Kill's official transcript:
COACH JERRY KILL
COACH KILL: Well, last week, able to start off with a win. Certainly as you go back and look at film, there's lots of room for improvement. So that's kind of where we spent last week.
The one thing about playing on Thursday night is you got a chance to really spend more time on the film. You get an extra day of practice, an extra day of preparation, an extra day to spend with the kids.
School starts today. Anytime you start school, it's not like professional football, it's a little bit different, getting the guys' mindset at practice today. That's the biggest job we got, making sure we got coming off of an early morning getting up, make sure we have a good practice today.
With that, any questions.
Q. What can you tell us about the defensive line injuries.
COACH KILL: I'm not going to comment on that too much. I always give an injury report. However, it looks like pretty for sure that Scott Ekpe is done for the season. That's a major blow.
But with that, the other two, they're not lost for the season and we'll see how this week progresses with them. That's where we're at with those injuries. We'll see how the week goes.
Tough deal for Scott. You never know about that kid. Great kid. He'll work hard. But that's where we're at with that.
Q. Will Amaefula play this week?
COACH KILL: Yeah, he'll play this week.
Q. Do you take that group aside on Sunday and say, This is big for you guys, everybody needs to do their part, with all these injuries?
COACH KILL: Well, I think we've done that. I think they know. I don't think we have to tell them to step up. That's why we rep so many guys and so forth.
We're no different than the Wisconsin situation, losing two defensive linemen in a particular game. We lost three in that particular game. A couple fairly early. Our guys that went in there stepped up and played well.
It's just part of the game. If you're a football player and a coach, it's part of it. Got to be lucky sometimes. Not so lucky on the first game. Hopefully we'll stay healthy the rest of the year.
Q. Did you give any thought to moving Harold back to defensive tackle?
COACH KILL: Yeah, we moved him back.
Q. With Steven Richardson, can you assess his first game, and moving forward?
COACH KILL: Well, I think as you know, since we've been here, we played eight defensive linemen. His role increased on Thursday night, and always has. Will it increase more? Besides how we decide to substitute in that situation. But he played very well.
As a true freshman going in and playing like he did, he did a great job, a great job. Certainly gained some confidence from his first game.
When you're a freshman, you always play better your second game. We played a lot of freshmen. It's a good experience for them. They'll keep learning and keep working to get ready for the Big Ten Conference.
Q. Mitch, talk about his progression moving forward.
COACH KILL: He'll be fine. I thought he settled down in the second half. It's one of those things where I think sometimes we forget, this is really his first start as a starting quarterback without somebody getting injured. When you're the guy, it's a lot different.
He'll play. He'll get better each week. I always refer to Michigan State' quarterback last year. They had quarterback controversy. They struggled early in the year. Then he just kept getting better and better.
As a coach, you stay focused, you keep him focused, as well as your football team. We know what Mitch can do, and our players just through practice, you got to continue to play in games and get used to the fast motions and so forth. We got to continue to get better on offense, which we will.
Q. You mentioned wanting to get K.J. involved in the passing game more. Do you see that as a big key on Saturday?
COACH KILL: There's several players that need touches. Certainly Berkley Edwards because he can get it over with in a hurry, and David, as well as Donovahn Jones. Donovahn is a year older. I think he showed his burst of speed, what he had. Maxx Williams. Then K.J. We'll have Wolitarsky back.
There are some guys, they will help this process come along because great receivers certainly help a quarterback. Donovahn reached down back behind him and went the distance. Those are things that we need to continue to do.
Life is about confidence. It doesn't matter who it is. David Cobb is the best example last year. Wasn't even starting in the first game. Couple injuries. He got better and better. All of a sudden he has a couple good games. The rest is history.
I think once you gain some confidence... It certainly helped Berkley. Comes to practice, got a little bit different swagger to him. The secondary players, we were talking about it yesterday on the TV show with Mike, you can kind of tell when people go out to warmup who has a little strut to them and feel confident about things. Our secondary feels confident.
You kind of pick the players if you think about it that have the confidence right now, ones that will get it as we move forward.
Q. Besides confidence what do you look for that will tell you Mitch has gone to the next level?
COACH KILL: Well, I think a lot of it is just keep moving forward. We played one football game. Just keep moving forward with the offense, continue to get better.
