You’ve gone through Spring ball and summer workouts – how do you like what you’ve seen so far?
“Well, we’re in good shape ‘cause we haven’t played.” “Honeymoon’s not over yet.”

Have you seen a lot of leadership from Jacory?

“No question. He’s obviously a little bit bigger, he’s a lot more confident, he’s got a real good control of what we’re trying to do. We weren’t allowed to be around 7-on-7s, but he called me all the time and we talked afterwards – the one thing everybody knows is that he’s become a leader. He loves this place and he loves his role and I’m really excited about him.”

Jacory’s been a “shotgun guy” throughout his high school career and at UM early on, can he play under center? Do you want to use him under center more this year?

“I don’t think that was any problem. The way we teach it here is no different then the way we taught it at Philadelphia or Pittsburgh or even when I was in college. We put him under center – I think it’s easier in the shotgun – Jacory’s had no problem. He’s a good athlete – probably a little better athlete than I thought. That won’t be a problem at all.”

Would you agree that the strength of the offense is the WR position?

“Some days. When the ball hits the ground I don’t… The one thing I’ve accentuated is just improving. There’s a lot of enthusiasm. We have good players and we have great kids.”

Are there enough snaps to get all those kids involved in the passing game? Or would you like to cut it down and not play so many WRs?

“That’s what fall camp is all about. Some guys will get nicked – there might be an injury here or there. What we told these kids during the summer is ‘you just can’t learn one position. You can’t be the X, you can’t be the slot, can’t be the Z, can’t be the E…’ So we’ve asked those guys to train in different positions to give us even more depth. I’m interested to see what’s going to happen next weekend when we start. I’ve never been at a place where you ever had enough players.”

With big WRs (Byrd and Johnson) and speedy WRs (Benjamin), do you have a lot of big-play guys, potentially?

“It looks that way… I haven’t had a chance to look at the rest of the ACC, but I think we have some good players. I told those guys before summer ‘I can’t coach you anymore, it’s not like the NFL where I can be with you all the time. This is a big test of what you guys are going to do on your own.’ That’s an exciting part for me – to see where they’re at when we come out next week. See what kind of retention they’ve had and how hard they’ve worked and how much they’ve studied. They’ve had a taste of the playbook – we gave them a lot, I like to try to challenge them mentally, and I’m excited to see what they’re going to bring to the table.”

Do you have a feel for what you like to do regarding run-pass in this offense? Or is that more of a wait-and-see how everything develops over the next few weeks?

“I think we know what we’d like to do – I think the defense will dictate some of those things. The first two weeks of camp is getting back to the fundamentals and the installs of all the plays and concepts – run and pass, short yardage, goalline, 2-minute. We won’t focus in on what we’re going to do against Florida State. I have an idea – I’ve looked at them throughout and I have an idea – but it’s also going to come down to how we come out of camp. What happens if one of those receivers gets hurt? What happens if Jacory gets nicked or Foxy gets hurt at tackle? So a lot of those things come into play in a gameplan situation. As I said earlier, I want to see the improvement. I think the guys are carrying themselves with some confidence and that’s really important. I think when I see these guys they believe in themselves, and more importantly they believe in each other – the offense believes in the defense. Those are the things that Coach Shannon and Coach Lovett and I have stressed. You just gotta find a way to get one more point than the other guy.”

Do you expect to have Epps back?

“Jacory says he’s running really well and that he’s done well in 7-on-7s. He’s someone we didn’t really get a chance to work with – same with Tervaris Johnson and Jimmy Graham – and I thought Richard Gordon did real well. We’ve really only had maybe one true TE in the Spring, we moved Jake Byrne over there to help out… Now we’re going to be able to use maybe more two TE sets – maybe some 3 TE sets – and give another package that we didn’t have in the spring. Coach Panz and Coach Shannon have all said good things about Dedrick, so I’m excited to get with him on the field.”

What was the transition like from the NFL back to college?

“Coaching’s coaching. We’ve got great kids here. When I had Ben as a rookie and last year with DeSean Jackson – there might be some different problems, but you have to give the young kids confidence. When you know what you’re doing and you do it well and you keep improving, then you gain that confidence. I don’t know if we had a real confident group when I got here, but I think they gained some through the spring and we just gotta keep bringing that on. You have to have a little bit of a fear factor, but kids are kids and we have great ones and I couldn’t be happier right now.”

The kids we’ve talked to have talked about winning as a team, about how they have to put in the work ‘cause they’re no longer just going to win because they’re “the U”, about how they’re no longer the team to beat in the ACC – do you feel that when you talk to the kids?

“I think that’s anywhere. No matter where I’ve been, we talk about just playing the next play, moving forward. That’s always a little more difficult for young people, and even as a 53-year old you have some times you have trouble with that, but I think the future’s bright here, we’ve got great kids. We’re going to have some problems, everybody does – if you didn’t it wouldn’t be football. But one reason I came is because we ARE “the U” and the pros that have come back have made this a special time for me. There’s a legacy here, there’s goals to be set – we’ve one five national championships and we’ve played for ten and that’s something that people forget. These kids want to add something to that, but it’s most important that they get back to the fundamentals – doing the right thing day-in and day-out, and the proof will be in the pudding come Labor Day."
 

What’s it like when you’re sitting in your office and you look out and see 10-15 Pro Bowl players all working out on that football field? I can’t think of a better marketing tool than seeing guys like Ed Reed and Reggie Wayne and Andre Johnson working out.

“It’s great because those are great people. They’re great players, but more importantly they’re great people and they’re back here to help. I tell people if you want to be a hedge fund trader, go to New York City and you talk to the guys there. If you want to be an NFL player, you come here and you talk to the guys here. I hadn’t seen Frank Gore since I was in Philadelphia, all of a sudden we’re hugging and saying ’can’t wait to see you play this year’ ‘how you doin’ ‘are you healthy’ and here he is working out in the weight room. Those kinds of things happen day-in and day-out here and that’s what makes it special. That’s why when you’re outside of this area, there’s a great deal of respect when you say ‘University of Miami’ and it’s something I’ve learned in the six months I’ve been here and I’m proud to be associated with it.”

Goals for the season – what do you want to put up for passing yards?

“Doesn’t matter. All we have right now is to win the first game. That’s all I’ve ever put up. If the defense scores 3 TDs in the 1st quarter and gets turnovers and we run it, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve always looked past that point. We just look to get one more point and I’ll be happy. This is a tough game – all those other things are great for you guys to write about, but nobody’s ever gotten a championship ring because they’ve led the country in passing or receiving. You get it when you win as a team. You can’t get to 2 until you get to 1, so don’t worry about 2. We know what the goal is and I think our guys have bought into those things.”