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Iowa State University Athletics
Rhoads Talks Spring Football With the Media
03.30.2009 | Football
AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State head football coach Paul Rhoads met with the media Monday after the completion of the first week of spring football. Cyclones.com was there and a transcript of most of the press conference is below:
Coach Paul Rhoads Opening Statement:
“After nine weeks of the off-season program and four weeks of vigorous hands-on training by the coaches, we refer to as grass drills, it is good to be practicing football finally and even better to have the pads on the last couple of practices. We've got a lot to learn, and we continue to learn a lot about our players. We continue to learn about our football team and they continue to learn about us as coaches and to learn from us as a coaching staff. There is a lot to learn from a schematic standpoint and a philosophy stand point. The kids are very eager in that approach. They are taking to heart the one-day-at-a-time philosophy to learning and it is something we must do over the course of the 15 practices the NCAA gives us. In the first year of our program, 30 is almost a need. If (the NCAA) would offer that I would scoop it up.”
On the biggest challenge for the new staff and student-athletes:
“I always thought that in transition times for the kids like that, they have been told by the old staff that this is the way to do it. And a new staff comes in and makes changes and you convince 20-23 year olds that this is the right way to do it. There is a natural tendency to fight back. Overall, our kids have not been doing that and that is very positive. I asked them not to put a shield up and accept and admit that they do not have all the answers and there are changes that need to take place. They have been very eager and hungry to take that approach and be sponges and learn what we have to offer them.
“We had an average practice on Friday night in our first practice with pads, not unsuspected but it was average. We don't have time to have those kinds of days, we need to improve on Saturday, which we did. As I addressed that, their eyes, faces and body language all reassured me that they understand that emphatically. You don't go 0-8 and lose ten in a row and have all the answers, there is something else that has to be done. There is a better way for things to be done and the team is working to makes a major change for the better.”
Learning curve for the offense:
“I think the offense is actually ahead of the defense. That is probably not common. I think what is evident is that they were a slow-paced, no huddle team. They have experience with slow-pace, no huddle and they understand the schemes. Maybe it is different verbiage or taking a different angle here and there but they understand what we are doing offensively. We are spending as much time teaching how to play the game of football over how to run a particular offense.
“I think I sense excitement with the whole football team, not just the skill players. With the opportunities this offense creates, whether it be yardage, open-field opportunities or points all those different areas whether it be Austen Arnaud at quarterback, Alexander Robinson at running back or Marquis Hamilton at receiver. I think they know this offense will present them with great opportunities.”
On Quarterback Austen Arnaud:
“The intangible things that Austen brings from a leadership style and enthusiastic style is special. He is a very upbeat young man and to have that charisma at quarterback is crucial to succeeding. He understands football, and he is grasping what we're doing and applying it to the field. Kids turn and look to a guy like that for leadership and push and then the game experience he brings to this level is vital to our moving forward.”
On wide receivers:
“I think the prototype for a skill player at this level is all the same; the better they run, the better they fit. Not just speed but quickness and ability to change direction. It is needed everywhere and we've got to develop it to a completely different level. That being said, you are not going to line up with 13 receivers that all possess those qualities. They are going to have to grasp the offense so thoroughly that if they are behind a step, that they can still have separation and catch balls. It is designed to be a vey high-percentage throwing offense and that is what I have seen so far. We have size with certain receivers and we also have smaller guys that possess the quickness skills that we need. I don't know if I can go down the roster and name one guy that has all the qualities but you don't have to have that for the offense to be successful as you take advantage of the schemes and different skill levels of the players.
“I think the speed we possess in the receivers corps overall as a football team is average. The process of recruiting and making yourself a better football team begins with identifying, then evaluating and developing. These kids are ours so we are in the middle of the development stage. I think (Director of Strength and Conditioning) Yancey McKnight has done a fantastic job in the two months that he has had the football team in his hands. He will do more so over the next phase of our speed development and strength development so going into August, we will be a different football team than we are right now. I think that is when we will see the gains in quickness and body control more so than you will in speed. Speed has got to be recruited. The change of direction and body control is something we can add to and work hard on each day.”
On surprises so far:
“Individually, it is too early to tell and too early to comment. I will say that we were a very hungry football team. From when we started in January and February, we have grown from a wanting team to a needing team. I need to spend time watching tape, I need to spend 30 minutes getting treatment. When you get to (college age), you don't just change habits and ways of life overnight. They are very attentive, very eager to please. If we can have that and move forward, we will get much better as a football team.”
