University Southern California Trojans
Paul Hackett Quotes from USC Football Media Day
August 13, 1999 | Football
Aug. 13, 1999
USC Coach Paul Hackett at USC football media day - Aug. 13, 1999
"Any time you lose at the end of the year, and maybe haven't been in the NFL as many years as I was - we only won all of our games one time and that was with the Super Bowl with the 49ers - the rest of the time you lost the last game of the year. When that happens to you, it hangs with you too long, it just lingers with you. I think it makes it more exciting to say hey, it's finally over, it's finally behind us and we get to start all over again with the 1999 team. We had a meeting last night and the energy, not only with the new people who have been here for a couple of days, but the energy coming in with a group of seniors and a team that worked very hard this summer to get itself ready to go to UC Irvine today, that's where the energy comes from today. I'm delighted to finally get going.
"From a personnel standpoint, we have a couple of people who have some summer school, transfer, paperwork issues that are not completed yet. One is Marcus Steele and the other is Craig Mitchell. We anticipate something happening with them any day. Exactly when, we don't know. But any time you go to summer school there's always those issues. Fortunately, the summer school issues at USC have been resolved and everyone did well. I feel good about the squad in terms of going to camp.
"As far as injuries go, we are going to have a number of people who are going to practice once a day. We are going to do that from the beginning. I want to be proactive and don't want to be in a position where a guy gets worn out and then say oh yeah, that's that old surgery. We're going to take the position that they only practice once a day and when they are able to practice twice a day, we'll go ahead and do that. I'll be cautious with some people. Ennis Davis comes to mind. We're going to ease Ennis into it. He's not happy about it, but I'm the coach and he's the player and that's how we're going to do it.
"For the overall sense, it's the attitude, the change in year two. Having a sense of what I'm about, what we're about, what our goals are, what's expected. This time last year it was unknown, from quarterback to the offensive line. All these questions. It's just a feeling that is different in year two. I'm delighted with that. Now we have to go out and build a foundation of this football team in Irvine, in training camp. And we have to go out and in six games, play on the road four times. Our ability to manage a hostile environment four out of the first six games is going to be a huge key to this season. We've got some tough ball games. It's not easy to play in Eugene, as I found out last year. You can't hear a thing. To go to Arizona, To go to Notre Dame. We know what it's like. And then go to Hawaii. We've got to manage that as a football team. The maturity level, the senior leadership of the team is going to be critical early in the season. There are a lot of things we have to do. The team has flip-flopped. The experience is on offense and the inexperience is on defense. A year ago, we were sitting here with the opposite.
"Yes we're going to miss Chris Claiborne. But I think Zeke Moreno has changed his number and has gotten himself in great shape and is ready to roll. There are a lot of questions in the back seven defensively, we know that. And offensively, we've got some depth issues. We're not deep at receiver. All you've got to do is come to practice and see the young guys and you'll have a smile on your face just like I do. It's exciting. Everyone in the country is feeling good about where they are right now and certainly I'm no different.
(regarding Steele and Mitchell): "It's a paperwork, summer school issue. One of them still has a couple days, I'm not sure. The paperwork to get the final OK is not in yet but we expect it any day. I expect it early next week or possibly this weekend.
(on Mitchell playing both offense and defense): "We recruited him as a wide receiver. We know the depth problems and the injuries we had in the spring. We really didn't discuss any of that. We're looking forward to his speed and quickness joining our receiving corps.
(first impressions of new receivers on team): "You don't have to coach a long time to know that they're fast. They bring an element of speed to our perimeter that we didn't have last year. I think every one of our receivers, Windrell and R. Jay, Steve Stevenson, Kareem Kelly and Marcell Allmond, you're talking about a whole other dimension of speed we didn't have last year. Fast, but even faster in a lot of cases. Controlling that speed and being able to maneuver in that speed is going to be a big part of the next couple of weeks. But we're going to throw them right into it. We're not going to hesitate or go easy. We're going to throw them in and just go. They have two marvelous teachers in Windrell Hayes, who is clearly our best pattern runner, and R. Jay Soward, who is so explosive. They have two great models to look at, and as soon as we get Craig Mitchell in, I think all four of them are just going to go.
(regarding the number of players who spent the summer on campus conditioning): "I think we took a huge step from where we were a year ago. A year ago, I think we all knew we had to address it, because we felt the team was not in good overall condition. I think we saw benefits of it right away in the Purdue game when it was that scorching day in the Coliseum. This year, we felt we needed to raise the level and take another step, and that was about a 12-week period where we could lay a foundation in your conditioning. My philosophy is that I don't want to go to training camp to get anybody in shape. I'd like to go to camp to work on timing, work on decision making, to work on the coordination that it takes for a team. If you're running after practice and conditioning, it takes away from the rhythm and timing of the offense and the defense. So we tried to step it up. We demanded more and the response was sensational. Of the 65 or so players on our team, we had almost 40 of them that were here all summer. I think the team feels good about what they've accomplished and I take my hat off to them. It's not easy to devote your summer to getting yourself into condition for the season and I'm thrilled with where we are.
