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ESPN lead college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit held a media conference call today to preview the upcoming season. Over ESPN’s five-day kickoff weekend (Aug. 30 – Sept. 3), Herbstreit will call three games:
- Northwestern at Purdue on ESPN (Aug. 30 at 8 p.m.)
- ABC’s Saturday Night Football featuring Louisville vs. No. 1 Alabama in the 2018 Camping World Kickoff (Sept. 1 at 8 p.m.)
- ESPN’s Labor Day night telecast No. 20 Virginia Tech at No. 19 Florida State (Sept. 3 at 8 p.m.).
He will also be in South Bend, Ind., on the campus of Notre Dame for the season premiere of College GameDay on September 1 (9 a.m. – noon ET).
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THE MODERATOR: Thank you everyone for joining today’s call with Kirk Herbstreit. Kirk will be calling three games in five days on opening weekend, beginning with Northwestern and Purdue next Thursday, followed by Louisville and Alabama on Saturday night, and then finishing up on Monday with Virginia Tech at Florida state. Kirk will also be in South Bend for the season premiere of College Gameday a week from tomorrow morning.
We have a 45-minute window to get to as many questions as we can. We’re going to turn it over to Kirk for a quick opening statement and then get to questions.
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Thanks, Derek. Appreciate it.
I’m just excited that we finally are getting a chance to get the season started and just have a chance to get the ball in the air and talk college football. For all of us who love this sport, this is an incredibly exciting time. Everybody thinks they’ve got a chance to make a run, and everybody’s anxious to see their team play. Some of the frustrations won’t start for another eight days. So I think this is a good time to kind of get things started. Happy to answer as many questions as we can get to.
Q. Kirk, I was just wondering, just two things, number one, your reaction to what came down in Columbus a couple of days ago with Urban Meyer now on the sidelines at least through the first three games, suspension, et cetera. Obviously, you being an alumnus, just what’s your reaction to that news?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: The reaction would be, on the football side of it strictly, is that I’m happy to see that Urban Meyer is still the head coach at Ohio State and happy to see that he’s able to continue to kind of get things back in order once he comes back and hopefully able to learn as many lessons as possible from this and continue to grow and continue to be a great head coach.
The three-game suspension — when I watched the press conference, I thought — I was a little bit like everybody else, just kind of digesting everything as it was coming down. It was such build-up and anticipation, I really didn’t know what to expect, whether it was going to be termination or go back and coach the next day or possibility there was a lot of rumors about a possible suspension. Once I listened to Mary Jo White and listened to Dr. Drake and Gene Smith, I thought a three-game suspension, it sounded almost as if Ohio State felt they needed to do something as far as just giving some kind of punishment. That’s what it felt like to me. That’s why they came up with the three games.
Then when I read the report, I was a little bit more kind of confused and didn’t really know what to make out of the report. Honestly, I had to read it five or six times because, on one hand, they talked about how truthful and forthcoming Urban was, and there was two different examples of where they said urban told them something and they basically didn’t believe him. So it was a little bit confusing, kind of a head scratcher.
But at the end of the day, at least for now, there seems to be closure on this, and Ohio State knows what they’re facing, and they can at least understand that and move forward.
Q. Kirk, what were the butterflies, the angst, the anxiety maybe, the eagerness that you felt in 1992 when you were finally named the starting quarterback going into your opening game, and what do you expect, for example, like a Dwayne Haskins Jr., and some of these other new starting quarterbacks around the country, what do you expect them to feel?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Well, I think they’ve done such a good job with that position in the college game, whether it’s the elite 11s of the world. You see it, Tim, even in Columbus and around the state of Ohio, there’s so many quarterback coaches that work with these kids from middle school all the way up. I just feel these guys are so much more polished as quarterbacks coming out of high school and getting into college, that you see a Dwayne Haskins get into Ann Arbor and be very well prepared and be very well capable, even though he didn’t have a ton of reps, to kind of walk in there and be able to make plays and turn that game around and win it.
