Everything Defensive Coordinator Jim O'Neil Said After Week 1 of Fall Camp
On how the defense is adapting to his vision and the overall progress they are making...
"Good, I'm happy with the progress of where we're at and I think the strength and conditioning coaches did an unbelievable job getting these guys ready to roll for camp throughout the summer semester. I think that the position coaches have done a great job with them mentally. You know, the first week of training camp we've thrown a lot at them, install wise, and we've had some mentals [mistakes], but nowhere near what we would have had at some of the other places I've been. I'm pleased with where we're at mentally, I'm pleased with where we're at a conditioning level, and I'm really happy with the buy in, with our defensive philosophy."
On how much things are new, compared to what the defense did in the past...
"It's probably 75% new, 25% things that are similar. I mean a lot of stuff in football is similar, but sometimes your eyes might be a little bit different or you might call it something different. But yeah probably 75-25 right now."
On the depth of the defense...
"That's what we're trying to find out, and that's probably the biggest difference for me right now from college football from the NFL. You know, you go in NFL training camp, usually your top 14-15 players are are locked up. Whereas right now, we have a lot of competitive situations across each level of our defense: defensive tackle, linebacker, safety, who are going to be the two starting corners? Every rep matters, even the walkthrough reps and individual reps, they're being evaluated in everything they do."
On how Samdup Miller is adjusting being back...
"He's been great. He's been great, and what an awesome guy, you know, just as far as showing the younger guys the way, his work ethic in the weight room. You know he's a guy that, if I'm a young guy, that's a guy I want to watch and model myself and build my plan of attack off of. He's been great. He's been great mentally, he's been great physically. I'm glad he's back. Really glad he's back."
On his impression of the linebackers and what he's seen from them in the six practices so far, considering the production that left from last year's unit...
"I mean, like I said, those guys are doing a great job and they're competing. The heart and soul of any defense is your linebacking core. We did lose a lot of playing experience with the guys that graduated. Obviously we have Berg back. Pete McIntyre has been around for a long time. I'm confident that Tim McGarigle will have that group ready to go. He's a great coach, does a great job in the meeting room with them. He does a great job building men, not just football players, so it won't surprise me if we're pretty solid at that position."
On how the younger DB's have stepped up so far...
"Yeah, I mean there were a couple of injuries late in the year, you know, Greg [Robinson II] didn't play every snap last year so it was an awesome opportunity to see Mitch and AJ Hampton get some playing time. Those guys have just continued to take steps. We're a little different with what we're asking them to do with some of the techniques. They've embraced them, they bought in and they've done a good job with it. Rod Heard is coming and we have two young guys that are battling right now in Nigel Williams and Garnett Hollis that I'm excited about. So that'll be a competitive position group as well."
On the safety position opposite Brandon Joseph...
"Bryce Jackson and Coco [Azema], and then we have a transfer in Trent [Carrington], that came to us from Presbyterian, who's done a really nice job and has played a lot of football. And then we have a second year player in Jaheem Joseph, who was recruited to be a corner that we moved to safety, who is really football smart and has really good instincts and is one of our better communicators back there as far as pre-snap alerts, as far as formations, alerting guys as to what might happen, so that's like playing with a coach on the field. So, again, we got some decisions to make as a coaching staff and those guys are making it tough on us."
On how the transfers have integrated so far, especially on the defensive line...
"Yeah, I'm really impressed with the two, on [Jeremy] Meiser and [Jeffery] Pooler. I think both those guys are gonna help us, so they're battling right now for roles. You're gonna have to earn playing time here. Those guys know that and usually you got to earn it on first and second down to get to third down for us."
On how many questions he gets about the NFL, especially from guys that are looking to play at the next level...
"A lot. We've put quite a library up there for the guys, it's one of the things that I took from Coach Gruden, save every clip. The video coordinators probably didn't love me when I showed up with six terabytes of video for them to get on the server, but we got it up and I think that anytime you put NFL film up, their eyes get a little bit bigger and they sit up a little bit straighter, because that's where they all aspire to go, and that's where they all want to be."
On the crossover and differences between the college game and the NFL, and how much he adjusts between the two...
"There's some differences in the pass game, there's obviously some differences in the run game, but I mean football's football. You still got to run the ball, you got to defeat blocks, you got to tackle. So, I mean the scheme stuff sometimes is a little bit overrated. We do a great job of running to the football as a defense, we do a great job getting off blocks and tackling, we'll be just fine".
On players that have stepped up and surprised him...
"Yeah, from the defensive line I would say inside, Te-Rah [Edwards] and J.B., have done a nice job, they're competing at defensive end, I'm excited to see what happens in the next week or so with Sean [McLaughlin]. At linebacker I'm really excited about Bryce [Gallagher]. Obviously his brother played a lot here. In the backend, I already talked about Jaheem Joseph and I talked about Nigel Williams and Garnett Hollis, so I would hope in the next week or so, we'll have a pretty clear picture of that group of guys, how much they're going to help us or do they need another year to develop."
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Jack Savage is a Reporter and Contributor for Wildcats Daily on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Savage is a UCLA alum and is currently pursuing his MSJ at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.