VIDEO: Paul Jackson Introductory News Conference

NEWS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

– [Will Muschamp] All righty, per your request, we all want to meet Paul Jackson, you get to meet him today. So that’s a good deal. But, before I introduce Paul, I want to update some things, staff-wise, some changes we’ve made. Joe Cox has been hired to coach our tight ends. Joe was with Coach Bobo for five years, at Colorado State. Coached the tight ends for four years, and the receivers this past year. It was very evident, to me, early in the process, in talkin’ to Mike about comin’ here, that he wanted somebody to be with him, that he trusts, that knows and understands the concepts and things that he once taught, as an outstanding teacher, coach and recruiter. And then brought Joe in, in December, and spent three or four days with him. Realized, very quickly, why Mike wanted him here. Very sharp, he’s done an outstanding job. I’ve seen Joe on the road, recruit us from Charlotte. Played for the great Tommy Knotts, at the Independence High School. I think the world of Tommy, and he recommended Joe, as well. From the area, he’s done a really good job recruiting. A really good evaluator, and an outstanding football coach, and he’s going to really help our staff. Again, I went to Auburn in ’06 and, going in as a coordinator, and havin’ the entire staff remain, it’s hard. I did it in ’08, at Texas. You’re the only guy there, you’re teachin’, not just the players, but the coaches, in a lot of situations. The things that you want being taught, fundamentally, techniques and such, scheme, and so, this certainly is going to help in Mike’s transition, here, so we welcome Joe and Erica, and their daughter Avery, here to Columbia, and excited about them. That enables us to move Bobby Bentley to work with Coach Bobo, with our quarterbacks, that’s Bobby’s background, it’s a huge advantage for us to have a guy like Bobby on staff, whose coached multiple spots on the offensive side of the ball, and that’s his background, so that’ll be a good transition for us, and it’ll let Mike be more adaptable, on the field, to be able to move around, and do some different things. In order to make this work, you can only have 10 coaches recruit, off the field, and coach on the field. Kyle Cranston moved back to his analyst role, for us. This had nothin’ to do with Kyle’s coaching, recruiting, anything, this had to do with makin’ this move work, for Mike, and what’s best for our staff, at this time. So that’s what we’ll do. Right now, as a staff, we’re workin’, obviously, on recruiting, finishin’ out the 2020 class, workin’ on the 2021 and 22, ranking those boards, 23, ranking those boards, and gettin’ everything set for about two and half weeks, a little bit, to be able to go on the road, recruiting, in January. Before the February signing date. We’re also workin’ on the quality control and analytics from our season, and goin’ back through to see some things that, obviously, we need to improve on. But excited about Paul Jackson’s wife, Kristina, comin’ here to Columbia. In the interview process, was extremely impressed with him, and worked with and for people that I’ve got great respect for, in that industry. Really excited about his addition, here. Paul, I’ll let ya open it up for any questions.

– [Paul Jackson] All right, just want to start off definitely thanking Coach Muschamp, for the opportunity. Sayin’ how fired up me and my wife really are, to come to Columbia, and be Gamecocks. It is an unbelievable opportunity. Every day, I’m around it, I’m gettin’ more and more excited. See the facilities, to know the coachin’ staff, to see the way Coach Muschamp is leading the staff with great organization, and great passion. I’m just fired up, and can’t wait to get to work, on Monday.

– [Reporter] Paul, first of all, congrats on the move. With injuries, I know a lot of times they can’t be avoided, but what would your technique be to try to limit them, and try to keep them from happening?