So I think it’s very different today the way they’re developed today. I do think what you’re bringing up, as far as the anxiety or excitement or butterflies, that’s true, whether it’s the ’40s or ’50s or ’60s or today, that’s the reality in terms of getting out in front of 100,000 people on national TV, and I don’t think those ever go away, especially the first time when you’re the guy and you need to lead that team to victory. I don’t think that ever went away for a guy like J.T. Barrett, who played as many snaps as anybody ever as an Ohio State quarterback.
So that’s part of it. Just having a coach who has a way of getting you into the game as quickly as he can through play calling, maybe lets you get hit once or twice and lets you settle in and allow you to just kind of execute the offense.
For me, Tim, watching the guys like Dwayne Haskins and Shea Patterson going to Michigan, watching these guys, as the pages turn, that’s what makes college football what it is. And we don’t have preseason exhibition games like we do in high school and the NFL. It’s the first time we’re going to find out what’s up with these guys. I think it builds up to a lot of excitement and anticipation to see what teams have and what these players have.
Q. Good afternoon. Obviously, you’ll be doing that Virginia Tech-Florida State game season opening weekend. I was just kind of curious what intrigues you about that matchup and what are the keys for each team to pull off a win? I’m not sure how much of a deep dive you’ve done yet considering you’ve got three games coming up here.
KIRK HERBSTREIT: It’s ironic, I just actually did a conference call today with the Virginia Tech coaches. So it was great to catch up with Justin and Bud and talk a little bit about their personnel and some of the — it’s another team where we know about Josh Jackson, but, boy, they’ve got a lot of new names and new face that’s they’re going to emerge in some key spots for them. They lost so many great players, especially on defense.
I’ve seen Bud Foster lose a bunch of guys on defense and return two or three starters and you’re thinking, boy, this will be a down year. Then here comes that next wave of eager, excited, hungry players, and they end up playing better than they did the year before.
I don’t think, just because a team is young, that they’re not necessarily still going to be really good. What a great way for college football fans and ACC fans to start the season with a game as meaningful as Florida State and Virginia Tech. So I’m excited to see what Virginia Tech’s defense can do. Like I said, with all those new faces. And I can’t wait to see Josh Jackson in his second year and with a lot of new faces around him, especially in the backfield.
And then, of course, what more needs to be said about Florida State? Willie Taggart, new head coach coming in. According to what he’s told us, his dream job is to be in Tallahassee and to be that head coach. I personally feel that a lot of people have almost forgotten about Florida State this year. There’s such an anticipation of Clemson once again and even Miami, that you talk to your average fan on a national level, and people are not expecting much of anything from Florida State. I think it’s a real opportunity for them to showcase their team and their talents on national TV on a Monday night, and I think we’re going to learn a lot more about Deondre Francois and James Blackman and who eventually emerges to be the guy.
And another team with another quarterback that’s going to have a lot of talent around him that is anxious to prove what they can do. I’m fired up. That will be my third game of the weekend, but it’s easy to say that I might be the most excited to get to that game on a Monday night.
Q. I just kind of want to follow up a little bit on Virginia Tech and Bud Foster defensively. Having replaced seven starters with not a lot of guys who have been regular ins that rotation, kind of what do you think the biggest challenge is for Bud Foster to get the defense ready for that first game?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Yeah, great question. I think it’s his 23rd year, so he’s kind of been there and done that. The big thing to remember about Virginia Tech is the complexity of the defense. This is not your, hey, we’re going to sit in cover two or we’re going to sit in cover three and just kind of have a vanilla defensive scheme. They are incredibly complex when they have their team really humming.
The question is, and what I asked him is are you just going to be who you are regardless of the inexperience, or do you have to scale back because of having two brand new corners, brand new linebackers. I mean, especially on the back end, not so much the front, but the linebackers and secondary there’s a lot of new faces. And he said, you know, it’s kind of a game time feel. They might give a little bit of a taste to these players and give them a challenge to see how they respond, but until you see it, it’s really hard to respond to know what those players are going to be able to digest and handle until they get out there in front of the lights and against the speed of Florida State.
So I think he has an idea and a plan of what he wants to do, but he may have to pull back depending on what those young players are doing, especially at the cornerback spot. And I guess, getting specific to your question, I would say the biggest challenge to me is he’s going to get pressure on a quarterback. They’re typically going to defend the run because they get so many guys up at the line of scrimmage. But to do that, you’ve got to be really good at corner, and they lost their top three corners from a year ago. In that defense, they typically leave those corners on islands, and how do those young corners hold up when they’re out there on an island, especially against a team like Florida State that has some speed and can run?
