.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Spring Football Conversation With Gregg Brandon
April 02, 2004 | Football
April 2, 2004
Q: What are you coming away with this spring that you are most pleased with?"
GB: "The enthusiasm of the football team. They are having fun playing the game, accepting coaching and trying to get better. They are feeding off of last year's team. "
"We want to do better. Last year, we won a bowl game, won the West, and now we want to win the MAC. It's not like we were 6-5 and want to be 8-3, or 8-3 and want to win the West. Now that we have won the West we want to win the MAC. That's a hard challenge and the team seems to be responding to that. "
Q: People outside the program may look at the fact that Josh graduating leaves you in a bind, but you have all of your guys back in key positions. Are those players ready to step up while you break in a new quarterback.?"
GB: "In my opinion Josh Harris had to elevate his game to get us to the next level, and that's what he did. Now this year all of the other backs and receivers have to elevate their games to get us to the next level. Obviously, Omar's experience hopefully won't be a factor but its bound to be somewhere down the line, so the Cole Magner's P.J. Pope's and Charles Sharon's all have to elevate their game. Last year at this time I was telling Josh you need to elevate your game."
Q: You have some guys coming off injuries on the offensive line so the younger guys are getting plenty of reps this spring, how important has that been?"
GB: "It's huge . Because the Korey Lichtensteiger's, the Patrick Watson's, the Drew Nystrom's, the Edmund Massey' s, the Kevin Huelsman's -the five blocks of granite-are all getting a lot of reps this spring mainly because of injuries."
"There is only one starter on the line that's played at all in Andy Grubb, and Jonathan Culp has played some but not a lot. With Rob Warren, Andrew Hart, and Scott Mruczkowski out, it's trial by fire for these guys. I like those kids, we've got some depth in the line finally and some quality depth and they've done a good job. These are the guys that are going to be protecting Omar the next 2-3 years anyway."
Q: What is a quality about Omar that you really like?"
GB: "Omar is smart. You tell Omar something once, he grasps it. He's not what we call "rep-guys" where you have to keep pouring them reps. Omar can watch a tape, he can get coached and go out and execute it on the field, usually the first time. That's huge because it indicates some level of quarterback intelligence that you don't know about when you recruit them. You're just guessing when you recruit. You recruit kids off of ability. Every position, especially QB, you have to really pay attention to "can he do it" and you really don't know. You just go by what their coach usually says ( Yeah he's a good leader and makes good decisions), but can they do it at the Division IA level, and you just don't know. It's such a huge position in our league. Miami had the best quarterback last year and they won the MAC. BGSU was second and we had the second best quarterback. Year in and year out the teams that have the best quarterback and play great defense generally are competing for championships in this league."
Q: You are still young on defense, but most of the guys up front have played a lot for the Falcons?"
GB: "It's nice because now our youth is in the back end. Last year our youth was in front and our experience was in the back end. We graduated three seniors in the back end and now our youth is back there. It's nice having back a front seven that has played a lot of football games. It's nice having Keon Newson back to head that secondary up back there. We've got some young players back there but we've got some players that have played a lot. Jelani Jordan and T.J. Carswell have played a lot, all be it linebacker but he played a lot."
Q: Any new names that are making a push for playing time on defense?"
GB: " Jamien Johnson is pushing for a starting spot, which he needs to. It's his third year in the program and he needs to elevate his game. Jenkins Reese is a freshman that looks the part he just needs a tone of reps. He's going to be good player someday."
Q: Your defensive line really matured last year, can they continue to be solid?
GB: "Last year we really pressured the quarterback and that was critical for us. We were able to rotate a lot and keep everyone fresh. Mike Thaler has had a great spring and guys like Devon Parks and Mitchell Crossley keep improving. We just need to have everyone healthy."
Q: Is Keon Newson the type of player who could be one of the top players in the MAC?
GB: "He definitely is the key to our back end, because he's a marquee player. He has the versatility to play inside and outside and I certainly think he can be the best defensive player in the conference. He has a knack for making big plays as evidenced by the fact he led the league in forced fumbles."
Q: At times last year you seemed really frustrated by your teams turnover margin, why was that?
GB: "For a team that won 11 games to be -6 in turnovers, we lucked out. We always stress taking care of the ball and getting turnovers. We just didn't do it as well as we did in the past. Our interceptions allowed weren't too high, but we put the ball on the ground a little too much. The bottom line is we can't be -6 and win the championship, we need to be +6."
Q: What about the kicking game and the rest of your special teams?
GB: "I really feel good about Nate Fry. He came on last year and did some nice things for us. He did some directional punting. Shaun Suisham needs to be more consistent. He was better two years ago than he was last year. He needs to step it up. He is a very talented kicker. He just needs to concentrate on making every extra point, keeping his kickoffs in bounds and punching them through when he gets field goal opportunities."
"We were sound in special teams. We had no punts blocked, we had no returns against us for touchdowns, either kickoff or punt. We were basically middle of the pack in terms of special teams. We are always tweaking that trying to get an edge. My philosophy is don't let them beat you, be sound, cover and protect. "
