Everything Auburn OC Chad Morris said about Tigers offense

Chad Morris has put in charge of the Auburn offense in his first year as coordinator.

Auburn offensive coordinator Chad Morris met with the media on Thursday to discuss what he has seen from the Tigers offense so far during fall camp.

Here is everything he had to say:

Opening Statement

“First of all, it’s absolutely great to just get back to some football and some type of normalcy and be able to get back out on the field. With us not going through spring ball and having an opportunity to coach these guys on the field, it’s been a joy to be out there. It has been some challenging times, as we’ve all gone through for the past several months. I know our training staff and our medical staff, Dr. Goodlett, has been working overtime, and just big a thank you to them, because everybody is just all hands on deck and going full-speed ahead. I’m excited. We’ve gotten, I think, 12 practices in, and I’m really excited about moving forward.”

On a difficult year after leaving Arkansas

“It’s been some challenging times. That’s something you try to teach your own kids in life, that when things go bad and don’t go the way you planned, you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and you don’t flinch. That’s the great thing about this game, that it teaches you those valuable lessons.

“It’s been great. I’m telling you, I’ve been extremely excited to just get back out on the field coaching a position, coaching the offense and really just getting involved in being a part of that development and watching this team watching the growth happen every day. I’m extremely excited about it. I’m glad to be on the field and coaching football.”

On his success of developing quarterbacks

“Well, I think the first thing you have to do is that you have to simplify things as much as you possibly can. I’ve always felt, from a developmental standpoint, that when you coach these guys, it’s all about footwork. So everything we talk about generates with our feet and moves up our body and out our arms as that ball is released. So we’re really talking about the base and building a great foundation

“And then understanding and being able to read the coverages like we want. Giving them the options of where to go with the football. I think that’s been a big part of it, and another part of it has been just being able to be open and transparent with our quarterback position. Listen to those guys and what do they see and what can they execute. That’s been really good. I’ve really enjoyed our quarterback room and getting in there with Bo (Nix) and those guys and listening to them talk and give me feedback.”

On Auburn’s expectations

“Well, we want to be the best Auburn football team we can possibly be, whatever that means. I believe with the way that we do things and being able to get guys moved all over the field and put them in space, I think we have an opportunity to be extremely explosive. We want to be the most explosive offense in the country. That is our goal. We’re going to do everything we can to do that.”

On relationship with Bo Nix

“I’ve challenged him this offseason to see if we can’t make the game slow down even more than what it did toward the end of last year. All the great quarterbacks I’ve coached, that’s one of the big characteristic traits that they had — the game slowed down. They anticipated the throws, they anticipated the windows coming open. And I think he’s done a good job of that through the 12 practices. You know, again, it goes back to the communication and the dialogue that we’ve had, back and forth.

“I ask him every day after practice, I say, ‘What did you see today?’ And he’s really beginning to see. It looks like the game is slowing down for him. Now all we’ve got to do — we put so much install on him over the 12, 13 practices that we’ve had — we’ll eventually start narrowing things down. But I’ve been very pleased with him.

“Bo is like a coach on the field. When things break down, Bo is usually really good when those things happen. He’s able to make plays with his feet. So I’ve been pleased with him. We’ve got a long way to go. I asked him when I first got here: ‘Do you want to be good, or do you want to be great?’ Obviously he says he wants to be great. He says he wants to be the best that’s ever played. I say ‘OK, it’s going to take a lot of work. I’m going to remind you this in many days when I’m chewing on you pretty good.’ So he’s done a good job to this point. We’ve got a long way to go.’

On working with Kevin Steele

‘Yeah, my time working with Kevin — to be able to work with him again, at the same capacity, I don’t know how many coordinators have ever worked together at two places, at two different places. That’s probably pretty unique across the landscape of college football. Kevin’s a great friend, a guy that’s extremely knowledgeable and has had great success. He and I do a lot of talking about different things — he wants to hear about the offense, I want to hear about the defense. So we really have a great time, a great opportunity during our down time to talk some ball, and be able to share ideas back and forth with each other. So that’s been great.

“And then also, to be able to lean on Kevin a little bit at times and ask him — you know, he’s been here, he’s been at Auburn. He understands the dynamic at Auburn. I’ve asked him a lot of questions about Auburn and moving forward. He’s done a great job of helping me out with that. We’ve definitely been on the same page through the installations. It’s been really good.”