– [Paul Jackson] Yeah, you’re right, injuries are an issue everywhere, it’s somethin’ that is tough to deal with, it’s one of the main things that we are charged to do. It’s multi-factorial, is why it’s so hard to predict are really nail down why somethin’ happened. The first thing you have to look at is previous injury history. It’s somethin’ that occurred, you have to deal with it, so guys who have previous pathologies, previous issues, you have to be aware of that, you have to communicate with those guys, you have to monitor them more closely than the other ones, who did not, but, again, the greatest predictor of future injuries is past injuries, you have to look at that. You have to take a look at their habits, outside of here. The kids have to take some ownership of that. So educating them and drivin’ home the importance of nutrition, hydration, sleep hygiene, all those things are going to be critical. You have to get that done. Me and coach talked a little bit, I fully believe that you have to have exposure, throughout the entire year, to high speed sprinting, to help limit some soft tissue injuries. You can’t get away from it, for extended periods of time, and think that you can ask to go red line, during the season, or at any point, and you haven’t been prepared for that. So havin’ microdoses of that, all throughout the year, are going to be big. Also, utilizing the Catapult and the monitoring systems that we have. Comin’ up with some new ideas, and lookin’ at the acute to chronic ratio of loading and stressors, bein’ able to really bring some new ideas to that, I think are things we’re going to do, to try to help.

– [Reporter] What exactly was the timeline in the process, for both of you, that brought Coach Jackson here?

– [Will Muschamp] Well, obviously, we were in the market pretty early, in December, for a strength coach. Call around to some people that you trust, do some research on some guys for three or four days, and then brought several people in, to interview. Paul being one of those. Very impressed, in the interview. In December, I guess about mid-December, just extremely impressed with him, and his presentation, and some of the things that he addressed, in the interview. So that’s kind of how it went.

– [Reporter] Paul, Will kind of touched on your sprint work being somethin’ that really impressed him, in the interview process. Can you just elaborate on that? You already touched on it a little bit, but just, when you talk about that, what is sprint work, and how do you approach it?

– [Paul Jackson] Gotcha, so when most people who don’t have track and field backgrounds, they look at runnin’, they think runnin’ is all the same. You’ve got to differentiate between sprinting and running. So, when you’re conditionin’, or you’re doin’ anything, say under 90% of your absolute best, that you could do, for whatever reason, if it’s ’cause of fatigue, it’s ’cause we did 20 reps, it’s ’cause of your effort, if, for any reason, you’re running less than say 90% of your absolute best, and when you’re lookin’ at velocity, you’re thinkin’ in terms of meters per second, for whatever distance you’re lookin’ at. That’s not going to be sprinting, you’re not going to be able to get faster, running at those sub-max velocities, and you’re also not stressing the tissues the same way you will when you do run above those velocities, so you have to recognize that, first. I was able to work at a place called the Parisi Speed School, back in the early 2000’s, when they were really doin’ some high-level stuff, combine prep. That was a blessing, it’s a lucky opportunity that I got to work there, where we got to focus on that. A lot of strength coaches, we come up in the weight room, we come up playin’ football, and you just know that. You don’t really get the exposure, unless you add a track background. So I was able to get that, and learn how to program, learn the importance of it. The other things is that, as football coaches, as sport coaches become more knowledgeable, a lot of times, as a strength coach, you’re just tryin’ to, not make the sport coach happy, but, they want to see certain things. And, as their knowledge goes, you may see a sprint workout, its got to be a quality-based type of workout. So it’s not going to be guys throwin’ up, in that particular session. We’ll have other sessions where we’re droppin’ guys, but that is not what those are for. So, as they start to understand and value the quality of movement you can get on a sprint session, it gives you some freedom to do those things. Maybe you allow longer rest periods, you make it competitive in nature, you let guys line up and race, and you do things like that to get true, close to their peak velocities achieved, more often.

– [Reporter] And, Coach Jackson, obviously the weight room, over there, is brand new, but is there anything over there that you need, that you don’t have, that you want to emphasize more? Or do you feel like everything’s in good shape, over there, with what you like to do?

– [Paul Jackson] Well, it’s a big, beautiful room. It’s the best lookin’ room I’ve seen. The windows, and the size of it, and the layout. There’s some minor things, just specific to your program, that we’re workin’ through, right now. This week, I’ve been goin’ through it, goin’ through our whole entire program with the staff, the interns, and everything, and checkin’ off what we don’t have. Some small stuff, there’s some little hurdles, blocks, just minor things that we have to get, but they got plenty of barbells, plenty of dumbbells, plenty of weights, and that’s where the work’s going to get done.

