Jeff Scott held his Thursday media update and had a few things to say ahead of the FAMU game:
ON WHAT HE HAS LEARNED THUS FAR AT USF:
"I think the biggest thing that I'm learning is, you know, things take time, and you can't attack everything at once, you really have to be able to kind of prioritize the needs and things that you can do to show the improvement right now and then there's certain things that you can't control right now that you have to make sure and have a plan for in the future but yeah I mean I knew, obviously coming down here prepared I knew that it was going to be a lot of days like we're going through right now and stuff days. But I also know that it's about your progress. And really, the journey that we're on. As long as we're pointing in the right direction and it for me it's about making sure behind the scenes that our staff is doing what we need to do to give our guys a chance and players are putting in the work. But yeah, there's no doubt it's definitely a different set of circumstances. But I think for me it's all about controlling what you can control right now and, and, you know, realize that things that are made the right way take time, and you know you got to have patience. In the big picture on that, but you got to make each and every day count on the things you can control today so that's really where my focus is."
ON THE NEED TO START FAST THIS WEEK
"That's a key part for this game. Exactly right. I mean, obviously, your last week. You know I told our guys if we got out and played the first two quarters like we played the last two quarters, then we would have had ourselves in the game and where we wanted to be. So, that is critical. Anytime you're playing a team like FAMU who have really good skill guys, you know, these are games that you need to take control of early and not give them a lot of hope and not keep them around so that's been a point of emphasis all week and will continue to be something we'll talk about as we get ready for Saturday night."
ON HIS PHILOSOPHY ON TAKING THE BALL OR DEFERING ON THE TOSS
"Typically we'll talk about that as a staff, sometimes it has to do and often to play with our brokers, what we like, and how confident we feel and kind of our game plan, you know I think definitely the first quarter. It's a little bit of a feeling out process especially early in the season. You know, fame, you basically have to game takes. I played two games in the last, you know, year and a half, two years. So, you know, it really is something we talked about throughout the week. Typically I like to kick off and have balls the second half where that extra off is a series that you get, you get after kind of settling down knowing what they're playing is on defense, but some days, some game some matchups, we may feel it's important to go ahead and take ball, early on. Along that same lines, if you're at the end of the first half 30 seconds to go, and you know you're getting the second half, does that determine what you're trying to do in terms of field position or just even taking the wind and say okay we'll get the ball start the second half. Well, I mean I think the middle eight, which you're talking about right in the last four minutes of the second quarter first four minutes of the third quarter which are critical. You know, I think, to me it does not play in, you know what we do and that the end of the second quarter needs to be based off what we think the best thing to do. At that moment, depending on how the game has gone and where we are on the field and, and what we want to do but knowing that we get the ball, you know to start the second half, really should not have an impact on what we do right there at the end of the second quarter, it really should be specific to that moment and what we feel is in our best interest to finish out the second quarter."
ON IF HE VIEWS THIS AS A MUST-WIN GAME
"I think those come from outside. I don't think you ever hear any coaches or players talk about a must-win game so I think for us, our goal every week is to win, and it's always important, that's our number one focus. Our focus is to go one to know this week, but that's really nothing that's ever talked about inside I think for us it's talking about the opportunity that we have this week. We do have a great opportunity for us to go out and execute play well and win the game. You know, but at the end of the day just like, you know, I've told our guys after the first two games, you know, our season is not gonna be decided on the first two games of the year, we got 10 games to go but I think is, whenever you have the right focus each and every week as coaches and players. Where the goal is to win the game. Each week I don't know that there be any more thing that you could add to winning the game that is useful, but, you know, outside you obviously can look at situations and different games, different matchups and come up with that stuff, that's nothing that's ever talked about internally."
ON THE QB SITUATION
"I felt like the quarterbacks have all done a better job. We just finished our Thursday practice and it's the first time since I've been here that the ball did not hit the ground on Thursday and that ultimately that's your goal on Thursday theme Thursday, to go out and execute. Last Thursday was not as clean as today was so that's a good sign. You know we, we, obviously a big focus those guys have worked extremely hard. You know we'll have our starter ready to go out there on Saturday night. Hopefully, he'll go out and play well, take control of the game, take command of the offense, and we won't look back, but you know if it's a situation, good or bad where we feel like we can give somebody else an opportunity then we'll be prepared to do that but, you know, our goal is for someone to step up and go on the job."
