VIDEO/TRANSCRIPT: Will Muschamp Spring Practice News Conference

Head coach Will Muschamp addressed reporters Tuesday as the Gamecocks prepare to open spring practice Wednesday morning.

NEWS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

– Really pleased how the offseason’s gone to this point. I think we’ve made a lot of progress with our players from a weight room standpoint, strength and conditioning standpoint. The sprint work’s been outstanding. But been very pleased with the work of Paul Jackson and his staff, and our guys have been very receptive. You know, I have 11 seniors, got a young team, but a talented young team that’s continuing to recruit well. The mid-year guys have really blended in extremely well, and I think in some of those guys, we continue to move forward. We’re in shorts right now, and you play football in pads, but I think some of those guys are going to contribute for our team as we continue to move into the fall. And the last two to two-and-a-half weeks, we worked with our staff. By NCAA rules, we’re allowed to go over some football stuff with them. And so, obviously, installing an offense, and then some changes defensively and on special teams. So I’ve been pleased with the progress in all three areas to this point.

You know, during this time, we spend a lot of time on analytics, quality control, what are the things we need to improve on, which there’s obviously, after a disappointing fall, a lot. What are some different trends in football, whether it’s in the National Football League, whether it’s visiting another staff, other college football teams, studying opponents. That’s where we do a lot of this work right now, along with evaluation of the ’21, ’22 and ’23 classes in recruiting. And so, you really go back and look at it after a disappointing fall, five areas, or really our five critical factors in planning to win a game. Turnover margin we need to improve tremendously. We were plus three, we only gave up the ball 14 times, and we had only created 17 turnovers. That’s a team stat. We’ve got to do a better job of creating opportunities for our football team. It’s the number one stat in ball to be successful. You look at last year, we won the turnover margin in five games, we won four of ’em. We tied or lost the turnover margin in seven games, we lost all seven games. Explosive play ratio, 10 yards or more run, 20 yards or more pass is how we classify an explosive play. In those situations, you win it in five games and you win four of those games, you lose it in seven or tie in seven games, and you lose those seven games. So the two most critical factors if you really want to just boil it down is turnover margin and explosive play ratio, and that’s where we’ve got to make some tremendous improvements with our team. Field position battle, and a lot of that goes to special teams with your coverage units, your return units, to be able to create short fields for your offense, to create long fields for your defense. And in the last three years, we’re 18-5 in games where we win the field position battle. We’re 0-9 when we don’t. So that’s something, again, we’re going in back, and what do we need to do to improve and get better in those situations? The battle in the red zone, to be efficient in the red zone, we want to score offensively 100% of the time we’re down there and we want to be hit 75% touchdowns. You’ll lead the league if that’s where you are. We’re at 48% last year. Critical issues of not being able to score touchdowns in the red zone. Defensively, we want to be able to hold our opponent to 60%, holding them to a field goal. We’re right at 52-53% there which is not bad. It’s the best we’ve been since we’ve been here, but certainly is improvement, we need to improve from that. And the most disappointing part is just winning the fourth quarter. You take out the Charleston Southern game, we were outscored 100-46 in the 4th quarter. And you look at a 15-point differential in the North Carolina game. You’re leading Florida going into the fourth quarter, you give up 21 points, you only score seven. You’re in Knoxville, you’ve got the momentum going in at halftime and the lead, we were outscored in the fourth quarter 10, but we were outscored in the second half for the game, we got shut out in the second half. And then A&M was a 13-3 game in the fourth quarter, and you’re outscored 17-3. So as far as finishing, discipline, the mental toughness in those situations, we’ve been a good situational team up till last year. We’re 13-5 in one-score games in the first three years which is really good. That means you’re making good decisions as coaches, good decisions as players. In critical situations when the games coming down the line, we’re 1-2 in one-score games last year, but we didn’t give ourselves the opportunity in a lot of those situations when we should’ve been in a one-score game at least to have an opportunity to win the game. So those are things we’ve looked at.

