University Southern California Trojans
Paul Hackett Quotes
June 21, 1999 | Football
April 23, 1999
DEFENSE
"I said this before season started that the No. 1 focus of what needs to be
accomplished in 1999 is the rebuilding of what I felt was the premiere
defense in the Pac-10. I think we need to take the appropriate steps to
rebuild that defense. How long will it take, how far will we be able to go?
That's the exciting part of the season. I think we've made some strides in
the spring, particularly in the defensive line. I see competition. I see
the emergence of Matt Childers, I see the move of Lonnie Ford and I see
some things happening in the defensive line that are very exciting to me.
And I see Bernard Riley everyday in practice. I think when you talk about
rebuilding, you start with the defensive line. From there, the biggest
injustice that we did is that we tore up the linebacking corps. Obviously,
the Detroit Lions reaped the benefit of it. Remember, all three should have
been back. None of the three are playing in their positions. By moving
David and Zeke and losing Chris to me, what (we'll need to do) is
completely rebuild that position from the ground up. That's my biggest
concern. That's my biggest fear in that in the infinite wisdom of moving
people around, we've taken a number of steps back. How can we regain those
steps? Well, clearly, Zeke is a natural in the middle. The move of Sultan
Abdul-Malik was him coming to me and saying 'Coach, how can I help. I think
I can go and play how I did in high school. I haven't gained the kind of
weight that I thought I would gain and I would love to give it a try.'
That's a guy who hasn't played there for two years, so I don't know how
that's going to unfold. I think he's had a solid spring. I think he's now
back to feeling what it was like to play there. Jason Steen, who is coming
into his junior year, needs to be a factor at that position. The other
linebacker position was sort of a revisiting of what we did last year.
Darryl Knight worked at that position last year as a freshman and I think
he is clearly a year better. The surprise has been Henry Wallace. He moved
>from offense to defense a year ago and has really shown some flashes. Of
course, Markus Steele comes to us with all of this hype and tremendous play
in junior college and we have to consider him a factor. I'm concerned about
the backup middle linebacker. Armand Holland has had a solid spring but
he's young and hasn't played. John Fox has done a remarkable job, to me, of
moving over and working there. I'm exciting about bringing in four new LBs.
Steele and three others. That's exciting to me. This is the position on the
team -- I don't think there's any telling on where we're going. Maybe,
realistically, after four games, we take a close look. The logical question
is 'Will you move David Gibson back?' Well I don't think that's the right
thing to do right now. I would have told you that a year ago. But we got to
camp and looked at it and it was what we had to do for our team. Anything
is still possible because we're just getting started."
"The pleasing thing to me, and a little bit surprising to me, was the development of the secondary. I was not all that surprised with the development of the line. But I think in the secondary, the emergence of Kris Richard, his coming out of being here two years and having been a backup and having Daylon (McCutcheon), Kenny (Haslip) and Antuan (Simmons) ahead of him, all of sudden having him realize that he has to come to the forefront. The way he worked in the off-season, I've been delighted. The emergence of Darnell Lacy -- a guy who's been in the same boat (as Richard). Those two guys have had wonderful springs. David Gibson and Simmons are the strengths of the secondary. Tanqueray Clark and Eric Reese are the guys we'll count on from a depth standpoint. Miguel Fletcher has the skills to play there, but he's young and learning. John Morgan has snuck by Frank Carter as a walk-on free safety. John has done great things this spring. Ife (Ohalete) has had a solid spring, but Darnell Lacy and Ife are going tooth and nail against each other and we can't make a decision. They're going into camp as co-starters. This area I feel has been a surprise to me. Darrell Rideaux, I think you know how we feel about him. DeShaun Hill, we're fortunate to get him after one year at junior college. Those two are mature beyond their years and will be counted on immediately.
"To sum it up, we've torn up the linebacking position. We don't have any experience or anything and last year, it was a huge strength of our defense. Not only with Chris but I think Zeke had a superb year at the SAM linebacker position. And David Gibson, was Defensive Player of the Week a couple of times. Our LB corps really did a job. That's the toughest thing.
