meyer Q&A - gators get defensive
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:14 am
"Our goal is to compete for SEC East championships in November, and we're doing that. The first year we failed. The second year we succeeded. The third year's here, so I promise you we'll have a great week of practice. It will be high energy. It will be our last SEC game. It's an unusual year where teams have kind of beat each other up, but we still have a great opportunity. Our guys are excited about it."
Does it feel a little like two years ago because you're going up to South Carolina needing to win and get a little help, or does it feel nothing like two years ago because you have a different mindset that team had not bought into yet?
"It's completely different. There are some similarities. The thing you said about needing help, but as far as knowing the team and having a little more confidence and trust, it feels a lot different in that regard."
With all the research you guys did on Percy Harvin when you recruited him, has he changed as a person or did he just need a change of scenery?
"That's a great question. Here's my opinion on that. Obviously you do an enormous amount of research before you recruit a young guy, especially a high-profile player like that, and obviously there were situations in high school that he was involved in. What happens is a lot of these high-profile people, because of dot.com and because of everything else and because sometimes these young athletes just get things handed to them, they are also a target. There can be eight people involved in something, and the athlete is the one that gets targeted and he's the guy who gets abused by the fans. He would probably be the first to tell you he didn't know how to handle those situations. Not that he was a bad guy, but he knows how to handle situations right now. His last month at the University of Florida as far as practice, as far as seeing him say things to the defense, you see his work ethic, you see his camaraderie with his teammates, he's had his best month at Florida."
You've mentioned Brandon Spikes the last three times you've talked to us. Can you talk about his evolution?
"Brandon Spikes is a player who thought you went out and played the game and preparation was not really, we really missed Brandon Siler because Siler was such a great leader in preparation. As with a lot of young players, Brandon Spikes believed in going out and going to tackle the guy with the ball. A lot of times he was out of gaps and made mistakes. The greatest testimony to Brandon Spikes is his comments after the (Vanderbilt) game. I had him speak to the team because coach Strong pointed out that he played very well, and he took responsibility that he would never let it happen again the way he let a defense down the way he did (against Georgia). It's not because of effort and it's not because of (a lack) love for the game of football. It's because of maybe preparation and trying to go above and beyond what his job responsibility is. Defense is all about gap control and doing your job. If you try to overdo your job, you're in the wrong gap, and that's when you see creases and people making mistakes. Brandon had a tendency to do that."
Is the goal for him to turn into Siler as far as the leadership?
"That's our idea. It's the middle linebacker. That's the quarterback of the defense. You want to see a bad defense, a lot of times I'll show you a bad middle linebacker. That's just the way it is."
What were your first impressions of (co-defensive coordinator Greg) Mattison when you were on the staff with him at Notre Dame?
"I was there for one year with Lou Holtz, and he came in with Bob Davie and bought a house three houses from mine and we became great friends. It was almost competition. Every weekend in the summer he would have players over at his house, and him and (wife) Anne were tremendous. They really cared about the players off the field. I always had the offensive players over, and Greg would have the defensive players over, and so we just became great friends. We believe in a lot of the same things as far as taking care of the players off the field and making sure they are doing the right thing."
How that become increasingly important this year with so many young guys on defense?
"Greg looks about 88-years old right now if you really look at him. That's an important task that Greg has right now. He's just developing his young players."
How does he handle the transition from being the caring guy off the field to the guy screaming at them on the field?
"He handles it very well. He can get away with being extremely aggressive on the field because the players know deep down they care about him. He's very good at it."
When you recruited the Pounceys, did you have any idea that they would fit in the way that they did both socially and academically and then excelling on the field as quickly as they did?
"We had a feel because our athletic director, all the people that came across the Pounceys during the recruiting process had the same comments, including my family and including other families, that they were very outgoing and always had a smile on their face. The passion for what they do is phenomenal, but also you've got to give credit to Mom and Dad. We have dealt with a couple issues with those two, as with most young people, and the minute you call that parent, it's done. I've had a parent, Lisa (Webster), actually get in her car and drive up here immediately. Obviously it was minor stuff, but to that family it's not minor, and because of that you've seen great growth with those two. It's too early to tell, but they are the captains, the kind of kids you want to lead your team."
What is about coach (Steve) Spurrier that makes him so good?
"There's a lot of things that make his team so good. Obviously his teams play with great confidence. Although they've been on a little bit of a slip here lately, they are hard to defend. If you ask (secondary) coach (Chuck) Heater, we've spent a lot of time in the offseason, even though they haven't really torched us, every week you just feel like you're on the defensive when you face his teams on offense, but the thing I'm more impressed with is all three phases of his game are all pretty solid. I think that's what makes him a good coach."
Can you talk about how much Jarvis Moss' blocked field goal (on the last play of the South Carolina game) last propelled you and how much you bring that up when you're talking about the program?
