Frank Reich talks Week 2 of Stanford fall camp
As Stanford begins their second week of fall camp, interim head coach Frank Reich spoke to the media, sharing his thoughts on how the team is coming together. Below is a full transcription and thoughts.
VIDEO: Frank Reich talks Week 2 of Stanford fall camp
Q: Five practices in, how do you feel the team is progressing from practice one to practice five?
Reich: “Good. You know, we’re loading, front end loading a lot of installs, right? We had them in the spring and now we go back, we’re in pads. Everything is full speed. So this is hey, let’s put as much on as the guys as we can, see how they handle it. Get things cleaned up and in five days I think we’ve made really good progress.”
Q: Are there any highlights from today that you can share?
Reich: “I just think the consistency of the intensity of practice has been good. It’s been very competitive. I think it’s been very physical. I think our guys are showing a lot of maturity in how we can have a physical practice, but not go over the edge, you know, and put ourselves in kind of in danger. So, I’m really proud of the guys. How they’re working.”
Q: Talk about the quarterback room and what you’re seeing from those guys.
Reich: “Yeah, we continue to kinda rotate that around. I think everybody is taking advantage of their reps and it’s been a good competition. Coach Merkle is doing a really good job with those guys. I really feel good about the group as a whole. I’m excited about this quarterback room. All five of those guys are winners and I’m thankful to have all of them.”
Q: Are you reaching a point in camp where guys are starting to solidify their roles for the coming season?
Reich: “I do think that’s what we’re looking to do as coaches. We’re looking to say who’s going to play what role. Everybody on this team has a role to play. And we value all those roles. So, be a star in your role, right? That’s kind of the message. Be a star in your role and I do think that as we go through guys are finding out, everybody’s competing for the starting job, but there’s more than that and I think we all understand that. So, what we’re trying to do as coaches is get the most out of everybody every day and knows the role that they play. If we can do that, it’s gonna emerge and it’s slowly starting to do that. But we’ll use all the practice coming to us to figure that out.”
Q: Are there things you’ve observed with the transfers from spring to fall among those that have been here since the spring?
Reich: “Yeah, I think the guys who have come in, you know, the 17 transfers, they’ve really picked up the system quick. Assimilated into the culture really quick. That’s a credit to the guys who have come in who are new, but it’s also a credit to the culture of the locker room of the guys that are here. So, I think the chemistry of the team is really strong right now.”
Q: How well do you feel the guys are picking up the changes you’ve made to the playbook?
Reich: “Yeah, I mean, I think it’s been good. You know, we’re really mixing it up. We’ll do a variety of different things and obviously we’re at Stanford, so we know we got smart players and so we can use that to our strength. We can put a lot on these guys mentally and with being smart. Even though you’re really smart and you can handle a lot mentally, there’s always a sweet spot of hey we want to give them a lot but not do too much because we want them playing extremely fast. So that’s the sweet spot we’re looking for.”
Q: Something the defense did good at last year was creating takeaways. Are you seeing flashes of that this fall camp?
Reich: “I definitely see this defense being aggressive and having a knack for turnovers. I think we’ve seen it, we saw it in the spring, we’re seeing it now again in training camp. I think that that’s a credit to the coaches and the players. There’s a mentality, there’s an attitude that we’re gonna get the ball and what I’m impressed by as an offensive coach is that when our DBs have got their hands on balls, they haven’t dropped too many. A lot of times you get through a practice and maybe we had one interception, but we had three that we dropped. It feels to me like when our DBs get their hands on a ball, they’re coming down with it for the most part. Not a hundred percent, but it’s pretty good. So, that’s a good sign.”
Q: Are there some freshmen who have caught your eye early?
Reich: “Yeah, I mean the whole group. Again, I typically this early in camp don’t start naming names. Just out of respect to the guys. I think the freshmen group is a good group. What I feel is a little different is I feel like the depth that we have and the upperclassmen that we have is so deep and strong, that I don’t feel like there’s pressure on the freshmen to come in and start. You know what I mean? Hopefully a couple of them emerge and contribute in a big way. But I feel really good about our upperclassmen so I think that’s an advantage for the freshmen, you know, hey they’re still fighting to be a starter, play whatever role they can, but we got such good depth right now across the board, I think it gives those freshmen a little bit of time to develop and find their role.”
Q: What have you sensed is the biggest difference between doing fall camp with a pro team and fall camp with a college team?
Reich: “I feel this is very similar, you know? Our schedule, talking to Coach Luck. We said at the beginning when we set up the schedule for training camp, this is set up like an NFL training camp schedule. The way we’re doing it, we basically took what we did in the NFL, we’re applying it to here. I would say the guys are practicing maybe even more physical, you know? We’re putting an emphasis on physicality in a very big way and so, you know, in the NFL, you want to be physical in training camp, but you also know these guys are getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars and so at some level, there’s always that balance of trying to keep, making sure you’re keeping these guys healthy. And we want to keep our guys healthy as well, but what’s most important is that we have this healthy tension. We’re keeping them healthy, but if we don’t establish physicality, for us to win, that’s just gotta be part of our DNA and so we’re putting a premium on it.”
Q: As week two progresses in camp, what are some goals you want to see from the team as training camp continues?
Reich: “So, I feel like we’ve had five really good practices. What I briefly just talked to the team about post practice is one of the hardest things in life is to sustain. Ok, we’ve had a great start. I think everybody would agree. We like the way we’re practicing; we like the way this feels, we’ve set the standards high. Now we’ve gotta maintain it and that to me is one of the hardest things to do in life. To get successful, to get to a point where you’re having winning days, and to keep stack winning days and minimize or eliminate those bad days. So, that’s what we really want to see. Continued consistency of execution at a high level and high effort is going to be the most important thing in the next week or two.”
Takeaways: The biggest thing I took from this interview with Reich is the emphasis on consistency and physicality. He seems to feel like the key to growth for this year is to be more physical and also be more consistent in the process. If they can improve at those two things, they should be successful.
Secondly, he loves the depth they have. That obviously will take a lot of pressure off the freshmen. But at the same time, he likes the freshmen as well. If they can avoid too many injuries, that depth should serve them well this season.
Finally, his comments on the defense securing interceptions was good to hear. It sounds like they’re doing a good job of securing the balls that come their way without dropping them. You never want to have butterfingers in the secondary. That’s something that can be the difference between a win and a loss.
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