Q&A: Everything Eddie Gran and Matt House said at media day

Here's everything CatsIllustrated.com and other media outlets heard Eddie Gran and Matt House say on Sunday at Kentucky's football media day.

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On how he expects the running back workload to break down …

“You know, you really never know that until you get going with the bumps and bruises. I think Benny [Snell] has got to continue to just understand the offense and continue to get better. As he does that, we’ve got to develop that thousand yards that we lost and so we’ll continue to put Sihiem [King] and A.J. [Rose], keep moving them up and put them in the thick of it with the ones and twos and then see where Bryant Koback ends up because he wasn’t with us in the spring. Give him an opportunity to get up there too and get some reps when you want to rest those other guys.”

On if he’s going to rest Benny Snell, Jr. for self-preservation …

“I think the one thing about running backs is that you’ve got to watch them all the time with how much are they getting hit in practice. I really do try to manage that. There will be some days where he doesn’t get as many reps and we’ll see how he feels and then we’ll go from there because he’s going to give everything he’s got and he’s going to use that body to the fullest.”

On if there is any particular quality he is looking at in the player to play beside Benny …

“Production. You know, a guy that will produce. It’s not just about running. It’s about the past protection, and that’s the hardest thing. Bryant Koback will find out as this thing gets a little bit faster. That was the biggest challenge for Benny as well, but he picked it up. I think that as they produce, those guys will get more playing time. A.J. made a big jump from his first year to the second year, and so we’ll see how the improvement goes with A.J. as well.”

On Benny’s reaction to how he is perceived on social media …

“I don’t read social media, so that’s news to me. I don’t deal with that at all. As long as it’s nothing bad, or anything like that, and it’s about the team I like it if he gets ticked off because they have us ranked somewhere. Again, it’s about respect right? To earn respect you have to go out and take care of your business.”

On Landon Young being ready to jump to a starting spot …

“Absolutely. I think we’ve got a lot of guys like that. The one thing that I talked about a week ago was competition. Coach Stoops has done a good job here, going into his fifth year, and we’ve actually created competition at every position. There’s nothing locked down. You’re going to have to go compete everyday in practice to get playing time. At the end of the day, you want those guys to make me play you. Show me. Make it happen. Benny made me play him, and you could see that on film. Everybody needs to do that.”

On how much the freshman wide receivers can push the veterans …

“I think they already have this summer. They see it. They see their grit and their passion. They want to play. Their consistency at that position has to continue to get better, and they know that. They’ve been called out. At the end of the day, I told them, don’t play fearful. Go out there and do your job, hone your craft, get better each day. Don’t worry about the past. Don’t worry about the present. Really work on being centered every day and focused on what we’ve got to do to get done.”

On Benny saying the running backs getting more balls thrown their way this year …

“Yes, it is. So he did learn something this spring. He was listening and paying attention. We’ve got, as you build and you continue to build the package. You know, and our quarterbacks finding our running backs and check down and so forth. They should be able to have more balls in their hands, which will be good for the offense.”

On the expectations for Drew Barker …

“Just relax and go out there. He was the starting quarterback here. So, that’s hard to do. He got hurt ad he came back and he got cleared. Compete. Compete for a starting position. I think that’s the best way to say it. There’s no other way. The one thing about it is when you watch film you production. You’ve got to go out and compete. The other thing is always be ready. You never know, Landon Young didn’t know he was going to get thrown into the fire at Florida. He was ready. I don’t know about mentally, but physically he got his body right and he went out there and did a pretty good job for a true freshman. It’s the same thing at that position. He’s got to be ready. If he doesn’t beat him out, then when his time’s called, he better be ready to go.”

On Sihiem King being strong enough …

“Yeah he is. He brings some toughness, and where he’s from and that league he played in during high school. He’s got a lot of toughness. He played through some stuff last year that he was hurt and he’ll play through injury. This is, we had our spring visit together, and what we talked about is, ‘It’s your time.’ It was frustrating for him. I said, ‘You’ve got two years left to be a great returner and be a third down guy.’ A guy that we can get the ball, he’s got really good hands. You saw that in the Tennessee game. He can break a tackle. He’s tough. Do you have to watch the hits on a young man like that, because he is small? I don’t worry about that with him. I think some you do when you have a small running back, but I don’t. He brings the toughness.”