Obviously, with a lot of other things, installing an offense and going through that process, and then making the changes we think to adapt to our players moving forward in the 2020 season. With the staff, always look at staff change as an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to improve and get better. And I think we have in a lot of areas. You know, Mike’s been great. He’s come in, we’ll be more under center. They’ll be some, obviously, pass and run concepts that we feel very comfortable with that’ll remain the same. We’re still trying to play with some different tempos at the line of scrimmage. We’ll continue to do those things. That’s one thing that I noticed when Mike went to Colorado State is adapting what we do to the personnel, and that’s what we got to identify for him and his comfort level is what are we going to be? We don’t really know those answers right now. We’re going to look at different personnel groupings to find out who our best 11 are to put ’em on the field so we can be more productive. And that’s what he’s committed and we’re committed to doing. Joe Cox, you see why Mike was adamant about having Joe here. Very bright, very intelligent, a really good teacher, does a great job with our players, really a good evaluator as far as recruiting is concerned, does a nice job on the recruiting front. So I think he will be a very valuable member of our staff moving forward. And if we continue to evaluate our staff looking at things, moving Bobby back to running backs, Wolf obviously is coaching offensive line, and Bryan McClendon coaching receivers. You go back to 2018, in the last 15 years at South Carolina, we’ve averaged over 400 yards three times. One of those years was 2018, we averaged 425 yards, we averaged over 30 points a game, which has only happened six times in the last 15 years, and we averaged 150 yards rushing, which has only happened six times in the last 15 years. So that was a very productive year for us with those guys manning those jobs, and they did it very well. And Mike’s been extremely pleased with the staff. Defensively, I’ve been trying to hire Tracy Rocker before and finally was able to do it this time, but a guy that understands how we play. And we’ve got a certain teaching progression, but he’s kind of grown up in our system and understands how we want to coach, whether it’s two-gap, whether it’s one-gap, and how we want to play blocks up front. So it’s really good to have him on staff, and his experience for our staff and for our players is huge in the front seven. And he’s done an outstanding job in everywhere he’s been as far as developing players, and that’s what it’s all about. Rod Wilson, a guy that I’m excited about, a former Gamecock, former team captain, Super Bowl champion. I actually interviewed Rod our first year and was extremely impressed with him. And coached one more year at Charleston Southern, and then spent the last three years at Kansas City, had some of the better special teams units in the National Football League, but a lot of experience. I’m working with the linebackers with him right now. We have a certain way we want to, vernacular, and verbiage, and how we teach things. And so he’s going through that right now. It has nothing to do with his expertise to coach linebackers, believe me, he’s going to be fine. But we just want to make sure we’re on the same page, and he’ll take ’em over after spring ball as we move into the fall. But excited about, he’s going to help us a lot on special teams, and Kyle Krantz and he are going to work together on special teams. And his experience and a lot of those things from a fundamental standpoint, but a schematic, obviously our rules are a little different from the National Football League in some areas, but to be able to adapt some of the things that he’s had success with in the National Football League I think will be huge for us. Drew Hughes is now our head of recruiting. He and Matt Lindsey kind of came up together as far as where they have been, and crossed each others paths. And I had Drew when I was at the University of Florida, did a fantastic job for me there. So it’s been a really seamless transition for us as far as our day-to-day operation, recruiting, evaluation, and how we work as far as the recruiting standpoint is concerned. So I’m really excited to have Drew back, and I’ve already kind of hit on Paul.

Injury-wise for spring, some guys that will be out for the entire spring, Randrecous Davis has a stress fracture. He had a rod put in his leg. He’s had a lot of unfortunate situations as far as injuries, continued to battle through. He’s got a positive attitude, as best as he could have. So he will be cleared to probably be in some non-contact, seven-on-seven, one-on-one, the latter part of spring practice, but will not be in part of any contact. Collin Hill, who tore is ACL at Colorado State, and Mohamed Kaba, who tore his ACL at Clinton High School, both will be out, as well as Spencer Eason-Riddle and Nick Muse, with ACL injuries. J.J. Enagbare and Dylan Wonnum both have a congenital issue with their hip. We knew when we signed Dylan he was going to have to have surgery on his hip, but we had to shave the bone back in both situations, and they’ll miss contact in the spring. And then Tyreek Johnson’s had a sublux kneecap, which is very similar to the injury that OrTre Smith had. But all of those guys will be fine middle of April, first of May, to be ready for the summer program. And other than that, I’ll open up for any questions.

– [Reporter] Will, kind of a multi-parter. You said Collin Hill’s going to be out for the spring. Is Ryan completely healthy from that knee, ready to go?

– Yeah, out of scope.

– [Reporter] And then, with Hill being on the shelf but ready to come back, would you guys want to get a backup decision right now in spring practice, or would that change once Hill is available to come in?

– Well, we’re going to compete to have the best guy on day one start to help us win football games and who can be most productive for our football team. And we’ll evaluate that as we move through spring, and move through the summer, and get into fall camp, and go from there.

– [Reporter] You talked about being pleased with Paul Jackson. Is that, those results you can see immediately on the film in the spring, or when would you like to see those results kind of come to?

– Well Colin, I think that we’ve been able to, you know, just in talking in terms of our staff as watching our players move around, the explosiveness, the change of direction, some of the speed stuff that’s been good, a lot of competition things that he’s brought to our program which is something we necessarily, we’ve always had competition, I’m not saying we hadn’t done that. But some of the different things that he’s brought I think have been very beneficial to our players. And seeing our guys compete, and I think we’ve made some improvements in a very short time. Now I’m excited to get ’em on the field and see it carry over on the field, but just in the off season program, to see some of those things has been very pleasing.

