Transcript: Florida Gators Todd Grantham on Feleipe Franks, Georgia's Two Quarterbacks and Pass Rush
Florida Gators Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham met with local media on Tuesday to discuss the No. 6 Gators defensive performance against the Georgia Bulldogs, what it's like preparing to face former Gators current Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Feleipe Franks and how the pass rush has improved.
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Zack Carter and Kyrie Campbell when they're on the field together really seems to have elevated the defense. Statistically, one touchdown-offensive touchdown against that group with four quarters. What are they doing together—I know you said everybody can play their natural position but those two in particular, how do they work off each other?
"Well I think you got—one you have talented players that have experience in our system, have experience playing in the league. They have the ability to set the edge in the run game, win one-on-one blocks. They can be stout at the point of attack. They can command double teams which can free other people up with their movements. They can create penetration and, you know, make a play or they can spin it to another spot. So, you know, kind of like anything anytime you can put good players on the field it allows you to be successful, and those guys have done a good job for us and we certainly look forward to continuing to improve.”
How would you evaluate the pass rush?
"I think that, you know, it depends on—like the thing about pass rush is, is sacks is obviously a big deal. And I still think we're up in the top part of the league. The biggest thing is, to me, is hits on quarterbacks. And I'm thinking legal; how you pressure the quarterback, your ability to, you know, continually, you know, get the hits, get the pressures because at the end of the day, if you're getting X number of hits or pressures that should correlate into getting a sack. So that's why people look at sacks sometimes as a, as a barometer in the sense of, you know, if you're high in sacks, you're probably gonna get a pressure or a hit on the quarterback say one out of every three sacks. Okay, so in other words if I've got 10 sacks, then it means I've gotten quite a few pressures and hits. So I think that we're a little bit of a work in progress. But I think the guys have done a good job of developing themselves. We got to finish a little bit better. We got to keep the edges of the, of the, of the pocket a little bit better and the biggest thing is, is when you're rushing four is there's actually six rush lanes for four guys. And that means you have to collapse the pocket outside in to take away those rush lanes with four guys. So I think that we've continued to kind of, you know, kind of improve upon that as far as our ability to push the pocket. But when we’re, when we're fresh and, and we're, you know on the edges of guys I think we were doing a decent job. So I think we just gotta continue to develop, and maybe finish a little bit more.”
ANY SORT OF ADVANTAGE FACING FELEIPE? "Nah, I mean I think Feleipe's done a great job with what he's doing with their system. He's running it really well. The game gets down to players making plays and your ability to make plays. I don't think that we necessarily have an advantage in that regard. It's a different system, different scheme, different players around him. I think it's about our 11 guys going and competing against their 11 guys and being able to execute the defense that's called." WHAT'S BIGGEST CONCERN, HIS MOBILITY OR ARM STRENGTH? "I think it's all of the above. I think, one, you have a competitive guy that understands where to throw the ball. He can make all the throws. I mean he's as impressive throwing the ball as anybody you'll ever watch. He can extend plays with his feet. When you watch him, he can actually run through guys and make one or two guys miss and add yardage to the play that way. So you've got a quarterback that can run, you've got a quarterback that can extend plays and when he extends plays he can get it down the field for chunk yards. Looks like he understands their system really well and what they're asking him to do and he's playing really good, so we understand that we're going to have to play with effort and energy and do the things that we do to be a good team.”
Do you always prepare for an offense’s strength?
"Well, first of all, you’ve always got to look at a team and say what do they do best and how can we defense that? It’s kind of like in basketball, you know, a guy’s right-handed and you make him go left-hander. You’re always going to try to force guys to go with their other hand in that regard. It’s still going to come down to your ability to be effective in the run game and then how can you get pressure on the quarterback and how do you affect him. If you do those things, you’ll have a chance to win the game. And as you’re doing that, communication is key to not give up explosive plays because when you make teams go the long, hard way, whether it’s run or pass, you have a tendency to find a way to stop them and then you can hold them to low numbers. That’s what we’ll focus on.”
Feleipe have an advantage on you?
