Lexington, Ky – SEPTEMBER 18, 2023
Opening Statement…
“After watching the game, there were very similar thoughts (to) what I shared with you postgame. There’s some really good things in there and there’s some things that we’ve got to get fixed up. I feel like it’s a broken record; I’ve said that probably every Monday. You look at the film, you break it down again, you watch, we scored touchdowns on five on 10 possessions. That’s good. Then, you look at why we didn’t score. The second possession of the game, the snap. I think it sets everybody off: the fans, media, coaches, players. It kind of sets the tone. We actually had an opportunity to overcome that, but we miss a throw and catch. Anyways, we go TD, we go punt. The next one is another frustrating — I think it’s the one where we get great field position. We start with a good perimeter run and we just flat miss a block. That possession there we go three and out, lose yards, I think we get a penalty. That’s frustrating. Then, from there, you have an opportunity– we drive it 80 yards, convert some third downs. That’s where we get the fumble. Then, we go TD. Then the next three possessions could be TDs as well, but we get a hold in there. Again, it just sets everybody off. We get a hold, calls back a touchdown. Then, we go TD, TD another bad possession, and touchdown.
“It’s a broken record. I’ve talked about it each and every week. That’s the frustrating — you can’t get tired of the good that our team is doing. They can’t let the frustration seep in and we as coaches can’t. There’s a lot of good things in there and there’s a lot of pieces that we can’t (repeat), as the competition improves this week, with a team that beat us a year ago. We have to get some of those things cleaned up. I think that’s what makes it frustrating for all of us. We feel like we’re very close, and a lot of what ifs on certain possessions, but that’s football. That’s why we have to continue to concentrate and work extremely hard on doing the things that we are doing well and stay with that. In certain areas, the frustrating pieces, we have to get fixed, plain and simple.
“Defensively, played a very, very good game. Both sides were efficient on third down. We played a good, complete game, same with special teams. Obviously, we have to use better judgement and make a quicker decision to fair catch the punt return, but the players are playing extremely hard, they’re running and they’re playing physical, they’re playing very good on special teams. With that being said, I think our players, if they continue to take the approach of worrying about ourselves and improving this week, then you’ll see some more growth and try to play cleaner in certain aspects.
“Going to Vandy, our first road game of the year, SEC opponent. They are coming off an extremely tough loss and sitting there at 2-2. A very tough game for them going to Wake (Forest) but then last week on the road as well (at UNLV), have an opportunity to win the game, miss a field goal and end up losing in the last seconds. It was a heartbreaker for them. Knowing (Vanderbilt) Coach (Clark) Lea like I do, he’s going to have that team ready to play, I know them. I saw it a year ago, I said it in the press conference on Monday a year ago, told our team, I watched the energy they play with. I watched how hard they play, how physical they are and anytime you do that it gives you an opportunity to win. I know they’ll be ready and we have to concentrate on ourself, going on the road and playing a better, more efficient style than we’ve been. We have to be better in a lot of areas. We’ll be excited for the opportunity.”
On optimism of Kenneth Horsey returning…
“Not sure at this point.”
On last year’s game and how that affects this season…
“They are a different style this year. The wildcard last year was the quarterback (Mike Wright). He made some explosive plays with his run, with running the football, whether it was designed run or ad-libbing and creating. This year with (quarterback) Swann, AJ, I think is a heck of a player. They’re throwing for almost 300 yards a game, 288 a game, so a little different in that aspect. Last year, as you know, the rushing yards were very hurtful, both in designed run and with their quarterback making some plays as well.”
On if you’ll address Ray Davis about playing his alma mater and trying not to do too much…
“At some point, I’m sure, it’ll be a three-minute conversation to that point. He’s a very mature young man, but he has to continue – he’s coachable. You looked at, maybe, a missed run, getting a little too greedy a week before, we talked about it. In this past week, last week in practice and the game, you could see the discipline come back to him very quickly. He’s very mature and takes coaching.”
On the right tackle position…
“We need to continue to work better at that position, cohesively with the line and handling movement. I think we’re off-balance there a little bit at that position and can play better. We have to continue to evaluate it and play both guys. We’ll see who plays the best this week in practice and go from there.”
