[Fuller/MGoBlog]
“What’s happening today? Anything good? Who’s got a good question?”
/Siri goes off on someone’s phone; “I’m not sure what you said there.”
“Obviously Siri does not have a good question.”
MGoQuestion: You guys threw a fullback wheel route to Sione Houma, and it looked like it had some similar elements to the one Michigan State ran against you earlier this year. How often do you guys look at something an opponent ran, take similar elements, tweak it, and put it in the playbook?
“Well, I think that you are constantly looking at what other teams do. You’re looking at what defenses you’re going to see and how they compare to the defense that either you play or other teams play. Sometimes there’s just times where you’re gonna go look and you’re gonna say, ‘Hey, are they in this coverage during this time?’ or ‘Is this a team that runs similar type looks?’ Ball plays are stolen all the time from everybody and everywhere.
“You’ll see very often you can turn on plenty of games and say, ‘Boy, didn’t they just run this?’ or ‘Didn’t Michigan just run that?’ or ‘Didn’t Seattle just run that?’ or whoever it might be. It’s just constantly- you’re always looking and watching film and when good ideas or things that look like we could use, you always try to use them.”
Is Jake [Rudock] getting more freedom from you guys to make decisions in terms of plays than he had earlier in the year?
“No, I think he’s really just getting more aware of the entire system rather than half of it or three-quarters of it, so the more he’s aware of what we’re trying to do, the more he can get to certain guys faster or maybe where he can get rid of the ball quicker. He can hold the ball longer knowing that something’s picked up where maybe early on in the season he might have thought the protection scheme might not have known that it was picked up, so checked it down quick.
“There’s, I think, more just knowledge base, and as knowledge base grows you become more comfortable, and when you become more comfortable maybe it feels like you’re getting to different things but you’re really just going through and maybe early in your career as a rookie quarterback or first year in our system quarterback you can go 1-2-checkdown. Now maybe he feels good enough to 1-2-3-checkdown or 1-2-3-4-checkdown. I think you see it in the NFL with rookies to their second year. I think you [also] see it with guys throughout the season.”
Jim credited you with the screen game. Can you talk about how that’s coming along and how pleased you are with it?
“Everybody gets credit for that. It’s really- the whole screen game, I believe that you can get a lot of yards in the screen game, and if everybody is on the same page with it we can get different ways of doing it, different formations, different guys catching screens. I think you go get some gimmee yards at times, but then there’s also times when screens are called and they don’t look good [and] it’s just a ball thrown right at the dirt, so you gotta be careful about that with screens. But, nah, I mean, I know he said that but it’s everybody has everything to do with our screen game and it’s just one of those deals that we ran a lot of them at different places where I’ve been and have really enjoyed the different aspects of it. You know, you can be real creative in the screen game. It’s not always just a straight drop-back deal.”
[After THE JUMP: Jake Rudock might be 53 years old, no one really knows]
Does hitting a few of those early on help Jake get into a rhythm? It looked like it helped him out against last week kind of get into a rhythm. Was that part of the gameplan?
“Yeah, I think he hit a couple of screens four or five weeks ago, also. Northwestern game, maybe? Maryland game! Maryland game is where we hit a couple. But no, I think obviously it’s a completion that can turn into an explosive play without having to sit and wait, although as you guys watch screens there’s five guys running in your face so you’ve got to be cautious with that as well.
“I think really they’re used at times when maybe it was a third and long, the first one that we hit on, and another one was a different D&D [down and distance]. You can just kind of use them sporadically and when they hit they’re good, and when they don’t hit no one really talks about them; it’s just another incompletion.”
Can you talk about Peppers’ value as a decoy as well as when you put the ball in his hands?
“Well, he’s just got great value, period. So, he’s a great football player and he’s a guy who can continue to play all sorts of different things for us, whether he’s outside, whether he’s inside, whether he’s playing- he’s probably done what, he’s played running back, he’s played wide receiver, and he’s taken a snap, so he has great value there for us and he’s just another good football player, a skilled guy who can go out there and that you can run your offense with.”
Some of the defensive players were talking about John O’Korn and his ability to mimic the Indiana offense. You probably have a better perspective of what he’s done this year. What have you seen out of him in the fall?
