Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Tampa, Florida, USA
Raymond James Stadium
Michigan Wolverines
Sherrone Moore
Michigan 19, Alabama 13
Q. I know you don’t like to deal with ifs and buts, but
for the last field goal if it wouldn’t have given you a
two-score lead, would you have considered going for it
on 4th down?
SHERRONE MOORE: We won. That’s it. That’s all I’ve
got.
Q. How much of what we saw from Jordan Marshall
today is in his future?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, I think he’s got a bright
future. Like I said, he reminds me so much of Blake in the
way he approaches his business and what he does off the
field to take care of his body. You obviously saw how he
runs. He’s a physical runner. He can make people miss.
He can run you over. He obviously has that burst.
All the credit in the world to Alabama and the way they
played defense, a physical style of defense, but I thought
our guys really bowed up and played physical ball.
But Jordan Marshall, he’s going to be a special back. He’s
got a lot of ability, but he works really hard, so I think that’s
the piece that really makes him different.
Q. Can you talk about your defensive line and the
impact they had on this game?
SHERRONE MOORE: I mean, it was outstanding. You
talk about one of the most explosive people in college
football with Jalen Milroe, he can hurt you with his legs, he
can hurt you with his arm, and I thought they did a really
good job of funneling him in the pocket and making it
uncomfortable for him, hitting him.
I thought our D-line just did an outstanding job, Coach
Espo, Coach Wilkins, Coach Fee, Coach Lewis, all those
guys that work with the D-line, it was unbelievable to watch
them.
Credit to the players. You don’t have Mason Graham, you
don’t have Kenneth Grant, so people think there’s this big
falloff. Those are two incredible players, but our guys
really take a lot of pride in being physical, and we wanted
to do that all this bowl camp, and we really did, tried to tune
up the physicality to make sure we’re fundamentally sound,
and I thought those guys did a really good job.
Q. On the way your team ended the season, what do
you take away from that, and how did that change your
perception of the season?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, we just want to finish.
Obviously you want to win every game, and we didn’t do
that, so took a lot of pride in after that last — we played
Indiana, then we had a bye week, and really honing in and
recommitting to the things that we needed to get better at,
and it was really the fundamentals, the little pieces, doing
those things really, really well, and those usually end up in
those results.
We refocused, we retooled, and really proud of our staff
and our players.
Q. On a similar note, how much of those three wins
affirm the identity that you want to play with?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, just happy we got those
wins. It was exciting to get those wins, to work to get those
wins. Yeah, we want to be physical on defense, on
offense. But we want to be explosive on offense. Those
are things that we’ve got to work on in the off-season to
make sure we’re more explosive, especially in the passing
game.
We had a great throw to Fred by Davis. It was a great ball
in that back part of the end zone. That was awesome to
see. But we want to be more explosive on offense, which
we’re going to work to do that.
But our defense played lights out. At the end of the year,
Northwestern, holding them to six, Ohio, holding them to
10, these guys 13, you talk about — especially Ohio and
these guys, explosive offenses that can put up points on
the scoreboard. I don’t know what Ohio was averaging a
game, I think they were in the 40s and these guys were in
the high 30s.
Our defense played incredible these last three games, and
big shout out to Coach Wink.
Q. It’s been an up-and-down season. Can you just
reflect on how this season went and how you think it’s
going to go moving forward?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, we talked about not losses,
lessons. We had a lot of lessons throughout the year, and
just learning from them so we learn the things that we need
to learn so ultimately end up on the plus side, and we did
that in these last three games.
Finishing on a strong note was huge for us and will build
great momentum going into the off-season. We feel like
we’ve got a bright future the way we’re recruiting, the guys
we’re bringing in, the guys we’re keeping, to make sure
that this Michigan is the best version of Michigan that it can
be, and that’s all we’re going to worry about. When we get
to winter workouts, that’s the first cycle we’ve got. We’re
going to attack that as much as we can and get better
there, and then we’ll go in the spring, we’ll go in the
summer and we’ll go into fall camp and then we’ll work to
what that final piece will look like after fall camp.
But we’re going to celebrate this one. We’ve got a happy
flight coming up, so we’re going to celebrate this one.
