Syracuse head coach speaks to the media.
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00:00 All right, good morning everybody.
00:04 We are going to start with a brief opening statement from Coach.
00:08 We've got microphones as well for the questions after, so we'll start with Coach.
00:12 Excited to play North Carolina.
00:16 We're playing our first ranked team of the year.
00:20 We understand that Coach Brown's got a great crew up there
00:24 and it's going to be a hostile environment. We're disappointed about the loss.
00:28 Obviously, last week it was a difficult one,
00:32 but we're going to learn, we're going to grow from it, and we're going to move on.
00:36 Having the team in here, well, basically yesterday, that we have to
00:40 put this one to bed and move forward because we still have a heck of an
00:44 opportunity in front of us and we've got a doggone good opponent.
00:48 So, questions?
00:52 I'll start with Emily right in front.
00:56 What was the biggest thing you felt like you learned from last game after getting to watch tape back this weekend?
01:00 The biggest thing was we just
01:04 played tight. We did not play as loose as I thought we would play
01:08 in that situation. I don't know if it was the crowd or – but a lot of
01:12 younger guys played kind of young, but it was
01:16 surprising that some of our older guys
01:20 had some mishaps as well.
01:24 I'll start with Justin O'Baron and then we'll go ahead and go as well.
01:28 Do you know Justin O'Baron? Didn't look like he finished the game.
01:32 Any update you can give us on his status?
01:36 No update. Hopefully he's going to be okay. He did suffer a thing, but we've got to find out
01:40 if he can – one of those deals he can play or not play with.
01:44 Do you expect any of sort of the wide receivers, Isaiah,
01:48 Trevor, Dan, to be – receiving options,
01:52 sorry, tight ends too – but to be back this week?
01:56 Hopefully, but I don't have any word on those guys.
02:00 That's day-to-day stuff, week-to-week stuff with those guys.
02:04 Say that again? Dan is –
02:08 Valerie? Yeah. Valerie? Yeah, Valerie. Valerie.
02:12 He should be okay. You put too many of them in there together.
02:16 I wish I didn't have to. Me too.
02:20 A little handy right here on the right.
02:24 Coach, last time you played North Carolina, they had a hyped-up draft prospect
02:28 in Sam Howe. You guys played the Tar Heels again with another quarterback
02:32 who's looking to go to the NFL draft in Drake May. Do you see any similarities
02:36 between the two quarterbacks or do they seem almost entirely different?
02:40 No, this will be the best quarterback we've played this year and obviously the guy
02:44 last Saturday played extremely well,
02:48 but this guy is different. He's going to be an NFL guy
02:52 and he's what makes that team go on offense.
02:56 He gets his playmakers the ball in situations where they can make plays
03:00 and that's the reason why they're a very explosive team. They score a lot of points.
03:04 What are just some of his best attributes as a passer? He's accurate,
03:08 he's tough, and he's still mobile.
03:12 We'll go right down in front to Brian and Emily again.
03:16 So, Coach, as it turns out, you have
03:20 one home game from now until basically Thanksgiving.
03:24 I know you don't make the schedule, but how does that affect going forward
03:28 your week-to-week planning knowing you're going to be away from home so much, if at all?
03:32 We're going to have to adjust and improvise. Obviously, some people would say that's
03:36 an extreme negative, but think about all the home games we had in a row. That was
03:40 an extreme positive. We're four and one
03:44 and we're almost halfway done with the season. We're not
03:48 perfect, but we almost are. Now we've got to
03:52 go on the road and play some really challenging games against some really highly ranked
03:56 teams with some fantastic athletes. It's going to be challenging.
04:00 What kind of insight does the league and the league's television partners get from
04:04 coaches on this kind of stuff in the offseason?
04:08 From this coach, absolutely none. Do you wish you had more?
04:12 We all wish we had more.
04:16 Going back to Drake May, he and Garrett share
04:20 a QB trainer down in North Carolina, I believe. What is that
04:24 like knowing the QB you're going against maybe has some of the similarities to your own QB
04:28 and how does that help your defense this week? I don't know how much it helps, but
04:32 their games are similar. They're both mobile. They both can throw on the run.
04:36 They both can sit in the pocket and take shots.
04:40 I think they both have an opportunity for NFL careers if they both stay healthy.
04:44 Good trainer. Probably he's a good
04:48 recruiter, too. He's got a good eye. Just sticking with Garrett for a moment,
04:52 is he still feeling good after that early hit over the weekend?
04:56 He was sitting two chairs to your left Sunday.
05:00 He looked great. We're going to go all the way back to Maddie now.
05:04 Coach, you talked about upping the ante after the game
05:08 on Saturday. What exactly does that look like for you guys in practice this week
05:12 heading into Saturday? I think the biggest thing is the commitment
05:16 factor. We didn't play well on Saturday. We lost to a good
05:20 football team. They have a lot of athletes and they're well coached.
05:24 We all know about Clemson.
05:28 We didn't play well. That's disturbing to the family. We need to make sure that
05:32 we put our best foot forward. We get so many opportunities. It's not like basketball.