– [Reporter] Hey Will, what went into the decision to move Dakereon full time to wideout?

– Well again, that decision really was made in August in a situation when we named Ryan the backup to Jake, and told Dakereon we felt like his best opportunity to help our football team was there. And he was 100% bought in then. Then we had the injury to Jake, and Ryan’s now the starter, and we needed Dakereon to spend all of his time at quarterback, it’s not a position you can play part time. So, he went in, and you know, the unselfish player that he is, dedicated himself there at that time, but knowing when the offseason hit, he would be a full-time receiver.

– [Reporter] What would you say is probably the most wide open position going into spring? Or the positions–

– All of ’em, they’re all wide open.

– [Reporter] Alright, any position you have the most questions about where you’re looking for guys to step up?

– You know, I think that I have questions at a lot of positions. Obviously we got to replace a guy like Bryan Edwards. At the receiver position, Shi has played extremely well his first three years, going into his senior year, excited about that. Randrecous, the injury, going into missing this spring, which is huge for him. We needed him to partake in spring, that’s a, you know, football’s a developmental sport, and we needed him to be able to take part of that. We need to get OrTre Smith back to year one. He caught 30 balls and was a guy that did a really good job. Of course, I think he’s back to that point of being as healthy as he was his first year. Josh Vann needs to step up for us. We need Josh to continue to come on. Xavier Legette played quarterback his entire career. He’s never played receiver in his life, and he starts as a true freshman for us, and Bryan did a great job of bringing him along and was a very productive player for us late in the season. And we need Xavier to step up. And we’re excited about Dakereon’s opportunities there. Tyquan Johnson is now starting to look like the guy that we recruited, explosive and fast, and needs to continue to come on. Offensive line, Dylan will not go through the spring, so that gives Jakai Moore, it gives Jaylen Nichols, Jazston Turnetine, it gives Vershon Lee opportunities at the tackle position. We’ve moved Sadarius Hutcherson to left guard. He certainly can pump out and play tackle, but we would like to for him to remain inside. We need to find a center, Hank Manos and Vincent Murphy. Eric Douglas can rep inside, Trai Jones. We got to find somebody that’s a dependable player. Donell was a good player for us. At the tight end position, we have a lot of competition. We’ll have two more guys in the fall or this summer, in Eric Shaw and Jaheim Bell as freshman. But Nick Muse will be out, so those guys will get plenty of opportunities. Trae Kenion needs to step up for us, KeShawn Toney. Both are more than capable guys, Will Register. So we need to continue to have guys step up at those positions. The young defensive linemen need to continue to grow up, Zacch Pickens, Rick Sandidge, Keir Thomas, Jabari Ellis will both be seniors, guys that have played good football for us, and we got to get more guys around that. We’re not going to have Tyreek in the spring, we’re not going to have J.J. in the spring. Aaron Sterling’s been a dependable guy for us. Devontae Davis needs to step up, missed this fall with a Lisfranc injury, another guy that we need to have respond for us, Joe Anderson was a guy that we redshirted last year, we saw some flashes of some good things. But all those guys need to continue to grow up for us. At linebacker, Sherrod needs to continue to be a dependable player that’s consistently playing well all the time. Ernest needs to continue to lead our defense. You lose a guy like Javon Kinlaw, and Dennis Wonnum, and TJ Brunson, three guys that played a lot of football for us and played well. Damani Staley’s made some really nice drives, I’ve been pleased with his production as he continues to come on for us. Rosendo Louis has gotten his weight right, and is at the best he’s been in shape as far as moving around. Just watching him in the offseason program, he’s been committed to the nutrition part of it and understanding that part. We need to get better at the safety position. Israel and Jaycee did some good things for us at corner. Cam and John Dixon need to come along. Dominick Hill’s a young player that we feel like’s moved around well. O’Donnell Fortune we’re going to play at safety. RJ and Jammie Robinson had a fantastic freshman year, can play safety, can play nickel, been a very productive player for us. Shilo Sanders needs to continue to come on for us. Jaylin Dickerson’s back healthy. So to get those guys back that have played good football for us, Darius Rush, we need too, those guys to show up and be productive players.

– [Reporter] Coming off a freshman year like Ryan did, how important and how much development can happen in this kind of spring where he gets that first starting, real experience, and then gets this chance to kind of be on the field, but also slowed down, I guess?

– Well, I think what you said at the end is the most important is the game, for any freshman, I say that the more snaps, the more reps you accumulate, the game continues to slow down for you. And they’ll be some new things that he’ll be going through as far as we’ll be up under center more. Offensively, they’ll be some different things from a verbiage standpoint, a communication standpoint that he’ll have to adapt to, as will all the quarterbacks. But again, the more snaps, the more reps you take, the game continues to slow down, and we’re looking forward to that.

