Here's what Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said to the media Monday
Auburn head football coach Bryan Harsin met with the media Monday to recap the Mercer win and preview San Jose State this upcoming Saturday.
Here were his comments.
Opening Statement
“It’s San Jose State week. I thought our guys did a great job yesterday putting Mercer away and learning from that and moving on to the next opponent. Our players of the game against Mercer, on offensive, Tank Bigsby. On defense was Cam Riley, special teams was Jarquez Hunter. Our offensive lineman of the game was Brandon Council and defensive lineman was Colby Wooden. We had a couple of academic guys, Brandan Frazier and Zion Puckett that were recognized yesterday.”
“From the game, we talked about it afterwards, I thought we did some good things. We did not win the turnover battle. That was one area that we have to improve on. We did run the ball effectively, and then we weren't very good in the red zone and a couple areas on the defensive side. So, we addressed that in our meetings. We talked about it on the field, and that's something that we still have to keep emphasizing going into the second week. It's early in the year. I thought we did some good things. It was good to see some new faces out there, and now we really have a game to work with. Going into this week, knowing the things we have to get better at for each individual player and then what we have to do as an offense, defense, special teams and as a program to get better.”
“As far as San Jose State, they are a very good team. I know this team well. Coach Brennan does a great job of getting his guys prepared. They do a really good job of game planning, that's one thing. They are always physical, and their guys play hard, so no doubt about it that's exactly what we'll get. I am not going to get into all their schemes and, and things like that, other than the fact that this team will come in here prepared and ready, and they will have a plan to try to attack us. We just have to make sure that we're ready, and we focus on the things we have to do to get ourselves prepared to go play our best football.”
On the game one performance of QBs T.J. Finley and Robby Ashford …
“Let's just go to the turnovers. One was a poor decision, trying to make something. Sometimes the defense has things covered and you try to force the ball in there. So, it's just a decision. And the other one was poor fundamentals. That's why the two turnovers happened. So, it's pretty matter of fact, and those things happen in practice, too, right? It's not just T.J., it's every quarterback and all that stuff when you're coaching that position.
Great decision-making fundamentals, all those things matter, so we cleared that up, and we move forward. I thought, other than that, both guys operated well. We had one false start, which wasn't the quarterbacks' fault.
We didn't really have any penalties and we got ourselves into the right plays. We didn't have any delay games or anything stupid that way, so they actually operated the offense well. They communicated on the sideline well and they made adjustments. All the things you want to see, getting out there on the field, those guys have to play. There's going to be mistakes that are made, but overall operation, I thought both guys did a really good job.
The back and forth, we knew that was going to happen, not everybody else did, so that wasn't anything new for us. We knew that Robby would be in there. We knew the back and forth would happen, and sometimes we got a chance to keep Robby in there because we were winning the game. T.J. had had some more reps obviously over the course of last year and started the game, so to keep Robby in there when we kind of have the game and we're winning and felt like we would continue to keep winning the game, so we wanted to get him some more opportunities.”
On the back-and-forth QB situation going into game two...
“It's hard to tell. Every game plan is a little different. I expect both guys to play, but as far as the number of it and how we utilize those guys, we are working on that right now.
Every opponent is different, and the other thing as well is just how the week goes in practice. We had a couple guys yesterday that were sick, and they weren't even at practice. That is just the nature of what we do. At the end of the week, things can change only because a guy gets rolled up, gets sick, or something happens. Zach will be ready as well and Holden's coming on. We're still working with these guys to prepare them to play.
There is nothing that's just been truly settled down on, especially on the second game. When you start getting to game three and four, you probably know your team a little bit better. Then you are just hoping that injuries and those types of things don't happen, so you can keep those guys that have been playing, healthy, fresh and in the game, and continuing to develop your team over the course of the season.”
On T.J. Finley not going back into the game after his second interception...
“We just felt like T.J. had played well, up to that point, and then had the two turnovers. Then we had Robby in there, and we thought that he was playing well, and we were winning the game. We want to keep him in there and get him some more reps. He also had a play that I think was on social media. You guys saw the one when we came out after the lightning delay and Robby was running down the field and goes and blocks for Tank.