On C.J. Conrad…

You know, I’m going to say about all of our tight ends, I think they’ve worked their tail off. It was a group last year that I think had to be really selfless. We weren’t getting the ball to them a lot, whether that be targeted throws or what we had to do to win the game. For us to run the ball as well as we did, a lot of it was due to those tight ends. They’ve really tried to hone their craft and they’ve done a great job, and I’m excited. I’m excited about using them and I’m excited about them getting the ball. Just to C.J., he works his tail off, but all those guys do.

On running the ball consistently and a difference in toughness…

Yeah, one of our core values in the program is toughness. It always has been for me too. When I became coordinator, you do have to create toughness. It’s the best league in the country. We have to be great on the perimeter, whether it be a wide receiver blocking, up front, big men lead the way. I talk to them about that all the time. Those guys make of great your offense. If you’re good up front, you’re smart and you can evolve quick then you’ve got a chance. Toughness is something we want to have and wants to be a staple. Hopefully when people watch our offense they say, you know ‘guys get ready. You’re playing guys that are tough and physical and they’ll get after your rear end.”

On Stephen Johnson’s fumbling issues…

“Well I don’t think there’s any question he’s going to get it fixed, because he won’t be playing. And he knows that. We put our defense in some really bad situations last year. Beginning of spring we talked about it. If we get half of those turnovers, and cut them in half, we’re going to be top of the league. I think we could have won a couple more games if don’t turn the ball over. So, everybody’s well aware of that. It’s starts in the spring, you get what you coach, that’s on me. Everybody’s aware of how we have to protect the football and what we need to do.

More on fumbling issues and if it was based on injury…

“I don’t think so. You know it’s a matter of him trying to make a play. You can’t do that. At times, you just got to punt. Every possession ends with a kick, right? You’re either kicking a PAT, a field goal or we punt the ball. That’s how offense is. You got to understand when it’s time to tuck it, or do you tuck it and try to get that extra yard, do you know what I mean? You’ve got running backs that try to do it, everybody, you can’t do it. There’s time when you’re in traffic you got to tuck that thing away and get down.”

On offseason challenges for the wide receivers…

Absolutely. The biggest thing for us was being consistent. Quit talking and go out and play. Everybody’s got something they had to work on at the end of spring. So hone that craft and if it’s at the top of your route it’s punch and pivoting, if it’s you got to catch a 100 balls a day. Whatever it may be, so it’s natural when you go out there. If you’re supposed to run a 12 yard curl, run a 12 yard curl. Don’t make it 14. Be on the same page with the quarterback. And they we’re out there on the weekends, they were working. They have the work ethic, they just have to go do it. We’re going to challenge in and i’m excited to see this group. It’s time and they’re tired of it too.”

On Garrett Johnson responding to Coach Gran…

“He was one of those guys that was out there, you know, as we were there on the weekends, recruiting and so forth. He was out there working and really doing a great job with the young receivers. He was out there every Saturday. He does want to be that guy. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re vocal or not, it’s what you do on the practice field. I’m hoping that he has the message. From what I saw, he does have that.”

On A.J. Rose…

“I like A.J.’s physicalness. I like that he is fast. He shows a burst we really didn’t know he had. I like the way he’s evolved. That it does matter to him. Sometimes guys redshirt and they aren’t ready whether it be physically mentally or whatever it may be. He’s got a chance to run between the tackles and he’s a guy that can run outside too. He’s learning the offense and really excited about it.”

On the perfect running back scenario…

Well everybody gets hot. Everybody has a game where they’re going and you just don’t take them out. It’s a feel thing for me. I think you have to, in this league. I think you’re going to play three. You’re at 29 days right now of knocking the heck out of each other and somebody’s going to be out of a week because they’ve got an ankle…if that doesn’t happen that’s great. I think that if you have three (running backs) that can produce, you got to make sure from the one guy to the third guy, that you aren’t hurting the team. Make sure they’re producing for the team.