On if the players are aware how much more ratcheted up it will be as they step into SEC play…
“Absolutely. I think they understand. Each situation is different. This is the first SEC game of the year, it’s also our first road game. It’s the first time we’re playing—we’ve covered them all (time assignments) in four games. This will be an 11:00 kickoff — we’ve had an 11, a Noon, a 3 [P.M.], and a 7 [P.M.]. We have them all covered in the first four weeks. It’s different so you address the situation. You’re going on the road, playing an SEC opponent in our division. It’s important, I think our players know that. We talk about different situations each week.”
On if this team will be a good road team…
“We will see, we will see. We haven’t had the opportunity to go on the road yet, so we will see how we handle it. We generally have but we have to get back to being a physical football team, I know that. We have to handle some movement better and not have so many runs that go for zero yards or one yard or negative yardage. At times this past week, again, we really did that. You are sitting there 49 plays or 50 plays and 450 yards, it is not like we were completely inept. We just have to be more efficient, like you are talking about, as the competition improves. We just want to concentrate on ourselves. We want to get better.”
On if the players are as frustrated with their play as you are…
“I think they don’t need to be frustrated, they need to be critical of themselves and handle things like a pro and look at all the things and why are we having success. You cannot grow weary in that success. You have to continue to stay diligent in your preparation and areas where individually they’re falling short we have to handle that in a professional manner and take the coaching and work at it and get better.”
On what you know about this team’s personality that you didn’t know before the season began…
“I don’t know that I can define it exactly like that. I haven’t put any thought into that. We work together every day and grow each and every day. I know this team is taking coaching, they’re eager to improve and have addressed things each and every week to improve. They have worked hard. Any time that your team plays extremely hard and has great work ethic and continues to be coachable and learn, then you have an opportunity.”
On Vanderbilt’s strong passing game…
“They’ve got some playmakers. (Will) Sheppard hurt us a year ago and several of their guys, they can run. I said in the opening statement, they are throwing for darn near 300 yards a game and can move it around. Their quarterback is making good decisions. They’ve always had good schemes and they got playmakers and they are not afraid to throw some one-on-ones. So, whether you’re pressed or off (in coverage), if you’re giving him free access, he likes to take it. He’s got the arm to deliver and if you press them and get on them, they have some wideouts that can make plays for them. We have to step up and make plays.”
On if kicking issues are similar to snapping issues…
“I wouldn’t say that. Obviously, there is technique involved in all areas. Having said that, I can’t fix it. I can’t fix a kicker. For a snapper, I have an offensive line coach. We need to continue to improve. We know, we’ve seen issues that have popped up. I saw the Miami Dolphins struggle snapping the ball last night too, right? They’re good enough to overcome it. I am not happy with that. They have to overcome it. We overcame one and scored a touchdown, again I don’t want to make a habit of that. We killed one drive. We have to get better. There are options. We look at other players, we continue to develop other players, we continue to develop Jager (Burton) and give him experience and opportunity to grow. So, all of it we look at.”
Of if there is a mental component to snapping…
“I believe it could. Because Jager, who cares more than him? He cares. He works hard. He is a great young man. He cares about his performance and what he does for this team. Is there a mental component? I am sure there is. I don’t overanalyze that. As a group, I challenged the offensive line this past week. We will continue to. As a group, we need to continue to grow.”
On what you like about the defense through three games…
“We’ve been more consistent. Getting off the field, we all know that third-down issues weren’t great in week one and two, but were this past week. This last week, they extended a drive and that was the first time all year, and that gets a little aggravating. We stopped them and they missed a field goal, but it was still a long possession. We want to do a better job of dictating and getting off the field and not give up so many long drives. That was a 14-play drive, eight minutes, that gets your offense out of sync a little bit there too, especially when you are at home and trying to get some momentum and get in rhythm. I felt like we had the opportunity and again, you look at the first eight possessions when the game was on the line and woulda-coulda-shoulda, again that is three weeks in a row that we are talking about it. I don’t like it, believe me. After three games you kind of are what you are to some aspect. We are going to get better and grow. I don’t like it. But, you sit here and the first eight possessions, we there’s real good opportunity to score on six of them. So, you have to concentrate on that, what are you doing well and then how do you eliminate some of the mistakes.”
On the play where the left tackle missed a block and led to a sack…
“Yep, I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him. He got beat.”
