On Bob Shoop and Brian Jean-Mary’s acclimation to the team
“We’ve been meeting virtually every day through Zoom. And watching tape every day. Bobby Shoop worked for me previously, played for me — during 2006 when I was back at Yale, he was a wide receiver on that team and then we worked together there. He’s a guy I’m very comfortable with. A guy that understands the basics of our defense and is a very outstanding secondary coach as well as a former coordinator. I just thought that would be a great fit for us and it has been.
“BJ – I think that’s been a good hire for me. He’ll work with the SAMs and the VIPERs and I’ll do the MIKEs and the WILLs. We’re tied at the hip at the run game. He’s got a great personality and is a coordinator in his own right. So just another guy that brings the voice in the room.
“Obviously I’ve got Mike Zordich and my man Nua. We’re all ready to go. I’m really, very comfortable with our staff moving forward. We’ve also hired some good people analyst-wise. Keith Dudzinski, who has previously been with me for 12 years. In particular, he’s working with us on defense as well.
“So we’ve got a good group of coaches and analysts. And we’re just anxious, champing to get back into the building and getting back to some sort of normalcy. Because I love my seat in that room where I’ve got the two screens and I just feel like I’m in my element. Sitting in my spare bedroom in Cape Cod just sometimes doesn’t cut it!
“Joking!”
How the newcomers are processing the defense and how the lack of practice impacts their ability to play early
“You know, there’s no way you can assess it until you go out and start doing it. That right there, that element is really the whole thing about coaching: is trying to make the right decisions on guys that can take the material, digest it and then translate it to the practice field first and the game field second. You can’t predict it! You can’t predict – I can give you my expectations and my thoughts and I think Kalel Mullings is this and I think Cornell Wheeler is that and Makari Paige is this, but until you actually put the guys through the paces, you’re really not going to know. But I can assure you, that piece right there is assigned by one of our coaches on certain guys where that’s his world. He’s following those guys, those handful of guys that we’ve earmarked that possibly could help us and make sure they’re getting the information. Also constantly giving feedback to the coaches are we doing the right thing with certain players.
“Good question!”
Playing potentially in empty stadiums
“It’s tough. It’s a different environment. But it’s all about the preparation. Whatever Coach says, I’m with. I’m following his lead.
“I’ve been a high school coach for five years, looked up in the bleachers, there’s 600 people there. 500 people. The one different thing is people get excited about it that are there. Will it be anybody there? Let’s hope – the key will be the preparation. And I think this: the Michigan guys, the Michigan football guys that I know love football. Love it! They love playing it. They love everything associated with it. Not perfect, did not say they were perfect. But as far as the discipline, as far as the preparation, as far as trying to do the best things possible, you’re gonna get an honest day’s work out of those guys every day and I anticipate, just like Coach said, ‘Hey, I’d rather play in front of nobody than not play.’ Because that could knock me into retirement. Maybe some of you want that to happen, I don’t!”
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