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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYJuly 26, 2013Lane KiffinMarqise LeeHayes PullardCULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Representing USC, Coach Lane Kiffin, wide receiver Marqise Lee and linebacker Hayes Pullard. Coach, make an opening remark? COACH KIFFIN: All right, thanks for coming today, guys. For us, at USC this is an exciting time right now. Next week can't come fast enough. Our players, our coaches are extremely excited to get back to work, get back on the practice field. We had a great spring coming out of spring we felt we had developed a number of our players that had improved in all three phases of our game, offense, defense, and special teams and as we go into fall camp we need to do that. We've got to maximize every player on our roster and how they can contribute to help us win and get ready to beat Hawaii. Q. One of the best recruiting classes in the conference this year, lots of four‑star athletes. How do you expect them to play a role this season? COACH KIFFIN: We do have a lot of really talented players coming into our program, about half of them are already there as mid‑year enrollees and half got here for summer school. It's been great to put those guys in the program right away. We have high expectations for those guys and we're going to need for them to contribute immediately. Q. Coach, all four of the team captains from last year have left the program. How has your team responded as far as leadership and who has stepped up? COACH KIFFIN: I think every year is different. I think every team is different and we're obviously facing that with losing a lot of really good players from last year and really good leaders. Spring was great because you see your players start to develop, you see leaders develop within the program and as we move into the fall it's our job to make sure developing those guys as great leaders is prominent and you have two of them here today by the way they play on the field and also they represent USC as phenomenal student‑athletes within the classroom and within our university. Q. Have you had any conversation with the administration on how to get through the scholarship thing, maybe clinics or something? COACH KIFFIN: No, I really have not. Q. Marqise, you get to play a college game without Robert lining up next to you at receiver. How do you prepare for that with different coverages? MARQISE LEE: Robert overall was a great player, but we have numerous players capable of stepping up and taking on that role including one player, Nelson Agholor. I think I can look over and look at him being Rob, he does an amazing job in class, both on and off the field and we've got De'Von Flourney, Victor Blackwell, numerous amount of receivers that are able to step up and handle the business they need to handle.I feel it's just the same. I think Nelson stepped in Rob's shoes and fulfilled them as good as possible, so I think we will be all right. Q. Coach, going back to the last question, with Marqise seeing so much double coverage this year who do you think is due for a breakout position in the wide receiver position? COACH KIFFIN: As Marqise mentioned, the development of Nelson Agholor, we saw it this spring and it was his second year with us and he missed some time during the spring and not only did we see Nelson perform as the No. 2 receiver he was performing as the No. 1 receiver. He's a player from a skill set and he's a unique kid, very exit active on the field and he's a great leader already, even though he has just finished up his first year. Q. What is the one piece of advice your father gave you that has stuck with you and was your answer different three years ago? COACH KIFFIN: I don't know the difference of the answers in three years, but I don't think it was the advice, it was being around him and seeing the legacy he leaves with players and coaches. I run into people all the time around the country, in recruiting, wherever I am, even you guys in the media talking about him, how he was to the players, to college coaches, your college coaches, members of the media thought he did a great job and obviously I've got a long ways to go to get there. Q. What's your take on the playoffs and the selection committee? COACH KIFFIN: We don't concern ourselves with those things; we have no control over them. We have our own issues and we're worried about our football team and making the best decisions that have to do with this football team and let others figure out that stuff. We want to be in those conversations when those things happen about being one of those elite teams. Q. Can you talk about what you have experienced so far in the Clancy Pendergast System? HAYES PULLARD: It's been a great transition, Pendergast brings that swagger that's been great for us, with the help of Coach Orgeron and Coach Ekeler being great coaches; they simplified this defense for us guys to go out there and just play fast and play to the best of our ability. Q. Hayes, how much better will your defense be than it was last year? HAYES PULLARD: I believe we're going to continue to get better with our defensive line going out there and attacking and with Coach Orgeron watching them and helping them get better each week and with Pendergast having our guys continue to be better each day is going to be helpful to us. Q. Marqise, so in those player‑only workouts this summer how have the three different QBs looked for you guys and what are the strengths and weaknesses? MARQISE LEE: Overall, I think they've been great. Just like most of you guys I'm trying to figure out who the quarterback ought to be, too. Just to settle down and get that chemistry going, as far as summer workouts, you not exactly knowing what quarterback is going to be the starter, I just try to spread my time among the three and if they each get five reps, I'm going to make sure I get three out of that 5 so I can go into camp having some chemistry with them, rather than not having any. Even with Browne, smart freshman, I try to get as much reps with him as I can because in the end you don't know who is going to start. Q. There was a story in US Today yesterday that seemed to indicate, Coach, that you are going to be calling the plays as you have in the past several