If you like DBs, this is your night.
- Bookie
- Tre Norwood (who was fantastic)
- Delarrin Turner-Yell (first time in interview room)
- Tre Brown
- Parnell Motley
- Caleb Kelly
- Neville Gallimore
- Alex Grinch
Will transcribe Norwood, who seems set on playing nickel. And Bookie continues to be a damn good interview.
A lot more to come this evening.
***
My best guess on secondary right now?
CB - Parnell Motley
CB - Tre Brown
S - Delarrin Turner-Yell
S - Patrick Fields
NB - Tre Norwood
But Grinch is harping on the fact the DB numbers are so, so low that I can't write that in pen right now. Bookie is working with Grinch, never see him with Manning when we've viewed practice.
***
Alex Grinch
How'd it go? (Monday was actually a scrimmage day)
Oh, up and down. There's always good plays, bad plays, ugly plays. It'll be the same conversation every time we talk. I felt probably from a performance standpoint, I think too many ugly today. Overall, I'd suggest fairly disappointed in the overall performance by the bulk of the guys but if it was a great day, I'd be disappointed by several guys. It's where we're at seven practices into this thing. It's gonna continue to be that way. It's more film to evaluate, more film to coach off of and we'll get back there Wednesday and try to be better.
Turner-Yell and Fields?
Yeah I think through seven days, I remember every bad play they had. They've been a steady group. I think that would be a real appropriate way to say it. You're always fighting to find playmakers on every level of your defense. Certainly they've made their share. I think as you go through, that's the specific room that I coach, continue to work with those guys. If you're one step away, why? Is it inappropriate footwork? Is it inappropriate eyes? Are we thinking too much? There are more plays to be made. Through seven practices, probably as a whole, I would suggest those two guys have been steady and guys that we feel if we played a game tomorrow, they'd be our starting safeties.
Is that something (DB spots) you expected to take time, or should that shit have been sorted out by now?
No, it takes a lot of time. It's never ... the thing I'll say, and I kinda mentioned this to the guys and will continue to do so, is it's never fixed. It's never there. When you're trying to establish a standard, if it's great, then you want tomorrow to be greater. If it's good, you want it to be great. If it's great, you want it to be elite. That never goes away. We never say we got it. Right now, to that point, I think when we've had a good day defensively and excited that we've had good days, that's a good feeling. You can build on those things. Through seven days, to sit here and tell you that we've had some good days is an exciting thing to mention to you. But subsequently, I don't know that we've put a lot of one days into two days, you know, and kinda the domino effect if you will. Stacking chips one on top of another. It takes time. You're never there and it'll be something that'll continue to be something we work on all through fall, all through the season.
Are you playing psychologist more than you thought you would?
No, but I think that's a constant. I think I absolutely anticipated that. Just like from a performance on a day to day basis, that aspect of things never goes away. You've gotta establish a high, high standard, but you also have to make sure the guys believe in the things that you're selling. The nice thing is when you have snaps of film now that you can show them, you can show them actually doing it and doing it the right way, and the more times you do it right, the more glaring it is when it's wrong. Again, that's probably in some ways ... you feel miserable when you don't have the right results, but I guess if I'm looking at it through rose-colored glasses, right now I'd say the guys feel like when it's wrong, they feel it. They see it. They don't need to be convinced of it and maybe we're ahead of the game in that way, through seven days. They sense it. They can feel it. You don't have to convince them and that's an important part of the psychological aspect of things. But again, from period to period in practice, that's from day to day in practice, that's sending them text messages at night, a theme for the following day, that will never go away through summer, through fall camp and it's a major piece of it.
Who stands out in the front 7?
It’s kinda been indicative across the board. There will be several instances of defensive linemen playing aggressive, getting in the backfield and being disruptive. Like I said about the back end, there’s instances where we have two good and then three bad or one good and one bad. It’s never enough. On second down, you have to do the same thing you did on first down regardless of the call.
Across the board, it’s really hard to highlight guys from that standpoint. There’s too many snaps at practice that go the other way. And when that happens you’re disappointed in the performance.
Whose playing nickel?
