The Virginia football team returns to Scott Stadium on Saturday to face its oldest rival North Carolina. The two teams have played 126 times in the history of the series. The 127th meeting this weekend could be a big challenge for the Wahoos.
Look no further than the scoring column to draw that conclusion. UVA enters the game averaging only 16.9 points per game, which ranks 123rd out of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, while UNC comes to town averaging 41.8 points per game, which is tied for 6th nationally with reigning National Champion Georgia. So, yeah, that’s a big difference in production.
One of the Cavaliers’ challenges on offense has been in the red zone where they’ve scored on just 70.37% of their chances. It’s even worse for touchdown percentage as they have visited the end zone on just 40.74% of their chances with 11 touchdowns in 27 red zone trips. Both of those numbers, unsurprisingly, rank in the bottom 10 nationally.
It was certainly a storyline from the Miami game where UVA squandered 12 plays from inside the 15-yard line to produce only 12 points in a four overtime loss. Part of the problem against the Hurricanes has been there all season. Virginia hasn’t been able to run the football in the red zone and when an offense is forced to be predictable, it becomes easier to defend.
On the season, UVA 50 carries in the red zone for a total of 60 yards of production. That’s a really rough 1.2 yards per carry that ranks dead last among FBS teams. Cavalier coach Tony Elliott said it is tough to run the ball near the goal line, but especially when you are outmatched or outnumbered in the blocking game.
“I think that there were, there was the first down you look we hand the ball off to the running back and right now in the course of that game we got to position block a lot of guys,” Elliott said. “Guys are needing help to double team. When you’re down in the red zone, especially in the low red the linebackers are closer because the field area is condensed. They’re in man coverage so they got extra safeties down there. A lot of times they’re going to out number you. So your best option in that situation is to run your quarterback. The last thing you want to do is just be running your quarterback all the time. I felt like Brennan [Armstrong] had too many carries in the game.”
The potentially hopeful news is that North Carolina has provided less resistance in the red zone than Miami. The Hurricanes currently rank No. 19 nationally in red zone defense by allowing a score on just 75.86% of possessions and No. 6 in red zone touchdown percentage by allowing only 41.38% of possessions into the end zone. UNC, meanwhile, is ranked 77th by allowing points on 84.62% of possessions and 120th by allowing touchdowns 73.08% of the time.
Check out more thoughts from Coach Elliott and his weekly press conference with the full transcript below.
Full Weekly Media Transcript – Virginia Coach Tony Elliott
Q. It’s November 1st. You’ve kind of hit the home stretch of the regular season. How big of a challenge is it to kind of keep the players up and engaged when the season is not unfolding the way they hoped it would at the start?
TONY ELLIOTT: Truth be told the guys showed up with a great mindset on Monday. They probably recovered from the outcome of the game quicker than the coaches. But I think the guys understand where we’re trying to go as a program. I think they’re invested in helping build the foundation of this program. I think we’re also in a stretch of the season where they got some rivalry games coming up, they got some personal vested interest in some of these games coming up. So really it’s been spirited practices on Monday and Tuesday and really haven’t had to do much in terms of lifting their spirits.
But then also too I let ’em know that we’re moving forward. We’re building a program. And, yes, I want to win every single game. But the objective is to make sure that we get the fundamentals right. I think the guys have turned the corner in terms of believing what we’re trying to build from a program standpoint and they’re excited about the opportunity that they have left. I mean, yeah, we’re 3-5, but we got four more games and an opportunity to possibly win eight games if you get hot and you win down the stretch you get an opportunity for the postseason and win the postseason. So there’s still a whole lot left to play for this team.
Q. You were around Trevor Lawrence every day in 2018 when he was a freshman. You competed against Jameis Winston when he was a redshirt freshman in 2013. What if any similarities do you see with them and Drake Maye and the quarterback you’re going to face on Saturday?
TONY ELLIOTT: Great question. They just have a presence about themselves. You can tell watching him on film that the game’s not moving too fast for him. That’s one of the things with freshmen quarterbacks and all young guys in general is the game moves extremely fast. But for him he’s in control of the offense you can tell that’s very comfortable. He understands what they’re doing. He has his progressions. If his progression’s not there he’s going to find the running back on a check down or he’s going to take off and extend the play with his legs. So what you see is just a poise, just a natural poise from those guys that when you watch Drake (Maye) play you just see that man he’s in control, he never panics, he understands the situation, he understands the offense and he knows how to move the ball down the field.