years. Can you remember that? COACH KIFFIN: Yeah, Greg, I didn't see the article but in the evaluation process we do every year we look at all aspects of our program and where we need to improve and what changes we need to make. That was something there that I feel we have a great offensive staff with a lot of input and I tinkered with some things, postseason there and just went back and made a decision that it's in the best interest of our football team for me to continue to call plays and that's not just on‑field performance, I think that's in relation to the players. We have a unique relationship with the skilled guys, offensive guys, it's important because you're communicating with them so much and I think there is an impact in recruiting. When your system is not going to change as a head coach that they know they're coming in regardless of when assistant coaches come and go, it happens all the time. You may go there to have success but the offensive coordinator leaves and then things change so it's continuity and it gives them the confidence to know the system stays the same and develops over the time at USC. Q. Guys, you talked about your trip to Haiti before the season last year being a life‑changing experience. What did you learn about yourself or take to the trip that you feel you can translate on to the football field and use as a leader on defense? HAYES PULLARD: I would say it was a great experience. I wouldn't say too great because you seen what everybody was going through and you seen the situations they were going through even though it was great parts of Haiti and we tried to carry that over to the team, be thankful for what you have each day and you got to take every day 100%, go after it and stay humble and meek and continue to go after what you want. Q. Coach, you mentioned toward the end of last season and I heard in an interview you mentioned as well yesterday about how that play to Robert at the Arizona game you missed him on that. That not only had an affect on the game but on the rest of the season. Looking back at the season how would you have handled that differently? COACH KIFFIN: Well, I was answering the question really about where the season, where I felt like it changed and that game, he were 6‑1 at that time and we were in command of that game, up 15 with the ball. Their crowd was start to go leave and we were coming back to play Oregon and we missed that play and a bunch of plays the rest of the game there. As far as handling things differently, I don't know that. I hope that as we get to this season here that we are more consistent in our running game so that when we get to games like that, like we have over the years that we're able to finish those games out especially on the road like that by running the ball and being more physical approximately that's been a big emphasis this spring and obviously it will be a big emphasis as we move into next week. Q. Coach, I know a motto of yours was "prep not high" and there was a ton of high surrounding you guys. Do you think it affected you at all last season and are there advantages to that? COACH KIFFIN: I don't think the "high" had anything to do with our performance last year. As you spend a lot of time as we did in January and Februaryfiguring out what happened, looking at everything in our program, you know, you've got to make sure that we're focused on the things that matter that have to do with winning and losing and have to do with our players performing really well. So I don't think it was about the "high." I think we didn't play very well and we didn't coach very well. When you do that, that's what happens. As we look at where we need to improve it's not some things that maybe you guys think, it's things that we believe within our program are very easy to look at what happened last year. It's not about what someone was wearing or any of that stuff, it's about not turning the football over, it's about playing better on third down, it's about playing better in the red zone than we did last year and tackling better on defense. Those are the things that matter and that's what we've gone back to basics in working on all string and that's what we will start with next weekend. Q. Marqise, is there a new target you have set your sites on in the defensive backfield? MARQISE LEE: I'm going to work with all of them and I can make them better because they all bring different things to the table they all got their type of play and they do their own thing. I try to learn based off each player and the way they do their things but this year I'm going to go after all of 'em to tell you the truth, from corners to safety on our team. The only thing is we are trying to stay focused and make sure we handle our business this year and handling our business is making sure that our team is at our best and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make sure I go out there every day at camp and push them and push them and they're going to push me and trying to make each other best in the long run we will be successful. Q. Coach, you lost to UCLA last year. That used to be a significant change in culture in LosAngeles, do you feel the pressure as a coach for that particular development? COACH KIFFIN: That rivalry game is obviously very big for us, big for our fans and both universities being so close with so many connections. Obviously, we were on the wrong side of it last year. For a number of years we were on the right side and we got to get that back and that's not going to be about months from now it's going to be about having a good training camp and preparing well and when we get to that game, playing better and coaching better than we did. Q. There have been off‑the‑field issues in football this year. What does USC have in place to make sure none of the Trojans get into bad situations? COACH KIFFIN: Well, we're very fortunate at USC to have a great group of student‑athletes, our entire athletic department and on our football team. We could not be more proud of who our guys, going on our fourth year here, what they have done representing our university off the field. That doesn't happen by accident. It has to do with recruiting the right kids and developing those kids and walking them through their college life and the decisions they're going to have and teaching