Marshall University Athletics
Quotes/Video from Doc Holliday's Pre-Spring Press Conference
3/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Opening statement
It seems like yesterday we just walked off the field in Boca and here we are back at it again starting tomorrow. I know I'm excited as the head football coach getting into spring ball. I'm excited. The kids are excited and we are ready to go. We had a great winter. The kids haven't forgotten what has gotten them to this point of winning championships. It's hard work. They worked their tails off all winter in conditioning. They had spring break last week and we got them back last night and made sure that they were all back. We got them lifting today and running and tomorrow we'll get them back in shorts.
Last year, I think we did a great job of challenging certain positions to step up and develop and I thought that happened. This time last year, I didn't think we had a lot of production out of our outside receivers and I thought that was fixed during spring ball and that continued into fall and helped us tremendously. I thought we had to find a stable running back and we were able to find that in Devon [Johnson]. Stew [Butler] and Remi [Watson] also got better, as did the entire offensive line.
Going into this spring, there's a lot of things that have to happen for us to be successful. That includes the quarterback position. We've got to get a guy to develop the intangibles at that position, which is just as important as the skills involved. I think we have some great candidates there and someone will emerge. Other than that, the offense has to get better at each position, but there are a lot of guys back. Losing Chris Jasperse because of his leadership, but there are the Michael Selby's and Clint Van Horn's and Swede [Sebastian Johansson] and all those guys will pick that up.
Defensively we challenged the Joe Massaquoi's and Arnold Blackmon's and all those guys. Those older guys played some of the best football their senior years. We have a good senior group this year and it's important that they play their best football now going into their senior year.
On units that need to be challenged
I think losing Tommy Shuler in the slot receiver position will be tough. Hyleck Foster is a talented guy, but someone has to step up and see if they can get that production. Deandre Reaves will play a bit of corner early on, but he could always come back and play slot. On the offensive line, Michael Selby's played an awful lot of football, but Cody Collins came in and played well too. We just really need to develop some depth in that spot. Sandley Jean-Felix has to come along, as do the Addison's, Binot's, all those young guys have got to continue to develop offensively.
We lost some guys defensively at the linebacker spot with Jermaine [Holmes] and of course Neville [Hewitt] was the Defensive Player of the Year. Raheim Huskey came in well towards the end and had a great game in the championship game, but can he do it every game? D.J. Hunter is back and we will have Evan McKelvey back to do a bit this spring.We have to develop some depth at linebacker. Darryl Roberts was a tremendous corner for us. [Keith] Baxter has finally had a full healthy winter and hopefully he can come out and have a great spring. All those young corners need to step up and be able to play.
On scout team players possibly moving up from last season
There are a lot of guys - whether they be transfers or guys playing for the first time that could participate in the winter - it's almost like camp in August, where there are a lot of new faces in the spring, so it's exciting to see. [Blake] Keller has had a tremendous winter. He's about 230 right now and he was a tremendous player at UCF his freshman year so we'll see if that carries over. Of course [Shawn Petty] played a lot of football at Maryland so he can provide some leadership and experience at linebacker. There are a lot of young guys that I'm anxious to see.
On the importance of naming a starting quarterback by the end of spring ball
It's huge as far as from a leadership standpoint. They know it's their team and they can provide leadership throughout the summer. We hope that happens. At the quarterback position, if someone doesn't separate, you think you have two or three, and chances are you don't have any. I think there's some separation that occurs with that No. 1 guy from a leadership standpoint, from an intangibles standpoint, from someone who can make plays and everything that goes along with being a great quarterback. We hope that happens. With that being said, with spring ball cut back - it's not like it used to be - you have about 15 opportunities and three of those are in shorts. It's hard and there's not a lot of time to totally separate yourself, but hopefully it'd be nice to come out of spring knowing who that guy is. Whether it happens or not, I don't know.
