PINEHURST, N.C. (WDRB) — If you like hearing an offensive-minded football coach talk about how he goes about things, you’ll like this 20-minute discussion with University of Louisville coach Bobby Petrino.
Petrino is rarely better than when he sits down and just talks football at length. This is 16 questions, most of them involving his five-player quarterback race, but expanding into his wider offensive views, strategies and practices.
It’s pretty interesting, for those hard-core football folks among you, and worth reading in its entirety.
These questions were asked by a group of reporters at ACC Football Media Days.
Q: You ready to name a starting quarterback?
PETRINO: Obviously, that’s not it. But I’m excited to get started and get out on the practice field and let them compete for it and see where we’re at. They all look good. They had good summers. They’re stronger, bigger, excited to get going. They did a nice job while the coaches were gone for a few weeks in leading the program.
Q: Where will you start? Are they all on a level playing field?
PETRINO: The way I’ve always done it is you give each of them an opportunity to jump in there with the number ones. So sometimes it might be like, two guys a day, so if we’re doing a blitz pick-up period, have one quarterback in there with the ones, the other guy split the reps that are left over. Then in the team period you put somebody else in with the ones. But I think the only way that it’s a fair competition is if they get to go with the best offensive linemen and best wide receivers and running backs and tight ends, against our best defensive players. And that’s how And that’s how you decide who is able to move the team, and who is able to operate the offense the way we want it operated.
Q: Have you ever had five to work through?
PETRINO: Yeah, we have a lot. Early on, what we’ll do the first four practices or the first four days is we’ll split the practices. So we’ll take our newcomers and practice them separate from the vets, and that gives guys opportunities to get more reps there. Although they’re shorter practices and a little more intense as far as the number of reps they have to take, it does provide opportunities. And then once we come together on that fifth practice, obviously the guys that do better are going to get more reps.
Q: Do you have them on a shorter leash, if you mess up one game it could be someone else the next?
PETRINO: No, no. We don’t really have a tight leash. You’ve got to let them go out there and do what they do. The biggest thing is, for myself, coach McGee and our offensive coaches, we need to do a great job of teaching the entire offense to them. We’ve gone through it already two times in the spring. Now we’ll do it again in August. Then we need to know what parts of the offense each guy operates the best, and mold that around them, and let them highlight what their abilities are and what they do real well, and try to hide what they don’t do real well.
Q: In this situation, do you let the quarterback practice against live hitting any more than you might?
PETRINO: That’s a great question. I kind of felt like in spring, we weren’t sure we really know enough about Reggie, if he starts running the ball maybe it’s different for him. I always worried about that with Stefan LeFors. When he was quarterbacks, I told our assistant coaches all the time, ‘I”m not sure we’re really going to know how good he is until it’s live and people have to tackle him.’ And then look what happened, he either threw a completion or ran the ball for yards, and led the country in completion percentage. It wasn’t because he threw the ball really accurately, it was his ability to run it. That’s going to be something we have to evaluate ongoing. You don’t want to lose anyone in practice, but you want to find out exactly what your best way to win is going to be.
Q: You mentioned Lamar Jackson. What impresses you about him?
PETRINO: Lamar has the talent. He’s an unbelievable athlete. He can throw the ball naturally. So there’s not a lot of coaching that you have to do with his release and what he does as far as his upper body and throwing the football. So it’s just learning the drops, getting his feet into position, and throwing it that way. But he has a strong arm, and, you know, just give him an opportunity and see where he is. How much he gets into the competition will be up to him and how much he does in that first four days showing us how quickly he can pick things up and how he can adjust.
Q: Will he be the only quarterback in that first four?
PETRINO: We’re trying to figure all that out. One of the things you have to do is work around school. You’re in summer school up until Wednesday, so we have four days of practice during summer school. So you don’t really get the two-a-days like you used to do. You have to deal with it. If we’re able to get another quarterback to work with them, I would like to have two guys go with the newcomers just to get more opportunities for receivers catching the ball, and just more plays to run.
Q: James Quick may be your biggest target this year. Where does he stand?
PETRINO: That’s a great question too. James had a very good spring. And he’s shown that he’s a very hard worker. He likes that role. He’s cherished the fact that he’s going to be the first guy in line all the time, any drill we do, he finishes hard. He’s shown leadership. He’s been very productive in the spring. Caught the ball better than he has. But we’ve got to develop other guys. I like the group overall, when you line them up and you look at them, they can run. But we’ve got a lot to learn. We’ve got some talented freshmen who want to fight their way into some reps. And we’ve got some guys who played well in spring, and we have to find out where the depth really is.
