Transcript: Todd Grantham on Understanding Florida Gators Defense, Freshmen and Injuries
Florida Gators Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham met with local media on Tuesday. He went over preparing defense for the No. 6 Gators, explaining his scheme for fans and what he's seen from freshmen thus far.
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HOW WOULD YOU DEFEND SHORTER'S MOM?
"Yeah, I heard she can throw the ball, huh? What is it 100 passes or something like that? I guess you'd have to back 'em up, don't get it thrown over your head. Not really sure."
HOW DO YOU ADDRESS DEFENSE PLAYING BETTER BUT STILL INSTANCES WHERE IT DIDN'T?
"I think a couple things. When you go back and look at the game, before we started subbing freely and we were playing our guys, there was really 10 possessions in the game. There was a two-minute before the half where we're playing not to give up any kind of score. They get two plays and we're out of the half, so we really win that situation. Then you end up with nine other possessions in the game. And when you go back and look at those possessions there was three three-and-outs and two one-first-downs-and-outs. So that means in five possessions they had two first downs, which is pretty good. The issue is when you give up an explosive play, what it does is it shows you the value of everybody doing their job, meaning you need all 11 guys to be on the same page or in the right gap or doing their job, because if you have 10 guys going one way and another guy going another way you can create a seam. So when you kind of look at it that way, to me, it really showed the value of every play, every guy doing their job and their assignment to the best of their ability and always playing with effort and energy. And when you do that, you end up having success. So the good thing is during the course of the game, the plays that were explosive plays actually showed up in the game again, because obviously people are going to repeat those plays and see if you fixed it, and both of the plays that were explosive plays -- well, all three of them actually -- ended up being either negative-yardage plays or no gain plays. So therefore it's something that is obviously correctable, it gets down to consistency and making sure you do it right all the time. So the biggest thing with me is continue to play. Understand the importance of being exact in what you do. You've always got to play with effort and energy and you've just got to be consistent in your performance. So it's really a shame because when you look at the way they were playing defensively with the bend, don't break, kind of hope you screw it up, they had a lot of what I call double-digit drives in the game. Our kind of philosophy on defense was we want to get three-and-outs and put them back on the field. Because whether you score or not, if you're out there for 10, 12 plays on defense and all the sudden we can get a three-and-out or five-to-five-plays-and-out and you come back through the course of the game that’s going to take a toll on you. So that was kind of the philosophy that we had going into it, and for the most part it was that way. I think when you face a team that’s up tempo like that and they can get into a rhythm, you can have series like we had. That’s why it’s important to stop them as soon as you can. We go back to everything as far as, hey, this is what we have to do to be better this week. It’s always about continuing ot move this way through the season, and I think our guys have done that. We just need to work to be consistent in the plays that kind of bit us last Saturday.”
Rashad said critical to clean up as season goes on? Bama could be waiting?
“I think he and everybody needs to worry about playing Vanderbilt.”
He didn’t say that, I did …
“I gotcha. I’m just saying it’s really about playing the next game. As you go through the game and the season it’s about getting better each week, at this time of year. And it’s about your ability to improve on the things that fundamentally you weren’t good at the week before so that you can continue to be the kind of defense that we need to be to get where we want to go.”
Leading league in sacks, TFLs, good to see, especially with guys back?
“I think systematically we’re always going to be high in TFLs and sacks. I mean, that goes back if you just look at the record and the things that we’ve had. I think a lot of the credit goes to the players, to understanding their fits, understanding we can add on - meaning as they add blockers we can add guys to the rush. I think our guys up front have done a good job at continuing to develop themselves technique-wise, understanding the matchups, hey, this guy is a little bit vulnerable to this kind of move or whatever, and having a game plan in the pass rush. We always talk to our guys, what’s your plan in the rush? How’s the guy rushing you? Well, if he’s doing these things, then these are the things I need to do. So we kind of work on that and just continue to develop ourselves and always working to improve. I think the one thing that it does show is when you’re high in sacks like that, cause every sack is not going to be easy, I think it does show your effort. Because a lot of times sacks can be an effort play, where you kind of continue to come, you have good coverage in the back end and you get it off of a hug or get it off a second-effort rush. I think we have had some of those.”
Handling those three one-play scoring drives in last two games?