them also from other people's poor decisions around the country as we educate these guys. Q. I'm curious where you're at with the starting quarterback race and can you talk about what each guy brings to the table? COACH KIFFIN: We're no different than we were in the spring with our quarterback race and a lot of that is because we are not allowed to work with our guys in the summer. So I don't know what they're doing and how they're performing. All three guys will have a shot. I think all three guys are going to be really good quarterbacks at USC at some point in their career and it's going to be an exciting competition. All three are different in the style that they play and also all three are very good quarterbacks and it's going to be the player that's going to help us win the most. We're going to figure that out at some point during fall camp. Q. We have a fan question for you, Marqise, on Twitter. Have you attacked your workouts with additional intensity knowing you're going to be in the Heisman spotlight this season? MARQISE LEE: Me as a player, I don't go into seasons focused on the high and things that come along with it. The Heisman in this case is the last thing on my mind. The Heisman, the Biletnikoff, whatever you want to talk about is the last thing in my mind. I'm self‑motivated and I've pushed the issue, you can ask Hayes. I'm self‑motivated because the coach can motivate you but you should be able to motivate yourself. At the end of the day, I feel like the coach is there to motivate you but then again how about if it doesn't hit the spot to get a player to keep going so I take it upon myself, you know, to continue to work hard. I know if I do it they're going to do it and if they're going to do it, why shouldn't I do it? It's only going to get you better and get you where you need to go so that's what I'm going to do in order to get it. Q. Is the Pac‑12 student initiative a benefit for USC? In the end USC has limited contact anyways because of the depth issues. As you look at this student initiative, would you say that USC is the biggest winner in all this because everybody else is going to have to come down to where you are now? COACH KIFFIN: I don't think so. The initiative doesn't say anything about them losing scholarship players, so I don't think that matters very much. I think everybody is a winner in this because this is about player safety and the educating of our players about player safety and making sure we are taking proper steps so that player safety is number one. We have seen the NFL lead that and we see the Pac‑12 lead that go Pac‑12 lead that go in college football. I think everyone is a winner. Q. Hayes, you looked up to T.J. as a leader of the team and on the defense. In what ways is your leadership style the same? What do you take from him and in what ways are you different? HAYES PULLARD: My freshman year he told me to lead by example, and that's the leadership role I've been trying to take on. He took me under his wing when I was the pick‑up that I was and at this moment it's me trying to groom other leaders. So when I get my two years over and when I leave I have leaders that are going to take up what I showed them as well and have that carry on. Q. Coach, you had the number‑one‑rated recruiting class in the spring and a few dropped off. What do you think affected that? COACH KIFFIN: Well, I think it was a number of things that happened. We got off to a great start in recruiting, had a lot of early commitments. As we're seeing now in college football, commitments don't mean a whole lot. So I think what happened was we ended the season poorly, by the way that we played and also whenever you have job security questions come up, like they did at the end of the year that's going to impact your recruiting because kids, especially a lot of those kids were national guys that those families are saying, okay, our kid is choosing USC and that coaching staff so I think it was a combination of those things. I think anytime you start at the top much like our season went it's frustrating for our fans and for us, too, to lose guys at the end and that became the focus, was the guys that we lost instead of the guys that came. We looked at the seven guys that came in as mid‑years, I can't imagine there was ever a better mid‑year class that was signed in college football as you look at those guys coming in as you look at the impact that they had in the spring. All seven guys at some point in the spring were running with the first time. Q. With less experienced quarterbacks at the helm are you going to focus more on the run? And if you are, is it going to be ground and pound with speed oriented, and how is Tre Madden and Justin Davis doing? COACH KIFFIN: I think every team and every year is different and you're not going to know your team sitting here right now before opening training camp. Our team is going to show itself throughout training camp and we will have a better understanding of where we're at in offense, defense, and special teams and the style we're going to be as our team and leaders develop. Also, things that are out of our control, too. We were fortunate two years ago to stay extremely healthy throughout the season and that obviously changed last year. That changes your game plan and what you're doing. Anytime you have a new quarterback it's going to be critical for all the players and the entire team to play well around him and that's what we're going to need to do regardless of the quarterback. As far as the running back question, Tre Madden has come along, he's going to be at 100%, healthy, that was probably an injury that was under the radar a year ago when it happened. But us as coaches knew that was a significant injury for our team at that time. Tre was having as good of a spring as anything on our entire roster and moving him to running back for a kid that's 6‑foot tall, 220 pounds and runs a 4‑5, we have not had that for a while here. We feel like with the entire running back group and the fact that Tre is healthy we have that position back to where it was in that 2004, 2005 range and as you breakdown, the last seven years here at USC that position has not been what it once was. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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