Oregon’s offense doesn’t look like a team that is 2-5 and are a very balanced unit…
They have explosive players at wide receiver and 2-3 home run hitters at running back. They are very balanced about 240 yards rushing and passing. You sound like a broken record every week saying the same thing, but it really does boil down to having to stop the run and make them try and throw the football and when you do you have to eliminate the explosive plays.
Quarterback Justin Herbert only has two games under his belt, but it seems like he really got that offense going…
He does a nice job spreading the ball around and he is a threat to run – he has great size. I think they (Cal) kept him a little off-balance, otherwise, his accuracy would be better. It’s hard to judge from just two games but has made some nice throws and he did have six touchdowns. If you allow those guys to maintain that balance, you’ll be in for a long day.
He’s a different kind of guy when he gets out of containment he’s a threat to run the ball, but he’s also a threat to throw it. With all their read zone, read power, read stretch, you have to make sure you have accountability on him. He will lull you to sleep, give it, give it (handoff to running backs) and then runs the ball. He’ a very intelligent kid, who makes good reads and goes decisions. He doesn’t seem to put the ball in jeopardy a lot. So again, at some point, you have to get him off-balance.
I can’t say enough about our kids from a week ago, 11 tackles for loss, and seven quarterback sacks. They (WSU) had no chance of running the football because we dominated the line of scrimmage. It has to be more of the same this week.
You touched on Oregon’s run game, how would you compare Royce Freeman from last year to this year?
It looks to me like he is a little banged up, but I assume he will be healthy against us – just the way the season is going…he is the guy. He is an NFL running back. And the other two guys are fast as grease lightning, and it turns into a foot race with those guys and you have to keep them inside and in front…He’s more deceptive. Once he gets the ball to the perimeter he just breaks (a play) just like he did last year. No one ever catches him. When he’s healthy, you better bring your lunch pail when you go to tackle him. You have to get a population and gang tackle him.”
As a junior college transfer, Koron Crump came in with a lot of expectations, but did you expect him at this point of the season to be leading the Pac-12 with eight sacks?
He’s probably our best defensive player right now, for what we ask him to do. What was the most impressive that night (versus WSU) he played 68 defensive snaps, covered every punt, covered every kick. I’ve never seen a guy who plays at such a – I have no idea how fast he runs a 40-yard dash – but he just gets better and gains confidence every single day. What has surprised me more than what he can do physically is the amount of things we are asking him to do.
If you ever told me he would be the gunner on our punt team, covering kicks…I looked at it today and tried to streamline some things for him…he has four different deployments from the structure of our defense that we ask him. What’s so great about that kid is that I show up Sunday morning and he is the first guy you run into on the elevator. He’s down there in study hall so he can get back up there later that day to study the game film and the opponent film. He has been a pleasant surprise in that regard, just with his work ethic. The sky is the limit for that guy.
Ever since you moved Marcus Ball to start at Bandit safety he has led the team in tackles each of the last three games…
If we had to have two MVP’s…I really believe Laiu Moeakiola has had his best two games as well. he has played really two solid games. Marcus Ball has put together three games in a row that are probably as good as any defensive back we had since I've been here aside from probably Damarious (Randall). He’s playing unbelievable. He’s physical with his tackling, he’s making great plays in pass coverage. He’s doing an unbelievable job supporting the run and he is as big a part of that as to why it’s so tough to run the ball against us.
When you see a young man that has fought through all those adversities that he had to fight through to be able to perform at the level that he’s at, is great.
On the move of Jason Lewis from running back to linebacker
I don’t if he (Lewis) can help us right away, but I tell you what, for the future…I had multiple all-conference players at linebacker and they had one characteristic in common – they were all high school running backs. So I think he fits that mold. He has a great body, a 250 lbs’ athletic guy that can run. I think he is excited to play the position. He has toughness, size, and athleticism. It’s just going to be a process of learning what we are doing. He has a tremendous upside. I like what I’ve seen the last two days at linebacker. I’m not going to tell you what it is but Like what I’ve seen so far. We’ll see what happens on Saturday.