– [Reporter] As you evaluate the quarterbacks this spring and into the fall, what will you look for? What will be the most important traits that you need to see?

– Who can lead our football team, be productive, be accurate with the football, take care of the football score, and who’s productive. I mean, those things is what we’re looking for. Who’s going to move our offense and be a productive, help us be a productive offense and win games.

– [Reporter] Do you get the sense yet that Mike’s criteria in that calculation is different than Dan’s was?

– No, no they’re all the same, be productive and win games.

– [Reporter] The RPOs that you implemented before, will you stay with that system?

– Yeah, mm-hm.

– [Reporter] As heavy as you did last year, you think?

– I think we’ll see where we go, you know? If obviously you’re able to call run, and haul the run, and be successful in the run game, you don’t need to rely on RPOs as much. In general, that goes back to the guy carrying the ball, how special is he? So we’ll see how that develops, and as we continue to move forward. But I’ll be able to answer that a lot more after spring probably than I can right now.

– [Reporter] What value do you and Mike place on mobility at the quarterback position?

– Well, I think number one is being accurate with the football. You got to be able to throw the football this day and age. Does legs help? Sure, but you can do some things to help yourself if you don’t necessarily have a mobile quarterback. But being accurate with the football, you’ve got to be able to throw the football this day and age.

– [Reporter] Will, where were Jay Urich be spending his time this spring?

– Quarterback.

– [Reporter] Is the receiver ever going to be an option for him again?

– Not at this time, but quarterback, we feel like it gives him his best opportunity.

– [Reporter] And then you look at another guy that came in with Mike in Adam Prentice. What can he do for this offense?

– Well, just watching him and knowing what he accomplished at Colorado State, a guy that in our 21 and 12 packages will be a move guy, fullback type, your move guy is what we would call. But obviously he’s going to contribute a lot on special teams, as well. Has great toughness about him, great leadership about him, a great work ethic. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with Adam.

– [Reporter] When he gets here, what impact are you expecting from Jordan Burch? What are your plans for working him in on the defensive line? Will it be at end or will it be inside? Do you know yet exactly how he’ll be worked in?

– No, he’ll be playing the buck position. My expectation will be for Jordan just like it’s going to be for every freshman that steps on campus in June, work extremely hard and we’ll see where the chips fall. You’ll have an opportunity to be starter, you’ll have an opportunity to play, but I tell him the same thing I tell everybody, the best guy’s going to start, and if you’re good enough, you’re going to play, but you’re going to determine that, not me, in how you come in and perform. And so, he understands that, and he’ll have every opportunity in the world to be successful, just like Alex Huntley, just like Mekiah Scott, just like Rico Powers, just like every other freshman that we have. Nobody’s treated differently.

– [Reporter] You mentioned Jammie and Israel, where do you kind of see those guys fitting, at safety, nickel, corner? And kind of how do you balance them in the spring?

– Well, Israel’s a guy that can slide inside and can play safety for us and corner, did for us last year. Jammie can play safety, nickel, we could slide him outside if we had to. But we need John and Cam to come on for us and be more consistent guys. In a perfect world, that’s what we’d like to see. But Jammie’s a guy that can play at safety and the nickel position, and any type of dime. I think now that we’ll be able to have enough depth where we’ll be able to play at a dime unit on the field.

– [Reporter] He’ll split those reps, safety, nickel, and all that, you’d expect?

– Yeah, but right now, we kind of try to teach everything by concept, so we’ll interchange guys. They may get a heavy dose of nickel one day, and the next day, they’re at safety primarily. My biggest thing is just to understand the concept so you can have some guys that are interchangeable, not just put the next guy on the depth chart, but put the next best player in.

– [Reporter] Will, when you have some unexpected positions to fill in February, does that take anything away from what you have to do in getting this team ready? And do expect any kind of a learning curve between the players and maybe some of these new coaches who are here?

– You know, not really. Change is, like I said, I think it’s an opportunity for growth, I think it’s an opportunity for improvement, it’s an opportunity to get better. We had a team meeting this morning, and I asked Mike Peterson, I said, “How many years you play in the National Football League?” First of all, I asked the players, “Who all wants to play in the National Football League?” Everyone of ’em raised their hand, just like every time. “Okay,” I said, “Okay, good, I thought that’d be 100%. “Alright, Mike Peterson, how many years you play in the NFL?” He said, “14.” I said, “How many position coaches you had?” He said, “Eight.” Okay, so I said, “Do you think Mike Peterson, if he was really sensitive about this new coach that came in, and didn’t like the way he coached me, and I didn’t like it, do you think he would’ve survived 14 years?” And they all said, “No, he probably wouldn’t have.” I said, “No, so you need to be adaptable in what you do in life, and that’s true in your job, your boss changes and all of sudden, somebody else comes in and wants to do things a certain different way, then you either adapt or you leave, one or the other.” So that’s kind of the message this morning was that’s part of it. If you want to go play in the NFL, more than likely your position coach is going to change about every two years on average, so learn to adapt to it now. You can learn new things from everybody. Are some coaches better teachers? Are some better on the field? Are some better as far as friendship and developing that? I mean, we’re all different, so it’s always how do you adapt to this coach in this situation? And that’s a away for a young man to get out of his comfort zone a little bit and grow a little bit as a player, in my opinion, and certainly can improve from a different tactic.

