Opening State

Well, I think that, you know, you saw two different halves in Oregon, and I like the way we attacked when we played in Michigan State. The last three games, the thing that I've been most proud of is the fight of each and every one of the coaches and the kids. You know, in these games and how they've responded to some difficult situations. With that, I'll open it up to questions.

On getting off the field on third downs

Well, I think that, you know, you play with who you got, and it was a really good team who was, you know, ranked just like IU is, you know, high on third down, so there's some space plays that we just missed, and, you know, we've got to find some different ways to affect the quarterback, but that's hard to do when you're down men and everything else. But, you know, that's going to be a challenge for us this week. And then you play another offense that has 13 transfers. I think Oregon's quarterback, that was his 58th career start. I think with Rourke, I think it's his 42nd or 43rd career start. So, you know, you've got experienced guys back there pulling the trigger. So it's going to be a tough challenge for us.

On what was lacking defensively against Oregon

Well, I think that one of the things that they came into, you know, looking back on their game plan was to throw the ball overhead, and there was a couple times that he did overhead. But I think for the most part, you know, we did a nice job. And Lamar and the secondary guys all did a nice job of keeping everything top-down and covered. We took away a lot of shots, too, if you watch the tape. So when you just throw a lot on it, I think there was two that they got us and covered one. I thought Aamir played as hard as Aamir could play. I was proud of him. I was proud of his resolve and how tough he is as a corner. And, you know, we had to move Zeke outside. And I thought he held up pretty well.

On whether anything has disappointed or surprised him this season

I mean, you lose the game. So if you lose, you're disappointed. But, you know, also when you've done it, as long as I've done it, there's seasons like this where things just happen, you know. And, you know, I told the defense for the season to start, it's going to be a different year, it's going to be a different season. And, you know, we continue to harp on trying to get our depth coming along. And, you know, I think there's a couple guys that are starting to step up now. Finally, you don't have to play so many guys for so long. But, you know, it's like one of those things that, you know, it's the tough spot for the position coaches and also for myself is, you know, when the game's on the line, you want Mason, you want KG, you know, you want your guys in the game. You know, a lot of these games we played them late, the game's been on the line for four quarters. So it's hard to find that spot, that sweet spot. You know, I thought we did a better job of it in the second half. And then also, you know, the last couple games, you know, we started making guys come out of the game. And, you know, so we get to find that sweet spot with that, it would help us. But, you know, from what I expected before the season, you always expect to win. As a coach you do. But you also know that anything can happen. And, you know, the thing that I always talk to the players about, you know, losing is learning, you know, and it always has been. You know, different ways you can do things, different ways they can prepare, different ways we can prepare. And injuries are something that, you know, that crop up during the season. And that's why, you know, really I think in college football you need to be 3-D, not 2-D, but 3-D. And I know that's where our success was the two prior years is the depth that we had. You know, you're seeing all the guys that are starting out with backups. I mean, that's facts. And we just got to keep working our tail off to keep bringing depth in here. And, you know, it's like I said, this offense is going to be the oldest offense by age that we faced here at IU, you know, at IU. And, you know, they hit the travel, you know, they hit the portal just like work. You know, so they have just as many portal receivers as what Oregon did and everything else. So it's going to be a tough challenge.

On what gives him confidence about the future of the defense

Well, I think what gives me the confidence is watching our, you know, the position coaches, which I've told you before, I think they're the best in the country, not only in coaching their positions but in recruiting. And, you know, I think that, you know, we're going to have to, you know, attack this offseason as hard as we can to turn some spots around and turn some spots over. So it'll be interesting to see how it, you know, plays out. But I know they're working their tails off. I know, you know, all the recruits we've had in here, we've had some good recruits. I know I'm not allowed to talk about them. I do know that much. But, you know, that gives me confidence seeing the guys that are in here. But the thing that's crazy now is not just recruiting. It's money. So that puts a whole different twist to it.

On how he rates the ball disruption and creating turnovers

Always looking for more of that, and I think it comes in bunches. You know, we've been really close on some, you know, plays. You know, like Aamir was close, as you saw there on the first touchdown. And the ball came out, but it's still kind of a touchdown.

On LaMar Morgan attacking recruiting

I mean, he's just relentless, and they all are. They're just relentless recruiters. They have their two phones that they have in each meeting and computers and everything else if they can answer questions. You know, that's a little bit different for me. You know, like in a defensive meeting, the guy's getting up because they got a call. You know, I'm used to it now, but initially that was a change. But he is just, he's relentless on getting quality football players, quality people and quality football players here.

On how much money is a factor in college football recruiting

I didn't even think about it. You know, I mean, I know it's like free agency. That's really easy to say. It's really easy for you guys to say, well, it's this, this, and this. And, you know, until this, you know, until there's salary caps and everything else involved in college football, you just don't know what to believe and who's actually getting what. And it's sort of like the wild, wild west. But I know they're getting it. So, you know, it's both portal and, you know, the incoming freshmen.