Q. Did you evaluate him as a prospect at Clemson?
TONY ELLIOTT: We did. And I went to see him, watched him play basketball. He was a heck of a basketball player too. And there was some relationships between the tight ends coach at the time and his family.
Q. With North Carolina’s offense too their receivers Antoine Green, Josh Downs we talked a lot about your corners here recently, Fentrell Cypress and Anthony Johnson. Just what about the task they’re up against this week and those two pass catchers particularly?
TONY ELLIOTT: Right, the great thing in my opinion I feel like they get challenged every single day on our practice field with the guys that we have. I think the potential that we have in the receiver room of our own is very similar to what those guys have. But with the receivers it’s not just going to be the corners. Our pass rush has to get to the quarterback, we got to get to the quarterback, we got to affect his timing. We can’t allowed him to break contain within the pocket. We got to stay in our rush lanes. So biggest thing for our guys they got to accept the challenge, they got to play disciplined they got to make sure they have their eyes where they’re supposed to be. But we got to do a great job of affecting the quarterback so these guys don’t have a chance to get open. Great corners usually have a great pass rush that will help on the back end.
Q. After the game you were saying you were hoping to get McKale Boley back and John Paul Flores was hurt a little bit too. How is the health of the offensive line and how quickly do you expect those guys back?
TONY ELLIOTT: Yeah, JP (John Paul Flores), we’re hopeful to get him back this week. He’s been having to do a little bit of rehab. Noah Josey I thought did a great job when he came in. I think he shows a ton of potential and that’s where we’re challenging him to continue to improve. Those guys have been battling we’re hoping to have McKale Boley back this week – he’s been back in practice, so it’s it seems like week-to-week it’s whoever’s available, you just mix and match those guys. It’s hard to build continuity but I tell you what those guys were battling they were scraping they had a very tough task this past week with that defensive front from Miami. Probably the best or second best defensive front that we’re going to play all season.
Q. Not a lot of people have been able to slow North Carolina down for an entire game. If this does get into track meet are you concerned, considering the red zone would woes that you guys have been going through?
TONY ELLIOTT: You know, we got to be prepared to score points. I think the objective every time you step on the field from an offensive perspective is to go score. So the biggest thing is for us we’re moving the ball and hopefully I’ve been kidding with the guys and just challenging them I said we can’t be allergic to the end zone. Hopefully we’ll shake those allergies and we’ll find ways to put it in the end zone. If you look at the pass game there were at least three plays, we make three plays and that’s 21 points on the board. So the guys have responded to the challenge. I think the guys are going to be excited to play. Which they were excited to play last week. Offensively the objective is to score points every time you touch the ball. So going to challenge these guys to throw and catch and block. Give the quarterback some time. Then hopefully we can play complementary football with the defense.
Q. Talk a little bit about Will Bettridge and what you saw from him on Saturday. He made some big kicks especially in overtime. Talk about how he bounced back after a shaky performance at Georgia Tech?
TONY ELLIOTT: Very proud of him. He was a guy that probably put more responsibility on himself than he needed to from the previous game. But just shows that he’s a competitor, that’s going to come to work every day. He’s a freshman and he learned that the approach, the preparation is key. And he went out there and he did what you want ’em all to do, just to kick like nobody’s looking. Don’t put more pressure on yourself than you need to just go out there and do your job you’ve done it before you can do it again. I think the biggest thing is his teammates just showing that they believe in him.
Q. You’ve talked a couple times about the transition I guess for Brennan Armstrong in the offense to your system. Maybe being harder more challenging for them than you anticipated. What did you kind of anticipate and where have some of those hiccups that you didn’t expect, where have they come from?
TONY ELLIOTT: I thought the things that I was expecting is that the throw and catching would come a little bit easier and quicker than it has. But at the same time too when the quarterback’s learning a new progression system and if he’s late with the ball then now the ball placement is not where it needs to be, the receiver’s timing, they need to be where the quarterback’s expecting them to be. So that’s something that I thought was going to happen a little bit quicker.
