Head Coach Todd Monken (9.11.26)
Todd, obviously Teven (Jenkins) not able to go, is that a recurrence of the injury? Has that back been bothering him?
“I’m not getting into specifics. He’s just not able to go this week.”
Is Austin Barber making the start?
“He’ll start at right guard.”
How do you feel about the past couple of days he’s had?
“I feel great. I feel good about all of our guys. Like I said the other day, I’m excited to watch our guys play. I think that’s as much as anything. I really like the way our guys have prepped, the way they’ve prepared, and now the physical part of the week is over. Now it’s the mental part, and how we take care of our bodies, putting ourselves in position, outside of the physical, to play our best football Sunday.”
With Austin starting, you will have two rookies on the O-line. What gives you confidence that the moment won’t be too big for them?
“Just the way they practice. Just what I’ve seen every day, that’s all you can go by, is what you see every day. And I haven’t seen anything to the contrary that would make me believe that they’re not going to play really, really well, and confidently.”
The fact that you were contemplating starting Austin, regardless of his injury, does that give you more confidence putting him in there?
“Sure, I think so. We see the talent that is there, and he needs to play. That’s really where we’re at with a number of guys. There’s going to end up probably being four rookie starters, and a couple of guys with Harold (Fannin Jr.) and Q (Quinshon Judkins), who are second-year players. So, we’re excited to go play. It’s the best players play, doesn’t matter the age and they’re our best guys, and it gives us the best chance to win.”
Todd, going into a game, do you think to yourself it’s going to be a low-scoring or high-scoring game because it could affect decisions like going for it on fourth down?
“Some of that’s part of it. There are factors that play into decisions, some of that is how you feel like the game is going to go, or weather plays into that, or who you’re playing. But ultimately there’s a good amount of times you’re wrong in terms of how you think the game is going to go. I think they’d say the same thing, just like us, we’re going to try to score every time we have it, and we’re going to try to get after every possession on defense and try to stop them. I never anticipate that it’s going to be one or the other. A high-scoring game or a low-scoring game. We just play it out and see where we’re at.”
Todd, we’ve talked a lot about these first two games being in Florida, with the heat and the humidity. How well do you feel like you guys have prepared to deal with it? I know Denzel (Ward) has struggled a little with cramping in hot games in the past. Is that something you’ve been extra diligent about this week?
“For sure, and we’ll be diligent in our warmups when we get down there. We were lucky enough last week to get a couple of days where our big workdays were in the 90s, so that was great for us. We’ve done all the things we can do to prep our guys. We can’t do those things away from the building, that’s up to the players: what they put in their bodies, how they hydrate, the food they eat, the rest they get. And then leading up to the game, our travel, how we handle the travel, and then go play. Just like a team’s going to have to do when they come here and it’s cold. That’s just part of playing in the NFL in terms of the elements, and we’ll be ready to go.”
Have you decided yet if Taylen (Green) will have a package in place for this game?
“I have not yet.”
So, that’ll come right down to maybe game time?
“Possibly.”
We talked to Byron (Storer) yesterday about KC (Concepcion Jr.) as a punt returner and his usage in general. How will you guys monitor that throughout the game and communicate how much you want him in that role on top of his offensive load?
“Well, we’re not monitoring it. He’s going to do it. We’re going to put our most explosive players out there, who give us a chance to score, and he’s one of those guys. Now, if he gets nicked up, that’s different. But as of now, we’re going to play our best players in every scenario we have during the game, to give ourselves the best chance to score and stop people.”
What kind of week has Deshaun (Watson) had out there these last couple of days?
“Watching him get all the reps the last couple of weeks and getting more and more comfortable, how it helped Shedeur (Sanders) in terms of his development by splitting the reps and having a competition, you can see the opposite of that. He got a lot more of the reps, and you could see him getting more and more comfortable with the concepts, obviously putting the game plan in early and getting him comfortable. But I really like where he’s at.”
Austin Barber said that he and Spencer (Fano) had been leaning on the veterans as they were preparing for this moment, and he obviously didn’t know yet that he was starting at that point. But with guys like Zion Johnson, one of those veterans and a game captain, how important is that leadership going to be, especially with Austin getting the start?
“Well, it’s important for our younger players to lean on the guys that have had the career they’ve had up to this point, how did you get from point A to point B, how did you get to where you’re at. But once it kicks off, they’re going to have to rely on their training and where their inner confidence is at that moment. It’s going to have to come from within at that moment, and they’re going to have their ups and downs. That’s part of being a young player in this league. But I like their fight, I like the way they battle, and they’re really, really smart the way they handle practice. You can see, from day to day, the corrections they make individually, coaching is a part of that, but players making adjustments and talking, not only to some of the veteran players offensively but the guys on defense. You can really see that.”
You mentioned the other day that it would be hard to have three quarterbacks active, but since you haven’t decided on Taylen yet, is it still in play that you could possibly have three quarterbacks up?
“Sure. First of all, anybody that’s part of the 53 plus two elevations, if they’re part of our team and they’re practicing, they have the ability to play on Sunday. You’ve got practice-squad guys, where you get two elevations, and you’ve got everybody that’s on the 53. As we get closer to Sunday, we’ll narrow that band down a little bit.”
Now that the offseason’s over, did you have to deviate along the way on anything? Did anything surprise you about this whole process as a first-time head coach?
