On how Paul Bunyan is doing
He's doing great, comfortable down in his spot in the locker room hanging out with the boys, so glad he's staying home. Yeah, he was in the stadium for a little bit and then decided to come back home, so we're excited that he's here.
On what he saw in the postgame scuffle
Yeah, I mean, you saw just a lot of talking, chipping, and it kind of was going on throughout the game, and then you saw one of their guys pull Colston's helmet down and him jawing back at him, so besides that, I mean, that was the main thing, and then the film cut off after that, so, but you know, being there, seeing it, it was just a lot of jawing, a lot of pushing, shoving, pulling each other apart, so something that's not called for. We don't represent Michigan like that. We don't represent the Block M and the winged helmet like that, so we'll definitely address that, and guys have already come to me and apologized for even being a part of it or being around it, so they know what they did was wrong, and we'll make sure we handle it internally.
On having players that are self-aware
Yeah, it means a lot. I mean, one, they know that's not how they should handle it. They know their families would be disappointed in how they handle it, and you know, for us as a university, that's not how we handle it, so it means a lot that they say that they take the responsibility.
On his takeaways of the quarterbacks
I thought both of them complemented each other really well. I thought they executed a really good level. You know, Davis missed a couple throws that he wants to have back, and I think that's going to happen with quarterback play. It's all not going to be perfect, but he made some really good throws and some really big-time throws. Third down plays, the long one to Tyler Morris on the flea flicker, that one was actually a dart. It was a great throw, and you know, Alex coming in there with some big, big runs, and then, you know, at the end, cementing the game, and that's the unselfishness of this team and unselfishness of him. He might score on that last play and just gets down, so it's pretty cool to see.
On whether being aware of the situation in the game was something they talked to Alex Orji about
Yeah, I mean, we're a very situationally aware team, and we do a lot of things to teach our guys about situations, and he knew it was a first down-get-down situation. So, as soon as he got the first down, he got down and knew the game was over.
On how Davis Warren and Orji opened up the offense
Yeah, I think it helped us. You know, it gave balance. You know, you equate your numbers when you get the quarterback in there as a runner, and especially a big physical runner that can do things, and it makes defenses play two different styles of defense, which they don't want to do. And I think Alex is showing that he can throw enough. That he can throw the ball down the field if need be. So, they can't always say it's always a run, but they can say it's more likely a run, but then they'll just, they'll be guessing.
On the excitement of the receivers being more involved
Yeah, I think they were really excited, and I think they did a really good job. They got separation, spacing, all those things were really good, and it allowed the passing game to be much more successful.
On his thoughts on the offensive line
It was in the first like quarter and first quarter and a half, it was too much of three guys right, two guys wrong, three guys right, two guys wrong, and too much like just hand placement, body position not right, and then after that it was guys running off the ball, sprinting off the ball, trying to move people and be physical as they could, and it looked like our style and brand of ball, because we ran the same type of plays in that first quarter, and then the second quarter the result was different because of how those guys were moving guys. So it was awesome to see, and then to have no sacks was huge in the game, and no penalties, and no turnovers.
On the importance of having Myles Hinton back
Huge man, he's a tone-setter, definitely a guy that has NFL capabilities and really played at a really good level yesterday.
On how the RBs handled being a lesser part of the gameplan
They're great, I mean they just want to win. Both of those guys just, they do anything to win and that's all they care about. Donovan got his touchdown pass, he claims he's the best quarterback in Michigan football history. Kalel was still running hard, got a big third and one conversion, so those guys are still, those guys are plenty fine, happy, and they always want to produce, but they were happy we got the win.
On Donovan Edwards jokingly being the best QB in Michigan history
He does, I mean he'll tell you every day of practice he comes out there and throws like a 40-yarder on the dot with no warm-up. He said, coach I don't even need a warm-up, man. So that's how he is, but you can't deny the results. I think he's like 4-4 passing in his career and they're either explosive or a touchdown, so he's doing pretty well.
On how the trick plays fit into the offense
Yeah, there's some of those plays we've been working on for weeks. The halfback pass is something we've been working on for a while. The play with Semaj going to quarterback has been something we've been working on for a while and just never had it, got it called and never got it ready and there's more, there's plenty of things that we can work, but really it's just extension of the offense and plays off of plays, just got to tell a story to the defense and you got to have those plays off of plays to make people second-guess what they're doing.
