Longo highlights from Monday: why he recruited Sam Howell, QB progression, offensive line and more

Here's everything Phil Longo had to say during his Monday press conference

On the QB progression

Going back all the way to the spring, I think Sam (Howell) and Jace (Ruder) and Cade (Fortin) at the time did a good job of learning the system. That was the challenge in the spring. It was a different atmosphere when they got back here in the fall. They’d done a great job from a leadership standpoint of running a lot of our player-led practices and making sure that what we needed to get accomplished in the summer, got accomplished.

When we got here in August, really, the offense was learned and it was a matter of the three of them now competing. I think Jace and Sam have done a good job of leading when they had the opportunity to do that.

As I told them both in the room, I want them both to prepare as starters. The plan is to have them in the plan every single week.

On Howell's leadership...

He’s done a good job of leading. I think that making a decision enables Sam in this particular situation to prepare as the starter and have two weeks to feel what it’s like to be that guy. I think he’s accepted that role pretty good.

On how Howell separated himself...

Probably overall, he was the most consistent quarterback that we have. He’s probably throwing the ball the best right now; he does have the ability to run the football and he’s done an incredible job, I think, of learning the system. The trick for him as a freshman is going to be to play within the system and play within his own ability and make good decisions. I think for either Sam or Jace the objective this week is to manage the game and distribute the football to the athletes that we have and not try to win the game.

On the QBs embracing a leadership role...

I think all of them voiced that they would feel a greater comfort level being a little bit more vocal once they’re in that role, and I think we’re starting to see that in Sam right now.

On the scenario for using two quarterbacks on Saturday...

That situation kind of takes care of itself, because if you have somebody playing well, you roll with them. There's a plan for both and whether or not we get to that plan is going to be dictated by the game situation.

I’ve asked them both to prepare as starters; they know that Sam will start the game and we hope he plays well and we can use him and roll with his good play. There is a package for Jace and/or the option to play Jace.

On how Ruder has handled the backup role...

Like a pro. We have some really good character guys in the room and they all busted their tail to learn the system and they competed and they helped each other, they coached each other. They all had a good relationship and I think any professional backup quarterback approaching it the right way is going to prepare like the starter. They’re getting equal reps, so it’s not like Jace is getting less reps than Sam. He’s repping the same gameplan, the same plays, the same number of plays; all of that, it’s identical, their preparation.

His assessment of South Carolina...

They’re very talented; the strength of the defense is up front. Their defensive line, as I well know, I played them four games ago, they’re exceptional, led by (Javon Kinlaw). He’s a scheme changer. You have to adapt everything you do to a player like that and he’s got a good supporting cast with him on the d-line.

They have a lot of experience. (Israel Mukuamu) is 6-4, 6-5, he’s tall, he’s long. If he gets his hands on you, it’s hard to run routes on him. He’s an issue. Overall, they match up well with us.

The most important battle on the field is going to be our offensive line and their defensive line, that’s probably the biggest matchup in the game for us on Saturday.

On what he's preaching leading into Saturday...

We’ve got to do a good job securing the football. There’s already been some football games played and really, the win was dictated by turnovers. Ball security is the No. 1 priority. In some of those other games, you saw some mistakes. You have those opening game mistakes: the penalties, the turnovers, the miscues, those are the kind of things we’re trying to harp on right now so we play a clean, consistent, smart football game where we’re not putting the ball on the game. If we can do those things, it’ll go a long way to allowing us to play some successful football on the offensive side.

On the offensive line...

Coach (Stacy) Searels, hes’ got a young line he’s working with, he’s doing a phenomenal job of developing them.

Right now, Stacy is developing and creating some continuity. We’re getting pretty stout up front now in practice, we kind of like where we’re going. It’s been five guys playing together for a while now, a week and a half now.

On Marcus McKethan starting at right guard...

His size helps, but if you don’t execute, you don’t have good footwork, you don’t get your hands on people, you don’t know your job, size doesn’t make a difference. He’s always been a big, strong guy. I think right now he’s done a better job moving his feet, he’s done a better job playing some consistent football and that’s the one aspect of his play Coach Searels has been harping on is him playing consistent football and adjusting to some scenarios in our run and our pass blocking schemes. Right now, we feel like Marcus has done a great job of improving.

On how to handle inexperience...

You prep ‘em and you go play. We’ve got young receivers, we’ve got a young O-line, we’ve got your quarterbacks. I can complain about it or we can go coach them, and that’s what we do. The quarterbacks could not do more to prepare for this game than they’ve done. I know Coach Searels is working the o-line as hard as he can. What I do like about this group is we’re mature, we’re a smart group, they work hard and they have a great work ethic. Those are the things you need to get out of a young guy or a group of young guys when you’re heading into a huge opening game against a team like South Carolina. We’re getting what we want in practice from these guys; how they react to the speed of the game until Saturday, we won’t know until we get there.

On whether he recruited Howell at Ole Miss...

Sam and I knew each other, I knew his father, Duke . I had met him, I had been out there plenty of times. I think the opportunity to get Sam to fly over 15 other offers in Oxford, Mississippi at at time we had a two-year bowl ban wasn’t a great recruiting situation for us.

I knew he liked the offense, we had a little bit of relationship and the biggest negative I had coming from a different school was no longer there. I was coming from the in-state school, the top in-state school, so that obviously was an advantage.

On what stood out about Sam as a recruit...

Sam has a little bit of grit to him and he’s got that it-factor. He can throw the football without question; he’s a big arm-talent kid, he’s a better runner than he looks and he does a good job on that end of it. I’m really, really impressed with him being a true freshman, how committed he is to coming in and watching film, studying the opponent and learning the game. He can draw up any run scheme against any front you can imagine and for a freshman to be able to do that stuff is pretty impressive. Understands coverages, understands protections and I think his role as a leader is growing after naming him as a starter.

On how he first met Mike Leach and why his philosophy made an impression on him...

I met Mike leach in (1997).

I drove down to a clinic when he was at Kentucky. I spent a bunch of time, I waited until everybody was done and spent a bunch of time with him in the evening. I didn’t have a lot of money; I slept in my 4 Runner then we headed back. 

For five or six years I had been looking for an offensive system I believed in and you do what any guy coming out of college, having played, you run and coach the system that you have and that’s what I was doing. I was looking at BYU and Joe Tiller at Purdue and different things, then I met Mike and Hal (Mumme) at Kentucky and I spent a lot of time with Mike and I just left there knowing that was the system that made sense to me.

 I could run it; I’m not very bright, so if I can run the thing, I can teach it to our players.  I think it allows them to play instinctively, it gets great athletes the ball in space, it takes less learning I think, so the learning curve is shorter so you’re able to get to the real football. We’ve been adapting it ever sense. I think the only big difference between the die-hard Air Raid population and what we do is that we’re just going to emphasize, there’s a much greater emphasis on the run game as well with this offense than maybe in the pure Air Raid system.