Florida A&M (1-0) head coach Willie Simmons met with the media via Zoom Tuesday. He touched on the pros and cons of playing on Week Zero, dealing with a short week and facing a South Florida offense that he called “one of the fastest teams in America.”
Below is a transcript of coach Simmons’ press conference.
Opening statement…
We dropped two interceptions that hopefully we come up with as we continue to play apply pressure on the quarterback. Offensively had a strong day rushing the football 207-yards Yant and Terrell Jennings both ran the ball extremely hard and well, and we made a couple of plays in the passing game.
So, a lot to build on. Obviously, a lot to improve upon as well and we’ll definitely improve on those things pretty quickly as we face, arguably, our toughest challenge of the year in the form of the South Florida Bulls. Up tempo style of offense, aggressive, multiple style defense. Lost a tough one last week to Western Kentucky, who is a really good football team. We have to go to Raymond James. So, excited to play in NFL stadium for the second week in a row. On TV for the second week in a row against a quality opponent. This team has a chance to really show what it's made of this week. So, excited about the opportunity and looking forward to a great week of preparation on the short week as we prepare to head down to Tampa Bay.
On how the USF game helps get his team where he wants to be for conference games…
Well, obviously, every day we take the field, it's an opportunity for us to get better. That's our goal. This is the biggest game of our careers as players as coaches. I say it every week, it's only the biggest game because it's the next one up. I goal this to be 1-0 after this week. We're not we're not thinking about last week anymore. We're not looking ahead to what happens after this week. I goal is to be 1-0. We have to prepare ourselves mentally physically, and as a football team to be 1-0. That means focusing on the details, doing little things right. Making the necessary improvements and adjustments and going out every day and giving it 110% to be our very best and be prepared on game day. So, whether it's a conference game, non-conference game, guarantee game it really doesn't matter. We only get 13 of these opportunities if we're blessed. And we want to make sure we make the most of every opportunity and so this one is the next one up, and I will looking forward to the challenge.
Will he continue to use multiple backs or is he looking for one back to emerge?
Well, right now we're about committee, and we have three guys that we have the most confidence in Terrell Jennings, the elder statesman in the group, a fifth-year senior. Been in the programs since he got here in 2019. Jaquez Yant and Kevin Dean are transfers, both local guys, but they've done a great job. They went through the spring they learned the system, and they both bring a very unique skill set to the position. And so with those three guys that keeps them fresh. Terrell and Yant both had 11 carries, and I think Kevin Dean had nine. So, if you're going to spread almost 30-carriers out amongst three guys that keeps you pretty fresh. And that keeps you pretty balanced and so, not one, obviously gets hot and they can't stop them and he's in a rhythm, we'll let that guy continue to go. But it keeps those guys fresh and allows us to wear other teams down in the second half like we did on this past Sunday.
Is he satisfied by what he saw on Sunday based on the talent he has talked about?
I'm never satisfied. There's always more work to be done. There's always improvements that can be made. I'm excited about the potential of this team. We do have a talented roster. Across the board. We have a deep roster and experience roster so that excites me. But it means nothing if we don't go to work every day and come with attitude to get better every day. And then those guys are working hard to do that. And that's the challenge for me as a head coach is to take a really, really talented team and challenge them every day to live up to that potential and we can get to that point. Again. I think we have a chance to be a very, very special football team.
On dealing with a short week to prepare for USF…
Well, obviously you got to do the little things right. You have to hydrate, you have to rest and you have to commit yourself to studying film. We’re back in classes this week after a few days’ hiatus because of the hurricane. And so it's back to being a student athlete, balancing everything that comes along with it. Condensing our schedule by one day to make sure that we get ample practice time and preparation.
So, there are no excuses about having a lost day. We relished the opportunity to play on Sunday. We were one of the only games on ESPN. So, if that's the tradeoff for playing a nationally televised game in the NFL stadium, I'll take it 10 times out of 10. And so, we just have to recover. We got back yesterday we watched the film. We didn't practice but we did a lot of meetings. Did some stretching and tried to get our guys’ bodies back. We went this morning. We'll watch the film, come back and then we'll go again tomorrow morning. So, we're gonna make up the preparation time and I will be ready to go come Saturday.
On the players having a little boost because of a bigger opponent…
We understand the assignment. We know the task at hand. So, it's not about getting too high or getting too low. It's about being even keel, staying level headed and understanding what you have to do. So, for us, sometimes you come out and you're just jumping around and hollering and sometimes that false energy means nothing. I want to see the guys be enthusiastic about practice, but they show me that but how you approach each drill. Are you running from drill to drill? Are you taking the coaching? Are you competing hard every single snap? That's what shows me that you're excited about this week not because you can run out of the tunnel dancing to music and having a good time. So, again, I want the enthusiasm but show it by the way you work and the way you approach every day.
On USF running 95 plays against Western…
Well, they’re a tempo team. They're one of the fastest teams in America. You know, the head coach comes from the Tennessee tree. We played that regime back in 2019 when he was at the University of Central Florida. And I, still to this day, the fastest I've ever seen a team operate. And so, we have to be prepared for that ball to be snapped every 18 seconds and the receivers don't move. They stay on one side of the field the entire time. They rarely come inside the numbers. They're as up tempo as they come. And so if you are not careful, you'll find yourself getting close to 100 plays. For them to still run 95 plays with the new clock rules, that just shows how fast they're playing. And so obviously we've talked at nauseam to our defense about that. We've simulated some tempo periods doing practice this week, to try to see if we can prepare for it. But at the end of the day is about our ability to get lined up and communicate. It definitely poses a huge challenge. We'll try to simulate it as much as we can. But again, we’ve got to get lined up and ready to play on Saturday.
(technical difficulties caused us to join the press conference in progress)
