Sorry for the delay in posting today's notes, Jay Johnson had a little press gathering to talk about fall ball (that I'll have video from later) but that meant staying on campus after practice and to be blunt the wi-fi on campus uhhhhh sucks. But anyway here are today's notes including a conversation with Khalil Tate who got to take center stage finally plus informative conversations with Scott Boone and DeAndre' Miller plus Rich Rodriguez as always.
* Let's get right into it and we'll begin with Tate who spoke for the first time in quite a while. It was a defensive player/coach interview day but as I mentioned yesterday but because he has other things he has to do on the usual offense day he spoke today. There was a large media contingent as you would expect but Tate kept things pretty close to the vest. He was asked if he'll be the starter Saturday and he replied "hopefully."
He's not someone who gets too high or too low and that is how he conducts his interviews. Tate said last season he got up to 222 pounds and right now he's checking in at 208.
Tate's poise was something that stood out during Saturday's game and the sophomore looking as calm as he does during games isn't happening on accident.
"I've always been calm under pressure," he said. "That's the motto I like to live by. Stay calm because the team sees that because if the team sees that they'll bite off of that and do well."
* Rodriguez of course hasn't officially named his starting quarterback yet but it has been implied all week that it will be Tate and quite frankly it needs to be. The UA head coach did say that Tate and the rest of the quarterbacks have had a good week this week through the first couple practices and he has sounded positive about the direction this thing is moving right now.
"He has, but I think all the quarterbacks have practiced pretty well," Rodriguez said today. "I've been pleased with the two full practices we have. Khalil's got a little bounce in his step and rightfully so."
* Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates declined to talk with the media today, so I caught up with linebackers coach Scott Boone and he took a lot of the blame for what went wrong Saturday against Colorado. He is up in the booth during games and he said he didn't do his job when it came to relaying the right adjustments down to the field for his group and the defense as a whole. In his mind it wasn't that Arizona did things wrong so much as it wasn't prepared for the new things Colorado broke out on the team.
"We were pretty good against the things that we expected," he said. "Then they threw some wrinkles at us that we didn't work enough and that's on us. That's on me as a linebackers coach to make sure the young guys know, not only what we are expecting, but able to give them some tips about some unexpected things. Then I didn't do a good enough job upstairs of helping Marcel with the adjustments.
"We should have been able to adjust easier to the things they were doing within what our scheme is. So we just gotta do a better job as coaches, especially me as the linebackers coach, making sure my young guys are not only prepared for what we have seen but give them some what-if scenarios in practice or in meetings. Saying, 'well if they take a page out of Colorado's playbook and do this unbalanced make sure we're prepared to adjust.' Having young guys on the field I can't get a bunch of feedback from them after each series, but we've gotta do a better job overall at linebacker and revert back to basic fundamentals when you get stuff you haven't really prepared for."
* Boone knows there will be some adjustments that need to be made moving forward and he wants his group to be perfect at all times but it might not be so realistic with young players. That means there will always be something to work on and right now there is one thing he has in mind that he has his young group focusing on.
"I think with our young guys reading the run-pass keys better," he said. "So when it's run being able to play downhill and be physical and use your athletic ability and when it's pass being able to get into your coverage drops to be able to help out the deep people. I think young guys have a tendency to just stand around until their sure, so that tells me they're not exactly reading their keys to know know run-pass and know where there fits are and things like that.
"It's a constant battle and it's a constant struggle but those guys are really working hard on it. My big thing in the film room is, 'where are your eyes, what's your key telling you and now what's your reaction?' Sometimes their eyes are right and they do it pretty well, but sometimes their eyes are wrong and they get fooled or they're not coming downhill when they should be or they're not dropping when they should be.
"Those are all things you can't simulate much in practice because you don't get the same kind of full speed look, but if your eyes are right and the scout team in practice gives us the proper look we should be able to get the right keys and that should carry over into the game. The big thing is in coaching linebackers is, what are you eyes telling you? What does that tell you to do? And then how are you going to react? That's one thing we have to really continue to work on."
Colin Schooler made his first start of the season against Colorado at middle linebacker but there is still one key element of the position that Boone wants to see come out more in games and on the practice field.
"My only issue with Schooler, maybe, is that he's not vocal enough for mike linebacker," Boone said. "As he gets more comfortable he can become more vocal. And that's my job to make sure that he's as comfortable going into the game as I am so he can be vocal and get everybody the help they need up front."
* DeAndre' Miller had four tackles in his return to the field Saturday as he gets back into the swing of things after foot surgery in the offseason. The senior joked that he was happy to hit a bag let alone another team when he finally was able to get back on the field, but he was happy with being able to contribute again in the win.
Miller has really turned into a mentor for the young linebacker group and he said this year's freshmen class of linebackers reminds him of the group he came to Tucson with that included players like Scooby Wright and Derrick Turituri. He said he does feel a sense of responsibility to pass along his knowledge to the young players and help leave the program in good hands. His biggest bit of advice?