I judge quarterbacks if they can move the chains and win. Got to keep winning, moving chains. I've seen a lot of fantastic quarterbacks do everything, but they don't win. I think winning is a big part of that. His progression is there.
I look forward, just like I think our whole coaching staff does, to Saturday afternoon, and continue to get our football team better.
Q. You mentioned how Eastern Illinois was bringing the kitchen sink early on. Do you expect that because you're breaking in a relatively new starter at quarterback?
COACH KILL: No, you're going to get eight, nine in the box and things. But when I say that, there's no question they blitzed some, but they played zone coverage behind it a lot. Part of the deal was when you play a first opponent, you have no idea because of the coaching change, when you say 'move around on defense and bring people,' it's a totally different thing than you worked on.
From an offensive line standpoint, you miss some blitz checks. As a runningback you miss some blitz checks. Get pressure on the quarterback and so forth.
I just think, again, we won the game. Offensively we started to settle down in the second half. Like I said, it's all about repetition and playing. You can practice all you want, but you got to play in games and keep getting better.
Q. How much of that tide turning in that game was players settling in compared to adjustments you made?
COACH KILL: I think a little bit of both. But blocked punt, any time you play good in special teams, block a punt, I mean, that changes a whole game. Kicker kicking it out of the end zone all the time, have to start from the 25, that's pretty good. Punter being able to punt the ball, change field position, that's the biggest offensive play in football. I think the kicking game settled in.
It's just like anything, we went to running the zone scheme, picking up stuff, be able to get some creases, make some throws. As I said, as the game moves on, you get better, keep working.
Q. Do you like the idea of Thursday night games starting a little bit earlier than some programs, maybe more eyeballs on you, then you have more time to get ready?
COACH KILL: Trying to get me in trouble all the time (smiling). I got administration up there.
I think things have changed a little bit because our school, where it starts, when summer school ends, we lose practices in there. We didn't have two a day practices, it took eight days to get there. That makes it more difficult.
If you move it to Saturday, you get more time. But that's all switched if our school switches.
Then the other thing is not being in Minnesota, then being here, with all the things that are going on, I think that's a question to ask the fans. I've certainly asked a few people. You got high school teams playing and so forth. That makes it difficult.
Now, from the other hand, you know you're playing on Thursday night, getting all the publicity, and that's a good thing.
You have to look at both of them, make the best decision. The fans are the most important thing we have, the fans. It's about the fans, the kids, the state of Minnesota. If it's to move on Saturday, then I think we need to do that.
The other concern is being able to get all your practices in before the first game. That's a big concern.
Q. What do you make of playing that early, in August, as a concept?
COACH KILL: 31 years of coaching, we start a lot different. I've seen a whole lot of changes.
What's happened, keeps getting moved up earlier. You got baseball going on, then football, NFL, so forth. I think football's gotten huge. In the process, we're playing more games. Now you got the playoffs, and still people are wanting to have an eight team playoff. You do that, then you're extending the season even farther.
I feel like you got to be careful. So to answer your question, it's different. It's not going to change.
(Audio interruption.)
Q. Do you think Drew Wolitarsky will be back for sure? Any update on Jeff Jones?
COACH KILL: Yeah, as far as Drew is concerned, he will play. As far as Jeff goes, I mean, I think he's happy and excited. First day of school. You know, seen him this morning. Hopefully he'll be practicing in the spring. There's certain things that I won't mention, how the NCAA works and all that. But cautiously optimistic to see how that works out.
Q. Talk about Wilson and Campbell.
COACH KILL: The thing about defensively right now, that just is different, I think about where we were, where we were starting, where we're at now. Our secondary, we played a lot of five, six defensive backs and linebackers. That first group can really run, really run. Damien and De'Vondre can really run. They're long. Damien was measured by the NFL scouts, measured by how long his arms are and they are longer than Ra’Shede’s arms. When you have length, you can keep people from blocking you and you tackle better.
No question with those guys. And we're playing seven no huddle teams, so you got to be able to run.
Q. Have you talked to MarQueis?
COACH KILL: I haven't had a chance to because I didn't want to bother him because he's already gone to work. That's a quick transition. I will get ahold of him today. I'm excited for him. He's a great kid. I can remember walking in my first meeting, he was standing out there waiting on me. But he was waiting to play quarterback (laughter).
But he's very athletic. The reason he's there is Coach Turner. He had him in Cleveland. All that verbiage, all that stuff you have to learn, he knows it. I'm rooting for him, there's no question about that.