Q. That was big boy football today; that’s exactly what
you expect from Alabama, wasn’t it?
SHERRONE MOORE: Oh, yeah. There was some hard
hitting going on on both sides. You could hear the pads
popping. Our guys were delivering hits, they were
delivering hits. Three-yard runs, those dirty runs, those
aren’t bad plays, especially those are like body blows, and
there was a lot of that on both sides of the ball and
physicality, but I thought our guys stepped up in the
moments that they needed to, and our offense took a
five-minute drive to get down and get a field goal, and our
defense did a good job holding them in the red zone was
huge.
The physicality was there. We knew it would be that type
of game, so we were ready for it.
Q. Obviously really sad to see Warren go down. Can
you talk about how the game changed after that?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, not sure exactly what the
injury is. Lower body injury. We’ll figure that out and get
him right. But I was really proud of the way he carried
himself and what he did in the game. Took control of the
offense, and he was really like that throughout bowl prep.
Then Orji came in and handled it well, just continued to —
we just felt like the way the game was going, our defense
was holding them up, that we needed to possess the ball. I
think we had 38 minutes time of possession, so that’s what
we wanted to do, and executed that at a high level.
Q. Do you expect him to remain here after the transfer
portal window?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, we’ll see. Like I said in
media, my media availability, I think it was yesterday, it’s
leaning that way, but those are conversations we’ll have to
have.
Q. Sorry, I meant Alex.
SHERRONE MOORE: We’ll see.
Q. With winning this game and the number of opt-outs
you had, what do you think it says about the state of
the program?
SHERRONE MOORE: That we’ve got a great culture, and
we’ve got great kids. No one person wins a game. No one
person, no two people. It’s a team. It’s always going to be
a team sport. If you look at it any different, then you’ve got
issues, and we’re always going to look at it as a team sport
and be the best team we can be, whoever is out on the
field.
Q. How surreal were those first 15 minutes? It’s not
often a team forces a succession of turnovers like that.
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, it was crazy. We had a lot of
presentations. Our staff did an excellent job presenting
things throughout bowl camp, and we talked about plus
two, and Coach Morgan brought up being plus two, and I
think in that time we were plus three. They’re going, we’re
plus three right now; we’ve got a chance to win this game.
We’re going to go win this game now.
The coolest part of that was it started to rain, and the boys
went crazy. It was like a party. I was like, what’s going on.
They love stuff like that. They love adverse environments
that people don’t expect, but they enjoy that.
But it was awesome to watch our guys — we talked about
being plus two, and to get plus three right there was huge
for us.
Q. When Warren went down with the injury and you
went with Alex Orji, the offense kind of sputtered in the
passing game. Was there any thought of bringing
Jadyn Davis in?
SHERRONE MOORE: Yeah, Orji practiced really well
throughout the bowl prep, and I thought the best chance to
win was having him in the game, the threat of his legs, so
that’s what we did at the time.
Q. With your evaluation of Andrew Sprague
(indiscernible)?
SHERRONE MOORE: Well, when you rush for over 100
yards against Alabama, it’s good, but I haven’t watched — I
saw some of it and felt like in protection, because those are
things that you can see the most without the detail, they did
pretty good. As far as the run game, there’s things we’ve
always got to clean up, but it felt like we were getting the
movement necessary to get the runs going.
When you have those type of drives when you’re leaning
on people and you’re getting five-minute drives, it means
those guys up front are doing a good job. Felt like they
were in a good place.
Q. Even though you didn’t score in the third quarter,
how important was it to possess the ball, and then on
top of it, for your team to come out there, was this a
statement game to college football that the Big Ten
can play with the big boys of the SEC?
SHERRONE MOORE: I don’t think that’s — we don’t look
at it as trying to make a statement or doing anything to
prove anybody wrong. It’s all about us getting better and
proving ourselves right. We don’t care about the opinions
of other people and all that.
But I think it’s shown that throughout the years, last year
and this year, that the Big Ten is as competitive of a
conference in college football as any. I don’t think there’s a
question about the Big Ten, SEC — two great conferences.
They’re two great conferences. I’ll leave it at that.
