Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (South Alabama Game)

Scot Loeffler Press Conference
Sept. 6, 2021
Bowling Green, Ohio

LOEFFLER: Last Thursday, the impressions that we had after the game are pretty much spot on. There were some great moments. I thought the second quarter in particular, I think all three phases played superior together, and we did some really good things. I thought defensively we tackled better, but still giving up a few too many big plays.

Offensively, we struggled running the football. I thought we threw the football and protected fairly well. I thought Matt McDonald played well, along with Darren Anders on the other side of the football. The comment that I made at the end of the game I thought was the best in regard to, I think we crammed for a test. We did not have a good practice on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and we tried to make up for it Thursday, Friday and I thought our walkthroughs and everything was superior on Saturday, and it was able to give us a chance to play competitively but not well enough to win, obviously.

This week we've got our hands full, we've got a super talented South Alabama team coming in here and I think defensively, they create problems with their athleticism, so they've got guys that can cover, they’ve got guys that can rush the passer, I think the linebackers are good blitzers. Offensively, the quarterback, I think, is a very good player. They've got a first-round draft pick wide receiver, in my opinion. And I think the back does a good job. I think schematically, it's going to be challenging on both sides. Today in practice, I thought our guys had the right intent and thought we finally came out and practiced like a Tuesday practice on a Monday, but I think we need to continue to have a great week and give ourselves a chance to win on Saturday through great preparation, great effort. Today was better, which was a positive.

QUESTION: Coach, talk about the play your secondary. It seemed like Tennessee tried to beat you up top a few times and didn’t necessarily have a lot of success. Your secondary was an area where you brought in a couple of transfers in particular, how did you feel the secondary played?
LOEFFLER: Better, and we’ll continue to play better. We think through a little bit of help, next year we think that our defensive line and our back end can be a strong suit for us. We just need to continue to work and get better, but I thought they played much better. We didn't have as many explosive plays in the past game. I thought the one explosive play they had at the very end of the game, I thought it was holding on the right tackle, but I thought for the most part they played really well.

QUESTION: Coach, what about your stable of running backs? You said we would see them all, we did, did anything stick out to you about any of their performances?
LOEFFLER: Well, they really didn't have a chance. We tried to come out and run the football and it was apparent that they were just overpowering us. So, we turned this thing into a run-and-shoot, threw it as many times as we possibly could. We thought it was the best way to give ourselves a chance, Matt’s an older guy that can handle that. Do we want to play football like that? No, we want to run the ball. I think this week you'll see what those backs can truly do, but they didn't have a chance in terms of, there were guys in the backfield before we could blink. There was one time that we blocked and didn’t pull the scheme correctly, which would have been a big gain, but Matt pulled it and hit an RPO for a big play. But the guy in the passing game that did a great job was Jamal Johnson. He's going to be different. He's going to be a really good football player and he caught that ball and he did some things in that game, but you had no clue that he was a freshman out there, whatsoever. The game wasn't bigger than him. He looked like belonged on that field. So, there were a lot of bright spots. We’ve got to continue to find ways to run this football. You can't make a living throwing the ball, every single time, especially in the month of November. It does get kind of windy here in Bowling Green. So, we've got to find a way to run the ball.

QUESTION: Scot, can you touch on Levi Gazarek?
LOEFFLER: Levi's a competitive guy. He's done a great job. We were worried about him being so young, playing baseball and missing some of the spring practice, but he was able to overcome that. He had a great summer. And we're gonna continue with that plan. We're gonna let him play baseball. And, you know, he's just got to do a really good job in the summertime to make up for missing some time in spring ball, but he did a great job with that. I thought his summer was excellent, he'll only get better with time. The older he gets, the more mature he gets, the stronger he gets. He's going to be a good football player for Bowling Green, He's everything that we asked for.

QUESTION: And then one of the other local guys Jaedyn McKinstry. His story is so unbelievable. What was that like to see him get a scholarship and then to get in his first collegiate game and make a catch in an SEC stadium. Can you encapsulate what his story his like?
LOEFFLER: Jaedyn and I go back way farther than just Bowling Green. Whenever I went over to evaluate the quarterback that went to Cincinnati, and he was a freshman at the time, and I remember writing in my notebook that this guy has got a chance to be a really good football player. And then, I think I had one more year at Boston College and I remember coming back and I remember going in thinking ‘what happened to Jaedyn,’ he just disappeared off the map and had no clue about his story about having cancer. I went into the school, I believe it was last year and he didn't have a scholarship opportunity, and we're close with Larry obviously over there at St. John’s, and I didn't forget what he looked like when he was a freshman. And we asked him to walk on with the intent of giving him a scholarship. That scholarship came open early, and he deserved it. It was nice to finally see us catch a slant and advance it. We haven't done that in two years here. And, I mean, believe it or not that's a positive. We have not caught a slant and advanced a slant here in two years. He looked very similar to a young Jamal Johnson, you know, he looked like he belonged, and he'll only get better with time. He's got to get stronger, he needs to gain some more knowledge, but his best football is down the road for him for sure.

QUESTION: What about the seamless connection between Matt and Austin Osborne? Obviously, they were high school teammates, seemed like they must have picked up where they left off. They had a connection.
LOEFFLER: Austin Osborne, before I get into their connection, he's been an immediate impact player, just not for his ability, but for that wide receiver room in general. He knows how to do it. I mean, he walked in here - he learned the offense in two months. This offense, it takes a little time to pick up and he picked it up immediately. The urgency that he has in that receiver room, that leadership quality, he's making Tyrone Broden much better, making the whole room better, and him having, you know, obviously ability, but having those leadership qualities is going to make that wide receiver room even better. And think about it, you have him for three years, got this year and two more, which is great. At the end of the day, Matt knew there was trust there, there's belief and he said whenever we were recruiting him that he would come in, he's going to do exactly what I just described. He's going to make plays, but he's going to be an even better guy. He's really made Broden better, in my opinion. Having Broden and Sims back this week is going to open up a lot of opportunities to throw the football. So, as you can see, a couple of years ago we couldn’t talk about guys that can potentially make plays. Now we're starting to move into, ‘hey, we got a chance’ - we just got to shore up this offensive line, get these young backs the football, find a way to run the ball. And I think if we can keep Matt upright, I think this offense, slowly but surely, is going to develop into a pretty good system.

QUESTION: What do you see in South Alabama? They’ve got a seasoned quarterback that’s kind of been around the block, what challenges do they bring?
LOEFFLER: They can run the ball, the quarterback’s a seasoned guy, and they got a guy to throw to, just like I said he's playing on Sundays, and it wouldn't be shocking if he is on day one, well he's a day one guy, it just matters when. I think he's a first round guy, no later than second round. He's different. We gotta find a way to not let him beat us. Obviously, there's other football players on their team that are talented and are really good players, but that dude is different. He’s a really good player. He belongs in that league that we just played, to be honest with you.

QUESTION: Is there any update on Sam Neverov?
LOEFFLER: We’re gonna find out a lot about Sam today. We’ve been waiting on multiple doctors, they’ve been evaluating him to see if he can help us in some way. We’ll find out, hopefully this afternoon, what his status is.

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