After the game on Saturday, you said that you had told the other coaches to give Matt Fuller the ball. What does that process look like? Did that really have to be addressed, or is it a rotation thing?
“Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. We always meet on game days as a staff, and we talk about a lot of different things, the coin toss and overtime, and what I want to see offensively, defensively, and on special teams, so we’re all on the same page, and injuries and recruiting and whatever. But we always finish the meeting with, ‘How are you going to play the players?’ So Clayton White will tell me how we’re rotating the linebackers, so I know and everybody knows. Joe D knows from a special team standpoint. And then the same thing, Coach (Marquel) Blackwell, tells me how we’re going to play the running backs, and what he says, what he did. And I knew that ‘Sul (Faison) was going to start, we’re going to get Matthew in there early, and then Oscar has his role also, and that’s kind of our three guys. And then Jawarn Howell’s ready to go as a fourth guy, along with Bradley Dunn. And then we said, you know, two-minute drill, Oscar will be in there. He’s good from a protection standpoint and route running, and we’ll rotate those guys through.
My issue was Matthew had the long run, and then I think it was going back and looking on Sunday, I think it was like 16 plays before he was back in there again. Now, Sul went in the very next series, and then I think there was another series where Oscar came in. Then right after that, Matt did get in for a couple plays, and then I think we went three and out, and then we were right back in the back-to-back two-minute drives. We had a two-minute drive, we had the punt pinned deep, used our timeouts, got the ball back again. So you had back-to-back two-minute drives and a drive after Matt’s touchdown. So I understand what we were doing. It was more not I wanted to see Matt in there in the first half and they went rogue and didn’t put him in. We were doing exactly what we said. It was more just a point of emphasis at halftime, let’s get Matt Fuller the ball in the second half, along with our other running backs. I mean, ‘Sul ran the ball well, and Oscar did some good things and and we did get that in there after that run, but I would have liked to have it start the next series. And again, Coach Blackwell was the running back, and I’m on the headphones. If I want Matt in the game, I’ll say, ‘Get back in the game.’ Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. But maybe you know that ‘Sul went in, and I’m great with that. And then, you know, Oscar had a series, but we need to certainly need to find ways to just continue to get (Fuller) in the game, along with those other running backs, also, because we got a lot of confidence in all of them.”
Basically, he thought Fuller should have gone in the rotation quicker after his big TD and he could have overridden Blackwell to make it happen, but he didn't, but he wanted Fuller in?
Secondary to that, it sounds like Blackwell sticks with the pre-determined rotation, no matter the feel of the game.
“Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. We always meet on game days as a staff, and we talk about a lot of different things, the coin toss and overtime, and what I want to see offensively, defensively, and on special teams, so we’re all on the same page, and injuries and recruiting and whatever. But we always finish the meeting with, ‘How are you going to play the players?’ So Clayton White will tell me how we’re rotating the linebackers, so I know and everybody knows. Joe D knows from a special team standpoint. And then the same thing, Coach (Marquel) Blackwell, tells me how we’re going to play the running backs, and what he says, what he did. And I knew that ‘Sul (Faison) was going to start, we’re going to get Matthew in there early, and then Oscar has his role also, and that’s kind of our three guys. And then Jawarn Howell’s ready to go as a fourth guy, along with Bradley Dunn. And then we said, you know, two-minute drill, Oscar will be in there. He’s good from a protection standpoint and route running, and we’ll rotate those guys through.
My issue was Matthew had the long run, and then I think it was going back and looking on Sunday, I think it was like 16 plays before he was back in there again. Now, Sul went in the very next series, and then I think there was another series where Oscar came in. Then right after that, Matt did get in for a couple plays, and then I think we went three and out, and then we were right back in the back-to-back two-minute drives. We had a two-minute drive, we had the punt pinned deep, used our timeouts, got the ball back again. So you had back-to-back two-minute drives and a drive after Matt’s touchdown. So I understand what we were doing. It was more not I wanted to see Matt in there in the first half and they went rogue and didn’t put him in. We were doing exactly what we said. It was more just a point of emphasis at halftime, let’s get Matt Fuller the ball in the second half, along with our other running backs. I mean, ‘Sul ran the ball well, and Oscar did some good things and and we did get that in there after that run, but I would have liked to have it start the next series. And again, Coach Blackwell was the running back, and I’m on the headphones. If I want Matt in the game, I’ll say, ‘Get back in the game.’ Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. But maybe you know that ‘Sul went in, and I’m great with that. And then, you know, Oscar had a series, but we need to certainly need to find ways to just continue to get (Fuller) in the game, along with those other running backs, also, because we got a lot of confidence in all of them.”
Basically, he thought Fuller should have gone in the rotation quicker after his big TD and he could have overridden Blackwell to make it happen, but he didn't, but he wanted Fuller in?
Secondary to that, it sounds like Blackwell sticks with the pre-determined rotation, no matter the feel of the game.