"I don't really bring that up much. We see some pictures all over the place. Obviously that was a great day in Florida football history. It propelled us to Glendale, Arizona, because if I remember right, the SEC East was already won, but that got us a chance to keep going on the national level. It was a great individual effort by a great football player. We don't talk about that. We don't have time."
How much of being a great return guy is learned, and how much of it is he's fast and has good vision?
"It's much more than fast. It's great vision and that first step. I always talk about Percy's first step. If you really watch Brandon (James) when he hits it, north-south returners are the hardest guys to defend. South Carolina has a punt returner (Captain Munnerlyn) that's a very north-south guy. I was worried to death about the group we just faced. Vanderbilt had two very good returners because they are tough and aggressive and north-south guys. You have to take a chance and be very aggressive, and that's what makes Brandon James very good."
Can you talk about the things Mike Pouncey did on Saturday that didn't show up on the stat sheet?
"Just the energy level he brought. Derrick Harvey made a comment to me, and so did many of the secondary players, that his practice tempo, Lawrence Marsh had a better week of practice because of Mike Pouncey. Those are things which I've talked about several times, but his energy level, his passion, were what we needed."
Pouncey aside, what are some of things differently you did scheme-wise defensively against Vanderbilt? Was there a complete overhaul?
"No, there wasn't. What I thought we did was we stopped the run and we cupped the football and kept guys in front of us. Our corners, it seems like we're starting to get a little more confidence. We all that frustration, everybody watching our defense play, you see the corners play so far off and that's a result of a lack of confidence. Now you're seeing them start to squeeze and knock balls down. There's a fine line between doing that and getting beat. (South Carolina's Kenny) McKinley is a tremendous receiver coming up here. Schematically we didn't change a whole bunch. We stopped the run, and that was the key. When you start seeing that line of scrimmage and Mike Pouncey, 310-pound guy, he didn't do everything perfect, but he was a presence in there. You need two guys to move a guy that big, and if a guy comes off a scoop block and a guy comes off early, that's when he had his tackle for a loss. The passion, energy and stopping the run and squeezing the coverages by our corners was the difference."
Would you talk about how Wondy Pierre-Louis has grown into the cornerback position?
"In week 10 you'd anticipate that happening. Wondy had a little experience last year. He had some big plays on special teams for us a year ago, but his practice and work ethic were OK, not great. Joe Haden is a much better practice player. I think it's game experience, I really do. I was talking to Lawrence Wright, and he was talking about the '93 Gator defense with all those young defensive backs. They got abused once in a while, but they just kept sticking together, sticking together and all of a sudden they matured and became one of the better groups in the country. I relate it to that. He's getting experience. He's a good young guy who has some pride. It was obvious he was getting lit up a little bit."
It seemed like last year your kickoff guy had a little box he was aiming for between the 10 and the hash. Joey (Ijjas) had three touchbacks Saturday. Are you encouraging him to put it past that box now?
"We didn't kick the ball deep one time Saturday. Those were squib kicks. We were not going to kick deep to that guy. I don't have enough confidence in our kickoff team to do that right now, so if you really watch, we kicked off nine teams and did either sky right, squib left or squib right. He hit a couple of them just right where they started cheating up and he got all of it. He had three touchbacks, but one was a line drive that he hit just right. The others were two squibs that got behind the guy. It's a whole different approach from the 30-yard line when you're playing with some of the young players we're playing on kickoff. I'm not sure where they are statistically, but Vanderbilt was as good a kickoff return team as we've faced this year."
Does the Florida-South Carolina rivalry mean more to you because of what coach Spurrier did around here?
"It's there. I can stand up here and say it's just another game, but it's not. It's certainly there, but in the last three years it's come down to something far greater than all that – the fact you're playing for an SEC East championship in November. Year one, F, year two, did it, year three, we're going to find out. I'm glad that's kind of disappeared (the Spurrier vs. Meyer talk). The first year that's all the discussion was, and that's kind of disappeared. It's certainly disappeared around our team, but it's always going to be there and it should be there."
Are you going to let the players watch the early games on Saturday (Arkansas-Tennessee; Auburn-Georgia)?
"Sure."
Could that backfire as a motivational thing?
"I don't think so. We'll have walk-throughs and meetings and everything else. It's like an hour at most that they are by themselves."
If the games go your way, will you maybe mention it to them before the game?
"I'm not sure. Blue pants, you never know."
You said Harvin graded out over 100 percent. How often has that happened with players?
"Bubba Caldwell graded out 97 percent and Jarred Fayson 91 percent. Percy Harvin was over 100 percent, and that's a result of big plays. You get a double-plus for that, and I don't think Percy graded out a champion once last year. He had some big plays, but he's becoming a well-rounded complete player. The same with Bubba Caldwell. Bubba Caldwell is our best blocker downfield. If you really watch that Jarred Fayson touchdown, he peels back and gets a nice shot on the guy. It's a result of just buying into the system and understanding how to become a great player."
