Transcript: Florida Gators Todd Grantham on Nick Saban, Alabama Weapons and Growing From LSU Loss
Florida Gators Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham met with local media on Tuesday night to discuss the loss at the hands of LSU, the lessons that can be learned from that, facing the high powered Alabama offense and how he owes his career to Nick Saban.
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WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET STRAIGHT ON DEFENSE FOR SATURDAY?
"Get ready to play. I mean, understand that we play in the toughest conference in the country and going through that schedule we earned the right to go to Atlanta and play. If we would have played that team back in mid-season and then beat Tennessee for the right to go to the championship, everybody would have been happy and excited. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way, but at the end of the day we are going to Atlanta to play for the SEC Championship and that's the goal at the end of the year, and that's where it is. You've got to understand that you've got to have attention to detail, you've got to have focus and you've got to be ready to play the next game, just like we tell our players to play the next play. So really it's about maintaining our focus, preparing and getting ready to go play and put on a good performance."
PLAYERS IN PAST WHO HAVE MADE INEXCUSABLE MISTAKES LIKE MARCO. HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT?
"Well I think that, one, you always try to use everything that happens -- good, bad or indifferent -- as a learning experience for your players so as they move forward, both in the field of play and society, they can be productive. You never want one play to define you, but what happens is, as you go through the game things can get magnified because you're getting close to the end. One play does not define a player, it doesn't define a person, it doesn't define a game. And there's a lot of plays that can change the outcome of a game, so that doesn't happen. But what happens is, as you move forward in a situation like that, it casts an image that certainly he's not proud of and he was disappointed in, but knowing the competitor he is and the kind of fire he has and his willingness to be a good player for us, it's basically, 'Come back and let's get back to work. I mean, move on.' That's the thing you've got to understand is we all have the ability to make choices, and when you make those choices, that's it. And we've just got to continue to move on and get ready to play the next play. He's helped us get to where we are right now, and we've got to have him play his best game to date. That's really the focus of our team and our defense, is continuing to move forward to play your best game come Saturday. And whatever's happened's happened, but you've got to take everything that you've experienced up until now to allow you to play your best game."
YOU'VE FACED REALLY GOOD OFFENSES, WHERE DOES THIS ONE FIT IN, WHY SO EXPLOSIVE AND SPECIAL?
"Yeah, I would fit this one in with LSU last year for sure. I think they're one of the most dynamic offenses that I've had the opportunity to face. I think there's a lot of things that make them very productive. They can win games a lot of different ways. They can win it running, they can win it throwing it, they can kind of take the air out of the game and shrink the game when they have a two-possession lead, they can get explosive plays. The thing that sticks out is, one, they have very talented players at every position. Those players are well-coached. They have a very sound scheme. And they have a head coach that is really going to make sure they really have an attention to detail and stay grounded, in the sense of no game is too big or too small, you kind of go through the season. So as you go through the season you have this calm about you that you continue to play the next play. You continue to play the next game, whether you won or lost. When you do that you have a tendency to continue to ascend and move forward with your play, and that's really what you see with these guys. If you watch from Week 1 until now, they continue to get better with their play. They've had to adjust relative to injuries, they've done that, and they've been able to get good players in because of injuries and continue to still roll. So they're a very dynamic offense in what they do and we know it's a challenge, so we understand that it's going to take all 11 guys on the field doing their job for us to have success."
Key to handling Bama and Saban mystique?
"I worked for him three years, and learned a lot from him, have the utmost respect for him. And a lot of the things we do from a fundamental and philosophical standpoint come from my times with him. I think the biggest thing is you got to play the game. You got to understand you have to prepare. You got to understand you have to have answers for things that could happen in the game, and what is your next step because as the game goes you're always going to have to work the game. What I mean is as you go through the first quarter, here's what they've done, here's what we've done, what's the next step? You kind of got to be ready for that. And you just got to keep playing the next play and you gotta understand, hey I got to get this to the fourth quarter, and then you have to make plays to win the game. It really comes down to playing every play to our utmost ability, get it to the fourth quarter and then you find a way to win the game."
What did you learn from LSU game that needs to be fixed by Saturday?
"We have to make sure as you go through the season you have to adjust relative to who's available. And that situation can come during the game, you know what I'm saying? For example, you might have one or two guys out because they've ... you know, you're into the 10th game of the season and you have one or two guys that are out prior to that. Now you have your players ready to play and something happens and you have to make sure you're ready for any situation to make sure you put the best 11 players on the field. That's the most important thing, being able to do that. I think the biggest is we got to understand when we play as a unit and we communicate and we do the things we need to do, we're where we need to be, that's the type of atmosphere we need to work towards and realize it takes all 11 guys to get there. We need to play as a team."
What has it meant to see Trey Dean return?
