The Skip Report: "Chemistry is back at an all-time high"

By: Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor

Pat Fitzgerald meets the nation's press Monday at the Big Ten's annual Football Media Day. Before doing that he sat down to discuss the coming season with NUsports.com's Skip Myslenski, who opened by remembering...

Skip Myslenski: Last year, on this occasion, you said you'd had a better offseason than the previous two. How about this offseason?

Pat Fitzgerald: I think the chemistry is back at an all-time high. How I see that is the way our upperclassmen have really done a terrific job of taking our younger players under their wing. It's been really impressive to see. I think that speaks to our culture. I think that speaks volumes about the young people that we have in the program. But I also think it shows the chemistry we have right now. We've got to build on that when we get to camp. But I think that's definitely a strength. It gives us a trust. Now we'll see how it carries over when we play football.

SM: Once a culture is established, it usually continues on…

PF: Right.

SM: But yours got short-circuited…

PF: Sure.

SM: Now you've got it back. Why is it important to a program that its culture gets handed down from class to class?

PF: Well, we went to the postseason five straight years, right? I think that shows why it's significant. There can be carryover, but I will say every team is different. The challenges are unique. The DNA, even though they were here last year, that changes because of graduation. When you graduate some dynamic leaders like we graduated, there's a void. That's the beauty of college football. Pro teams, they pretty much know who their core group of guys are at least for the length of their contracts. This is what makes it really unique at this level, and I'm really proud of the job the guys are doing. They've been impressive.

SM: Having that culture back and the narrow focus that comes with it, does that put you further ahead now as you head into fall camp?

PF: I think we can work more on football but you can't shortchange continuing to build the team. That will go on until the day it dies, and then we'll travel home from the postseason and restart again two days later. But when your chemistry and your trust is in a good spot, you've got a chance now to, 'Let's go play ball and see how we handle adversity. Let's put them in adverse situations (in practice) and see what happens.' See how guys handle success. How they handle momentary failure. How they end up handling things mentally. And then where are we at two weeks in. That gives you a pretty good idea. When we get off that field on (their last) Saturday up in Kenosha, I'll pretty much know who we are. Then we've got to go get ready to play in the opener. It's crazy, it's right around the corner. But for me to have a lot of answers, it's about a month away. It's a big month.

SM: You always say that a team is built through five phases--winter workouts, Winning Edge, spring, summer workouts, fall camp--and that you learn something about it through each of them. Now that you're through four of those phases, what else have you learned other than that the culture's in place?

PF: We've got a maturity on offense that's improved. I think it has to do with having two quarterbacks back -- Clayton (Thorson), who started a bunch of games, and Matthew (Alviti), who's healthy. A year ago at this time, I had no idea who was going to be our quarterback. To go through the whole offseason with your starter returning, and to build trust, and to build chemistry in the passing game, and to build that timing and that rhythm-- that kind of got thrown to the wayside last offseason because of the competition. That was the right thing to do, but it definitely put us behind. So I think we're improved there, I believe that. Then the work ethic in the outside receiver room is in a really good spot. Those guys, it's important to them to improve and to get back to where we've been offensively. And then up front (on the offensive line), the group-- I go back to when Brian Mulroe was around here. We had really good leadership up front, and I see that out of (Connor) Mahoney, and I see that out of (Eric) Olson, and I see Brad (North) maturing. I think Blake (Hance) has had a really good off-season. So. I think we're building there. Defensively, it's a group that has a lot of confidence, but also knows that we played very poorly in three games and that we've got to eliminate that inconsistency. It's going to start up front. Two guys going to the NFL, (defensive ends) Dean (Lowry) and Deonte (Gibson), you've got to-- you're not going to fill their footprints. But you've got to step up and become the players you're capable of becoming. I thought Ifeadi (Odenigbo) and Xavier (Washington, who are in line to replace that pair) had really good summers. I like the young guys. C.J. Robbins has done a terrific job as the older guy. Then the back half, this will be the most talented group that we have.

SM: With, as we speak, Kyle Queiro replacing Traveon Henry at safety and Keith Watkins III replacing Nick VanHoose at corner?

PF: Yeah, yeah.

SM: Then Anthony Walker and Jaylen Prater and Nate Hall at linebacker?

PF: I don't know. I think that Joe Jones is going to have something to say about that. I think Cam Queiro is going to push guys. Tommy Vitale was really coming on before he got hurt last year. I think back to the outside, the same thing at receiver. Flynn Nagel (then a true freshman) was really coming into his own when he got hurt. So, you get excited about some of those pieces. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out here over the next month.