They have explosive players at wide receiver and 2-3 home run hitters at running back. They are very balanced about 240 yards rushing and passing. You sound like a broken record every week saying the same thing, but it really does boil down to having to stop the run and make them try and throw the football and when you do you have to eliminate the explosive plays.
Quarterback Justin Herbert only has two games under his belt, but it seems like he really got that offense going…
He does a nice job spreading the ball around and he is a threat to run – he has great size. I think they (Cal) kept him a little off-balance, otherwise, his accuracy would be better. It’s hard to judge from just two games but has made some nice throws and he did have six touchdowns. If you allow those guys to maintain that balance, you’ll be in for a long day.
He’s a different kind of guy when he gets out of containment he’s a threat to run the ball, but he’s also a threat to throw it. With all their read zone, read power, read stretch, you have to make sure you have accountability on him. He will lull you to sleep, give it, give it (handoff to running backs) and then runs the ball. He’ a very intelligent kid, who makes good reads and goes decisions. He doesn’t seem to put the ball in jeopardy a lot. So again, at some point, you have to get him off-balance.
I can’t say enough about our kids from a week ago, 11 tackles for loss, and seven quarterback sacks. They (WSU) had no chance of running the football because we dominated the line of scrimmage. It has to be more of the same this week.
You touched on Oregon’s run game, how would you compare Royce Freeman from last year to this year?
It looks to me like he is a little banged up, but I assume he will be healthy against us – just the way the season is going…he is the guy. He is an NFL running back. And the other two guys are fast as grease lightning, and it turns into a foot race with those guys and you have to keep them inside and in front…He’s more deceptive. Once he gets the ball to the perimeter he just breaks (a play) just like he did last year. No one ever catches him. When he’s healthy, you better bring your lunch pail when you go to tackle him. You have to get a population and gang tackle him.”
As a junior college transfer, Koron Crump came in with a lot of expectations, but did you expect him at this point of the season to be leading the Pac-12 with eight sacks?
He’s probably our best defensive player right now, for what we ask him to do. What was the most impressive that night (versus WSU) he played 68 defensive snaps, covered every punt, covered every kick. I’ve never seen a guy who plays at such a – I have no idea how fast he runs a 40-yard dash – but he just gets better and gains confidence every single day. What has surprised me more than what he can do physically is the amount of things we are asking him to do.
If you ever told me he would be the gunner on our punt team, covering kicks…I looked at it today and tried to streamline some things for him…he has four different deployments from the structure of our defense that we ask him. What’s so great about that kid is that I show up Sunday morning and he is the first guy you run into on the elevator. He’s down there in study hall so he can get back up there later that day to study the game film and the opponent film. He has been a pleasant surprise in that regard, just with his work ethic. The sky is the limit for that guy.
Ever since you moved Marcus Ball to start at Bandit safety he has led the team in tackles each of the last three games…
If we had to have two MVP’s…I really believe Laiu Moeakiola has had his best two games as well. he has played really two solid games. Marcus Ball has put together three games in a row that are probably as good as any defensive back we had since I've been here aside from probably Damarious (Randall). He’s playing unbelievable. He’s physical with his tackling, he’s making great plays in pass coverage. He’s doing an unbelievable job supporting the run and he is as big a part of that as to why it’s so tough to run the ball against us.
When you see a young man that has fought through all those adversities that he had to fight through to be able to perform at the level that he’s at, is great.
On the move of Jason Lewis from running back to linebacker
I don’t if he (Lewis) can help us right away, but I tell you what, for the future…I had multiple all-conference players at linebacker and they had one characteristic in common – they were all high school running backs. So I think he fits that mold. He has a great body, a 250 lbs’ athletic guy that can run. I think he is excited to play the position. He has toughness, size, and athleticism. It’s just going to be a process of learning what we are doing. He has a tremendous upside. I like what I’ve seen the last two days at linebacker. I’m not going to tell you what it is but Like what I’ve seen so far. We’ll see what happens on Saturday.
