Bill O'Brien Post-Practice Interview (Transcript)
CHESTNUT HILL - Even though I had to head out Rich talked to Bill O'Brien after practice on Tuesday morning. Here's what Coach had to say with just one practice left before the spring game:
On any thought regarding spring rosters yet
"Yeah, I would say that it'll be a great day. We'll have a very competitive practice. I would say relative to a game...I would say it would be more in the scrimmage...what we've been doing on Saturday's which have been very competitive. We want everybody out here. We'll have some fun, we'll crank the music, we'll get the fans involved and these guys will battle hard. It'll be a good day."
On if this is something he wants to have on film heading into August
"Absolutely. It'll be like a Saturday scrimmage...those are the most important tools that we have to evaluate the these guys. So, yeah, it'll be a big day for them."
On if there will be actual scoring
"Nah. I mean. You're playing against BC. That whole thing...one point for a sack, two points for...I mean. No. We're just going to come out here and we'll tackle live and it'll be a good day."
On how well the offense has grasped the playbook
"Good. Yeah they're deep (into the book)...that was 13 practices, 14 on Thursday so yeah, they're into it and they've grasped it very well. I've been very happy with their progress with the playbook. We got a lot in, a lot of installation in."
On Castellanos building chemistry with receivers
"Very good. Very good. The timing's been good. He's more comfortable with what we're doing and it's been good. It's been good to watch and they need to carry that into the summer, but it's been good."
On if the tight ends and backs are a big part of his passing offense
"Absolutely. Treshaun Ward, Kye Robichaux and DeDe (Datrell Jones) has been out here, Jordan McDonald...they catch balls out of the backfield a lot. Use them in all different types of formations. The tight ends definitely. Anybody that knows my background with tight ends, they're definitely involved in the passing game. Kamari and Jeremiah and Matt, all three of those guys do a really good job. Holden the fourth guy does a really good job too, so it's been good."
More on Franklin
"He's good. He blocks very good. Very good player. Good in the passing game, good hands, smart guy, tough guy, He's going to be a good player for us."
On if Franklin or other big targets can be a QB's best friend over the middle
"Yeah. i think a lot of these guys, they've got good hands, they understand the rout tree, they know how to get open. So, yeah, I think they're all a quarterback's best friend. I've been impressed with the tight ends and the receivers and the backs in the passing game."
On if the defense is a week ahead of the offense is is often the case in spring
"I think it's the other way around. I think the offense was ahead of the defense early on and then the defense has picked it up lately and had a good day today. Good day on third down, good day in some of the situations that we ran, the red area situations. So, I think the defense has really improved. There's more in so they're able to do more and they understand it better. The communication has gotten better. So, I think it's been good. I think the defense has gotten a lot better."
On if going against Castellanos is good for the defense
"To play against Tommy every day and the way that he runs and the off-schedule plays that he can make can only make your defense better. It's very competitive which is really good for our team."
On what he learned from Penn State that he's carried over
"That was my first head coaching job, so I learned a lot, you know? I learned a lot when I was at Penn State. There's a lot of things I can carry over. Whether it's on the field practice, tempo, recruiting, the medical end of things, the nutrition end of things, so it kind of all...that was the first time doing it. So, I definitely learned a lot there and have been able to carry a lot of the good things over to this job."