Michigan State University Athletics
MSU Football Media Day 2006, Part I
8/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
| |
Aug. 7, 2006
Head coach John L. Smith
Thoughts on the punting game:
"We're going to have to be much better than we were a year ago. As you all know, with the depth there, Brandon Fields is going to be the punter. We worked a lot this spring on allowing him to kick the ball. Don't make things too complicated for him, just allow him to kick the ball and let the other guys go cover it. That's what we emphasized and we're going to continue to do that. Backing him up could be several guys, it could be Kevin Hall, it could be Kyle Mayer. It could be Ed Wagner, a guy who is walking on. We'll have to wait and see what he can do."
On the kicking game:
"At the kicker spot, Todd Boleski had a big spring and the other guy who will be given an opportunity is Brett Swenson. We'll let those two battle it out and I think we'll have a good battle there. We're going to go out early; we're going to find out who that kicker is going to be. We're going to put some pressure on him and see if he can handle the pressure."
On long-snapper Brian Bury:
"Something you very, very seldom get to hear about is your long snapper. I think we have one of the best in the entire country in Brian Bury. I think he's as good as there is. If he's had a bad snap, he's had one in two years. I can't remember one. It's something we take for granted and when we're going to notice it is next year when he's gone. All of a sudden, we'll be pulling our hair out, what little hair we have left."
On what he is looking for in the first days of practice:
"We have to make a decision on how many and who of the young guys we can bump up and maybe pull a redshirt off them. We would like to make that decision as early as we can. There's a lot of cramming in these next single days before we ever start double days."
On what needs to be settled during camp:
"As you take a look at us, there are a lot of spots where we have good depth and a lot of spots where we have some good competition going on and there are some spots where we don't. We have to find the right combination up front, that's a big key. Normally, what we say, if we can find eight guys who can play up front, then we'll be okay. As coaches, we have to make a decision as to what that combination is, try and make that decision early and try to stick with that combination because there is so much communication and feel up front that they almost have to communicate without saying anything.
"Defensive end Ervin Baldwin, we're going to have to cram into him as much as we can in a short period of time to get him ready to go. Some question marks are still on the defensive line as to what combination we'll come out to.
"There are some positions where we don't have the depth that we would like, one being safety. We have to bring in some young guys and push, push, push more there."
Thoughts on Drew Stanton taking out an insurance policy:
"We would encourage anybody in the position that he is to do that. In regards to, knowing the policy that we took out on my nephew (Alex Smith) a year ago, yes, they deserve and they should and we should take that policy out. That's only being intelligent."
Are you banking on your players from last year to be motivated by how last season ended?
"I think that's a great thing about athletics. We're upset and the players are upset. The great thing about athletics is we get to line up again. We're very disappointed and we want to change that taste in our mouth. So, it's a new year, a beginning and a chance to go out and show that we're better than that. The seniors and the entire football team have taken offense (to what happened a year ago). So what do we have to do? Prove it."
Have you looked at anything to prevent the drop off at the end of the season this year?
"We always analyze ourselves. We always go back and do that to begin with. We start with coaches and then look at our personnel and students. We do all those things. As you go around the country, you always try to get ideas. Basically, it comes down to analyzing yourself and executing the things you need to execute. The conclusion is we still have to execute better. We still have to play better on the defensive side of the ball. We still have to play better special teams and execute better on offense. It's a combination of everything. It's not just one thing."
Do you want the defense to develop a swagger and an attitude? How do you do that?
"Definitely, it took place over the spring. It's a matter of making plays and having confidence, not over-confidence, but confidence that we can step up and stop anybody. We know that we're going up everyday against our offense and if we can do a good job against those guys, we can do a good job against anybody. Our confidence level can grow and grow. I think, without a doubt, we grew a bunch this spring and got a little swagger about us. I think the guys on that side of the ball are excited about what's going on."
Can we get a Ken Tinney update? Is he going to redshirt?
"He's back. He's going to be a new guy on the team. We'll try to make a decision on the new guys, who can and who's capable of moving ahead with the next class.
"We want to do what we consider the right thing the way it should be done. Normally, if we have a problem, we'll try to give every young man an opportunity to correct it and if he can't, then maybe we have to correct it. But we'll attempt to give him an opportunity to correct it."
Is there an opportunity in the defensive backfield for one of the younger guys?
"Safety more so than cornerback, but definitely, somewhere in that secondary. There might even be situations where we bounce a guy, but we're going to have to determine a bunch of those."
Is there more pressure that this year is the best opportunity that you've had?
"Yeah, we're excited about it. Ask the players, they're all fired up, too."