Thank you. Appreciate it very much.
COACH TRACY CLAEYS
Q. After you lose that many guys on the D line, do you scratch your head?
COACH CLAEYS: Coach reminds you all the time, it's our job as coaches that you put the best people on the field that you have available, ask them to do what they can do. As far as preparing, you can't worry about the ones you don't have.
It's their job to get healthy and get better. Right away we just looked at who's the next best people we can put in there, what things can we do that they're capable of doing.
Q. Is that next best person Steven Richardson?
COACH CLAEYS: There's going to be quite a few of them ending up going up quite a bit. Gaelin is going to get a few more reps. Andrew is going to get a few more reps. Coach Phelps, as far as how they rotate, I leave it up to him. He works with them every day.
Those young kids, we don't have any other choice. Throw them in there, they're more than capable of getting it done. Just got to get them in the right spots and teach them what to do.
Q. Richardson, what have you seen from him?
COACH CLAEYS: He's a strong kid, plays well. Obviously has good pad level. But he's extremely strong, gets off the ball with a great first step.
He'll be just fine. At least you have a little bit of film to go off of. At least there's some film here that helps you teach a little bit.
Whether you're ready or not, it's the best teacher to get them ready for the Big Ten season, to get them in there and play, so they're going to get the opportunity to play.
Q. (Question about playing offense with tempo.)
COACH CLAEYS: We've never huddled since I've been defensive coordinator on defense. So that part of it doesn't bother me. That's part of the reason we did it, because we always believed that even when you huddled on defense, when people got in two minute, late before the half, it just screwed up your communication so much, you might not as well huddle at all. We've never huddled on defense. That part is not so bad. You're still locating the substitution.
I will say this. You could tell that they've changed with the eight officials. When they substituted, they did hold the ball longer to get you a chance to match the substitutions the other night.
But the biggest thing is when they don't change personnel and go right to the line, it's hard to substitute people in for situations. Basically whatever you have out there you have to play with, unless the ball goes out of bounds next to your boundary. I thought Coach Phelps did a great job of that, making sure we didn't substitute D line when the ball went out of bounds on the other side. Last year we got caught with 12 people on the field a couple times. It's weird, you have to pay attention where the ball goes out of bounds and where it's at before you end up substituting people.
The good thing is, about everybody is doing it. Used to only see it two, three times a year. You would go, Oh, my. Now you get used to it.
Q. When do you expect Keith to play again? With Damien Wilson, do you feel he improved a lot the last few games last seen and where do you him now, Tracy?
COACH CLAEYS: Damien is better. I still think he can play better than what he did the other night. In that regard he's better. He's a little lighter than he was last year. That helps with all the no huddle teams, spreading it out.
He'll continue to improve. So we're very pleased with where Damien is at. You don't find too many people his size that run like he does, so we're pleased with him.
Alex Keith, I'm not for sure when he gets back. Coach tells us it's not our job to worry about injuries. It's getting the ones that are ready ready to play. That's the truth. When he says he's ready to go, he'll go. I don't know how long that's going to be.
Q. You said you end up grading out your secondary. Do you credit some of that to more adjustments you had to make, to their offense?
COACH CLAEYS: Again, when a new staff takes over, you can blame me at the beginning of it. We're just trying to figure out what the hell's going on basically because you don't know what personnel are going to do, you have no video. You give a little bit of ground.
I will say this, though, the second play of the game, Damien should have intercepted it and would have scored six points. We dropped an interception there. Those people that are in that offense now, I mean, they do it because it's really pretty simple for the offense. They know what they're looking for, throws they're looking for.
I think they got like 60 of their yards on that first drive or something like that. But this game still comes down to you got to cross the goal line and get points. It isn't about yardage anymore. I think too much now you're judged on too much yardage you give up. The bottom line is how many points do you give up. Coach Sawvel does a great job of getting those kids ready to play. We're as athletic as anybody back there.
I think that's one thing that the game is fortunate to do with the speed up stuff and that, some of the routes that people are running, you got to match it man to man to be able to effectively get it stopped.
Q. Did Harold move to defensive line before or after Scott was hurt?
COACH CLAEYS: Harold moved back to D line after.
Q. Do you expect him to play?
COACH CLAEYS: For depth purposes is really what it's for.
