Ohio Bobcats College Football Pregame Quote, 11/13/2020

On the state of the roster:

It’s still pretty much where it’s been. It’s a day-by-day thing, obviously, with the virus. Our guys have handled it very, very well. But every now and then, it’s possible to have a player pop up positive as you’re seeing around the country, and that can affect you in a lot of different ways. We’ve only played a couple games, so the injuries aren’t just mounting, but we do have an injury that will keep a player out probably four-to-six weeks. I won’t mention his name at this point. Other than that, pretty much it’s what it’s been.

On his reaction to all the cancellations and postponements in college football this week:

Well, it’s no surprise that some things are transpiring that obviously are making it difficult for some teams to move forward. And so, it’s what it is. I think we all kind of had an understanding going in that you’re going to have to be very, very, very fortunate to go through the season without some problems popping up. And so you’re seeing that, really, around the country right now. I think that will be the case. I think it’s a day-by-day thing, and, certainly, a week-by-week thing, in terms of whether you’re going to be able to play your next game.

On how he keeps players who are not available to play upbeat in a shortened season:

It’s very hard on players to miss any time. Obviously, that can come about for a lot of different reasons. They know it’s all part of the game. You just go out, you play your best, you do your best, and you hope that you’re fortunate enough to get through a year healthy, your teammates do, and that your able to put a team that’s resembling what you’re all about on the football field week after week. But it’s part of the game. You go with the guys that you’ve got, and those guys that are not able to play, you make sure they still feel a big part of the program. You continue to stay in touch with them and making sure they’re getting therapy done and just doing the things that will help them get back on the field. We don’t have to push that because players want to play. And so when they are banged up, after they get through the part of that initially happening and they know there’s going to be some rehab involved, then they just start their process of that. They’re able to move forward. But, obviously, the lines of communication, you gotta get them over here. Generally, we have them out at practice if they’ve been banged up, watching practice, and so they still continue to feel part of the team.

On if he’s looking forward to getting back to playing games on Saturdays after the Miami game:

I think that’ll be good for, really, all of us. Particularly me so I’ll end up knowing what day of the week it is, because the MAC scheduling can get you turned around a little bit when you’re playing midweek games. I think getting back on Saturday the last three games, I think, is good. I think it’s something we’ll all look forward to. Obviously, you look at there’s a little bit of a gap there between the last midweek game and the first Saturday game to where you get an extended period of time, around 10 days. You always look for that, too. It’s kind of a mini-break.

On if having a rivalry game to prepare for helps eliminate some of the distractions of this season:

I think it can. We try to obviously make sure we’re taking things one game at a time. Rivalries do exist, and we’re part of that one with Miami, but to me, the next team up is a rival, because if you don’t win, some of your goals are not met and things don’t go down the right track. We’re in tune to the rivalry. We appreciate the rivalry. We know what that’s been all about. Great football teams on both sides of the ball. A lot of good, physical play by both teams. A lot of talented guys on the field for both teams. That part of it, I think, is appreciated by all of us.

On his favorite memories of coaching in the ‘Battle of the Bricks’ rivalry against Miami:

Golly. You know what, I don’t really have favorite moments. That’s really not how I operate. Obviously, I’ve enjoyed the rivalry and enjoyed the wins. I know that it’s so important to people in the community, people at the university. Not everyone, but a share of people that it becomes a little more important to some of those people. And so you recognize that, and you try to play your very best and represent Ohio in a way that we should be represented against a quality team like Miami.

On the defense working to force the opposition into more three-and-outs:

You always start with the game plan for next week. But before that, you make sure that your players understand what has been transpiring. We look at statistics and goals and how we’re doing in all different categories. Certainly, staying on the field offensively and trying to get off the field defensively are critical to winning football games. Getting more snaps offensively has got to be something that transpires. That’s something that really involves the whole football team: offense, defense, special teams. That involves three-and-outs by the defense. It involves the offense converting on third-down situations. Last week was poor. It involves special teams play and field position. The thing I do want to make note of is how well I think our special teams are playing for the most part. Obviously, we’ve got to improve our field goal and extra point production. That’s got to turn around. But beyond that, our special teams have been doing an outstanding job, and it’s a real credit to what we’re all about.”

On if there have been any comment denominators in the last two losses to Miami:

Each game comes down to being a game of inches, and obviously, we know the kind of teams that we play when we play Miami. We know that the games are going to be close football games and that we’ve got to be hitting on all cylinders in order to get it done. I think they probably feel very much the same way. They’ve been very competitive games. The thing that we’ve got to do is finish. When you’re losing games by a point or three points, whatever it might be, obviously there’s a few things you can look at and say, ‘Hey, we just didn’t get this done.’ But the game is here. It’ll go by quickly. We’ve got to make sure that, again, we’re hitting on all cylinders and that we’re improving week-by-week in the areas that we need to improve in. We’re doing pretty well in some areas. But there are other areas, statistically, where we’ve got to turn that around. And so, in order to win the close games, we’ve got to get some of that done pretty quickly.