On whether there was a rhythm to the play-calling
Yeah, I think just Coach Campbell got in a rhythm and the guys got in a rhythm too and you wish that first play of the second half, if Davis hits that, he might be gone for 20, maybe 30, 40 and that might get the rhythm even more, but to go down that first drive and score on the first drive of the second half, which I don't know we've done all year, was huge momentum. We won what we call the middle eight, the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half and that was a huge piece of us and I feel like that created the rhythm for the rest of the game.
On how Warren handled sitting and where he's at now
I mean I think the kid handled it as good as anybody could. I don't know if I was that age, I would have handled it the same way. I mean with such class, with such dignity and like just such a great teammate. He just never changed, never flinched, never did anything different than he did when he was a starter. Maybe even amplified his preparation and he was awesome and then you just saw it go out into his play on Saturday.
On the relationship between Warren and Orji
Yeah, it's super cool. I don't know, I've been around some cool like quarterback relationships. They're very, very close. Like it's just you can't really put a beat on it, but even in practice, the way they headbutt each other and they do things they did on the sideline, that's what they do in practice. Like one goes in, one goes out, they're like yeah let's go, let's go, boom, boom. So like they have a great relationship and they really feed off each other.
On what changed defensively after the first two drives
Just great adjustments. I think we played better gap defense. The guys, obviously the iPads are huge, but we just played better sound gap defense and it wasn't really the changing of a whole bunch of calls, but we just reversed more sound and were tackled better in those situations.
On the difficulty of scheming against Aidan Chiles
Yeah, he's a really good player. For a younger guy that hasn't started a lot of games, I mean he gives you trouble because he can move, he's big. He's not one of those guys that, you know, KG had him with one hand and usually KG pulls a guy down and the guy goes down and he ripped out of it. So, like the guy, he's a good player and I thought overall defense did a good job, you know, stopping it enough to win the game.
On the concern of third and longs on defense
Yeah, it's something we got to get fixed, you know, whether it's gap integrity, you know, they were just checking for the run on some of those exotic looks. So, you know, something we got to get fixed and we'll definitely get corrected.
On being better against the run
Yeah, I think we just got to stay gap-sound. Sometimes guys move or they're running stretch plays. They're not running direct runs. They're trying to, you know, stretch and then penetrate, do some things to get around the bigger guys and not run it right at the bigger guys. Our guys just have to be better gap sound fundamentally and fit it better to make sure that those things don't happen.
On whether there's a concern with the field goal, PAT operation
Yeah, I mean, that was the first time. So, you always, you always get worried and you get upset about it happening, but that's the first time it happened. So, you know, we'll continue to work those little things operation-wise.
On whether he expects Will Johnson to play this week
We'll see. So, just progress what the doctors say and we'll go from there.
On Aamir Hall and Jyaire Hill playing in Johnson's absence
Yeah, I'll start with Jyaire. I mean, I think he's just, he, I challenged him after the Washington game to really step his play up and I think he really has. He's really played really good football. Was really happy, you know, they tried to attack him with Marsh number six a couple times on some quick hitches and try to make the guy miss and he wrapped up and brought the guy down. So, that was really cool to see. I thought Amir did a really good job throughout the game. Missed the one tackle at the end for the touchdown, but overall did a solid job for us.
On Mason Curtis on Jo'ziah Edmonds
Just what they've done in practice. Both of those guys have like elite skill set and ability, but how they execute and what they've done in practice, they're wanting to study, they wanted to be better. You can see like how good they're going to be for the future. That's really been the main reason why those guys have been able to play.
On what Oregon presents
We got to prepare our tails off. A lot of studying film-wise, but we got to go execute at practice. We got to have great game plans and the guys got to do their jobs, not try to be Superman. We've got a lot of talent on our team and we got a lot of ability. So, for us, it's going to be, you know, one, putting great game plans together to put our players in the best position and then go execute on practice every day.
On the concerns with Oregon's offense
I think, one, the quarterback. He's just, he's in such control of the offense all the time and what he can do and making checks or doing different things for their offense. Up front, they're as good as there is in the country and then their skill from the running back to the receiver, tight end, Ferguson, he's really good too. So, they're all really good. Their ability to just smooth the football.
On Oregon's defense
Yeah, you see great team defense. Like, they've got some really good players. Burch, I don't know if he'll be back or not, but he's an outstanding player. Number 10, defensive end, he's unbelievable. He's really good. Linebacker four is good. Muhammad, the corner who was at Washington last year, they've got a lot of skill, they play really good team defense and we'll definitely have to create a great game plan for our guys to get separation and have run lanes.
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