Everything From Virginia Defensive Coordinator John Rudzinski After Wednesday's Practice

Fall Camp continued for the University of Virginia today, and the Cavaliers are nearly two weeks away from their season-opening game against Coastal Carolina. After Wednesday's practice, defensive coordinator John Rudzinski spoke with the media for the second time in camp, and here is everything that he had to say:

Opening Statement...

"All right, guys, we're almost two weeks out from playing a football game. It's been it's been great group to work with I look at, goodness, the effort that they've put in to build their bodies to get to this point and it's neat to see us put together, you know again, a few drives, against the offense and to see these guys go out and compete, yeah, as we're continuing to build, you know these defensive players and put in this defensive scheme we're, we're looking to put the best guys out there and I think we've made good progress so far."

1. On his takeaways from the scrimmage on Saturday...

" I think that you know we're getting closer to being calloused to be ready to play a football game. I think that you know what, it's been good this last week to get some good heat, that sun in the afternoon, and I think that you know what, as far as our guys are showing great understandings for what we're doing schematically, and so now it's a matter for us to really, you know, put one more scrimmage under our belt, get an idea as far as truly who are, and really press forward with our game plan as we get ready for game one."

2. On linebacker Landon Danely...

"Yeah, you know, Landon was one of those young men that we had an opportunity to evaluate, played quarterback, played safety. His freshman year was a safety here. And what he's done is he's gone from a 190 pound freshman year was a safety here. And what he's done is he's gone from a 190 pound quarterback in high school to a 230 pound linebacker and so that speaks for itself as far as the work that he's put in and again you know the opportunity he took advantage of playing a lot of football last season, his ability to slip blocks, find the ball and his overall understanding of the defense. It's been awesome to see him mature and tell you what he's going to be super productive on defense and special teams."

3. On facing five new offensive coordinators in the first five games...

" Yeah, I think that's every year because you just don't know, particularly early in the season, people's identity, what's really unique is with so many personnel changes throughout college football, you're also trying to evaluate who's going to be the quarterback, which I think really drives what people want to do offensively. From that coordinator standpoint, you have to do some digging, you have to go back a few years sometimes, you have to project, And then you have to be ready for a ton of different contingencies and you know, that's really our job as coaches is to put our guys through tough scenarios and so when they get out there and they see something that maybe we didn't practice or they haven't seen in a few weeks that they're ready, they can you know adapt and and frankly go be able to make plays/"

4. On evaluating Coastal Carolina...

"Yeah I think you have to you always look introspectively first. You got, you got to look at hey in our self scout, what are areas that people potentially want to expose or areas that hey maybe we didn't you know that screen and go or maybe there's a run concept that showed up a few times that we weren't we didn't fit as well as we'd like um so you first look at yourself second piece is, is then uh you know what but like a group like that, golly, you they can do so much you know they got talent, they got talented personnel. they have the ability with again their head coach he's got unbelievable offensive experience um match with the tremendous coordinator So, you know, we'll have our hands full in preparation, you know, as we really dive into that this weekend."

5. On DT Jason Hammond...

"Yeah, Jason, another young man that's worked his tail off. Um, you just look at his body, you know, you know, almost 300 pounds. He's got unbelievable movement skills and his ability to transitional pass rush. You know what, I tell you what, we missed him late last season. He's looked really, really good in camp and we're excited to see him be able to, you know, win on some guards and golly use him in a different, you know, be able to play technique and be able to move him throughout our front. But, you know, he's one of those young men we're counting on to play a ton of snaps and play a ton of productive snaps this fall."

6. On the defensive line rotation...

"No, I think what it is is, you know what, is guys earn the right to play through what they put on film and practice and then also their body of work that they've had throughout their career. And so, you know, what we're blessed of. And we had a bunch of guys that we can roll throughout our defensive front. You know, excited to think the different combinations. You try to match the different combinations. And you just want to make sure, you know, as a coaching staff, we make sure that we're mixing those combinations throughout practice so that for running a pass rush game or the communication piece that those different guys know exactly what we're going to do and but no it's it's it's exciting you know you know to be able to have as many bodies as we do and they're going to be super productive as well."

7. On CB Josiah Persinger...

"Yeah, you know and so, you know, you see great recoverability speed, you see great top end, you know, but again, Ken was raised the right way, came from a great family and he is tough. And so It's been fun to see him get opportunities to go compete against really talented receiving corps that our offense has. The sky's the limit as he continues to take advantage of all the awesome resources in the weight room, nutrition, he's going to play a bunch of football here for the Hoos."

8. On Devin Neal...

"Yeah again you know it's your blessing you to work with those guys that are college graduates and you know he's just physically, I mean he's a, he's a grown man as far as I mean, he's one of those guys, we didn't have to create a great foundation for him. He already had a great foundation and now it's for us, it's honing his skills, you know, Coach Cox and Coach Brown, they're doing an unbelievable job as far as, you know, continuing to build on his football intelligence, but super intentional with how he prepares and, you know, he's a guy that, you know, he has proven with with ACC accolades already and schematically you know what he can do a lot for us as far as you know holding the disguise you know playing man coverage and like you mentioned he you know he loves to tackle he wants to be on the ball he's a guy that plays with great effort."

9. On what makes Jonas Sanker such a tough player to replace...

"You know, tell you what, he was a, he, how hard he played. And I think that, that, you know what, you just, you show the film and you just watch him. And the guy that he's going to go sideline to sideline his contribution on special teams was tremendous. But we got a bunch of guys that kind of look at that example and they see that modeling of far as what that looks like. And I'm excited to say there's a bunch of guys that are practicing that way. They're preparing that way and now it's one thing to talk about, it's one thing to practice that way, it's another thing for those guys to now put that type of film."

10. On having so many guys with experience...

"Yeah, anytime that you bring in guys that have been on great programs, been coached by great coaches, you know what? What's great is that you get great feedback as well and you know what? When you work with a young man and he has been in the program for four or five years or he's coming in from another program and is you know a fourth or a fifth year what you do is you get you get to leverage all the experience that they have and they bring new ideas or they may say coach, technique wise have you thought of this you know what what if we do it this way and that relationship is a little bit different um and that's earned through experience and that's what it is really neat to uh to ,to have guys that we're working with at all levels, you know in the defensive line linebacker and then also DB that if I had great college football experiences and you know what now? It's a matter for us as a staff to continue to put that together to make sure that all the pieces tie together so we can go play good sound tough defense."

11. On LB Trey McDonald...

"Trey McDonald's ability to play multiple spots, you know, or Mike or Will, you know what, he is tough and hard -nosed and super smart, can make all the checks, which I tell you what, when you have somebody out there that has that type of leadership, that type of football knowledge, it allows other guys to play faster. And ultimately, it's one thing for you to play fast but to help another teammate to do so is a special attribute and he does a great job at that."