Q: Was there anything Reggie didn’t show you in spring that kept you from just saying, ‘He’s our guy?’
PETRINO: I just want there to be competition. It wasn’t a case of him not showing me something. I thought he played real well in spring, executed really well in the Spring Game, but he needs to come in and compete, go in the meeting room and answer the questions. I want him to be able to answer the question before Will (Gardner) does, or Will try to answer it before Kyle (Bolin) does. I want there to be pressure on them to practice real well and compete for the job and out-work the other guy. I think that will make them all better.
Q: Can you go through the four and tell us what you like about each of them. You mentioned Lamar already.
PETRINO: Will is coming off an injury. I felt like he was really picking the offense up before he got injured. You look at how we were playing at North Carolina State and first half of the Boston College game, he was on top of it and seemed like he was really getting it. He was accurate throwing the ball, distributing it real well. But it’s his third injury, so you’re always worried about how he’s going to do coming off that. And we might not know for a couple of weeks. We might not know until after he’s practiced five days in a row. So that’s a concern.
Reggie, I think, has shown his maturity, his competitive spirit. I’m very proud of the way he handled everything last year. It’s kind of amazing to me. He’s at his dad’s funeral and finds out the next day that he’s going to start the next week. He wasn’t even traveling with us, and he handled it great. He’s got to get his feet right every time. If he gets his feet in position every time he can be a real accurate passer. He does throw the deep ball real well. And he obviously can make plays with his legs.
Kyle showed that he’s a great competitor. He distributed the ball real well when he was given the chance. And he knows the offense. He’s really picked it up. A year ago at this time Kyle had just been operated on and wasn’t even in competition. So he did a good job getting better as the year went on and found a way to win a game that we were down 13, so I respect that a lot.
Tyler Ferguson had a pretty good spring. He’s got the type of arm that you like. He’s got a quick release. He’s got to be more accountable with his emotions and get on to the next play. He’s high-strung and he doesn’t sometimes, when he does something wrong, put it behind him and move on. So it affects the next play. Or, sometimes you do something right, and you can’t put it behind you and move on and concentrate like you should the next play. So that’s really a great challenge for him.
http://www.wdrb.com/story/29598767/...lks-quarterbacks-and-offense-at-acc-media-day
Petrino is rarely better than when he sits down and just talks football at length. This is 16 questions, most of them involving his five-player quarterback race, but expanding into his wider offensive views, strategies and practices.
It’s pretty interesting, for those hard-core football folks among you, and worth reading in its entirety.
These questions were asked by a group of reporters at ACC Football Media Days.
Q: You ready to name a starting quarterback?
PETRINO: Obviously, that’s not it. But I’m excited to get started and get out on the practice field and let them compete for it and see where we’re at. They all look good. They had good summers. They’re stronger, bigger, excited to get going. They did a nice job while the coaches were gone for a few weeks in leading the program.
Q: Where will you start? Are they all on a level playing field?
PETRINO: The way I’ve always done it is you give each of them an opportunity to jump in there with the number ones. So sometimes it might be like, two guys a day, so if we’re doing a blitz pick-up period, have one quarterback in there with the ones, the other guy split the reps that are left over. Then in the team period you put somebody else in with the ones. But I think the only way that it’s a fair competition is if they get to go with the best offensive linemen and best wide receivers and running backs and tight ends, against our best defensive players. And that’s how And that’s how you decide who is able to move the team, and who is able to operate the offense the way we want it operated.
Q: Have you ever had five to work through?
PETRINO: Yeah, we have a lot. Early on, what we’ll do the first four practices or the first four days is we’ll split the practices. So we’ll take our newcomers and practice them separate from the vets, and that gives guys opportunities to get more reps there. Although they’re shorter practices and a little more intense as far as the number of reps they have to take, it does provide opportunities. And then once we come together on that fifth practice, obviously the guys that do better are going to get more reps.
Q: Do you have them on a shorter leash, if you mess up one game it could be someone else the next?
PETRINO: No, no. We don’t really have a tight leash. You’ve got to let them go out there and do what they do. The biggest thing is, for myself, coach McGee and our offensive coaches, we need to do a great job of teaching the entire offense to them. We’ve gone through it already two times in the spring. Now we’ll do it again in August. Then we need to know what parts of the offense each guy operates the best, and mold that around them, and let them highlight what their abilities are and what they do real well, and try to hide what they don’t do real well.