“I think the third-down thing, really, the credit goes to the players executing relative to the sticks and the possessions and how much down and distance is needed. I think they’ve done a good job of preparing that. As far as an explosive play, I think it goes back to what I said about the value of all 11 guys on the field being on the same page and doing their job because it only takes one person to not be exact and you create a seam, whether it’s in the run fit, whether it’s in the coverage as far as leverage, whether it’s my responsibility and who I was supposed to take. One of those things can create a seam and then when you do that you have to find a way to finish and I think that’s the biggest thing we have to work on as far as making sure we’re all doing our job and we continue to do that on a consistent basis.”
Six games in, are the freshmen contributing the way you thought they would given COVID?
“Yeah, I think some of them have been forced in maybe a little bit sooner than others, meaning like Rashad, for example, had to play earlier in the year. But for the most part, I think Gervon Dexter has continued to get some quality snaps and we’re going to need him to play or continue to play and improve for us to be the kind of team we want to be. I think, as a general rule, when you look at the young guys that have played, they all have played meaningful snaps. You can see their confidence in the way they communicate on the field. I think that’s the biggest thing that I notice when I watch guys on the practice field is: Are they a talking defense, are they talking about here’s what’s coming, what’s the adjustments and those kinds of things? When you get a lot of verbiage pre-snap from guys that tells me they kind of know what they’re doing and they’re confident in their abilities. That’s the biggest thing I’ve seen from those guys and I think those guys are going to be really good players for us the rest of the year and in the future.”
From one to 10, how much do you think the average fan understands what you’re trying to accomplish on defense?
“How much does the average fan…”
Understanding you attacking the quarterback, trying to knock him out?
“I would say probably a middle-round grade of five or so from the standpoint of… it’s more than just sacking the quarterback. It’s understanding, for example, when you watch Feleipe last week, there’s a lot of times his first read wasn’t there and he held the ball and the coverage really dictated the sack, from that standpoint. You obviously have to have pressure to get after the quarterback. You also want to find ways that you can make the pre-snap look look like one thing, yet when the ball’s snapped, it goes to something else to make him have a choice: either I hold the ball or take a hit or throw the ball where I shouldn’t. When you get that, that’s when you start getting sacks and turnovers and things like that. For example, in the Georgia game at the end, when you had those turnovers, that was a little bit of a product of that kind of thing. So, I think that’s the biggest thing. It’s not always about the sacks, it’s about how can I affect this guy’s mentality, how can I affect this guy’s decision-making skills throughout the entire game. And it’s got to come early with a few calls to rush and those kind of things.”
Safe to say it’s high risk, high reward?
“Not really. I think that we’re pretty calculated in what we do. We understand that we have to play a certain way. Just because we’re bringing guys doesn’t mean we’re not in safe zone defense. As far as, I think it’s calculated and there is an understanding of how you have to play, but as for high risk, I really don’t think there’s high risk in it because we’re going to work to keep the deep balls to a minimum.”
Surprised your cornerbacks haven’t played to where we thought they may be going into the season?
“When you look at the guys. For example, I told Marco this the other day, I thought his best play of the year was on the third-and-two when the tight end came into the flat and he stuck him and kept that from being a first down. I thought that was the best play of the game. That was the best play that I’ve seen from him from a standpoint of relentless effort, strain, a guy that’s bigger than me catching the ball, he’s got a head start and I come up and stop him before he gets that. I think that’s a credit to him and the way he’s worked. The thing that happens with you guys and a lot of people is when you watch the game, those guys are on islands. So it's obviously easy to see when things happen. Whereas, there could be just as many things happening inside but they get covered up because of the amount of people around. So those guys are on an island and they can get isolated and easily viewed. So therefore when they get viewed, they get an opinion of that play from people. I think you gotta have thick skin to play that position. And I think that when you look, the plays that they've given up at times ... You know, people in this league are always going to try to attack the things that hurt you, so you're going to see those plays throughout the rest of the year. And those guys have done a good job of working hard to improve themselves and they've ended up making some plays that we've needed them to as we have continued to improve throughout the last few games."
Jeremiah Moon and James Houston being out?
"You never use that as an excuse. You always say next man up mentality because that's the way you have to play. But I think any time you lose guys that have played quality snaps for you it hurts you from a depth standpoint, it hurts you from the ability to maybe rotate a little bit more freely and do those kind of things. So obviously we look forward to those guys playing for us and being able to have a little more depth out there."
Have to keep Moon's head up?
"He was playing really well. He's going to play well for us as we move forward throughout the season and he's just gotta continue to get himself ready to play. And when that time comes, we're going to use him just like we used him before."
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