I think that’s the thing I’m most excited to see is how that defense holds up on the perimeter.
Q. Hi, Kirk. So you have Miami in the AP season poll. Does that to you seem about right? Or is it too high in light of losing three straight at the end of last season, had several draft departures, as you know, and how would you assess their team?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I would say top 10, top 12 would probably be about right. I don’t think necessarily you can look at the way the season ended and say, okay, let’s put them down at 15 or 18 because they lost their last three. We know that Mark Richt, based on what we’ve seen his first couple years, he’s building this program back up, and I think he’s getting the local talent to stay around, as you know.
If you look at the backfield, if you look at the depth they now have at receiver, which they didn’t have a year ago, you look at offensive line, every return to believe that this is going to come down, I hate to say it, to Malik Rosier, and his development from where he was a year ago. There were times, let’s face it, he looked really good, and there were times, let’s face it, he didn’t look so good. So how far has he improved from last year to this year, I think will tell you, as we sit here in August, what kind of year Miami’s going to end up having.
Let’s face it, I know they lost a few guys on defense, but for the most part, most of that leadership group is back. Manny Diaz is going to be aggressive. The gold chain is going to be out. The defense will keep him in every game they play. Until we see it, the question will be how far along has the offense come, and can they win the games that are going to be pretty tough for them this year? Starting with LSU, their first game. They’ve got Florida State, which will be a tough game. So let’s see where Rosier is to really dictate what kind of year theCanes end up having.
Q. Given the scandal that will take college football this spring and summer, from Ohio State to Texas A&M, to Maryland, et cetera — I don’t have to read the litany to you — in your opinion has the product been damaged, product of college football? If yes, why? If no, why?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Yeah, I think any time you have these kind of stories, the magnitude of these stories, it’s going to hurt college football. This would hurt any sport, whether it’s the MLB, the NFL, whatever it might be. When you have that many things happen, I think it kind of makes you take a step back and really look to see are we getting to a point where college football is becoming so big and the pressure to win is so great, that people sometimes are cutting corners, and sometimes people are maybe turning and not necessarily paying attention to some key things.
Each of these cases are very different. Every single one of them, some of them, the A&M thing is kind of recent, and I haven’t heard the latest with the allegations and what A&M’s response has been. Those kinds of stories are always out there. There’s always people that are talking about things that happen illegally when it comes to recruiting or players. It’s just kind of a thing that’s hovering out of there.
What happened at Maryland is horrific, obviously. And the more and more you hear about it, the more you hope other universities and schools are listening. There’s kind of a little bit of a gray area because every school in the country is pushing their players in 95 degree weather, 100 degree weather, and looking for that fourth quarter edge and pushing and pushing and pushing. At the same time, everybody should be very well schooled in 2018, especially after some of the deaths we’ve had in the past — I remember when Cory Stringer passed, that it seemed to really change the practice of summer conditioning and summer practices, and we need to dial back and give these guys water breaks. So things typically have changed for the better.
But you wonder if that’s an isolated case, or you wonder if that’s the way it is in a lot of these summer conditioning drills that go on throughout the country. So that one is obviously really, really a tough thing to deal with for the sport.
And then, of course, what happened with Urban Meyer, and that story just went on and on and on. If I said it’s no big deal for college football, you kind of have your head in the sand. I think all of these are so big they definitely are something you hope other universities, other athletic directors, other administrations, other coaches, assistant coaches, players become more and more aware of. It’s just a different game and a different world we live in today. You can’t just assume things are okay. You’ve got to make sure that things are okay and that people are okay.
We’ll see where we go from here, but, yeah, this has been a rough summer for the sport for sure.
Q. There aren’t many people in Columbus talking about football right now, and you know how this town is around football season. What’s your take on how strange of a preseason this has been for Ohio State, and how long do you think the stain of this is going to linger over what happens on the field?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I think first of all — there’s a lot of great college football communities, but I don’t know if there’s a city and maybe an entire state that gets as excited for the start of college football the way Columbus and the state of Ohio does. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a town impacted, positively or negatively, by a typical Saturday afternoon, the result of a football game, let alone when something like this happens to its program.
