Tulane is practicing at the Saints indoor facility from 2-4 today. I will be there for the last 30 minutes, but here is a Q&A I had with Jack Curtis yesterday at Media Day. I also talked to John Leglue, Corey Dublin, Charles Jones, Rod Teamer and Donnie Lewis and will eventually transcribe those interviews, too.
You are part of the only college football staff that has not lost a single coach in three years. How much does that help?
"It's big everywhere. Here's what I always feel like. You can have a defensive coordinator, and every year sometimes these coordinators are changing for whatever reason. Maybe they get a better job. Maybe they get fired. But it really hurts those kids. About the time you really learn what's going in that system and the terminology and everything, and then boom, it completely changes and you've got to learn it all over again. Older players can handle it a lot better than the younger ones because they can start figuring it out a little bit more, but it is definitely an advantage for us to have that continuity."
Third downs have been a nightmare for your defense the last two years, sometimes inexplicably because the same plays that are defended well on first and second downs move the chains on third down. How much have you focused on that, and is there anything you can put your finger on as a root cause?
"We are well aware of it and we are addressing it. We started third and long on the second day of practice, and that's far sooner than we had done it in the past. We are working extremely hard. We have played well on some early downs and feel comfortable. I don't know if I can't put my finger on one thing to fix. It's a number of things. We've got to do a better job of preparing for it and make sure we work it against competition, whether it's our offense or really training our scout team to get better at those things. We are dedicated and determined to put more emphasis on the third down. We have to because we're going to be a little bit different on defense. We're probably not as big. We're younger overall and maybe a little more athletic. We've got to be a little more opportunistic on defense. We'll have a few more third-down packages that can help us on third down. I thought we played a little bit better at the end of the year, but we have to do a better job there."
Losing Parry Nickerson was a blow, but you mentioned there is more overall speed on defense. How much can that help?
"Well, Parry was the reason we played pretty good sometimes, but they weren't throwing it upt to his side. They were always throwing it away from him. We've got a lot of youth. We've got 42 players on the defensive roster, and 23 of them are going to be freshmen, seven sophomores, six junior and six seniors. I'm not sure how many freshmen are going to be starting, but there's going to be a lot in backup and playing key roles and contributing a lot. It's putting it all together with how much they can handle."
How is the battle at cornerback shaping up?
"Even though Parry left us, we've got Jaylon Monroe, who's having an outstanding camp. He's kind of taking Parry's place. He's a great cover corner, and of course Donnie's a solid corner and will have some opportunities probably in the future to play. We have some younger guys. Willie Langham is playing well. Thakarius Keyes has had a great last two or three days. He's showing that he's ready to roll this year, so we're happy about that, and we've got some other younger corners. That's not the biggest worry. We've got some other issues we've got to address with some depth at certain positions, but I think we're going to be pretty solid at corner."
You struggled to stop the run last year and lost your best run-stopper in Sean Wilson. There is a lot of young talent on the defensive line. How much do those guys need to mature quickly, and how can the front get better as a whole?
"A big factor is how much more comfortable we are moving from that even front defense to an odd front defense and how much more we know. We studied the game. We kind of moved to this out of necessity (last year) just due to our personnel, and we're way ahead of where we were last year. I think we're going to see a much stingier defense on the earlier downs, more so than we were last year. That may be the biggest key. We need to be a little more multiple within the system. I felt we got real vanilla, and to be vanilla, you've got be a lot better than the people you are playing to beat them. We're going to battle everybody, so if we can give a few more different looks, we'll create some more havoc plays, negative plays, tackles for losses, that sort of thing."
The move of P.J. Hall to strong safety appeared to work perfectly in the spring. How did that help the defense?
"We've got a lot of confidence in P.J. He's a very intelligent player. He can play multiple positions. He mainly was a safety, but any time we had to have someone go in and play nickel, he played nickel. He actually can play corner. He's played every position in the secondary and can do it today. That gives him a big role, being a junior, that he can help these younger guys get lined up, and the other thing it will do is provide us some more depth. If we do have to move people around, he's very diverse."
It looks like Larry Bryant has moved ahead of Tirise Barge at nickelback. What is the competition like there?
