Alabama State Head Coach Eddie Robinson after the open scrimmage
Alabama State Head Coach Eddie Robinson after the open scrimmage
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00:00 >> Coach, if you're giving him a statement, you're welcome, of course.
00:03 >> Yeah, sorry to keep y'all waiting.
00:04 Of course, appreciate everyone coming out, of course.
00:06 I had a second scrimmage, so we're just trying to get better each week as we
00:11 know it.
00:12 Good time for the first and second string guys to get that last test at full speed.
00:16 Probably the scrimmage next week will be more of us just kind of rehearsing
00:19 everything from game day, from the stretch to warm up, the whole deal.
00:23 And still got a lot more work to do.
00:25 Everybody has to get in a little bit better condition.
00:27 We did a little bit sharper on offense, still have to do a better job with some
00:30 of the penalties.
00:31 But defense is fine, we're all moving to the ball good.
00:34 Got a couple of turnovers, so we're of course developing that part of it.
00:38 >> Okay, coach, I was gonna ask you about the quarterback play today.
00:41 What'd you see from both guys, and do you have a starter in mind for week one?
00:44 >> Yeah, I think D started off good.
00:45 Had a couple penalties on their side of the ball, drove down into the red zone.
00:50 Had a first down, and then we had a holding call and then an offside.
00:52 So that's the type of things, it's not just the quarterback deal,
00:55 it's kind of like the whole offensive unit deal.
00:58 Stu had a couple balls, had a really good nice touch on the D ball,
01:00 which was really good.
01:01 So we have to, I feel like we're gonna run the football really well.
01:04 We're gonna commit to the run, but
01:05 then we still gotta make those big explosive plays in the passing game,
01:08 which is combination receiver and quarterback.
01:10 So I think those two are kind of moving along pretty good.
01:13 Koi had a little run in the knit, so he couldn't go this time.
01:16 But he'll be another guy that, and we're gonna factor in at some point.
01:19 But still working, any position, we always had the best guys out there to play.
01:24 Whoever gives us the best chance to win.
01:25 So I think you gotta kind of be fair to every kid like that,
01:28 no matter what position you're in.
01:30 >> Do you think you'll be able to start it right next week or
01:32 before the first game?
01:33 Do you have a good timeline or a set of raps, or
01:34 where you're gonna start taking first raps, second raps?
01:37 >> Right now it's just been kind of those two main.
01:40 Koi has been mixing in with some first team reps.
01:41 So I don't think we'll have a real timeline.
01:44 It kind of just usually happens, one guy kind of separate from the other one,
01:47 and we just kind of move it forward.
01:48 It's usually pretty obvious.
01:50 And if it's not, then whoever you feel is your gut, you go with that guy.
01:53 But I think whoever's the starter,
01:55 I mean the good thing is you do have competition at all positions.
01:58 And so if you're the starter the first week,
01:59 then you have to keep working and doing better.
02:01 You make a mistake, miss a practice, miss a class,
02:03 then there's a lot of ways you can usually start a position on or off the field.
02:07 >> What's one thing that those guys need to do to separate themselves to stand out
02:11 as the starting quarterback?
02:12 >> I think just being consistent.
02:14 My biggest thing is turnovers with kill, kill offensive drive more than anything.
02:19 Just taking command of the offense.
02:21 Being a leader, having guys have confidence in you.
02:24 I think the players believe in both of them, and same thing with Quay.
02:27 So I think that's good, and that's the big part of it.
02:29 The next part, you gotta protect the football.
02:31 I mean, they're both athletic, they're both similar.
02:34 Like I said, Quay is probably the most athletic of the three.
02:37 So each one has their own different little twist.
02:39 I think we're in a good position where you have a couple guys who are the same
02:42 style.
02:43 So from an offensive standpoint,
02:44 we don't have to change what we do to accommodate the quarterback.
02:47 >> What did you see from Jawan Hall today?
02:48 It looks like he's really gonna take on that running back one row this season.
02:52 >> Yeah, I mean, he's a guy that I think can touch it 20, 25 times a game.
02:56 We have good guys with Marcus, Marcus Harris, and of course,
03:00 the young guy, Bozeman.
03:01 So I mean, we have other backs in the backfield where I doubt he'll have to ever
03:05 go that far, but I know it's good to have a guy who has that type of mentality.
03:09 I mean, he wants to touch the football and run it.
03:11 So he's one of those guys I felt like we should have gotten more touches last year.
03:15 That was on the coaches.
03:16 So we're gonna have to make up for that part of it.
03:19 So he's a kid that's a six year guy, has an undergrad degree,
03:24 has his master's degree.
