf with the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup? NICK WATNEY: I wouldn't say fresh is the best term for it, but it is what it is. I'm excited to be playing, and you know, the Shriners Hospital, definitely they do a great thing for the community. So if I can support this tournament, then I'll definitely do it. Q. Talk about your game right now. 24 putts in the opening round on greens that looked quick? NICK WATNEY: Yeah, the greens are perfect. We were I think first group out so we got really fresh lines, and if you hit it online, it's going in. So the greens are very good. Q. Everyone talks about enjoying Vegas; just another week at the house for you? NICK WATNEY: It is. It's very low key so far. I'm just going to chill out, maybe take a nap this afternoon, pretty early morning. Yeah, just a normal week for us. Q. Talk about your round and the chip-in you had on No. 2? NICK WATNEY: I played pretty good most of the round. Chip-ins are always a bit of a bonus. So very pleased and looking forward to the rest of the week. Q. What's it like living here and being able to come to the course? NICK WATNEY: It's nice. It's always nice to play at home, and definitely a bonus to get to sleep in your own bed and just relax for the week. So I'm just going to enjoy it and hopefully I'll have a chance on Sunday. Q. Same game plan rest of the week? NICK WATNEY: Yeah, pretty much. I definitely need to keep the pedal down and make birdies. So you know, just going to try to just take it for what it is, and play my game until maybe the back nine on Sunday to see what I have to do. But I'll just kind of feel like guys are going to shoot well. It's a matter of who putts the best. Q. About as good as you can hope for in the first round to set you up for the rest of the week? NICK WATNEY: Yeah, it's a nice start. I didn't really expect much. I didn't play so hot last week, so I'm very pleased with 6-under, and like I say, same game plan and see where I end up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports . Q. The D-Line, do you see that improving? COACH O'KEEFE: Yeah, I see improving really at every segment. I see the defensive line improving, I see the linebacker improving. I see the secondary improving. I think we can do more things and we can make more adjustments than we could three weeks ago. Three weeks ago if we had to make an adjustment, that was like a major crisis. Now it does not fall into place like dominos but at least it gets closer to falling like dominos. Q. Coach Ferentz joked about going 50 percent blitz -- COACH O'KEEFE: No. It's all down and distance. When in doubt, blitz, I guess. You don't go into a game saying, I'm going to blitz this many times or throw this many passes. You sort of let it unfold. Q. What do you think of the Big Ten, full of quarterbacks this year -- COACH O'KEEFE: They are single-wing tailback. It's like going back to the old days. They run, they pass. Some of them even kick. They are single-wing tailbacks. That's who they are. About three or four teams, aren't the leading rushers at quarterback? That's not football. All right. Have a very nice day. line Q. Kirk said 100% no-huddle for the rest of the way. COACH O'KEEFE: (Laughter) doesn't seem like you need to spend much time any more in there, does it. Q. Down and distance, is that something you practiced in August and you liked? COACH O'KEEFE: Down and distance? Q. The 24 and 3 I meant. Sorry. COACH O'KEEFE: That's, you know, that gives birth to a lot of things. We didn't have much of a choice at that particular point in time. It all came together and we figured some stuff out. We had a few unique preparations that we normally have not had from an offensive standpoint. James has done a great job of keeping his composure and poise. Until we figure it out and once he sees it, he can go to work pretty well. Q. How much freedom is he giving the play calling in those situations, the no-huddle situations? COACH O'KEEFE: Pure two-minute, no-huddle situation, he has a lot of freedom, an enormous amount of freedom. He knows the packages that we use. He knows the protections we need to be in. He knows the routes, the various coverages that he might be seeing, and it's a lot easier for him out there once he starts seeing it to make adjustments than it is to actually even make it from the sideline. He has enormous freedom there. Q. Speaking of no-huddle -- he said the rules of set up offensively to set up the spread offense. He thinks the colleges should go to the NFL rule where the defensive play guys should have a chance to get out there. What are your thoughts on that? COACH O'KEEFE: The defensive guys should have a chance to get out where? Well, I think that the defensive guys shouldn't be allowed to touch us after five yards, either. (Laughter) That would change the whole world, right? The rules are what they are and you play by