So it’s kind of unchartered waters, I think, for the university and for that fan base. I think many of them are anxious for the ball to get up in the air and for them to be able to break down and talk about Oregon State and how the team did and how Dwayne Haskins did and actually talk about football. But like you said, it’s hard to turn the page. It’s hard to do that. Maybe until the games next week, maybe it will take that for this to start to subside a bit and allow the people to be able to focus on football.
Not to take away anything from domestic violence or its importance or anything. I don’t think — you can still enjoy college football and still be aware of domestic violence and things of that nature. So as far as football is concerned, yeah, I think once the games are played, I think that will help. And I think the other thing is once the suspension is over and Urban Meyer is back coaching the team, I think that also will help put this behind, as far as the team is concerned, and just try to get focus on going out and playing.
I think, as a player, if you take yourself away from the story and what should be important to all of us, and you’re an 18 to 22-year-old player trying to think about what do I need to do to do the best job I can do, and what do I need to do as a leader of this team, and we’ve got to get ready for Oregon State, I think it’s a bit easier for them because they’re insulated somewhat in that Woody Hayes facility, and they’re so regimented in their day. Hey, practice is from 3:00 to 5:00. Meetings are at noon, or whatever the schedule is, and you just kind of get caught up in that world.
You’re looking at scouting reports and getting done with practice. I’ll be very surprised if the players themselves don’t play really, really well, almost as an us against the world mentality, beginning against Oregon State in their first game.
Q. I greatly admire your work, Kirk, but I want to ask you about this tweet about your most exciting players, the five players that you expect to light it up in 2018. I didn’t see Bryce Love on this list. Any particular reason for that? And how would you size him up? And while I’ve got you, what about Stanford’s chances this year?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Well, one of the things I do with Herbies list, and I’ve done this for a long time, is I try to spread the wealth. When you have a guy like Saquon Barkley last year, you could literally put Saquon Barkley, and he could win every category. That guy this year is Bryce Love. I think he ended up winning two Herbies, maybe more. I think I gave him the ultimate Herbie, which I gave to Bryce Love, which is the total package of, not just a great player, but a great person and a great teammate, kind of what the whole sport embodies, kind of what should be the face of the sport, and I gave that to Bryce Love.
So I just can’t give everything to him. So that’s probably why he was not on that list, that particular list. But my expectations for him, he’s probably the one player, outside of maybe Trace McSorley at Penn State, probably the one player I’m most excited to see play this year, mainly because he played, as you know, with that ankle last year. I don’t know how many times we saw him gimp off the field for four or five plays, then kind of show that determination and grit and go back in. Ends up getting over 2,000 yards basically playing with a hurt ankle for half the year.
And that performance against Washington alone was heroic. So, no, I’m fired up to see him. And I think with KJ Costello now having a year under his belt, I think this offense has a chance to be back to being the kind of Stanford offense we’ve seen where they’re very, very balanced and very capable. I think Costello could have a monster year for Stanford.
Big thing is you’ve got USC early in the year and two really tough road games in the month of September up in Eugene and all the way over to South Bend. Not to mention Utah, even though it’s a home game. I think Utah could end up winning the south. They jump right into it, and as you know, last year was an example, and a couple of years ago they went over to Evanston and lost to Northwestern. They’ve got to start fast. They cannot afford to start slow. Last year they were 1-2 after they lost to SC and San Diego State. So starting fast is a big thing for them, and I’m sure that’s been a big focus for David Shaw and this veteran team he has this year.
They’ll be right in the thick of it. It’s just whether they can go on the road and win in places like Eugene and up in Seattle in November. Those are pretty tough things to do for anybody.
Q. I’m just wondering, Kirk — you know I’m going to ask a Michigan question. What’s reasonable to expect from Shea at quarterback. How different do you think this offense will be? And two for one, how pivotal is this year for Jim Harbaugh?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I guess I’m on an island a little bit on that part of it with Jim. I don’t see this — I’ve been interviewed a number of times this summer about what’s at stake for Jim Harbaugh or what kind of year does he need to have? Personally, I just don’t — I don’t see it. I might not have a good feel for it, but I still think he’s one of the elite coaches in the game.