On preparing to play a quarterback you have limited game film on such as AJ Mayer:

We study their system. We’ve been studying it for 15 seasons. We know offensively what they like to do. We know defensively what they’re all about. Some of that can change year-to-year because of personnel, but not too much. There’s still a lot that carries on over. That’s a part of football and being prepared and scouting a team and watching game film and going back a year or two years to see what kind of surprises they gave you that you weren’t expecting. Just trying to cover all those bases in order to make sure you have as few of surprises as possible and that your team is well prepared.

On what you know you’re going to get when you face Miami:

Every coach is obviously a little bit different. Every coach prepares their team a little bit different. It comes back to the personalities of the head coaches. I know (Miami head coach) Chuck (Martin) pretty well. We’re friends. We’ve been in a lot of meetings together with our conference. He’s a guy who says it like it and he has opinions and he’ll bring them forward. That’s kind of the way his football team operates. They’re confident, and they move forward with things in a very positive manner and always give their best.

On how the quarterback situation will be handled:

We hope it doesn’t play out in terms of the number of snaps that they get. We’re hoping that changes and we can get up into the 70s in terms of number of snaps, and that way, be able to give quarterbacks a chance to get in the flow of the game and really make a difference coming down the stretch. But we are going to play both quarterbacks. And so I think you can see flashes of what they can both do. Those flashes tell you that they can win football games for you. But we’ve just got to get them more opportunities on the football field to show what they can do. If we do that, if we get more snaps, I think that we’ll be pleased with what we see from both of the guys. Again, I’m not a fan of a two-quarterback system, but we’ll continue to give those two guys playing time because of their talent level. And you know it’d be a different story if one of them wasn’t a really good leader. That could help you just say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to go with one.’ But they’re both good leaders. Their teammates believe in them. So you’ve got going what you want to get going from that position. Again, it comes down to just giving them more opportunities.

On if he likes to emphasize to his team when they are in a must-win situation:

You’re usually dealing with smart football players. Our guys are that way. They know what’s at stake every time they step on the field. We’re in divisional play now, and so you need to get it done against everybody that we play in order to reach some of the goals that we have. They understand the importance of every game. We don’t have to preach that to them. If you have to beat that into a team you probably don’t have the right kind of team to begin with. We do make sure they understand everything they need to know about the opponent at hand and we’ve got to do to win that game and what that win will mean.

On if there will be any more changes on the offensive line:

I hope there’s no more tinkering to be done, but we’ll see. I think Coach (Allen) Rudolph did a great job of moving a few people around and putting us in position to be the best line that we can be and give us the best chance of winning. He’s trained them right from the start to be multifunctional. They’re not just put into one spot. He’s trained them from day one to be able to move around a little bit. He’s an experienced coach. He knows how that works. You just can’t think that you’re going to get through a season and all five starters are going to be there and all five backups are going to be there and it’s all going to work fine. He understands that, and he’s trained his guys really, really well. The guys have really taken to that, too. I’ve been really pleased with how they’ve moved from one position to another. He won’t place a guy in a position where the guy really is going to struggle or not have a shot. It could be that you get down to a point where you’re banged up enough that you’re just not playing the guys that are really able to play at a certain level to get things done the way you want to get things done. We’re certainly not there, and he’s developing our young guys fairly quickly.

On redshirt freshman safety Jett Elad:

He’s got the whole package. He’s a bright young man, so he picks up things very, very quickly. He can make adjustments on the football field. He’s got some height to him. He’s lean and a long-armed kind of guy. He can cover a lot of ground. He’s a smart football player back there in the secondary, and he’s aggressive. He’ll field. He’ll do the things that need to get done from the safety position. You’re asking those guys at times to step up into the line of scrimmage and make a tackle once they recognize run and take a gap and yet be able to have the ability to play a wing kind of, a smaller kind of guy in the slot with a lot of great quickness and speed. A lot of those things. Plus, when he’s in zone, he’s got a lot of range and he sees things, and he’s able to break on the ball very, very well. He’s got the right combination of things and is really developing into an outstanding player for us.

On if there will be any changes at the placekicking position:

We’ve got competition going on right now. We’ll see how that competition goes between him (redshirt freshman Tristian Vandenberg) and (freshman) Jonah (Fortkamp). It’s a tough position, and you want to make sure that after two games that you’re not just throwing a guy out of the system. But, after two games, some things have got to get done and some changes have got to be made. We’re opening it up to competition, and we’ll see how that plays out. You know, we’re trying to get ahold of Louie Zervos to maybe visit with Tristian so Tristian can have some insight from a former kicker as to how things work and that he’ll be able to relate to him pretty good.