Everything Bryan Harsin said to the media previewing Auburn vs Georgia
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Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin spoke with the media on Monday afternoon to discuss the Tigers' loss to LSU and to look ahead to the matchup with Georgia this weekend.
Here is everything Harsin had to say.
Opening statement...
“Eku Leota injured his (pectoral muscle) in the game and is going to get that repaired tomorrow, so most likely that is season ending. Zach Calzada, on his repaired shoulder, will get another surgery on that. That will be Wednesday and so they'll go in there and repair some of what had happened from before, so he'll be out, and it'll be season ending. Other than that, just as far as players go, guys should be available for this game. There will be a couple guys that are day-to-day from the last game, and we'll see how this week goes as far as our preparation.”
“As far as Georgia, they are a very good football team. They are 5-0 and the defending national champions. So overall, just as a football team, they're well coached and they've had a lot of success with their program and certainly you see that right now when you watch these guys on offense. When you look at Stetson Bennett, start with him as the quarterback. He is playing confidently. He's, in my opinion, a very good player. He runs, throws, can create, and has shown that all through this season and last season. He's got guys around him starting with the tight end, Brock Bowers. He is a fantastic football player. He shows that and he plays extremely hard, makes plays for them, and they try to utilize him in a lot of ways. We know that he's going to be a challenge. Darnell Washington, another tight end, and a big guy. Both those tight ends and the personal packages, they utilize them well. The wide receivers, (Ladd) McConkey and (Adonai) Mitchell, and there's more, not just those two, are very explosive on the perimeter with their offense. Defensively, they are in the top five in the SEC in every category. They lost a lot of really good players last year and they've replaced those players with some really good players. It starts with their front seven, and those guys on the defensive line and the linebacker position play fast and physical, so those guys have done well all season long. The back end is very strong. I think those guys do a really good job in coverage, and then they're also going to be involved in the run game as well. Across the board it is a physical defense that we're going to face. On special teams they blocked a punt against Kent State. That's hard to do against anybody, but they were able to get that done. Overall, they have their better players out there and they play extremely fast, extremely hard, and they have confidence.”
“This for us is our first road trip, so that'll be an opportunity for us to travel and get these guys on the road. We'll take a bus there and we'll get planned for our travel and how we expect that to go on our end. We will get into things before we go out there and play and get ready to go on Saturday. As far as our team goes, Sunday was a good day to come back, recover, learn from the things from the previous game, and then Tuesday will be a physical practice. We get a chance to get back out there and really start planning for Georgia.”
On giving Alex McPherson a chance...
“We have faith in Anders (Carlson). He's been very good at practice. Anders is a very consistent guy, and we still believe in him. Yes, Alex is available, and Alex can go out there and have opportunities as well, but we still believe in Anders and know that he's a guy that has played at a high level. We've missed a couple kicks, that's very apparent, and we need to make those. That's not anything that we don't talk about in this room. So this week we're going to have to prepare a little bit differently, even in the kicking game. Obviously on the road, it's going to be different environments, so there are different things we have to do to get our guys prepared. The one thing about Anders is I know that he will make whatever adjustments he needs to make to go out there and be successful for us in those moments, and he's done that. So Alex is ready, but Anders still has our full support and this week is going to be a great week to get back on track and be consistent in the Georgia game.”
On Marcus Bragg and the edge position...
Well, Eku was a big loss and this has nothing to do with anybody behind him. He's an emotional leader. He's one of the smartest football players we have. He is a guy that you want on your team because of how he prepares, all the things he does and the respect he has on his team. I thought Bragg did a really good job and I think not getting all those reps because Eku and Derick (Hall) are getting the majority of the reps, and then all of the sudden you're thrown into the mix. So, he settled in well. He made some plays. We got beat on the edge a couple times, but he was very close to being in the right position, and just that experience of getting out there and playing more as the game went on, he did better and better. He and Derick, both those guys on the edge, and then Dylan (Brooks) as well, we are getting that ironed out in what we want to do with that edge position. That's what we have to work through this week. We'll see what that looks like as we put the packages in and who we have to utilize. We still want to get the best front seven we have out there on the field, and especially against what Georgia does because they run the ball effectively. They obviously can throw it. You have got to put pressure on the quarterback. You can’t give them too much time because those guys create out in open space. We're still working through some of that, but I thought overall that Bragg played well.”
On preparing Robby Ashford for his first road game...
“You try to prepare through the week and provide noise and that's really what you can do. We're not going to bring in extra fans to yell at him and things like that. He is going into a hostile environment and not going to be favored, and that's just part of the mental side of playing that position, but that goes for everybody. The noise becomes a factor. I think for Robby it's continuing to just to play within himself. He's learning. He's growing. He's developing and he did some really good things in that game. He's a playmaker and he can do more. I think with the confidence that he took away from the LSU game, we have to build on that and then obviously be better going into this one. The noise is really the biggest factor, and then just handling every play when you're on the road. That's really what it comes down to. I think that's the one thing from coaching that position and playing, it's really just handle each and every play. Focus on the sideline, get the call and communicate to make sure that everybody's on the same page. You must know that you're not going to be able to yell out information to the side, so you have to make sure that there is either a hand signal or whatever you have got to do to make an adjustment. You must keep everybody on the same page and then execute the play that's in front of you. That's one thing I've really appreciated about Robby is I see that from him. I think his focus, the way he's handled himself, and the maturity that he's showing each and every game is getting better. We'll see how that looks this week. We have to focus on us. We have to make sure that that we're doing things on the offensive side of the ball that we can control and then just handle the environment when we're there.”
