Coaches Meet With the Media Prior to Spring Ball Beginning
2/13/2019 5:32:00 PM | Football
Quotes from Wednesday’s media session
STATESBORO - With the start of spring practice Wednesday, Georgia Southern head football coach Chad Lunsford, along with coordinators Bob DeBesse and Scot Sloan met with the media Here are a few of their quotes from the media session.
Coach Lunsford:
On what he's looking to get out of the spring session:
"Obviously it's different in that we have a year with the coordinators and their systems under our belt. Now we can expand on our schemes and get better at that. I think spring ball always comes down to fundamentals, technique and trying to get better at your position along with making sure you have competition at each position."
On the team's mentality this spring as opposed to what it was last spring:
"I think after seeing the guys in January, I don't think there's any complacency. I think they understand that 10-3 was good and we were very excited to go from 2-10 to 10-3 and to win a bowl game, but we reminded them very quickly that we came in third place in the Sun Belt East. I think they want more and they're hungry to try and improve and win the Sun Belt. We're trying to figure out how to go from good to great."
Coach DeBesse:
On opening up the playbook more this spring:
"We have to. We can't be who we were. People are too smart and the people we play are too good so we have to become more diverse. When you say opening up the playbook, for me it means more looks, more pre-snap presentations and obviously more ways to throw the ball when we want to, not when we have to."
On moving to quarterbacks coach and his relationship with Shai Werts:
"I spent time with the quarterbacks every day, whether in meetings or on the field so I always had a working relationship with them. I would ask them to tell me the things they were comfortable with and what they weren't comfortable with. We always had that relationship, but I think being in the same room with them all the time will certainly help enhance that."
On Shai's strengths and what he needs to improve on:
"He's a lot bigger kid than people realize. I think he's got tremendous quickness. He has the ability to make several moves in a small space. I think he has good vision, good burst, especially off the mesh and that's something we look for in quarterbacks. What he has to work on is being more big picture oriented. He knows what to do, we just have to work on the 'hows' and when the 'why' kicks in, that's when he has the chance to be a pretty special quarterback."
Coach Sloan:
"On what positions he's looking at this spring:
"Primarily, it's the safety position. With losing [Josh] Moon and [Sean] Freeman, that's two big spots to fill. The way the defense is structured, those two guys are the quarterbacks on defense, so it's basically like we lost our starting quarterbacks. I feel pretty good about our linebacker situation and the guys we have coming back...The big thing is safety because they make everything work."
On the difference between moving from a 4-3 to 3-4 last spring to having the system in place this spring:
"Last year was teaching a brand new system from scratch. Even us as assistant coaches, we had to learn the defense, then teach it to the players who had to learn a new system. I feel like it will pay dividends in that we can pick up where we left off and continue to build on the defense which is one of the main goals this spring."
Below is the remaining schedule for the spring. With no lights at Beautiful Eagle Creek, all but one practice will be at Paulson Stadium (Feb. 16). We hope to see you all there!
Fri., Feb. 15; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., Feb. 16; 10:15 AM-12:30 PM (Eagle Creek)
Tues., Feb. 19; 5:45-8 PM
Wed., Feb. 20; 5:45-8 PM
Fri., Feb. 22; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., Feb. 23; 10:15 AM-12:30 PM (Scrimmage #1)
Tues., Feb. 26; 5:45-8 PM
Wed., Feb. 27; 5:45-8 PM
Fri., March 1; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., March 2; 10:15 AM-12:30 PM (Scrimmage #2)
Tues., March 5; 5:30-7:30 PM
Wed., March 6; 5:30-7:30 PM
Fri., March 8; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., March 9; 11 a.m. (SPRING GAME)
Coach Lunsford:
On what he's looking to get out of the spring session:
"Obviously it's different in that we have a year with the coordinators and their systems under our belt. Now we can expand on our schemes and get better at that. I think spring ball always comes down to fundamentals, technique and trying to get better at your position along with making sure you have competition at each position."
On the team's mentality this spring as opposed to what it was last spring:
"I think after seeing the guys in January, I don't think there's any complacency. I think they understand that 10-3 was good and we were very excited to go from 2-10 to 10-3 and to win a bowl game, but we reminded them very quickly that we came in third place in the Sun Belt East. I think they want more and they're hungry to try and improve and win the Sun Belt. We're trying to figure out how to go from good to great."
Coach DeBesse:
On opening up the playbook more this spring:
"We have to. We can't be who we were. People are too smart and the people we play are too good so we have to become more diverse. When you say opening up the playbook, for me it means more looks, more pre-snap presentations and obviously more ways to throw the ball when we want to, not when we have to."
On moving to quarterbacks coach and his relationship with Shai Werts:
"I spent time with the quarterbacks every day, whether in meetings or on the field so I always had a working relationship with them. I would ask them to tell me the things they were comfortable with and what they weren't comfortable with. We always had that relationship, but I think being in the same room with them all the time will certainly help enhance that."
On Shai's strengths and what he needs to improve on:
"He's a lot bigger kid than people realize. I think he's got tremendous quickness. He has the ability to make several moves in a small space. I think he has good vision, good burst, especially off the mesh and that's something we look for in quarterbacks. What he has to work on is being more big picture oriented. He knows what to do, we just have to work on the 'hows' and when the 'why' kicks in, that's when he has the chance to be a pretty special quarterback."
Coach Sloan:
"On what positions he's looking at this spring:
"Primarily, it's the safety position. With losing [Josh] Moon and [Sean] Freeman, that's two big spots to fill. The way the defense is structured, those two guys are the quarterbacks on defense, so it's basically like we lost our starting quarterbacks. I feel pretty good about our linebacker situation and the guys we have coming back...The big thing is safety because they make everything work."
On the difference between moving from a 4-3 to 3-4 last spring to having the system in place this spring:
"Last year was teaching a brand new system from scratch. Even us as assistant coaches, we had to learn the defense, then teach it to the players who had to learn a new system. I feel like it will pay dividends in that we can pick up where we left off and continue to build on the defense which is one of the main goals this spring."
Below is the remaining schedule for the spring. With no lights at Beautiful Eagle Creek, all but one practice will be at Paulson Stadium (Feb. 16). We hope to see you all there!
Fri., Feb. 15; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., Feb. 16; 10:15 AM-12:30 PM (Eagle Creek)
Tues., Feb. 19; 5:45-8 PM
Wed., Feb. 20; 5:45-8 PM
Fri., Feb. 22; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., Feb. 23; 10:15 AM-12:30 PM (Scrimmage #1)
Tues., Feb. 26; 5:45-8 PM
Wed., Feb. 27; 5:45-8 PM
Fri., March 1; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., March 2; 10:15 AM-12:30 PM (Scrimmage #2)
Tues., March 5; 5:30-7:30 PM
Wed., March 6; 5:30-7:30 PM
Fri., March 8; 4:30-7:15 PM
Sat., March 9; 11 a.m. (SPRING GAME)
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QB
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