– [Reporter] Coach Jackson, how do you approach the non-weightened, and speed helmet, the personal element of being a strength coach, that role on a staff, and what is the process like, in the last month, getting on the same page with Coach Muschamp, and his vision for what a strength coach does, on that front?

– [Paul Jackson] Right, so, we do spend a ton of time with the guys. We also have a different relationship, with the players, than the coaches do. We didn’t recruit ’em, I don’t determine their playing time, necessarily, so there is an opportunity for those relationships to be different. First and foremost, I have to be able to echo Coach Muschamp’s vision. So we have to be on the same page, with that. Durin’ the interview process, he had to be comfortable with me, and I had to make sure that I believe in what he’s talkin’ about, because I’m going to have to relay that to the kids, every single day, when I’m around ’em. That’s mission number one. But, bein’ that our relationship is somewhat different, it let’s you maybe have a big brother, or a uncle type, where they trust you more, they may be open, a little free-er, to tell you things, and you can guide ’em; where, obviously, when it’s work time, and we got our standards that we’re going to uphold, but if it’s just walkin’ by ’em in the hallway, and talkin’ to ’em about whatever, it doesn’t have to be football, it doesn’t have to be weight rooms. Everybody’s vapin’ and stuff, nowadays. You may have seen somebody do it, and I can just talk to ’em as a human, as a man, about what’s good about it, why it’s not going to help him achieve his goals, and just try to have that influence on him, and really be involved. We want to be around these guys, all the time. As strength staffs have gone to football, only, or one sport, only, it gives you that opportunity. You can be at meals with ’em, you can be in a locker room with ’em, you’re at practice, you can do all these things and really form bonds, and be able to influence ’em, that way. Almost bein’ older captains of the team, where a lot of these young guys are not. They don’t know how to lead, or they’re not fully matured yet, we are, and we can be around ’em and help influence ’em in indirect ways, also.

– [Reporter] Coach Jackson, where are you, in terms of putting together your staff, the guys who are going to work below you?

– [Paul Jackson] Okay, so, we get four assistants, that can help me in that. We have three hired, right now, we got one close, so, by Monday, we want to hopefully have that wrapped up, and be ready to roll.

– [Reporter] Are you bringing anybody with you, from Ole Miss?

– [Paul Jackson] Yes sir, we’re bringin’ two guys from Ole Miss, Julian Whitehead and Anthony Henderson were both with me, there. Very bright, young guys. Julian, in particular, he adds a lot, because he can be a conduit, a liaison, with the training room. He’s got a main interest in rehab, and helpin’ with those guys, so it’s continuin’ to strengthen that relationship between the weight room and the trainin’ room, and make sure that communication is there is going to be a big part of my transition, and I think those guys will help me with that.

– [Reporter] Yeah, Coach Muschamp mentioned that, when an offensive coordinator, or a coordinator comes in, it’s nice to have one of your own guys. How important is that, for you, to be able to bring a couple of your own guys to help with that transition?

– [Paul Jackson] It is absolutely critical. Now, long-term, you just want the best guys. I want guys that can coach, and get around the players, and influence ’em. Now, me, comin’ in, I don’t know one kid’s name. If you had a staff, and coach mentioned it about how you have to coach the coaches, that is a drain when you’re first gettin’ started. So if it’s one guy that you’re replacin’, it’s easier, you can bring in one who doesn’t know it, and you can coach him up, but if you have to coach up four new staff members, while I’m learnin’ the players’ name, they don’t know exactly what I mean when I say somethin’, or how I want things set up. Even right now, we’re takin’ three, four, full days to go over every aspect of the program with the staff, where most of ’em are familiar with me. If those were not, it would be a very stressful situation, and I would go into Monday a little more uneasy, of how it would go. We would get it right, given time, but bein’ able to start on day one, havin’ guys who know what you want is critical.