On Gunnar Hoak …

“Spring game is spring game. You look for that in terms of how are our guys going to react under the lights. Not as a game type situation, but you’re in the stadium. I think he made that perfectly clear that he could do that. Totally different though when you get up there and you get into a game. And sometimes you don’t know on quarterbacks. You don’t know how they’re going to react. You don’t know what’s going to happen. All of them are going to get to compete. If he wins the job then he’s our starter, then he’ll get an opportunity. If he doesn’t, then he’ll get better and when his time comes. He’s got to produce.”

On expectations for Kengera Daniel this year …

“Kengera had a good spring. We’re excited to see him move around. He gives us some pass rush ability. He’s done a good job this summer, so anticipating him to make some plays for us.”

On expectations for Josh Allen …

“You know Josh, he really progressed last year and he had a good spring. I think he’s got to continue to progress and be a productive player for us, be a playmaker.”

On how to handle and sometimes slow down Jordan Jones …

“Everyday is a little bit different. I think you just have to temper him. The guy loves the game. That’s something you want to encourage, but there’s sometimes you want to say ‘whoa’ but I do know this having coached a lot of good players: it’s a lot easier to say ‘whoa’ than sick ‘em.”

On what Jordan Griffin does for the defensive backs…

“Jordan – first of all, the thing that’s awesome about Jordan is that he’s a gym rat. He’s around the building all the time. Whether it be getting extra treatment or extra film study, he works at the game. You know he’s a guy that can play multiple positions for us and I think just got to keep growing. You know training camp is going to be big for him as it is for all.”

On what kind of mentality the defense will have …

“At the end of the day, it starts and stops with getting the ball back, right? And you’ve got to be great on first down, you got to take the ball away, you’ve got to be great on third down and when you get into the red zone you have to hold them to kicks. Any great defense, at the end of the day, that’s what it starts with.”

On what is considered a successful season for the defensive line, either lots of sacks and tackles for loss or taking up some space …

“No, it’s a combination of those things. There’s certain calls where they got to take care of their primary gap and they may or may not make a play depending on where the ball declares. Then there’s times where we call a stun or a pressure, so yeah, we’re calling it to make a negative yardage play. So, I think first and foremost, I think our run defense improves the most and if the run defense improves that shows how much our defense improves upfront.”

On how many linebackers he would like to play during the season …

“You know the days of sitting there with just two inside linebackers and two outside, I think those days are gone but what I will tell you is that we’ll play who’s ready to make plays and who’s ready to be productive and that’s the great thing about training camp. The next month we’ll really determine who will earn the right for reps in a game.”

On projecting how many would play if they decided today …

“I’d say right now you got a solid two deep at both spots with a potential of a guy or two more playing, and you know the thing about it too is so much of special teams is made of defensive players. You know, that’s another aspect that those guys at that position in particular, we need to excel in.”

On what he has seen out of Kash Daniel so far …

“Kash is moving around better. I think Coach Edmond has done a great job with him this summer. I think he has changed in direction a lot better than he was last year. The thing about Kash is that he played a lot as a freshman and let me tell ya, that’s not easy to do but I anticipate Kash taking the next step.”

On being deep at the outside linebacker spot and if Josh Paschal will play this year…

“You know that’s a tough question before we even put a pad on. Josh certainly has done a lot of good things in the summer, but at the end of the day, that’s what training camp is for.”

On the expectations for the interior defensive line …

“I think first and foremost it’s to create negative yardage plays and again in the run defense. I will say this, I do think they have improved through the spring and the summer. I thought Derrick LeBlanc did a good job with them and you know Derrick’s a great technician and you know I think they have improved on that. To be honest with you, he puts his foot up the rear when he needs it and as group I look for them to continue to improve throughout training camp and make leaps forward.”

On whether there’s one leader for the defense or if it’s a group effort …

“You know, there are several guys that kind of lead in different roles. You know, Courtney Love is a vocal guy. I think Denzil Ware has really come on and done a nice job for us defensively. You know Mike Edwards is a guy. You know, I think you have to be careful having one guy. You know, you want to develop a bunch of leaders and then define their roles and let them go.”

On the role for Jacob Hyde …

“He’s another guy that’s a worker. It will be interesting now. There’s a battle going on at that nose guard position and you know he’ll be right in the thick of things.”