In terms of pivotal years in your career, where does this one rank?
"You look back and at different places and you have years like this at almost every place. When it comes, I don't know. That's too complicated for me to think about."
What are some of the seasons that you've coached that have similar expectations to this one?
"The first year at Louisville, the first year at Idaho, the first year at almost every place. I can think of a year at every place like this. The third year at Idaho."
Was there an emphasis on strength and conditioning this season after the end of last season?
"I think this team has worked harder this year. We're in better shape than any group has been, but it's a combination of our guys wanting to win and our staff pushing them. We're constantly looking at what we're doing in the weight room. We're constantly looking at what we're doing outside the weight room. Are we stretching enough? Are we flexible enough? Are we injured because we're too tight? There are a number of things that we're trying to analyze and correct if there is a problem."
You've got five games in September and no breaks all the way through. Does that make you approach camp in a different way?
"It does, but I think camp the way the rules are now, it leads to that anyway. What we analyze and what we are analyzing in camp is how we can spread out the practices and get as much recovery time for our kids as possible. Even our first double day, we're going to try to go in the evening to try and give more recovery time in between, so we can see how it's going to be and if we can't get a better practice in the second practice. The rules lead to that and with the one-two-one-two rule; we'll try to analyze that and try to get as much recovery as possible. Then we talk about conditioning and how we can condition during those days. We need to do some. Right now, we're going to condition during the one-a-days in the heat of the day because we are going to practice in the middle of the day. We need that. But if we are in great condition, we may condition in the evening practices. Those are possible things we need to look at. Once again, we don't want to over-hit the guys, but we want to get to the right point. It becomes the more senior-oriented or experienced your guys are, your team is, I think you can cut back a little bit, a lot on your banging. I think gradually, as we get more experienced and depth, we can cut back a little bit on those things."
Are you comfortable saying that this year is your best chance at winning since you've been here?
"Yes. Our execution is getting better. Our kids are quicker. Their work ethic. Everything that we've done up to now. I felt positive coming out of the spring. I feel positive now."
Is Javon Ringer in for a position battle?
"Again, competition, yes, we'd like to see as much as we can, but Javon had a good summer. He's actually coming off the practice field in running and conditioning and he'll be smiling, which is a good to see. I think he feels better about himself as well, which is even better than us feeling good about him."
Why did you make the decision to move Greg Cooper to cornerback from safety?
"In sitting down and analyzing where we can get the most out of our players, where can they contribute, we do that with basically every third-teamer. We think how can we get this guy on the field, where can we get this guy on the field. We're constantly doing that, and those we're just our thoughts with Greg. Maybe he'll be all right inside, but maybe if we move him outside and see if that is more suitable for him and I think it is. I think he feels better about it. His athleticism and what we are trying to do are why we moved him."
Defensive coordinator Chris Smeland
 Chris Smeland begins his fourth season as defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Michigan State.  | |
Opening statement:
"I can give you an idea of who our starters are going to be, who are seniors our. We have seven seniors on the defensive side of the ball. We have two defensive linemen, we'll start with Cliff Ryan, he plays one of our inside tackle spots. He was captain for us one year ago, obviously a good football player. The other inside defensive lineman is David Stanton. David Herron, inside linebacker, is one of our team leaders. Another senior inside linebacker is Steve Juarez. Steve is in a back-up role, he contributes a lot on special teams, he's on almost every special team we have. In the secondary, we have two corners, Demond Williams was a junior college transfer we had a year ago, he got some playing time and became a starter for us, and he's really blossomed for us. The other young man, Greg Cooper, he's moved back to corner his natural position, he's really had an outstanding spring for us. Another senior we have is walk-on Kyle Beltinck. He plays our bandit position for us; he's on every special team. Those are the seven seniors we're going to build our defense around. Hopefully, with their senior leadership we can send those guys out as winners."
Other potential starters:
"The rest of the guys, the two defensive ends that we've got penciled in as starters at this point are Justin Kershaw playing our stud end and right now, we've got Brandon Long playing the rush end. The other inside linebacker that will be starting for us is Kaleb Thornhill, who's had a good summer in terms of his rehab. He played sparingly last spring but is back with us full time at this point. The other guys who are going to be starting in the secondary for us are SirDarean Adams in the bandit position. The guy we moved into that free safety spot where Greg Cooper played for us a year ago is Otis Wiley. Otis got some playing time in our nickel role a little bit, and now he's back on the field for us full time in the free safety position. Another man we're all excited about playing the strong safety position is Nehemiah Warrick. He came in and had a big spring for us and is a big hitter.
