Head Coach Kevin Stefanski (7.30.23)
Opening statement:
“Okay, first of all, I want to say thank you to the Greenbrier and the people of West Virginia. What an amazing experience. They were so gracious to us down here. We were guests, (they) made it a great, great experience. And that’s players, coaches, staff. So thank you to that group. And then our group and I mentioned them before, but to pull this off, there’s a lot that goes into it. I’m extremely grateful to the men and women in our organization that worked tirelessly to get us down here and they’re working tirelessly right now to pack everything up. So really, a great effort by everybody. And then we’re excited to get back up home. So we’ll be up home. We get to see our fans on August 1st in Berea, which we’re very excited about and then it’s all part of the process. Still coming along, still work to do and then excited about next week. We get to play in the Hall of Fame game and we get to honor Joe Thomas’s contribution to this organization. So a lot going on, and we’re excited about it, but with that, I’ll take any questions.”
Kevin, what’s your reaction to (James) Hudson throwing a punch at Ogbo (Okoronkwo) and then the skirmish that happened?
“Well, I’ll say this. Fighting, skirmishes, jawing happens in every training camp at every level of football. They’re tired, they’re hot, they’ve been going against each other, so I’m not surprised at that at all. They talked about it. It’s over. We don’t throw punches, so I’ll review that stuff and there’s obviously penalties. If you’re throwing punches in games, you get thrown out of the game. So why practice something that would get you thrown out of a game? We will address that, obviously, but I don’t think anybody’s ever been around a bunch of football players in the heat that don’t get a little agitated if you will.”
Otherwise, it looks like a defensive-dominating day. Would you agree?
“It was awesome. Yeah. I was telling Coach (Jim) Schwartz that’s great work for the offense, great work for the defense. It’s good versus good. Coach Schwartz and the DBs and then front and the linebackers, they’re going to make the offense work. They’re going to make you earn everything. You’re going to have to throw into tight windows. So the drill we were doing down there was third downs in the red zone, that’s really challenging, and I thought the defense did a really nice job.”
Do you want to come back here?
“Like I said, Tony (Grossi), we had a great experience. I think conversations for that will come at a later date, but it was a great experience. The backdrop of where we are is pretty special.”
I asked you on the first day down here that it’s kind of an intangible when you talk about chemistry because you sort of mentioned that as a goal. Now nine days later, do you feel like you achieved some of that?
“I think you do just naturally being around each other. Of course you do organically. But we’ve talked about it. Your entire season, you’re building towards something and that’s including building a strength between players, between coaches, et cetera. So that’s something that’s ongoing.”
Tyrone Wheatley toppled off with some trainers after the second little scuffle. How unfortunate would it be if he’s hurt or something?
“We’ll see. Yeah, I don’t have an update. I don’t know.”
But I mean, how unfortunate would it be if something happened? He’s been having a nice camp.
“Yeah, obviously something happened. But hard to – I don’t want to speculate. So we’ll see.”
Why hasn’t Jordan Akins been out here the last three days?
“Rest. Resting his knee, but just rest.”
What was maybe something that was kind of an unexpected thing that you’ve noticed over these nine days that maybe was something that pleased you?
“I just think this whole thing is part of a process. I mean, the season kicks off September 10th. It’s 17 games plus, so this is our first step into building on the foundation of the spring. But it’s all started process, we have a ton of work to do. We’re not there yet. Obviously, we’ll get ready to play in this game, but we have plenty of days to stack before we’re ready on September 10th.”
Was this the most competitive practice?
“I think you can compete like crazy, Tony. Whether you’re in pads, whether you’re in shells, whether there’s jawing back and forth, I think you can compete. And I’ve seen that, and I know that sounds crazy, but I’ve seen it throughout every one of these days. Even into the individual drills, into the one-on-one drills, guys are competing like crazy.”
Were you glad that on getaway day there was that much competitiveness today?
“Yes, because we’re up and early. I’ve talked to a few of the players before this because you had to bring the energy today. We’re up earlier than normal. It is getaway day, as you mentioned, so I thought they were locked in.”
Obviously, there was still energy today, but do you think coming back to Berea with the fans can provide some kind of juice?
“Without a doubt. Oh, man. Yeah, without a doubt. These guys have been playing this sport for a long time, but the second you have a crowd there and they’re cheering you on, you feel that it’s our home fans. It’s special when they come out there to Berea like they do in droves. So we’ll absolutely get a kick from that.”
Are you leaving it up to individual players to attend Joe’s thing, or is there going to be a formal team outing?
“There will be a contingent of us going down, but I don’t have the final list just yet.”
Kevin, lots of pass breakups, especially in the red zone drills. How much is that going to help Deshaun (Watson) and the guys on offense get ready for the season?
“Yeah, it’s great. You mentioned some really good players, they’re playing with great technique. When you get into the red zone, you have to be so precise and those windows are so small – you better be making contested catches. And the quarterback has to drive throws, and you have to look off safeties and all those things. So. it’s just great work for both sides.”
Looks like DTR (Dorian Thompson-Robinson), as the week went along, got a lot sharper. Did you feel like that was the case?
“Yeah, I think he’s had some good reps. I’ve been really pleased with that entire group. DTR is going to get to play quite a bit in this game, so we’re just trying to get him ready to go as a rookie. So I think with each one of his reps, he’s taking advantage of them.”
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