05:36 It's not like baseball. When you get an opportunity and you get a stage
05:40 like that, we need to perform better.
05:44 We're going to Tom right here.
05:48 Coach, looking back at the start your team had in the Purdue game, an away game,
05:52 a raucous crowd, is there anything
05:56 that you look at that game and say to your guys, "Let's try to do this
06:00 again coming out"? I think everything is kind of different, but obviously
06:04 you would like to start fast. Our last opponent had an opportunity
06:08 to start fast. That always helps because the home team is always going to make a run
06:12 at the end. If you get out early like that, you get an opportunity to
06:16 relax. Maybe with the guys we have in the room, that would be very effective.
06:20 Everybody is trying to get out early. The other people are trying to stop
06:24 you from getting out early and having early momentum. You pointed out where Garrett was sitting.
06:28 In the full room, how many do you think you could get right if you could say, "Right now, I knew
06:32 exactly where everyone was sitting"? No, there's too many of them for me to get
06:36 everybody, but there's certain guys and
06:40 the conversations were geared to certain people. I can
06:44 visualize where they were at. I'm sure they can visualize where I was at
06:48 too. I wasn't behind this thing. I was a lot closer than that.
06:52 Will Chris and Brenton and Jesse and Matt start with Chris?
07:00 You saw Kalen and Joe for the
07:04 first time. How do you go about
07:08 this week, both putting in a game plan and trying to figure
07:12 out who your best five are?
07:16 Whoever is going to suit up is going to suit up. We don't know who we're going to have available. Some of those
07:20 injuries, again, change from week to week, day to day. Hopefully, we'll have them both.
07:24 The game plan, we have to put in regardless of that.
07:28 We have to operate like they're not going to be there. If they're there,
07:32 it's a bonus. Jesse?
07:36 Dino, you mentioned some of the younger guys and some of the older guys maybe not living up to the moment
07:40 on Saturday. How can you as a coaching staff mentally prepare those guys, maybe just a little
07:44 bit better to live up to big moments like that, knowing there's still
07:48 going to be a heck of a lot more of those coming down the pipe this season? We've got to put
07:52 more stress on them. The game has got to be easy and the practice
07:56 has to be hard. We're going to have to increase
08:00 the tension in practice so that when they get to the game, it's easier.
08:04 Coach, Leon Lowry had two sacks
08:12 this past game. What have you seen in him? How has he improved throughout the season?
08:16 What do you want to make him a starter to start the season? He is one
08:20 of those guys that he changed his body from spring
08:24 to the summer. From the minute he came on the field during August, you could see that
08:28 he was out to get something. He's been determined ever since.
08:32 He hasn't been doing it with this. He's been
08:36 doing it with this. When you do it the quiet way, not the loud way,
08:40 normally everyone seems to see and hear what you're doing.
08:44 Couldn't be more prouder than Leon.
08:48 I'm sitting here smiling because I'm leaving the Dome on
08:52 Saturday and I'm not in the best of mood. Probably I just got through
08:56 talking to most of you guys. I saw Leon
09:00 outside with his mom. His mom turned and
09:04 "Coach!" I'm looking at her. I was about to drive
09:08 off and I just stopped and rolled the window down. She looked at me and I said, "He's doing really
09:12 good. Don't you worry about it. He's doing really good." She got the biggest smile
09:16 on her face. It's all true. He's doing extremely
09:20 well right now.
09:24 Coach, there were a few deep passes that
09:28 were completed on Saturday. How do you feel like this defense can
09:32 shore that up and avoid that against Drake May in a good passing attack?
09:36 Well, it's going to be fun to see because
09:40 they're going to throw it deep and we're going to cover them deep.
09:44 We're going to have to find a way to get that done.
09:48 That's part of the game. That's part of our style. That's part of their style.
09:52 I don't think they're going to deviate and I know we're not going to.
09:56 Tune in because it's going to be good. Somebody's going to be smiling and jumping
10:00 up and down and somebody's not.
10:04 I know they're still listed in the twos right now, but Jane Bellamy and Jane Gold we've both
10:08 seen have some increased time these last couple weeks. What have you seen from them
10:12 specifically that's led to the increased playing time? Well, I think the biggest thing
10:16 is sometimes it comes down, a guy gets an owie and you have to go to the next
10:20 guy and now it's like, okay, how are you going to do? We had the earlier games
10:24 during the season where we got to play a lot more people, which was unusual around here
10:28 based off of our non-conference schedules in the past. So we did get to see some
10:32 flashes to maybe some guys that we may want to go to
10:36 if certain things arised. Those things did arise and
10:40 they got into the games. And for the most part, they both did okay.
10:44 For the upset, now front row on the left. Coach, Elijah Clark
10:48 was all over the place on the field on Saturday. How have you seen him grow as a player and a leader
10:52 on this team this season? You know, again, it's interesting. You get
10:56 you know, we've gotten transfers from big schools
11:00 coming down and little schools going up. But he's really
11:04 bought into the culture here. And obviously a very intelligent
11:08 guy coming from Dartmouth. But he's really
11:12 bought into what we're doing. For him to even be voted a captain
11:16 is big. That's big. But he's
11:20 earned it. He deserves it. And he leads in everything he does on and off
11:24 the football field. Coach,
11:28 Mack Brown has had such incredible success over the course of his career from Texas to North
11:32 Carolina. What has he done so well over so many years to have such success as a head coach?
