Indiana University Athletics
Quoted: Rutgers
11/10/2021 4:00:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In the midst of Indiana football's preparations for a noon kickoff against Rutgers on Saturday (Nov. 13), the Hoosiers talked to the media throughout the week and below are quotes from coordinators Nick Sheridan and Charlton Warren.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conferences, while video of the full coordinator media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Nick Sheridan | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On the quarterback situation entering the Rutgers game…
NS: I think it will be fluid. We will see how those guys are able to operate and move around. We will take it day-to-day on that. Obviously, the sooner in the week you know about the availability of any player, you make plans according to that. We also have the ability to adjust and adapt if things improve or get worse as the week wears on. That's pretty standard with a lot of positions, and certainly one as important relative to the types of plays you want to put in the game plan, but we'll have to have some agility there and be able to adapt.
On Donaven McCulley's progression through his first two starts…
NS: I think the thing we are trying to help encourage and coach Donaven about is to make quick decisions, relative to both in the running game and in the passing game. I think in order to play quarterback at a high level you need to be decisive, know when to throw it, know when to run it, and know when the journey's over and nothing good can happen in order to take care of the football. We are trying to coach him up through that, he does it well at times. Certainly, it was a challenge the other night, not just for him but for the whole offense. We had a few third downs where we just didn't execute and weren't able to sustain drives. If we had been able to convert in those situations, you would get into a rhythm a little bit and a better flow than we obviously did, and that would be him included. I think it's hard when we went three-and-out too much. We had a third-and-2 we didn't convert, we had a third-and-4 where we had a false start, and if you're able to convert in those situations, like we did at different times in the first half, then for him he would be able to get into a little rhythm and feel more comfortable. For him, trying to get him comfortable, be quick, make good decisions, use his athleticism, use his arm strength when those opportunities present themselves. Despite our struggles the other night, he made progress in some areas, did some things better. You mentioned the run, I thought that was an excellent run, obviously showed his physicality, speed, and athleticism - and we have to be able to build on that moving forward.
On McCulley being aware of back-side defenders…
NS: I was yelling at him to look out for the guy he didn't see. He didn't hear me and bounced right off of him. We call that the blind pursuit. It's usually not the guy you do see, it's the guy you don't relative to fumbles and those types of things. I think his size, he's a big kid, and sometimes you lose sight of that when you're around him every day. You see him out on the field - he's a big kid and he's only going to get bigger and stronger. Certainly, he has some great natural ability, and we are trying to do everything we can to make him feel comfortable out there each and every snap. I thought at times he did a nice job of that, but obviously the whole unit, myself included, has to do better.
Charlton Warren | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
On how Micah McFadden compares to other guys he has coached…
CW: It's an all-league effort. I think his ability to sustain, his ability to [in a critical moment] puncture a gap, come off a block, and make a play is pretty incredible. You look at a guy, due to injuries and things that happen playing a bunch of snaps, his motor is the same on play one or play 70. That's pretty unnatural. Guys get tired, guys get winded and take plays off, but it's hard to find a play where that guy takes off. It's pretty special and pretty rare, and I'm really glad I got a chance to coach him.
On what the defense has to do to secure more takeaways…
CW: I'll tell you, there's no less focus on them. Schematically, we've talked about this before, schematically when you go from being a pure zone vision team, which is really what the Indiana defense was last year, where everyone is dropping and looking at the quarterback. There are gives and takes. For one, you see the ball more so you may get more takeaways, but you also might give up more explosive plays and get beat over the top a little more. When you play a little more man-match defense you are on the receivers way more than you're staring at the QB. We are a little bit of a mix of that scheme now, where we a cover every body so the quarterback has nowhere to go because there's no holes in the zone, where sometimes we play zone-vision and we do get takeaways because we're looking at the ball. I think because we are a mix - and quite honestly we missed a lot of opportunities - from a standpoint of either dropped ones or didn't get the ball. So, as a coach, as a program, we always stress those as our DNA. Obviously we want those, we work on that on a daily basis making those happen in practice, we just need to start seeing that and realizing the game.