SM: I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. Why did you switch Solomon Vault and Marcus McShepard to wide receiver?

PF: Competitive talent. Both those guys are talented football players who were role players at their previous positions (running back and cornerback, respectively). We put Solo out there for bowl prep. And then going through the bowl and projecting where Marcus might be compared to the talent in the room and what we needed offensively-- we needed guys with football experience, college football experience; talent; top end speed; the ability to make people miss; and the want to make plays. Both those guys want to make plays. They want the ball in their hands. We've seen that already from Solomon, not only running the ball, but also the flashes we've seen of him as a kick returner. So right there you add two guys that immediately add competitive depth. And then you have all those guys coming out of their redshirt year. So, we had a couple pieces missing from the puzzle --

SM: Playmakers.

PF: Yeah. Guys with top-end speed, if they make one guy miss they can score. We need more explosive plays. My seven-year old can tell you that, that's stating the obvious. So we needed to get faster, we needed to get more athletic and we needed to put more weapons around Clayton and Matthew. We're 15 practices into that. I don't feel we're a finished product by any stretch of the imagination. But those guys have worked diligently since the end of spring ball, and they're excited. And, you know, every once in awhile, you and I have talked about this in the past, sometimes it's healthy to take a little bit of the outside and bring it inside. There haven't been a whole lot of positive things said about our passing game, and you can use some of that.

SM: Where have you seen the most growth in Clayton?

PF: Maturity. Just confidence in the position. He's got 13 games under his belt, with a lot of highs, plenty of lows. A lot of wins, some really tough losses. Some performances when I thought he was excellent, some performances that he looked like a freshman. But just his confidence, to see him grow through that experience. Then with Matt, I think Matt being out this spring (after hip surgery) allowed him to step back and watch everything unfold. I think he really learned a lot, and I look forward to watching him get back out there. That's one young man I think everybody in our program is really excited to get back out on the field just because he's been hurt. He's such a grinder, he's a guy who wants it so bad-- as a coach you want it for him, that kind of personality.

SM: So any chance you draw up packages that'll take advantage of his skill set?

PF: I don't know. It'll play out. We've done a lot of things over 10 years. We've done whatever we think we have to do to win. Sometimes it's worked and sometimes it's been, 'That didn't work. Let's not do that again.' As much time as we've been here, you've kind of seen it all. I'm just personally excited for Matt. He's been through a lot and I look forward to him being able to get out there and compete.

SM: The offensive line. Do you plan to again roll through a bunch of guys?

PF: We made that decision a year ago based on the fact that we felt good about one, two and three not coming off the field a lot, but four and five? There wasn't a whole lot of difference between four and five, and six and seven. Usually you try to have your five and that's who you go with. But (offensive line coach) Adam (Cushing) and I and Mick (McCall, the offensive coordinator), we sat down and, like I said. . .four through ten weren't very different, and the only way we were going to get guys better, the only way they were truly going to believe me as a coach saying, 'You're close. Keep doing this and we're going to play you,' is to play 'em. It's a year removed now and I don't think he'll mind me saying it. I had a really good conversation with (former Ohio State coach) Jim Tressel a couple of summers ago because Ohio State had typically always done that early in the year. Just going back and seeing the consistency they ended up having. I'm not going to share what coach and I specifically talked about, but here's a Hall of Famer that used that approach to his advantage. That was the last check of the box I needed after Adam, myself and Mick had done a lot of research. I think that really benefitted us a season ago. We had a lot of injuries. We were able to plug guys in who had gotten reps earlier in the year. And their confidence was higher because they'd had at least some experience. I think it really helped. Now. I'd love to have five and maybe a backup tackle and a backup guy inside and let's go roll with seven. But that's to be determined here in the future.

SM: And what is it you always like to have on the defensive line?

PF: A pair and a spare. A pair and a spare.

SM: That's right. Are you going to be able to do that this year?

PF: We're going to play a lot of guys.

SM: You've got enough to do that inside, but…

PF: We do. And I think we have a lot of flexibility with a guy like C.J. Robbins, who can do a lot of things. I've been impressed with Joe Gaziano and Trent Goens is getting stronger, and both those guys will play. Then I'll see how we plug the freshmen in, and (redshirt sophomore) Heath Reineke, a man who walked onto our program, he put up all kind of freakish strength numbers this offseason. Freakazoid numbers. Just really proud of him. Greg Kuhar looks as good as he has. Jordan (Thompson) and C.J. and Lanny (Tyler Lancaster). You've got some pretty good depth there. Ifeadi and Xavier had really solid springs, and both are poised and prepared to take that next step.

