Opening statement:
"Just to recap the game, obviously not very much went well on Saturday night. Really, when you analyze the game itself, the two areas we have to improve on are the two areas we graduated. The wide receiver corps and the defensive back corps. A lot of the plays that we're losing are being given up. You can't go into a game with young kids who dropped six balls. That affects moving the chains and everything else. Then give up the yardage we gave up on basic plays. That's something that we've got to do a better job coaching them and continue with the work with the guys we have on the field.
"As far as injuries are concerned before you ask, Justin Holman is out probably 2-4 weeks with the hand. That happened in the first series. You put two young quarterbacks out there. Really, for the first time out there, we had to simplify everything obviously with them. I thought they did a decent job. I think the dropped passes affected Bo a little bit as far as moving the chains of getting some things done. But that's what you're dealt with.
"Other injuries, Joey Grant will be out for the year. His shoulder is aggravated again. He'll be done with football. Hopefully we'll get people back that have nagging injuries right now. I won't know until probably tomorrow before practice and go from there."
On Joey Grant's shoulder injury:
"It was the same (shoulder) and the other one started bothering him. Instead of going through that again, it's best to concentrate outside of football on his academics and stuff. He's been a great kid for the program and stuff. He's hurting himself, he's such a great competitor, not playing in the game and traveling, you can't play, you can't play. So you've got to make decisions. You move on. Simple as that."
On Grant's role on the team moving forward:
"They're always part of the team, but you can't do anything. I'm not a big believer in keeping kids around and all that. I'm interested in the ones who can play and then making sure the ones who can are getting their academics done and doing the right things with their lives, that's about it."
Is Justin Holman's hand or finger broken?
"It was a hand injury. A helmet on it. Hopefully he's back within two. It wasn't as serious as they thought out in San Francisco when they first told me about it. It's still enough where he has to let some sutures heal and that type thing. He'll be back as soon as he can be back knowing Justin. He'll work the rehab as much as he can work it to get back as soon as he can."
On the backup QBs that played, and whether there is separation:
"I tell you what, it's hard to say from that game, but we actually did some better things. I thought Taj McGowan did some nice things. The one quarterback went out and lost 43 yards on two sacks. You can't do that stuff. It's sort of ridiculous. That's just youth and he's trying to make a play instead of just getting rid of the ball. I thought Bo went out there and was nervous as a kitten as he probably should have been. He went out there and I thought he handled things fairly well. We kept it fairly simple for him so they could operate. A lot of the game plan was built around Justin playing. That's what hurt tremendously as far as the offensive game is concerned. We had to go back to the things he knew and knew well. Again, I think things would have turned out a lot better for him without the dropped passes. He had a good feel for what's going on. He gets rid of the ball on time. I wanted to make sure, knowing Justin was going to be out, making sure we got a second quarterback some work."
Is Bo Schneider the starting QB going forward?
"He's the top guy. He's the guy going in. Next guy will follow, same as we did on Saturday night."
So Bo will start and Tyler Harris will come off the bench if needed?
"I'll play whatever is needed. We're out to win a game. I'll do whatever I have to do to win. Again, for a first game they both were out there trying to do things. Obviously there were mental errors out there. Those will be corrected. I think they're both really sharp, really smart kids. I think they'll see it once they see film."
On changing the game plan to tailor things for young QBs:
"Oh yeah. I don't want to say what we were going to do, but the game plan was is that we weren't going to huddle with Justin. All of a sudden we had to huddle and do things to slow it down a little bit. A lot of the game plan was built around his athleticism and the other guys don't have the foot speed that he has, so you had to trigger some stuff back."
On changing things going forward:
"They're going to have to do the things they need to do, whatever is in the game plan. I think they're going to get all the work in now so it'll be a little different situation."
How many less reps were the backups getting compared to Justin?