Just proud of those guys because you think about it, everybody wants to keep talking about last year, they want to talk about the new system. Well it takes time. And what was a product of last year was the challenges that were endured the two years before. Building to that, building that chemistry and that timing. You look at the game, I thought just this past game versus Miami, first play of the game the receivers running a 42 on the hash and the quarterback puts it a little bit outside. All right, that makes sense. And so now the timing was off. I was proud of Tay (Dontayvion Wicks) because I felt like in the Miami game Tay played as fast as I thought he was capable of. And I hadn’t seen that week-in and week-out. So when you don’t have that now the quarterback’s trying to throw the perfect ball. So just the chemistry takes a little bit of time to develop.
And then the areas where Brennan (Armstrong) still has to work is trust your protection and go through your progressions, step up, deliver the ball. As opposed to looking to break the pocket too quickly. And I’m thinking of in particular there was a third down situation where he’s got good protection, his number one progression is coming open, he doesn’t trust it, now he needs to go to number two, Lavel’s (Davis Jr.) screaming wide open coming on the shallow route. We dump the ball off to him. He runs for the first down. So just those things of trusting your progressions, trusting your protection to be able to deliver the ball.
Q. He’s (Brennan Armstrong) about 10 percent lower, his completion percentage. Is that just a product of what we’re talking about, the timing some of the drops or is there things in his mechanics right now that you are concerned from an accuracy standpoint?
TONY ELLIOTT: I would say it’s a combination with the last part of that question being the least impactful. There’s been a couple times where I’ve challenged him, hey, don’t, because you know what you’re seeing nowadays if you want to be truly honest is you watch Dak Prescott, you watch (Patrick) Mahomes and all these guys are working these off platform throws. So then now it’s every quarterback wants to make the off platform throw when you don’t need to make the off platform throw. You need to get your shoulder to the target and deliver the ball. So there’s been a couple of those, not too many, and Brennan (Armstrong) is actually really good at the off platform throw.
I think it’s been more a combination of the drops. We got 40 plus drops. And then I think he’s been trying to throw the ball perfect and catch the ball to compensate for some of the drops trying to catch the ball for the receiver where he just needs to throw the ball where he’s supposed to throw it and trust that the receiver is going to make the catch. So I think those are three things that have impacted – and then protection too. I think when you’re having to get the ball out before you’re ready or you’re having to move in the pocket and reset, that messes with timing and then now balls are a little bit behind. But I think the biggest thing is guys got to go make the catch required for him no matter what. That’s your quarterback and that’s a mindset that I’m trying to develop with these guys is, man, if the quarterback gets it close, catch the ball. And you tell your quarterback, I got your back bud just get it in my zip code and I’m going to catch the ball. I think that we’ve allowed some balls to get away just because we didn’t have that desperation to make our quarterback right.
Q. Saturday you talked about going into the locker room seeing guys that hated to lose. That was more the feeling that you were getting out of that. How is it in your first year how hard is it after a game like that to continue building momentum as a program, not just on the field and in this one season but overall as a program when you’re dealing with losses like that on Saturday?
TONY ELLIOTT: Saturday’s loss to me was different than some of the others that we have. Because the guys laid it on the line. They played for four quarters, plus over time. I didn’t ever get a sense that the guys believed that we weren’t going to win the game. Everybody battled. We didn’t make the four or five plays that we needed to make. And I don’t feel like it was something that Miami made the plays that didn’t allow us to make the plays. We just didn’t
make the plays. So there was something to build upon, there was progress that we fought and we battled. That’s all I ask the guys to do. To take the mindset into the game that versus Miami it was going to be a fist fight. That they were battling for the same thing. I felt like culturally we took a step forward.
Now to build upon in the locker room what I need to establish for these guys is, man, it’s got to, it’s really got to hurt to lose. When it really, really hurts to lose, that tells me that you know what? You fully invested in the process. You fully invested in giving everything that you have. Then as a competitor and as a winner you know the cost of playing the game. That I could win or lose. I expect, I believe that I’m going to win. If I happen to lose, right, I take ownership for my responsibility in the loss. I have self-awareness, I evaluate what I need to do to get better. It hurts, and then I channel that thought and I put it back in my brain and I use it as passion and motivation so I don’t feel it again. When you’re okay with losing, then you’re never fully going to be invested, you’re never fully going to commit you’re never fully going to give yourself an opportunity to win every game when you step on the field regardless of who you’re playing.