“Really, they probably have a better perspective than I do because I don’t really watch a lot of their practice. We split field a lot and he’s out there running the scout team for the opponent’s offense. I did see some stuff a little bit more recently and he looks like he’s sharp.
“I do know that in the meeting room he’s very engaged. He works very hard at it. He’s got a talented arm, and kind of the things that we saw when he was at St. Thomas and I was at Miami, I remember him then, and then the couple years of film we saw when he was at Houston. He’s got a gifted arm, he’s a good athlete, and it means a lot to him. I think those are probably some of the things the defensive guys have noticed as well.”
What has Jehu Chesson meant to this offense as a blocker and a receiver?
“Hoo, a lot. He has made huge strides in regards to his blocking first, and then his pass receiving has now kind of equaled to that. Really, early on in the season, after week one, week two, three, he really accepted the challenge of becoming a better blocker and has now taken that whole thing to a whole new level and we love it. And now Amara has taken that to the level of Jehu in terms of the blocking, so we’re hoping that becomes contagious in our room, that everybody recognizes the importance of blocking.
“Certainly those two guys have, but Jehu has great speed, he’s long, he’s tall, he’s got great hands. He’s made some really big catches for us over the course of the last two or three weeks now, and I hope he continues to grow and then as we’re watching him over the next whatever it is, 17-18 games this year and next, I think we’ll continue to see huge growth from him and from Amara both.”
How much influence has Jake had just on the quarterback position, period? You mentioned O’Korn, I know Wilton Speight’s made some leaps, but how big a role has Jake played?
“I think he’s a great leader. One of the things when we brought him here was bringing his maturity in. Two-year starter in the Big Ten so now a three-year starter in the Big Ten. He’s played a lot of these teams, he’s played in a lot of these games, he’s played in a lot of these stadiums, and he kind of brings a calming factor. As you guys know when you talk to him, he’s very rarely different personality-wise. He’s kind of the same guy. He’s very mature, very bright, and I think that guys recognize that and the guys in the meeting room, whether it be Wilton, who had to go into a game and Jake had to calm him down maybe after the first couple series and talk to him a little bit, or whether it be John O’Korn, who he lives with.
“They study with each other, they test one another. You know, you can’t play this game if you only look at it within the confines of these walls. It’s an opportunity for them to go out and John’s growth occurs because of the fact that he’s constantly testing Jake. It’s like a teacher-student type deal. He’s learning from it, and they’re continuing to switch responsibilities there. I think all the room recognizes his stability and also his confidence.”
Do the others look at Jake as- I don’t want to say as an elder- as experienced?
“Oh yeah, they look at him like an elder. We laugh about it, because Jake, he handles himself above his years. You definitely get confused of a 33-year-old with a 23-year-old with him, and they all like to kid him. Maybe a 53-year-old and a 23-year-old. He’s- he just does things right, you know? I mean, academically the guy does things right; he wants to go to med school. He studies, he’s prepared, he takes great notes, and I really believe that all of those guys that get to see that, it benefits you. It totally benefits you.
“It’s like when Andrew Luck became a rookie and Matt Hasselbeck was the backup. You’ve got a guy who’s a 16-year NFL veteran that’s your backup. When Blake Bortles was drafted, Chad Henne was in his eighth year or whatever it might have been. You learn from guys that have experience, and I think that’s one of things that’s occurred.”
Any examples of him acting like a 33-year-old or 53-year-old that stand out to you?
“No, we just always just mess around because really, he comes into the room and he just…he just does everything right. He doesn’t come in joking, he doesn’t come in- he’s not a storyteller. He just comes in and he’s very professional at everything he does, and, you know, they’re a bunch of college kids and he’s very professional in the way he handles himself, and all the credit to him for that.”
From your years of working with guys, is that your preferred kind of demeanor and personality?
“I think you’re always looking for someone that understands the seriousness of the position and the impact that every decision that you make as a quarterback affects your team. It affects your team, and it affects many people beyond your team. So yeah, I definitely prefer people who understand the importance of the position and take it to a level of maturity and take it to a level of impacting others, and he does a great job of that.”
There have been successful quarterbacks who have been more rah-rah, in your face kind of guys-
“Sure. Not to say you can’t be both. You can be in someone’s face but still be mature and handle it, but more in terms of I think you want the guys that are serious about being serious, and that’s what he is.”