On Michigan's big run following the Indiana touchdown…
CW: Really whenever they get in the end zone it is frustrating. No matter if it's the first play of the game or the last play of the game, our goal is to keep them out of the end zone. You compound that with it being an explosive play – which is one of our things being able to stop explosive plays - it is really frustrating. You want to always play complementary football. First drive we punt, pin them deep in the 3-yard line, and we hold serve on defense. When we score on offense, you want to hold serve on defense and give the ball back to the offense as soon as you can. Any score for us is disappointing and frustrating, but the explosive play when it happens makes it worse. It's something we talk about, something we have to do a better job of and really at the end of the day doing our job when the defense is called.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conferences, while video of the full coordinator media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Nick Sheridan | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On the quarterback situation entering the Rutgers game…
NS: I think it will be fluid. We will see how those guys are able to operate and move around. We will take it day-to-day on that. Obviously, the sooner in the week you know about the availability of any player, you make plans according to that. We also have the ability to adjust and adapt if things improve or get worse as the week wears on. That's pretty standard with a lot of positions, and certainly one as important relative to the types of plays you want to put in the game plan, but we'll have to have some agility there and be able to adapt.
On Donaven McCulley's progression through his first two starts…
NS: I think the thing we are trying to help encourage and coach Donaven about is to make quick decisions, relative to both in the running game and in the passing game. I think in order to play quarterback at a high level you need to be decisive, know when to throw it, know when to run it, and know when the journey's over and nothing good can happen in order to take care of the football. We are trying to coach him up through that, he does it well at times. Certainly, it was a challenge the other night, not just for him but for the whole offense. We had a few third downs where we just didn't execute and weren't able to sustain drives. If we had been able to convert in those situations, you would get into a rhythm a little bit and a better flow than we obviously did, and that would be him included. I think it's hard when we went three-and-out too much. We had a third-and-2 we didn't convert, we had a third-and-4 where we had a false start, and if you're able to convert in those situations, like we did at different times in the first half, then for him he would be able to get into a little rhythm and feel more comfortable. For him, trying to get him comfortable, be quick, make good decisions, use his athleticism, use his arm strength when those opportunities present themselves. Despite our struggles the other night, he made progress in some areas, did some things better. You mentioned the run, I thought that was an excellent run, obviously showed his physicality, speed, and athleticism - and we have to be able to build on that moving forward.
On McCulley being aware of back-side defenders…
NS: I was yelling at him to look out for the guy he didn't see. He didn't hear me and bounced right off of him. We call that the blind pursuit. It's usually not the guy you do see, it's the guy you don't relative to fumbles and those types of things. I think his size, he's a big kid, and sometimes you lose sight of that when you're around him every day. You see him out on the field - he's a big kid and he's only going to get bigger and stronger. Certainly, he has some great natural ability, and we are trying to do everything we can to make him feel comfortable out there each and every snap. I thought at times he did a nice job of that, but obviously the whole unit, myself included, has to do better.
Charlton Warren | Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
On how Micah McFadden compares to other guys he has coached…
CW: It's an all-league effort. I think his ability to sustain, his ability to [in a critical moment] puncture a gap, come off a block, and make a play is pretty incredible. You look at a guy, due to injuries and things that happen playing a bunch of snaps, his motor is the same on play one or play 70. That's pretty unnatural. Guys get tired, guys get winded and take plays off, but it's hard to find a play where that guy takes off. It's pretty special and pretty rare, and I'm really glad I got a chance to coach him.
On what the defense has to do to secure more takeaways…
CW: I'll tell you, there's no less focus on them. Schematically, we've talked about this before, schematically when you go from being a pure zone vision team, which is really what the Indiana defense was last year, where everyone is dropping and looking at the quarterback. There are gives and takes. For one, you see the ball more so you may get more takeaways, but you also might give up more explosive plays and get beat over the top a little more. When you play a little more man-match defense you are on the receivers way more than you're staring at the QB. We are a little bit of a mix of that scheme now, where we a cover every body so the quarterback has nowhere to go because there's no holes in the zone, where sometimes we play zone-vision and we do get takeaways because we're looking at the ball. I think because we are a mix - and quite honestly we missed a lot of opportunities - from a standpoint of either dropped ones or didn't get the ball. So, as a coach, as a program, we always stress those as our DNA. Obviously we want those, we work on that on a daily basis making those happen in practice, we just need to start seeing that and realizing the game.
On Michigan's big run following the Indiana touchdown…
CW: Really whenever they get in the end zone it is frustrating. No matter if it's the first play of the game or the last play of the game, our goal is to keep them out of the end zone. You compound that with it being an explosive play – which is one of our things being able to stop explosive plays - it is really frustrating. You want to always play complementary football. First drive we punt, pin them deep in the 3-yard line, and we hold serve on defense. When we score on offense, you want to hold serve on defense and give the ball back to the offense as soon as you can. Any score for us is disappointing and frustrating, but the explosive play when it happens makes it worse. It's something we talk about, something we have to do a better job of and really at the end of the day doing our job when the defense is called.
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