So I’m starting to see more of the guys that are believing in what it takes and it takes what it takes and what it takes is everything you got. There’s no substitute. You can’t settle for less. That’s where I’m trying to transition the mindset. When you have that and when you fully invest in the process, then you walk on the field with confidence. Not an arrogance but a confidence and a belief that I’m going to win every single game and then you know what? You start believing that I can make those four or five plays that are going to tip things in our favor. And then when you are there, you also know that winning comes at a high cost so you stay humble so you enjoy it for the day and then you reset the next day and you go back and commit to the process over and over and over. It’s actually really mundane to be honest with you. It’s really, really mundane. It become as routine. But it becomes a way of life. And the tradeoff is in the end you get to experience those moments of success. Then when you have those moments of failure you grow through that adversity. That’s what propels you forward.
Q. A couple injury things. Brennan (Armstrong) he said if he could walk he could play. How is that left ankle? He said it’s getting kind of weird lay lately. And then also Josh Ahern?
TONY ELLIOTT: So (Josh) Ahern is day-to-day. I’m hopeful to get Ahern back. But the biggest thing you’re talking about a hamstring issue and what you don’t want to do is you don’t want to bring him back too soon and now you lose him for the rest of the season. So we’ve been doing working some load management with him. So I’m hopeful. He’s been cleared to practice. He’s been going through everything. But we’ll see as we get to the end of the week what his load will be for the game.
Brennan, he came back in the game and I haven’t seen any change in him. He’s full speed. He’s full go. He’s a warrior. We all know that. Love that young man to death. I really do feel for him to be honest because he has to take all the responsibility because he’s the quarterback. But he can’t do it by himself so we’re all in this thing together. There were three to five plays that we probably want back from a coaching standpoint where we could have made better calls to put the players in a better situation to be successful. So we’re all in this thing together. But really, really proud of his toughness, his mental toughness to continue to endure. His toughness to push through, through the adversity, definitely not the season that he expected. None of us expected. But I’m proud of him for how he shows up every single day with the mindset to work and lead his football team.
Q. You mentioned the defensive line earlier. Chico Bennett Jr. leading the ACC in sacks. Kam Butler up to form on the season. And it looks like Aaron Faumui has been coming on of late after a couple of games where you played him a little bit less. How would you evaluate the defensive line both in the pass rush and against the run?
TONY ELLIOTT: They’re doing a good job. First of all let’s talk about points scored. They haven’t given up a touchdown in two games. They have been holding everybody to field goals. And then offensively the team scored for them. So they’re doing a great job there. But man the guys are taking the coaching. They’re applying the coaching. They’re getting better every single day. They’re finding ways to get to the quarterback whether it’s winning one-on-ones or pushing the pocket so that their teammates can have success. And then the guys are fitting where they’re supposed to be. So those big guys up front they don’t get credit you talk about (Jahmeer) Carter, he’s a trench monster he takes on double teams all day long so that linebackers like Nick [Jackson] can be ACC players of the week. He’s taking double teams to allow those guys to fit.
I think the guys that don’t get credit enough in the run game is the safeties. The safeties are doing a good job of fitting. Being where they’re supposed to be. So the biggest thing defensively is they’re just in position better than, better and better each week. Which is allowing them to have an opportunity. I think this past game as the game wore on we just didn’t do a great job of downing the ball on first contact. So we would have done even better job against the run statistically if the first guy on first contact was able to get the ball carrier down. But that’s why you got to swarm and you got to gang tackle.
Q. I think you said in August that if you can run the ball in for a touchdown how that impacts the opponent’s team defense. You guys haven’t been able to run the ball in the red zone very much at all. Is that influencing a lot of the offense down there overall?
TONY ELLIOTT: I think that there were, there was the first down you look we hand the ball off to the running back and right now in the course of that game we got to position block a lot of guys. Guys are needing help to double team. When you’re down in the red zone, especially in the low red the linebackers are closer because the field area is condensed. They’re in man coverage so they got extra safeties down there. A lot of times they’re going to out number you. So your best option in that situation is to run your quarterback. The last thing you want to do is just be running your quarterback all the time. I felt like Brennan (Armstrong) had too many carries in the game.