On how exotic you can get with your defensive linemen…
“Yeah, we have some guys that are very athletic at different type of skills and we have done maybe not that exact arrangement but we have done some different things. We’ve put our tackles outside before and some rushers inside. When Josh (Allen) was here, I want to say, we had different ways of trying to get mismatches or get opportunities. But we have some versatile D-linemen, so that is a good thing.”
Re: sophomore wide receivers
“You don’t want to put it all on them but they need to understand, they’ve heard it, there’s that balance, right? In the preseason, you’re talking about them, everybody’s talking about them. I talked about it with them, don’t believe all this (the hype). You’re going into your sophomore (season), there is a reason people call it the sophomore slump. I don’t believe in that, I don’t at all. But I addressed it with them. Just because you had some success as a freshman maybe you’re not truly in tune to every aspect of the game. You have to continue to grow and get better. We try to preach that all the time. I think it does get hard with some young guys because they have some immediate success. They just need to understand the importance of staying with it, putting your head down and grinding it out and getting better. They are in certain aspects and then there’s other aspects, like most of our team, that need some improvement and needs the consistency.”
How close are things to being on point?
“I’ll give you a for instance, in the first half we have a bad snap that kills a drive. We have one fantastic, unbelievable play (by Jordan Dingle) and he’s spinning around and gets the ball stripped. What do you tell him at the end of that? Obviously, I tell him to tuck the ball away and go down at some point but that was a great individual effort and got the ball stripped. That’s frustrating, to all of us. Another frustrating piece is this is two out of three games we get great field position and did nothing with it. That gets frustrating, too. We had, I think, a well-designed play, we gotta block. We missed a block on the perimeter. (Brenden) Bates is usually a helluva blocker, a good player, and he flat whiffed on a guy in open space or we are one-on-one with the safety and Barion (Brown) and I like those odds. I think it’s a great opener to that possession and it gets nothing and we end up getting nothing out of the drive. It’s not all on him, not all on any one player. It’s a bad possession. We all can take responsibility: the play-calling, the execution, you name it.”
How do you balance being positive but also make sure your players know what’s going on?
“That’s just it. It is a fine line because you really have a tendency as a coach to hang onto the stuff that’s pissing you off. That’s going to be there and we need to get it fixed but you have to, again, look at the positive side, even myself. Before this press conference I ran through it a third time to make sure I was on point, you know what I mean, with just the good and the bad. You can’t grow weary or tired of doing the right, of doing the good things. That’s hard. It’s challenging. It’s monotonous. We have to do that. Certain areas, after three games, you want to get corrected, just like fans and everybody else. I get it, so do we. I think most people, if you told me before we teed off, we’d win 35-3, I think you’d take it. But we all know there is more out there. We all know we can play better and nobody knows (that) more than the people in that building.”
Do you need a few guys who will stand up (and say something to teammates)?
“We’ll see. This is a work in progress. We are 3-0 and about to head into SEC play. We’ll see – to the question earlier – what we have, how we travel and how they manage things. We will see. This is the opportunity for it. We talk about overcoming adversity all the time but we really haven’t (seen any). We’ve had some adversity but not the kind we’re going to face. I shouldn’t dismiss that. Certainly last week, personally, we dealt with some things that were very challenging and I think our staff did a really good job.”
How did having Coach Coen calling plays from the press box work out?
“We’ll see, he can make that decision. Last week it was best for him and his health. How he feels going forward, we’ll talk to him about it.”
Regarding Ray Davis…
“He played really good. That’s what I was alluding to earlier, if you read between the lines last week, I didn’t say any one player, but we had some holes, and we got a little greedy, it created some negative plays when they were there. For him, he’s very mature and very coachable, has great vision most of the time. With him, we pointed that out in game two, and he’s an easy fix. He’s one of those guys and kind of fixes himself. He takes great pride in doing things and the details right. He generally has great vision anyway. I watched our defensive side enough already this week, too, from last year’s game and he had some great patience and some really good runs.”
Regarding the cornerbacks’ progress…
“They’re playing better, certainly Maxwell (Hairston) did. He not only made some great open-field tackles, that one you pointed out after the game, he did. He make quick tackles, decisive, and also had some critical coverage on some third downs. He played well. Andru (Phillips) has been solid. It’s been nice to see JQ (Jonquis Hardaway) get some reps and have great vision on a couple of those. It’s going to help us moving forward.”