Let’s face it. I mean, they turn the ball over. They just have not had great quarterback play, and when you turn the ball over, you’re just not going to win the big game. They were minus 4 on turnover margin for the year. You go back and look at the crucial games where they lost, think about how many times turnovers cost them football games.
So if I were Shea Patterson — and I’m a huge fan of Shea when he was at Ole Miss, just taking care of the ball. Forget about play-making ability, just win the turnover margin. If he just does that and they’re able to punt and rely on the defense and win field position. So I think, if I were Shea, I wouldn’t feel like I’ve got to do heroic things here because he doesn’t.
Now that Black is back from the injury, they’ve got a great group of receivers. They’ve got a couple veteran backs in Evans and Higdon, they’ve got a big offensive line. Just don’t turn the ball over. He’s kind of a dual guy because of his background, and I want to see how Jim and Pep use him in their pro style offense, how they take advantage of his legs and his mobility because, yeah, he can sit in the pocket and he can read and make throws, but he can also be a real threat if you get him on the perimeter and give him a chance to make the run-throw option. We haven’t seen a ton of that from Michigan since Jim’s been there. Of course, he’s keeping everything guarded, but I just can’t wait to see how they play with Shea because he does have that in his background.
Yeah, I’m high on Michigan. I think they have a chance — I’d love to see them — if they can beat Notre Dame and South Bend to kind of get their confidence up after an 8-5 year, that will be important before they go on the road. They’ve got to go to East Lansing, Penn State at home, and then on the road in Columbus. They’ve got a tough path to get there, but I think it’s going to be a much, much better team this year than it was a year ago because of the offense.
Q. How high on Michigan are you, Kirk?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I think they’re — between us, I think they’re going to go to South Bend and win, and I think they’re going to get on a roll. I think they’re going to be able to create an identity. I think people that are down on Jim Harbaugh, by week 3, they’re going to go back to saying how he’s the greatest coach in the country. I think that the momentum is going to be created there, and then it’s just a matter of whether or not — again, you’re playing Wisconsin at home. You’re at Michigan State. You’re Penn State at home, and you’re at Ohio State, just to name a few, besides the Notre Dame game. Those games are tough, again, for anybody to deal with.
And to sit here and predict that they’re going to win the Big Ten, I think they’re going to be right in the middle of the toughest division in the country — that’s the Big Ten East — and just a matter of whether or not they can catch a break and win a couple of those games.
Somebody asked me the other day a team that could come out of the top 10 and get into the playoffs, and the team I gave them was Michigan. I think they’re a team that’s going to be knocking on the door. Whether or not they catch the breaks and win those games, let’s see what happens. But I think they’re going to be a much better team than they were a year ago because I think they’re going to take care of the ball better with a better quarterback play out of Shea Patterson.
Q. Kirk, two-part question. With the Alabama quarterback competition, A, what have you made of it so far? And, B, how do you see that playing out? Is this something that could extend to the first two games of the season, or do you feel like in the opener, whoever walks out there and starts will be the starter for the remainder of the year?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: This is something, isn’t it? I watched the National Championship Game, and I saw what Tua did in that second half and the heroics. And then I ended up doing their spring game, and Tua, of course, was out, but Jalen played, and he didn’t necessarily play well. I kind of left the spring game thinking, yeah, this is definitely almost a no brainer, you know, that Tua’s going to be the guy. And I think a lot of people probably were kind of keeping score at home in their own minds, probably were thinking the same thing.
Then we get to August, and we’ve got a couple of closed scrimmages, and all reports are that Jalen is not only holding serve, he’s been flat out great in these scrimmages, and so is Tua. It’s not as if Tua is not doing well. You’ve got a guy 26-2 as a starting quarterback, who’s not doing anything to give his job up in camp, and you’ve got another guy that was the hero in the National Championship, who’s a young superstar. And this might be the best offensive skill that they have.
