Everything Josh Gattis said during his pre-Maryland press conference
On the locker room celebration after Penn State
Very emotional. You saw the cohesiveness of this team, the camaraderie, the togetherness. I think that's what led to make this team very special this year. You're talking about a team that is really defying against all odds, for a lot of people coming into this year probably had different perceptions of what this year would go like.
And the leadership of these players, they've bought into each other. You're talking about a team that was in a very bad place at the start of the year that had to commit, had to commit to loving each other, believing in each other, and the leadership of coach Harbaugh to bring this team along.
And so when you have moments like when you can celebrate a victory or celebrate special moments, those are the things that will be everlasting, that you’ll remember forever. We may not remember what game it was or what team we played or what play happened in the game but special moments like that you'll always remember for the rest of your life, and that just shows how tight-knight this family is of this team.
On why he had Mike Macdonald join in during the celebration
Togetherness. There wasn't one single play that won the game, there wasn't one single moment. It was a team that won the game, and so I'm a big believer in that. The moment to have coach Macdonald and coach Jay Harbaugh join us just meant the world to me. Coach had a moment there where he called me out in front of the team, but it's not about me, it's about us and we we couldn't have gotten the job done without his leadership, first and foremost, and we couldn't have gotten the job done without all the coaches and all the players, so for us that just turned into a special moment to celebrate everyone together.
On the "honest conversations" he has had with Cade McNamara and what has allowed him to take the next step as a leader
Yeah, just phenomenal. Cade, I think the world of Cade. I absolutely love him as a player and a person. Cade's a guy that I think when we talk about what he means to this program, what he means to this team, he means everything to this team.
I kinda felt bad for him early in the year because there was a lot of pressure put on him. Obviously there was outside noise and everything and he constantly felt like he was in defense of his own leadership and his own play on the field and we're talking about a guy that's 9-1 this season, a guy that's won us many, many games and a guy that's probably lost us very few games, if any. We haven't lost a game because of Cade. I felt bad early in the year that he had to defend himself the way he did, and I think often times we don't appreciate what these young kids are going through because at the end of the day our guys are still kids. This is not a professional sport. They're not getting paid for their service out there. They're committing themselves each and every week to try to come out and develop a product on the field that not only pleases themselves, pleases the team, but pleases the fans. And when you put so much pressure on a certain kid and regardless of what they do they can't be right, these kids, they see that stuff and they carry that pressure.
So to see Cade and his growth, his leadership, but also just reminding him, 'Hey man, believe in yourself. You are our quarterback, you are the leader of our team, you are the leader of our offense.' And he's going out there each and every week and he's had some very critical moments where he's had to toughen it up. He hasn't always been healthy, he's been banged up, but he's never made excuses. He's continued to lead the team, and I think that that's gained the respect of everybody, which he already had, but really kind of put the stamp on it even more.
On the attributes Cade has that fans don't see that make him a good quarterback
Just everything. The leadership, the DNA. If you're going to take everything from a DNA standpoint of what you want your quarterback to be: smart, physical, tough, composed, someone that can handle themselves under pressure. He displays all those traits. He does so much for us as far as driving just the direction of the team through his daily preparation and practice.
His leadership, he has the ability to be able to demand more from others around him and demand more in such a positive way. A lot of times it can go one of two ways with a quarterback: if they start yelling at certain guys, some guys won't respond. But for Cade in his situation, all the guys trust and believe in him and so he's got the utmost confidence and respect of all of our players on our team.
I think the world of him. I think there's so much--everyone focuses on stats. The only stat that matters is the wins and loss columns for a quarterback. Are they able to deliver wins for their team and are they able to lead the team on to success? That's obviously a category that he's done an extremely good job of since he's been here.
On Cade saying he doesn't hear outside noise and whether Gattis sense it bother him behind the scenes
No, I didn't notice it bother him and let me say, I see this from my side of view, not necessarily from his side of view. I don't think it affected him one bit. He continued to prepare, he continued to execute at a very, very high level.
It's just unfortunate when you see it, you know what I mean? For me as a coach, it's my job to protect his best interest and also protect him and his team. That was something that constantly--confidence is something that we all sometimes need at certain points throughout the season. A pat on the back, 'Hey man, you're right along where we need to be.'
There were times people were questioning for some reason we were questioning whether or not we could pass the ball. It wasn't because we were unsuccessful passing the ball, it was just because we were not attempting to pass the ball as much so when you face that type of criticism, especially at the quarterback position, it's our job as coaches to make sure he understands that hey, look, this is not a personal attack, an individual attack, this was the style of play that we chose to have. It wasn't by any means or anything negative toward him. He's handled it extremely well. He's so mature. He's everything you want your quarterback to be.
