I talked with Fritz for a little less than 20 minutes today in his office. I elected not to ask about the defensive scheme because they don't like to talk about that stuff, but I tried to hit on the other major issues. Here's what he had to say:
What do you feel are the most important things you need to accomplish this spring?
"That's a hard question to answer because there are a lot of areas that we need to improve on. We want a bunch of guys that are playing for us to show that improvement you get between year 1 and year 2, year 2 and year 3, year 3 and year 4. Obviously for us, working with these guys it's year 2 to year 3, but we don't have many guys that were on the roster before I got here. I think it's 20. But taking Jonathan Banks as a example, last year was his first year as a starting Division I quarterback. He made great strides during the course of the season. We want to build from where he ended instead of starting over again. His goal and our goal for him should be to be a top-tier quarterback in the AAC. I don't see why there should be any reason why he can't do that. There's a lot of things we have to work on with him, the same thing with all of our guys.
"We got better as the season progressed throwing the football. We're going to need to do that. There are a few holes we have to fill, a few spots where some new guys will be playing for us. We ran a different style of defense last year that we worked on during the course of the season. We need to build on that.
"For special teams, we use a statistical data called Football Outsiders, and we got a lot better, but we have to get better in the return game. We are pretty good. We were one of the leaders in the country in kickoff coverage. We did a pretty good job in punt coverage, but we have to punt the ball further. We have to get better with returning punts, returning kicks, getting shorter fields for the offense."
How do you work on that in practice?
"What we'll do is we'll really break it down and get guys in new spots, do more drill work and then we'll also do a lot of good on good in spring ball and preseason camp in the fall where we'll have maybe two reps with the 1 kickoff versus a kickoff return team. Then we'll go two more reps and maybe some of the guys that were on kickoff will flip over to kickoff return and vice versa so we're getting more body-on-body stuff and good players on good players where the kickoff team isn't quite sure what the return is not quite sure what the kickoff team is doing. It simulates more of a real game activiity."
Junior Diaz decided to transfer for his final year as a grad student. You still have a lot of returning players on the offensive line, but what is the plan to replace him?
"Obviously it all starts with the snap. That makes it a lot easier when the quarterback gets all of the snaps in a good location. Hunter Knighton started a game for us last year. Dominique Briggs was a center in junior college. Leglue has started nine games (at center) I believe. We've worked with Corey Dublin there. Some of the incoming freshmen have snapped in games, so we've got quite a few guys who've done it."
You have four freshmen for spring practice --Davon Wright and Jeffery Johnson at defensive tackle, Christian Daniels at quarterback and Chris Joyce at cornerback. Particularly with the tackles, how important was it to get them in the weight room and going through spring ball considering the need there?
"Big time. Those two guys are only 17 years old and they are two of our stronger guys. You're allowed to do so much in the year prior to spring football, just provided you don't have a football op there, so they've done a lot of the drill stuff and they'll start spring ball with a lot of experience and understanding of what we're trying to do. I'm hoping that those guys are indicative of the class we have coming in. Any time you have a guy that graduates early, that generally means he's a little more mature than some other guys. These guys are mature and they take care of their business and they all have great character."
Jeffery Johnson had gained weight because of his health concern last year, but I've heard he's in good shape now. Is that accurate?
"He's in great shape. He's a big guy, but the thing about him, for a big guy he's got stamina. He's able to do the drills that we're doing. Sometimes those big guys slow down and start sucking wind in a couple of minutes. He can go. We did mat drills and he was going as fast at the end as he was at the beginning."
Is Bailey Granier here for the spring?
"No."
Has anybody else departed?
"I think we're one below." (I did not ask a follow-up because Fritz does not like giving out that information. He would have given the names if he were comfortable doing it on the initial question. The spring roster will give us the answer, but if he is right, there are three players gone I do not know about).
Rae Juan Marbley is another big loss. What is the plan to replace him?
"I think we're going to have really good competition there. We have some really good athletes. Lawrence Graham has played quite a bit for us and showed flashes that he can be a very good player at this level. He can really run. Zach Harris is back. Marvin Moody we think has the ability to be an excellent player. He's got the size, the speed and the length we're looking for. K.J. Vault got redshirted last year, got injured during the year. but he's got great speed and quickness. As those guy evolve, and then we signed a couple of really good guys--Keitha Jones and also La'Dedrick Jackson."
Is there a chance Harris will move to the middle?
"You know we play more of a 4-2. The thing that Rae Juan did a great job of was setting the defense. He was very vocal and a real smart player. We've got to get guys to be able to do that. The year before everybody relied on Nico (Marley). Last year it was Rae Juan. We gotta have five or six guys that can do that."
With no experienced quarterback behind Banks, can you afford to have him run as much as he did last year? It's a big part of your offense.
"One of the great things about Banks is he does a lot of great things for us. He has a lot of creativity when plays aren't good. He's very creative in extending plays, throwing the ball down the field and making people miss. He's also a very good runner. The area he has to improve on from year 1 to year 2, and he and I had a good visit about all these things, is we talked to him about first down, touchdown, get down when there's not yards to be gained. It's not natural for him because he's an aggressive guy. He's got to slide. He's got to get out of bounds.
"But you look at the offenses that are playing our style, shoot, Lamar Jackson had 232 carries last year. Jonathan had 148, so almost 90 more carries. Quinton Flowers of South Florida, 196. Deshaun Watson two years ago, 207. J.T. Barrett, 165. Dak Prescott, 160 carries. Jalen Hurts, 154. But you have to be smart with it as well. He's going to get better in that regard, and then also throwing the football. The last three or four games he got a lot better. and it was not just him, it was the offensive line protecting and the receivers doing a really nice job the last few games. We got into a lot of that RPO world. They are quick decisions now (snaps his fingers), and Jonathan got better as the season progressed."