On Jordan Robinson’s first game…
“Yeah, it was good just to get his feet wet a little bit, get him out there and getting him playing.”
On Jonquis “JQ” Hardaway’s response in week three…
“With some guys in certain positions, reps help. They really do. Game reps really help. It’s just different. It’s different plays, and the way people attack each week. That experience matters and certainly more so with certain people than others.”
On if there is an additional challenge to an 11 a.m. CT game…
“It is what it is, like I said. I mean, who cares what I think? (laughter) I’ve got to get them ready, no matter the situation. We’ve tried many different things. We’ve gone over this through the years, when we’ve played on the road and played at 11 o’clock and our approach. I did that years ago. We played, I think it was at Missouri at 11 and just the way we get them up, get them rolling, get the music going. I want high energy early in the morning, you’ve got to wake them up and get them rolling. So, that’s always been our approach for 10 years or so with the early kicks. Maybe nine (years). I might’ve taken one butt-whooping, and then you learn a little bit from it. You learn each and every time. But, we’ve done it for a long time, kinda getting them up, try and get them motivated and get them going.”
On making sure the construction at the stadium isn’t a distraction…
“Yeah, it needs to be talked about, so they’re not surprised when they see it, because there definitely will be the most challenging environment we’ll play in this year, from that point, just aesthetically and getting dressed and logistically and all that. So, we’ll deal with it just like everybody else has to. It is what it is. Our players will handle it just fine. I’ve seen a little bit on film and on tape, but it’s hard to get a feel for it, with the dressing all that. I know our ops guys have been working on it, Josh (Pruitt) has been working on it for a month or two.”
On Josh Kattus leaving the Kentucky-Akron game in the fourth quarter and if there is a lingering injury…
“We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll give you an update later in the week.”
On Devin Leary being critical of himself and if it is possible to be overly self-critical…
“I am sure, but each individual, he’s got to work through that. Again, Devin (Leary) is a guy that is a mature young man. He’s been through it, he’s played. He has the experience. I think he wants to do well. He is one of those guys that wants to perform and wants to help his team and play the best he can. He has done some really good things as you’ve seen. Some of those throws, some things he’s doing are incredibly well. And, there’s some areas where he just can’t miss them. You can’t miss open shots, and certain passes I’m sure he wishes he could have over, but he’ll get better and better, I am very confident in that. I like a lot of the things he is doing.”
When you were a coordinator, what were the pros and cons of being in the press box…
“Well, there are several things that you have to take into consideration. Being up top, the vision is great. Early in my career, I was in up top and the vision was always good. But, it was mostly just a secondary coach at that point, I wasn’t in charge of the whole defense. Then, I moved down because of the interaction, that’s the difference, is the interaction. The vision isn’t as good. Liam (Coen) and I have talked about it, without getting into detail, but the fact that he was going up, the nice thing for him is he can write down plays in-between, he can clearly see it, notice the issues. The bad thing is those players are used to seeing him, with him being in charge and seeing him down there. So, those are things they have to weigh. For him, most importantly, is what is best for him and his health.”
On how much involvement you have with the offense…
“I find myself still equally splitting up my time. But, I probably spend more time than I used to probably, let’s put it that way, with the offense. All those years everybody saying I was influencing it, bullcrap (laughter). So, I’ve probably been more involved lately just from a standpoint of making sure we’re getting things fixed. Because, on the defensive side, obviously after 11 years of being a head coach, you better have a pretty good feel for all areas. But, for defense, it was always my expertise. It doesn’t take me long to see what’s going on on film and what’s right and what’s wrong. The difference is Brad (White) has been with me for so long, that I have such great confidence that I could easily talk about this, this and this and he is already on it. Sometimes you could do it one way or another and let’s talk through exactly how we’re going to do that, how we are communicating that to the players. But, I have the same confidence in Liam, but I also just want to help, and lean on guys when they need leaning on, or encourage when they need to be encouraged, and I am talking individually, and through the offense, and just help where needed and improve our team. But, I have great confidence in all of our coordinators but I also want to support and help any way we can.”