(regarding the bye after the first game of the season for the second straight year): "I think that this is very unique, and it's for the second year in a row. It's a one-game season. Because you have the opportunity to get yourself started in school, take a look at the next 3 or 4 games as a group and still have plenty of time to do a normal preparation for our second game. It's a real bonus. If you ask the coaches, they'd say they'd like it a little later. And I think from a health standpoint, that's true. But with the way we started last year, I expect us to do the same. I want us to start fast. I think coming off the marvelous chance to go to Irvine and be enclosed there gives us a focus that I was happy with last year. I hope it allows us to start quickly for the second year.
(developing Carson further as QB): "Survival is the better word for last year. We were trying to survive. We started an inexperienced offensive line, we played Carson from the beginning. This year, it's a totally different attitude on offense. This is a group of men who know what is expected. They know the standard. And they understand the offense better. Carson, through the spring time, he and Mike Van Raaphorst were out throwing the ball with guys, studying tape, looking at the playbook. All the things you can't do when you don't know what to look at, or look for, you can do in the second year. I think it will allow Carson to not just be a survivor but be a performer in that leadership role where he will be able to better affect the people around him. Now all of the sudden, he has a chance to be the quarterback as opposed to the guy that wings it down the field. I looked at the Purdue game. One of the first plays he was in, he dropped back, we missed a block, he scrambled around, ducked his head, stopped and flat-footed threw a ball 60 yards in the air and we jumped up and caught it and I'm saying, "boy that was great coaching." That guy was trying to survive. I'm hoping we've taken another step. Now how big is that step? I don't know that. Is Carson Palmer going to play in his second year like we expect him to play in his third and fourth year? Well, absolutely not. Is he going to play better with more confidence than in year one? I certainly hope so. But how far he is able to take it will depend on the people around him. He's very fortunate to have three senior tailbacks. He has an offensive line that has been together. And let me tell you, there is some backups in the offensive line right now that will challenge the starters in the offensive line. So we have improved the people playing around him. The two senior receivers are much more improved with the quarterback than we were last year. There's a lot that goes into the quarterback position. I've always made the statement that the quarterback position is more dependent on more people than any other position in football. Other things have to fit together. He's done his part in terms of his preparation.
(on the tailback rotation): "Chad is clearly going to be the starter. I think I'm going to be a little more conscious of the durability issue because I have grown to admire his ability in space. I didn't know that much about him a year ago. But now that I see him space, as a wing or a flanker, I think he will be able to do more things than just get in the I-formation and run the ball. With that in mind, we will look towards another back or two in the game either with him or in complement to him. Petros Papadakis has prepared himself as well as anyone on the team. We know the speed he has. He's more of a power runner and he's the change up to Chad, but I see those two guys as being the key as we begin. Now what's going to happen behind them? Well, Marvin Powell was the classic USC fullback. We've got to develop that. Brennan Ochs is the starter, Chad Pierson is in position to challenge him. There may be a need to find a place for Frank Strong, Jabari Jackson, Malaefou MacKenzie in the backfield in something other than the traditional I-formation role. This is why you go to camp. You've got these ideas of what you think you're going to do, these thoughts, and you go to camp and you work on them and let them unfold. We won't get away from being an I-team to run the ball because Chad does it so well. But I think we need to take another step in our versatility because of Chad's ability and our depth at tailback. I think what we're going to see is a number of people getting involved after Chad. Let's face it. We're thin at receiver but we're deep at running back.
(on Sultan McCullough): "Sultan is very much in it, but right now I'm very concerned about asking too much and doing too much based on the hamstring. I don't have a good reading on it yet. In my mind, he's behind the seniors. He could very quickly have a huge impact. But what we don't want to do is push it too fast and too far. You can't pull a hamstring in the beginning of a football season. It's a four and five-week injury and I'm not even sure how much he'll practice early on. I've got to get a reading on him. He's a guy where we're going to have to say, OK, here's where we are and here's what. Once a day, maybe to start with. We've got to get a handle on this thing. This is a chronic problem. This is not a one-time hamstring pull. And yet, last year, no problem, but he was redshirted. The strain on the hamstring wasn't as dramatic. It's all about fatigue. If he's not fatigued, he's going to be fine. But if he does too much and gets fatigued, then there's a question. But in a little time, I think you're going to see a big jump.
(on the offensive line): "I'm absolutely delighted with the freshmen offensive linemen. Lucais MacKay has started working at the center position and is very impressive. The two tackles, Eric Torres and Nate Steinbacher, are very impressive. Probably the most impressive of the bunch is Lenny Vandermade. Everything I had hoped in terms of buidling, developing an offensive line. Now, we need to do that next year and the year after that. But the start has happened. Faaesea Mailo comes right to my mind. There's a guy who will challenge immediately. He's been gone for a couple of years, but I'm really impressed with what he's done in the summer time. The fact that Travis Claridge is going to start out at tackle gives us Matt Welch competing for that position. The emergence of Zach Wilson gives us competition with Jason Grain and Donta Kendrick. Jason Grain has lost 30 pounds and is in better shape than he has ever been in. What has happened is that there is a stirring up at the position that we didn't have last year. And that's what you have to have over a period of time to build a great offensive line. The offensive line makes those quarterback and running backs look pretty good.