What do you feel are the most important things you need to accomplish this spring?
"That's a hard question to answer because there are a lot of areas that we need to improve on. We want a bunch of guys that are playing for us to show that improvement you get between year 1 and year 2, year 2 and year 3, year 3 and year 4. Obviously for us, working with these guys it's year 2 to year 3, but we don't have many guys that were on the roster before I got here. I think it's 20. But taking Jonathan Banks as a example, last year was his first year as a starting Division I quarterback. He made great strides during the course of the season. We want to build from where he ended instead of starting over again. His goal and our goal for him should be to be a top-tier quarterback in the AAC. I don't see why there should be any reason why he can't do that. There's a lot of things we have to work on with him, the same thing with all of our guys.
"We got better as the season progressed throwing the football. We're going to need to do that. There are a few holes we have to fill, a few spots where some new guys will be playing for us. We ran a different style of defense last year that we worked on during the course of the season. We need to build on that.
"For special teams, we use a statistical data called Football Outsiders, and we got a lot better, but we have to get better in the return game. We are pretty good. We were one of the leaders in the country in kickoff coverage. We did a pretty good job in punt coverage, but we have to punt the ball further. We have to get better with returning punts, returning kicks, getting shorter fields for the offense."
How do you work on that in practice?
"What we'll do is we'll really break it down and get guys in new spots, do more drill work and then we'll also do a lot of good on good in spring ball and preseason camp in the fall where we'll have maybe two reps with the 1 kickoff versus a kickoff return team. Then we'll go two more reps and maybe some of the guys that were on kickoff will flip over to kickoff return and vice versa so we're getting more body-on-body stuff and good players on good players where the kickoff team isn't quite sure what the return is not quite sure what the kickoff team is doing. It simulates more of a real game activiity."
Junior Diaz decided to transfer for his final year as a grad student. You still have a lot of returning players on the offensive line, but what is the plan to replace him?
"Obviously it all starts with the snap. That makes it a lot easier when the quarterback gets all of the snaps in a good location. Hunter Knighton started a game for us last year. Dominique Briggs was a center in junior college. Leglue has started nine games (at center) I believe. We've worked with Corey Dublin there. Some of the incoming freshmen have snapped in games, so we've got quite a few guys who've done it."
You have four freshmen for spring practice --Davon Wright and Jeffery Johnson at defensive tackle, Christian Daniels at quarterback and Chris Joyce at cornerback. Particularly with the tackles, how important was it to get them in the weight room and going through spring ball considering the need there?
"Big time. Those two guys are only 17 years old and they are two of our stronger guys. You're allowed to do so much in the year prior to spring football, just provided you don't have a football op there, so they've done a lot of the drill stuff and they'll start spring ball with a lot of experience and understanding of what we're trying to do. I'm hoping that those guys are indicative of the class we have coming in. Any time you have a guy that graduates early, that generally means he's a little more mature than some other guys. These guys are mature and they take care of their business and they all have great character."
Jeffery Johnson had gained weight because of his health concern last year, but I've heard he's in good shape now. Is that accurate?
"He's in great shape. He's a big guy, but the thing about him, for a big guy he's got stamina. He's able to do the drills that we're doing. Sometimes those big guys slow down and start sucking wind in a couple of minutes. He can go. We did mat drills and he was going as fast at the end as he was at the beginning."
Is Bailey Granier here for the spring?
"No."
Has anybody else departed?
"I think we're one below." (I did not ask a follow-up because Fritz does not like giving out that information. He would have given the names if he were comfortable doing it on the initial question. The spring roster will give us the answer, but if he is right, there are three players gone I do not know about).
Rae Juan Marbley is another big loss. What is the plan to replace him?
"I think we're going to have really good competition there. We have some really good athletes. Lawrence Graham has played quite a bit for us and showed flashes that he can be a very good player at this level. He can really run. Zach Harris is back. Marvin Moody we think has the ability to be an excellent player. He's got the size, the speed and the length we're looking for. K.J. Vault got redshirted last year, got injured during the year. but he's got great speed and quickness. As those guy evolve, and then we signed a couple of really good guys--Keitha Jones and also La'Dedrick Jackson."
Is there a chance Harris will move to the middle?
"You know we play more of a 4-2. The thing that Rae Juan did a great job of was setting the defense. He was very vocal and a real smart player. We've got to get guys to be able to do that. The year before everybody relied on Nico (Marley). Last year it was Rae Juan. We gotta have five or six guys that can do that."
With no experienced quarterback behind Banks, can you afford to have him run as much as he did last year? It's a big part of your offense.
"One of the great things about Banks is he does a lot of great things for us. He has a lot of creativity when plays aren't good. He's very creative in extending plays, throwing the ball down the field and making people miss. He's also a very good runner. The area he has to improve on from year 1 to year 2, and he and I had a good visit about all these things, is we talked to him about first down, touchdown, get down when there's not yards to be gained. It's not natural for him because he's an aggressive guy. He's got to slide. He's got to get out of bounds.
"But you look at the offenses that are playing our style, shoot, Lamar Jackson had 232 carries last year. Jonathan had 148, so almost 90 more carries. Quinton Flowers of South Florida, 196. Deshaun Watson two years ago, 207. J.T. Barrett, 165. Dak Prescott, 160 carries. Jalen Hurts, 154. But you have to be smart with it as well. He's going to get better in that regard, and then also throwing the football. The last three or four games he got a lot better. and it was not just him, it was the offensive line protecting and the receivers doing a really nice job the last few games. We got into a lot of that RPO world. They are quick decisions now (snaps his fingers), and Jonathan got better as the season progressed."