Q. Mike Hollins had a couple plays the other day where he showed what he’s capable of doing on a long reception and I think he had a pretty good run too. I know he was coming off the concussion, so his workload was limited. But have you, do you have any sense with him that maybe things are starting to click with him?
TONY ELLIOTT: I believe so. Mike (Hollins) has practiced better week after week. He’s a talented guy. Just being transparent, I got to get the governor off him. Sometimes he’ll put the governor on. And if you have a governor on when you’re practicing, then you’re going to have a governor in the game. So getting him to consistently play full speed like the third and three that we had, we handed the ball off on third and three and he runs in there and he’s got his eyes down to the ground. That’s a reflection of, in practice, you got to take a practice rep where you’re running to win. And in that situation you get through the hole you’re one-on-one with the linebacker I’m expecting you to drop your pads at 220 pounds and run through the soft shoulder and go get four yards.
So the biggest thing with him is just increasing his intensity in practice. And he’s trying. But there’s some bad habits that we got to break. But week after week he continues to come back and improve. Actually I decided to give him player of the game offensively because of the big plays that he had. So I’m hoping that that will encourage him to stay the course, keep working. But proud of him for the plays that he was able to make and but what I need to get him to do is, what I have to get him to do is to make the routine play consistently over and over and over. Not just be living for the big play.
Q. You mentioned earlier that as coaches there were probably three to five calls on offense that you would like to have back. When you review video with Brennan, do you tell him, look, we missed this one. This isn’t on you. And is there an appreciation?
TONY ELLIOTT: Oh, yeah.
Q. Is there an appreciation when you say that to the player and take that ownership?
TONY ELLIOTT: Oh, yeah. So every Monday when we meet as a team we have our pride and performance. So I point out first and foremost before I talk about the grades for the players I talk about the coaching staff. And the areas that we need to get better. The calls that we need to make better. If we’re going to have accountability in this program we got to have total accountability. Starting with myself. If I make a mistake then I got to be the first one to say that I made a mistake and I got to have people around me that are going to hold me accountable and tell me when I make a mistake and then my job is to evaluate the coaches.
So when I’m looking at the film, watching the film, I’m evaluating the play calls and when I look to evaluate the play calls. One, is it successful. But then two, are the young men in position. And then if there was a breakdown what was the breakdown. So the plays that I thought that we needed to do a better job is there was a third and one where we called a naked, which we probably needed to run the ball in that situation. There was another first and ten where we got matched up in zone where we called another boot, which we had a bad call. And then the third and one down on the locker room side down there in the low red we were outnumbered. So that’s a bad call. But then also I should have done I should have called a timeout seeing the situation so I fell short there and I’m going to the well with the kids all the time.
And then you look down in the red zone, when I think it was the first time we got down there with Lavel (Davis Jr.), I think we ran the ball, okay, on first down. And tried to run the ball, tried to stay in 11 personnel as opposed to bringing the heavier guys in because all they’re going to do is match. And it that would be an advantage Miami in the trenches if we allow them to bring a 5 lineman in. Then we go with the shovel pass. I’ve called the shovel pass several times for touchdowns in my career. So didn’t feel like that was a bad call. And then now you’re in a third down situation and then we have an – I think after that we went to, was that the unbalanced where we did the jump pass? Tight end’s coming open we get the ball up, it’s a touchdown. So there was an opportunity for success there.
And then you evaluate some of the other situations. We tried to flip a speed sweep to one of our best players to get on the edge because we feel like we couldn’t go right at ’em and knock ’em back. And the timing was off. The angle of the motion was off. So it resulted in a TFL. And then now you’re trying to call a second and nine or a third and nine from the nine. Those are tough calls. So again I’m evaluating the film and being honest with the coaches and then we are transparent with the players.
Q. You got to see Jay (Woolfolk) in the package you guys had designed for him. Where is his development as a quarterback at right now? Just behind the scenes and in that process?
TONY ELLIOTT: I think he’s progressing well. There was a time where we were getting ready to put him in the game when Brennan (Armstrong) went down with the foot and there was no conversation about changing anything in the plan. So I think he’s progressing well, I feel confident with him grasping the plan. I think that I’m excited when he gets his opportunity. Because I think he’s going to be able to move the ball both with his legs and with his arms. Very similar to what Brennan’s able to do. And hopefully as he continues to get back to full speed and full strength we’ll be able to incorporate him in our offensive packages a little bit more.