"We've got some new guys, some young guys and some depth that we haven't had the past few years. We've got some young corners and we feel like we've got a little bit of speed out there on the edge. We have a lot of guys that we're going to throw out on the field and let them compete, and see where they end up."
On the goals for the fall:
"We want to pick up right where we left off in the spring. I think we made significant progress; they've all had a great summer in terms of their work ethic in the weight room. We've gotten stronger, faster, some have put on some size, and others lost a few pounds. But we feel like their condition level is very good. They've done a great job in terms of lifting weights, vertical jumps, change of direction, all of those things."
On playing a more of an attacking style:
"I think we have a little more speed overall in the secondary, which is going to allow us to do that. I also think that having a few more bodies on our defensive front to keep those guys fresh, to keep those guys rolling in, so I think we're going to be able to get back to that in a big way."
Response to the theory that Michigan State has a decent offense, but can't stop the opponent on defense:
"We respond to it and say that we know what's going on. As coaches, we can see things that we can get better at. On every side of the game, it comes down to execution, so what you try to do is get the 11 best guys on the field at the same time, so those guys can make the big plays for us. That's what our goal is: get the 11 best guys on the field and take it one snap at a time. It boils down to the accountability of each of the 11 guys on the field getting the job done. We're going to express that to the team on a regular basis."
On having guys like Clifton Ryan and other seniors to set the tone for the team:
"I think you will hear from all of us, that the tone is going to be set by the seniors, because the seniors are the guys that control your football team. We've got seven seniors on the defensive side of the ball, Cliff Ryan, Stanton, Herron, Juarez, Cooper, Williams. That's where we get our leadership from. We expect all of those guys to set the tone, because they want to go out as winners, and they're going to bring those young guys along with them. Don't get me wrong, we've got some young guys who are leaders too."
On the use of wristbands:
"We're going to continue with the wristbands. It helps in terms of communication a little bit, not only with the players, but with the coaches to the players on the field. We'll be signaling as well, we'll use a couple of different systems as we go, but wristbands will be used throughout the season. You call out a number; they look at the wristband and know that's what coach wants. Coach Driesbach really influenced our use of the bands. Most teams, I'd say 99 percent in the country use some kind of wristband. The form that Coach Driesbach brought to us is a little different."
On how set the starting lineup is:
"We're still going to have some guys who are very competitive; (corner) Ross Weaver is one of them. We've got some guys on that defensive line that are going to compete from day one. We've got some young inexperienced faces behind some of those safety spots, who might not compete quite as strong for SirDarean's or Otis' or Nehemiah's spots, but on the edges, linebacker, up front I think we're going to be very competitive."
On Nehemiah Warrick:
"Early on in the spring it was new for him, he was a little apprehensive, but he became very vocal with his calls and his signaling. But through the spring and over the summer, I think he's become head and shoulders better than he was. Already we've had a couple of walk throughs at this point in preparation for Saturday, and I can't be more pleased."
On creating a consistent pass rush:
"We're preparing for this season as if we're a championship Big Ten defense. I'm confident that we'll create a pass rush, and if we aren't good enough we'll bring in a couple of different linebackers and safeties to create pressure."
On rebuilding and the past four years:
"You'd like to think you can come in and be effective year after year. Sometimes that just doesn't happen because of graduation, recruiting classes, attrition, things like that. Our expectation is that we want to be good every year."
On giving up a lot of points the past three Novembers:
"I'm not sure you can rectify that. I'm not sure if it's a combination of people wearing down, playing better teams, or things just going against us. I can't give you that answer."
On Greg Cooper going back to corner:
"By moving to the corner we're relying strictly on his athletic skills. He's got great hips; he understands what we're doing because he's played some safety, so he understands what the scheme is. He's got great competitive spirit, and really likes to take the challenge in those one-on-one situations. I think that's going to be very beneficial to us on the defense."
Offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin
 Dave Baldwin is in his fourh season as Michigan State's offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. | |
Opening statement:
"Let me start with our depth chart. The first position would be the center. John Masters was our starter in the spring and did a really nice job, but we have opened that up for competition and John Masters and Kyle Cook will battle through the first scrimmage and then we will make a quick decision from there. If Kyle Cook wins that position, then the left guard would change. If John Masters wins that position, Kyle Cook will become our left guard. So if Kyle Cook is our center, then Kenny Shane and Peter Clifford will battle for the left guard. What I'm saying is that we have a little competition, which is good. Last year, we didn't have a lot of depth and this year I think we do.