“Well, I think it’s a credit to him and his character, his work ethic, that in the world that we live in, a lot of people like to have instant things. Twitter is instant just like Edgar’s texting while we’re talking; that’s instant, right? They want information like now, right? Just like players want instant success. Guys come here, they’re ready to go start, they’re ready to go score touchdowns, they’re ready to get interceptions. What happens is you have to understand that’s there’s a lot of work and grind associated with having that success and it’s never easy and the path to get there is never the same, meaning that some people could have bumps in the road. Well, as you hit those bumps in the road, you have to have the mental and physical and toughness to continue to push forward to get where you need to be and understand, ‘I want to be a part of this team and I want to contribute. What do I have to do to be better?’ I think that’s the biggest thing with Trey. When we did the change, I mean, as we move forward, he was fine with doing it and then after a few days he was like, ‘I’m all in on trying to do this.’ Sometimes guys could be like, ‘Well, I’d rather play my other position because I knew it better’ and all this stuff. To his credit, he continued to grind, work, learn and put himself in a position. All you’re trying to do as a player is you want to put yourself in a position that when my opportunity comes up that I can showcase my talents and what I can do. As you do that on a consistent basis, it leads to more plays, more reps and more production. That’s really a credit to Trey and his work ethic and his character to stay the course and be ready when we needed him last week.”
Brad Stewart line up at safety vs LSU? Can we see that again?
“Absolutely, you can see him there. You’ve got to realize when Shawn (Davis) and Rashad (Torrence) weren’t available last week that really depleted that unit and Brad had won a lot of games for us and played there and gave us reps and we felt good about Tra’Vez (Johnson) as far as what he had done at nickel. Just having the ability to play Brad at either/or gave us flexibility to get some depth. Not only do you have defensive plays, you have special teams plays and you have to be able to see all right, if this guys is playing 40 plays on defense and he plays 25 plays on special team, that’s 65 plays. Well, how am I going to get the numbers to where guys can be functional and guys can be able to play at their best. Because of all that, the situation we were in, we felt that putting Brad back at safety gave us the ability to have a little more flexibility as far as who could play safety, who could play nickel.”
Could you be the closest to 100% healthy Saturday as you have been all year?
“I think that, one, anytime you can get all the guys that are available it does give you depth and it’s fun. Credit to the players that we got, they’ve always adjusted. Guys have had to move on a Monday to another position relative to who’s available that week and maybe have to move back or to another one the following week. At the end of the day you want to get players in positions to make plays and get your best 11 out there. The credit for the season and for us to be able to get through the grind of a 10-game SEC schedule really goes back to the players willingness to adapt and learn. We’re looking forward to having as many healthy guys as we can come Saturday.”
Will this be the healthiest you’ve been all year?
“I think as we move forward I would hope that we would be able to say yes to that but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Does going up against Kyle Trask in practice help prepare you for Mac Jones?
“I think first, anytime you can face a talented quarterback it allows you to understand when he throws the ball to this spot, why? You can look at the looks and see when you look like this, relative to the formation, here’s where the ball goes. That allows guys to see it and experience it. I think guys learn best when they can be a part of the experience and then see it on tape. By being able to go against Kyle and understanding his intelligence as far as where to go with the ball, that certainly helps us understand looks and what’s important. I think that will allow us to carry that over into the game and understand that we want to try to find ways to be difficult to run on and ways to slow down their offense as far as the quarterback being productive. At the end of the day that’s what it gets down to. Every week you kind of get to it different ways but really it gets down to your ability to stop the run and how do you make the quarterback play bad? That’s what it really gets down to every week. You get to it different ways. That’ll be the focus this week.”
Do you have to be more creative when facing a balanced offense like Bama?
“I think that you have to do what your players can do from an execution standpoint. You also want to have the ability to give them tools within their toolbox to allow them to be able to give some different looks, some changes and do those kind of things to maybe give a little hesitation to the quarterback. I think it’s really a balance like anything. I think it’s a balance of your ability to make sure you have enough weapons and things within your toolbox to allow you to go out and perform at a high level and find ways to get stops.”
Smith can hurt you in multiple ways?
"Yeah, absolutely. When you look at him, No. 1 is he's really fast. He's got excellent hands. His catch radius as far as when the ball is thrown, I mean, he's going to make the play if it's near him. He gets the play and he makes it. So the combination of his speed, his competitive nature, his intelligence to understand stems and stacks and how to play those things and his releases. Combine all of that with being able to get an active ball, No. 1, from an elite quarterback and his ability to go catch balls in tight windows and come back to the ball. That's why he's an elite player."
You called a double CB blitz and it failed miserably?
"I think that what happens is as you move through the season maybe guys have to move here and there. You don't get as many reps at things as you normally do. For example, as you go through the season and you go back to August, you have training camp and then you have the season at a position, you kind of have a feel. Because as things come up, you'll never cover everything that may come up in a game in one week. You kind of have a carry over effect. So as guys move around and adjust, sometimes that experience isn't there. And certainly, those plays weren't the way they were designed. And that's why you make corrections and move forward and understand that it's all about getting better and working to improve so that we can win the next game."
Why did you leave Saban?
"Actually I went to pro football. When I went there (Michigan State), it was probably the biggest adjustment I had to make from a coaching standpoint. Just from terminology, philosophy, how he recruited, all of that relative to coming from Virginia Tech. So that really was a big growth in my career and when I went there I always wanted to get into pro football and try it out and see what it was like. So being around him, I was introduced to Bill Polian, so that's what led to the move to Indianapolis. And honestly when I moved there, the adjustment to going from Nick to the Colts was much easier than when I went from Virginia Tech to Michigan State. Meaning that I was able to get a lot of information and adjustments and ways to do things that you could carry over because of his detail and the way he prepares. I stay in touch with him and I have a lot of respect for what he's done. I always think the world of him because he gave me an opportunity."
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