ON SEEING THE PROGRESSION IN HIS TEAM GETTING BETTER FROM WEEK ONE TO TWO TO THREE NOW
"Definitely progress and that's what you look for as a coach early on, and obviously we played two good teams there early so you know, when in the second game doesn't mean that's the only way that we had progress, obviously our goal was to win the game, we didn't. But I did see progress from week one to week two in certain areas, there's still things that, that showed up in certain areas as well. But you know one thing that I pointed out, we only had two penalties last week, which was a really good improvement from where we were the week before was some careless penalties that that was progress and I felt like offensively, especially the second half we did a better job of running the football and moving the ball and obviously getting into the envelope for the first time a year, and then defensively. The second half shows progress. So, yes, there was progress and wasn't enough progress to win the game, which is ultimately the most important thing, but there's no question. We did a better job, especially that second half, than we did week, week one."
ON HOW THEY ENDED UP WITH TIMMY MCCLAIN
"Charlie Weis was kind of hidden that up, looking at the different quarterbacks in our state, and we really got it narrowed down to about three guys and it was difficult because of COVID. We could not go, have the guys worked out first in the summer and I think as a court. One of the things is really important when you're recruiting quarterbacks, to see him for a lie. But this is the first year so I don't know how many years, probably forever, that nobody had an opportunity to go see these guys throw live and so we really, you know, went back and just watch the video, a few more times and we're able to see, you know surprise workout videos and stuff we're able to find online, and really liked what we saw. And then, a big thing was the program that he was coming from, you know, they do a great job. They've had a lot of success. He was a four-year starter, and, you know, and also talking to him and his family on the phone you can tell, they were very serious about it. This was something was very important to him and you know he's been everything we thought of plus some. So, and also I know he got some strong interest after he committed to us, and I think really showed a strong level of commitment, just to stick in there with us, even though we're going through a difficult year. And we're definitely glad to have him."
ON WHAT HE HAS LEARNED THUS FAR AT USF:
"I think the biggest thing that I'm learning is, you know, things take time, and you can't attack everything at once, you really have to be able to kind of prioritize the needs and things that you can do to show the improvement right now and then there's certain things that you can't control right now that you have to make sure and have a plan for in the future but yeah I mean I knew, obviously coming down here prepared I knew that it was going to be a lot of days like we're going through right now and stuff days. But I also know that it's about your progress. And really, the journey that we're on. As long as we're pointing in the right direction and it for me it's about making sure behind the scenes that our staff is doing what we need to do to give our guys a chance and players are putting in the work. But yeah, there's no doubt it's definitely a different set of circumstances. But I think for me it's all about controlling what you can control right now and, and, you know, realize that things that are made the right way take time, and you know you got to have patience. In the big picture on that, but you got to make each and every day count on the things you can control today so that's really where my focus is."
ON THE NEED TO START FAST THIS WEEK
"That's a key part for this game. Exactly right. I mean, obviously, your last week. You know I told our guys if we got out and played the first two quarters like we played the last two quarters, then we would have had ourselves in the game and where we wanted to be. So, that is critical. Anytime you're playing a team like FAMU who have really good skill guys, you know, these are games that you need to take control of early and not give them a lot of hope and not keep them around so that's been a point of emphasis all week and will continue to be something we'll talk about as we get ready for Saturday night."