Several. Probably not as many as we would like quite frankly. We have Bookie playing there a little bit. Tre Norwood is playing there a little bit. There other guys we’d like to get in there but depth wise we can’t because we’d be robbing Peter to pay Paul. We have three scholarship corners right now. Today, we have three healthy scholarship safeties. That doesn’t allow to checkers as you might like to. That’s spring and we’ll continue to evaluate the guys.
***
Caleb Kelly
Frustrating last year now paying off at WILL?
I feel like it just made me better as a person overall. You just know you’re not going to have everything go your way, so you’ve just got to keep pushing through it. I really had to learn it the hard way and get used to having people around me and leaning on those people and keep on pushing.
Helping you progress faster learning new defense since you had that experience last year?
Yeah, for sure I do like having that experience playing middle because coming into that this year it was hard, because it was hard for me last year going into it. I kind of got that first step out the way. I’ve been having fun doing it. I haven’t had an amazing spring but I have gotten better every single day.
Does that help you guys as players knowing effort is rewarded?
Effort’s a part of our bottom line, so it basically just gives you the freedom that if I know what I’m doing — which we should know what we’re doing — then that will help. But as long as I’m going as hard as I possibly can, and if the ball goes away from me or whatever happens, as long as I’m running to it as hard as I can and trying to make a play, not just running to it then I will be OK. And he even said that today. We have loafs; we have mental loafs, technique loafs … And he said ‘The only way you’ll get a loaf today is if you aren’t going hard, if you aren’t going to the ball as hard as you can.’ So he basically gave us the freedom today, he said it’s OK to mess up, but as long as you go hard you’ll be fine.
What’s it like going up against the new QBs?
Yeah, there’s definitely a difference. Definitely in the O-line too. Their size, it’s one thing that really stands out. If they get their hands on you, they’re really hard to get off. Past guys too, but they’re just a little bit bigger I’ve noticed. Then with the QBs just the way every QB plays is different, has a little different style. So Jalen has something different than Tanner has. I’ve seen some great QBs come in, so having a comparison is really hard to do because they’re all good quarterbacks. And I’m not just saying that. I’d trust all of them and I love playing with all of them. It’s hard to really pick something that’s different than all of them.
***
Tre Norwood (4/1/19)
Where you practicing?
I’m kind of all over the back end. Nickel, corner, safety, wherever coach puts me, that’s where I’m going to give my best at.
Enjoying that?
I am. It’s funny because I’m getting to learn every position in the back end. That’s a plus, always great to know every position. I love having the opportunity.
Tough to move to safety?
I wouldn’t say it was tough. I’ve always kind of prided myself on not knowing just one position but knowing the safety spot and the nickel spot. Making that move, it wasn’t too hard. It’s something I continue to work at, and I love that opportunity.
Wanna know position by spring’s end?
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. That’ll be up to Coach Grinch and the rest of the defensive staff. Wherever they put me, I’m going to give it my all, and I’ll do my best.
Meeting room?
I meet all the time with Coach Grinch. In practice, they’ll move me around a little bit. My meeting room is with Coach Grinch.
Why confident about D?
The will to want to make plays. Coach Grinch came in and said this is an effort-based defense. I can see that from each and every guy out there. One of our sayings is you can have a bad play, but you can’t have a bad day. No matter what happens, if you give 110 percent every play, it’s almost impossible for you to have a bad day. Guys having that mentality is something that will transfer to us having a great defense.
Mentality missing last year?
I would say so. At times, you could tell we would get lackadaisical and be individual-based. We’re playing more together, and it’s going to pay off in the long run.
Freshmen WR/TE quartet?
It’s been great. I’m excited for each and every one of them. They’re all great players. With me playing nickel most, I’m usually going up against Trejan and Stog (Stogner). They all have a special skill set and will be a huge asset to our offense. I’m excited to watch them grow.
Stogner matchup issues?
Those big-bodied tight ends, the first matchup problem is going to be size and physicality. One thing I’ll say about him is he’s a great route runner. He has deceptive speed. He knows how to use his body to make body catches and get open. He’s only going to get better with him being in the program longer.
How you stop him?
With Coach Grinch, he tells us against big-bodied guys like that, win early in the down. Be the first aggressor, bring the physicality to them first. That will give us an advantage later within that rep.
