Before UW gets a desperately needed bye, the Huskies will get a chance to earn their first road win at Cal on Saturday night.
And before the Huskies hit the road, coach Kalen DeBoer met the media for his weekly press conference on Monday. Below is a full transcript of DeBoer’s address.
“All right, good afternoon. I know we kind of hashed it out with the coordinators, going through the game. But it was an awesome win on Saturday. They’re all big. Every single win each year and each week is huge for us. Couple things as you watched the film that I was really pleased with: starting fast is something we emphasize. The offense, both halves, scored touchdowns coming out of the locker room. That’s a big deal for us. And when you think about it, the defense four of the first five possessions, not allowing any points. Now we just have to sustain that through the second half. Finishing strong, we got a stop at the end, got a score to make it a 10-point game. I think the piece I’ve brought up a lot over the year is just kind of going into the locker room at halftime and coming out, and being able to put seven points on the board before the half with eight seconds left and coming out and scoring again and their offense not having a chance to score … it was a tie game and all of a sudden they’re down 14, and it was a big deal, just that momentum there. Devin Culp doing a great job on an onside kick to come out in the third quarter, and the kick was actually placed in a pretty good spot. It was probably a tougher onside recovery than I even realized, until you flip on the film. So hat’s off to Devin, because he put himself out there and hung onto the ball. A lot of learning opportunities. We’ve gone through success and handling that, and then going through some adversity and understanding how to handle adversity. Now we’re back to where we’ve got to play a game on the road and getting a chance to go into a bye week after that having some momentum here with two wins would be huge for us. The bye week can’t come fast enough probably, because we’re that close I think to being healthier, getting some guys back. Just as you’ve seen, once you gain some guys you lose a couple here and there on both sides of the ball. So huge week for us. We know Cal and going on the road there in particular is a tough feat for us over the years and historically. Coach Wilcox I know coming off last weekend will have his team fired up and motivated to have a big day. I’m excited about the challenge. I think our guys are excited about the challenge. We played well. Husky Stadium was good to us. I appreciate the fans and the energy again, just the vibe that was in the stadium. I really appreciate you guys coming out. So, questions?”
On if the first fourth down play should have been changed when the defense adjusted:
“I was real close (to calling timeout), real close. But you watch enough film and you still feel like you got the chance. I haven’t even really talked to Grubb about it. It’s just one where right at the end, right before the ball’s snapped, you’re not sure. When you’re not sure, I’ve been doing it long enough, you trust your gut. But I still like what we did. We’ve done that already this year one other time on a short yardage situation, very successful with that same play. There was some movement late. It’s not something that we would have Mike check into on that play, it being on his shoulders. It’s really just the short yardage on fourth down (that’s an issue). The fourth downs in all the other situations throughout the course of the year, we’ve actually been really successful. It’s helped us get started. We’ve had some fourth down conversions on first drives. I think of UCLA on a fourth-and-6, first drive, we score a touchdown. We just have to be really on task again with making sure our shot yardage stuff is good, especially in the red zone.”
On how involved DeBoer is in UW’s defensive preparations:
“I sit in meetings every day. I’m sitting in different rooms. Offense and defense meet at the same time, and I think we can be very efficient offensively – between me and the offensive staff – with watching practice film, recapping. I can usually see things happening on the field that we just need to clean up, make those notes, click through the film, talk with coach Grubb and be able to express, ‘Hey, take a look at this,’ or ‘I don’t know if you saw this on the field, but let’s make sure we get this cleaned up.’ ‘What are you seeing in this play versus that look?’ It allows me on defense to be involved in meetings in the morning, as we’re installing the game plan and in the afternoon as we’re going through things with coach Morrell and coach Inge and understanding philosophically what we’re trying to accomplish in the big picture and hearing the details in the position rooms as we’re installing it.”
On if he talked with Jackson Sirmon before transferring:
“No. There really wasn’t much of – it was really brief. And I think his mind was made up. It’s one of those things I get it. He’s going to go play for his dad and the opportunity there. Obviously very much missed in this program. Know he gave everything he had. Going to be a player that we have to be ready for this weekend. Does a great job. There’s certain opportunities that are special. As much as we miss him it’s hard to see that happen I also understood. That’s kind of how that all fell into place.”
On finding consistency on defense:
“I think just keeping guys fresh on defense is huge. I think that will continue to happen. Some of that is out of necessity and rotating guys in as they’re coming back (from injury). Asa pretty much just hung in there the whole game. Did a nice job. I could see he’s not quite in playing shape in between timeouts and when they come off the field. But it was big for him to get out there and play a lot. He brings some comfort to us. So there’s some guys that are playing a lot of snaps. And then there’s a lot of running. The more you can rotate and keep guys fresh on defense I think it keeps them hungry for their opportunity. A lot of defense is getting as many people the ball as you can. When we see a guy that’s fatigued or a loaf that happens we’re going to sub in. We want the guys to be confident that, if they tap themselves out that’s not a bad thing. They trust their teammate. They will know that we’ll get them back in there to go make the next play as soon as they grab a quick break for a play or two.”