– [Reporter] Is the third guy somebody that you’re attaining from here? Or can you–

– [Paul Jackson] No, actually, we were going to retain guys from here, they got other opportunities, decided to move on, but the third guy is a guy I tried to hire at several different times, in my career. Goin’ back to when I was an assistant at LSU, and he kept gettin’ different jobs. So he’s a guy I’m excited to finally get to work with, we’ve been in touch, I’ve known him for 10 years, and I’m excited to have him. His name’s Scott Sawa, so he was most recently the head strength coach at Texas State.

– [Reporter] Will, what is the contract deal with Coach Cox, and, just to clarify with Coach Bentley, does he become the quarterbacks coach, or is he assisting Mike Bobo–

– [Will Muschamp] He’s going to assist Coach Bobo, and it allows Mike, obviously, more opportunity to coach the entire offense. Contract situation’s still, I think, being approved, so I can’t comment on that.

– [Reporter] Paul, once the kids get back, are they already back– Once they get back and start the conditioning, what all will be the conditioning process, from January ’til when spring practice starts?

– [Paul Jackson] All right, so we’re tryin’ to take it in phases. While the coach is out recruiting, we have pretty much a four week block, before they come back and start to get involved, some more, so we’re lookin’ at that, first. Anytime you miss the Bowl game, you have an extended rest period, where they’ve been gone, which can be good, they can freshen up, they can come back energized, excited, all those things, but you do have to recognize they’ll probably be de-conditioned, somewhat, so you want to start off reasonable, and make sure you can progress it, accordingly. We’ll train four days a week, two days will be those speed days, we talked about, and two days will be more traditional conditioning days, and we progress the two days, opposite. So our speed work will go from short to long, where you’re workin’ with shorter sprints, less volume, and, eventually, doing longer sprints. The conditioning does just the opposite, you start with longer, less intense, and by intense I mean it’s hard work, but it’s less meters per second, slower, might be a better word. So, longer, slower, and then those start to get shorter, faster. So, as you get closer to football, those two days start to look more similar, so now your conditionin’ sessions, they’re runnin’ fast, on those days as well, as they are on the other days, and you’re just progressin’ it, that way. Tryin’ to get ’em ready. You also have to start to introduce more changes of direction, more cutting, because you don’t want ’em to go into football, you’ve just been doin’ straight line runnin’. Some of our conditionin’ days will transition from straight line, into multiple changes of direction, be it gassers, or be it shuttle-type conditionin’ sessions.

– [Reporter] Coach Jackson, you mentioned the people that you’re bringing in, and what you envision your staff being, what’s your previous experience with food and nutrition staffs, and what do you see, going forward, your working relationship with Kristin Coggins, and her staff, and how closely you’ll work together?

– [Paul Jackson] Yeah, I value nutrition, as greatly, all these areas of people that are experts in their field. If you’re at a smaller school, where you don’t have the resources and you have to try to be the expert, in everything, it’s very very difficult. You may grow as a coach, and learn a lot, but havin’ resources available to you, where you don’t have to be, I can just support her, and me and my staff can support her, in her vision and what she wants to do. But her setup, here, is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The resources she has, the amount of food she’s able to provide, the care she gives, and everything she wants to get done is unbelievable, so we’re going to help her any way we can. I’m excited to see it. I’ve never been anywhere that offers this much nutritional support, as far as food, to the kids.

– [Reporter] Will, two things, do you anticipate any more staff changes, movin’ forward?

– [Will Muschamp] Not at this time.

– [Reporter] And with Joe, what kind of jumped out to you, about his recruiting prowess, and have you determined what area he’s going to recruit, movin’ forward?