On how to fix tackling and better angles

I don't think there's been an issue throughout the year. I don't want to leave that off of saying that. I think that we've had some missed tackles. We've had some games where individuals missed some tackles. And I see them working, you know, better with their angles and eyes. We've done tackling circuits the last, really, last three weeks, last four weeks. You know, it gets them more focused on their angles and everything else. But I also think there's a part to the game where there's a lot of space out there. You know, that guy's on scholarship, too, and sometimes he makes people miss. But I don't see the missed tackles as some other people see it. You know, I think that we've done a nice job of playing hard. You know, that's been a trademark forever, and it'll continue to be a trademark. But, you know, just keep running with the football and having good eyes and good angles, and you'll tackle them.

On coaching in college was what he thought it would be and whether this is something he wants to do long-term

Sure. I mean, it's like I haven't sat down and thought about the long haul. When you're 61 you just try to think about tomorrow. But, you know, yeah, I'm glad that I'm here. I love the players that we have. You know, I think that it's obviously a different game, but, you know, it's a lot better than being in some places at 2-7.

On the struggles with the run defense in recent weeks

Well, I think that it's a lot more split safety because of different people you have playing in the game. And then when you decide, when you go into a game, game plan-wise, like a team against Oregon, that you're going to play top-down coverage and not give up the, you know, because every play they line up, they could have a big play if you just play single high safety, you know, and load the box up. It's a flip of the coin. They could have a big play because of how fast they were in the receiving game. And it's, you know, I think some quarterback scrambles have hurt those stats. We need to do a better job of keeping them in the pocket. You know, we need to do that against Michigan State, and I think that quarterback's going to be a really good quarterback as well. So, you know, it's a work in progress. It's going to continue to be a work in progress until we play that last one. And I think we've got just the guys for the challenge as far as coaches and players. And, you know, that's what makes me come to work every day and enjoy the job that I have.

On the defense as a whole this season

Well, I mean, I think that, you know, obviously there's things we can do better. But I think that, you know, there's things that we've improved on, you know, sudden change defense, things like that throughout the year. And I'm proud of the guys that we have. So I'm not going to rate the defense where I think it's at or anything else. I'm just proud of the fact that they play hard. They love Michigan. They love their teammates. And they don't let each other down no matter what the situation is. They just keep answering the bell. And that's what makes you proud as a coach. That's what makes it worth it to put the work in is when you see how these kids are. And they play hard. You know, everybody, you know, wants to talk William and Bill, but there's a lot of guys that are playing well. You know, those two tackles are playing, you know, at a high, high level. The whole front four is. And, you know, you're seeing improvement on the inside linebacker play. You know, and then, you know, secondary-wise, we knew going into it that we were going to be light. And, you know, once you start getting some entries piled up there, you can see, you know, the lack of experience. And, you know, you're starting to play a true freshman out there and things like that, which is, haven't seen that in a while. I mean, the last true freshman to play was Charles Woodson. I mean, he was pretty good.

On how early does the money discussion come in recruiting

That would be a question for all the position coaches, really. I'm sort of like the closer. So, when they start talking money, I just say, yeah, we'll get to that, and I know nothing about it. But let's make no mistake. I do know this just from listening. You know, when someone says money's not important, money's important. And it's important to all of us. I mean, it's not like you look. It's important to all of us. So, I mean, that's just where we're at, where you can have a guy who's sixth on your list and a school that has no business competing with a Big Ten school. I'm not just saying Michigan. A Big Ten school can come in and grab him because they're looking at that guy as their top guy to hit. Does that make sense? Where you're saying, this is our sixth guy. There's no way we can go that high. But it ends up everybody gets that high. It just keeps escalating. You know, I think it's unsustainable. You know, where we're at right now, I don't know how long it'll last. So that's what I started thinking about. Who asked me about long term? That's where I started thinking about that.

On whether he believes the days of developing freshmen are over

I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that because we have the opportunity to get some really good freshmen. I know I just heard Steve talk about our opportunity scrimmages and things like that. We're still doing that. I think you're going into the unknown because it's going to go to 105 on the roster. They're saying they're going to have this rule. They're going to say they're having this rule. You guys have all covered the NCAA a lot longer than what I've been in the second time around. I know when I hear a rule, I don't believe it until I see it. Except the catch rule.

On whether this defense can be a quick fix in the future

Oh yeah, without a doubt. Without a doubt.

On Zeke Berry and Makari Paige playing different positions

Oh yeah, and that's what I'm saying. It's really easy to come to work here because of the effort they put into it. They study their tails off. It's important to them. They're great, great people. With what Zeke did and Makari, Makari's done it before, whereas Zeke, it was fairly new to him, especially this year. Just to watch him compete, I was proud of that. I was proud for him, happy for him.

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