Miami Football Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson and Defensive Coordinator Lance Guidry talk with the media ahead of the upcoming 2023 Pinstripe Bowl matchup versus Rutgers.
OC SHANNON DAWSON....
Q. We were just talking to Jalen, and he told us he is coming back for next year. I'm sure he told you a while ago. How big is it to have him coming back? Your left tackle, very versatile, very strong player to have him back for next year for a fifth season.
SHANNON DAWSON: It's huge. Those guys played great this year. I would like to keep as many of them back as we can. But no, that's awesome. Great kid, and obviously excited about the future with him.
Q. I wanted to ask you and get your thoughts on how Jacurri is progressing. Obviously it's his first chance to play this year. How is practice going? How is the outlook for him?
SHANNON DAWSON: He's been great. His presence out there, sense of urgency. He is excited to play, and you can see. His body language is great however many practices we've had, I can't remember. It hasn't been a lot obviously because we're in the middle of finishing up recruiting and all the rest, but he is excited and ready to go. I'm fired up for him.
Q. You talked about Jacurri, how he's doing. With him not having played this season -- I know I played a lot last season -- does that at all affect the play-calling? Does that take into account on simplifying things or whatever? I just wanted to know the basic philosophy.
SHANNON DAWSON: No, I try to do things that the quarterback that's playing is good at obviously. It's no different when other people were playing. You go through the process of putting the game plan together. There are some things that you try out, rep, and don't make the cut. But right now the stuff that we're working on and the stuff that we're repping in practice, he's really doing an excellent job, and everything looks very smooth. Just more of -- our offense is our offense obviously, but it's going to get tilted to who is playing, and you try to do things that their strengths are. There's obviously things we'll do with him that we won't do with other people, but for the most part 80% to 90% of what we do is what we do, and that's true with most offenses out there I would say.
Q. Also, how is his accuracy been? Sometimes he struggled with that in his intermediate and long throws.
SHANNON DAWSON: His accuracy has been fine. He's been sitting in the pocket throwing it great, processing and all the rest. We've obviously stressed that since I've been here at the beginning, and he's working and getting better every day.
Q. How do you compensate for the players who have -- there have been some players who have left: Colbie Young, some other ones. How do you compensate for those guys who have left? Does it feel like almost a new team kind of thing?
SHANNON DAWSON: I mean, next guy up. It's no different than if somebody gets hurt. Everybody is dealing with similar things right now, and it's not going to change because of the rules that are in place. So bowl games are going to be what they are. I mean, it's the team of the year, and it's after everything goes down. So, I mean, you're practicing with some different guys and everything, but it's awesome because you get extra reps and extra work with guys that are going to be playing in the future. I see it as a positive.
Q. One more. Who is the backup quarterback for the bowl?
SHANNON DAWSON: Do you want to be backup quarterback?
Q. Sure.
SHANNON DAWSON: You can be it.
Q. Other than me.
SHANNON DAWSON: We're planning for a few guys, to be honest with you. We're going to have some emergency plans, and Jayden George is a guy that has been here for a while, and he's taken a lot of reps as far as what we do in practice and how we spread everybody out, but we're going to have some emergency plans too.
DC LANCE GUIDRY....
Q. We were talking to Kiko a minute ago. Obviously a lot of guys that are going to be playing in the bowl game who didn't get a ton of opportunities during the season. How have you gone about integrating them more into the first team defense, and who have been the guys maybe who didn't play as much who have stood out to you through the first few bowl practices?
LANCE GUIDRY: Well, we're playing basically the same guys. We're going to play Jaden Davis at the free safety. We'll play Te'Cory Couch at the boundary safety. We'll have Richard in the corner. We'll have one of the Browns at the corner. We still have some guys that played a lot of snaps, and we go nickel, Markeith Williams will come in and play the boundary safety because T.C. has to go to the star spot. We're going to always have the best defensive backs on the field that we can, and if we have to put more speed on the field, we will. It's been good. The guys have embraced their new positions. T.C. the other day running through the posts going to make plays on balls were, like, dang, I know why Cam liked this. You kind of get to freelance a little bit. I laughed. They're excited about it, which is good.
Q. I was going to ask that question, of course, but the difference in your defense with Kiko back, that's my first question.
LANCE GUIDRY: Yeah, it's good to have him, of course. Just glad he decided to stay with us and not go. I think this year coming up will be a really big year for him. I think he'll put himself at a better position football-wise. He'll be better. He'll know the defense better, but I think he'll have some more growth. I think he'll really catapult himself to the next level and maybe some higher rounds. So he's got work left to do here, and we're happy to try to help him reach his goals, everything that he wants in life.
Q. Also, how important do you think a bowl game is? I know Kiko said every game is the same, but this program has had very bad luck, or I don't know if it's bad luck, but the past several years they mostly don't win bowl games. How can it help by winning a bowl game? Can it, or is that overrated?
LANCE GUIDRY: Yeah, you kind of want to win every game you play, and we've got most of our guys playing in it. Last year we didn't go to a bowl, so this year we are going to a bowl, and it's different. We get to go up to New York and play in Yankee Stadium, and that whole experience will be good. I think these guys still have a lot left to prove. We felt like we probably -- there's a game or two out there we should have won maybe. To get the win will be big, and it would set us up for next year going into the offseason and getting ready for next season. Yeah, we're taking this game very seriously.
Q. The last thing is, obviously, you talked about having the new guys or some of the guys that left, but some of those guys that left -- Cam, James Williams -- how -- I mean, you -- Corey Flagg. You know them. How much -- I don't know, how much will you miss this em?
LANCE GUIDRY: Well, I mean, I'm just an old high school football coach, and every year your seniors leave, and you say, man, how are we going to replace them, and somebody always steps up. It's kind of the next-man-up attitude. Of course, we will miss Cam. We will miss James and Flagg and all those guys. But as a coach you just kind of reset your mind, and you coach the guys that you have there. It's kind of like a guy getting hurt. When Cam went down, Jaden Harris had to play. So you just have to get reset as quick as you can. The quicker you do, the quicker the team does. Of course, I wish those guys were playing, but they're not. So we'll get ready with these guys we have, and it will be a new adventure and new things we get to do maybe with them, so I'm excited.
Q. To continue with the same kind of topic about guys who are going to be playing and stuff. At defensive tackle, do you know if you're going to be doing the 3-3 set? I know Branson and L.T. won't be playing. I assume they're not playing since they're not coming back next year. You have a 3-3 set to kind of just play Jared Harrison-Hunte in the middle, or are some new guys going to be playing in that role? Just how is that going to be looking? I do have one question that's not in that vein.
LANCE GUIDRY: We're going to run everything we've got. We're going to play four down. We're going to play 3-3 stack. We're going to play 4-3. Everything we showed on film we're doing.
Q. Gotcha. This is your first, I guess, post-season, offseason under Mario Cristobal. Obviously he's known as the recruiting fiend. Just what's it been like for you in this first time of year on his staff, balancing recruiting, bowl prep, and transfer portal, and everything that goes into this time of year?
LANCE GUIDRY: It's always busy. Especially with the early signing date, it's been like that for the last couple of years. So that's always been a change that's been different because usually you had until February to try to convince or seal guys. So it's got its pluses and minuses. You are dealing with bowl games as well, so there's a lot to juggle. But thank God Coach Cristobal loves recruiting. He's the hardest-working person in the building with recruiting. He does an unbelievable job. It's his niche as well, so he does a great job. We just kind of follow suit behind him. I think we'll put together a great class.
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