Latest / Coaches Corner / UConn FB Coach Jim Mora Presser - Nov 5 UAB Week

Transcript

UConn FB Coach Jim Mora Presser - Nov 5 UAB Week · Coaches Corner

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: What are how's everyone doing good? Got a really big
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: challenge this week. You know, got a ton of respect
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: for Trent Dilfer of known him a long time. He's
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a winner, he's a super Bowl champion, he's a you know,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I think he's a renowned quarterback coach. I think he's
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a tremendous offensive mind. You got an NFL son and
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a son of an NFL qu NFL quarterback playing quarterback.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: He's got great I think command sense of what it
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: takes to play that position. They're really big upfront, they
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: got tremendous skill position players on offense, They're really big
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: on defense, athletic as can be at linebacker in the secondary,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: run very very well, and I think they've got the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: most dynamic punt returner in the game. So going on
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the road and playing a team of this caliber, this
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: type of athleticism, that's coming off of a really dominant
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: win where they put up fifty nine points is you know,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: it's just a he of a challenge for this team.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we had a good practice today.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Our guys are in a good headspace, you know, getting
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: getting back to business after a good win. On Friday night,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: it was nice to give him one extra day to recover,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and they came out with a with a good sense
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of purpose today. But we know the challenge that we
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: face in this team. We recognize by watching the film
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: how skilled they are, having known trend as long as
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I have, and knowing the great competitor he is, the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: competitor he is. Uh, I know it's gonna be. It's
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: gonna be. You know, it's gonna be a heck of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: a heck of a challenge for us. So got to
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: go try to get one on the road, you know.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: And that's something that we've struggled with and uh so
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: we've got to find a way to go get one
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: on the road.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: What makes Shank so good is it speed?
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Is he getting walking?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Or well? I would say number one, he's fearless and
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: he has great confidence in himself. Uh he has amazing
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: short area of quickness. He he is elusive in the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: open field. I think that means he's got great vision
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and great instincts. They block very very well for him
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: because they know that he can take at the distance
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: anytime he touches it. And then he's got long speed.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: So you combine all those things, you know, just that
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I think he's got you know what I like call
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: athletic arrogance. You know, there's tremendous confidence in his athleticism
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: and and just he's got a swagger to him. And
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: he's scary, you know. I mean he he had one
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that was called back last week where they say stepped
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: out of bounds, but it didn't diminish what he looked
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: like running with the football. And so yeah, I mean,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and guys like that, they can change the ball, they
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: can change the game in a heartbeat. Sheffield in that description. Yeah, yeah,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I mean TJ's a hell of a punt return of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: this guy's averaging twenty five point six. I think I
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: think that's the number. I know it's it's something like
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: that return. So as you know, as great as I
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: think TJ is, this guy's stats are better. So uh,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: he's Yeah, he's dynamic as they come. He's's as dynamic
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: as we've seen. He reminds me as a returner of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: like Jay Flowers, you know, who's doing pretty well in
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the NFL as a receiver. You know we're talking about
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the returner now. As a receiver, he's just the same.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, he gets the ball in space, and you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: there's no difference between being a punt returner and being
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: a receiver with a ball in his hands in space,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: So we have to know where he is all the time.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: We have to do a great job in our punt coverage.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: We have to make sure that we have great leverage.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: We can't try to cheat on a block take it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: You know, we just got to be very disciplined and tackle.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Kidding us room for eight hundred yards in the last
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: two games.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: What I think a couple of things. I think Number one,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: he's very intelligent and he has great football awaring us.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: You know, he's spent his whole life around this game.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: He has the ability to extend plays with his feet,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and he does a really good job when he extends
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: plays of keeping his eyes down the field. And sometimes
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks at this level will take their eyes off the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: downfield when they start to scramble and look for maybe
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: escape lanes. He does a really good job of keeping
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: his eyes up the field and making throws late in
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the down that are effective. There was a play I'm
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: gonna say it was against U A B. Not not
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: U A B, I'm sorry, against U C F where
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: he was falling out of bounds, and it looked like
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: he was just gonna, you know, kind of concede the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: play and go on to the next one, and he
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: darts it in there up the field. So, uh, he's
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: got tremendous vision, and uh he also has that that
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: athletic air against that swag to him. You know that
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: really stands out about these guys is they're you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: they're a confident bunch, and they should be because they're
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: very athletic.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, team that's at least at home, but.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: Challenge into mindset goro.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Uh, I just think that. I mean, we talked about
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: it yesterday and then you let it go and you
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: just fall into your routine, you know. So the only
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: thing that's different for us is that we have a