They’re four deep at running back. They’re three or four deep at tight end. They’ve got four of the best receivers that they’ve had. They’ve got a great offensive line. If they find a guy that can just be a distributor, just — again, we don’t need anybody to run around. We don’t need anybody to do anything crazy. Distribute the ball. Find the open man. Have an answer. That sounds like Tua when I say that, but Coach is making it pretty clear that it sounds like, if they don’t both play in the Louisville game, that would be the biggest upset for me. Like if Jalen plays the whole game, I’d be shocked. If Tua plays the whole game, I’d be shocked.
I think they’re going to both play, and if one of them starts to kind of be more consistent, then maybe he becomes the guy. But as we sit here right now, we’re about a week away from their opener, I don’t know if anybody knows the answer truly, and I talked with Coach earlier today. He seems to be pretty adamant — you know, he always likes to say, I want to see a guy win the team. Which one of these guys is going to win the team in camp? It sounds like they’re both winning the team. So it would be unprecedented for Coach to go from being I want to see who wins the team — he’s always had these quarterback controversies and eventually picks a guy, whether it’s Coker or Blake Sims or whoever it is.
Jalen ended up beating the kid that transferred out to Arizona State, Barnett. So he’s always had an either/or, but he’s always picked one guy. Now he’s approaching this one thinking, hey, maybe I play them both. I think eventually somebody’s going to win it, but I think it’s going to be based on how they’re playing when they go out there against Louisville or Arkansas State. Or maybe it’s not until the first true road game in Oxford in week 3 against Mississippi.
But I think by the time they get to the meat of their schedule, one of these guys will have emerged as the guy. I don’t think we know that answer right now.
Q. Texas and Texas A&M both appear to be lost in perpetual building cycles. Do you see any light at the end of the tunnel for either of those programs? And do you see any set of circumstances under which Ed Oliver might be able to get, given invisibility playing in a non Power 5 school, to contend for some of the major season ending awards?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Did you say Texas and Texas A&M?
Q. Yeah, I think they’re both kind of in that.
KIRK HERBSTREIT: Okay. We’re just in the second year for Tom Herman. I see signs of — there were things I saw last year from the defense, especially for the defensive line. This is a defense that in the two previous years in ’15 and ’16, they really struggled, especially at the line of scrimmage. There were games last year — I remember watching with Chris Fallica, and we’d be watching different games, and Texas would be up on one of the games. There were a number of times that I would talk about Texas looks more stout at the defensive line, and it’s not just they’re being pushed around.
So I thought Orlando and Tom Herman did a good job of helping save the personality and the attitude of that defense, and that was just in year 1. I know they lost some big names, especially Malik Jefferson, but I look at this team as a team that I think is going to be continuing to trend in a very positive direction.
I think the quarterback play — I know they announced that Sam Ehlinger is going to be the guy. I think he’s a gritty, tough, find a way to beat you kind of guy. I don’t think he’s as dynamic as part of the skill set. I don’t know, I think there’s reason to think that Texas is maybe going to get out of this reoccurring, rebuilding project that they’ve been on. I think for Tom Herman, in just his second year, there should be reason for optimism, in my opinion, for what this team showed last year.
Like I said, year 2 is where you see a pretty good spike of improvement.
With Texas A&M, I think that’s a whole different matter with Jimbo Fisher in his first year. He’s inheriting a team where he doesn’t necessarily have a quarterback that’s proven. Obviously, looks like he’s got to find a guy that he can feel comfortable with. He’s got a great tailback in Trayveon Williams, but if you look at this team based on the way Jimbo Fisher will recruit and we look at this team today and we look at them two years from now or three years from now, I think you’ll be seeing a very, very different team talent-wise.
So I think — I can’t look at A&M and say, hey, you’re in the SEC West, Jimbo Fisher’s here, no problem. Just take care of business, and you’re going to be in the SEC Championship Game. That’s not going to happen. But I think it’s hard to evaluate A&M before you give Jimbo Fisher a year or two to be able to start to create a new identity for that team.
I know Kevin Sumlin is now at Arizona, but one of the things I watched with A&M was the inconsistency from an attitude standpoint. They seemed to be front-runners. When things were going good, they were in a good state of mind. They could beat anybody. And then when things were going bad, boy, they seemed to head south in a hurry. So he’s got to change that, Jimbo Fisher. That’s something I’m sure he’s tried to push them to improve on quite a bit. So we’ll see where they are.