On Jordan Perryman pulling up after allowing a touchdown:
“Yeah. I just think it’s probably going to be the course here. Everyone’s pushing to try and come back as fast as they can. There’s a need to have guys in and they’re working in. Just nagging injuries that aren’t getting worse by them playing. Jordan’s a competitive guy. There’s others, too, that are working through on both sides of the ball. Stuff that happens throughout the week. As long as they can go and they’re not making an injury worse we’re putting them out there. Again, we haven’t seen the best of Jordan. At all. I just know that. Hopefully here in the last four to five weeks – I do think he’s getting healthier. But that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t feel it once in a while and that causing some pain here and there.”
On Jaivion Green’s promotion to starter out of necessity or his play:
“I think it’s both. He’s been in the rotation. He was in there towards the end of the game on Saturday. That last drive he had some valuable snaps in there and continues to do a good job. Just a great kid who comes in and is eager to learn. He’s gonna be a really good football player for us. Probably wasn’t the expectation at the beginning of the season that he’s in the rotation at the level he’s at right now, but he’s hungry. We’re becoming more confident with him each snap and I think that’s part of where we’re at as a team. It isn’t just that position. It’s about learning and growing as a whole program. Understanding how to finish games. How to fight back when you’re behind. How to handle success. How to handle failure and adversity. Jaivion’s done a great job through all that of being steady.”
On if Jayvon Parker is at four games:
“He’s close. We’ll talk today knowing the health report a little bit of the plan. Aaron Knotts does the report every week on kind of updating everyone on what he’s at. He’s either at three or four.”
On Kuao Peihopa’s suspension:
“He’s still not with us this last week. It’ll be week-to-week with him.”
On the onside kick and Devin Culp:
“It’s one of those things…the way we teach there’s a couple specific things we do. I credit Coach Schmidt and the fundamentals we teach. There’s a specific technique that we have on an onside kick to make sure that ball is kicked and our guys do that every single kick to where they see it kicked, their eyes are on the ball. I remember earlier in the week Coach Schmidt specifically saying hey, it’s the mid-season, the routine is, here is the kickoff. This is about the time where somebody is going to try and find that gap, that weakness, or the person that is caught sleeping. I just loved it that Devin was on the spot, made that play, was disciplined enough to follow through with the technique and what we teach. I loved the coaching piece of it too that we have that instilled in our guys to be ready for that week seven to start a third quarter. I loved it.”
On Culp and dealing with drop issues and holding onto that kick:
“It’s such a simple thing for him. It’s just a matter of staying focused on the ball. If he keeps his eyes on the ball and doesn’t get ahead of himself he’s golden. He’s going to do a great job. It should prove to him he can catch the ball in the toughest situations because he knew he was going to get hit as soon as he grabbed it and he was extended out. Super-proud of Devin. It was a big play in the game.”
On Jaxson Kirkland inside and Troy Fautanu outside and the evaluation so far of those moves:
“I think we’re becoming really confident that it’s a strength for us having Jaxson to be inside and the way he moves people and just his size, it’s hard to push through him. The pocket has been really clean. Troy is doing a good job on the outside. I think it’s a really good combination for us. We’re always monitoring that and I heard the question about Nate (Kalepo). He’s done a great job, and Matteo (Mele). Fortunately we’ve been able to work them in when we want to, not because we have to with any injuries and stuff. Those guys, that competition and the ability to rotate them in, keeps them all fresh and I love where we’re at with our offensive line and the continued growth there.”
On the chance Mishael Powell or Dominique Hampton comes back this week:
“Dom is definitely day-to-day. Meesh will start working into drills. The next couple days will be really important for him. I would say we’re hopeful, but I think you can kind of tell by how I’m explaining it that we’re not certain that he’d be ready to go this weekend yet. But Dom would definitely be a day-to-day.”
On Julius Irvin:
“Just working through injuries. Yup.”
On Richard Newton:
“I think Rich will be practicing with us here by for sure Wednesday.”
On if there’s a chance Edefuan Ulofoshio will be ready after the bye week:
“Yeah, we’re getting itchy with him and I know he is too. This will be another step for him this week with ramping it up. It seems like his smile is getting a little bigger every day knowing he’s getting closer. There would definitely be some hope that after the bye week we could maybe be seeing him in some capacity.”
On what he would bring to the defense, not having coached him on the field before:
“His mindset is elite. He can just stay focused on even the mental reps and how he goes about it is so important to him. Our team knows that. He’s a high-character guy, so when he speaks it’s not just something he asks of his team, it’s something he does himself. He’s a leader in every way, not just as a player but also as a person. I think the team would be so excited for him that he’d back just because they love him so much, but also we all know he’d help us out as well as a football player.”