"You can't get three quarterbacks ready for a game. In fairness to Tyler, he was on the show field getting his reps. He came over for some 7-on-7 work and all that. I would say there's 12 reps, your second quarterback is probably getting four of them in a normal one-team practice. That's the amount of reps you give them. Mentally, they've got to be watching what's going on. You're getting that first kid ready to play, from a timing standpoint with the receivers. That's a position that has to play better for us right now. (The receivers) are as much an issue as some of the other issues we're having as far as separating that field a little bit. They're all good kids working at it, they've just got to work at game speed."
On understanding good plays or bad plays:
"That game is a 0-0 game with 5:42 left to play (in the first half). Then we're driving the ball and turn it over. Really a sloppy play. That was the difference I thought. It was almost like uh oh, here it goes type thing, instead of when we had older kids where they know it's part of the game. Just move on. That's where they scored that flea flicker touchdown. Then it went to 10-0. Second half I thought defensively we gave up some yards in the first half, but we tackled well. Second half we didn't tackle very well I don't think. Credit them. They made some good plays, their running back and receiver. We've got to play better. We've got to coach them better."
On issuing a challenge to the veterans on offense:
"At that time, how many veterans do you have? We're saying they're veterans but they're only sophomores. The only veteran out there is really 17, Cedric Thompson when I look at the squad itself. We traveled out there I think with 23 freshmen or redshirt freshmen out of 67 players. They're all on Division I scholarship, they're going to get their opportunities to go out and perform. As I told the staff, we've got to do a better job coaching them in same areas. How to handle sudden change, how to handle things, not everything is always going to be pretty in football but you've got to react to what's on the field. Just stay with what you're doing, stay with the kids you have and get them reacting quick. That's what I spoke of. There's too much standing around looking in the second half rather of reacting."
On RB Taj McGowan:
"He ran well. I think we ran the ball better. When you have 40-something yards in sack yardage, that takes away from your running yards. He's a quick kid. He's a kid that you've got to keep getting better and better each game and I think he will."
On Stanback's role:
"Exactly what we did. I think he's probably better coming off the bench than he is on the field initially. Again, a lot of Stanback is Stanback. He needs to understand that each week you're being evaluated. You have to go out and perform. He's a good back, but he needs to show it in practice. Again, that fumble was a game changer in that game. You can't turn the ball over. That's simple. Especially when you have an offense sputtering a little bit and a defense that's young. Same way. You can't give them the ball, especially in an away ball. You have a young group that has to react to that."
On C.J. Jones at RB:
"I like C.J. He's running the show field right now. We're always going to carry three backs, four backs up. C.J. will be dressed and get some reps on the game field, but he's also getting reps on the show field. Michael Willett is running both fields too. Those are the four backs involved right now, Taj McGowan, Stanback, Willett and C.J."
On Dontravious Wilson:
"I'm supposed to find out this week. I was hoping he'd be back last week. Hopefully he's back this week. I'll know more tomorrow with practice and where's he's at."
On changing lineup at LB:
"I tell you, the linebackers weren't as much the issue as were the support elements in that game. A lot of the yardage went around us, not at us. That needs to be turned in. Guys were there, but the wrong pad level and stuff that we've got to do a better job coaching that up. Especially when they're young players and see it coming, they're trying to make a play, they've got to maintain their leverage on things."
On Furman:
"I tell you what, just watching them on film, I think they're a solid team. They've got a bunch of starters back. I think the first game, they were right in the game, probably should have won the game. I think the second game, I think they were outmanned a little bit. I tell you what, they do a lot of things on offense. The quarterback I think is really a good player. He does a lot of things with his feet and his arm. They have a bunch of experience back on offense and defense. I think basically it's a team that we're going to have to play very well again to make sure that we secure what we need to do."
On the offensive line changes, including the addition of Wyatt Miller:
"I thought the interior needs to play better. The tackles I thought played fairly decent. The interior, (Stanford) did some mambo stuff inside. We've got to be able to pick that up. I think young freshman, 72, Hudanick, knew what to do but has to move quicker to do it."