On positional weaknesses:
“I think defensively, we lag behind where we are offensively. The stats back that up. They know they gave up a lot of yards and points and did not tackle well. There is so much room for improvement and when they want to max out potential, they will get better. We have to get better at taking on blocks and defeating blocks. We have to get better at deciphering the run and pass. We have to get better at coverage and tackling in the open field. Defensively, we have to make huge gains.
On position battles:
“Every position is always open. The minute a player starts to get overconfident or rest at where they are at, somebody is always going to sneak up. Hopefully that is the mindset from a competitive standpoint. Jerome (Tiller) is an extremely bright and intelligent young man and he shows that everyday on the practice field and in the meeting room. Jerome is not taking a backseat and settling with being an understudy, he is competing each day to be the guy. All the qualities we look for at that position he has to bring. Jerome cannot try to be Austen, he has to be Jerome Tiller. He has to develop his throwing accuracy and throwing motion. He has to master the offense and take advantage of his athletic skills in the open field. He is working on competing with Austen.”
On wide receiver Darius Darks:
“You don't have the success he had as a freshman and not have the ability to grow more. He tweaked his hamstring the other night and was very irritable that he could not go the next day. We don't need to lose the next two weeks for an extra day. We will get him back on the field with everyone else.”
On how Coach Rhoads has adjusted personally:
“Everything is day to day. We sat down and had a fifteen-practice plan on where we wanted to progress to, when we wanted to scrimmage, where we wanted to work on what. Wherever it may be, you adjust the calendar based on the learning curve. Right now, we are adjusting every day. That allows me as a first-time head coach to move forward faster. I want to see us accomplish our long-term goals, but we must concentrate on what needs to be done today. We got to work early as a staff this morning, worrying about tomorrow's practice. We want to make a big step tomorrow by making a bunch of little steps in the process.”
On being a smarter football team:
“Anytime you take time away it is a bigger challenge. When I talk about that we have a lot to learn schematically and from a philosophy standpoint, smart is the first thing that comes to mind. If you are a smart football player, your mistakes are minimized. We are making mistakes right now by missing tackles and running poor routes. That is something we emphasize every day whether it be on the field or in the classroom or in the training room. Toughness comes from how you approach practice. We have the pads on for a reason, we are going to hit each other and do it using proper technique. We are not out there to pull flags, we are not going to tolerate it.
“If they don't understand something from a scheme standpoint as they are trying to learn something, that is acceptable. I have a short fuse right now for tackling mistakes. That is something that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later.”
On team chemistry:
“If you look back at successful football teams there is always chemistry and they always talk about it. I think we are arriving in that regard. The off-season program is designed to be hard and physically demanding and as you come through that, you build that team chemistry. We ended practice on Saturday with a drill that requires everyone to be perfect. All I asked for was for one perfect rep. The effort displayed was very pleasing to all of us. It came at the end of practice when we were all physically tired and mentally drained and they had a reserve in there that maybe they did not know they had and they did something as a team and helped us move forward. Every guy out there took a small step to do that rep right and the team took a long leap in what we are capable in accomplishing in 2009. Team chemistry is something we are coaching and striving to demonstrate.”
On this offense compared to the offense of last season:
“We didn't waste a lot of time seeing what was done. Our spread attack is going to involve both running and passing and one thing that I stress to them is that we are going to be physical. We can throw 70 percent of the time in one game and run 60 percent of the time in another game. If we throw 70 percent of the time, you are still going to see us running down field blocking and knocking people in the mouth. We want guys playing to the whistle.”
On offensive line adjustment:
“It has been a big adjustment from a standpoint of fundamentals. We want different things being asked from them in how they block. Using your hands over using your pads and those are nuts and bolts. Those are the hardest to change, making adjustments in plays are easy but technique is the toughest to learn.”
On defense:
“We have to become a very good tackling football team and you do that with numbers. The more you tackle with two or three guys, the better tackling football team you are. The more you get two or three guys to the football, the better the pursuit is. Everybody being in the right location allows you to slow down these high-octane offenses. It is not the objective to give up 36 points a game and be on the field for great lengths of time. When we have the chance to get off the field in three plays, we have to do that.”
On coaching in the SEC:
“The SEC is very simple on the defensive side of the ball, as there is not a lot of scheming being done. They are playing with athletic, speedy athletes. That does not mean we have to scheme the heck out of people, we have to play sound and smart. We have to tackle well.”
Players Mentioned
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