them as best you can, and everybody has their advantages and disadvantages and we spend all of our time trying to exploit them either way. The huddle, I remember years ago, we can only have 11 people -- we only can have 11 people in the huddle. If we put 12 in there, it's a penalty. I remember defensive coordinators sending 14 guys into their huddle and I'm trying to figure out, is this nickel or is this -- you can't tell what's going on here, too. So everybody has got some things that we can work with. So you're not going to get me to feel sorry for the defense. Q. With the depth of receivers that you have and the way they are playing, how does that open things up? COACH O'KEEFE: If you're catching the ball well, if you're protecting well and you're catching the ball well, and your quarterback is getting people a chance, that helps push the tempo, there's no doubt about it. It wouldn't be very good if you were three-and-out very often. That changes the whole dynamic of things. And usually it changes the way, you know, coaches feel about it. You know, that's what determines what takes place. Q. Kirk always brings up the fact that you guys have seen him forever in practice and he's pretty much the same kid. You're obviously comfortable giving him as much trust as far as the two-minute drill and coming out against Louisiana Monroe in the two-minute, too -- where is his trust level as far as a new starter? COACH O'KEEFE: We trust him. You know, we feel he knows what he's doing, and he's a very good leader. He can get us where he can communicate what needs to be done and how it needs to be done and he can adjust if he has to. Now, he has not seen every little thing, just like we have not seen certain things at times. People can confuse you with some of your coverages, alignments and things like that, and we try to get that cleaned up on the sideline as best we can and kind of go from there. But trust isn't an issue. It's just making sure that we don't make something simple, complicated. Which then causes you to be ineffective. That's all there is to it. Q. How are you seeing the run game right now? COACH O'KEEFE: Good question. We are in the -- what were we talking about before, birth or something before? Not birth. But we feel like we are always birthing a new running back somewhere along the line I guess. Marcus obviously second year in the program, is the wily veteran, and now you've got all of these young guys behind him, like Damon Bullock, Canzeri, De'Andre Johnson, guys that have not played a whole lot and every day is a new experience. You know, Lester (ph) back in that same position he's been in for the last four years, or he's getting guys ready all the time, brand new guys, they just arrived at the barn and they are just on their feet walking and now we expect a couple of them to start running. Q. Canzeri surprise you with the burst he showed? COACH O'KEEFE: I can't say surprised us, but until a guy gets in a live game, a live-game situation, practice, you can't ever really tell what's going on. It doesn't ever look the same. Unless it's live and obviously we haven't practiced live since preseason. So we are happy with what we saw. There's no doubt about it, and I think that's what we expected him to be able to do. Q. When you first saw the tape of him, did you kind of expect that an offer was coming -- he was a late offer, if I remember right, Canzeri. COACH O'KEEFE: Very late. There's so many things involved, you try to get in contact with people at the high school obviously that know him and know about him, his high school coach. You know, try to do your research and your homework that you've done with some players for two or three years, that it might be in-state guys and then you have to do that within like a week, I think, or two weeks maybe total with the way that thing went. And then take a couple of other people who are jumping in, trying to jump in at the same time. You know, it wasn't as easy as it appeared. Once we did make the decision, it just worked out. Great guy, smart guy, picks stuff up fast. Quick learner. Seems like he's pretty hungry right now, so see what happens. Q. Talk about Zach Derby a little bit. COACH O'KEEFE: Yeah, the thing that's pushed Zach to where he is right now has been his consistency. You know, whether it's in the run game or the pass game, he doesn't make a lot of mental mistakes, concentration errors, things along those lines. He's very steady and very reliable. You know, we felt like he really needed that, and that's how he separated himself to become a reliable performer on the field on Saturday. That's been the difference. Q. Still unsettled at guard at this point? COACH O'KEEFE: You know, I don't think so. I think the way that it's going right now, you know, it's where we have thought it could be at one point, and you know, we are working -- Thompson in there at this stage