– [Reporter] A couple of things about Bryan McClendon. How did that process go with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and what does it mean to have him back?

– Well, it’s huge to have him back. Bryan’s done a fantastic job. I look at the development of Deebo Samuel who’s extremely talented, so I’m not taking anything away from Deebo, but when we first got here, everybody tells us he’s a speed sweep guy, that’s what he is. And then, when you talk to the San Francisco 49ers, John, they talk about his readiness to play in the National Football League. And then you look at his rookie year and what he accomplished. Now, I think you have to credit that to the development of where he was in college, and I think that a lot of that credit goes to Deebo, there’s no doubt about it, but a lot of that credit goes to Bryan. You look at Bryan Edwards who walked out of here statistically as the best receiver in South Carolina history. Now whether we agree he is or not, his name’s plastered all over that stadium for what he accomplished here, and his development with four years with coach McClendon, in my opinion, was outstanding. What he did with OrTre Smith as a freshman, what he’s done with Shi Smith as he’s come in, and some other guys. Xavier Legette’s never played receiver before, and then all of sudden steps out and starts in the Southeastern Conference, and was a very productive player for us. So it was huge to have Bryan back. And as far as any other things that are concerned, we’re glad he’s at South Carolina. A lot of information out there is also misinformation, and in that situation, there was a lot of misinformation. But guys, we have interest on our coaches every year, and we have coaches on our staff, including Bryan, that turn down other opportunities to stay at South Carolina. So, you know, we don’t always know exactly what all is happening out there, and I’ll leave it at that.

– [Reporter] You mentioned Deebo and Bryan, do you feel like having Bryan McClendon as a full-time wide receiver coach will enable him to have more production at the receiver position, develop more guys now that he doesn’t have the offensive coordinator duties on his plate?

– Well, there’s no question. Anytime you take a lesser responsibility off someone, you obviously can concentrate more on that. But Deebo was extremely productive in 2018, and Bryan Edwards was extremely productive in 2019 with Bryan calling the plays. So at the end of the day, he’s a good football coach and I’m glad he’s here.

– [Reporter] This is a little follow up on some of the staff change. Do dynamics in the coaching staff change, and what is that like for you guys dealing with staff changes and the number you guys had? Or for you guys as coaches, is change just sort of a way of life?

– As far as dynamics, what would you define that as?

– [Reporter] In terms of just how, in terms of just how staff operates, getting used to working with different guys, that kind of stuff.

– Yeah, I mean it’s, again, what I say, I think growth and improvement. You got a chance to grow differently with a coach. Every new coach that we bring in, I learn something from them. As far as what they’ve done before, I’m always trying to bounce ideas. I was talking to coach Rocker yesterday about some different things they’ve done at different places he’s been, and how they travel on Fridays, how they handle Saturday, a night game. We have all those type of discussions just to learn how some different people do things. And we certainly don’t have all the answers, but you always are trying to grow and learn from how people do things differently.

– [Reporter] How much was Bobby’s familiarity with a couple of the guys at running back, how much did that help moving him back to that spot? And how will he and the rest of the offensive staff juggle the three scholarship you guys have to, I guess, maybe not necessarily overwork them this spring, but still make sure they get plenty of reps and all that?

– Yeah, we need to rep ’em, there’s no doubt about it, especially from the standpoint of just youth concern with MarShawn and Deshaun hadn’t played a lot of snaps. In those situations, Adam’s a guy that can go back there and play in a one-back situation. If we’re an 11 personnel grouping, he’s certainly, certainly is more than capable of doing that. So again, I don’t know that the familiarity. I mean, Keveon hadn’t played a lot, Keveon’s a true sophomore, so all of those guys need as many reps as possible. We certainly don’t need to overwork anybody, but you know, I don’t know that familiarity, we were productive in 2018 at that position. When you look at when Rico went down, Mon Denson came in, and we were all worried about that, and he was a very productive player for us. AJ Turner played extremely well for us. So we were productive at the position when he was there, and that’s what I look at.

– [Reporter] And with special teams, between Rod helping out with Kyle and I guess involving the rest of the staff like you guys have done on special teams, how will that be structured this spring as you guys kind of bring that up?

