Offensive Coordinator Walt Bell
Opening Statement:
“From last week, obviously a big win for us. Really big offensively, especially coming off two weeks where we really struggled to sustain drives and put drives together. We came out, limited penalties, had some long extended drives and kept our defense off the field a little bit. Perry [Hills] did a really nice job. He played clean throughout the day. He had really good decision making in terms of the run pass stuff, spitting the ball on the perimeter when it belonged there. Above all else was the offensive line. We had some uncommon mistakes in the Penn State game and then with a freshman quarterback and some of the penalties we had in the Minnesota game, for our offensive line to come back and respond the way they did, we had one mental error in 77-some-odd plays and that’s a tribute to Coach Borbes [Dave Borbely] and how he prepared them. From a mentality perspective, from an attitude perspective, those are the things we hope to build off of. Again, everything is a learning experience, win lose or draw. We had two losses in a row which hopefully taught us a couple of good lessons, and hopefully we can learn from our win as well to prepare for going against a good Indiana team.”
On Lorenzo Harrison and whether he was surprised at his contributions:
“Is it a surprise? Yes, just because we had so much older depth. After about practice eight or nine of fall camp, after we had that second tackle-to-the-ground day and no one could tackle him, we could kind of see this coming. Then, it was, ‘How fast can we get him to contribute at a high level?’ It’s one thing to contribute in spurts, but for him to now be a 30 to 40-snap a game guy and being counted on in protections, he has done a really good job in the way he practices. He’s had very few bad days from a mood and workmanship standpoint, which is very rare for a freshman. This is typically when they hit the wall. In terms of his motivation, he’s a prideful kid. He’s got a chip on his shoulder. A lot of that has to do with the fact that he’s a little bit smaller and he has a lot to prove, which I like.”
On Lorenzo Harrison’s speed:
“He’s always been a fast guy. Part of the reason that he is so shifty is similar to the kids in fourth and fifth grade where they cut back and it worked so they keep doing it. Looking around though and being a little bit hesitant, not just trusting his speed, because he is one of those guys who when he puts his foot in the ground and runs a lane, very rarely will he be caught. In terms of Lo [Lorenzo Harrison III]’s speed, he’s playing fast. To me, there’s three speeds: too slow, fast enough and real fast. Lorenzo is fast enough.”
On helping the younger players push past the midseason wall:
“I think the biggest things for those young guys is the life lesson of learning how to push through things that are uncomfortable. Someday, they’re going to be a husband or a father and things might not be perfect, but they need to get out of bed, go to work and it may be a job they don’t like but they have to get out of bed and go take care of their kids and put food on the table. That’s a life lesson: the ability to suffer well, whether it be mentally or physically. That’s a skill and the only way to get good at something is to do it. You just need to get them through. Is it always screaming and yelling? Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s having a closed-door meeting with a guy to explain why he feels this way. Every freshman in the country feels this way. You need to know what buttons to push, and that’s just management and knowing personalities. I think from the physical standpoint of things, really coaching and teaching them how to recover: sleep habits, how they should take care of their bodies, sleep, nutrition, making sure those guys are getting proper recovery. With the long season, that’s a huge part of it: teaching them how to recover.”
On Kenneth Goins Jr.’s role:
“He has really developed a nice little role for himself. Unlike Ty [Johnson] and Lolo [Lorenzo Harrison] right now, neither one of those guys are super patient yet. Ty has made huge improvements as an inside zone runner, and a lot of the big runs he’s had have been b-gap to b-gap. He has really improved there, but still, same thing. Those guys who typically can run don’t have great patience. Where Kenny [Kenneth Goins Jr.] shines a little bit is that he’s had a whole life of playing fullback. You need to see things develop. You need to find lanes. He’s done a lot of that, and I think that has helped his vision and his patience. He’s got nimble, quick feet, which allow him to skirt through holes. The combination of quick feet and good vision, which I think is from him playing fullback as long as he did, that’s allowed him to give us something that those other guys don’t. We’ll continue to build and expand his role throughout the year.”
On decision making in playing Kenneth Goins Jr.:
“The first meeting that he and I had was that he was too good of a player for us not to have him on the field. We started him at tailback to make sure that he understood pass protection and all those things, put the ball in his hands and see how he spins. If that wouldn’t have been his deal, we would’ve found a way to make him a little H. He’s one of our best 14 or 15 guys on offense and we would’ve found a role for him no matter what.”
On trick plays:
“Every week, we have four or five loaded up, it’s just whether we’re in rhythm enough to get them called. They’re 50/50 plays. They’re high risk, high reward. You just have to feel comfortable with it, and really it’s not about calling a trick play. It’s about whether you feel comfortable about the next down. We did because we had a good plan on the run game. There were some possession throws we could create for Perry [Hills] so on first down, it was kind of like, ‘Let it fly.’ Every week, we’re going to have four or five and it just so happened that we had them loaded up and we were moving the ball consistently enough to call one.”
On the two-point conversion:
“Coach [DJ] Durkin is an aggressive guy. Coach [Pete] Lembo does a really good job. We’ll typically get together early Tuesday morning to come up with a two-point of the week. Every week, it’s loaded up and every week, it’s ready to go. If the look is there, we’re going to take it. If it’s not, we’ll kick the extra point. I think it’s just one more thing for people to prepare for.”