And then Ed Oliver — you know, I think no matter what happens to Ed Oliver, his real award will be in Nashville in late April when he walks across the stage and shakes Roger Goodell’s hands as the first pick in the NFL Draft. I think he’s probably going to be that guy. He is as gifted as anybody there is in the country. He seems to be, from what I hear, a really, really hard worker. He’s not just a guy who says, okay, I’m a first rounder. I’m going to kind of coast. This guy is pushing and pushing to be better and better and better. Everything I hear, he’s one of the hardest workers in the weight room and in practice. I love to hear that about superstar players.
So I’d be very surprised if he’s not either the winner or talked about very frequently for almost every award. And even college — even for the Heisman. If the Heisman Trophy is about going to the best player in college football — a win for me for a defensive lineman is being invited to New York City. Like if you got invited to New York City, you basically won the trophy if you’re a defensive lineman. So that would be a great goal of his. Let’s see what kind of numbers he puts up because, unfortunately, that award sometimes is based on numbers and how many sacks or how many touchdowns or things like that, that he might have.
So hope he puts up some big numbers, but his name will be all over the awards, whether he’s at Houston or at Alabama, just because the guy’s the best player, one of the best players in the country, if not the top player in the country.
Q. Two Clemson questions. Clemson players recently agreed to continue their tradition of not posting on social media for the season during the year. The players say because it allows them to focus on the task at hand. Do you agree with that? Is that a good thing? Secondly, how good can this Clemson team be this fall?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I love that. I’m a big — I have four boys. I have two that are in high school, two seniors that play, and a sophomore as well. I’m constantly talking to them about kind of focusing on what matters most to them, especially during those months. Dabo Swinney, to have that many players, it’s cool to hear that the players are setting that tone. It takes it away from a coach having to do that in that tradition you talked about from players saying, hey, we want all distractions out of our way. We want to focus on winning football games.
I think that just tells you about the collective focus that that program has, and the older players, they clearly are not letting success or individual notoriety go to their heads. This is a team that somehow, some way — I wish they could sell it to everybody else — but they are not allowing complacency to set in to a program that for the last — I don’t know how many years. They’ve won double digits since 2011. I mean, they’ve been in championships, it seems like every year, and you would think they would have a let up. Them and Alabama do a very good job of not letting up. Ohio State is also one of those schools that just doesn’t let up. It says a lot about the team self-policing.
As far as their defensive line and defense in general, I was asked when I was at ESPN on this show, the Herbies, to name my best defense of 2018. I thought about the possibility, there’s a number of teams you could throw out there. I ended up selecting Clemson, a team that allowed 13 points a game last year. And other than Dorian O’Daniel, who led the team in tackles, everybody else is back for the most part for that defense. There’s no reason to believe there should be any letup, if anything, with that defensive line they have. Those guys aren’t going to play not to get hurt. They’re going to play with a ferocity that’s unparalleled.
So I think they’re going to have a huge year, and I think that defensive line is going to be a very tough thing to deal with every single week, no matter what offense or offensive line they go up against.
Q. Kirk, just wondering what the — what your perception, and maybe the national perception is around Willie Taggart. I mean, he’s been on a honeymoon here for nine months. He’s seemed to energize the fan base here, but just wondering nationally whether maybe he underlooked a little bit, or I think there was a poll saying he was one of the more overrated coaches. And then as a second question, just your thoughts on what you think about Florida State and how they might be this year.
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I think with Willie, he is — if you go back to his days at Western Kentucky, and all of a sudden he ends up in Tampa at USF and obviously hit it big there, well enough that when Oregon opened up, he headed out to Eugene. All I know is, when he was at Oregon, he was determined to get Oregon back to being an elite program, and if you look at the ratings as far as recruiting rankings, he was very, very high, top five in the country.
So when I heard after one year he might be leaving Oregon — in fact, I was calling their Bowl game, and all of a sudden he’s leaving and going to Florida State. When I heard it was his dream job — see, I didn’t know that was his dream job — that means something because he probably wouldn’t have left Oregon to just go anywhere, but to have an opportunity to go to his dream school, I think you can understand that. But I think he’s going to recruit, and he’s in a very — obviously, a tough state, with a lot of great coaches that are recruiting at a pretty high level.
