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CHICK-FIL-A KICKOFF GAME: ALABAMA v VIRGINIA TECHAugust 31, 2013Frank BeamerATLANTA, GEORGIA Alabama – 35 COACH BEAMER: I think defensively we played exceptionally well. I think if we'd have caught the ball consistently, it would have been a good night offensively. I think special teams, when you start playing a lot of young kids, you play them on those special teams, that's where it shows up. We had three new guys over there on the right side. I didn't see exactly what happened. It's no excuse. We're going to evaluate our personnel. Kickoff return‑wise, you know, the whole deal. The good part about it is I feel like we can get better. We can correct the things that wasn't quite there. We're going to get those special teams better, consistently catch the football. It's kind of like what I said in pre‑season: what we got is a good defense, we got good kickers, we just got to get the other people around Logan playing better. I thought our offensive line hung in there tonight. Pass protection, they did good against a tough, tough defense, tough pass‑rushers. I think there's some positive things to take out of this game. The points that we gave them, that shouldn't happen in a ballgame. Those were critical there. But I firmly believe that what was wrong tonight can be corrected and we can be a good football team. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. How encouraged were you by Trey Edmunds? COACH BEAMER: I think Trey is going to be a terrific back. He showed speed. He's a powerful guy. Each and every week I think he'll get better and better. First time he ever stepped on a college football field there tonight. Pretty good crowd he stepped out there against. Q. How disappointing is it to have the breakdowns you had tonight with the offense and special teams? COACH BEAMER: When you start playing young kids, that's where you're going to notice it the quickest. We had a bunch of new guys out there on kickoff return, kickoff coverage, new guys on punt coverage. But that's not an excuse. I mean, we just got to play better. Q. Would you consider using more veteran guys? COACH BEAMER: Absolutely. Q. It seems like at times the defensive line dominated. COACH BEAMER: I thought we played well defensively. Tackled well against good backs. We got something to build on here. We know what we need to work on so... I said this going in: you play a team like Alabama, flaws, if you got 'em, show up. I think a couple of them showed up there tonight. Q. When Trey had the big touchdown run, what did you see there? Miscommunication? COACH BEAMER: They kind of jumped us. The kid made a heck of a play. But we had a little something going, like you said. Big turning point. Q. (Question regarding Trey Edmunds). COACH BEAMER: You've heard me talk about Trey a bunch of times. The kid's got a lot of ability, made out of the right stuff, a great family. I mean, he's going to have a terrific future at Virginia Tech. Q. Your receivers struggled to catch the ball in the spring, and tonight. Why do you think that can be corrected? COACH BEAMER: Well, I think just think it's concentration. I seen D.J. Coles make a lot of tough catches. Demetri, he has to go up and get it at the highest point. Get Charley Meyer back in there, I think Charley, he didn't play any tonight, but he's a very dependable guy there. I've seen D.J. do it and Demetri do it. It's a matter of concentration and confidence. We're going to throw a lot of balls this week. Q. Obviously you were playing against a premiere defense tonight. How would you assess Logan's performance? COACH BEAMER: He made a lot of good plays, a lot of good decisions. If we helped him out, you never know. I don't know how many dropped balls we had. Then he keep drives alive, you keep momentum alive. Several of them are first‑down balls. But Logan is fine. He's a smart guy, competitive, the leader of this football team. We just got to help him out a little bit. But I was encouraged by how our offensive line played tonight. I thought against a good defense, they hung in there. Q. Especially the first half you had a lot of success keeping Alabama contained. COACH BEAMER: We finished up the year last year being a pretty good defense. I was hoping we could pick it up. We got good defensive players, defensive coaches that's been there a while. Bud and the boys, I thought they played a terrific game. I got a lot of respect for their offense. I think they're very good. Q. Kendall Fuller had a couple good plays. How encouraged are you about your secondary? COACH BEAMER: Very. Facyson was another kid that played a bunch in there, two freshman kids with some height. I think those two kids will get better and better, make us better on the back end. I was really encouraged by that. Kendall, he's a big‑time player and he likes the challenge of it all. I think he's got a bright future, too. When you bring as many freshmen as we brought, a lot of them played, you know, there's a lot of good players there. When we get them some experience, we're going to be a good football team. Q. (Question regarding next couple games.) COACH BEAMER: You're talking about our defense last year? Q. Yes. COACH BEAMER: I think we're a year older. A lot of those guys were young. We had a lot of time to get ready for Georgia Tech. We had a great game plan. Went up to Pittsburgh. They kind of got after us a little bit. Pittsburgh plays a lot like Alabama plays. I think we're a year older, more mature, more experienced, all the above. I think we got some confidence at the end of the year how we played. So, you know, we just got to keep working on that defense. Q. The offensive line, was that better than you expected? COACH BEAMER: I thought we hung in there in pass protection. They were bringing a lot of stuff. When they bring it, it's good people coming at you. Yeah, I thought we hung in there. Couple runs in there. We got work to continue to do, there's no question. But for a group, a couple of them playing their first snaps, both our tackles, you know, I thought they hung in there pretty good. Q. What was behind the decision not to bring JC? COACH BEAMER: We thought he was going to be okay. He kind of just got to a point. High‑ankle sprains. We didn't know until about Wednesday or Thursday that he just wasn't going to get there. We thought he might. But we felt like it would be better for him to stay home, get treatment, get it completely well so it's not an issue. Hopefully he'll be back next week. Q. (Question regarding runningback and using Trey.) COACH BEAMER: Well, he got his share of work. But (indiscernible) came in and did a good job at the end, too. We were just trying to get first downs. Q. Would you mind assessing what happened on the special teams, especially the return coverage, what the guys need to do? COACH BEAMER: Well, we just need to carry out our responsibilities on the kickoff. We had a guy, a freshman, had him wrapped up. Didn't quite wrap‑up. I think some of the other guys pulled off, thought he was wrapped up. All of a sudden down the sideline he goes. On the punt return, like I said earlier, three guys over there on the right side, first time they've been on that team. Malleck was on that team, Vandyke was on that team. But that's not an excuse. We just got to get better. We know how to cover. We just got to get our job done. I think evaluation. Maybe we're trying to play some kids, may need to get some more veteran guys that's been in some games. But this will be a good evaluation because they were going against good people. We're going to evaluate it and get it better. I can assure you we're going to get it better. Thank you all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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