“Not really. Obviously, he’s going to know our system somewhat. It’s still about players executive calls and making plays. It’s really about Florida playing Arkansas and our ability to play to our standard and what we’ve got to do and that’s always the focus: us playing to our ability and continue to get better and make the improvements that we need to make to continue to develop ourselves as a defense and a team and that’s really what it gets down to. In the National Football League, guys change teams quite a bit; you kind of see this. I think as we move forward in college football, unfortunately, it’s probably going to be like this in college, meaning a guy’s going to be on this team and he goes to another team, so you’re going to see those kind of things. At the end of the day, guys have to do what’s best for them and it’s about our team playing to our ability and continuing to focus on the things we got to do to get where we want to go.”
When Kirby changes QBs during the game are you licking your chops?
“Any time the guy that they’re starting is pulled that means the next guy is not as good, as a general rule. That’s what we kind of shoot for every week, try to get to number two. Our theory is if we can get number one to tap out then we have a chance to be successful.”
Defense better on 3rd down, what changes, maybe just being better on 1st and 2nd down?
“I think it’s a combination of all of the above, meaning there were a lot of 3rd and seven or more on Saturday. Generally speaking when you can get it above 3rd and six your chances of winning are greater as if its three to four, or two, three, four. That’s one. I think the players are doing a really good job of understanding what we’re asking them to do. They’re executing the call when it’s made and then they’re making plays. They’re getting their hands on balls when they’re in one-on-one matchups. Go back to Marco, for example. Georgia ran a dig route on him and we were in man. He undercut it, got the ball, got his hands on it, broke it up. That’s a one-on-one play. That’s going to happen in the rush and in the coverage. Whether you play man or zone, at the end of the day you still have to match the guy in your area and you’ve gotta make plays on balls. Guys understand that. I think the credit really needs to go to the players because they’ve done a really good job executing what we ask them to do and they’ve done a good job of watching tape to improve the things we needed to in order to improve and be where we are right now.”
Tre'Vez Johnson and Rashad Torrence?
"I think you look at Tre'Vez and even Rashad, those two guys. We knew that we were going to have to count on them at some point during the season.Those guys have done a really good job of being professional as far as learning the playbook, studying on their own, asking questions, really focusing on the things we were asking them to do. And I think that Ron's done a good job with those guys as far as consistent teaching and being consistent every week. 'Hey, this call means this.' Well, this call meant that in August, too. Through repetition, we're all creatures of habit and your habitual traits take over. And those guys -- because of their conscious attitude and effort and their ability to learn -- have improved every week during the season. And like you said with Tre'Vez, he's getting a lot of snaps right now. He's doing a good job for us. So that's a plus for us now and in the future."
Was it Rashad who got the pop on Bennett?
"Yeah, it was. Because there's one or two things we could have improved on that play and it might have went a little bit differently. But he did get the pop."
Seems like he timed it up well…
"Ah, not sure."
Hate to bring back bad memories, but what was your reaction to the first play? Was it gnawing at you?
“Not really. We won the game. Obviously, when it happened, we wanted to hold these guys to a low number and they got 75 yards on the first play. So, we’re going to have to get a lot of TFLs to get that number down. Not really. The thing that happens is you’re always going to have things that show up in the game that you’ve never seen on tape. Your rules have to apply. And you’ve got to carry them out. Sometimes when you have young players and they may not have the background or the experience needed in those situations, it’s something that you have to develop. So, obviously, we always work to correct things in practice because we’ll see that play again as we move forward through the season, because offenses are going to copycat things that were good against you. You’ve just got to be ready for it. To understand how to leverage that, how to set it. Look forward to the opportunity to maybe hold it to a lower number next time.”
How did the defense shake that off? “That’s kind of the nature of our team and our defense in general. Play the next play. One of the musts I gave them in the game was that it needs to be a 60-minute next’s play mentality game. Meaning we make a great play, that’s great, we go play the next play. If we screw one up, they get something, hey, go play the next play. Because at the end of the day in a game like that, it’s about playing the next play and playing to your ability and playing with the effort and energy needed to be successful. We’ve kind of adopted that next play mentality. It kind of showed up in the game. Personally, I thought the biggest series in the game was when it was 14-7 and they returned the kick and they got the ball at like the plus-40 and we went three-and-out. To me that was the biggest series of the game because we stood our ground, got it three-and-out and was able to get the ball back. That to me is a testament to your character, your attitude, your belief in what we’re doing. We’ve just got to continue to work to improve the plays that maybe aren’t designed the way we need them to be designed so we can get where we need to go.”
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