On how much the offense has evolved since he first took over
Well, the commitment to the run has been tremendous for us. Obviously coming into this season we felt really great about who Hassan and Blake were, and obviously Hassan, we've always felt strong in it. I think when we talked about it in the offseason, even the first time, I know it's been weeks since I came up here but we wanted to make a commitment to the run game. We wanted to be able to establish that.
We felt like considering the depth we had up front, too--you think about going into the season, I think we had seven or eight returning offensive linemen that have started in games considering all the different lineup switches that we had last year. Last year was a little bit different. Not to reflect back on 2020, but we didn't have a consistent starting five up front all year long, and so it was a swinging door of people going in and out of that front five but when you look at trying to tailor it around your best players, we felt that our running back room was by far the best position group on the team, and so the commitment there, the guys up front. I can't say enough about what coach Moore has done with the offensive line and the mentality and the embrace of our identity that those guys have created because they've allowed us to be successful in games and critical situations.
You're always going to change it. The real answer is it's always going to change to what's the best things your players do well and to fit your best players.
On whether there's something about Hassan that indicates he can handle a heavy workload
Hassan, he can handle anything. He's a special kid, man. He's another one I can't say enough about. I think he's a guy that deserves so much attention and so much respect on just a national level just (for) what he brings to this team. He's not going to have some of the individual stats of some of the top premier running backs in the country because we play quite a few running backs, but it's without a doubt Hassan and Blake, and I really feel that way about Hassan, if not one of the best two running backs in the country--just what he's brought to our team not only in the run game, pass game, his commitment. He does a phenomenal job of taking care of his body to be able to put himself in position to be able to carry the ball 20, 30 times a game.
And the other thing I love about Hassan is his leadership. He's a very unselfish-type player. He doesn't complain who gets the ball, and I think that's been a unique thing that coach Hart's done an extremely, really good job of is balancing that room. Those two guys pull for each other as much as anyone on our team. They want each other to succeed, and when you have two running backs like that that can share the rock, that can share the carries, but also can share success and not be caught up in individual statistics, that just makes your team special. We definitely had to keep track of him last week just from a numbers count, but he's an ox, man. He can carry the weight for sure.
On whether the staff feels they have to be delicate with deploying JJ McCarthy so McNamara isn't looking over his shoulder
No, that's never the approach that we take. It's kind of really just by play specifics. Certain plays we’ll have certain tags, certain plays based on personnel. And that’s not just anything at the quarterback position, we do that at quite a bit of it-- whether it’s running backs, whether they run certain plays or run well, or receivers having certain tags for different types of personnel that we want in on that play.
Yeah, that does not affect whatsoever, because Cade has always been our QB1. There’s been no doubt, no hesitation there. I’ll go into any battle vs. any team with Cade as our quarterback. And that’s the type of confidence we have in him, that’s the leadership that he displays, and that’s the trust and the relationship we have together.
On whether they have a plan for handling Aidan Hutchinson in practice
So I'm probably out of position but Aidan Hutchinson is the best college football player in the country. And I think for a lot of you all, we have some very powerful voices here and I would encourage everyone to try to use that powerful voice to spread that message, because what Aidan brings to this team, he’s the reason-- I won’t say it’s one person specifically, but Aidan could have left last year, right? He could have entered the draft. We became a different team last year, and not to reflect back on when we lost Aidan, (but) it’s kind of like seeing your superheroes go down. A lot of people can blame one thing or another, but that was a big impact on our team, along with the confidence of our team. And to have Aidan come back, to watch him commit himself to an offseason workout, to never doubt, to never question-- he was one of the first guys that announced he was coming back, to really kind of drive a lot of guys to end up coming back, whether it was to play for a sixth year, or whether having a guy like Josh Ross or Andrew Vastardis come back as leaders.
And so Aidan is the absolute best player in college football. There is no doubt in my mind. The impact he brings to this team-- yes, in practice, we hate it, because the type of disruption he shows in games is the same way in practice. There’s no tackle that can block him, there’s no tight end that can block him. And he impacts the game in so many more ways than just what statistics show. He’s very disruptive. Obviously, he’s a pass rusher, he affects the game in the run game, but if you’re an opposing offensive coordinator, he changes your whole game plan and how you choose to attack a defense by having a guy that has that much threat to really affect a play. He’s a guy that’s a true difference-maker.
So I would just encourage, man-- I think he should be in the discussion for the Heisman. Regardless of numbers, when you talk about someone that's impacted a team greater than anyone else, he single-handedly impacted this team and led us to be 9-1. I think the world of Aidan.