and Tobin has done a great job. He's a hungry guy and a real player up front and he's giving us some intensity and competitiveness. It's been good for us. Q. The 24-3 lead dictated the no-huddle -- was the fact that it worked so well, that pushed it the second time around? COACH O'KEEFE: We kind of liked the tempo. Felt comfortable with the tempo and thought we would come out and take it from there. We had a really -- because of their defense, we probably went into that game with the most simple game plan we have had in a long time in a lot of ways. Because it's too hard to prepare too many personnel groups and formation groups against some of the stuff that they were doing, so we just decided to simplify it and let James go to work, and it worked out okay. Q. Do you feel more comfortable back there or -- COACH O'KEEFE: You know, it's a great question. It will be interesting what his answer is right now. I know at one point last year, those guys talked about they were more comfortable under center, at least in blitz pick-up situations, because you don't have to look to catch the ball and see the blitz at the same time. You can just get the snap and go. He's pretty comfortable obviously in the begun to say the least, and I think either way, he does a good job with the speed. He's always in balance for the most part, and getting the ball near guys, at least they have a chance to go make a play, which is the most important thing that you've got to have I think. Q. Is this the best trio of wide receivers, 13 years in Iowa, is this the best trio you've had? What they are doing, it's not really talked about enough. COACH O'KEEFE: We have a long way to go in the season. It's amazing how fast, bang, a third of it's already gone. But we have a long way to go still. So what you're talking about, you keep switching back with me -- if you keep going back in history, to Pitt and then now we are into the future with -- but the cards, we'll see what happens. We would love to have these guys keep playing the way that they are playing. That's what we expect them to do. It's a long way to go. That question will answer itself if they keep playing like they have been the rest of the way. Q. Jamal in the receiver packages? COACH O'KEEFE: Yeah, we have always -- we think he's emerged a little bit at this point in time. Just like a young guy that has not played, you guys are looking at one game where, you know, a couple of games, where things were pretty -- fairly simple. But you know, there's a guy who first had to learn how and where to line up and then learn what to do if they started blitzing us and things along those lines. That's kind of fallen in there for him, which is good. But yeah, we feel like we can go to that without a problem, and you know, and he has a level of effectiveness now that we really need. Q. In the spring, you said a lot of the same things -- how far has he come? COACH O'KEEFE: Oh, he's come -- I think his production is an example of how far he's come I think. So if a guy isn't sure about what he's doing, he can't make some of those catches that he made, and you know, for example, the last touchdown catch he had against Pitt, I asked him, did he see the ball. I said to him, hey, that's great concentration, because I thought he got screened off by that No. 8 I think it was. Would have had a hard time seeing the ball. And he said he saw it all the way, which I'm not sure how he saw it all the way. But that's what he's seeing, and that's how good -- that's where his concentration level is. It helps you to operate -- I think I've said this a bunch before, as well. But now you can operate at full speed, and that's when things really start to happen, when everybody is going full speed. That makes a huge difference. Q. People don't realize, I don't think, how much when a quarterback comes off the field, and wide receivers, when you ask them, what do you see, how much that triggers things for you. Can you give us an idea of how much it does set the pace for you guys in what you guys do? COACH O'KEEFE: Usually they come back, they will go to their little area, the bench, and as a staff, we'll talk about some things while the kickoff team or punt team or whatever it is is out there. And then I'll get with the quarterbacks and just run back through the charted plays that we just finished running. We'll talk about each of those plays, good, bad, indifferent, things we could have done different. Things we saw, whatever. So it's a mutual effort, because those are your eyes. You know, just like I'm seeing all this right here, he's seeing it the same way. Where, a little tougher to see from over there; a little tougher to see from over there where Steve is. He's seeing everything and what I found over the years is, what he's seeing is almost always right. If he's not seeing it right, probably showing me the guy behind the center. But