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: two and a half hour flight. Other than that, the
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: timing of what we do leading up to the game
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: in that last twenty four to thirty six hours is
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: really the last forty eight hours is exactly the same.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: So you know, it's like I told them, in the field,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: it's one hundred and twenty hours long and fifty three
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and whatever nine inches wide, and the numbers are where
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: they are on every field, and you know, we just
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: have to we have to be able to focus on
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: our execution between the lines and not worry about where
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: we're playing, or what time we're playing and what the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: surface is ering those things. Just go out and execute
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: and you know, have a kind of a road warrior mentality,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you know, us against everybody in the stadium and everybody
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: that doubts US.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: So is only allowing one hundred just to secure pass
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: per game? But is that just because they're getting up
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: so much, you know, run game when you've been up
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: doing something.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I think that all those stats could indicate something, and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I think what
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: it indicates in this case is they've got a very
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: good secondary, I mean a very good secondary, so they're
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: not giving up big plays. I think it indicates that,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: unfortunately for them, they've had to play from behind in
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: a few games. You know, so other teams are maybe
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: more apt to run the football then put it in
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: the air against them and try to you know, use clock,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: not make a mistake on offense that can you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: let their opponent back in the game. So I think
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: it's more a function of that, you know, when you
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: look at them on film, which is the most important
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: thing for us to do is, yeah, you look at
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the statistics, but the film is what tells the story.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Is you've got a big, physical offensive line, you've got
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: very athletic linebackers, and you've got a good secondary and
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: they play good defense. So the stats to me are
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: you know, just like past stats, like you'll see teams
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: that give up. You know, you say they ranked in
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the bottom half of the country and passing yards allowed,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: but they've you know, won nine games. Well, let's be
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: they've been way ahead and everyone's having to pass every
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: day to try to get in it. You know, they're
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: gonna get yards that way. So to us, it's just
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: let's look at the film and let's see who they
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: are off of the film and what I see as
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: a talented team.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: I know you don't like to look at little lilestones
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: along the way, but this seems big to you. Come
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: chance you can have the first winning season in fourteen years.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: If you get to a win, is that something that's
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: some harder you can used to look.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: At and be proud of.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: If we can find a way to get a win. Yeah,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: So I just think it's really dangerous to focus on that.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I think the most important thing we can do is
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: the work and focus on how we can be very
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: our very best that day at practice, in that moment
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: that we're practicing a certain play or a certain defense
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: or a certain part of the kicking game.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I just feel like that's the most important way for
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: us to have a chance to get that seventh win
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: is to focus on how do we just be great
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: today and get this one win? Now. If you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: at some point this season, if we're able to get
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: a seventh win and have a winning record, then you know,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: then we'll talk about it briefly and then we'll go
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: on to the next one.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: So for us, just standing in the present, to me
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: is proven to be the best thing for this football
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: team right now, oh.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Players, after.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Last week, players, because that's what we do, it's how
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: we talk, it's what we reinforce, it's what they're made of.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: It's what we've done every single day. So it's about consistency,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: you know, It's it regardless if you win or lose.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: There's a there's a script that you stick to. You know,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: there's a plan that you stick to. There's a routine
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: that you stick to through the week. There's certain things
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: that you focus on every single week and you just
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: don't deviate from those things. So regardless if it's a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: tough loss or it's a it's a win that you
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: know makes you buwl eligible, which doesn't mean bull bound.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: You just stick to your routine, you know, the things
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: that have gotten you to that point thus far. And
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: for us, that's you know, just doing the work man,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: whether it's in the meeting room, the weight room, whether
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: it's out on the practice field, whether it's at home
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: getting extra study, whether it's coming in you know after
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: hours and meeting with your coaches. It's doing the work.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: It's never taking any of the details for granted, it's
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: paying attention to every little thing that can help us win.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: And then it's just having the mindset of this moment
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: that I'm living in right now is the most important
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: moment for me. And to try to do that with
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: all one hundred and ten guys every single moment, every
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: single day. Then you give yourself a chance.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Made a good long team jarge a little bit like
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: you did a lot of good things down to do
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: because those are goods to see, like you know, a
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: lot of them don't you have kind of a different
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: team now that has been six seven weeks or what
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: can you expect or what do you expect?