– [Will Muschamp] Yeah, we’ve got 10 coaches that recruit the state of South Carolina, and he’s one of those areas, and that’s really movin’ through the Rock Hill area. He’s from Charlotte. You talk to the coaches in Charlotte, that I know extremely well, all had nothin’ but great things to say about him, as far as his relationships with the perspective student athletes, the high school coaches in the area. But we’ll end up havin’ five coaches in North Carolina, six in Georgia and six in Florida. I’d have a hard time tellin’ you where everybody’s recruitin’, right now, but we just finished that on Monday. But, again, just very personable, very sharp, got a great work ethic, all the things you’re lookin’ for as far as the intangible qualities or concern, and obviously I trust Mike, and his judgment.

– [Reporter] Coach Jackson, I don’t know how much recall you have, from when South Carolina played at Ole Miss, a couple years back, but what do you remember about that team, and were there any specifics that stood out to you from seein’ those guys on the other sideline?

– [Will Muschamp] You lost.

– [Paul Jackson] Yeah, we lost. And I’m competitive–

– [Will Muschamp] Worst field in the league, his guys stayed healthy. That’s a good thing.

– [Reporter] Will, when you were approaching lookin’ for a new strength coach, was the sprint background an emphasis that you came in wanting, or was that more somethin’ that, you found a guy who, that was part of his–

– [Will Muschamp] Nah, it jumped out in the interview process, and that’s somethin’ that several people that I talked with, before I even visited with Paul, or even called Paul, that that was one of the first things they said, was his sprint background was very impressive.

– [Reporter] Coach Jackson, if I’m a student athlete, and you’re workin’ me out, what motto’s am I likely to hear, on a day-to-day basis–

– [Will Muschamp] We’ll both be lookin’ for a job, if that happens.

– [Reporter] Anything you use to pump people up, ‘No pain, no gain’, is that somethin’ people still say?

– [Paul Jackson] We got a bunch of ’em, that’s not necessarily one. I got one I like to say, ‘No days off.’ Not that there’s literally no days off, but just knowin’ that everything counts, everything matters. You can’t take anything for granted. My big one, for myself, that kind of guides me is ‘Glad I did versus wish I had’, a concept where, at the end of the day, you’re going to lay down and your subconscious is going to take toll, and weight those out, and if you had more ‘glad I did’s’ on your heart, at the end of the day, you probably know you’re headed in the right direction. If you got more ‘wish I had’s’, you’re probably headed towards some regrets, and you want to make sure we don’t do that, you want to make sure we maximize our abilities and opportunities. So we’ll focus on things like that.

– [Reporter] Coach Jackson, the Catapult system is something they’ve used, here. Is that something you used at Ole Miss, and can you just talk to the advances of that part of weight training, over the last few years?

– [Paul Jackson] We could never afford Catapult, at Ole Miss, so we had Zephyr, and we had Polar, we had two different systems, which are competitors of Catapult. I’m excited to get in here, with Catapult, I think the interface is much better. The support and the adaptability of that system is much better than the ones I’ve used, previously. But, yeah, I’m excited to get in and check it out, as well as bring some of the new ideas, at least, as the factors that they were lookin’ at versus things I’ve looked at, in the past, and how we can merge ’em and take it from there.

– [Reporter] Coach Muschamp, I’m sorry if I missed this, but did you mention who was going to take over Coach Cranston’s on-field coaching duties?

– [Will Muschamp] Me.

– The safeties, as well?

– [Will Muschamp] Mm-hm.

– [Reporter] Will, just a couple of housekeeping things. Are you allowed to talk, yet, about anybody who might’ve transferred in, since returning? Okay, and just lookin’ at spring practice, are any guys healthy, might be expected to miss the first couple of weeks?

– [Will Muschamp] We’re still kind of workin’ through, there’s five guys, obviously, Spencer Eason-Riddle, and Nick Muse had ACL, so they’ll miss spring. Dylan Wonnum, in the recruiting process, Dylan’s body structure, he had both of his hip bones grow inward, and we knew, when we recruited him, that he was going to eventually have to have surgery, so we went ahead and had hip surgery, so he’ll miss spring. J.J. Enagbare got cut, in our last ball game, and had a little bit of an issue with the hip. I don’t know that he’ll be back for spring, he had the same surgery. Tyreek Johnson had the same issue that OrTre had, sublux kneecap, it’s a hereditary deal, that we went ahead and had the surgery on him. But those five are the only ones, everybody else will be ready to go.

