December 29, 2019
THE MODERATOR: Coach, we’ll have an opening statement from you and then we’ll open it up for questions.
STEVE SARKISIAN: Happy holidays, everyone. It’s really exciting time to be in Orlando here. I think we really appreciate the Citrus Bowl and all the activities and events they’ve put on for our players. I think they’ve had a nice week here of a little bit of time and reward for the season.
I think our preparation has gone well leading up to a very tough challenge. Michigan is a very good defense, I think seventhranked defense in the country. So we know we’ve got a tall task ahead of us. I think our players have worked extremely hard. We’ve got to kind of finetune the final pieces of this thing over the next couple of days and get ready to play a very good football team here on January 1.
Q. What impresses each of you, starting with DeVonta, about the Michigan secondary?
DEVONTA SMITH: Just how crafty they are. They can switch it up. They can be physical. They can be patient and adjust in the things that they do. They switch it up, keep you guessing, and have you just wondering, like, ‘OK, what is he going to do this time?’
STEVE SARKISIAN: I think from a scheme standpoint, I think Coach Brown does an excellent job. They’ve got a lot of mantoman principles they play. And, as DeVonta said, they’re crafty at corner. I think 24 and 1 are both crafty in their mantoman skills. But they do a really good job in their scheme of mixing it up, mixing up different zone coverages, zone covers that match up in the man coverages. So I think the challenge for the wideouts is their releases and how they’re running specific routes. And then also for the quarterback, because of the variations of coverages, the quarterback’s got to be on point of where his progression and his where his reads need to go.
Q. We just talked with Coach Gattis. How influential is he in your development as a receiver?
DEVONTA SMITH: Well, I mean, every receiver coach that came here has taught all of us something different. So it’s just dependent on the type of coach they are. He’s more of the technical one, so he kind of taught us more of the technical things of being a receiver.
Q. Where have you seen Mac improve the most throughout the season? And since he took over as a starter, how has he made this team his own?
STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, I think anytime you’re a backup quarterback, we do a really good job, in my opinion Coach Saban does a great job in practice of getting our ones and twos a lot of reps and quality reps. But there is something to be said about when you’re the one and you’re taking those reps in practice and then applying it to the game. A lot of times, when you’re the backup, you work all week and you may not get in in that ball game.
So I think Mac’s done an excellent job from when he got thrown in against Tennessee, that’s a different formula. And then all of a sudden you get the week to prepare. You become the starter against Arkansas and you get those reps, you get those looks, and then you go out and perform, I think it naturally just builds confidence.
And with his confidence, that has built, in my opinion, throughout the year with Mac. I think the confidence in his teammates for him has grown. I think the receivers, the offensive line, all of a sudden those guys see No. 10 going there and making throws – make throws against Auburn, where guys are breathing down his face at critical moments on third down – getting conversions. So I think that’s where he’s grown. I think he’s translated the practice to the game, built his own confidence and then, in turn, that’s built the confidence in his teammates in him as well.
Q. Steve, there was an opportunity or a chance that you could have been hit hard with guys not playing in this game. One, what was your reaction when you found out you were going to have pretty much a full arsenal; and, two, what do you think it says about the mindset of this team that those guys that made those decisions as they enter this game?
STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, obviously, having been here for a year now, you start to learn not just the player in the jersey, you start to learn the character of the players we have, especially on offense, the guys I deal with the most. And these are highly competitive guys now and these guys strive for excellence. They work extremely hard every day. They come to meetings attentive, attention to detail. But at the end of the day, it’s the competitive spirit I think all these guys have. And for us to have all these guys playing in the game offensively are needed. We’re going against a very good defense.
But, also, I just think it speak volumes to the type of character kids we have. I’m proud of the work that they’ve done all year and I’m excited to have these guys go out and play and perform and compete on the first.
Q. DeVonta, since you came in with the same class, what it’s been like for you the last three years going against Xavier in practice.
DEVONTA SMITH: Just knowing that you have the other side being just as competitive as you. He’s a perfectionist, so like he always wants things to be perfect. And I know that if I’m going out to practice, I know he’s going to match my intensity every day. So just going out there, having that just makes both of us better.
Q. Steve, I imagine your paths crossed with Jim Harbaugh when you were at Washington. Could you describe your relationship and your interactions with him and your impressions?
STEVE SARKISIAN: I think Jim is an excellent football coach. I mean, he’s done it on every level, from University of San Diego, to Stanford, to the 49ers, now with Michigan. I mean, he’s a fantastic coach, very intense guy.
The one thing you know, his teams always play hard. They’re physical. They’re tough and well coached, good schemes. I saw it as a head coach from both sides of the ball. Obviously, I’m seeing it now from a defensive perspective. But I imagine that they play well and coached well on offense and physical outfit. So really good coach. Really good competitor. Excited for the challenge to go against him again.
Q. Steve, now your second time back at Alabama, what would be your reflections when you think back on the 2019 season as offensive coordinator?
STEVE SARKISIAN: It was a tremendous experience. Like I said, I’m fortunate. I get to go to work every day with really good people, from the top down, from Coach Saban, to our offensive staff, to our players. I mean, these guys are fun to coach. They want to be great. We try to push them every day, not only from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint. We put things on them at a very high level, and they’ve responded.