"I think Henry Wallace competing with Darryl Knight was a tremendous battle. Jason Steen with Abdul-Malik was a tremendous battle. The toughest thing for me this spring was losing Michael Pollard. Pollard was battling and getting better at the MIKE linebacker, which would give us some flexibility. Now we don't have Michael. Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed and Matt Childers has been a knock-down, drag-out battle. The thing we have to remember is that last year was last year and we have to start all over. The thing that makes football teams is competition. You must have competition at every possible position. When you're a good football team, you have depth and people are fighting everyday to get on the field. We don't have that at every position. Ryan Nielsen has pushed Aaron Williams every minute this spring, and with Ennis Davis coming back and Bernard Riley coming in and Darren Collins getting better and Bobby DeMars, we've got competition there and that will be a strength of our defensive line. Unfortunately, there's not as much competition as you want to have. We need more. We need another couple recruiting classes to get that competition. Darrell, goodness graciousness. You bring in a guy that's going to compete right away at the CB position. That's the kind of guy you want to come in. A couple of things that surprised me was how fierce a hitter he was. He's not a big guy and they played him at CB and S. The ground he can cover at S and the way he can cover the field at S is amazing. Now, the return ability -- superb. Blocking kicks -- he has an extraordinary get-off. So we're talking kick returns, blocking kicks, possible safety, we're starting him at CB with the idea of that's where he needs to play. He's a multi-talented person who understands competition. He's going to be an absolute wonderful part of USC football.
(on the possibility of rotating players at safety) "We'll go to Irvine and find out if we are in a position to force Lacy and Ohalete and Gibson to rotate or are we going to be able to find a fourth safety to give us a two-deep at every spot. Remember, we're in a passing conference, we play a lot of nickel defense, we'll play five and six defensive backs just like we did last year. There will be a ton of opportunities for all of those guys in the secondary. That's where a Hill and a Rideaux fit in immediately. They see they have a chance to get on the field and participate immediately.
"The toughest thing for me is the loss of Michael Pollard. I think Ennis Davis is ahead of schedule and will be ready to go in Irvine. I'm excited about him coming into his junior year after the year he had. If you look at it, it's pretty shocking to think after last year we only have two senior on the whole defense (Williams and Gibson). We've gone from a super-experienced defense to very little experience. So this is where the early part of the season, particularly, will be interesting.
OFFENSE
"The big issue, obviously, is what it always is, the offensive line. We are
trying to find the way to get as much possible competition as we can. What
has happened is that Matt Welch, who was our starting RT, could not
participate at all in the spring, so we've had to work Travis Claridge not
only at RG but also at RT. I'm feeling better and better about the fact
that he could play either of those positions for us. I'm really excited
about the kind of spring that he's had. Zach Wilson has emerged as a young
freshman who is making some real strides. Then we have the competition,
which has always been there, between Matt McShane and Eric Denmon. It's day
to day. Denmon is a little ahead at the end of spring. The competition at
LG is the same as last year -- very close. Donta Kendrick is a little ahead
of Jason Grain but very close. And Brent McCaffrey is still the top
performer in the offensive line at the LT spot. The problem here is depth.
Faaesea Mailo we've put in tentatively at T but could play G. We've split
the five freshman at five different positions, but there's nothing in stone
there. And how is Welch going to comeback from the injury? I expect him
back at 100%. That's about competition - one- and second, playing together.
Being in a position where you get to know each other for all of the
subtleties that exist in line play. You are talking about a senior or two
there, but you have some younger guys. The development of the offensive
line in year 2 will tell the tale of the offense. I think and see and all
signs point to the fact that we'll be a year better. Now, what kind of
depth we'll have and how they'll fit in is what we'll do in Irvine. Luke
McKay is having a spectacular track year. Lenny Vandermade, when you come
out of Mater Dei, you're really used to the tough competition and pressure.
Nate Steinbacher and Eric Torres are as good a young developing tandem of T
that we can have. It's exciting. We're not where we need to be or expect to
be in the OL, but I think this spring has shown clear cut improvement.
"The WR is the scariest position on the team, particularly with the loss of Troy Garner. We have very questionable depth. We have two players that I think the world of in Windrell Hayes and R. Jay Soward, but there both seniors and behind them is a total fist fight. The exciting is that we have four young people coming, Marcell, Steve Stevenson, Kareem Kelly and Craig Mitchell. They are going to be the key to the WR corp. How quickly will they be able to make the adjustments? Go into the spring, Quincy Woods has been in and out of practice with some academic issues. Matt Dalton, who's been moved from QB to help at WR, Jason d'Autremont, a walk-on, did some good things, and the most seasoned veteran of the group is Stanley Guyness and that's the back-up group. The loss of Troy Garner was a real blow. You have to live with it. Troy will be back, but it will be a year. Seeing us in four wides early on will be a real shock. I can't imagine us playing a lot of receivers until we get some time for the young guys to develop.
