Graduation Rates:
It’s more than just the graduation rates. It’s what they’re taking as majors. Guys in premed, engineering, business, honors college. So that tells more of the story. You look at what they’re doing with community service, it’s the whole package. It’s about continuing the development of what their parents did, and making sure they’re ready for the next step in their lives after football.
Koa Farmer:
He’s an unbelievable kid. His parents are unbelievable. His sister is on scholarship at Hampton. Koa will graduate with a second degree. He’s a model teammate and an awesome kid. The cameras caught it, but there were three or four guys not handling a situation as well as he would have liked. Didn’t plan it, but saw the ball go through the uprights and sprinted down to bring those kids back, then needed to sprint back to shake Coach Dantonio’s hand. Believes strongly that you can learn from adversity more than when things are going well. Met with Koa, sent a message to parents, and everything is all good. Mom is in town this week.
Mood of the team:
It’s good. Will say, and probably shouldn’t, that he doesn’t think they got over the Ohio State game quick enough. And that’s everyone. Now the energy this week is back the way it needs to be. Have tuned more things out and are focusing on the specifics. Playing a surging Rutgers team right now, and they realize this opponent with how close they are to each other, it’s an important game. Have been treated so well the past few times there (sarcasm) and wants to find a way to win this week and grow from there.
Cold game weather:
One of the few people that likes a noon game other than Franklin. He likes it because he can spend time with family after it. Last week was a good time to prep for this because it was wet and cold. But they’re built for it as a program having these players around here. They practice outside. They’ll be ready for Saturday. Has played and coached for coaches that don’t allow heated benches. Doesn’t believe in that. Has heaters and blowers all over the side line to make them as comfortable as possible so they can focus on the game. As an assistant with the Packers, instead of Gatorade they literally had hot chocolate and chicken broth, and guys drank that during the game. Remembers holding game plan with WRs with one hand, other hand over by the blowers, and smelled burning after a while.
Handling final month of the season:
You have to start adjusting your practices. Got feedback from sports science guys that Tuesday practices were fairly heavy and guys weren’t completely recovered from Saturday game. Actually moved some Tuesday periods to Sunday to lesson the Tuesday load. And now as season goes on, go from five to four minute periods and cut back. Had an experience once with a team that did well, but practiced longer at the end of the season than at the beginning, and had nothing left for the bowl game. Practicing hard is important, but so is practicing smart, keeping guys tough but also fresh.
Rutgers defense:
They’re really doing a nice job and are different from what they’ve faced all year. It’s a 3-4 front with a true 0 technique nose tackle. Directly lined up over the center. Then two DEs lining up over the tackles and guards being vacated, with four linebackers. Typically, one linebacker designated to be the fourth rusher. It’s a four-down front, but after the snap. Play aggressive on the corners. Don’t give up a lot of big plays and play good complementary football. Not turning the ball over on offense, working the play action pass and running it well. Running back is playing really well, and Janarion Grant has a ton of success doing everything.
Communication up front:
It’s always important, but it’s magnified against that type of front. You don’t go against it in practice and haven’t seen it otherwise, so it’s like an option offense. You just don’t see it enough so you have to rely on your rules. It’s just a little different. The other thing is, the hardest thing for every program to recruit is D-linemen, so it helps Rutgers in finding those big linebackers.
John Reid:
John is doing really good. Doesn’t like talking about injuries, but he’s been out for the year and has been out all year. If they needed to, could probably play him toward the end of this year. Won’t do that because he has a redshirt available. But he’ll have two years left to play and have option to come back for a fifth year and masters degree. Took advantage of down time this summer and had a six week internship with Intel in Portland, Oregon. Has been offered another internship this summer. You look at the future, they’ll have Amani back for his senior year and it’ll help from that perspective.
