Sep 8, 2009 8:40 PM
Coach E's press conference highlights
Army coach Rich Ellerson addressed the media Tuesday following his team's 27-14 season-opening win at Eastern Michigan Saturday.
Here's some highlights from the press conference and I caught up with Ellerson for some more insight.
On when the coaching staff will get a read on the team's identity
"I think we are finding out things about ourselves all of the time. We are in a growth phase. We're in the process of defining ourselves. We know what we want the outcome to look like. We know how we want to stay together. We know how we want to handle adversity. We have that picture in our head. We have practiced those things and we've had one chance fo to out there and try to be that team. In some cases, we gained on what we expect. We're not there. In those areas, we are behind. I would argue that the precision we would like to think an Army football team would play with, a lack or absence of errors and delays, we are frankly not there. We are a yard sale. You'd say we are a young football team and we are. I'm not terribly surprised. But I also am concerned that as an Army football team would be penalized the way we were, that we had the number of errors with the respect to our eyes and see the lack of discipline. We were overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment. That's youth and football. We need to grow fast in that area."
On if part of Army's errors were caused by first-game jitters
"Who knows. But it's stuff we don't do in practice ever. Ever! (The coaches were like), 'What was that? What are we doing?' Part of it was we got the double-whammy. We got a lot of young guys, (playing in) their first game at night and they came out and lined up in something (defensively) that frankly we haven't worked on in a while. They kind of caught us flat-footed. With a more veteran team, no problem. With a younger team, that may have exacerbated some of those challenges, which may explain some of it. Some of it is mind-boggling but it always is."
On making a change at kicker this week
"We are going to let Alex (Carlton, a sophomore) kick some because it's very, very close. Matt (Campbell, a senior who missed two extra points last week) has been out there between the white lines. He's kicked in games. He kicked off very well which can be just as nerve-wracking. I'm not sure what to make of that except we have two guys that are very, very close. We need to make sure the other one has a kick at the can."
On Duke's defense
"Defensively, they are very sophisticated. They have a system, and are used to looking at our offense, they play Georgia Tech; they play Navy. They do what I hate to see a defense do, they do not leave their defense, they defend within their own system. They are very sophisticated and they understand themselves, and adjust accordingly, and they are not going to be as left-handed as some opponents we'll face. Again, they run very well, and it'll be a much different challenge than what we faced a week ago."
Coach E's press conference highlights
Army coach Rich Ellerson addressed the media Tuesday following his team's 27-14 season-opening win at Eastern Michigan Saturday.
Here's some highlights from the press conference and I caught up with Ellerson for some more insight.
On when the coaching staff will get a read on the team's identity
"I think we are finding out things about ourselves all of the time. We are in a growth phase. We're in the process of defining ourselves. We know what we want the outcome to look like. We know how we want to stay together. We know how we want to handle adversity. We have that picture in our head. We have practiced those things and we've had one chance fo to out there and try to be that team. In some cases, we gained on what we expect. We're not there. In those areas, we are behind. I would argue that the precision we would like to think an Army football team would play with, a lack or absence of errors and delays, we are frankly not there. We are a yard sale. You'd say we are a young football team and we are. I'm not terribly surprised. But I also am concerned that as an Army football team would be penalized the way we were, that we had the number of errors with the respect to our eyes and see the lack of discipline. We were overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment. That's youth and football. We need to grow fast in that area."
On if part of Army's errors were caused by first-game jitters
"Who knows. But it's stuff we don't do in practice ever. Ever! (The coaches were like), 'What was that? What are we doing?' Part of it was we got the double-whammy. We got a lot of young guys, (playing in) their first game at night and they came out and lined up in something (defensively) that frankly we haven't worked on in a while. They kind of caught us flat-footed. With a more veteran team, no problem. With a younger team, that may have exacerbated some of those challenges, which may explain some of it. Some of it is mind-boggling but it always is."
On making a change at kicker this week
"We are going to let Alex (Carlton, a sophomore) kick some because it's very, very close. Matt (Campbell, a senior who missed two extra points last week) has been out there between the white lines. He's kicked in games. He kicked off very well which can be just as nerve-wracking. I'm not sure what to make of that except we have two guys that are very, very close. We need to make sure the other one has a kick at the can."
On Duke's defense
"Defensively, they are very sophisticated. They have a system, and are used to looking at our offense, they play Georgia Tech; they play Navy. They do what I hate to see a defense do, they do not leave their defense, they defend within their own system. They are very sophisticated and they understand themselves, and adjust accordingly, and they are not going to be as left-handed as some opponents we'll face. Again, they run very well, and it'll be a much different challenge than what we faced a week ago."