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think teams evolve is like you said, it's
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: all you know, you every week your team's a little
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: bit different. You hope they're evolving in a positive way,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: and I believe that we are. I think that, you know,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: these last few weeks have taught us how to win
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: close games, you know, and win them in different in
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: different styles, and I think that builds some confidence and
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I think it builds mental toughness. And so if that's
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: just more ingrained in the DNA of your team. When
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: you go into a hostile environment or you have to
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: get on a plane and go on the road, it's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: just another it's just another thing that we just are
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: gonna are going to deal with, not have to deal with.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: We We're gonna just deal with it, you know. And
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: that's the mindset that we have to take a.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Different adjustments they are made your routeam how how much
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: does that sort of stay, say.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: How long.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: You have to tweak it based upon kickoff time? But
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: you start a kickoff time and you work back and
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: you create a routine. I think it's especially important in
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the last forty eight hours that you stay dead onto
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: your routine as much as you possibly can. I just
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: think that's the best way to be mentally prepared and
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: physically prepared, and guys know exactly where they are in
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: terms of their recovery, in terms of their mental preparation.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: To me, it's critical. I've always felt that way, you know,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I've always been I mean, I've been around routine and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: oriented people, you know. I mean, you talk to a
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: guy like Bill Walsh and unfortunately we can't anymore. I mean,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: rest in peace, and it was everything. You know, this
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: is how they talk about the forty nine er way.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: We always used to talk about the forty nine er way.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: People call it the West Coast offense. It was more
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: of the forty nine or way. This is the way
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: we do things. I mean, you know, every meal, every
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: pregame meal, every night before the game. You could walk
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: down the serving line and it's exact same foods, prepared
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: the exact same way at the exact same time. The
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: tables are set up the exact same way. People sit
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: on the bus the same way. It's just it's just,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: you know, it's some people might think it's psychotic to us.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: It's being mentally prepared and physically prepared and emotionally prepared.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: And that comes from routine. You know, eliminate an uncertainty.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I took it from the forty
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: nine ers to the Falcons, and you know, then I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: went to Seattle and Mike Holmgren was a disciple of
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Bill Walsh, so it was very much the same, learned
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: a lot from Mike, kept doing it with Mike, then
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: took it to UCLA and you know, brought it here.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just to me, and you're tweaking it
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: all the time. You know, you don't just I'm not
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: living in you know, nineteen ninety eight or something like that.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: You tweak it. But creating routine that your players can
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: depend on, I think is really critical about for you,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: your routine, Like you home games, see you always running
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the stadium.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Do you tweaking the routine.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: At all for you? Now, I've been running the stadium
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: stairs for forty years. I started that in nineteen eighty
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: four in San Diego, and I would say I've missed
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: maybe in forty years five or six times. I've run
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: every stadium in this in this country. Basically, I'll tell
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: you that there's nothing quite as hard as lambeau Field.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Lambo's gotten me, Lambo's gotten me. Well, yeah, it's the routine.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: See it's like everything, the routine has. As I've gotten
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit older and a little more brittle, the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: routine has changed. The routine used to be four laps
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: starting with the same song right when I came out
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: of the town and run in the same direction. Then
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: it was sixteen one tens. Those have been gone about
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: those have been gone for about ten years. I'm afraid
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: of tearing Achilles. And then I run the stadium stairs
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: and you know I do that. I've been doing that forever.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: And it gets a little nostalgic for me now when
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I run the stairs because my great friend Greg Napp,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: who has since you know, got hit by a car
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and killed a few years ago. As the quarterback coach
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: of the Jets. We worked together for gosh, we worked
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: together forever and rode together every day. That's what we
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: did together for probably fifteen years before every game. So
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: you know, it also gives me a chance to talk
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: think about Naper when I'm running those stairs.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: This Lamble's Lambeo hard steeper steps.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, because it starts kind of like this,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and then it immediately gets steep and the steps are
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: about you know, twelve inches, all right, and some like.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: You can go to the rent right, and there's a
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: lower deck and an upper deck, so I can go
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: out and run the lower deck. But at Lambo it's
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: just it's just one right, So you get to the
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: top of that and you're you're dying. It's it's hard,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: really hard. Yeah, it's just you know, I just like to.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: It just helps me get in a space where I
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: need to be emotionally to be able to be at
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: my best for the players. All right, let's keep it
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: about the players, not about my routine. Okay, nobody cares
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: about that.