"At the left tackle in the spring, we moved Mike Gyetvai over from right tackle to left tackle. We want to protect the quarterback's backside, he has been the best tackle and we felt good about that move. He's shown great leadership for us and had a great spring there. He's developed over the summer and we feel very confident in him. We will back him up with a freshman, Rocco Cironi. At the right guard position, Roland Martin is that guy. Everyone has been asking, `Where is Roland?' It's his time. He will be a red-shirt sophomore, he had a great spring, he developed like we thought he should. Offensive linemen shouldn't play as a freshman; it should take about two years to develop. It's Roland's time to play. Behind him, we have fifth-year senior Daniel Zynn.
"At the right tackle position, we have Jesse Miller. If Peter Clifford does not get involved at the left guard, we will move Peter Clifford over and keep Jesse Miller as a solid right away at the right tackle position. At that position at offensive line, we have seven guys that are battling, which is good about the little bit of depth - with Peter Clifford being able to swing and Kyle Cook being able to swing. I feel really good about that.
"Tight end is a position of weakness I feel going into fall camp. We have just two returners there. Kellen Davis started for us last year, has had a tremendous summer. He has gotten bigger, faster, stronger, and now he has to show that on the field and be a dominant blocker. Dwayne Holmes is our other young man who had experience there last year. Dwayne is starting to learn our scheme. This summer, he did a lot of film study and he is going to be a big human being at the tight end. He weighs about 270 pounds, coming at you right now. We don't have a lot of depth, but Eric Andino has moved over from the linebacker position and this summer has adapted very well and will be our third tight end. Possibly we will have to play a true freshman, in Charlie Gantt.
"We have great, great leadership at the wide receiver position. Of course, we have Jerramy Scott at our `T' receiver, our inside receiver, if he catches 40-plus balls he could become the all-time leading receiver in Michigan State history. That's saying a lot about Jerramy. Backing him is Terry Love, supporting that inside position. Matt Trannon is our single-`X' receiver, or our split receiver. Everyone knows about Matt, he had jaw surgery in the spring, came out and never missed a down. It showed the toughness that we were looking for. He is backed up by a true freshman, a kid that came in the spring, T.J. Williams, and in the spring game, caught two touchdowns. T.J. is going to be a great, great receiver - tremendous speed, great character, showing the kinds of things you like in that single receiver position. Ryan Allison will swing it, backing him up as well. On the other side is Kerry Reed. Kerry is a junior college kid who came in late last year and really had a solid season for us and has had a great summer. He will be backed or switched with Terry Love as well. So Terry will be a swing-man at that position. Devon Thomas, a junior college transfer that came in the spring, who has three to play three, which is a benefit for us, not like a true junior college kid, he has three years to play three (seasons). He's a physical kid who we like at that position to be the third receiver there.
"The running back position is manned by three `J's.' Javon Ringer was off the charts in the summer workouts, totally healthy, very explosive, just what I love in a single back. He can hide behind that big offensive line, and he has so much power, he'll run you over or he'll run around you. We just have to do the job and not to over-coach him and tell him to make the cuts. He's going to make cuts that are incredible. Jehuu Caulcrick is our guy that will split time with him. Jehuu's about 265 pounds right now. Everyone is saying `Well, he could be too heavy,' but he is running better than has ever been speed-wise. I expect an inside-outside attack with these two that us something special. The third `J' in the combination is A.J. Jimmerson, who was our leading rusher in spring ball. We put everything on him, so he could learn the offense. We felt confident in the other two, we wanted to make sure A.J. could pick up our pass protection as a young freshman, and he's coming on. We feel like he can help us and contribute at that position.
"Then of course at quarterback, the great leadership we have demanded from this young man, which he is tremendous. Drew Stanton will give us that leadership and the great ability to run the ball at that position, to throw the ball at that position and provide leadership on the field. This summer, that is what he has done more than anything else, I think he has taken the leadership role. He has said `We will work out at this time, we will throw at this time,' if receivers wouldn't show up on time, he waited, he got on them. He is a coach on the field. In our offense, he has got to turn things over on the line of scrimmage and be that coach. He has all those capabilities. We worked hard this spring, just on fundamentals, he had everything else. We wanted to work on the play-action fakes and the fundamentals and develop him a little bit more. He is definitely going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the country.