***
And time to eat, yay.
- Bookie
- Tre Norwood (who was fantastic)
- Delarrin Turner-Yell (first time in interview room)
- Tre Brown
- Parnell Motley
- Caleb Kelly
- Neville Gallimore
- Alex Grinch
Will transcribe Norwood, who seems set on playing nickel. And Bookie continues to be a damn good interview.
A lot more to come this evening.
***
My best guess on secondary right now?
CB - Parnell Motley
CB - Tre Brown
S - Delarrin Turner-Yell
S - Patrick Fields
NB - Tre Norwood
But Grinch is harping on the fact the DB numbers are so, so low that I can't write that in pen right now. Bookie is working with Grinch, never see him with Manning when we've viewed practice.
***
Alex Grinch
How'd it go? (Monday was actually a scrimmage day)
Oh, up and down. There's always good plays, bad plays, ugly plays. It'll be the same conversation every time we talk. I felt probably from a performance standpoint, I think too many ugly today. Overall, I'd suggest fairly disappointed in the overall performance by the bulk of the guys but if it was a great day, I'd be disappointed by several guys. It's where we're at seven practices into this thing. It's gonna continue to be that way. It's more film to evaluate, more film to coach off of and we'll get back there Wednesday and try to be better.
Turner-Yell and Fields?
Yeah I think through seven days, I remember every bad play they had. They've been a steady group. I think that would be a real appropriate way to say it. You're always fighting to find playmakers on every level of your defense. Certainly they've made their share. I think as you go through, that's the specific room that I coach, continue to work with those guys. If you're one step away, why? Is it inappropriate footwork? Is it inappropriate eyes? Are we thinking too much? There are more plays to be made. Through seven practices, probably as a whole, I would suggest those two guys have been steady and guys that we feel if we played a game tomorrow, they'd be our starting safeties.
Is that something (DB spots) you expected to take time, or should that shit have been sorted out by now?
No, it takes a lot of time. It's never ... the thing I'll say, and I kinda mentioned this to the guys and will continue to do so, is it's never fixed. It's never there. When you're trying to establish a standard, if it's great, then you want tomorrow to be greater. If it's good, you want it to be great. If it's great, you want it to be elite. That never goes away. We never say we got it. Right now, to that point, I think when we've had a good day defensively and excited that we've had good days, that's a good feeling. You can build on those things. Through seven days, to sit here and tell you that we've had some good days is an exciting thing to mention to you. But subsequently, I don't know that we've put a lot of one days into two days, you know, and kinda the domino effect if you will. Stacking chips one on top of another. It takes time. You're never there and it'll be something that'll continue to be something we work on all through fall, all through the season.
Are you playing psychologist more than you thought you would?
No, but I think that's a constant. I think I absolutely anticipated that. Just like from a performance on a day to day basis, that aspect of things never goes away. You've gotta establish a high, high standard, but you also have to make sure the guys believe in the things that you're selling. The nice thing is when you have snaps of film now that you can show them, you can show them actually doing it and doing it the right way, and the more times you do it right, the more glaring it is when it's wrong. Again, that's probably in some ways ... you feel miserable when you don't have the right results, but I guess if I'm looking at it through rose-colored glasses, right now I'd say the guys feel like when it's wrong, they feel it. They see it. They don't need to be convinced of it and maybe we're ahead of the game in that way, through seven days. They sense it. They can feel it. You don't have to convince them and that's an important part of the psychological aspect of things. But again, from period to period in practice, that's from day to day in practice, that's sending them text messages at night, a theme for the following day, that will never go away through summer, through fall camp and it's a major piece of it.
Who stands out in the front 7?
It’s kinda been indicative across the board. There will be several instances of defensive linemen playing aggressive, getting in the backfield and being disruptive. Like I said about the back end, there’s instances where we have two good and then three bad or one good and one bad. It’s never enough. On second down, you have to do the same thing you did on first down regardless of the call.
Across the board, it’s really hard to highlight guys from that standpoint. There’s too many snaps at practice that go the other way. And when that happens you’re disappointed in the performance.
Whose playing nickel?