"That is a 50-50 battle. Tirise worked it all in the spring, but I got all three of those guys (Barge, Bryant and Will Harper) and said there has not been a starter named and it's up (for grabs). That position is really 50-50. They have different body types but are similar in how aggressive and physical they can play. Larry's just a little bit bigger at 205 pounds whereas Tirise is 180, 185, but both are very explosive, good players and outstanding tacklers. I like what I'm seeing. We don't have a whole of experience at that position, but we've got some depth, so we are going to see how much they can handle. Larry's done a fantastic job. He is playing in the rush package, he's playing at nickel, he's played linebacker, so he's done a lot. We're expecting a big year out of him, a breakout year for Larry."
How much do you need Robert Kennedy and Cameron Sample to have big years?
"We're going to need it. Both of them are extremely athletic and fast. Rob had probably a better sophomore year than junior year because he tore his ACL in the spring and missed quite a few games. He bounced back a little bit at the end. He was cleared to go but he wasn't totally ready. He had a good spring and is doing some good things now. For us to be good, both of those guys have to play well for us."
Cam Sample says he has a photographic memory. Have you picked up on that, and how much does it help him?
"I didn't know he had a photographic memory. He may have, but I know he's the leader over there. He's going to have some responsibilities when we call our rushes. He can here what's going on and call a rush. We trust him well enough and he's smart enough that he can attack the protections of the offense on third down and long. He's a fantastic player and person. He's the total package. He's really got it."
What are Patrick Johnson's strengths?
"We've moved him to an outside linebacker position. He's coming off the edge. He had a real good spring and is doing real well now. He's 6-2, 255 to 260 pounds, so he brings at that outside linebacker position a bigger guy, and he's athletic enough to do some of the stuff when we ask him to drop. He's another one. That's probably one of our biggest concerns--that position--because we don't have a lot of experience behind him. Peter Woullard we're going to work there now, and we're going to play Carlos Hatcher and Keitha Jones, true freshmen. We've got a lot of inexperience. Patrick's our most experienced player, and he had 15 days of spring ball. It's a brand new position for all those guys."
What are your thoughts on the linebackers?
"Probably our biggest improvement. We've got some experience with Zach (Harris), and then Marvi Moody is ready to have an outstanding year. Lawrence Graham has had limited experience playing, but this is going to be his year to show us what he can do. He's going to be in the mix heavily, and then we've got KJ Vault and Quentin Brown, guys we feel like can back up, so we're actually in better shape at linebacker than what we've been in the past. That's going to help us."
You are part of the only college football staff that has not lost a single coach in three years. How much does that help?
"It's big everywhere. Here's what I always feel like. You can have a defensive coordinator, and every year sometimes these coordinators are changing for whatever reason. Maybe they get a better job. Maybe they get fired. But it really hurts those kids. About the time you really learn what's going in that system and the terminology and everything, and then boom, it completely changes and you've got to learn it all over again. Older players can handle it a lot better than the younger ones because they can start figuring it out a little bit more, but it is definitely an advantage for us to have that continuity."
Third downs have been a nightmare for your defense the last two years, sometimes inexplicably because the same plays that are defended well on first and second downs move the chains on third down. How much have you focused on that, and is there anything you can put your finger on as a root cause?
"We are well aware of it and we are addressing it. We started third and long on the second day of practice, and that's far sooner than we had done it in the past. We are working extremely hard. We have played well on some early downs and feel comfortable. I don't know if I can't put my finger on one thing to fix. It's a number of things. We've got to do a better job of preparing for it and make sure we work it against competition, whether it's our offense or really training our scout team to get better at those things. We are dedicated and determined to put more emphasis on the third down. We have to because we're going to be a little bit different on defense. We're probably not as big. We're younger overall and maybe a little more athletic. We've got to be a little more opportunistic on defense. We'll have a few more third-down packages that can help us on third down. I thought we played a little bit better at the end of the year, but we have to do a better job there."
Losing Parry Nickerson was a blow, but you mentioned there is more overall speed on defense. How much can that help?
"Well, Parry was the reason we played pretty good sometimes, but they weren't throwing it upt to his side. They were always throwing it away from him. We've got a lot of youth. We've got 42 players on the defensive roster, and 23 of them are going to be freshmen, seven sophomores, six junior and six seniors. I'm not sure how many freshmen are going to be starting, but there's going to be a lot in backup and playing key roles and contributing a lot. It's putting it all together with how much they can handle."
How is the battle at cornerback shaping up?
