Q: What do you stress to your defense about Kentucky?
A: I think they’re going to do what they do. They’ve had a lot of success with it. They’re very diverse as far as anything from the wildcat stuff to all the quarterback run game. They do a great job with the deep passing game. They’re going to take a bunch of deep shots every week regardless. The guy (quarterback Stephen Johnson) throws a good deep ball, they’ve got good skill on the perimeter. They’ve got a good scheme and they’ve got good players doing it and it’ll be a challenge for us. Just looking forward to the opportunity.
Q: What do they do with the quarterback in the wildcat?
A: They shift him out to create wildcat, they show you wildcat and motion him back in. They're got double reverse passes off of it. They've got pretty much the whole gamut. Just got to be great with your eyes and your keys and do your job.
Q: With extra time, do you have to prepare for more wrinkles?
A: You know there's something new coming, you just don't know what. So you're trying to anticipate and stay a step ahead. Some weeks, you guess right, some weeks, you don't. I know there's going to be a couple wrinkles, but they've had a lot of success lately doing what they do, and we'll see.
Q: With their offensive coordinator (Eddie Gran) in his first year, do you go back to what he did at Cincinnati?
A: You go back as far as you can go back. Because, like I said, when we have this extra time, you want to make sure that you've done your due diligence and you're thorough with your preparation because you want to give your players the best chance to win, so we're trying to go back a ways. But at the same time, you can't chase ghosts because when you start chasing ghosts, you start cluttering players' minds and that's the last thing you want, is for players' minds to be cluttered, so there's a fine line with that.
Q: How have you been able to enjoy your sons’ careers? (T.D. and Mic Roof are seniors at Buford High, which reached four state title games in their four seasons, winning two and losing two. T.D. is committed to Tech, Mic to East Carolina.)
A: As a dad – that's how I approach that. I'm a dad way before I'm a football coach. Way before I'm a football coach. Like most fathers, (you want) to see your sons grow and develop and have some success and at the same time have some heartbreak and some adversity. But in the end, you're just thankful that they were able to go through a program like that and develop not just as football players but as young men. That's really important to me.
About the Author