On the running backs

“I think we’re in a great position right now. We’ve done a lot. I think our guys have done a tremendous job through all the Zoom meetings. Even though we didn’t go through spring football, we went through individual installation, and we still went through the meeting times. And these guys have retained a lot.

“We came back out of it and we were able to have some on-the-field walkthroughs, and that’s really been beneficial. So you can tell, once we got on the field, we were well ahead of where I thought we would be. So that’s a big plus. I’ve still got a few things we’d like to install, but we’ll get to that.”

“In this league, as physical as this league is, you better have four solid guys right now that you can count on. As much as we ask our running backs to do — whether it’s pass game, whether it’s pass protection, whether it’s obviously running the football — these guys have got to be physical, and they’ve got to be able to hold up. We’ve been able to see a lot of that. We’ve been able to do a lot of coaching on the field through the first two scrimmages with our running backs to get better in some of those areas. But I’ve been pleased with where we are.”

On arrival of new wide receivers

“I think they’ll be able to help us out, Ze’Vian Capers being one of them. He has great speed. He’s got the length that we’re looking for. It’s just understanding. Coming in from being a senior in high school to a freshman in the SEC, it’s quite a bit of a difference. So learning the speed of the game, how to run routes, you can’t just rely on true athleticism. You have to learn the techniques of it.

“He’s doing a good job with that. He’s going to be able to help us this year. Kobe Hudson is another one. I’ve been extremely pleased with watching him and his progression. Again, a lot of this is guys are learning the speed of the game and what it runs at. “Overall, I think we’ve got a good group of young guys. I think we’ve got a good mixture of our older guys that are helping bring these young ones along.”

On Caylin Newton

“He’s extremely, extremely intelligent. Obviously, he had played quarterback in the past, so he has a great feel for it at the wide receiver position of where everyone should be aligned. The thing that impressed me the most about him is his ability to move and play different positions at that wide receiver spot because of how smart he is, how he’s grasped the offense. So I do feel like he’ll be able to help us out.”

“They’re usually the first ones that are all spread out on the field, because we’re moving them all over the field and getting them involved. Very pleased with these guys, again, much like the running backs. They’re taking great pride in understanding what I’m asking them to do. So, that’s been really good as we move forward. They’ve had some big catches through practices and in some of our scrimmages.

“I think they know. They see how involved they’re going to be. And we’ve got some good young guys that I’m excited about — Brandon Frazier and J.J. Pegues. I mean, these guys have got a chance to be really special. Obviously, we’ve got a big older group with (John Samuel Shenker ) and Luke (Deal) that are bringing them along as well. We’ve got some depth at that tight end position. We’ve just got to keep bringing them along.’

“That position alone creates an opportunity to play at a faster pace or increase mismatches. How do people want to play you? Are they going to play him as a wide receiver? If they are, they’re going to bring a nickel on the field. If they do that, then this guy will come back into the backfield, and you’re able to run the football well. Then it’s OK, no, we’re going to play him as a true tight end. Well, great. Then I’ve got the opportunity to get him mismatched in space, whether it’s on option routes, rail routes or crossing routes. So it’s really a chess match when it comes to that. Just to be able to disguise and move them around has been really big for us.”

On evolving his offense

“Again, using the tight ends. Getting those guys involved. That’s probably the biggest thing. Involving them — not just in the run game, but also in the passing game. And then the next is bringing those running backs along as well and getting them involved in the passing game.”

“I think having been a head coach and head coach in this league and going back to transition into the coordinator role… as a head coach, you’ve got so many things on your plate. Really, the best part of your day is when you’re able to step between those white lines and be a part of football practice, coaching football. And then you’ve got a lot of things going on around you.

“I think what it’s allowed me to do, moving back into that coordinator room, is kind of going back to put your priorities in order and compartmentalize how you want to do things. Just focus strictly on football. That’s probably been the biggest adjustment. But understanding being in that head coach’s office, there’s a lot of things going on. Being able to keep as much off the plate of the head coach has been my main priority. Handle it in our own rooms.”

“Those guys are coming along. We’re still, as the entire offense is, a work in progress. But we do have some guys who have come on. Obviously, Brodarious Hamm has had a good camp so far. Brandon Council is another one that’s been extremely physical. A really good football player and a great addition to our team as well as our offensive line. Over this next scrimmage, we’ve just got to find and try to solidify our five that we want to go in there with and try to put those five together and let’s build some continuity.”