On the interior offensive line versus LSU...
“I thought they actually did well, and I said before that it was a little bit of feast or famine. We had some big runs and then we had some ones that we got beat, and it wasn't all just the inside guys. It wasn't just all the offensive line. We just had some negative plays that put us behind the chains and some of those were self-inflicted. Overall, I thought Brandon (Council) played well. I thought the interior guys did a good job. I thought the offensive line for the most part had a solid game. There's plenty of things that we looked at that we can improve on, but overall there were some real positive things in that game as well as the run game. We were able to get that going and then there were a few penalties and some other things that kind of slowed the momentum down, but other than that those guys were doing some things up front that we hope we will see in the stuff that we can build on moving forward.”
On Georgia’s Stetson Bennett…
“I'm not sure Stetson will say that (he’s not athletic). He's a good player. I'm impressed with him. There are more guys that are bigger and more athletic. I was fortunate to coach a guy that wasn't very athletic, but won more games than any college quarterback ever, and they would say the same thing about him. The guy's a winner. He makes plays, he's plenty fast enough to run the ball, he's plenty fast enough to scramble around and make plays. He finds the open receivers and he's accurate. He manages their offense really well, and that's one thing that I've got a chance to see him and watch those guys for a couple years and watch him as a player. He's done a very good job. I don't see a whole lot of weaknesses in his game, I think he's got a really good command of what they're doing. He's plenty good enough to hurt you in all different ways. So you have to know where he's at. You have to do a great job in coverage, you have to do a great job in trying to pressure the quarterback, you have to do a great job when he scrambles. You have to play the entire play with him, too, because that's what he does. So if you're going to let off, he's going to take advantage of that. You have to play the whole entire play with a quarterback like him.”
On working to establish a running game…
“I think number one, it starts inside. That's number one. We can make improvements in a lot of areas there, but you have got to start with your interior guys right now and giving up penetration. Like we talked about before, I thought they did a good job with that. We've improved that area, but that's always where it starts. You're going to play a really good D-line, you're going to play a good front seven, they're going to bring pressure. Eliminating that, and then protecting our edges and find a way to get on the perimeter as well. So, your tackles, your tight ends, that includes your wide receivers, just getting out there on the perimeter. That will help improve the run game. And then we have a quarterback that can also be a part of that, and he becomes an option as well. He's done some good things. We've asked him to run, we had a few explosive plays with him, and we’ve got to keep building on those things. It continues to be things that we've done. Every single week, we’ve got a little bit different scheme, a little different opponent. Who are the guys who are the strengths on their team? On this defense, they're all the strengths on that team. So every single guy is just doing their job and making sure that we provide our backs with a chance to get started. I think that's the one thing with Jarquez (Hunter) and Tank (Bigsby) as well. Those guys showed that we get those guys started, they can get yards, so we’ve got to do a good job up front to make that happen.”
On the progression of the offense…
“I think we’ve got a chance to do some of the things we've been doing. You look at last year, we ran some of those same concepts. There's just there's a progression in what we're doing offensively, so we had a chance to open it up. Robby (Ashford) did some really good things in the pass game. We were able to balance it out and that was encouraging. Our young wide receivers that have been thrust into play. Omari Kelly had a big catch. Camden Brown’s had a big catch. (Ja’Varrius Johnson) had a couple of big catches in there, as well. Those things were good. That was encouraging to see some young players step up and do some things on the perimeter. We obviously have to be better than that going to this game, and in every game forward, because we weren't good enough to win the football game. But overall, there were some positive things in the pass game that I thought helped us. I thought we did a couple things differently that we hadn't done this year, which gave us a little advantage on the perimeter. The run game, like I said, just some more consistency there when it comes to maybe eliminate the negative plays. That would be the key. Stay on track. We want to be efficient on first and second down, so we can stay ahead of the chains and eliminate some of those negative plays in the run game and then continue to keep the balance that we had.
On Missouri’s defense limiting Georgia, and on facing former assistant coach Mike Bobo…
“I couldn't give you the exact percentage of zero and pressures and man, but we've done that, we played man coverage. We saw some of that in the last game as well. Every defense is going to have a package where they're bringing everybody. We do that as well, when we do it kind of depends on the game plan. Missouri did a good job. They played hard. They got some momentum; you can see in that in that team. They had a few plays, and some success early on. You can see the shift in that football team, those guys play hard. We know from playing them. We said before, they're a good football team, they showed that. They just came up short against another really good football team. Those guys were playing extremely hard.