"Backing him is Brian Hoyer. Brian's gotten bigger. He weighs 210 pounds, which is a plus. He's gotten stronger. We always knew Brian could throw the football, which he did this spring - and he won the No. 2 job this spring. We actually opened up (for contact); the first time in my history, that we've put the No. 2 and No. 3 live in scrimmages. We've always kept that quarterback from being hit. We opened it up and Brian, that's when I was nervous that he was a little bit nervous in the pocket, but when we put the full pressure on him, he really stepped it up and did the right things. He's developed the way we wanted. Don't be surprised early if we get him in a couple of series, so we get him some experience, not just at the end of the game, but maybe the fourth series of the game, so he can get some critical time so he develops, which will help him.
"So the depth chart, I think we have a lot of weapons offensively - the three running backs, the five wide receivers, we have a lot of things we can go to. We are going to spread the ball around in a single-back offense."
Does this offense challenge your creativity?
"I think we try to be as creative as we can, it goes back to execution. Sometimes, I think I get too creative. What they are giving us, let's take it and just execute that. You will see a couple of new wrinkles as we go."
How do you address problems in the red zone?
"I think we kind of took it personal that if we didn't score in the red zone, we were in trouble. But we have worked hard on the 25-to-the-11, which is the red zone area I feel we struggled in. We were in the top categories throughout country, besides the red zone. We lead the conference with 48 touchdowns, but they were mostly from outside (the red zone). We worked hard on the red zone this spring. We talked to our kids about the 25-to-the-11, one was our turnover ratio. We had 11 turnovers in that area, which is astronomical. We at times were not productive in the red zone, whether we failed to put three points on the board, or we turned the ball over. Touchdowns will change the outcome of a game."
What was the reasoning for opening the offensive line for competition?
"Kyle (Cook) was hurt in the spring; he had shoulder surgery. He came back and got tremendously strong and ready to go. Competition makes you better. Kyle is a leader and knows everything we want; he's a little bit more physical than the other young man. The other young man had a great spring. The center position touches the football every time, no one else on this football team touches the ball every time, and we want to make sure we have the right guy there, so we opened it up to competition and feel he can help us on the line."
You said you wanted to determine that first - the center and then go from there?
"Yeah, you want to get that cohesive group together, especially that offensive line. We want competition there, we want to find out. Everyone says that we are a single-back offense, but we are going to come at you and we are going to be physical and he is a physical, physical kid. He can win that position and we will find out who our left guard is. If he doesn't win that position, then we are moving him to left guard and we are going on right away."
How quickly do you want to resolve that?
"We want to go through our first scrimmage. The first four days are in shoulder pads and shorts. We want to get through our first scrimmage and make sure we can get to that point and then we are going to make a decision very quickly."
Drew (Stanton) said last year, at the end of the year, he felt he was a little pressing - that he was trying to do too much with the offense. How do you help him so that he doesn't have to do that this season?
"We went back to fundamentals. We said, `Take care of fundamentals.' That's what this offense is about. It isn't about a quarterback making all of the big plays; it's about taking what they give you. If you use your feet to run or if it's to throw it to the back under coverage, do those kinds of things. I think he tried to force the ball down the field a little bit too much. Dump the ball off, we have receivers that that can handle it."
Discuss Stanton's running ability:
"The opponent dictates that to us. I know at times you would like him to run with it a little more; I know at times I would like him to run with it a little less, but our opponent will dictate how much he has to do for us in our single-back scheme. I personally would like to control his running. He will get enough in the scrambles, but we will use him in speed-option, we will use him in our running game. The weapon of a quarterback to run really puts the difficulty on the defense."
Do you expect Matt Trannon to have a breakout season this year?
"I think he had a breakout season last year - go back to that Notre Dame game. That was a huge game for him. Everybody is looking for a super number of catches, but that's not going to happen. If he gets 40-plus and Reed gets 40-plus and Scott gets 40-plus, well who is the defense going to key on, and that's what I'm looking for. If we get a back that gets 40-plus, now we have a lot of weapons. I think he had that type of year last year and was very consistent catching the football."
Are you looking for Ringer to be one of the all-time great rushers at State, and maybe taking pressure off of Stanton in the offense?
"He is special. What he did in the weight room, time-wise and all the charts the strength coaches keep. They said that he had tremendous summer workouts. If he carries that over to the field and now with his knowledge of the offense, I'm expecting huge things from Javon Ringer."
Is Ringer finally over all of the knee problems?
"He was uncertain of how the knee was going to react and I think there was a point in the year where he tweaked it a little bit. Also it is so hard for a freshman to learn all of our pass protections and all of our running schemes, everything. He was thinking, rather than reacting. Now that he is reacting, he is going to be something special for us. Don't knock out Jehuu (Caulcrick) though. If he gets hot, Jehuu is special too. Running downhill this spring, he simply ran over people, and that is a great combination to have."