On his assessment of the wide receivers to this point
We’ve had some really bright spots. The one thing I would probably say we probably haven’t had is the consistency of each game, who’s it gonna be. It’s almost been a different person by different games. One guy steps up this game, another guy steps up that game. But they’ve come along.
They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them, they’ve made some plays. We’ve left out some plays as well to be made. But they’ve been bought in. We haven’t passed the ball as much as some people would like or maybe to their liking, but they’ve never complained one bit. They’ve bought into the mentality and identity of our team, They’re doing a phenomenal job blocking in the run game, creating opportunities for us in the pass game.
So, very, very pleased there. We’ve just gotta stay consistent. We’ve gotta get a little bit more healthy and stay consistent there, have the same bodies out there each and every week, but really like where they are right now.
Where can the receivers improve?
Well, this week, we’re gonna have a tremendous challenge, just all the man coverage that we go against, so these next few weeks we’ll see a ton of man coverage which we haven’t quite seen throughout the year. That’s an area where Maryland really excels. And so we’re gonna have to win some one-on-one battles, we’re gonna have to win with details, releases, ball placement, accuracy and all that deal. But we’re gonna have to win in the contested catch ratio and so that’s an area we don’t really have a ton of banked reps at this year just because of how much zone and different type things that we’ve seen.
But very pleased. Just continue to improve each and every day. That’s our #1 goal is how do we win one week at a time. Obviously, two weeks guaranteed left in the season and these are the two most important weeks of our program and we’ve gotta go out there and accomplish our goal of winning this upcoming week.
On whether this type of offense is more suited to him than perhaps a "speed in space" offense
I think this question has come up before. So, there’s no true identity when we talk about speed in space. That’s creating favorable matchups. We’ve had plenty of speed in space plays, whether that’s Blake Corum-- it may not come in the same type of identity as some people would like to see, but we’re running gap schemes, we’re getting our running backs one-on-one out in space out on safeties and they’ve been able to make those guys miss by whatever means. I think oftentimes when people see that term they think it’s the Air Raid. It’s not the Air Raid. We want to be balanced and that’s the thing that we always want to be balanced in what we do and who touches the ball.
And so going into the season, the physicality, the precision and smart, the toughness, that was very important. That's just shaping it around this 2021 team and so it’s kind of talked about, identity. Yes, I think identity is gonna change each and every year based on the strengths of your players and the strength of your team and what we need to do to be a successful team. And I think one of the things that we’ve really had to do this year was play complementary football, which we have done an exceptional job, offensively, defensively, and special teams playing unison as one, as a full team.
I think that you’ve always gotta be able to shape yourself and always gotta be able to change and grow, and you grow with your players and what they do best, and you grow with your team and where your team is positioned. I think that’s credit to coach Harbaugh himself just being able to guide this team along in the right direction. We’re playing together, regardless of what we do. And the chemistry and camaraderie, the offense, the defense, and the special teams, which has led this team to be a special team.
On his thoughts on red zone execution and whether he's been happy with his playcalling in that area
Yeah, the execution in the red zone, it’s been good. First, when you talk about red zone, first and foremost, the #1 objective is obviously to get points. That’s the key area. You win games by scoring points, and obviously win games by scoring one more point than the opposing team.
There’s times where obviously we wish we would have scored a couple more touchdowns in there, but I think the thing that’s been a little more strategic is-- so, there’s give and take, right? Jake Moody, first and foremost, the best kicker in the country, hands down. Should win an award, so let’s make sure that he does that, get that on national presence. But, however, when you’re talking about the difference between touchdowns and field goals, you’re also talking about the difference in is it reasonable field goals that you’re giving your field goal kicker the chance to make? Not putting him out there for bad field goals. Are you taking care of the kick line? Are you getting yourself in position to get those points? We feel very confident in whether that's certain points on the field, whether that be the 30 of the week, or the 25, that we’ve got guaranteed points. So your risk obviously goes down in that scenario.
But, obviously, we were heavy run in the red zone. I don’t think anybody can deny that as far as calls. Could there be more aggressive calls? Yeah. We’ve done our whole red zone breakdown. But ultimately, as far as our #1 accomplished goal, our goal of scoring points, we feel absolutely great about that.
So that’s the thing. We want to be able to score more touchdowns in the red zone, which we’ve scored a high volume of touchdowns, but we also want to be able to limit the field goals. But ultimately, as long as we score, that’s our #1 goal. But we do have to decrease the amount of field goals, for sure.
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