"Go out there and if you mess up mess up hard," he said. "If you go through the wrong gap, go through the wrong gap and smack somebody. It's just all about going hard. The mental aspect of the game is going to grow as you get older and with more experience, but you can't teach intensity. That's what the young guys have with Kylan (Wilborn) and Tony Fields and Colin. They all have intensity and that's why they're out there balling right now."
* Let's get right into it and we'll begin with Tate who spoke for the first time in quite a while. It was a defensive player/coach interview day but as I mentioned yesterday but because he has other things he has to do on the usual offense day he spoke today. There was a large media contingent as you would expect but Tate kept things pretty close to the vest. He was asked if he'll be the starter Saturday and he replied "hopefully."
He's not someone who gets too high or too low and that is how he conducts his interviews. Tate said last season he got up to 222 pounds and right now he's checking in at 208.
Tate's poise was something that stood out during Saturday's game and the sophomore looking as calm as he does during games isn't happening on accident.
"I've always been calm under pressure," he said. "That's the motto I like to live by. Stay calm because the team sees that because if the team sees that they'll bite off of that and do well."
* Rodriguez of course hasn't officially named his starting quarterback yet but it has been implied all week that it will be Tate and quite frankly it needs to be. The UA head coach did say that Tate and the rest of the quarterbacks have had a good week this week through the first couple practices and he has sounded positive about the direction this thing is moving right now.
"He has, but I think all the quarterbacks have practiced pretty well," Rodriguez said today. "I've been pleased with the two full practices we have. Khalil's got a little bounce in his step and rightfully so."
* Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates declined to talk with the media today, so I caught up with linebackers coach Scott Boone and he took a lot of the blame for what went wrong Saturday against Colorado. He is up in the booth during games and he said he didn't do his job when it came to relaying the right adjustments down to the field for his group and the defense as a whole. In his mind it wasn't that Arizona did things wrong so much as it wasn't prepared for the new things Colorado broke out on the team.
"We were pretty good against the things that we expected," he said. "Then they threw some wrinkles at us that we didn't work enough and that's on us. That's on me as a linebackers coach to make sure the young guys know, not only what we are expecting, but able to give them some tips about some unexpected things. Then I didn't do a good enough job upstairs of helping Marcel with the adjustments.
"We should have been able to adjust easier to the things they were doing within what our scheme is. So we just gotta do a better job as coaches, especially me as the linebackers coach, making sure my young guys are not only prepared for what we have seen but give them some what-if scenarios in practice or in meetings. Saying, 'well if they take a page out of Colorado's playbook and do this unbalanced make sure we're prepared to adjust.' Having young guys on the field I can't get a bunch of feedback from them after each series, but we've gotta do a better job overall at linebacker and revert back to basic fundamentals when you get stuff you haven't really prepared for."
* Boone knows there will be some adjustments that need to be made moving forward and he wants his group to be perfect at all times but it might not be so realistic with young players. That means there will always be something to work on and right now there is one thing he has in mind that he has his young group focusing on.
"I think with our young guys reading the run-pass keys better," he said. "So when it's run being able to play downhill and be physical and use your athletic ability and when it's pass being able to get into your coverage drops to be able to help out the deep people. I think young guys have a tendency to just stand around until their sure, so that tells me they're not exactly reading their keys to know know run-pass and know where there fits are and things like that.
"It's a constant battle and it's a constant struggle but those guys are really working hard on it. My big thing in the film room is, 'where are your eyes, what's your key telling you and now what's your reaction?' Sometimes their eyes are right and they do it pretty well, but sometimes their eyes are wrong and they get fooled or they're not coming downhill when they should be or they're not dropping when they should be.
"Those are all things you can't simulate much in practice because you don't get the same kind of full speed look, but if your eyes are right and the scout team in practice gives us the proper look we should be able to get the right keys and that should carry over into the game. The big thing is in coaching linebackers is, what are you eyes telling you? What does that tell you to do? And then how are you going to react? That's one thing we have to really continue to work on."
Colin Schooler made his first start of the season against Colorado at middle linebacker but there is still one key element of the position that Boone wants to see come out more in games and on the practice field.
"My only issue with Schooler, maybe, is that he's not vocal enough for mike linebacker," Boone said. "As he gets more comfortable he can become more vocal. And that's my job to make sure that he's as comfortable going into the game as I am so he can be vocal and get everybody the help they need up front."
* DeAndre' Miller had four tackles in his return to the field Saturday as he gets back into the swing of things after foot surgery in the offseason. The senior joked that he was happy to hit a bag let alone another team when he finally was able to get back on the field, but he was happy with being able to contribute again in the win.
Miller has really turned into a mentor for the young linebacker group and he said this year's freshmen class of linebackers reminds him of the group he came to Tucson with that included players like Scooby Wright and Derrick Turituri. He said he does feel a sense of responsibility to pass along his knowledge to the young players and help leave the program in good hands. His biggest bit of advice?
"Go out there and if you mess up mess up hard," he said. "If you go through the wrong gap, go through the wrong gap and smack somebody. It's just all about going hard. The mental aspect of the game is going to grow as you get older and with more experience, but you can't teach intensity. That's what the young guys have with Kylan (Wilborn) and Tony Fields and Colin. They all have intensity and that's why they're out there balling right now."