11:36 I think the biggest thing is Mack is a communicator. He also did extremely
11:40 well in the media part of it too when he was on TV doing all that stuff
11:44 for ESPN. But he's a fantastic communicator.
11:48 And through that he gets people to
11:52 you know, people who enjoy him, players who enjoy him, which makes him a good recruiter.
11:56 And he's a good, what's the word I'm looking for, good face of a program.
12:00 You know, so he's one of the icons. He'll be
12:04 one of the Hall of Famers when he's all done. We'll go front row middle
12:08 now with Chris and then Emily after that.
12:12 You know, I know you called Zyre Franklin uncuttable
12:16 before he went to the NFL. But there was a highlight where he chased down Lamar
12:20 from a couple weeks ago. I don't think he could have done that when he was here.
12:24 Are you at all surprised that he's, like he's all
12:28 pro, you know, caliber, having an all pro caliber season?
12:32 I had some media guy from the Indianapolis Star absolutely rip me publicly
12:36 for making that statement. And basically,
12:40 he was a seventh round draft pick, I believe, and
12:44 I've been around a lot of players 39 years. I know, let me tell you a different story.
12:48 Let me tell you a story. When I came here and I had some, one of our fans came up and said
12:52 hey, I know who one of your captains are going to be for you. And I said who? And they said Zyre Franklin.
12:56 So I didn't even know Zyre at the time. And I said well, that's nice.
13:00 We're going to vote on our captains. You know, I'll keep that in mind.
13:04 And then I met Zyre. And I want to say, he was either 14 or
13:08 21 days later, he was a captain. I mean, once you meet the guy
13:12 and you watch him, he's not normal.
13:16 There's not a lot of people like him. And he stands out.
13:20 His leadership stands out. His play stands out. And it didn't matter whether he was a free agent
13:24 or a walk on off the field. When you see a guy like that,
13:28 you're not going to cut him. In fact, what you want to do is duplicate him.
13:32 If you could pass it right next to that one.
13:36 Do you know, Miles Farmer earned a spot on the depth chart
13:40 this week behind Justin, I believe. Just what have you seen out of him, specifically since he
13:44 joined you guys in August that got him on that place? You know, he had
13:48 some catching up to do. He's been working really hard. He's been working on the special teams.
13:52 He's been doing the right things, coming to meetings and learning.
13:56 And now he's getting some opportunities.
14:00 He also played the week before against Army.
14:04 And maybe not so good on one play. But you could see that he's
14:08 constantly getting better and he's improving. So he played a lot better.
14:12 He made some plays in the Clemson game. And I'm sure
14:16 he's going to get some more opportunities. How do you feel like he fits just into kind of
14:20 the overall profile of what your secondary is right now? I'm not sure the first
14:24 thing that you said, Emily. I'm sorry. Just how does he fit into kind of your
14:28 overall secondary and the profile of who they are right now? Well, you know, we like
14:32 them taller so they can have range, so they can cover. They have to be able to
14:36 tackle the bigger backs. And some of the bigger backs that will be coming up,
14:40 and Shipley was a bigger back. So they're almost part linebacker, part
14:44 DB. So they're very skilled athletes. And he fits them all
14:48 the guys that we're looking for. We'll come back right here
14:52 with Wyatt. The front row on the right.
14:56 Can you kind of explain the extent of Jason Simmons's football
15:00 IQ and how he's able to process the game and how that can help
15:04 in these tough matchups against the Pass Attack? Well, his father's a pro, so he grew up
15:08 in that atmosphere. When he came here, he had a really good
15:12 head on his shoulder as far as the background part of the game. So it's just a
15:16 matter of then just buying in and telling him exactly
15:20 what we want him to do and then him going out there and executing that. And he's done a nice job with it.
15:24 Okay, a couple more for Coach. We'll start with Brad right in front
15:28 and then Michael will wrap us up.
15:32 Coach, since Saturday, have you received
15:36 anything from the ACC in terms of an explanation on the call
15:40 on Garrett and the targeting and just the process of that? And did you
15:44 submit it to the league for review? I did not submit it because I watched it on the TV copy.
15:48 The TV copy had a very clear picture of the play.
15:52 And based off of what I saw, I didn't feel like they would
15:56 reverse the call, even privately.
16:00 So I had better things to do.
16:04 And then Michael, last question.
16:08 Coach, we've seen a lot of Demarcus Adams in special teams this year, not quite as much
16:12 as far as a receiver. With some of the other injuries in front of him, do you
16:16 anticipate him maybe starting to see some more snaps lined up as a receiver?
16:20 I mean, he's throwing away some stuff, but yes, I do. I mean, based off of the injuries, we're getting
16:24 thin out there. And I do see him increasing his role as a receiver
16:28 for us. Thank you. Thank you very much, Coach. Thank you.
16:32 Thank you.
16:36 Thank you.
16:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]