Transcript: Florida Gators Todd Grantham On Changing Defenses, Missouri’s Offense & Kyree Campbell
Florida Gators Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham met with local media on Tuesday to discuss changes in the defense, how they can grow from the A&M loss and returning Kyree Campbell.
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How are you holding up?
“I’m good, man. Making it. Getting in shape.”
I know that you guys were planning on possibly shifting some guys around coming out of that A&M game. With the two weeks off, what did that do in terms of implementing those changes?
“We didn’t get to practice much, so it didn’t really help you from a preparation standpoint as far as practicing. It allowed us to go through kind of a self-scout deal, look at things we’ve done, the players that we have available, which we always try to do to say, ‘What are the best match-ups for us to be successful?’ And really try to implement the players we’ve got relative to that. It’s really about a match-up, trying to get our best 11 relevant to the situation on the field to be successful.”
Do you see more potential somewhere to generate more disruption? Are you seeing places where you guys can generate more disruption in general?
“I think the biggest thing when I look at everything, we want to play to the standard that we have the last two years. No. 1, we have to improve our physicality, and I don’t just mean in the front. I’m talking about across the board in everything we do. That means tighter coverage, contested, physical at the point, just really improve our physicality as a defense in general. And then the next thing is as opportunities present themselves, we’ve got to make plays. You can say play zone, play man. At the end of the day, as routes distribute, everything becomes basically a one-on-one deal. So, we have to be able to make plays in our one-on-one match-ups. When opportunities present themselves, we’ve got to make plays. As you’re not really playing to maybe the standard that you want, you’ve got to make sure you do your job. I’m saying you can’t start trying to do too much. Do your job and do what you’re expected to do. And the last thing is play with energy and effort. When our guys look at everything that we’ve done, those things they’ve really bought into. I’ve been pleased with the two days of practice that we’ve had. And just try to emphasize the physicality, making plays when they’re there to make. And just doing our job and always playing with the effort and the physicality that we've kind of set for the last two years to be successful. That’s really what we’ve got to do, to continue to do those things, and as we do those things, plays will come.”
How much of a boost will the addition of Kyree Campbell be?
“Well I think any time you are able to add someone that’s played a couple of years within the system and the SEC it helps. I think any time you can add a veteran guy it’s good.”
With all the distractions, do you find yourself shuffling things around depending on when someone will be back, how much have you altered depending on who is there to work?
“You know it’s kind of like baseball. You know my son plays baseball. You know you’ve got to be able to hit the curve ball. You know what I’m saying? You know when you get the curveball. You know it’s not always the day before. It might be 30 minutes before practice. As things present themselves to you, you take the players available and you work to get them better. Our guys have done a good job of that and we’ll continue to do that. We understand that we’re not in a normal situation and things are going to come, but it’s how you handle the adverse situations that allow you in the long haul to be where you want to be and do what you want to do. So that’s what we want to impart on our guys, you know, when your opportunity comes you get a chance to go and make plays and do what you’re supposed to do. So we’ve really kind of adjusted as the situations have forced us to do. Sometimes it can be maybe a day in advance and sometimes it may be 30 minutes before. Whenever that happens, you just have to adjust to it.”
How is your son doing in Starkville?
“He’s doing good. He’s finding out that being a college athlete is a lot of work between baseball and academics and all of that. They’re in fall ball. I think they have the world series going on now. I’ll have to see what the score is.”
Have you changed philosophically in your coverages or dialing up pressures?
“Nah. Yeah, each team is its own and honestly no different than when I was at Mississippi State when we were 10th in the country and last year when we were 10th. You know we really haven’t changed. Quite honestly sometimes you feel like as you move forward and progress, you have better answers. It’s always about what’s the answer to what’s happening and doing those kind of things. You know the thing that can be frustrating you feel like from a preparation standpoint you are ready for the situations that come up because, you know, some of the people that we played, we played a couple times and you kind of get a feel for what's getting ready to happen and you want to have some things that you can adjust to and go to. And, you know, that probably ends up being the most frustrating thing from that standpoint. At the end of the day it's about getting lined up playing with physicality, we talked about doing your job and consistently giving effort on each play and embracing the grind of what we're doing right now. And really that's about it but as far as changing. We really haven't changed anything and what we're doing. I personally think we actually have made better answers than say two years ago to certain things. We just got to continue to work and let that success come about."