That’s something we emphasize is just being a football player. Jarquez Hunter going down there and driving down the field and scoring, then running down on kickoff, and is 10 yards ahead of everybody else and makes the tackle. He blows through a guy and makes the tackle and he's a football player. I think there was some of that too. Coach Kiesau, I listened to what those guys say. Let's keep these guys in, let's keep them rolling.
Let's keep doing these things. Because maybe that package of plays is working well, and we want to stick with it. That was really the biggest reason. But, the turnovers, we don't want that. We don't want the turnovers, but at the same time those things happen. On the flip side, too, we got to create turnovers on defense, we got to find ways to get off the field on third downs. We have to create turnovers; we have got to do a better job in the red zone.
So, it's never one guy, and I am never going to single out one guy, and that's never been the case, in my opinion. So, I wouldn't read too much into it. We'll go back to work tomorrow, and we'll see what our game plan looks like later in the week. Then we'll start packaging things, so when we get to the game, we know who's going to be out there.
On wide receiver Ja’Varrius Johnson...
“He missed most of spring. He came out for the first practice, and he popped his hamstring, so he missed most of that. He comes back in the summer, and he's had a good summer. I think his attitude has been great. I think his effort has been great. He's a really good football player. He's back there catching punts; he got a chance to do that.
Then we got Keionte Scott back there, we wanted to see him. We felt comfortable with Var, but we felt like Keionte is a guy that can be back there, so we got a chance to see him, but Var makes plays. He is kind of a veteran a little bit for us, and you got Tar’Varish Dawson out there who's young and he got a chance to get there make some plays as well.
He had a nice catch on third down that was behind him. Overall, I think Var is going to continue to keep getting better and help us, and you know he does make plays and you saw that. I know we want to get in the endzone. That's the goal to try to take that thing and put it in the endzone like Ja’Varrius did against Arkansas last year. To complete the catch, run and score touchdowns. He can do those things for us.”
On what he learned from playing two quarterbacks…
“Well, we had to play three in 2019 when I was at Boise, and the third guy ended up being undefeated and the MVP of the championship game. So, you start with one, guy gets hurt, and we were 12-1 and lost one game by three points that year. We played three quarterbacks, and the third guy was the MVP. To me, like this whole one-quarterback system, I think everybody feels if you have two guys playing there's some controversy, or the one guy's not good enough. I just started to look at it like these guys are all football players. They're here to play just like our tailbacks, just like our tight ends, just like our linebackers. If they're good enough to play, then we should find a role for him. Philosophically, ever since I've been an offensive coordinator, and back when Chris Petersen was the offensive coordinator, we always did that. If guys deserved to play, then we tried to find a role, but not as much as we do now with our quarterbacks. But we tried to get guys on the field. I think that just gives guys hope that they can go out there and play, including your quarterbacks. It doesn't really impact us, necessarily, as far as calling plays and doing all that because we have packages, and we have plays. Both guys can run the set of plays that we have in the game plan. We want to keep one guy in, and as the game went on, we could take one guy out, we keep one guy in, and we could have went back and forth. That's kind of the beauty of it. I've done it here, at Boise, and at Texas, but those guys deserve to play, and sometimes you have to do it. It's not always ideal, in certain cases, but when you’ve got two good players and those guys deserve to play it's not as much different to me than any other position at this point.”
On splitting reps at right guard between Keiondre Jones and Kameron Stutts…
“We'll see how the week goes. I thought both guys played well. We did not have a ton of penetration up front. For the most part, I thought we did a good job that way. There were not very many guys in the backfield, and that's kind of what you gauge in the run game. I thought both guys covered up and ran their feet when they were supposed to do, and that happened back in camp too. Probably Stutts had a little upper hand, KJ started coming on, and we're trying to figure out who that right guard position is. If something happens at center or left guard then those guys can bump around, and they can play both. We'll continue with that formula right now, unless something changes, but I thought they both played well.”