03:26 I tell him he's like a grown man out there, so he can play like one.
03:29 But super confident, works really, really hard.
03:31 So I'm just excited to give him a chance to be a number one back.
03:34 >> As far as passing game goes,
03:35 what did you see from your wide receivers today that you liked?
03:38 >> Yeah, we had a couple guys that made plays on the one on one,
03:40 which is what we need.
03:42 So Dee Brown, a kid that transferred in, he made a play on the deep ball.
03:45 And that's what we have to have, Freeman was another guy.
03:49 And so we know what we saw, the things that we had trouble with was guys putting
03:53 nine and ten in the box and forcing us to win on the outside.
03:56 And the games where we won on the outside, we won the game.
03:58 So we know that at some point,
04:00 the quarterback and receiver have got to win the one on one matchups.
04:03 And so at that point, it kind of loosens up everything else.
04:05 And that starts with good protection.
04:07 It's kind of hard because we're blowing the whistle quick and the D line, but
04:11 we know the quarterbacks, it's easy to get there as far as the sack them.
04:14 And with those guys being so elusive,
04:15 I think some of those sacks would probably have been where they could have
04:17 wiggled out, but you want to err on the side of caution.
04:20 But I think the biggest thing is us making those plays in one on one
04:23 situations in the passing game.
04:25 If we can get good at that, then we'll see what we can open up and
04:28 then keep running the football like we've been doing so far.
04:31 >> I got three injury timeouts throughout this game.
04:34 I think number 18, number 20, and I didn't get the third one.
04:37 Any support on this today?
04:38 We did those injuries?
04:39 >> Yeah, I know 18 came back in the game.
04:41 Kobe, he was back in the game.
04:42 I don't really, I didn't miss the third one.
04:45 So we'll kind of get everything.
04:47 That's the biggest thing in these games.
04:48 You don't want to get anybody hurt.
04:49 It's a fine line between, do you just let them touch?
04:52 And then if you go to the first game, you don't tackle good,
04:55 then you think your hand should have been more physical.
04:57 So it's one of those things, this will be our last full contact game-like tempo,
05:03 where you're full contact tackling.
05:05 So hopefully we got out of it pretty good without any major injury.
05:09 But it's part of football, it's an unfortunate part of it, but
05:11 it's something that you have to be prepared for.
05:13 >> Kind of going back to the offense and
05:14 seeing how when Damon was in, it was a lot of fire receiver sets, empty backfields.
05:19 What do you think about the play calling and
05:20 how the offensive coordinator's kind of working that in this season?
05:24 >> Yeah, I mean, the good thing is we have a lot of different guys.
05:26 So we can go four or five wide receivers, we can go three tight ends,
05:30 we can go multiple sets.
05:31 So I think, and that's really, we're just calling plays right now for the most part.
05:37 Once you get to a game plan,
05:38 then you're calling plays that we feel like would be good against Southern.
05:41 So some sets you may see, some sets you may not, because we're during the week
05:45 thinking, hey, we can beat them with this set, but we're trying to get this matchup.
05:48 So right now, to me, it's a little bit harder on the offense because the coach
05:51 made a full out of play that he hasn't ran in a long time.
05:54 Where once you get into the week of the game plan, it's like, hey,
05:57 these are our plays that we're taking into the game plan.
05:59 We rep it all week and practice it, so you should be more efficient at it at that.
06:03 >> I have time for one more question, guys.
06:05 He's got your turn over there.
06:06 What's the biggest adjustment you wanna make for
06:08 the team before the Southern matchup coming up?
06:10 >> I think we still gotta work on our discipline.
06:12 We had a hands to the face on the defense, and
06:14 the defense offense was backed up, and that let them off the hook.
06:19 I gave them 15-yard penalty in the first down.
06:21 When the red zone, we had the quarterback run, we would be first and
06:24 10 at the 10-yard line.
06:26 We had a holding card that wasn't necessary.
06:27 So to me, out of all the good and the bad,
06:30 I'm gonna focus on the things that we can correct.
06:31 Those are the two things I know we can correct.
06:33 The offsides and those type of things, obviously, we gotta work on that.
06:36 The shifts and the motions, that's just the fine tuning.
06:39 But just being smart, playing hard, playing physical, but
06:42 then playing to the whistle and being smart.
06:44 And there was one more on our sideline that was too close to call where I thought it
06:47 could have been a 15-yard penalty, and
06:49 we don't want the referee to have to make a judgment call.
06:51 And so to me, those are the type of things that we gotta be great at.
06:54 We're a great disciplined team, and
06:56 I feel good about us playing anybody on that schedule.
06:59 >> Appreciate that.
07:00 Thanks, coach.