(Quarterbacks) "I think Mike Van Raaphorst has had a great spring. I don't think he's in a position to go by Carson Palmer, but I feel very good about Mike playing in a backup role or perhaps, if he had to start, I feel very, very good about him. I think Carson is a freshman. He's still a freshman. We like to think about him as a junior, but he's still a freshman. He's had a good spring but he's got a long ways to go and a lot to learn.
"The backfield is clearly our strongest area. I said this last year and I'm going to say it again. We will use multiple groups of the backfield. Our FB, in the traditional sense of it, is Brennan Ochs, Charlie Landrigan and Char Pierson in that order. The TB is Chad Morton, but after that we'll use the best we possibly can. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw three and four backs on the field at the same time because of our WR situation. Jabari Jackson has had a huge spring. Frank Strong had a huge spring. Malaefou MacKenzie is out there in a yellow jersey, getting better and stronger. Petros Papadakis is going into his senior year. Sultan McCullough, in that one scrimmage, showed real flashes. This is the strength of our offense, clearly. And we're going to have to be creative here.
(more on McCullough) "I think that you can tell certain things in a normal practice. We know what kind of speed he has and we know he's a gifted athlete. The reason I mention the scrimmage is that we need to see him in the heat of the battle. We need to see him under that pressure. The big crows around, the pressure of it. I was very pleased with him. He is a young, developing back that has the gift of speed that I think has a bright future. Now let's face it. We have three senior TB. Morton, Papadakis and Jackson. There will be multiple use of everyone, but when you have there senior TB, it's hard to have a young guy jump to the front, particularly when Chad Morton is one of those seniors. And Petros, when we called on him last year, did a tremendous job. But I'm very excited about Sultan. I think he did a nice job.
(Development of TB position from 1998 to 1999) "A year ago, the biggest difference at the position is that Chad Morton had never played RB. Chad has now gotten a full year under his belt and I think he is an absolute premiere college RB. I am more impressed with him every time I see him. That's the big difference. We all know utilizing Chad will reap tremendous benefits for us. On the other side, we had Marvin Powell in that fullback knock-your-end-off type guy and we don't have that now. Brennan has done a nice job of filling that role, but he's not Marvin Powell and Marvin was really a devastating blocker. And last year at quarterback, we didn't know where we were. Mike came out and won the job, but Mike was unknown to me. And John Fox. And now with Carson, it's a totally different situation. Our receiver corps last year, we didn't know who the primary guys were going to be. We had the three seniors plus R. Jay. Now we know exactly who the receivers will be. The tight end position is probably the most similar to what it was. The OL, last year, we were in disarray. We didn't know who we had or what we were doing and it was totally up in the air. Things on offense are becoming more settled. We're becoming more set on what we have. >From a coaches' standpoint, the first year is great, because you kind of know about everybody. You know about strengths and weaknesses and what you need to do and how you need to strategize. That's what has been good for me in the second year. And unlike the defense, on the offense, most everyone is still here. We can build on last year.
(Faaesea Mailo) "I haven't spoken to him. We understand that he will be here for summer school and at that time, he will be introduced to Matt Schiotz and will begin the process. I know he has four years of eligibility. He has a future in our OL, but I don't anticipate we would expect him to come right in and make an impact. Now maybe I'm wrong. He's going to have to get himself in shape. What's exciting to me on offense is that we are bringing in six new guys onto the football field in Irvine and these six new offensive lineman will give us a chance to do what I said when we first got here. We must rebuild, retool, coach, prepare and develop the OL. And I would like to get six more the next two years and have 20 guys you're working with and coaching and teaching and don't have to play until they're juniors and seniors. Playing as a freshman and a sophomore on the OL is extremely difficult. It's like a rookie in pro football getting thrown in there. There's too much going on. I think the great group coming back knows what to expect and the group we have coming in can watch them. You're only losing four seniors out of 17. This is where we have to make our biggest jump in the next year or two -- in the OL.