ON HIS PHILOSOPHY ON TAKING THE BALL OR DEFERING ON THE TOSS
"Typically we'll talk about that as a staff, sometimes it has to do and often to play with our brokers, what we like, and how confident we feel and kind of our game plan, you know I think definitely the first quarter. It's a little bit of a feeling out process especially early in the season. You know, fame, you basically have to game takes. I played two games in the last, you know, year and a half, two years. So, you know, it really is something we talked about throughout the week. Typically I like to kick off and have balls the second half where that extra off is a series that you get, you get after kind of settling down knowing what they're playing is on defense, but some days, some game some matchups, we may feel it's important to go ahead and take ball, early on. Along that same lines, if you're at the end of the first half 30 seconds to go, and you know you're getting the second half, does that determine what you're trying to do in terms of field position or just even taking the wind and say okay we'll get the ball start the second half. Well, I mean I think the middle eight, which you're talking about right in the last four minutes of the second quarter first four minutes of the third quarter which are critical. You know, I think, to me it does not play in, you know what we do and that the end of the second quarter needs to be based off what we think the best thing to do. At that moment, depending on how the game has gone and where we are on the field and, and what we want to do but knowing that we get the ball, you know to start the second half, really should not have an impact on what we do right there at the end of the second quarter, it really should be specific to that moment and what we feel is in our best interest to finish out the second quarter."
ON IF HE VIEWS THIS AS A MUST-WIN GAME
"I think those come from outside. I don't think you ever hear any coaches or players talk about a must-win game so I think for us, our goal every week is to win, and it's always important, that's our number one focus. Our focus is to go one to know this week, but that's really nothing that's ever talked about inside I think for us it's talking about the opportunity that we have this week. We do have a great opportunity for us to go out and execute play well and win the game. You know, but at the end of the day just like, you know, I've told our guys after the first two games, you know, our season is not gonna be decided on the first two games of the year, we got 10 games to go but I think is, whenever you have the right focus each and every week as coaches and players. Where the goal is to win the game. Each week I don't know that there be any more thing that you could add to winning the game that is useful, but, you know, outside you obviously can look at situations and different games, different matchups and come up with that stuff, that's nothing that's ever talked about internally."
ON THE QB SITUATION
"I felt like the quarterbacks have all done a better job. We just finished our Thursday practice and it's the first time since I've been here that the ball did not hit the ground on Thursday and that ultimately that's your goal on Thursday theme Thursday, to go out and execute. Last Thursday was not as clean as today was so that's a good sign. You know we, we, obviously a big focus those guys have worked extremely hard. You know we'll have our starter ready to go out there on Saturday night. Hopefully, he'll go out and play well, take control of the game, take command of the offense, and we won't look back, but you know if it's a situation, good or bad where we feel like we can give somebody else an opportunity then we'll be prepared to do that but, you know, our goal is for someone to step up and go on the job."
ON SEEING THE PROGRESSION IN HIS TEAM GETTING BETTER FROM WEEK ONE TO TWO TO THREE NOW
"Definitely progress and that's what you look for as a coach early on, and obviously we played two good teams there early so you know, when in the second game doesn't mean that's the only way that we had progress, obviously our goal was to win the game, we didn't. But I did see progress from week one to week two in certain areas, there's still things that, that showed up in certain areas as well. But you know one thing that I pointed out, we only had two penalties last week, which was a really good improvement from where we were the week before was some careless penalties that that was progress and I felt like offensively, especially the second half we did a better job of running the football and moving the ball and obviously getting into the envelope for the first time a year, and then defensively. The second half shows progress. So, yes, there was progress and wasn't enough progress to win the game, which is ultimately the most important thing, but there's no question. We did a better job, especially that second half, than we did week, week one."
ON HOW THEY ENDED UP WITH TIMMY MCCLAIN
"Charlie Weis was kind of hidden that up, looking at the different quarterbacks in our state, and we really got it narrowed down to about three guys and it was difficult because of COVID. We could not go, have the guys worked out first in the summer and I think as a court. One of the things is really important when you're recruiting quarterbacks, to see him for a lie. But this is the first year so I don't know how many years, probably forever, that nobody had an opportunity to go see these guys throw live and so we really, you know, went back and just watch the video, a few more times and we're able to see, you know surprise workout videos and stuff we're able to find online, and really liked what we saw. And then, a big thing was the program that he was coming from, you know, they do a great job. They've had a lot of success. He was a four-year starter, and, you know, and also talking to him and his family on the phone you can tell, they were very serious about it. This was something was very important to him and you know he's been everything we thought of plus some. So, and also I know he got some strong interest after he committed to us, and I think really showed a strong level of commitment, just to stick in there with us, even though we're going through a difficult year. And we're definitely glad to have him."