– Well, Kyle is the main presenter of those things, ’cause there’s so many, there’s a lot of rule differences between punt and kickoff in the National Football League as opposed to college football, so we’re still working through those things right now with Rod. But those two guys will be the spearhead of our special teams coaching staff. And then, myself, along with the rest of assistants, other than coach Wolford, coach Rocker, and both coordinators all have a part of special teams.

– [Reporter] And some of the personnel on special teams, obviously got to replace Joe and some of the other guys with the field goal operation and return, as well. How will his position balance?

– Well, we’re working through that right now. I’ll know more as we continue through spring as far as where we are, as far as who’s going to be our short snapper or our long snapper, who’s going to be our holder, I don’t know. We’ve got a lot of names on the board right now, nobody that I’d call out ’cause I want to see ’em do it first, we haven’t been able to be out there with the ball by NCAA rules. Obviously, got a lot of confidence in Parker coming back. We need to find a kickoff guy, as well, and I can’t comment on those two specialists ’cause they’ve not signed a scholarship with us.

– [Reporter] Will, you mention MarShawn Lloyd. Just as a freshman, how much does it help him being here early, and what do you expect out of him for this first full season?

– You know, I always tell guys as far as coming mid-year, I don’t know that in my coaching career, and it’s obviously been more prevalent since I’ve been at South Carolina as far as just the numbers of guys that have come mid-year, I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a situation where it was a negative experience. I think it’s all positive. I think number one, academically. You get a lot under your belt, and you do so much better in the fall academically ’cause you’re learning right now how to balance all the stuff you got going. You’re not getting ready for a game. And generally, you’re getting oriented to the weight room much better, not that you don’t in June, but you do, you do get oriented to the weight room better. Spring practice, we’re one practice a day, and then we’re going to have film, and we’re going to go through the mistakes and we’re going to go through that. Then we’re going to walk through it, and then we’re also going to lift, so you’re continuing to get stronger. And then we’re going to practice another day. So the installation process and fall camp is like drinking water out a fire hose as opposed to now, it’s just kind of dripping water, and you’re able to really immerse yourself in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. And you’ve got today to correct it, you’ve got plenty of time to come and get with your position coach and say, “Hey, can you go over this again? “I’m not really sure about these things.” So I just think from that standpoint, it’s just a much easier transition in the fall because of what you go through in the spring. Now these guys right now are looking at us like we’re crazy, but they’ll eventually, it’ll help ’em. Not to say that a guy that comes in in June can’t start, play, contribute, whatever, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that there’s no question that it’s a benefit for a young man if he wants to come mid-year and get adjusted academically, athletically, socially.

– [Reporter] How do you think Lloyd will be from this?

– He’ll be fine.

– [Reporter] Defensive line lost three seniors, but you insert Keir Thomas back into that role. How big can he be for that group and for Tracy?

– You know, Keir’s a disruptive guy. He’s been a guy that gets a lot of vertical penetration, we’re going to play to his strengths. But he’s been a very productive player for us. It’s time for Zacch and Rick to step up. I mean, those guys have been here, Jabari has been, you know I thought played extremely well, especially in the latter part of the season for us, played both end and tackle, but really has made some strides. Devontae Davis needs to step up, missed this fall. He’ll have some opportunities. Brad Johnson on the edge is a guy that needs to give us some edge presence as far as some pass rush and some things are concerned. Aaron Sterling’s been a very productive player for us. So J.J. will be out, but those guys got to produce for us. Joe Anderson’s another guy, Donovan Wirt’s a walk-on, but been a guy that’s been very impressive at the end of last season and into the offseason program. Yep.

– [Reporter] Will, the offense, the scheme is fluid right now. But when would you like to have kind of a plan as to what that’s going to look like? And also, with the guys coming back that you know, what are some of the strengths of this offense, you think, this year?

– Well, I think we have to have some strengths in the offensive line. The experience that Jaylen and Jakai got, to have a guy like Dylan back as a three-year starter, to have a guy like Hutch back who’s now a four-year starter. Again, I voiced my concerns about the center position. We need to get some stability there, but we’ve got some guys that athletically are what you want, they have the power of what you want that have played good football for us. And, unfortunately, some of their experience last year we’re going to benefit from now, and that’s a good thing. So that is something you feel comfortable about going in. Obviously, the snaps that Ryan got is going to help him. An experienced player like Collin whose been in coach Bobo’s system is going to help him. We feel like we’ve got some talent and ability at the running back position. I still think we’ve got some talent and ability at the receiver position. Nick Muse won’t go through spring at tight end, was a productive player for us last year. So, you know, I think that as you continue to work through spring, you’re going to get a better comfort level as coach Bobo will for what his players can do. Sometimes when you’re in offseason program and you’re in shorts, it’s hard to really project and say, “I feel really good about this right now.” There’s some things that we want to be able to do, but we’ll be able to determine that a lot more as we move through spring. When? I think probably when spring is over, you’re able to go back and look at the cut ups, and look at the film, and make some decisions. But we’re still going to get a good little influx of some freshman that come in in fall camp, and some guys that are injured. I mean, he’s still to me, and you can watch all the film you want, but until it’s what you’re putting out as a coordinator, it’s hard to project. He’s never been with Dylan Wonnum, who’s a good football player, but okay, where does his comfort levels with Dylan at the right tackle position, or the left tackle position, or wherever he ends up being, those are all things to me that you build that comfort level. So I would probably say middle of training camp, we’re truly in the run game, the things we feel really good about, passing game, the things we feel really good about, would probably be about then.