On Tate Johnson and the offensive line as a whole…
“Yeah, I was proud of Tate. I thought he did a really good job. He handled himself well, I thought, even on the sideline, breaking the huddle, getting on the field, taking ownership, making sure that we are on time and that we have a sense of urgency to get everybody there, and that we are prepared ready to go on the field. I thought he did a good job of all that. Overall, the offensive linemen, I think they were solid, we ran the ball well, and we did some good things. I thought our tailbacks broke some tackles and made some plays, and which is what our tailbacks should do, so expect those guys to play like that. But overall, I thought the offensive line protection-wise, and run game-wise is solid. There's a few things in there that we have to clean up, some fundamental work that will get done this week, which is always the case, but overall, that group played well.”
On the defensive line…
“I think we did a good job in the run game, we could have had a few more sacks and we missed some tackles. That's the first game. That was one of the areas that you always feel like: ‘did we do enough work?’ It's hard to tackle live anymore in practice. I mean, hardly anybody does it. Some teams might do it. You might do it in one-on-one situations, but it's all that live work. Mercer's quarterback did a good job, he was slippery. I thought their plan was good, and they were a little bit different than what they'd shown. Their plan was to kind of throw it and move the pocket. They did a pretty good job of that. I thought their quarterback was a good athlete. That's a good football team we played, they're going to win games, they're going to be in the playoffs, and they're going to do all those things. So, we need to be able to make those tackles, and we get a chance to do that. That's something we'll work on Tuesday. Now they got some live bullets because you never get to tackle the quarterback in practice. That's the unfair thing for the defensive guys. We never put anybody back there live, to let them tackle as a quarterback, and I don't know many teams that. So then all of a sudden, here you are, and you see that quarterback moving and that is your first chance to go tackle him and they probably get a little excited about it. So learn from that and move on. It will be no different this week for San Jose State's quarterback. He is a transfer from Hawaii and this guy can go, and he's good. He's very athletic, smart, and tough. I've seen him play, and he's elusive. So, you got to be in great position, and be able to make those plays in the open field. I thought Cam Riley did that, and he had 15 tackles. But you saw that from Cam. You saw some guys that were doing that. We’ve just got to do a better job with the D-line overall.”
On the team’s maturity and focus…
“I saw it. I saw it before the game, and really everything leading into the game. The one thing that we're really trying to be is a great football team together, and that is one of the areas that that we've emphasized. I'm proud of our guys and their personal goals that they have for themselves, and accolades and all those things, but it's about the team. I thought I saw that during the game, and I didn't see a bunch of issues on the sideline. Now we're winning. So, that's one thing, right? I always tell the guys when things are good, everybody's good. It really comes down to that, and I want no part of guys that if we're winning the game, and they're all about themselves. That just doesn't fit. That's not what a team sport is. And that's the hardest thing right now that we are all fighting, I think in this sport, is just how everything is individualized. It's all about me. It's all about what I'm not getting or what I am getting, and we've all made it that way. As a coach, that's not how you win, in my opinion, you're trying to play as a team. Since January, we've talked about team and just being 1-0, and that's the only message these guys have heard. It's the simple ‘together everyone achieves more.’ I didn't make it up. That's really what it comes down to. It's one of those tasks that is more challenging now than it's ever been. I know we got guys that didn't play, they're not happy, but we won the game. You got to kind of pick your poison a little bit. Is it going to be about me or is it going to be about the team? I tell the stories, like we just talked about guys I have coached before; he's a third string guy, ends up being the MVP, because he didn't pout, he kept working, kept grinding and doing all the stuff that everybody talks about. It's so much about me, me, me. If you don't like it, you leave. To me, that's a hard concept to grasp, because I don't think you can really achieve what you want to with that model. But it's the model that we're in right now. It's the one that we're battling. It's the one that we're accepting, and that it's okay to do that. I think we don't have the luxury to do that. We’ve got to stay together as a team. That’s our advantage. If we don't, that's a complete disadvantage. I've seen that model before.”