On the fairness of Greg McElroy going after Matt Elam …

“You know what, at the end of the day, I’d like to keep it just on what we’re doing now, control the things that you can control and I can’t control Greg McElroy.”

On the bowl game being a little bit of a wake up call for the interior defensive line …

“Yeah and I think at the end of the day we studied ourselves and Coach Stoops did a great job on challenging that group, but when we studied ourselves we said we have to improve on first and second down and we got to improve our run defense. Yeah, Georgia Tech with an H in their offense they probably exposed us a little bit more but I think through out if you look at the whole season, that’s just an area we need to improve at.”

On having Darius West back …

“Well Darius, first and foremost he brings a physical presence. He’s a guy that likes to mix it up which is big, and believe it or not, in straight-line speed he’s one of our faster guys and so just the depth and the physicality, all those things I look for him to kind of open up a little bit. You know, I think in the spring you saw as the 15 practices went on, he got more comfortable because initially you come off an injury like that there’s a time where you’re trying to learn the trigger again so I’m excited to see him with pads on in a couple of days.”

On being in the box or on the field …

“Right now, I’m in the box.”

On the rule change of coaches being penalized if they come off the sideline if their operation will be affected …

“It’s not going to change our operation. We’re just going to have to be more disciplined and do it five yards closer to the side line. The biggest temptation is when there is ever a TV timeout. You know, I think that’s when you’re chomping at the bit and they’re tired and you know we have a restraining line so that will be the biggest difference right there that we got to bring, like I just said, just a few yards closer.”

On the play of Jordan Griffin and what he sees from him…

“Yeah at the end of the day, the way we play our scheme in this league, everybody’s got to be working towards that goal in having a shut down corner but he’s a long, versatile athlete who’s a technician and he tackles.

On Davonte Richardson playing and at what position …

“I think Davonte, you know he’s in our two-deep spot and they kind’ve just like the question about how many outside linebackers we play. You can’t just play four defensive backs, five when you bring in a nickel. Those days are just over and particularly when you’re playing on a hot day against a tempo team. So Davonte is certainly in the mix and training camp will really determine his role.”

On whether Davonte will be involved in the nickel …

“Right now he’s not one of the guys that will be involved the nickel.”

On the expectation for Chris Westry and Derrick Baity coming into this year …

“I think No. 1, you want a shut down corner for both those guys right. I mean they got length, they got speed, they got athleticism and now they’re hungry because they kind of got punched in the mouth a little bit right and I think both of those guys will answer the bell.”

On Jordan Jones and what he can do to get better…

“Just being more disciplined all the time, and he sees it too. And I think at times he can be more downhill, more physical at the point of attack. All of us can improve at our craft, right. The reality is Jordan is a great year but he’s a second year starter in the SEC. So there should be a big jump from a first year starter to a second year starter. You might not always see it in production because his production was pretty ridiculous as far as tackles but we’ll see it on film.”

On Josh Allen…

“You can’t put numbers on production, it just doesn’t work that way. I think you’ll see defensively, us improve on the edge and our pass rush improve.”

On Jordan Jones being game planned around and if other guys will step up…

“I mean certainly when they game plan around him they say that’s a guy that makes a bunch of plays and he runs well sideline-to-sideline. But again, it’s so hard to predict production. That’s why you play the game.”

On Mike Edwards at nickel…

“Sure. The thing about him is he’s really instinctive. At that nickel position, you’ve got to have some instincts. You got to have some short area quickness. It’s a little different then playing the other four spots because you’re closer to the ball. Things happen faster, right? A lot of those slots that they cover are short-area quick guys and their covering with more space outside. And then our of that position you got to be able to blitz, you got to be able to fit in the run game and you got to be able to play zone coverage. The nickel position is not an easy position to play. It does take a knack.”

On hitting the reset button and simplifying things on defense and the benefits…

First and foremost making your players play faster, right. Anytime you can do same as teaching, it’s easier for kids to learn. At the end of the day we’re trying to make our kids on Saturday play fast. Play fast and you hear coach talk about it all the time, execute. That’s what training camp is for too. The more you can handle, you can add some. There comes that bubble, where eventually the bubble pops. I think what coach (Stoops) is talking about is trying to package things in a learnable teachable way.

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