(on trimming the playbook) "The coaches are telling me I'm out of my mind and need to start cutting it back, but I would say that what we've done, now that we know Carson's strengths and weaknesses and have a little bit better handle on our offensive team -- remember this time last year we didn't have much of a handle on it and Carson didn't start until the end of the year -- we have retooled the playbook and said what kind of things that will be good for him, what kind of things will be straightforward enough that young receivers can come in and participate. We've probably cut half of the original playbook and we're probably working on 60 or 70% of that. There was probably 30% of the stuff we thought we could do we didn't get to this spring. We'll probably feed that in over the next couple of years. Carson has been fabulous about it. The mental expectations on him are unbelievable. Mike has had two springs more than Carson and Mike's handling is outstanding. Carson is just working and working at it and I'm delighted. A quarterback is usually ready in his third year to play. That's about when you look at it -- in the history of quarterbacks -- in their third year, they really start to emerge. He's having to do it in year one and year two and I just keep turning to what happened across town. Look at the record of the lefty the first two years he started. He was ready in his third season and really became a superb player. That's what you hope. I get such a kick out of it, because when you move to the next level, it's 10 times more difficult. It's dramatically difficult. His development this spring, his comfort with the offense and how to call it and the snap count and how R. Jay runs routes and Windrell .... spring has been marvelous for that.
(one where pressure goes of the offense) "I'd like to put it on the veteran running backs. If we get into a full house from the sideline and in come three running backs, I'd like to put it on them knowing how everyone is going to play and how it will unfold. It's very much a possibility when you look at this team and look at the strengths. Fortunately we have some guys who can catch it as well as run it in the backfield. But we can't go off too much on the tangent that we don't build on what Carson learned last year. We have to start with what he did last year because he did pretty well last year and how can we get that much better at what we've already done? That becomes the question.
(on Windrell Hayes) "He's had a good spring. Windrell really started this winter having a good year. Losing the weight, spending more time in the weight room. Committing himself to the running and the preparation program that Matt Schiotz gave him, really gave him a chance to have a great spring. Remember the first scrimmage we had, he caught everything in site, and the last scrimmage, he got nicked up a bit. He's got a lot of work and has even played the third receiver spot. I think he'll be our most productive receiver. I think he's the steady-eddie guy. He's an excellent route-runner. A different type of receiver from R. Jay. I think they compliment themselves beautifully. I'm really excited about them. I'm scared to death if anything were to happen to them, but I'm delighted with them. It's a new year. I can't say that enough. What we did and accomplished last year is out the window. We're starting all over, building a different team. Our strengths and weaknesses were different than how they are now. That's the exciting thing about it. Every year is a new year and a new team. New leadership and a new senior class. I love spring practice because you have chance to be very fundamental.
(Three key points heading into summer camp at UC Irvine) "The first thing we have to do is establish the depth at the wide receiver position. I think as we go into Irvine, the WR position is a huge priority. The second thing we have to do is establish how the LB corps will unfold. Exactly what will happen there? Exactly what kind of role these four new guys at LB and WR will be able to play? Are they going to be in great shape? Will they be focused on it? Some are ahead of others. Last year, we had 12 freshmen and everyone redshirted except Frank and Carson. We're asking some new people to come in and have an impact at LB and WR. Also, becoming more consistent on offense. The inconsistency on offense in 1998 really hurt us and I think that's the third thing. We've got to be more consistent. We've got to execute better.
(on Frank Strong's work on his fumbling problem) "Early in the spring, I thought he had carried over the problem from the fall. But from about the midway point on, I feel this is being addressed. What you have to do is make it a focal point and a priority. The yards you gain and how you run and catch is fine, but if you don't hang onto the ball, you're not going to be on the field. You'll be standing next to me. And I think everyone on the team understands that. You can't throw interceptions and you can't fumble the ball. Last year, probably the thing we did best on offense was lack of turnovers. We were quite high in terms of not turning the ball over. Frank had a problem and he knows he has a problem and I'm just happy by the midway point of spring, I didn't see the ball on the ground again from Frank and it's just concentration. When you're thinking of all these things you have to do as player, sometimes you forget the most elementary thing and that's hang on to it. I say that to the QBs all the time -- don't throw it if you can't see.
(Special teams) Mike MacGillivray, I think, is a year better. He was a little too inconsistent last year, but I think he's better. The back-up punter is a question mark. Jacob Rogers has been working out there. David Bell could do it. Placekicking, David Bell has a had a good spring, although it's not the kind of pressure that will face you with the leis on in Aloha Stadium. I'm hopeful he'll continue his development. Now David Newbury will come in and challenge Bell immediately. We will open that competition and let them go at it and let the best man win. That will be an interesting battle. John Fox has been excellent as a holder, Pat Swanson remains our snapper. I'd like to say that once again in the punt and KO return, we're as good as anyone in the country. Those two seniors (Soward and Morton) are superb. I'm excited about those guys behind them. Sultan and Malaefou along with Richard will be excellent support for those two guys. As we know, Rideaux, Kelly and Stevenson come in with impressive resumes as far as their return skills. We've really improved our depth there, but clearly R. Jay and Chad are the primary guys."
