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Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Monday Morning with Head Coach Charlie Partridge
10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2015
BOCA RATON, Fla. - Opening Remarks
We are getting ready to play a 5-1 Marshall team. A team that is everything that we thought they would be on film. This is a huge game for our players. A huge game for our coaches. This is a game that they see. They (FAU football team) were close at times last year. The year before I got here, it was a close game and something that the players marked coming into the season as a game that they really looked forward to. I don't think that motivation will be a problem. Obviously Marshall winning the conference last year and having so much success here in the Boca Bowl in our stadium, they are someone that we are looking to have a good success against.
The players have been around this morning a ton of overtime putting in their study hall hours. Really good indicators there. You talk about their personnel, guys that jump out. On offense, it is Deandre Reaves, who has the most yards. He is a ridiculous kickoff returner. He had two touchdown returns, one of them on stats and one of them got called back. The one that got called back was an unbelievable display of athleticism. He is pretty special. Chase Litton, their quarterback, 10 TDs, three interceptions and has executed well. Devon Johnson had a career day against us a year ago and continues to have similar type of runs. There was one against Ohio, obviously Ohio was the one that beat them this year. But, he still had one of those runs where he breaks out. He demands our attention. On their defense, Evan McKelvey appears to be the guy that runs the show. He has 70 tackles, but not only because of that, on film, you can see him directing traffic, telling guys where to go. Both safeties have multiple interceptions, (Taj) Letman with three and (Tiquan) Lang with two. Up front, Gary Thompson with five sacks and eight TFLs, very active on film and Ryan Bee is a giant who has two sacks. So, that is where I'm at as a general overview of what we see in Marshall.
With motivation not being an issue, is this the ideal game after Saturday?
Certainly, they are going to focus this week. To their credit, they have come in and worked very hard every Monday. Certainly, this is a game they have had marked.
What has the last 48 hours been like for you?
The good thing for us is the sun comes up and we come back to work. It is really that simple. You evaluate the film. Analyze what you could have done better, what you did well and then you meet with the kids. Put it to bed with them. So them the things they did well. Show them the things they could have done better and then move on to Marshall. We don't have a lot of time to sit around and think about the personal stuff. We have to work. We have to go. We are building a program. I love seeing these kids in here today, watching film and on time to study hall, turning in their travel sweats. We are continuing to roll on.
Are the guys in pretty good spirits? Yes
Do you have to do anything different?
I appreciate where you are coming from but we if we had one more stop, one more first down, you are asking me a completely different question. The kids have come motivated every week. I applaud them for that. Our young kids are getting better. Our young kids are learning too. With ever rep on game day they will continue to get better.
Update on Jenson (Stoshak)
Right now he is questionable for the game. It is a shoulder injury and we will take it day-by-day. But, right now he would be questionable.
Jalen Young wasn't dressed the second half
He sustained a concussion. He is going through concussion protocol which is a five step phase.
Is (Jaquez) Quez (Johnson) 100%? If not would you consider any change?
He is not 100%. Based on what percent he is as the week goes on we would.
What percent would you draw the line at?
I'm not going to get into that. We have to see how he is performing.
How important was the experience that Jason (Driskel) got?
Very. All be it one play. The one play he got on Saturday was on the money to give us a chance to go up by 14. He has practiced great his attitude is great. Jason is doing a nice job. We will see where Quez is day-by-day.
Is he (Jaquez Johnson) worse off than he was this time last week?
There is wear and tear throughout the game so we just have to see where he is at the next couple of days.
What did you see from him running?
That is a pretty obvious answer. He was not at full speed when he was running the ball. There was a play that we were getting to the high red zone going to the north. They rotated coverage in a direction that they had not shown based on the formation we had. He broke out to the right. Did the right thing to minimize the loss. But, he is not running at full speed. Hopefully, we get closer to it through the course of this week.
Does that effect play calling?
Certainly.
How has his spirits been through this?
To his credit, he has been great. He has been doing everything he can. We got the best version of Quez that we possibly could. He moved the ball down the field. He put us in position that with one more first down, like I said on Saturday night, that we have a chance at a game winning field goal attempt. One more first down. That is without him at 100%. As we get closer to 100% and we have that run element back into his game it helps.