"Even though Parry left us, we've got Jaylon Monroe, who's having an outstanding camp. He's kind of taking Parry's place. He's a great cover corner, and of course Donnie's a solid corner and will have some opportunities probably in the future to play. We have some younger guys. Willie Langham is playing well. Thakarius Keyes has had a great last two or three days. He's showing that he's ready to roll this year, so we're happy about that, and we've got some other younger corners. That's not the biggest worry. We've got some other issues we've got to address with some depth at certain positions, but I think we're going to be pretty solid at corner."
You struggled to stop the run last year and lost your best run-stopper in Sean Wilson. There is a lot of young talent on the defensive line. How much do those guys need to mature quickly, and how can the front get better as a whole?
"A big factor is how much more comfortable we are moving from that even front defense to an odd front defense and how much more we know. We studied the game. We kind of moved to this out of necessity (last year) just due to our personnel, and we're way ahead of where we were last year. I think we're going to see a much stingier defense on the earlier downs, more so than we were last year. That may be the biggest key. We need to be a little more multiple within the system. I felt we got real vanilla, and to be vanilla, you've got be a lot better than the people you are playing to beat them. We're going to battle everybody, so if we can give a few more different looks, we'll create some more havoc plays, negative plays, tackles for losses, that sort of thing."
The move of P.J. Hall to strong safety appeared to work perfectly in the spring. How did that help the defense?
"We've got a lot of confidence in P.J. He's a very intelligent player. He can play multiple positions. He mainly was a safety, but any time we had to have someone go in and play nickel, he played nickel. He actually can play corner. He's played every position in the secondary and can do it today. That gives him a big role, being a junior, that he can help these younger guys get lined up, and the other thing it will do is provide us some more depth. If we do have to move people around, he's very diverse."
It looks like Larry Bryant has moved ahead of Tirise Barge at nickelback. What is the competition like there?
"That is a 50-50 battle. Tirise worked it all in the spring, but I got all three of those guys (Barge, Bryant and Will Harper) and said there has not been a starter named and it's up (for grabs). That position is really 50-50. They have different body types but are similar in how aggressive and physical they can play. Larry's just a little bit bigger at 205 pounds whereas Tirise is 180, 185, but both are very explosive, good players and outstanding tacklers. I like what I'm seeing. We don't have a whole of experience at that position, but we've got some depth, so we are going to see how much they can handle. Larry's done a fantastic job. He is playing in the rush package, he's playing at nickel, he's played linebacker, so he's done a lot. We're expecting a big year out of him, a breakout year for Larry."
How much do you need Robert Kennedy and Cameron Sample to have big years?
"We're going to need it. Both of them are extremely athletic and fast. Rob had probably a better sophomore year than junior year because he tore his ACL in the spring and missed quite a few games. He bounced back a little bit at the end. He was cleared to go but he wasn't totally ready. He had a good spring and is doing some good things now. For us to be good, both of those guys have to play well for us."
Cam Sample says he has a photographic memory. Have you picked up on that, and how much does it help him?
"I didn't know he had a photographic memory. He may have, but I know he's the leader over there. He's going to have some responsibilities when we call our rushes. He can here what's going on and call a rush. We trust him well enough and he's smart enough that he can attack the protections of the offense on third down and long. He's a fantastic player and person. He's the total package. He's really got it."
What are Patrick Johnson's strengths?
"We've moved him to an outside linebacker position. He's coming off the edge. He had a real good spring and is doing real well now. He's 6-2, 255 to 260 pounds, so he brings at that outside linebacker position a bigger guy, and he's athletic enough to do some of the stuff when we ask him to drop. He's another one. That's probably one of our biggest concerns--that position--because we don't have a lot of experience behind him. Peter Woullard we're going to work there now, and we're going to play Carlos Hatcher and Keitha Jones, true freshmen. We've got a lot of inexperience. Patrick's our most experienced player, and he had 15 days of spring ball. It's a brand new position for all those guys."
What are your thoughts on the linebackers?
"Probably our biggest improvement. We've got some experience with Zach (Harris), and then Marvi Moody is ready to have an outstanding year. Lawrence Graham has had limited experience playing, but this is going to be his year to show us what he can do. He's going to be in the mix heavily, and then we've got KJ Vault and Quentin Brown, guys we feel like can back up, so we're actually in better shape at linebacker than what we've been in the past. That's going to help us."