What have you seen from Missouri's offense?
"Well the thing about them is I think their head coach does an excellent job with their offense. They've kind of won two games two different ways, meaning you know they're kind of ground and pound against Kentucky and really kept the ball from Kentucky's offense and basically, you know, really out physical and went and did it that way. And then in the LSU game, they were really to be able to score with some shots — explosive plays — and get into a shootout, you know, so they've actually won the last two games two different ways. So I'm sure that gives them confidence so you understand that don't have confidence. You know there'll be a challenge their running backs are excellent. They're obviously the strength of their team and what they can do. You know, so we've got to understand that and we've got to play our style our brand, and, and, and play with the physicality needed to be successful."
Does anything hold you back from playing more freshmen?
"No, I mean you earn your reps to practice and, you know, we have guys that are playing and earned their reps, and we like a lot of our young guys. And as we continue to, you know, play the games and have our roster and see who is available, who we may or may not play, you know, it's just based upon who's available and, and the style of offense we're going to see, you know whether guys play or not. We're developing guys every day, and we'll continue to develop guys, and as guys earn those reps we'll put them in the game.”
What have you seen from freshmen as the season has gone on in terms of development?
"I think those have done a good job, and when you look at each guy, each guy's going to be at a different level where they are. So, we evaluate that, where they are. And as they're ready to play and have success, we want to do that. I mean, the worst thing to do is to put someone in there and they're not ready and they don't have success, then you have a confidence issue. So, I've always been a guy that I'd rather play him a week late than a week early from a developmental standpoint to make sure they're ready, so we'll continue to do that based on what we see in practice."
What has been different about practice?
"I don't think anything necessarily is different than a two-week, other than the fact that you haven't done anything for two weeks. You know, so there's a little bit of rust with tempo and understanding a routine. You know, I think we're all creatures of habit and understanding, like, hey, like Monday's first, second down day. You know, here's we're doing this period, you know, Tuesday, we got inside run. Those kind of things and you kind of get that routine as the season goes and all of a sudden, you have a layoff and you have to get back in your routine. You know what I'm saying? And I think today's practice was much cleaner and better than yesterday. And it's like, we told the guys we're really trying to work ourselves ready to play Saturday, you know what I'm saying? And we got to get better and develop every day to be ready for the challenge that we have on Saturday. So, I think the biggest thing is, as a coach, as a player, you have a routine. And Monday means this, Tuesday means this, you kind of get into here's a call we're going to have relative to the situation. Well, when you get that layoff, you may have something that you may only call twice in a week because it doesn't show up. If you called it for the last eight weeks, so you kind of have some continuity or some carryover. Well, when you have that 14-day lag, some of those things can be new again, you kind of got to refresh it. So really it's just trying to get back into routine to allow us to be ready on Saturday."
Have you noticed any conditioning issues?
"Not really, just because we do try to play a lot of players, and we try to get guys a lot of reps. I think that we do a good job of having our two-deeps ready to play, so you're not really getting as many reps as you may think. And I really haven't noticed guys needing to tap out relative to the rotations that we have."
What's the message to the guys about getting off the field?
"Yeah, we mean, it's pretty simple. You got to be able to get off the field. I mean, the thing about that game against Kentucky is there were a lot of fourth-down attempts by Missouri. And we've talked about that before, we're, you know, it's like Game 7 of World Series, NBA championship. You've got to close guys out. And I don't think it'll be any different this week, as we'll have to make plays and understand what the situations are and go make plays and get off the field. I think it's a mindset that we've addressed, so we're looking to other challenges on Saturday."
Did you see a guy that could emerge as a force to lead the defense?
"I think we're always working to create one-on-ones and the matchups you're talking about. And as those guys get those matchups, we're looking forward to guys making plays and flashing like that."
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