So I’m just appreciative of the opportunity that Coach Saban’s given me to come back. And it’s been a joy to coach these guys. They are highly, highly competitive young men. There’s always going to be that kind of sour taste in your mouth in some capacity because we felt like we missed a couple opportunities in games that we really feel like we should have and could have won. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that done. So the reality of it is, we get one more opportunity to go show what we’re about offensively and I think our guys are going to be ready to play.
Q. DeVonta, what have you seen out of Josh Jobe this year? He’s an emotional player, obviously.How have you seen him kind of balance the passion that he plays with but also being disciplined?
DEVONTA SMITH: With Josh, I feel that it’s just the will to want to play this game and just the passion he has for it. So with Josh, he goes out there, he practices hard every day. And that’s just him wanting to do it. So he may get frustrated at times when things don’t go his way, but it’s not because he’s a bad person. It’s because he loves playing football.
Q. Steve, Jim has had to make an adjustment from pro style more to a spread. Can you talk about the challenges that go into that from your personal experience? And then, also, how much is that a necessity now because players, you know, only stay maybe three years and go off to the league if they’re really good?
STEVE SARKISIAN: Well, you know, I’ve lived that life all the way back to my days as assistant at SC, we were a total prostyle offense. And we kind of made the transition in my last couple of years at Washington, was in kind of the spread, openedup, shotgun world there. Obviously, going to Atlanta the last couple years, it was back to the pro style, but we started to incorporate even more of the spread kind of principles there in the National Football League.
When you watch us play and I’m sure when you watch Michigan, the little bit I’ve seen of them is, it is spread principles. It is shotgun. But if you dig down deep into it, there’s a little of prostyle offense still involved in what we do and involved in what they do. And I think that’s the fine line. That’s the balance because you want to be successful. Our job is to put our players in the best position to be successful on game day.
But, ultimately, their development as a player is critical too. And your intent and your attitude, your football team, I think you know, one of the challenges, if you just keep throwing it and throwing it and throwing it, you start to lose some of that foundation as a physical football team, the ability to run the football, the ability to play action pass, to throw the ball down the field. So there is a fine line.
And week to week that varies, obviously, based upon your opponent. I’m definitely a firm believer in the more you do really well, the harder you are to defend. Hopefully when you watch us, you can see a real spreadtype offense but yet you can see a football team that can still line up and run downhill at you and then everything in between. And I’m sure they’re in that process. I know Coach Gattis is an excellent coach and he’s got a lot of the background from here as well. So I think that makes it tough to defend, when you can do it really well.And it’s been a great process for me. I’ve been fortunate throughout my career to be around really good coaches, really good players to evolve kind of to where we are today.
Q. Coach Brown called you guys, like, the top three to five receiving group that he thinks he’s ever coached against. What do you think sets you guys apart, both on and off the field?
DEVONTA SMITH: Just how, one, the passion that we have for it and just the will to want to go out there and dominate. Just we’re out there. We’re going to try and just play, not only for us but for everybody. So just like we always try to be we’re one of the smaller receiver groups and we always try to be physical and try to play bigger than what we are. So I just feel like just the will to want to do it.
STEVE SARKISIAN: I’ll follow up with that.
I think these guys have an extremely high football IQ. Not only are they physically gifted, not only are they really great competitors, they’re tough, their football IQ is really high. And as a coach, that makes it enjoyable to coach them because you can put different things on them. You can move them around. You can coach conceptually rather than just one person, ‘This is what you do on this play.’ And these guys eat it up.
And it starts with guys like Smithy and Ruggs and Jerry, but it works its way down throughout the entire group with Waddle, Shavers, Slade Bolden, Metchie, you know, Ziggy. All these guys have started to embrace this, it’s bigger than just me releasing at the line of scrimmage. It’s big picture. It’s scheme. And that makes it fun for us to coach.
Q. Steve, you’ve known Tua a long time. What was your reaction, obviously, seeing him suffer that injury, and how have you seen him rebound so far the last several weeks?
STEVE SARKISIAN: I think I could speak probably for all of us. I mean, we’re all hurt for him. You know, Tua, for those of you who don’t know him and some of you in the room do know him, and he’s the guy, when he walks into the room, he lights it up. It doesn’t matter if it’s the training room, the locker room, the practice field, the equipment room, the coach’s office, that guy is a true leader. Everybody knows the work ethic and the desire and the competitiveness he has. So I think we’re all very hurt.
And I think the odd part is and Coach Saban had mentioned this even right after he got hurt when I reached out to him after the game, it felt like he was picking me up and that’s just him. He’s so positive. He’s so upbeat. And that’s how he’s been throughout his rehab now. He’s in really good spirits. I don’t think there’s a guy who supports Mac more than Tua. But that’s who the guy is. And, you know, wherever his future holds for him, this guy’s going to be successful in life. And I think, as coaches, that’s all you can ask for.
Q. (Inaudible.)
STEVE SARKISIAN: I’d like to coach him forever, you know, but that’s the nature of our business. You know, you recruit players. Players come in, you try to develop them as best you can, have a lot of team success and, ultimately, individual success so that then they can go on and move on in life and be successful humans, and then you bring in new people. So, you know, like I said, he’s a fantastic human. And forget just N 13 on the field.It’s who he is off the field that I think is probably more impressive.