Military ROTC at practice:
It provided a good opportunity to talk about the sacrifices of other. One of the honorary captains Saturday is a Penn State letterman with four purple hearts. Has an amazing story and will be honored. Just taking the time to make sure players understand the privileges they have and opportunities they have based on the sacrifices others make. This is an interesting time in this country, different political discussions going on, and a challenge. So it’s about making sure players show respect and appreciate those sacrifices of others.
Demise of football w/head trauma:
It’s an interesting question and a tough one. The game of football is safer than it’s ever been. There are rules in place, studies done everywhere about what to do to protect players. Now, that doesn’t make it better for the few kids that get injured and their families. So it’s important to do all those things to protect the players to make sure they’re safe and protected. Mental and physical toughness, lessons learned in football are different from anything else. It helps develop leadership and prepare young men to make split second decisions. And there are a variety of sports that have danger to them as well. The game of football now looks very different from years ago.
Talks with players for the NFL:
The hard part is that they all think they’re going to the NFL. And they all feel like they’ll get drafted in the first round. So the challenge is having these discussions and being honest with them. But to have credibility with the players, can’t always tell them they should come back to school. If he’s a guaranteed first round draft choice, he’s gotta consider it. Always thinks it’s funny when people criticize a kid guaranteed first round, life changing money. If IBM offered a junior computer engineer major a $12 million contract, he’d be gone. All data suggests unless you’re going to be a first round choice to come back for last year. Most of the money in the contract is backloaded to year four and five because NFL knows you probably won’t make it to the second contract. If you can go from a fourth rounder to a second rounder by staying an extra year, that’s great because it’s life changing money. But has to tell a first round guy to go, and does so when that comes up.
Able to get a grade from the NFL, which is a ballpark number. You’ve got Mel Kiper, ESPN, SI, the NFL. If one service says first round, that doesn’t mean a guarantee. The problem is most people listen to the people telling them what they want to hear. That’s why it’s important to have that relationship with the family and be able to talk to GMs to find out what an exact grade is on a player. Has relationships from all his time coaching. The GM for the Kansas City Chiefs was at Green Bay. Same for the Seahawks. That all helps.
It’s more than just the graduation rates. It’s what they’re taking as majors. Guys in premed, engineering, business, honors college. So that tells more of the story. You look at what they’re doing with community service, it’s the whole package. It’s about continuing the development of what their parents did, and making sure they’re ready for the next step in their lives after football.
Koa Farmer:
He’s an unbelievable kid. His parents are unbelievable. His sister is on scholarship at Hampton. Koa will graduate with a second degree. He’s a model teammate and an awesome kid. The cameras caught it, but there were three or four guys not handling a situation as well as he would have liked. Didn’t plan it, but saw the ball go through the uprights and sprinted down to bring those kids back, then needed to sprint back to shake Coach Dantonio’s hand. Believes strongly that you can learn from adversity more than when things are going well. Met with Koa, sent a message to parents, and everything is all good. Mom is in town this week.
Mood of the team:
It’s good. Will say, and probably shouldn’t, that he doesn’t think they got over the Ohio State game quick enough. And that’s everyone. Now the energy this week is back the way it needs to be. Have tuned more things out and are focusing on the specifics. Playing a surging Rutgers team right now, and they realize this opponent with how close they are to each other, it’s an important game. Have been treated so well the past few times there (sarcasm) and wants to find a way to win this week and grow from there.
Cold game weather:
One of the few people that likes a noon game other than Franklin. He likes it because he can spend time with family after it. Last week was a good time to prep for this because it was wet and cold. But they’re built for it as a program having these players around here. They practice outside. They’ll be ready for Saturday. Has played and coached for coaches that don’t allow heated benches. Doesn’t believe in that. Has heaters and blowers all over the side line to make them as comfortable as possible so they can focus on the game. As an assistant with the Packers, instead of Gatorade they literally had hot chocolate and chicken broth, and guys drank that during the game. Remembers holding game plan with WRs with one hand, other hand over by the blowers, and smelled burning after a while.