Several. Probably not as many as we would like quite frankly. We have Bookie playing there a little bit. Tre Norwood is playing there a little bit. There other guys we’d like to get in there but depth wise we can’t because we’d be robbing Peter to pay Paul. We have three scholarship corners right now. Today, we have three healthy scholarship safeties. That doesn’t allow to checkers as you might like to. That’s spring and we’ll continue to evaluate the guys.
***
Caleb Kelly
Frustrating last year now paying off at WILL?
I feel like it just made me better as a person overall. You just know you’re not going to have everything go your way, so you’ve just got to keep pushing through it. I really had to learn it the hard way and get used to having people around me and leaning on those people and keep on pushing.
Helping you progress faster learning new defense since you had that experience last year?
Yeah, for sure I do like having that experience playing middle because coming into that this year it was hard, because it was hard for me last year going into it. I kind of got that first step out the way. I’ve been having fun doing it. I haven’t had an amazing spring but I have gotten better every single day.
Does that help you guys as players knowing effort is rewarded?
Effort’s a part of our bottom line, so it basically just gives you the freedom that if I know what I’m doing — which we should know what we’re doing — then that will help. But as long as I’m going as hard as I possibly can, and if the ball goes away from me or whatever happens, as long as I’m running to it as hard as I can and trying to make a play, not just running to it then I will be OK. And he even said that today. We have loafs; we have mental loafs, technique loafs … And he said ‘The only way you’ll get a loaf today is if you aren’t going hard, if you aren’t going to the ball as hard as you can.’ So he basically gave us the freedom today, he said it’s OK to mess up, but as long as you go hard you’ll be fine.
What’s it like going up against the new QBs?
Yeah, there’s definitely a difference. Definitely in the O-line too. Their size, it’s one thing that really stands out. If they get their hands on you, they’re really hard to get off. Past guys too, but they’re just a little bit bigger I’ve noticed. Then with the QBs just the way every QB plays is different, has a little different style. So Jalen has something different than Tanner has. I’ve seen some great QBs come in, so having a comparison is really hard to do because they’re all good quarterbacks. And I’m not just saying that. I’d trust all of them and I love playing with all of them. It’s hard to really pick something that’s different than all of them.
***
Tre Norwood (4/1/19)
Where you practicing?
I’m kind of all over the back end. Nickel, corner, safety, wherever coach puts me, that’s where I’m going to give my best at.
Enjoying that?
I am. It’s funny because I’m getting to learn every position in the back end. That’s a plus, always great to know every position. I love having the opportunity.
Tough to move to safety?
I wouldn’t say it was tough. I’ve always kind of prided myself on not knowing just one position but knowing the safety spot and the nickel spot. Making that move, it wasn’t too hard. It’s something I continue to work at, and I love that opportunity.
Wanna know position by spring’s end?
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. That’ll be up to Coach Grinch and the rest of the defensive staff. Wherever they put me, I’m going to give it my all, and I’ll do my best.
Meeting room?
I meet all the time with Coach Grinch. In practice, they’ll move me around a little bit. My meeting room is with Coach Grinch.
Why confident about D?
The will to want to make plays. Coach Grinch came in and said this is an effort-based defense. I can see that from each and every guy out there. One of our sayings is you can have a bad play, but you can’t have a bad day. No matter what happens, if you give 110 percent every play, it’s almost impossible for you to have a bad day. Guys having that mentality is something that will transfer to us having a great defense.
Mentality missing last year?
I would say so. At times, you could tell we would get lackadaisical and be individual-based. We’re playing more together, and it’s going to pay off in the long run.
Freshmen WR/TE quartet?
It’s been great. I’m excited for each and every one of them. They’re all great players. With me playing nickel most, I’m usually going up against Trejan and Stog (Stogner). They all have a special skill set and will be a huge asset to our offense. I’m excited to watch them grow.
Stogner matchup issues?
Those big-bodied tight ends, the first matchup problem is going to be size and physicality. One thing I’ll say about him is he’s a great route runner. He has deceptive speed. He knows how to use his body to make body catches and get open. He’s only going to get better with him being in the program longer.
How you stop him?
With Coach Grinch, he tells us against big-bodied guys like that, win early in the down. Be the first aggressor, bring the physicality to them first. That will give us an advantage later within that rep.
***
And time to eat, yay.
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