But with the resources and the tradition and the history that Florida State football has and now with a go-getter in recruiting, I’ll be very, very surprised if he doesn’t have success down in Florida State.
I think he could start right away. I think he’s very fortunate to inherit quarterback play — you know, I know James Blackman played a year ago, but things I saw from Deondre Francois two years ago in ’16, were as good as anything I’ve seen from any freshman quarterback. If you cover Florida State, you know the pounding he took, and he just kept getting up and kept getting up. So he’s a special player, and if he’s healthy, I personally can’t imagine him not being the quarterback Monday when they open up with Virginia Tech.
You’re saying Willie’s a little bit on the back burner. I think Florida State is on the back burner. I think they’ve almost been a forgotten team as we head into 2018. I think it’s all about Clemson, and even all about Miami and very little about Florida State. So I want to see what they can do. What an opportunity to start the season, though, national TV against a traditional power in Virginia Tech to kind of remind people of who they are with Willie Taggart.
So the table is set, and now we just kind of wait to see if they can take advantage of it on that opening game. If they win and they look good doing it, they’ll go in the blink of an eye from a team that’s kind of been overlooked to a team that all of a sudden everybody’s worried about after 60 minutes of football.
Q. Can you remember going into a season where the three teams that most people project would be the three best teams in the country, where they have this uncertainty at quarterback, where each program you can look at possibly having two guys when you look at Georgia, Alabama, and Clemson. I know you touched on Alabama before. Could you see Georgia and Clemson both kind of playing those freshmen a little bit, whether it’s as change of paces or runners? What are just your thoughts on how we go into the year with these three big schools?
KIRK HERBSTREIT: I’m glad you brought this up. I think it’s fascinating to go in, and it’s almost a foregone conclusion. Ohio State has drama they’re dealing with, but outside of Ohio State, if you ask most people who the teams you think are just unanimous slam dunk that they have a chance to be up there, you know you’re going to get — doesn’t matter what region you’re polling — Alabama is going to be up there. Clemson is going to be up there. And now after what Kirby Smart did a year ago and the team they have coming back, you’re probably going to see a lot of people say Georgia as well.
What you’re bringing up is a great point. I think I’m an advocate of the quarterback position is a delicate position. You’ve got to be careful when you just throw in, hey, we’re going to keep both these guys happy. We don’t want anybody to transfer — because that’s the new thing now these last five years. Five star guy comes in, he didn’t get to play right away, he leaves. So coaches no longer always just think about what’s in the best interest of the team right now. They’re trying to massage and try to keep everybody happy.
So, man, that’s delicate on how you deal with that because end of the day, you want to win personally. And if a kid wants to leave because he’s not happy with his playing time, see you later. Let’s go get another one, and we’ll get another quarterback. That’s how I personally would feel, but then again, I’m not a coach feeling that pressure to win.
But each case, you look at Alabama, somebody’s going to eventually emerge. It may not be until week 3 or 4. There’s no way they’re going to play two quarterbacks all year. There’s just no way. What’s going to happen at Georgia, you’ve got a guy in Jake Fromm who led them to the National Championship. They were inches away from winning it with a true freshman quarterback, and that kid has the it factor. You can maybe find a taller guy or a faster guy or a guy with a stronger arm, but as far as an it factor, Jake Fromm has that. And if you’re going to put in Justin Fields, you’d better be very, very careful with how you put him in and when you put him in because I would not want to mess with Jake Fromm, who was kind of the leader of that team and did great things for them.
With Clemson, I think it’s a little different. Kelly Bryant made some plays and did some things. Truth be told, they won a lot of games because of their defense and other aspects of their offense. Everything I hear about this quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, he’s the next Deshaun Watson. He’s big and fast and can throw. I think, in Clemson’s case, if you’re trying to beat Alabama and trying to beat Georgia, maybe you need that Trevor Lawrence. Maybe you go to him. So they’re all a little bit different, but they’re going to have to be handled very wisely by three very, very capable head coaches, that’s for sure.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you everyone for joining the call.
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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner
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