– [Reporter] Paul, you were obviously at Ole Miss with D.K. Metcalf, how much do you take credit in his body transformation, and what was that reaction, when you saw his shirtless picture, before the draft, goin’ viral?

– [Paul Jackson] Well I worked with him for three years, so I know what he looked like, already, but the reaction to his appearance was fun to watch, and it was impressive. D.K. is gifted, naturally blessed kid. The biggest thing was the way he was raised. I don’t know if you watched his interview, after he had that big playoff game last week, it’s ‘yes ma’am’, and very humble, and that’s the type of kid he is. From day one, he walked on campus ready to work as hard as it possibly took, to make his goals happen. There was no issues with him, he did everything the right way, so we talk about maximizing ability, he’s one of the, of every kid I’ve worked with in my career, he’s one of those guys. He was always great in the weight room, he did have to work, to get better at football. There was a bunch of stuff he had to work on, be it releases and several things, and he did that, and attacked it, and it’s just gettin’ better. As a kid, obviously what he looks like, he blessed. He grew, through our three years, and packed on muscle, got faster, all those things, but he walked in gifted, I can’t say he didn’t. But the type of kid he is, and the stories I can tell, and use him as a model, goin’ forward, I love it.

– [Paul Jackson] Hundred percent. I’ve already had kids come in, ‘You going to get me lookin’ like D.K.?’ You better start prayin’, right now, but the way he attacked it, and the way he maxed out everything he has, he got the most out of his potential.

– [Reporter] If both of you all want to touch on this, how closely will you all work, together, in terms of practice setup, and what happens there, in order to minimize injuries as much as possible?

– [Will Muschamp] John, we work very closely, and have in the past, as far as, you go back and look, when studying the Catapult system, we actually were not having enough high effort, what we would classify as, as Paul said 90, we said 80%, this past year, of some of our skill guys. We had some soft tissue issues. We needed to have more high effort runs, than we were doin’, at practice. And that’s somethin’ that we studied, this past year, mid-way through the season, and that was somethin’ that we implemented as the season was going on, movin’ forward, but those are all things that, through the weight room and our training staff, they’re constantly crunchin’ the numbers, and givin’ us the information. We have access, because of the Catapult system, to eight or 10 other schools in our league to look at practice loads, to look at yardage, and we are, pretty much across the board, about the same as the schools in our league, as far as what’s going on, on the practice field. As far as the amount of time that we’re on the field, and the amount of player load that each player’s intakin’, based on the position. So that’s somethin’ that we constantly continue to study. And then, obviously, if Paul has suggestions of different things that we need to, with different players, ’cause not everybody’s the same, and some guys do need more sprint work in order to get themselves ready for practice, and those are things that we always make accommodations for.

– [Reporter] Is that the main thing that you’ve come across, the more sprint work, the more 90% plays?

– [Will Muschamp] We felt more comfortable, as we continue to move forward and those guys were practicin’ better. That’s really somethin’ that we studied as the season was goin’. The frustrating thing, a little bit, especially when you have younger players, you don’t have the information, for the Catapult, you’re guessin’ a little bit, with those guys. Now, once you get into a year with a guy, and then you’re workin’ into the second year, you’ve got a better idea of what he can and can’t handle, as far as those things are concerned. The injury history’s an important part of it, as well.

– [Reporter] Once quick follow-up to the spring injuries, I know Mohamed Kaba had a torn ACL, during the season, he’ll be ready to go?

– [Will Muschamp] No. No, I was just talkin’ about the returning players.

– [Reporter] Will there be any more freshman, we’ll miss?

– [Will Muschamp] I think Mohamed is the only one. Off the top of my head. They’re goin’ through their physicals right now, and everybody’s been great, so, but I think Mohamed’s the only one.