SM: So has Ifeadi developed into something more than a pass-rush specialist? Is he now a four-down player?

PF: I hope so. I hope so for him, but also I hope so for us. He knows this, so me saying it is not going to be a shock to him. Starting roles for everybody, he included, will be earned. You're not just going to go out there and rush the passer on third down unless you bust your butt on first and second down. But we've got to do a really good job also of putting our guys in position to be successful. If there's some things we've done that have worked with other players. . .but don't marry to some of the guys we've got now, we've got to adjust that. We started down that road this spring and we'll see how it plays out in the fall. But all those guys in the trenches, all of 'em on both sides of the ball, are totally different today than they were at the end of May. Jay Hooten (the director of football performance) and his staff have put together a great plan. But it always comes down to the guys, and the young men have bought in. We ring a bell every time we get a personal record in the weight room and now that dang thing has been hit so many times it needs to be repainted. They've been moving a lot of weight. You go back to our three losses last year. We got our tails kicked in the trenches in all them. You can say it was this play or that play. But you look at the six-inch war and we lost all three games based on our inability to control the line of scrimmage. For us to take the next step as a program, that has to happen against those level teams (like Michigan and Iowa and Tennessee). If we want to achieve our goals, it has to be against those teams. That's the next step we have to take.

SM: Before last season, you told the defensive line and the defensive backs that the team had to take on their personality. Did you say that to any group this offseason?

PF: Nope. It's still their team. There's no doubt about that.

SM: The DBs and D-Line?

PF: Yeah. Oh, yeah. But I see our offense coming. We have weekly competitions. The offense has won an overwhelming majority of them over the summer. You've probably seen the pictures, the videos of the light-, middle- and heavyweight champions of the week. There've been multiple weeks when it's been three offensive winners. That's encouraging to me to not only see those individuals win, but then to see the camaraderie. When I see the offense win and see that entire side of the ball take pride in those three guys-- we've still got to earn it. We don't have a leg to stand on from a year ago when it comes to explosive plays and high-octane production. But what we did do offensively is we won ten football games. We had to do things maybe a little differently than we're used to. But there was a lot of unselfishness. There was a lot of doing what was right to help us win. And I think we're going to see the fruits of that labor here as we move forward.

SM: Last year's team entered the season angry after a pair of 5-7 seasons. That was its fuel. What's fueling this team?

PF: You know, we had every opportunity to put ourselves in the position to compete for a championship, and we didn't do it. That's not to discredit our opponents. They beat us, they played well enough to beat us. But when you win ten regular-season games, you can point to a few things and look back and have the pain of regret. It's hard to win a championship. You've got to do the things champions do all the time, and obviously in a couple games we didn't do that. We weren't bowl champions. So you look at those three, it gives you plenty of motivation. That's a non-issue. Not to be in the top-three in a lot of categories offensively, that gives you a lot of motivation. I think a lot of unfinished business for our defense. There were opportunities to seize momentum in some games where we ended up on the short end, we didn't do it. There were opportunities to make some stops and re-take momentum, and we didn't do it. There were turnover opportunities, and we didn't do it. When you get as close as we were, I think you're ticked off for other reasons. It's one thing to get knocked down and to get back up. That's America, right. That was the mindset last year. Now you're at the door, and you don't have the key to get in because you didn't do the things to have the key. That drives you up the wall, and you know how hard it was to climb that far.

But, climbing to 10, it's a whole hell of a lot harder to climb to 11. And a whole hell of a lot harder-- the air's pretty thin up there, and we're playing a daunting schedule. But they've got to play us too. We've got to play them, we know that. But they've got to play us too. I think our guys are excited for the challenge.

••••••

Northwestern University Athletics

Northwestern University Athletics

The Skip Report: "Chemistry is back at an all-time high"

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Players Mentioned

Joe Gaziano

Trent Goens

Nate Hall

Traveon Henry

Greg Kuhar

Tyler Lancaster

Marcus McShepard

Flynn Nagel

Jaylen Prater

Kyle Queiro

Heath Reineke

C.J. Robbins

Nick VanHoose

Solomon Vault

Tommy Vitale

Keith Watkins II

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