Has anyone graded out over 100 before?
"Oh yeah."
Does it feel a little like two years ago because you're going up to South Carolina needing to win and get a little help, or does it feel nothing like two years ago because you have a different mindset that team had not bought into yet?
"It's completely different. There are some similarities. The thing you said about needing help, but as far as knowing the team and having a little more confidence and trust, it feels a lot different in that regard."
With all the research you guys did on Percy Harvin when you recruited him, has he changed as a person or did he just need a change of scenery?
"That's a great question. Here's my opinion on that. Obviously you do an enormous amount of research before you recruit a young guy, especially a high-profile player like that, and obviously there were situations in high school that he was involved in. What happens is a lot of these high-profile people, because of dot.com and because of everything else and because sometimes these young athletes just get things handed to them, they are also a target. There can be eight people involved in something, and the athlete is the one that gets targeted and he's the guy who gets abused by the fans. He would probably be the first to tell you he didn't know how to handle those situations. Not that he was a bad guy, but he knows how to handle situations right now. His last month at the University of Florida as far as practice, as far as seeing him say things to the defense, you see his work ethic, you see his camaraderie with his teammates, he's had his best month at Florida."
You've mentioned Brandon Spikes the last three times you've talked to us. Can you talk about his evolution?
"Brandon Spikes is a player who thought you went out and played the game and preparation was not really, we really missed Brandon Siler because Siler was such a great leader in preparation. As with a lot of young players, Brandon Spikes believed in going out and going to tackle the guy with the ball. A lot of times he was out of gaps and made mistakes. The greatest testimony to Brandon Spikes is his comments after the (Vanderbilt) game. I had him speak to the team because coach Strong pointed out that he played very well, and he took responsibility that he would never let it happen again the way he let a defense down the way he did (against Georgia). It's not because of effort and it's not because of (a lack) love for the game of football. It's because of maybe preparation and trying to go above and beyond what his job responsibility is. Defense is all about gap control and doing your job. If you try to overdo your job, you're in the wrong gap, and that's when you see creases and people making mistakes. Brandon had a tendency to do that."
Is the goal for him to turn into Siler as far as the leadership?
"That's our idea. It's the middle linebacker. That's the quarterback of the defense. You want to see a bad defense, a lot of times I'll show you a bad middle linebacker. That's just the way it is."
What were your first impressions of (co-defensive coordinator Greg) Mattison when you were on the staff with him at Notre Dame?
"I was there for one year with Lou Holtz, and he came in with Bob Davie and bought a house three houses from mine and we became great friends. It was almost competition. Every weekend in the summer he would have players over at his house, and him and (wife) Anne were tremendous. They really cared about the players off the field. I always had the offensive players over, and Greg would have the defensive players over, and so we just became great friends. We believe in a lot of the same things as far as taking care of the players off the field and making sure they are doing the right thing."
How that become increasingly important this year with so many young guys on defense?
"Greg looks about 88-years old right now if you really look at him. That's an important task that Greg has right now. He's just developing his young players."
How does he handle the transition from being the caring guy off the field to the guy screaming at them on the field?
"He handles it very well. He can get away with being extremely aggressive on the field because the players know deep down they care about him. He's very good at it."
When you recruited the Pounceys, did you have any idea that they would fit in the way that they did both socially and academically and then excelling on the field as quickly as they did?
"We had a feel because our athletic director, all the people that came across the Pounceys during the recruiting process had the same comments, including my family and including other families, that they were very outgoing and always had a smile on their face. The passion for what they do is phenomenal, but also you've got to give credit to Mom and Dad. We have dealt with a couple issues with those two, as with most young people, and the minute you call that parent, it's done. I've had a parent, Lisa (Webster), actually get in her car and drive up here immediately. Obviously it was minor stuff, but to that family it's not minor, and because of that you've seen great growth with those two. It's too early to tell, but they are the captains, the kind of kids you want to lead your team."
What is about coach (Steve) Spurrier that makes him so good?
"There's a lot of things that make his team so good. Obviously his teams play with great confidence. Although they've been on a little bit of a slip here lately, they are hard to defend. If you ask (secondary) coach (Chuck) Heater, we've spent a lot of time in the offseason, even though they haven't really torched us, every week you just feel like you're on the defensive when you face his teams on offense, but the thing I'm more impressed with is all three phases of his game are all pretty solid. I think that's what makes him a good coach."
Can you talk about how much Jarvis Moss' blocked field goal (on the last play of the South Carolina game) last propelled you and how much you bring that up when you're talking about the program?
"I don't really bring that up much. We see some pictures all over the place. Obviously that was a great day in Florida football history. It propelled us to Glendale, Arizona, because if I remember right, the SEC East was already won, but that got us a chance to keep going on the national level. It was a great individual effort by a great football player. We don't talk about that. We don't have time."