Q. I think it was right before the bye week you were saying that you didn’t want the offensive players to rely so much on No. 5 (Brennan Armstrong). You kept saying like when things go wrong they look at No. 5 to do something and Brennan goes in and forces some plays. Have you seen that mentality kind of change a little bit in the offense, especially after the bye week and a few games of just looking to themselves as well rather than looking at him?
TONY ELLIOTT: I didn’t see as much of that at Georgia Tech just to be transparent. I felt like the guys were still looking to Brennan. This past game the guys and this has been the biggest challenge for me since I got here, is changing the mindset of how you approach every single game. That every single game is the biggest game of the year. So that you play with that sense of urgency, you play with that discipline, you play with that play speed. And I saw that for the first time collectively as an offense versus Miami.
And again it was kind of what I was anticipating, that when you get the bigger logos on the schedule there’s a little bit more skin in the game. Everybody’s going to be a little bit more invested. So they’re going to play well. The problem with that is what happens is the previous seven games you’ve created some bad habits you’ve created some bad muscle memory and those things no matter how excited you are to play, how big the game is in your mind, those bad habits are going to show up at some point in the game. Then what happens is you come up a couple plays short. So I felt like Brennan was trying to play within the system more versus Miami. I felt like the players were trying – and the guys made plays. You think about Billy (Kemp IV), Billy made some big plays, some big catches. Some hard contested catches. That we hadn’t made in the past.
We got behind some guys. We were playing fast. First play of the game (Dontayvion) Wicks destroys the guy with his release off the line and he’s wide open. So we hadn’t had those things as consistent. So I feel like the players were ready to make plays for their quarterback. But again, some of the timing issues show up in the game like we played because we’ve created some bad muscle memory and we haven’t been consistent with that timing throughout the course of the year.
Q. A few weeks ago you said that you were trying to get your receivers to adjust to routes better when things breakdown and not leave it all on Brennan’s (Armstrong) shoulders to find somebody. Have they improved in that area? And if they have become proficient at that how much does that help the quarterback out?
TONY ELLIOTT: Right, I think whenever you build an offensive system you’re always going to have scramble rules. Scramble rules in terms of the quarterback breaks the pocket to my side I have – and depending upon my depth and the route that I just finished running, these are my rules. When I’m on the back side and he breaks away from me, depending upon my depth and what I just ran, these are my rules. So I think the guys were just becoming more comfortable in general with what we’re asking ’em to do because it’s a combination of timing. So you got step counts, you have yardages, you have different over and under rules. You got different conversions from hitch rules. Slant rules. Got different techniques on slants. So there’s just things that they have to get accustomed to in general from a route running perspective. Then when the play breaks down, then they have to be on the same page as the quarterback.
And I think the biggest thing that these guys are getting adjusted to is right now with where we are development wise on the offensive line we just don’t have the luxury of being consistent enough to give him time to just sit back there and go through the three progressions. We got to hit that first or second progression right now and in order to do that everybody’s got to be on the same page. Everybody’s got to be on the same timing. I think we’re getting better at that. And then as we can build there then I think the guys will continue to improve when the plays break down. I think Brennan (Armstrong) is doing a better job too of understanding that okay sometimes I just need to pull it down and run and get what I can get and get down. As opposed to sitting back trying to wait for somebody to come open. Because a lot of times what happens when you do that too now you create more opportunities for mistakes and
penalties.
Q. You’ve seen Ronnie Walker Jr. get some chances on special teams. Do you envision him getting opportunities in the run game at any point in the last few games here?
TONY ELLIOTT: I do. I think every day he’s getting better with his foot. I think he’s, we keep picking on him telling him – because he gets coached hard by Coach (Keith) Gaither says, Ronnie, stop limping. So I think he’s getting to the point now where he’s feeling really comfortable to be able to take some contact and put some weight on it. You think about a running back’s life, they get tackled by 300-pounders. So that’s 300 pounds on an injured foot. So he’s close to getting back. We’re going to need him with where we are from a depth standpoint. PJ’s (Perris Jones)been battling the ankle that he injured. So right now we’re looking at PJ’s more than likely probably not going to be able to go this week. So now we got to bump up the depth with (Mike) Hollins and Xavier Brown and Ronnie.