Q. Middle Tennessee State has a good crop of runningbacks. Do you feel this game will be a good test to see where you are at as far as stopping the run goes?
COACH CLAEYS: They're still a one back team. They run a little bit of power. But they really spread the field a lot. Again, you know that's not as hard to get young players for up front in the D line as what a two back power team is.
The backs are good. They got enough skill. They spread the field on you. You're going to have to tackle in space. If you don't make plays in space, it's going to be a long day.
I thought the other night we tackled pretty good except on the quarterback scrambles. I thought we tackled pretty good. We're going to have to tackle again in order to get it stopped. That's what the whole philosophy is.
They're going to run a lot more screens than what we saw last week. We're going to have to make sure we have good leverage and tackle the ball.
Q. How much are you in your base defense?
COACH CLAEYS: Not very much. Shoot, that's the thing. I think everybody started with your base defense. You have to have players in there who can make space. I think that's why the smaller linebackers, you get away with a little bit. Two or three games, you got to make adjustments, but the rest of the games those kids can play. It's changed the way we recruit. I mean, it's changed everything. But that's the way the game is going nowadays.
Q. What about the quarterback, pretty good completion percentage the other night.
COACH CLAEYS: They did well. The other thing about that, the next two games, they're just as difficult to prepare for as the first one. I'm sure they didn't have to show everything that they're doing. They were pretty simple the other night in what they did. They just executed really well, scored a lot of points. It will be interesting to see what else they do.
But coach has been there for a while. They've done a nice job. They've been pretty consistent on offense with what they like to do.
TCU is the same way. They play the game and they got this week off. I mean, these next two games are still a little bit of being blind going into them. But having a veteran secondary, a lot of kids have played, it was easy the other night to make adjustments when we had to make them. So hopefully that will pay off here the next two weeks also.
Thank you.
COACH MATT LIMEGROVER
Q. What stood out from the other day with Mitch?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think his composure. He was wound pretty tight when the game started, which we were hoping wouldn't be the case, but ended up being the case. He's such a competitive kid. I think he wanted to go out and win the Super Bowl on his first five throws.
Eventually he calmed down. That's kind of how the whole offense went. We were able to get him calmed down, get into more of a rhythm.
Overall that was a big positive. So hopefully we can maybe get him to run a mile before this game around the stadium or something, get him calmed down right from the beginning.
Q. Do you think it's a beginning of the game thing or the fact it was the first game, a night game?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think it was the beginning of the first game, it was a night game. You got to be realistic. No matter how you try and deflect it, there's a lot of pressure on the young man. He's the guy. We've stated that. Everybody knows that. Any time you're a competitive kid, you're in that situation, I think you're going to want to go out and do everything exactly right.
So it's been a good learning experience for him. So we're going to move forward with that.
Q. How did you feel about pass blocking wise, especially on the O line?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Not as good as what it needs to be. I give Eastern Illinois some credit. They threw some things at us. First game, having to try to prepare for everything always gets you a little bit. I was hoping we would be able to handle it a little bit better.
There were a few breakdowns that the guys realized it as soon as it happened. Once we were able to get a feel for what they were trying to do, it helped us tremendously to get those guys over to the sidelines, take a deep breath, here is how they're trying to attack us, here is what we want to do, we were able to settle in as we went along.
Q. Do you feel like you can put Ben Lauer back in there or are you comfortable with the starting five?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think a big thing is, as long as Coach Kill and I have been together, we've always tried to have five guys up front. But there's some things that have changed since we've gotten here. If you get the six or seven or eight guys you feel comfortable playing, I think that helps you in the long run.
I like what happened last year with Ben playing about 35 plays a game, Eddie Olson playing about 35. That's something we're toying around with. There's been a couple of the young guys who have had a couple good weeks of practice, we'd like to roll through there and get involved with that.
Ben is a guy, when we feel like he's 100% healthy, which he's awful close to being, he feels good, we're going to get him back in there.
Q. Leidner seems like he looks for contact when running. Is that something you can coach him to not do?
COACH LIMEGROVER: We're trying. We're trying. That's in his nature. You know, I think there's a lot of it, when you see a quarterback run, maybe slide before contact, run out of bounds, not get an extra yard or two, you know, I think that's something that isn't in his DNA. You've got to really work with him constantly on that, a bigger picture. No one is going to think less of you if you don't step out and gain that extra yard, but you don't get hit by three defenders as well. We're working on that all the time.
