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Ted Roof, a veteran of college football, joins the UCF staff this season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Roof, who coached with Gus Malzahn at Auburn from 2009-11, will be tasked with improving UCF's defense, particularly their run defense, which struggled during their first season of Big 12 play.
Roof appeared in front of the media following UCF's second day of spring practice on Wednesday.
Talk us through this decision you made to come to UCF. Obviously you've got a prior relationship with Coach Malzahn from your Auburn days.
"Well, I'm very fortunate to be here. To be in a program like this that's on the rise with a guy that I've worked with before and have a lot of respect for, and also admiration. We were a pretty good team when we were together, and it's good to be back with him."
You know right off the bat that the big focus is stopping the run, that's something UCF struggled with. What is your philosophy when it comes to stopping the run?
"If you can't stop the run, you can't win. It's as simple as that. There's going to be times when everybody knows they're going to run, and you've got to stop it to win. If a team can run the football against you, that demoralizes your whole football team. That hadn't changed since football was invented. That's not like a new theory. You've got to stop the run to win. If you make them more one-dimensional, they become more predictable, which puts us in advantageous positions to put our playmakers in good positions.
"That's something that every defensive coordinator in America that's at a press conference right now is talking about stopping the run and being aggressive and attacking, but so much of that is a mindset too, to establish the right mindset that we're going to attack and we're going to be aggressive. We know we've got to do that to win football games. We'll commit as many defenders as it takes to do that, because with the evolution of the quarterback run game, it makes people play 11 on 11."
You got to see UCF last year at your last stop. What did you think about them then?
"I thought that they were on the verge of being a really good football team last year. We had to stop a two-point play to win. So I say we, now that they are they and we're we here. But they had to stop a two-point play to win. And saw it was a group of talented players that I knew had a good coaching staff.
"Like I said, I think it's ready to explode and take off. But we can't just say that. We've got to make it do that. And that takes work. That takes commitment. And like I talk about with the players, a daily sense of incremental improvement. You don't just go from here to here. There's a bunch of little steps that you've got to take. And then all of a sudden you look back and look where we came from. Just getting better every day. I know that sounds really a coaching cliche, but that's life, and that's how it goes, and if you want to be successful, that's the recipe for success."
Two days into practice, any new guys standing out?
"I see that there's some guys that are providing leadership. And the good teams that I've been around, the championship teams, those teams have been player-led, it's not been coach-led. And so to try to develop that and push that. But up front, you've got guys like
Lee Hunter and
Ricky Barber, the linebacker corps, some of our transfers, our grad transfers, are doing a good job there.
"And in the secondary, there's some experience back there. A guy like
Nikai Martinez back there doing a good job. He had a pick-six today."
What do you want to see out of this linebacker group in the springtime, between the holdovers and obviously the the additions and the transfer portal as well?
"I want to see them learn the defense, command the defense, have a command of the defense with the rest of the players, and be able to execute when they're tired, when it's hot, when it's play 97, it doesn't matter because the core of everybody's defense is the linebackers, because they're tied to everything.
"They're tied to the front, they're tied to the stunts, they're tied to the blitzes, they're tied to the coverage. So for them to be able to learn it and to command it and execute it at a high level on a daily basis."
What is it about Gus? Gus has a staff full of coaches that he's worked with in his coaching career. What is it about Gus that he brings guys with familiarity to have success?
"In this business, it's not just one person. It's so much about everybody and people that you trust because there's so many coaches out there. Supply and demand, there's a million coaches that would love to coach here at the University of Central Florida... I'm blessed to be a part of it."
Can you talk a little bit about your philosophy? You said being aggressive, willing to commit as many defenders to stop the run, but how do you balance that with not being overly aggressive where you leave those guys in the back end out to dry?
"You're exactly right. It is a blend. So much of it too is about the preaching that picture. Because if you give your intentions away, you're going to get sliced up. It's not like the quarterback's making the checks, it's the coach in the press box that's making them going out on the sideline. So they're seeing what the defenses are doing and then checking the play accordingly. So to be able to disguise our intentions.
"But at the same time, scheme's important, but it's not about scheme. It's about players being confident and knowing what to do and then doing it full speed and doing it with reckless abandon. And that's what wins football games, not schemes, it's techniques and fundamentals and players that execute at a high level straining to do their job the best that they can and that's all we ask. But we demand every ounce of it."
Obviously, UCF struggled against the run last season. Are there any other goals that you want to make with this defense?
"We've got goals in every aspect of our game. We've got takeaway goals, we've got points per possession goals, we've got red zone goals. All those things, they put this big thing together called winning and losing and to have goals in each area because you've got to give our players like, okay, what's our standard? And then hold them to the standard, you know? You got to understand what the standard is and what the expectation level is, to achieve that. So you're working to do that on a consistent basis. And that's what wins for you. So we have goals in every area and standards. And yeah, that's how we do it."
Individually, how do you feel like you fit in with the defensive staff, considering that there's a few holdovers and Addison was in this position last year?
"Well, you'll have to ask them that, but I feel good. I feel it's been a seamless transition. I've been very impressed with them and they're good men and good coaches, good teachers. And, like I said, it's a great group and I'm excited about being a part of it."
Can you feel the presence of these incoming transfers? A lot of these guys have played four or five years at other schools. Ethan Barr was a guy I know you coached a few years ago, plus guys like Ladarius Tennison and Deshawn Pace.
"Yes, because here's what you see. You've got guys that are at that level of their career, at that point in their career, then you got guys that just graduated from high school. The guys that just graduated from high school, they don't know what they don't know. The guys that have been doing this a long time at a high level, they know what they don't know, so we're trying to get those guys to hitch their wagons on how to do it to the older guys to help accentuate and facilitate that process speeding up, because we want everybody leaving here this spring or this summer having a good understanding, being able to execute and feeling like they've got a chance, and part of it is learning what to do.
"But like I said, you're different at 23 years old than when you're at 17 or 18, that's just how God makes you, and that's just how it is. Give them good role models and good examples of that's what it's supposed to look like, go do that. Whenever he's doing that, you do that with him. And at the same time, college football's harder than it ever has been to build a team right now because of the transfer portal. And part of it is the guys that come in, coming in with the right attitude and attitude of humility that they've got to earn the respect of their teammates. And at the same time, it's guys that are already here saying, you know, if that guy's here for the right reasons and he's trying to help us to make us better, there's got to be a certain amount of welcoming there too.
"So it's a combination of all that, but building this thing called team is harder than it's ever been because like I said, of the comings and goings."
You get a guy like Deshawn Pace, who's got a lot of versatility that can play linebacker or safety, do a little bit of everything. How important is that?
"Yeah, it's certainly critical because our job as coaches is just to get the best group on the field. And right now, I don't know what that group is. We've got a lot of spring practice to go. We haven't even been in pads yet, so to be able to watch guys hit guys, because tackling is still the No. 1 fundamental in football. Regardless of how everybody else tries, it's about tackling the guy with the ball. I want to see that before I make statements on this. I want to see it because we're going to get our guys that tackle the guy with the ball on the field. I'm not trying to oversimplify, but that is what it is."
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