Q: In this situation, do you let the quarterback practice against live hitting any more than you might?
PETRINO: That’s a great question. I kind of felt like in spring, we weren’t sure we really know enough about Reggie, if he starts running the ball maybe it’s different for him. I always worried about that with Stefan LeFors. When he was quarterbacks, I told our assistant coaches all the time, ‘I”m not sure we’re really going to know how good he is until it’s live and people have to tackle him.’ And then look what happened, he either threw a completion or ran the ball for yards, and led the country in completion percentage. It wasn’t because he threw the ball really accurately, it was his ability to run it. That’s going to be something we have to evaluate ongoing. You don’t want to lose anyone in practice, but you want to find out exactly what your best way to win is going to be.
Q: You mentioned Lamar Jackson. What impresses you about him?
PETRINO: Lamar has the talent. He’s an unbelievable athlete. He can throw the ball naturally. So there’s not a lot of coaching that you have to do with his release and what he does as far as his upper body and throwing the football. So it’s just learning the drops, getting his feet into position, and throwing it that way. But he has a strong arm, and, you know, just give him an opportunity and see where he is. How much he gets into the competition will be up to him and how much he does in that first four days showing us how quickly he can pick things up and how he can adjust.
Q: Will he be the only quarterback in that first four?
PETRINO: We’re trying to figure all that out. One of the things you have to do is work around school. You’re in summer school up until Wednesday, so we have four days of practice during summer school. So you don’t really get the two-a-days like you used to do. You have to deal with it. If we’re able to get another quarterback to work with them, I would like to have two guys go with the newcomers just to get more opportunities for receivers catching the ball, and just more plays to run.
Q: James Quick may be your biggest target this year. Where does he stand?
PETRINO: That’s a great question too. James had a very good spring. And he’s shown that he’s a very hard worker. He likes that role. He’s cherished the fact that he’s going to be the first guy in line all the time, any drill we do, he finishes hard. He’s shown leadership. He’s been very productive in the spring. Caught the ball better than he has. But we’ve got to develop other guys. I like the group overall, when you line them up and you look at them, they can run. But we’ve got a lot to learn. We’ve got some talented freshmen who want to fight their way into some reps. And we’ve got some guys who played well in spring, and we have to find out where the depth really is.
Q: Was there anything Reggie didn’t show you in spring that kept you from just saying, ‘He’s our guy?’
PETRINO: I just want there to be competition. It wasn’t a case of him not showing me something. I thought he played real well in spring, executed really well in the Spring Game, but he needs to come in and compete, go in the meeting room and answer the questions. I want him to be able to answer the question before Will (Gardner) does, or Will try to answer it before Kyle (Bolin) does. I want there to be pressure on them to practice real well and compete for the job and out-work the other guy. I think that will make them all better.
Q: Can you go through the four and tell us what you like about each of them. You mentioned Lamar already.
PETRINO: Will is coming off an injury. I felt like he was really picking the offense up before he got injured. You look at how we were playing at North Carolina State and first half of the Boston College game, he was on top of it and seemed like he was really getting it. He was accurate throwing the ball, distributing it real well. But it’s his third injury, so you’re always worried about how he’s going to do coming off that. And we might not know for a couple of weeks. We might not know until after he’s practiced five days in a row. So that’s a concern.
Reggie, I think, has shown his maturity, his competitive spirit. I’m very proud of the way he handled everything last year. It’s kind of amazing to me. He’s at his dad’s funeral and finds out the next day that he’s going to start the next week. He wasn’t even traveling with us, and he handled it great. He’s got to get his feet right every time. If he gets his feet in position every time he can be a real accurate passer. He does throw the deep ball real well. And he obviously can make plays with his legs.
Kyle showed that he’s a great competitor. He distributed the ball real well when he was given the chance. And he knows the offense. He’s really picked it up. A year ago at this time Kyle had just been operated on and wasn’t even in competition. So he did a good job getting better as the year went on and found a way to win a game that we were down 13, so I respect that a lot.
Tyler Ferguson had a pretty good spring. He’s got the type of arm that you like. He’s got a quick release. He’s got to be more accountable with his emotions and get on to the next play. He’s high-strung and he doesn’t sometimes, when he does something wrong, put it behind him and move on. So it affects the next play. Or, sometimes you do something right, and you can’t put it behind you and move on and concentrate like you should the next play. So that’s really a great challenge for him.
http://www.wdrb.com/story/29598767/...lks-quarterbacks-and-offense-at-acc-media-day