On depth at quarterback

“I’ve always felt that you better have three ready to go. We’ve talked about Bo. Grant Loy is another one. Much like Brandon Council he’s been a great addition to our football team as well as our offense and even our quarterback room. An extremely intelligent young man. An older guy – which that room needs – that’s been through college football before or at least been several years into it to be able to bring a little bit of wisdom into that room. He’s had a good camp. He’s got an incredible arm, runs really well. I’ve been pleased with Grant.

“Cord Sandberg, obviously Cord has been here in the past, last year, and watching his development, he’s definitely has had a good camp. So I feel comfortable with Cord. Runs really well. Chayil is just a freshman picking it up, picking the offense up. He is going to be a tremendous football player. But I’m pleased with those guys. More importantly, just the type of people they are in that room. And that’s what you want leading your football team.”

“Well, obviously knowing Ze and his family for as long as we have, and obviously like you said he was committed to us at Arkansas. We knew he was going to be a tremendous player. We felt that way when we were recruiting him. Obviously, he commits here and I come here and to just be able to watch his development, it kind of makes you think, ‘Well OK, this is what we really saw in recruiting.’

“Now I’m able to get on the inside of it and have him here and watch him develop. He’s going to be everything we thought he would be. I’m excited about him. The thing that really separated him, he’s got really good acceleration, really good speed. Once he gets the technique and understands what we’re asking of him and how to run routes, he’ll have a chance to be a really, really talented player.”

“I’ve obviously been in the southeast, my stop in Clemson and recruiting all this area, the Florida area, Georgia. I think that it’s definitely great to get back into that, and then my connections with Texas, Louisiana, that has also been a big addition to us, a big help to us. So I’m excited about just being able to contribute, being able to add some value to a great staff and just bring some additions that can help everybody.”

“Well, first off all, we see what kind of player he is on the field, but off the field, he is just incredible to be around. When you walk in, he just lights the room up. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him, and then you get to watch his work ethic and him performing out on the field. A guy that it means something to him. There’s no doubt about it. He wants to be great, and I think he’s got a chance to be really special. As we watch his development, it’s going to be fun to watch him play.”

“I think you said something at the first there that’s probably important this year than ever before, and that is to have depth. I think with where we are with COVID, you better develop your young guys. They better be getting reps, they better have the attention to details in meetings. In the past, a guy maybe down on the scout team or whatever it may be, this guy may check out in meetings and not really be as focused in. Well now, more than ever, he’s got an opportunity to play. So we’ve really stressed that, stressed the fact of developing and building that depth. That’s been something we’ve been focused on.”

“I have felt this now for probably about the last five years, back early on and Coach Malzahn really started it all, it was all about the tempo to go fast. Push the accelerator down and go, go, go. Now what you’ve seen is defenses evolve to it. They’ve changed their calls. They’ve gone to one-word calls and they’re able to play fast with you.

“I think the thing and talking to other coordinators in our league and across the country, one of the things when you talk tempo now is the ability to change the tempo of the game. Go really fast and slow it down, really change it up. That causes as much stress as anything. Yes, we want to play fast, but we also want to be smart about it. We want to be able to change the tempo of the game up.”

“Harold is a young man that has great hands. Great hands coming out of the backfield. He’s done some good things. You see flashes with him. You just want the consistency with him. That’s what I have been asking of him. We need more being consistent in our approach every day, but there are flashes there. He’s extremely talented. An opportunity to get him and get him space, the guy has tremendous hands.”

“It’s a different year for everybody right now across the country as you know. Y’all are experiencing it as well otherwise we would all be in the same room right now doing this press conference. I think the biggest thing I could say is change. Change is part of every day right now. You better be willing to change. You better be willing to adjust and adapt and do it on the run. It may be heading down to meetings and you have to adjust and adapt the way you’re doing some things.”

“We’ve had Alec Jackson. Alec has played there and he’s gotten a lot of reps. We’ve moved Brandon Council out there and Austin Troxell. We’re having to develop depth and move some guys around in the event of something happening, whether an injury or if someone is out. Developing depth at that position, as well as all of the positions, has been critical. Those are the guys that have been playing.”

“I think he’s had a good camp. He’s shown a lot of really good things and put it on video. I know Coach (Jack) Bicknell has really strained him and is really pushing him. We really want more consistency, but we’ve seen a lot of progress and are really excited where he is right now.”