– [Reporter] I apologize if I missed this earlier, I know you said you’re going to work with the linebackers in the spring to help out Rod. Are you going to move back to coach the safeties in the fall?

– We’ll look at that and just kind of see what we need to do. As far as those things concerned, Kyle, right now, Krantz, is helping T Rob with the secondary and we’ll see how it worked through spring, John.

– [Reporter] What would go into that decision whether you would want to move back in there or not? And what would the advantage be to not having the head coach have to coach a position?

– You know, I don’t know that there’s an advantage or not an advantage. Obviously, I’ve got a lot of other things on my plate that I’ve got to handle. I think it’s all about time management and being able to manage your time to make sure that, you know, I think it’s important to be able to be in the special teams meetings and be around the offensive players which I’m not as much as, obviously, the defensive players. But I think those are all things that are important. Year round, 365 days, we’ve got recruiting going on at all positions on both sides of the ball. But when a lot of your time is met with truly coaching the position, it does constrain your time a little bit as far as those other things are concerned. You don’t, you can’t ignore the other things. You’ve got to be able to spend time with those things. So that’s just something about time management, you’ve got to be able to manage through. And at the end of the day, we’ll make the best decision for our team.

– [Reporter] Speaking of Rod again, Will, what, was it his desire to want to coach a position group, a defensive position group, in wanting to come back? ‘Cause it seems like Kansas City’s got a pretty good thing going right now.

– He’s a Gamecock, he wanted to be a Gamecock, man. I mean, come on. No, it’s, one of the things he expressed to me was getting on the defensive side of the ball, and felt like this would be a great opportunity for him. He’d like to be a coordinator and eventually a head coach, and he and I talked about that, and felt like this move would be the best for him. And he’s excited about being here, he and his family both.

– [Reporter] Going back to what you were saying about the quarterbacks having to do some more stuff under center with coach Bobo, how will that learning curve be for those guys since I don’t think many of them did much of that in high school, and I guess Ryan pretty limited with that last year?

– Well, I mean I think that obviously it is different. The footwork’s different, the timing is different, the timing of the routes is different, whether it’s a five-step, a seven-step, and three-step quick game, whatever the case may be. The play actions all for that are different, but we feel like moving forward, that’s what’s going to help our football team. So they’ll, they’ve adapted well just in watching them. We haven’t done anything with a ball yet, but just watching the footwork. And Mike’s been pleased with those guys’ time that they’ve spent extra here in the building, which at that position, you have to. And all of those guys, Luke, and Ryan, and Collin and Jay, have all spent a lot of time here in the building.

– [Reporter] And going back to Jordan Burch, why the buck position? Is it just he’s athletically got that kind of fit for it?

– Well at that position, you look at Dennis Wonnum, a guy that’s, excuse me, athletic enough to play in space, athletic enough to play a hook, to play a hook flat, to play somebody man-to-man, obviously his biggest traits going to be able to rush the passer and win on the edge in our league. And we feel like that’s a different position. You’ve got to be able to have that combination athletically to do those things, you know? And we feel like he possesses those characteristics.

– [Reporter] With Dylan out, how big of an opportunity is this for that trio of Jaylen, Jakai, and Jazston? And what do you kind of see in that group in sort of the potential those three have?

– Well, all three have the size at the position, you want Jazston being the biggest of the three. But you watch him in the offseason program, you watch his lower body flexibility, you watch his hips, you watch his change of direction with his feet, he is extremely impressive moving around. All three guys are bright, all three guys can learn anything you want ’em to learn. So yeah, there’s no question. I mean, just the number of reps you get, the better off you’re going to be as a football player. And the number of reps you’re getting in live competition and understanding whether it’s in the run game or the pass game, there’s no question you’re going to improve and get better. And we need all three of those guys to improve and get better. And I think all three have the traits we’re looking for at the position.

– [Reporter] The ACC and Big 10 have kind of adopted or are presenting a rule that would allow a one-time transfer in all sports. I’m curious where you fall on that, and how do you think it would maybe impact the sport?