Q. How fitting was it for your defense to set the tone
with three quick turnovers, you get the lead
(indiscernible) and how fitting is it to start with your
defense and end with your defense?
SHERRONE MOORE: It was awesome. Again, just a lot
of shout-outs to all those guys, the staff, the players. It
was a team effort. So many guys made plays. I gave
game balls to everybody on the team. But the defensive
front started it all, and then it just permeated through
everybody else, and those guys all just played
phenomenal.
Q. You mentioned the players getting excited about
the rain. You’ve been at Michigan for a while. How
have you seen that grow or what do you think is the
key to a team embracing the adverse weather like that?
SHERRONE MOORE: When you live in Michigan, you go
through every season, so snow, rain, sleet. It can happen
in one day. Our guys just don’t get bothered by anything.
We just keep going. So it could be rain, it could be snow,
could be sleet, could be whatever it is, sunshine, could be
super hot. Our guys don’t really care about the weather or
the conditions. We just adjust to whatever it is, and just
really proud of them.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
Alabama Crimson Tide
Kalen DeBoer
Postgame Press Conference
Michigan 19, Alabama 13
KALEN DeBOER: I loved the fight in our team in the first
half to gain some momentum, just got to finish some drives
there at the end of the fourth quarter. That’s what it comes
down to. Make a throw, make a catch.
Guys played their hearts out, though. Never going to
question the competitiveness of some guys out there
playing through a lot when it comes to even just the
physical pain that they’re trying to grind through, trying to
finish this thing right. Feel for those guys. Want the guys
that obviously are going to be coming back to remember
this feeling, remember some of the feelings throughout the
year, but we’ve got to keep building for the team to move
forward.
Q. Early in the fourth quarter, you have 4th and 7 on
Michigan’s 34, you throw incomplete there. Was there
strong consideration for kicking a field goal there,
making it 16-13 which maybe could have made a
difference later?
KALEN DeBOER: Yeah, you think about it. Felt like at the
time and obviously now we know that he can kick the one
at the end from that distance. Just felt like we were on the
fringe of really what the percentages were, understanding
who we are, and again, it sounds like you don’t have
confidence in your kicker, which I do, but just felt like we
can convert a 4th and 7. What was it, 4th and 7? Yeah,
4th and 7.
Unfortunately we didn’t. Felt like the passing game when
we were executing, which that’s a big part of it, that we can
find a way to convert and get the ball into the right guy’s
hands and let him go make a play.
Q. You decided to stick with Jalen even after that first
quarter. What went into that decision?
KALEN DeBOER: Well, I think there were some elements
at play. I know even the pick, I mean, that’s a really nice
play. You throw it maybe two inches out further, and it’s a
catch for us, and I’m not sure if we’d run out of bounds or
what there. But they made a nice play.
You guys were there, you saw the elements on the snap.
They’ve got a guy field it, you can’t turn it over. They
struggled, I think, and unfortunately they had the field
position — fortunately for them they had the field position
where they didn’t really have to press until the rain kind of
moved through.
But that certainly didn’t help us and kind of dug ourselves a
rut, had to play a little different style again.
But hats off to our guys there at the end of the first half of
understanding, hey, just get one score, and then one score
led to two. Wish we could have just done something there
I think the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth
quarter, where we get maybe a field goal, put some points
on the board, put the ball in the end zone.
Q. Kind of sticking to that, for clarity’s sake, did you
consider making a change at quarterback, and if so —
KALEN DeBOER: No, I didn’t. I just felt like there’s things
that he still did. We scored a field goal with him using his
legs. We went 95 plus yards in less than a minute. Just
that factor and what we needed with him and his mobility
added to the run game, I felt like that was the swap right
there.
The interception early, you want a lot of those
incompletions happened and down and distances that
weren’t favorable or backs to the wall and have to throw
the ball at the end of the first half, at the end of the second
here, so I know that gets away from you from the
completion percentage.
But I thought there was still a lot of good plays that he
made, too, and I saw, I guess, a fighter, the fight in his
eyes, and as long as I see that, I want to hang in there with
the guys that this program means a lot to.