On Domenic Spencer's comment that UCF was in the same position last year being 0-2:
"That's what I brought up last night in the team meeting. I asked if they knew record last year at this time. It was 0-2. We had more experience in the receiver corps, the DB corps. Right now my concern is that we just gotta get those two positions playing better. Again, the coaches are working it. The players are working. They've got to see some confidence and success. We've dropped eight balls in two games. You can't do that because it affects your running game. All of a sudden, instead of a run down situation, you're in a throwing situation. But that has to improve. It has to improve in practice and you've got to take it to the game. Same with the other side of the ball. Those are the two areas we need to get better quickly at, in my opinion, if we're going to be successful."
On Jordan Akins role as a leader:
"He's not a real loud guy. He's a quiet guy. We're probably trying to do too many things with Jordan right now. He's a good athlete, but he's making little mistakes. The first play of the game, instead of playing straight he comes back inside and lets that mike linebacker get a piece of the ball and drops it. Stay where you're supposed to stay. I think we've got him at a bunch of positions, we're trying to utilize, but let's settle down to two or three that he can be most effective at."
On losing the starting QB and center, and how they can correct things leading to Furman:
"Nothing to correct. The two areas I spoke about were my concern. They have to be corrected and they're all back. The other area is just a matter of getting them the reps they need and making sure they go out and execute. It's all about production. Both of them have live arms. They can't be making the mental mistakes throwing into coverage and stuff like that which young kids do if you're talking about the quarterback position. I thought Jason Rae went out and did a good job. We won nine game with him last year. He's a kid that's played a lot. It's not like he hasn't played. He started 10 games last year. I think we're fine there. I think the big thing is just staying with what we're doing in a lot of areas and improve the areas we need to improve on quickly. We're affecting both sides of the field and the chains moving."
On not practicing on the field today:
"The trip, ooh. The program was loading the equipment on the plane. They were rocket scientists, I tell you that. I don't know if they had geometry. Finally I got tired. I said, "Leave the stuff, let them cargo it in. We're out of here.' We never got back until 11 o'clock. We were due back at 9. In fact I couldn't get back in time to get the TV show done. It was a long trip. I wasn't pleased with the way we played, but I think you're always looking to make corrections. As I said to them, two seasons are over and it's the third season this week. That's how I look at the season. I spend the one day on the corrections and move on. That's what you have to do. You can spend all week making corrections on last week's game."
On the UCF fans who traveled to Stanford:
"I thought it was great. I'm sorry we didn't help them out more and give them something to cheer about. I thought it was great, the attendance at the game. I could hear them and stuff. They were in that far corner there. Again, a great turnout. I'm pleased the fanbase is doing their part."
On the equipment being left in San Francisco:
"It wasn't equipment. It was extra stuff we take. They'll cargo it back. I made sure the helmets and shoulder pads came back."
More on Joey Grant:
"It was two weeks ago he came in and said, 'Coach, my other shoulder is bothering me. This shoulder.' I said, 'You're out until we get you healthy.' So we made the move. Again, he came in this morning and said, 'Coach, I don't think I'm going to be able to play.' I said, 'Move on. That's it. Finish your education. You've done what you can do in football.' That's the way it is. Instead of belaboring the thing and staying with it. That's the best decision. It helps him out. It helps the coaches out to say where they're at in the depth chart and stuff like that instead of hoping he gets better. I think the first injury was serious enough and all of a sudden that's bothering him, the other shoulder is bothering him. His health is more important than next week's game or the game after."
On positives to take away from Stanford:
"I always take the positive. I thought Taj McGowan, you've got to keep working him. With the exception of the two positions I spoke about, secondary and receiver, I think I see improvement in the other areas. Those are the two we need to jump on quickly and see immediate improvement. They're affecting the big play, the loss of the big play. Again, my attention is going to be devoted this week as far as those are concerned. I saw the linebackers involved in a lot more plays. Defensive live, I'll be over there on pass rush. I think we've got to establish more rush and stuff. We had a chance to get to him, even on the flea flicker, the kid stepped up and we tried to grab him, we should have launched at him and at least stopped the throw. Those are things you've got to do. I see improvement. I don't see kids not working which is what bothers a head coach. I see great effort, but I see dumb effort at times which has to be corrected."
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