Have you watch the end of the game film and analyzed what you would do in a similar situation?
We talked a lot about Chuck's (King) question Saturday night. Chuck asked if when there was 00:53 seconds when the series started should we have let them score. The reality is it was discussed and it's respect for Rice. We thought we had a better chance to call a quick time out then get down fast enough, then Rice not know what we were doing from the minus 40 yard line. Then go down. They were smart kids.
I heard you tell Brian (Rowitz from ESPN 106.3) that you would still go for two.
Absolutely. Going from 12 to 13 doesn't help you. Going from 12 to 14 makes a difference. People say it is a one point game. They wouldn't have gone for two at the end and missed it. You always go from 12 to 14 as opposed to 12 to 13.
And the problems with the wet field and the kicker missing a field goal didn't weigh into it?
Extra point percentages are different than a hash angle kick.
Could you see Trey Rodriguez's role expanding?
Yes. His speed and change of direction. He is able to deny people from getting clean tackles on him often, not all of the time, but often. When he gets a guy out of position, he has the power to run through arm tackles. He can create and force arm tackles because of what he is able to do with change of direction. He has good hands and catches the ball well out of the backfield. He is a competitor. He was fun to be around on the sideline because of that competitive nature. We would like to get him deeper into the game plan. He has been on scout team for four weeks so the amount that he knew we felt comfortable with him executing was a little less. Now we have another week with him up out of scouts.
Marshall's success from recruiting down here.
Sure. I talk with Doc (Holliday) a decent amount. I met him, really met him. I shook his hand earlier but he was at NC State with Chuck Amato when I started to have a more lengthy conversation with him. You look at what he did. He built a program. They eventually got an indoor. He took a bowl game season at 7-5 then backed down at 5-7 but now he has had a chance to build his program and get some Florida kids up there to Huntingdon, W.Va. There are things that they do that we will model.
How is Jay Warren and does the emergence of Trey Rodriguez allow you to take things slowly with Jay?
I had a long conversation with Jay yesterday. We are not down on Jay. It is really a health issue for Jay. We want to get Jay as close as we can. We need Jay and that is the conversation I had with him. We need you obviously health is a part of it and we will do the best we can to get you back to a healthy position. Because, last time we saw Jay at full strength, he had 140 yards against Miami in a half. That is pretty good. We would love to have that guy back. So, we are working on a way to get back to that point.
It looked to me like you struggled with tackling against Rice and that was a problem in the Marshall game last year too. Is that a concern?
I correct you on a couple of things there. The issue you saw was on the first touchdown when Jalen Young left his feet too early and we missed a couple on that play. Other than that we were pretty solid on tackling for most of the day. There were not a lot of missed tackles. The issue in the Marshall game had nothing to do with missed tackles. It was they spread us out. They got our overlap out of position in the middle. Our D end didn't squeeze fast enough. Same thing when I was watching them against Ohio. It wasn't missed tackles. It was the parting of the overlap.
They will obviously try to exploit that again. Is that an easy solved problem?
I wish I could tell you it was. It is a challenge. A big challenge. Really, they are geniuses in their simplicity. Cato at the end of the day last year and you are seeing Linton this year throw up fade balls. They are either going up and making great catches or getting PIs. So they are getting DBs out wide. Then they have a 250 pound monster rolling up through the middle. So, they are good at it…it is a simple offense and they are good at it.
On Trevon Coley?
He is playing at a really high level in my opinion and the scouts that have come in would agree. There are plays…there are always things like all of us you me all of us that you want to do better, but he is playing at a high level. He is leading at a high level. He wants to win. I appreciate that as much as anything because his opportunity to play on Sunday is increasing each week with his performance and part of the reason he is performing so well is because he wants this team to win and that's awesome to be around.
Having been a D line coach is the SEC and Big Ten?
He would play for sure. For sure. He would have been contending for or most likely been a fulltime starter at Arkansas, Wisconsin as well. Pitt as well.
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