He's valuable. He's breaking the pocket in a pass or there's something in the zone read, he's running the football. But at the same time he's no good to us, those extra three or four yards are minuscule in relation to him being out on the field for the next play, series, game.
We talk to him about that constantly, and Coach Kill at the beginning.
Q. (No microphone.)
COACH LIMEGROVER: You know, getting really what we've been working on since really back in January, what the kids have been working on. Like I said, I think Mitch got a little bit unsettled because there was some disruption up front, people at his feet early on. So we got a little bit out of rhythm.
But there's a core amount of passes, play action obviously is something we were able to get to as we went along, being able to get some play actions in there.
The biggest thing is just when he goes back to throw, the things that we've been working on over and over again, just that comfort level. That's an 11 man job. That isn't up to Mitch or only the O line or the wide receivers. That's everybody involved.
So as always, that's something that you stress and you work on and you try and give them as many of those kind of looks during the week, all 11 of them, to try to get that comfort level as high as possible.
Q. Disappointing you didn't get the ball to K.J. a little more?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah. I think that comes with what they're giving you. You know, there were some times where I think he looked back on it and said, That's what I needed to get to a little bit sooner. You like the fact that he's able to look at that and say, Okay, these are the mistakes I made, this was the blind spot I had in this game. Move forward, don't make that again.
Q. With Berkley, is he big enough, strong enough now to be an every down back, 15 plus carries a game? Does he have to change into that a little bit?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I think the nice thing is with the group of runningbacks we have, he doesn't have to be that. In a given game, maybe that situation presents itself. But we don't have to sit here and say, It's Berkley or bust at runningback.
We'd like to increase his workload every week a little bit and get him more involved. Everybody in here who saw the game understands that he's a one touch and that thing can be over in a hurry.
That's a nice problem to have, but then again we've got David Cobb. He's a guy, the more you give him the ball the better he gets. He needs his carries. You got a bruiser in Rodrick Williams. Fortunately we don't have to ask Berkley to be that guy, that 18 20 carry guy. We want to make sure when he gets his touches that we're maximizing those opportunities for big plays for him.
Q. You've worked with a lot of quarterbacks. What is the intangible that you look for knowing he's taking the next step?
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, I think one of the biggest things is you love the fact he is so competitive. So now it's a matter of you're not poking him with a cattle prod to get in there, be the leader. You're almost pulling the reins back a little bit.
I think that's just something that comes with time. Everything that we've kind of talked about during this time is leading up to just that maturing process.
The one interesting thing that people don't really think about, like I said, Thursday night it was Mitch's show. Even when he was starting last year, there was still, Okay, what's the reason he is starting? Is another guy hurt? Is it this or that? Now it was an unquestioned thing. I think he really wanted to jump out. He wanted to win the national championship first three throws of the game.
With that in mind, I think that was a great learning experience for, Hey, take a deep breath, it's a long game, there's going to be some highs and some lows, be that captain of that steady ship. That's huge moving forward, especially going into this week.
Q. Is that the key with this offense, trying to get this group to get those fast starts? That's something you struggled with the last couple years.
COACH LIMEGROVER: Yeah, you know, you'd much rather be up 14 0 your first two drives. That's always the challenge. We're looking at different things always. We script up a series of starts, series of plays, saying, Here is what we really feel is going to be successful, how they're going to react to it.
You want to make sure the guys feel comfortable with it. So we're continuing to do that. I think it does come down to really the guys feeling comfortable. Good or bad, let's see how this thing goes. Let's get going. Let's get on the fast track.
Q. Going back to Thursday, Mitch ran the ball seven times. Is that a number you want to keep him at?
COACH LIMEGROVER: I thought his decision making was excellent. I said right from the beginning we're not going to have 30% of our game plan quarterback run anymore. We're getting away from that. Feel like we've got not only one runningback, but a number of runningbacks, some other guys in the run game, with the jet actions, the fly sweeps and things. We can get the ball in different guy's hands. Doesn't have to be quarterback centered nearly as much as it was.
We felt like that was a good number. I can't say it's going to be seven every week. Could be four one week, could be 11 another. But we want him upright and being our quarterback. That's an important factor as we move forward, for sure, is making sure that we're not intentionally putting him out there more than we need to, more than what fits into what our bigger game plan is.
