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Coordinators David Gibbs and Eric Morris spoke with media at Monday's press conference. Here are some highlights.
David Gibbs
The first question right out of the box was about turnovers. He said he will take as many as he can get. Last year, the Bearkats gave it away an average of 1.5 times per game. While the Bearkat quarterback, Jared Johnson, didn't throw more than two interceptions in a game last season, he did throw two interceptions in 25% of their games. One of those games was against their only FBS opponent, LSU. He also threw zero touchdowns in six of their sixteen games last season and was held under a 40% completion rate in 25% of their games. I hope we can hold him to those type of pedestrian passing stats. He is dual-threat quarterback and ended the season last year 999 rushing yards but if we can hold his passing stats in check I think we will be fine.
He said they plan on playing a bunch of guys, more rotating than we saw last season due to depth, heat and speed of offenses especially early in the season. He said they plan on playing five to six defensive tacks and five to six defensive ends. I am most excited about seeing how good our defensive line can be this season. I really think they will be the most improved unit on the team.
Eric Morris
Kingsbury and Morris were both asked about Quinton White in yesterday's press conference. Morris said White was squatting close to 600 pounds this summer which is very impressive for his size. More impressive is it sounds like White saw the two guys in front of him and jumped at the chance to carve out a niche on the team at the fullback position. Good for him! Hope he tears it up this season. Seems like working for and identifying opportunities is becoming more rare these days especially when transferring is an easy option.
I like Morris' explanation about the pistol formation allowing the running back to see things development. He said these are the same plays the Denver Broncos used to run just now out of a different formation. I like hearing the behind the scenes stuff like this. You hear a lot of the same questions from the media and answers from the coaches when it comes to players, starters, practice and preparation so it was refreshing to hear something a little different.
There isn't a full video of either coach's session from the press conference, but here is the video of what was released.