Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (7.25.25)
Opening Statement:
“Before we get started, I just want to acknowledge the people in Lorain, in our community that are hurting from some senseless violence against our police officers. Officer Phillip Wagner, who lost his life in this. Two officers were injured; Officer Peter Gale, Brent Payne. We are thinking about the community of Lorain. We’re thinking about everybody in law enforcement that keeps us safe. It’s tough news, and I know they’re going through it, and I just want them to know we’re thinking of them as they go through this. They’re certainly in our thoughts and prayers. I just want to make sure that we acknowledge that before we get started. I want to acknowledge Jordan Hicks. Obviously a player, a person that I have an amazing amount of respect for. Jordan played really good football for us, played at an extremely high level, and he was even better off the field and what he was able to give to this football team. So, an amazing career, one that needs to be celebrated. Just want you to know that we support him, obviously, in his decision. We’ll miss him, but he’s somebody that I have a ton of respect for. So, with that, I’ll take any questions.”
With the linebacking group, there’s such a young group below Jerome (Baker) and Devin (Bush). Just how much more does it require them to grow up as much off [the field] as on the field?
“I think that oftentimes happens, Chris (Easterling), in football, when you lose a player due to injury or retirement or whatever, there’s opportunities that come up for younger players. In this day and age, young players play early at these positions, so they may be counted on and that’s why we’re working so hard. That’s why we’re trying to be efficient with everything we do, maximize every rep and minute that we have with these young men to get them ready to play.”
Was this something that you knew he was thinking about retiring?
“Yeah, I don’t want to speak for Jordan, so I’ll let him speak for himself. We talked earlier this week, and I obviously support whatever decision he made.”
“Kevin (Stefanski), yesterday at the end of practice, is that what you call opportunity period?”
“Yes. Yeah.”
Is that something we’ll see more of?
“We’ve always done that. I asked Coach (Jim) Schwartz if I can rebrand it to ‘Hungry Dawgs’ because coach has a great line that ‘Hungry Dawgs’ run faster. So that may just be called our ‘Hungry Dawgs’ period, but that’s copyright Jim Schwartz. But the idea there is some of the guys that aren’t getting a ton of reps, let’s go get a team period yesterday. We did skills and drills today. We’ll do a seven on seven another day. It’s just an opportunity for those guys to get better. “
Kevin (Stefanski), I know you’ve been asked a. Lot about Shedeur (Sanders) since all the attention, all the focus, everything that he generates – as he says, content. How impressed have you been by the way he’s handled all of that?
“Yeah, I think Shedeur (Sanders) does a nice job of keeping the main thing, the main thing. He’s working very hard in the building, in the meeting room, in the weight room, out here on the field. He’s working hard and keeping his head down. Attention that comes with it, in this day and age, that’s something that our guys do a great job of off the field is including our fans in what they’re doing. But he does a great job of keeping the focus where it needs to be.”
On the quarterback reps determining the depth chart…
“Yeah, I think all those things are what we will work through Tony (Grossi). I don’t think that we’re setting a depth chart in any way.”
Since we talked to Shedeur (Sanders) today, we asked him about the fact that he really hasn’t gotten a chance to work with the starters yet. I know it’s only been two days, but will we see a more of that or maybe the twos or something like that today or tomorrow?
“Yeah. Like I told you guys, we’ll continue to rep these guys throughout the last couple days. Next week, we’ll move guys around. I think for any of our players, it’s really just focusing on what you have in front of you, and he’s done a great job of that.”
Will Mike (Woods II) be out there today?
“Mike will be out here today. He’s dealing with a hand injury, but he may be. If he’s not out here, he’s inside getting treatment.”
You signed a receiver this morning. Did it have anything to do with that (injury)?
“Everything has everything to do with everything, Scott (Petrak). It’s all connected. Yeah. Yes.”
Will we see Jerome Ford today?
“Not today, but progressing. He’s close.”
Kevin (Stefanski), that red zone period at the end where Shedeur (Sanders) was out there yesterday with some bad snaps, I think there’s a penalty. What are the coaching moments off of that, especially for him and maybe how he can handle that when things are going badly?
“Well, offensively we have to do a much better job there. We had too many operational issues, just center-quarterback exchange. We had a false start so we can do a better job. We repeated those plays so we could get some reps. I think there’s opportunities for quarterbacks. There will be a play where the quarterback is likely sacked if you’re playing real football, but we continue to play as quarterbacks so that we can get a rep off schedule, get a rep of scramble drill. So, even in those moments where, yeah, things didn’t go the way that you want them, it’s not clean, it’s not three and hitch balls out. I think there’s still plenty to learn from that.”
When you are watching a guy like Shedeur (Sanders) and the center-snap exchange is challenging, do you want to see him work with some higher level of talent to see what he can actually do with those reps?
“Yeah, I understand the question. I would say we will continue to rep the guys with different teams, centers, all of that. We need to be better in that period there Mary Kay (Cabot), which we will be today. I was saying earlier, everything our players do is an all-encompassing evaluation. It’s never going to be about one player, one period here and there. It’s going to be about everything they do, including this preseason.”
Hey, Kevin (Stefanski), Martin Emerson (Jr.), he said himself that he was not happy with last season. So, what have you seen from him so far?
“Yeah, MJ’s a very determined young man. I appreciate that he feels like he didn’t play at his best. I mean, he’s right. He’s got such a high ceiling. We’ve seen him play at such a high level over the course of time. He will bounce back there’s no secret to it; there’s no magic wand. It’s just from him working really hard. He’s a kid that is in here all the time, constantly working at his craft, working on his body. So, I expect him to have a big bounce back year.”
Kevin (Stefanski), Dillon (Gabriel) was talking about when he’s not getting actual reps, the stuff he does, valuing those mental reps and things like that. What are your expectations of these guys when they’re not actually taking reps?
“It’s a good question. If you watch behind – you have one player in there, right? A lot of times you’ll see the quarterbacks behind walking through the play as it’s happening about 20 yards behind. I think that’s one way to get it. I think we have those walkthrough rooms up there where you can put it on a specific angle where you can get a full speed rep. It’s a turf floor in there so you can take a drop. So that’s one way to replicate it. The term we’ve used is we’re trying to steal reps any which way we can. Of course, the, the absolute best ways to be in the moment and get that rep. Unfortunately, you’re not going to get every single rep. So, how you find ways to steal those, you have to get creative about it.”
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