that's normally how it's going and that's what he's doing. That's what allows him to make good decisions. Q. Your receivers also reacting, reading a route and making a change on the fly like that, or do they have that kind of freedom or are they set in what they do? COACH O'KEEFE: I think some of the things you're talking about, probably have more to do with adjustments to the ball placement and position of the ball. And that really comes down to body control. And again, it takes some athletic ability but also it certainly helps when you're in sync with the quarterback. But some of this stuff, you know, Keenan and Marvin have done, they have made some pretty tough catches, reaching back or adjusting back, adjusting back to certain things that in certain situations that might be tough for a lot of people to catch. But they are able to come up with that concentration, is great, but a lot of it I think is body control and that flash athletic ability. Q. Is that something you've been stressing or born out of necessity -- COACH O'KEEFE: We are having a tough time getting off the line of scrimmage in a good portion of that ballgame. And you know, we finally were able to do that, gets them off the line. We started making some plays and part of that I think again is once you start going no-huddle, it's hard for the defense to substitute personnel in certain situations, and they probably had their regular defensive guys out there more than they wanted to, and so they probably are a little less likely to take some chances where it's 24-3, it's all about taking chances at that point for us. So it's a combination I'm pretty sure of all of that. But that's the thing that will help us the most is to get off of jams at the line of scrimmage and get where you're supposed to go, and give the quarterback a chance to get the ball to you somehow, some way. Q. Marvin, have you ever seen this type of transformations -- COACH O'KEEFE: So a lot of our guys have come from different positions and from the quarterback position especially. That's one of those old personnel decision-making things that happen in high school. A lot of times your best athletes goes to the quarterback position. The quarterback isn't always capable of making that transition at the college level but they are still good athletes and you can find places for them to fit in. Marvin just happened to be one of those guys who is very athletic, a Division I basketball scholarship offers. Is a very good baseball player, as well. Great hands. Great hands. And to be perfectly honest with you, I don't think we knew how well he could run in the open field after a catch when he was just playing quarterback. I never really saw that kind of a thing and then obviously all of the years up here in strength and conditioning, he's really benefitted by those. But he's got a unique set of hands and ability to use them. Q. Do you look differently towards recruiting high school quarterbacks? COACH O'KEEFE: You have to do your homework a little bit differently in the fact that you are always -- college recruiting is not like Moneyball exactly, but the statistics still matter a little bit. Like they are all about on-base percentage and slugging percentage I think or whatever from what I remember when I read it. But we are still about efficiency. Like what is the high school quarterbacks touchdown/interception ratio, that can tell you a little bit about his decision making, his passing percentage. The tough part is, you know, everybody wants to have -- wants to be part of everything, I guess. You know, like where we are putting it in the quarterback's hands because we think he makes the best decisions. A lot of coaches like calling the plays from the sideline after they see what they think they saw. Just like I don't know how many catchers call pitches for pitches any more, high school or college, which I don't understand. I don't understand that it at all. Maybe even the Major Leagues. But that part of it, has been taken out, everywhere, to a certain degree. There's been a lot of over-management probably. So it's important that we get guys that can make good decisions, are independent thinkers, know how to learn. Those are critical things; that have got something to them; tough, are not going to get too rattled. We are looking at a lot of different things. You can't not take a guy because he was just in the shotgun the whole time now because everybody is in the shotgun. Even to get snaps of somebody underneath -- James, I don't know how many snaps he took under the center. I know his grandfather or his dad trained him under the center. But I know their offense was full-bore, full-go, shotgun offense. Try to look for guys making good decisions, got an active arm and his feet are where they should be. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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