On a lot of receivers getting in the game…
“Yeah, they were good. I thought they were a little nervous, some of those young freshmen that got out there, which they should be. It's (their) first experience. I think they're a little nervous. They knew what to do, but you could just tell. They’ll be much better this week. Just kind of getting out there and having a chance to play. This is a big thing, right? I know they played before, but to go out there, just think about it. You're playing SEC football. You're in that stadium and you have 80,000 people or whatever in there. It's a big deal. You can see that, and no matter how you talk about it you just have to go do it. Now they've done it. Now they have a taste of it. Now they've been out there. They’ve felt the grass. They’ve had a chance to play a little bit. They'll be better this week, but overall they lined up right. We didn't have any issues with stupid penalties or have any alignment issues. We didn't have any false starts from that group, so they knew what to do. I felt like going into the game they were prepared. I just think now it's a chance for us that we can play faster. We can play better. We kind of eased them into it a little bit, and now we can go out there and we have to go play. We don't have any time to ease into anything else moving forward.”
On Brandon Council being named the Offensive Lineman of the Week…
“Well first play, I thought he just started running his feet. That's what we have to see from our offensive line. He ran his feet, sustained his blocks and played physical. From what he's been through to get back out there and play, it was good to see him go out there and just kind of showcase what he's capable of doing. Also, it's a little bit of all the work he's had to do to get to that point. He hasn't had it easy from his injuries and he hasn't had it easy from us. We pushed him hard. Whether it's his weight or getting in shape, the guy has been through it. Then to have him go out there and play and have success. We ran the ball the way we did. That's everything leading into that. I wouldn't say it's just from one game. It's every single thing that he's had to do to get himself to that point where he earns a chance to go out there and start and play well and also be recognized as the lineman of the game. There's just a lot more to his story than just this one game to be recognized for that.”
On the play of the secondary…
“We need to be better. I thought (Fred Payton) moved around. We had some guys that were uncovered at times. We need to do a better job and get back in. I have a really high standard for our secondary. I always have. If that ball is in the air, just speaking from an offensive coordinator standpoint, if they're going to put the ball in the air, we should have a chance to go compete for the ball. That's what I think you do at the back end when you have a good football team. I want to see our defensive backs compete for the ball. If they make the catch, if he places it perfectly, if he can do all those things as a quarterback, great. Then we'll accept that and move on to the next play, but if they're going to put the ball in the air we have to have a chance to compete for it. I know our guys want to do that. I believe in our guys. When we have a chance to compete for the ball, we're going to come down with it. I want to see our guys play a little bit more. We just have to do a better job. We have to be in position. We have to play with great eyes. Defensive backs, they're trying to do so much. Guys are running around, you have to tackle a guy, you have to cover a guy, you have to see the backside, you have to see all these things in front of you. A lot is going on. The intensity of how you have to practice at that position is different because of all the stuff you're asked to do. When you get a chance to compete on the ball, go make a play.”
On the passing game…
“Just keep building on what we're doing. It's going to be up to what we do in practice. How we look. I think the schemes are there. I really like what Coach Kiesau is doing. I liked the schemes. I think the coaching points are there. I think stuff that we need to do, we're doing it. Now we have to go make the plays. That really comes in practice, you know? Are we hitting this stuff in practice? Are we hitting those things on a Wednesday and a Thursday? Are we detailed on stuff that we're doing? Do we feel like we have the right personnel in there to do it? That's the other part, too. We can go watch somebody else and you see a play, and you're like, “Why don't we run that?” Well, maybe we don't have the personnel. Maybe it's just a difference of philosophy as well. We have to make sure that we continue to build on what we did last week, build on all the stuff we did through spring ball and fall camp. We still have a ton of things that we haven't ran yet that we have to go back to and make sure that we're still executing at a higher level. We'll see how practice goes. I'm big on that. To me, everything that we do in the game plan comes from what we do in practice. How we practice is how we're going to play. I think now our guys understand that. If we want to run this play and a guy goes out there and we had a 50-minute meeting and he just decides he didn't pay attention and doesn't want to go execute the play, he's out. That play is out or he's out. That's part of earning your opportunities to be better in the passing game or for us to be able to expand what we're doing in the passing game.”
On Landen King not getting into the game…
“We need to get him out there. He could play. He'll play. He'll get into the rotation, get into the mix and all that. You can call him whatever. He’s whatever we need him to be, from tight end to wide receiver, but he is playing wide receiver. We'll see how he fits into the rotation this week and where we can utilize him. We have to get him on special teams as well. He's one of those young guys that's up and coming that just needs to keep working and will get his shot. When he does, he'll go out there and make plays for us.”
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