How much of being a great return guy is learned, and how much of it is he's fast and has good vision?
"It's much more than fast. It's great vision and that first step. I always talk about Percy's first step. If you really watch Brandon (James) when he hits it, north-south returners are the hardest guys to defend. South Carolina has a punt returner (Captain Munnerlyn) that's a very north-south guy. I was worried to death about the group we just faced. Vanderbilt had two very good returners because they are tough and aggressive and north-south guys. You have to take a chance and be very aggressive, and that's what makes Brandon James very good."
Can you talk about the things Mike Pouncey did on Saturday that didn't show up on the stat sheet?
"Just the energy level he brought. Derrick Harvey made a comment to me, and so did many of the secondary players, that his practice tempo, Lawrence Marsh had a better week of practice because of Mike Pouncey. Those are things which I've talked about several times, but his energy level, his passion, were what we needed."
Pouncey aside, what are some of things differently you did scheme-wise defensively against Vanderbilt? Was there a complete overhaul?
"No, there wasn't. What I thought we did was we stopped the run and we cupped the football and kept guys in front of us. Our corners, it seems like we're starting to get a little more confidence. We all that frustration, everybody watching our defense play, you see the corners play so far off and that's a result of a lack of confidence. Now you're seeing them start to squeeze and knock balls down. There's a fine line between doing that and getting beat. (South Carolina's Kenny) McKinley is a tremendous receiver coming up here. Schematically we didn't change a whole bunch. We stopped the run, and that was the key. When you start seeing that line of scrimmage and Mike Pouncey, 310-pound guy, he didn't do everything perfect, but he was a presence in there. You need two guys to move a guy that big, and if a guy comes off a scoop block and a guy comes off early, that's when he had his tackle for a loss. The passion, energy and stopping the run and squeezing the coverages by our corners was the difference."
Would you talk about how Wondy Pierre-Louis has grown into the cornerback position?
"In week 10 you'd anticipate that happening. Wondy had a little experience last year. He had some big plays on special teams for us a year ago, but his practice and work ethic were OK, not great. Joe Haden is a much better practice player. I think it's game experience, I really do. I was talking to Lawrence Wright, and he was talking about the '93 Gator defense with all those young defensive backs. They got abused once in a while, but they just kept sticking together, sticking together and all of a sudden they matured and became one of the better groups in the country. I relate it to that. He's getting experience. He's a good young guy who has some pride. It was obvious he was getting lit up a little bit."
It seemed like last year your kickoff guy had a little box he was aiming for between the 10 and the hash. Joey (Ijjas) had three touchbacks Saturday. Are you encouraging him to put it past that box now?
"We didn't kick the ball deep one time Saturday. Those were squib kicks. We were not going to kick deep to that guy. I don't have enough confidence in our kickoff team to do that right now, so if you really watch, we kicked off nine teams and did either sky right, squib left or squib right. He hit a couple of them just right where they started cheating up and he got all of it. He had three touchbacks, but one was a line drive that he hit just right. The others were two squibs that got behind the guy. It's a whole different approach from the 30-yard line when you're playing with some of the young players we're playing on kickoff. I'm not sure where they are statistically, but Vanderbilt was as good a kickoff return team as we've faced this year."
Does the Florida-South Carolina rivalry mean more to you because of what coach Spurrier did around here?
"It's there. I can stand up here and say it's just another game, but it's not. It's certainly there, but in the last three years it's come down to something far greater than all that – the fact you're playing for an SEC East championship in November. Year one, F, year two, did it, year three, we're going to find out. I'm glad that's kind of disappeared (the Spurrier vs. Meyer talk). The first year that's all the discussion was, and that's kind of disappeared. It's certainly disappeared around our team, but it's always going to be there and it should be there."
Are you going to let the players watch the early games on Saturday (Arkansas-Tennessee; Auburn-Georgia)?
"Sure."
Could that backfire as a motivational thing?
"I don't think so. We'll have walk-throughs and meetings and everything else. It's like an hour at most that they are by themselves."
If the games go your way, will you maybe mention it to them before the game?
"I'm not sure. Blue pants, you never know."
You said Harvin graded out over 100 percent. How often has that happened with players?
"Bubba Caldwell graded out 97 percent and Jarred Fayson 91 percent. Percy Harvin was over 100 percent, and that's a result of big plays. You get a double-plus for that, and I don't think Percy graded out a champion once last year. He had some big plays, but he's becoming a well-rounded complete player. The same with Bubba Caldwell. Bubba Caldwell is our best blocker downfield. If you really watch that Jarred Fayson touchdown, he peels back and gets a nice shot on the guy. It's a result of just buying into the system and understanding how to become a great player."
Has anyone graded out over 100 before?
"Oh yeah."