On production during the offseason
It's just like last year, when you win that bowl game, you feel good and you have a little bounce in your step. Food tastes better. They understand that hard work will get you to where you want to go. Two years in a row we've been in that championship game, and of course we won it this year and there's no doubt our guys have a lot of confidence. They feel good about themselves. They understand that playing to win works and that hard work got us to where we are and we can't get complacent. I think if it's going to show up you have to continue to do what got us there and work every day to get better as a player and get better as a team.
On Devon Johnson's limitations during spring ball
You can always get better. Devon, Remi [Watson] and Corey Tindal all had some minor surgical deals where they won't be full contact but they'll be out there in the spring. We had a lot of guys like that last year, with the red jerseys running around in the spring. We didn't have a lot of it, but we'll have four or five guys that will be limited to an extent. That happens. That's part of it. I think because of our strength program we've been - and I can remember three or four springs ago that half the team was out there in red and that's not good - now it's four to five guys that are going to miss a little bit, not a lot, and that's a good thing. That's a tribute to Scott [Sinclair] and what he's done in the weight room and the development of our players.
On Michael Selby learning from Chris Jasperse
When the team takes ownership and players take ownership of the team, you know you have chance. You watch what Jasperse did with Selby, and that will be what Selby is doing with [Jordan] Dowrey and Cody Collins and some of those younger guys. He's doing the same thing for those guys and it's fun to watch. You see it in the weight room and you see it in skill development. When that starts to happen among your positions and among your team you know you have a chance. We've got a good group of seniors coming out this year too, and not only among the seniors but Corey Tindal is a great junior and he's played a lot of football. It's fun as a coach and it makes you feel really good because they've bought into what the program's all about: taking care of the young guys and holding them accountable and helping them develop as young players.
[Selby] is kind of the rock. That's what Jasperse brought. [Rakeem] Cato had total confidence in Jasperse and everybody knew the toughness he brought to the position and the intelligence that he brought to it. If it wasn't right, Jasperse was going to fix it, and he did. Selby is the same kind of guy. I don't think I've ever coached a tougher kid than Selby is. He plays with everything and he's like Jasperse. He's a tremendous kid that will do the same thing that Chris did.
On moving Sandley Jean-Felix to the left side of the o-line
Sandley had a great winter and he's a talented guy. I think [Clint] Van Horn will be mad at me but I think Sandley's probably a little bit more athletic than he is. Van Horn is really solid in there. Another guy is Eric Ansley who has had a tremendous winter. It's fun as a coach to see the mental development of some of the guys, from the time they walk onto campus and until they end up starting and playing a significant role. Ansley: nobody thought he could play, and he's in his third year and now he looks like a player. Especially at the offensive line position, and Alex [Mirabal] does a great job with those guys; it's fun to watch. A lot of those guys are ready to step up and I don't expect any drop-off in any position. We expect to be a really good football team every time we take the field. An offensive line cannot be a drop-off, like in any position. When kids leave and graduate, it's amazing to see how kids respond. A lot of them become better players than they ever thought they could be, because now it's their shot and they'll be held accountable for the way they play.
On the team's kicking situation
Nick Smith - and of course there's not really a starter or backup right now - but if we had to kick tomorrow it would be Nick Smith. Amoreto Curraj who didn't do anything last year and redshirted is healthy now. What we're going to do on our extra point and field goal deal will be Nick and Amoreto starting out this spring. Kaare Vedvik has a tremendous leg but we're going to take the spring and try to focus on him being a punter. He's going to work with Todd Goebbel - who spent a lot of time with specialists at Ohio State and he's done it throughout his career - to try to develop as a punter only because he's got the ability, he just needs to be more consistent. Of course Tyler [Williams] is back at the punting position, so I feel good about it. Curraj was one of the best kickoff guys in the country as a freshman. Before last season, Nick almost beat out Justin Haig. You'd get mad at Haig at practice and sometimes in games but all he did was win games for us when it counted. I'd rather it be that way. What he did in that championship game was unbelievable. I never thought he could kick like that. When you're a kicker, that's what counts more than anything else, is that you make it when it matters. That's something we'll put those guys into position this spring and put some heat on them and see what happens.