“And as far as Coach Bobo, being around him and having him here, I think there's familiarity with staffs from guys you've worked with and guys you've been with before. Obviously, he's there. Mike and I have a lot of respect for each other. He's helping that staff, there's a reason why they're successful. Their offensive staff is very good, their whole coaching staff does a great job, they've shown that. He obviously brings a lot of value to that program too, not just against us, but for everything they're trying to do, because he's a very good offensive coach. I know that place is special to him, and he had a lot of success there as a coordinator before, so you can see some of those wrinkles that they're utilizing that he's helped bring to that program.”
On Oscar Chapman and limiting opponents’ punt returns…
“He's a weapon. Oscar is a guy that we talked about. I think he's the best, if not one of the best, in the country. He really is. Every single day. He's one of those guys in practice, that's not just what happens in the game. It happens in practice all the time. He takes tremendous pride in just trying to win the field position battle. We had a few guys out, so it was really important in the last game that we had some hang time on the punts, that we put it in the right location, so we knew where we were going to cover. He did exactly that. So, he gave our guys advantages by what he did. Sometimes in games, the field position becomes a huge factor and he's a guy that can put the ball in a lot of spots, and we trusted him to place the ball where it needs to be placed. Then we're going to cover it and they didn't have any return yards. So that helped us a lot in that last game.”
On closing out the first half strong…
“That's a big one. That's probably one of the biggest in my opinion. You don't want anybody to score. I think it's all about momentum. That's one area when you got the ball it's not just about scoring touchdowns, it's just about scoring points. Try to create some momentum. Especially if you get the ball back in the second half. And that's one of the advantages of deferring and having the ball in the second half. Hopefully you get a chance to end that half with some points and get the ball back and kind of come right back out and score again. So being on the losing side of that when you go in and they score, that's the momentum that they've got. When you come into halftime, you have to find a way to get that back. When you come back out in the field, they may have the ball again. You have to recover quickly and get the ball back to your offense. You have to be at your best in the last 5 minutes of the game and get your best players in there. You have to try and keep them from scoring, and to put points on the board. So that’s a big factor.”
On fixing second half issues…
“We know the reasons and we look at every drive. There’s a drive chart, there’s a result, there’s a reason why and so we break it all down. Where do we have negative plays, and where do we have positive plays? What was the end result of those drives? Those are things that we've discussed as a staff. Those are things we discussed with our players. To me, it really comes down to trying to eliminate those negative plays, and then just being more consistent. That’s play calls. That’s execution. That’s all those things, and not just one in particular. That's just the glaring reason why it's things that we all have to improve on and get better. Our adjustments come out at half. We have to be able to find ways to continue to put points on the board. It's not just the half of football, you get to play all four quarters.”
On Zykeivous Walker and D.J. James…
“D.J. (James) is playing really well. He started to get more comfortable out there. I think he's really getting into a groove. It feels like in practice as well as preparation, focus, all those things. Just learning the defense, you can tell he is more comfortable. Z is coming off of his knee better, and now it's just a matter of getting back into rotation. Marcus has been out there, as well as Jayson Jones. Those guys up front are playing well. We got to get some of the other guys into the mix. Z being one of those guys that would get in there. He’s had a few personal things, not in a bad way, but he’s had a few personal things to take care of. That has impacted some playing time as well. But he’s back this week. He’s fine, just some family things, and we’re excited to see him back here Tuesday. We’re excited to see how he fits onto that rotation.”
On the depth of the quarterbacks…
“Are we worried about it? Having two guys out there on scholarship? Well, technically we have three because we did just put Trey Lindsey on scholarship as well. The reason why is because of all he does for our team. He's out there every single week, and this guy's a future coach. And he brings a tremendous amount of value and a lot of really positive things to this team. As far as our quarterbacks, you have Robby (Ashford) out there, you have Holden (Geriner) out there, and we’ll see where T.J. (Finley) is at this week. Those guys are getting prepared to play. They are ready to play. They’re going to get out there. We can worry about depth and those things. That’s certainly a concern when you don’t have four guys like you want to have on scholarship that are available to play. At the same time, as a player, all you’re thinking about is getting your job done. What do I got to do to go out there and help this ballclub win. Those guys have been great. Holden has been awesome. He’s been preparing every single game and takes a ton of reps in practice. He’s getting better and better and you can see that those reps are helping Robby as well. He’s improving again this week. Between those two guys, we’ll see where they’re at and they’ll keep getting those reps. Hopefully we see an improvement from each one of them.”
On why coaches are getting fired in the middle of the season…
“I think every program is different. I really do. I don’t know if it has to do with anything bigger than that. I couldn’t tell you each and every program’s situation and where they are and those types of things. That’s just part of it. I don’t know if there is a better answer than that. I know those coaches and have seen good coaches out there. Every program has different things they’re working through and what they want. So I think that goes back to where they are more than anything and where those coaches are in that program.”
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