– You know, I think that we’re probably heading that direction, but I think if a head coach leaves, I think that a player should have the ability to transfer. I don’t have any problem with that, but I would not be for just a one-time transfer. I’ve been in this league for 20 years. Tampering will be a nice word for what’ll happen, so people will be recruiting them off your campus.

– [Reporter] How would you evaluate the way Zacch Pickens played last year, and is he sort of ready to step into that role for Kinlaw?

– Well again, everybody is their own player, and Zacch, athletically, from a girth standpoint, from an intelligence standpoint, from a work ethic standpoint, has a lot of ability. I always say the closer your position moves to the ball, the harder it is to play as a young player, because the game is much faster, it’s much bigger, it’s much more complex than what you’ve ever been used to playing in high school. That’s just part of it. Javon was nowhere near the player his first year as he was his last year, I mean, not even comparable, and he’ll be the first one that’ll tell you that. So we expect Zacch to continue to take the right steps forward to be the type player we feel like he can be and that he wants to be. And the great thing about Zacch is he is a great learner, great worker, unbelievable young man, that wants, he’s a pleaser, and he wants to do everything the right way. And when you have that kind of attitude everyday and that kind of work ethic every single day, then that’s going to translate to good things when you have the athletic ability that he has. But really, and I say this and I know it’s a bad word, but all those guys really need to be redshirted, and we weren’t in a situation we could. I mean, I’d love to be coaching Dennis Wonnum one more year. I’d love to be coaching Kobe Smith one more year. We’re just not in that situation two, three years ago, and four years ago. We had to play these guys as freshmen. Keir Thomas, I’m interested to see his fall, and this year’s going to be a lot better than any of the other years he’s played here. I remember playing him as a true freshman as a three technique, I felt bad as a coach doing it to him. I mean, but that was a situation we’re in, and those guys, we were talking this morning with coach Rocker about some of the younger guys. I said, “Some of these guys should be redshirt sophomores right now, and that’s totally different from a junior.” So again, I’m excited about Zacch, and Rick, and the guys we got coming.

– [Reporter] With the recruiting calendar and some of the changes that have been made to that recently, how do you feel about this month having been a dead period which I don’t think it’s been in the past? And looking ahead to the spring when you guys can start hosting official visitors again, would it be advantageous for everybody, schools and recruits, as well, to be able to allow head coaches to go on the road and visit with guys in home like you guys can do December and January?

– Well, there’s been a proposal that’ll allow that, and I don’t know where that is right now. I personally think to the dead period in February is a good idea, it gives you a little down time with your family, it gives you a little type for relief for the players, as well. It opens back up March 1, which is kind of tough on us ’cause we break for spring break the next week, and our last practice is on March 5, which we’ve got kids coming in that first part of the week, but a lot of people would be having that next weekend, which we’ll miss obviously, ’cause our players won’t be on campus. But I think it’s been good as far as February’s concerned. I’d love to be able to go back on the road in the spring. They’ve talked in terms of a proposal to make January, maybe December and January a contact period for juniors in those situations, which I think that would be a good rule. And then going into the spring, make it a contact period, as well, for juniors, and head coaches being able to go back on the road. But the way I saw was not to be able to go off campus, only have contact on campus, and not during classes. Good luck.

– [Reporter} And on the topic of rules and all that, I don’t know if since you’ve had a little free time this month, have you been able to watch any of the XFL and seen some of the stuff they’re doing, and if there’s anything that’s caught your eye, and you think that would be?

– I think the kickoff maybe where we’re headed. I think it’s an interesting concept, it keeps the kickoff in the game, and it eliminates some of the collisions that I think we’re trying to get away from, so I think that’s a really, really interesting new rule, I guess you’d say, that I think is maybe something we’re headed to.

– [Reporter] After kind of the results of last season, are there any core ways you kind of approach spring and that you change coming off a season like that, or not really?

– I think we evaluate it every year. We make changes every year. Coming off a nine-win season, coming off a seven, we make changes every year to continue to evaluate, continue to. When you have some influx of new staff, you do get some news ideas about different ways to do things. And obviously, Mike being a head coach, I’ve asked him a lot of questions about some different things that they’ve done. And it all goes back to fitting what’s best for your players and what’s going to help us win games, and that’s how every decision in our organization is made as far as football is concerned. And we’ve changed the offseason program a little bit. When I interviewed coach Jackson, I was impressed with some of the things he talked about and how they approached the offseason program, and we’ve revamped that pretty much completely as far as some things that we had done before. And I’ve been very pleased with the results. I’ve been, you know, to see how receptive our players have been has been really good, so that’s been good. And we’ve looked at something different things practice-wise that we do, some different things we think can help our football team.