Q. Given the lack of depth at receiver, you guys didn’t
really go to the running game as much. Was that just
because they were stopping you, or what was the
reason —
KALEN DeBOER: Yeah, I think that they’re one of the top
five rushing defenses, and I know that there’s personnel on
both sides, both teams that were different maybe from
what you would see in the regular season, both us and
them.
But I think there was certainly part of our game plan to
where we felt we needed to spit the ball out and get the
ball in the right guys’ hands and try to do that, and whether
it was slipping or incomplete passes, some of those plays
didn’t get executed the way that you practice them for the
last two, three weeks.
Yeah, there were some runs that I think JAM at the end of
the game poured up in there at the end of the first half. I
really thought he did a nice job getting us out from behind
our own end zone there. He ran hard, and I think just
having a little bit of a balance was important for us in this
game because of who they were and a little bit of what we
felt we could do to attack them.
Q. Kalen, do you think your season was successful?
KALEN DeBOER: Every time you’re in the locker room
and you have something like this, it’s disappointing. But I
think there’s a lot of things that you take from it. I know
that the guys that hung in there, that probably played their
last game in the crimson and white, they wouldn’t have had
it any other way as far as to show the grit, show the
determination, show the competitiveness. They stayed the
course.
There’s a whole lot more, I just think, that really goes into
the last 12 months. People see what happens on a
Saturday, but it’s guys choosing to stay here, guys
choosing to go from one week to the next when you’re on a
little bit of a roller coaster through the middle of the season,
and as long as we learn from it, then to me, then it can be
a success moving forward.
We’re going to take all these things that happened, and
there’s some things that happened in the game today, too,
that we’ve got to learn from and make sure that those
mistakes don’t hurt us a year from now. I don’t care if it’s
turnovers, penalties. It’s everything. So to me, it’s a
success if we move forward and we take advantage of the
lessons, even though we don’t want to learn those lessons
sometimes because they’re hard. We’re going to learn
from those lessons, move forward, and be better next year
because of it.
I told the guys that played their last game how much I
appreciate them. I know their teammates shared how
much they appreciate them, as well, in the locker room,
and we’re going to — I know they’re going to make us proud
when they move on to the next level, and I promised them
we’re going to continue to make them proud with the fight
and the standard of competitiveness that they instilled in
this program here moving forward.
Q. Was there an explanation given to you on the
sideline infraction?
KALEN DeBOER: I think just ran into someone on our
team. I’m not sure who or what.
Q. You talked about the fight in the first half and were
able to carry that momentum into halftime. Why do
you think you weren’t able to keep it going in the
second half?
KALEN DeBOER: Yeah, you know, the losses were the
ones that hurt us. A sack, being behind the chains. That’s
what they thrive on. Their defense does a good job of
thriving on being physical, forcing you into down and
distances where you’re behind the chains, and when that
happened, it’s tough to overcome against a team that
understands their identity, plays team football. We knew
the game would get shrunk down when you kind of knock
out the first quarter, which you can’t do, because that’s part
of the game, and all of a sudden it takes on a different
game of its own because you’re down 16-0. You’re just
fighting, scrapping and trying to give yourself a chance like
we did at the very end.
Q. Kind of looking back, Jalen hasn’t announced his
intention in terms of what next year looks like, but how
have you seen him grow? How have you seen him
respond to being the face of your program?
KALEN DeBOER: Well, I think everyone would probably
share the same feeling I have, is that the guy always
speaks about the team. He always speaks about his
teammates. It’s not about him. He leads that way every
day in our program.
When you’re the quarterback of any football team, the eyes
are always on you, especially when you’re at Alabama, and
you’re going through some ups and downs once in a while
in the course of a season, it takes on a heavy burden
sometimes.
He’s just steady. He stays the course. I guess the fight in
him, the ability to move forward, I thought that that is
something even in the midst of times when he maybe didn’t
make a play that he could have made or wanted to make
or even a mistake, which everyone is going to make a
mistake here or there, I thought that that’s one area where
he’s really improved, especially the last half of the season.
I think our guys appreciate that in him. I think that they
have taken on as a team, too, and always tried to move
forward, even when we’re not perfect.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