Handling final month of the season:
You have to start adjusting your practices. Got feedback from sports science guys that Tuesday practices were fairly heavy and guys weren’t completely recovered from Saturday game. Actually moved some Tuesday periods to Sunday to lesson the Tuesday load. And now as season goes on, go from five to four minute periods and cut back. Had an experience once with a team that did well, but practiced longer at the end of the season than at the beginning, and had nothing left for the bowl game. Practicing hard is important, but so is practicing smart, keeping guys tough but also fresh.
Rutgers defense:
They’re really doing a nice job and are different from what they’ve faced all year. It’s a 3-4 front with a true 0 technique nose tackle. Directly lined up over the center. Then two DEs lining up over the tackles and guards being vacated, with four linebackers. Typically, one linebacker designated to be the fourth rusher. It’s a four-down front, but after the snap. Play aggressive on the corners. Don’t give up a lot of big plays and play good complementary football. Not turning the ball over on offense, working the play action pass and running it well. Running back is playing really well, and Janarion Grant has a ton of success doing everything.
Communication up front:
It’s always important, but it’s magnified against that type of front. You don’t go against it in practice and haven’t seen it otherwise, so it’s like an option offense. You just don’t see it enough so you have to rely on your rules. It’s just a little different. The other thing is, the hardest thing for every program to recruit is D-linemen, so it helps Rutgers in finding those big linebackers.
John Reid:
John is doing really good. Doesn’t like talking about injuries, but he’s been out for the year and has been out all year. If they needed to, could probably play him toward the end of this year. Won’t do that because he has a redshirt available. But he’ll have two years left to play and have option to come back for a fifth year and masters degree. Took advantage of down time this summer and had a six week internship with Intel in Portland, Oregon. Has been offered another internship this summer. You look at the future, they’ll have Amani back for his senior year and it’ll help from that perspective.
Military ROTC at practice:
It provided a good opportunity to talk about the sacrifices of other. One of the honorary captains Saturday is a Penn State letterman with four purple hearts. Has an amazing story and will be honored. Just taking the time to make sure players understand the privileges they have and opportunities they have based on the sacrifices others make. This is an interesting time in this country, different political discussions going on, and a challenge. So it’s about making sure players show respect and appreciate those sacrifices of others.
Demise of football w/head trauma:
It’s an interesting question and a tough one. The game of football is safer than it’s ever been. There are rules in place, studies done everywhere about what to do to protect players. Now, that doesn’t make it better for the few kids that get injured and their families. So it’s important to do all those things to protect the players to make sure they’re safe and protected. Mental and physical toughness, lessons learned in football are different from anything else. It helps develop leadership and prepare young men to make split second decisions. And there are a variety of sports that have danger to them as well. The game of football now looks very different from years ago.
Talks with players for the NFL:
The hard part is that they all think they’re going to the NFL. And they all feel like they’ll get drafted in the first round. So the challenge is having these discussions and being honest with them. But to have credibility with the players, can’t always tell them they should come back to school. If he’s a guaranteed first round draft choice, he’s gotta consider it. Always thinks it’s funny when people criticize a kid guaranteed first round, life changing money. If IBM offered a junior computer engineer major a $12 million contract, he’d be gone. All data suggests unless you’re going to be a first round choice to come back for last year. Most of the money in the contract is backloaded to year four and five because NFL knows you probably won’t make it to the second contract. If you can go from a fourth rounder to a second rounder by staying an extra year, that’s great because it’s life changing money. But has to tell a first round guy to go, and does so when that comes up.
Able to get a grade from the NFL, which is a ballpark number. You’ve got Mel Kiper, ESPN, SI, the NFL. If one service says first round, that doesn’t mean a guarantee. The problem is most people listen to the people telling them what they want to hear. That’s why it’s important to have that relationship with the family and be able to talk to GMs to find out what an exact grade is on a player. Has relationships from all his time coaching. The GM for the Kansas City Chiefs was at Green Bay. Same for the Seahawks. That all helps.