“Not really, nothing surprised me. I’d gone through it on a smaller scale at Southern Miss, so I’d been through that a little bit, in terms of the dual duties that I have. Obviously, there’s more media attention, that doesn’t surprise you, but you’re more tied up with things that can take you a little bit away from football. Not that this isn’t what we do, obviously, but nothing has really surprised me. I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t say it’s been a surprise, it’d be unfair to say it’s a surprise, but it has been so cool to come to work every day with the guys we have in that locker room, and the staff we have. It has been so cool how those guys work, how they prepare, the way they’re wired, the way they’re connected. That’s been, not surprising, but really, really cool.”
You got asked about your pregame speech the other day, have you settled on a message you want to give the team?
“No. I hadn’t settled on what I was going to say today when I walked in here, so, let alone 48 hours from now. So no. We’re going to be way beyond what we say in the locker room, right? It’s the work that we put in, the belief we have in each other. We’re in this, the season is a marathon. Like I always tell the players, ‘You’ve got a verbal contract with me. I’ve got your back, and that’s a verbal contract.’ We’ve got each other’s back through thick and thin. That’s what I love about our guys.”
A lot gets made of halftime adjustments in our sphere and amongst fans. What’s your take on the whole halftime-adjustment thing, when you’re in the heat of the moment, whether you’re up or down in the game?
“Well, to say that the halftime adjustments would mean more than in between series adjustments would seem kind of weird, right? They’re series to series. Our game is different than, say, basketball unless there’s a timeout, it’s constant flow, where we have plays and then one side of the ball is on the field, whereas in basketball they play offense and defense, there’s almost no stoppage. Where here, there’s stoppage. So do I think that at halftime, gathering information or talking to your team and maybe calming them down and resetting where you’re at. But what is halftime, 13 minutes, for God’s sakes? It’s like 13 minutes. By the time you run in there and you’re out of breath and you get a few thoughts, you run back out, and you talk to some reporter and you’re like, ‘holy s***, here we go again.’ Really, the most time you have is in between series, that’s where you have the most time to really think through what we want to get to. Sometimes that break helps you, sometimes, like, ‘thank God halftime came, we needed just a reset.’ Okay, let’s take the field again and get after it. But again, I wouldn’t say it’s overrated. What I would say is that every series, every moment in between series, because you’re really not talking in between plays, but once the series ends, ‘okay, what do we want to get to, offensively or defensively?’ Where are we at, talking to your guys, that’s as important as anything.”
Todd, you mentioned that Taylen and Shedeur would be splitting the scout-team reps. What kind of job did they do simulating Trevor Lawrence for the defense? How did that all go?
“Well, they did a great job. First of all, it’s hard to simulate any elite player in the NFL, and he’s an elite football player, so it’s hard to simulate the way he does it, because he’s one of one. Just like every quarterback is, they’re one of one, they’re themselves. A former coach I used to work for used to say, ‘be yourself, that other person’s taken.’ And Trevor Lawrence, it’s hard to be him, but I thought both of them did a great job of giving looks as best they could for our defense.”
Todd, how do you handle things like fourth-down decision making? If somebody’s specifically in your ear, how do you factor that in?
“Austin’s (Grosel) up there with us, but there’s a part of the analytics that comes into play, and there’s also where you’re at in the game, right? You’re no different than I would be like,‘hey, what do you think here, where are we at on the field, where’s the game going, how do we feel, how’s the quarterback playing, how are we playing up front.’ It’s a lot easier to go for fourth-and-one if you feel like you’re moving people off the ball. There are moments like that where it’s an offensive decision to go for it, but ultimately, it’s hard to score without the ball. So you’ve seen it more and more, you have to be ready to defend fourth downs, and you have to be ready to go for it. That’s nothing new. That’s been coming over the years. So, sequencing your plays and putting yourself in position to go for it when needed is a big part of where the game’s gone.”
I guess there’s some new tablet or whatever giving coaching staffs even more advanced in-game information. What’s your view on that? Who’s going to handle that for you on your staff?
“Well, it’s not that much more information. I mean, they throw it out there like it is. How about we just go to video? How about we just cut all the crap and go to video, where you can see it like every other level does now? We tested it out, I don’t know when, maybe back in ’16 or something, we tested it out, and it’s information, but it’s not nearly as far along as you’d like. Ultimately, the pictures are the biggest thing you get out of it, in terms of what you’re seeing. At some point I’m sure we’ll get to video.”
The night before a game, do you try to find some time to just kind of disconnect a little bit, step away, separate from it a little, take your mind off the game and get away for a bit mentally?
“Yeah, there’s a part of that. I think that’s a great question. There is a part of it where everything’s really kind of put to bed, you’ve already had the team meeting, you’ve already spoken to the offense, you’ve prepped, you’ve already got the call sheet done, in your mind, you’re going through scenarios and calls and what you want to get to. But I’ve got a lot of people, friends and family, that like to come to games, and I love to see them. I think that’s one of the coolest things about coaching at a high level. A lot of people want to come to see you play. Not many of them came when I was at Grand Valley State, I’ll just put it that way. But when you elevate in the profession, you get a lot more people that show up, and that’s really cool. It really is. You end up staying close with friends and family and people that want to enjoy it with you, and that’s really cool. I enjoy that part of it, and it does take my mind off a little bit. Because sometimes that’s not bad, getting your mind off it. You’re on go from the start of the week, but then the next morning you wake up, now it’s time. I don’t really visit most people on the day of the game, then you really get your mind on the task at hand, and let’s go play and see where we’re at, as coaching and playing. Let’s see where we’re at.”
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