Opening Statement:
“From last week, obviously a big win for us. Really big offensively, especially coming off two weeks where we really struggled to sustain drives and put drives together. We came out, limited penalties, had some long extended drives and kept our defense off the field a little bit. Perry [Hills] did a really nice job. He played clean throughout the day. He had really good decision making in terms of the run pass stuff, spitting the ball on the perimeter when it belonged there. Above all else was the offensive line. We had some uncommon mistakes in the Penn State game and then with a freshman quarterback and some of the penalties we had in the Minnesota game, for our offensive line to come back and respond the way they did, we had one mental error in 77-some-odd plays and that’s a tribute to Coach Borbes [Dave Borbely] and how he prepared them. From a mentality perspective, from an attitude perspective, those are the things we hope to build off of. Again, everything is a learning experience, win lose or draw. We had two losses in a row which hopefully taught us a couple of good lessons, and hopefully we can learn from our win as well to prepare for going against a good Indiana team.”
On Lorenzo Harrison and whether he was surprised at his contributions:
“Is it a surprise? Yes, just because we had so much older depth. After about practice eight or nine of fall camp, after we had that second tackle-to-the-ground day and no one could tackle him, we could kind of see this coming. Then, it was, ‘How fast can we get him to contribute at a high level?’ It’s one thing to contribute in spurts, but for him to now be a 30 to 40-snap a game guy and being counted on in protections, he has done a really good job in the way he practices. He’s had very few bad days from a mood and workmanship standpoint, which is very rare for a freshman. This is typically when they hit the wall. In terms of his motivation, he’s a prideful kid. He’s got a chip on his shoulder. A lot of that has to do with the fact that he’s a little bit smaller and he has a lot to prove, which I like.”
On Lorenzo Harrison’s speed:
“He’s always been a fast guy. Part of the reason that he is so shifty is similar to the kids in fourth and fifth grade where they cut back and it worked so they keep doing it. Looking around though and being a little bit hesitant, not just trusting his speed, because he is one of those guys who when he puts his foot in the ground and runs a lane, very rarely will he be caught. In terms of Lo [Lorenzo Harrison III]’s speed, he’s playing fast. To me, there’s three speeds: too slow, fast enough and real fast. Lorenzo is fast enough.”
On helping the younger players push past the midseason wall:
“I think the biggest things for those young guys is the life lesson of learning how to push through things that are uncomfortable. Someday, they’re going to be a husband or a father and things might not be perfect, but they need to get out of bed, go to work and it may be a job they don’t like but they have to get out of bed and go take care of their kids and put food on the table. That’s a life lesson: the ability to suffer well, whether it be mentally or physically. That’s a skill and the only way to get good at something is to do it. You just need to get them through. Is it always screaming and yelling? Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s having a closed-door meeting with a guy to explain why he feels this way. Every freshman in the country feels this way. You need to know what buttons to push, and that’s just management and knowing personalities. I think from the physical standpoint of things, really coaching and teaching them how to recover: sleep habits, how they should take care of their bodies, sleep, nutrition, making sure those guys are getting proper recovery. With the long season, that’s a huge part of it: teaching them how to recover.”
On Kenneth Goins Jr.’s role:
“He has really developed a nice little role for himself. Unlike Ty [Johnson] and Lolo [Lorenzo Harrison] right now, neither one of those guys are super patient yet. Ty has made huge improvements as an inside zone runner, and a lot of the big runs he’s had have been b-gap to b-gap. He has really improved there, but still, same thing. Those guys who typically can run don’t have great patience. Where Kenny [Kenneth Goins Jr.] shines a little bit is that he’s had a whole life of playing fullback. You need to see things develop. You need to find lanes. He’s done a lot of that, and I think that has helped his vision and his patience. He’s got nimble, quick feet, which allow him to skirt through holes. The combination of quick feet and good vision, which I think is from him playing fullback as long as he did, that’s allowed him to give us something that those other guys don’t. We’ll continue to build and expand his role throughout the year.”
On decision making in playing Kenneth Goins Jr.:
“The first meeting that he and I had was that he was too good of a player for us not to have him on the field. We started him at tailback to make sure that he understood pass protection and all those things, put the ball in his hands and see how he spins. If that wouldn’t have been his deal, we would’ve found a way to make him a little H. He’s one of our best 14 or 15 guys on offense and we would’ve found a role for him no matter what.”
On trick plays:
“Every week, we have four or five loaded up, it’s just whether we’re in rhythm enough to get them called. They’re 50/50 plays. They’re high risk, high reward. You just have to feel comfortable with it, and really it’s not about calling a trick play. It’s about whether you feel comfortable about the next down. We did because we had a good plan on the run game. There were some possession throws we could create for Perry [Hills] so on first down, it was kind of like, ‘Let it fly.’ Every week, we’re going to have four or five and it just so happened that we had them loaded up and we were moving the ball consistently enough to call one.”
On the two-point conversion:
“Coach [DJ] Durkin is an aggressive guy. Coach [Pete] Lembo does a really good job. We’ll typically get together early Tuesday morning to come up with a two-point of the week. Every week, it’s loaded up and every week, it’s ready to go. If the look is there, we’re going to take it. If it’s not, we’ll kick the extra point. I think it’s just one more thing for people to prepare for.”