Q. Where do you feel that committee is right now with the running backs? Obviously Mike Hollins had a couple big plays and Xavier Brown’s been working in there, got a lot of runs down at Georgia Tech. How do you feel where you are with that especially if Perris can’t go?
TONY ELLIOTT: It’s been tough because Mike’s (Hollins) missed time, Cody (Brown) missed time. He’s battling back from a hamstring. Xavier’s (Brown) probably had to carry more of the load than you want a true freshman to have to carry. Now he’s nine weeks in, plus the four weeks of camp. He’s ready for the season to be over. So I’m challenging him to push through the freshman wall. Hopefully the success that Mike had in his previous game will motivate him to continue to push because he’s very capable, we all know that. He’s trying, but we’re trying to get him to push to that fifth gear that we know that he has. Because when he plays in fifth gear he’s as good as anybody in this league. But when he’s not in fifth gear then he doesn’t give you an advantage over playing one of the other guys.
Q. Grant Misch obviously had the tough drop in the end zone on Saturday. There’s been some of that throughout the season. How do you go about addressing that with a player individually? Obviously he was pretty frustrated with himself after that play but how do you balance sort of trying to get him to move all in but also taking that into account so that he can be better in the future?
TONY ELLIOTT: Next play. Bottom line it’s the next play. And that’s the mindset that we have to, that we have to develop here as a program is it’s about the next play. So even if he caught that touchdown you got to go on to the next play. You can’t continue to live in that moment. If you have failure, okay, correct it and move forward. Don’t let that play beat you twice. And then don’t allow a positive play to cost you the next play. So it’s all about the next play mentality and I don’t need to tell ’em anything other than what he already knows, he’s disappointed enough. I don’t need to continue to harp on that. Hey, learn from it and now evaluate your preparation. Is there anything else that you could do throughout the course of the week to prepare yourself better to be able to perform in that moment? I think that’s more of the conversation than really just harping on the fact that he dropped that one ball. So let’s make sure.
The biggest thing that I talked to him and the team is catch the ball. Catching the ball is, you catch the ball with your eyes. So you are seeing a lot of these young guys they want to worry about run after the catch sometimes. I’m not necessarily talking about (Grant) Misch because he, this would, I think what happened on that one is, man, Brennan (Armstrong) shot that thing out of there and it came out of a window. And it’s hard sometimes when you’re running crossing routes – because I did it as a receiver – when you’re running crossing routes, especially shallow crossing routes where you’re close to the line of scrimmage you don’t see the ball come out of the quarterback’s hand, it just shoots out of a window. If you watch the film you see that that ball got on him really quickly. So then maybe now from a preparation standpoint I go and I get a little closer to the Jugs machine so I get used to seeing that ball come out a little bit quicker. Every time I catch the ball in practice I trust what Coach Elliott and all the coaches are telling me, eyes to the tuck. So I over emphasize catching the ball and taking my eyes all the way to the tuck. So if I do that consistently in the course of practice then in real time what’s going to happen is I guarantee that I see the ball caught – not every ball is caught on the nose, if you don’t use your eyes. But if you use your eyes, you can catch it on the nose, catch it and tuck and eliminate some of that stuff on game day.
Q. Had been rotating a little bit at center. I don’t think Jestus Johnson played in this past game. Is he an option at guard at any point? I know he did some in practice. And that’s kind of related to John Paul Flores obviously but I think he played a few snaps on Saturday. Where is he in his progress?
TONY ELLIOTT: So (John Paul) Flores was battling. He’s battling a couple things. Battling a lower body and an upper body injury. We noticed in the, I believe it was the, might have been the (Georgia) Tech game, that he shouldn’t have been in there as much because he wasn’t using his hand. He felt a little bit better this week so we played him about what we felt like his load could handle. Yes, Jestus (Johnson) is an option at guard. But we feel like (Noah) Josey is better suited to go in there at guard for us right now. And it’s been, and it’s a week-to-week thing. And I allow Coach (Garett) Tujague to manage the rotation. And truth be told there’s certain schemes that we feel like one’s better suited for the other. And we try to match those up the best we can.
But Ty (Furnish) was doing a good job. He graded out the best of all of our linemen. So it was kind of like when you got a running back room, whoever the hot guy is you stay with the hot guy unless there’s a situation that dictates you need to bring another person in.