(the issues of R. Jay Soward's summertime workouts): "It's always been raised. It's always raised with every member of our team. I've been talking about it since I got here. I said you have to make a commitment in the offseason to prepare yourself. Any time I meet with R. Jay or any of those guys, I say it. I'm not happy about it. I believe you need to prepare together as a team. That's my philosophy. Now, is that the only way to prepare? No. That would be foolish. Is it the way I prefer you to prepare? Absolutely. But it didn't happen and, as I told him and the team, I'm interested now in team and in performance and how will we become the best team? Who will be the performers? He's in shape and I like his mental makeup right now. He had a tough off-season. Not coming out (for the NFL), Chris Claiborne and all those things. But remember the thing about R. Jay. He loves football. He's the most dynamic, fired-up, excited guy about football that we have around. Now is his time. It is his time to blossom. He took care of the academic problem and got the job done. Did he do things exactly the way the coached wanted? No he didn't. But we now have to move on. Now it's time to perform and he's going to get the first opportunity to show us what he can do, both as a punt returner, a kickoff returner and as a flanker. I like where we are with him.
(will R. Jay Soward run more routes over the middle?) "Windrell is probably going to be the first guy to do that stuff. Windrell is built differently than R. Jay. He has had a marvelous off-season. But I think that is the next step for R. Jay. You look at punt returning, kickoff returning. You look at going deep. What's missing? What's missing is the controlled, underneath, precise pattern routes. R. Jay knows that a year ago, he was not the consistent player he needed to be. He was not the consistent player whether it was route-running or catching the ball. Was he good? Yes. Was he very good? Yes. But could he be great at those things? I believe he can be. And he and I have talked all along. You've got to be consistent. We've got to be able to count on you all the time. And the sophisticated pass routes and route running is going to be our priority in camp for him, because that's the area that he doesn't naturally flourish. You want a post runner, he can go to the post. What's nice now is we have these three young guys who are going to be watching how you go to the post. I'm excited about the development and the chemistry of the receiving corps.
(on getting Soward the ball more after a year when he went through stretches of not handling the ball): "(Last year) some of that was play-calling, some was performance, some of it was defense and some of it was just 'that's the way it happened.' We have worked to find ways to get him the ball, but we expect him to have more consistent play throughout his game to have that opportunity. With Hayes and the development of our backs, who, quite frankly, were not involved in the passing game a year ago, we've got to open this thing up to be better. R. Jay is the primary focus as we go to camp. I believe he is in good shape and I hope he is in the kind of shape to take the constant work that we're going to ask of him. But let's face it, if you ask for your senior year to be laid out in front of you, the first thing you'd ask for is a senior quarterback. The second thing is you want the opportunity to return kicks. The third thing is that you want them to throw the ball to me deep and short. They're all there. Now what you have to do is perform. Perform in practice and in games. It's all laid out there. Now let's go to work.
(which positions will be most competitive on defense): "I think we have a lot of questions. Not so much at the No. 1 positions, but there are a lot of guys sitting at the No. 2 and 3 positions going into camp that could easily find themselves in the No. 1 positions. We're going to camp with a certain sense of what the roles of the players are going to be. But when you're as young and inexperienced, there's a good opportunity there could be some changes. I said this last night to the team. There's no way last year David Gibson sat in the team meeting a year ago and knew that he was going to be the Pac-10 Player of the Week at linebacker a month later. I feel the same way right now. I feel Zeke Moreno's move was the right thing to do. It's taking me a little longer to get used to (his new) No. 9. The logical move to Sultan Abdul-Malik back into his high school position was the logical move. The competition at the weakside linebacker I think is very healthy. Now how do the young guys fit in? How does Markus Steele fit in? What did the summer do to the development of Armand Holland? Where are we with Henry Wallace? There's a lot of things that could happen. We have to play wide-open, one-back teams the first two weeks, which means we have to play six defensive backs, seven defensive backs. Where are we going to get them? In the secondary, we barely have a skeleton first team with any experience. David Gibson moving back is a great move. Can we afford to leave him back there? How are the other guys going to come along. Is DeShaun Hill ready to contribute right away out of JC? I don't know that. Is Ife Ohalete ready to step up and do what Rashad Cook did? It goes on and on. At corner, Kris Richard had an excellent spring and obviously Antuan Simmons. But where is Darrell Rideaux and what's going to happen with Eric Reese and can Tanqueray Clark stay healthy? I could go on and on. It's all unknown.
"On offense, it's a little more stable. But on defense . . . the defensive line is exciting. Bernard Riley looks to be everything we had thought after two days of practice. I'm really excited about Omar Nazel and Chris Prosser's ability to rush the passer. We have helped ourselves in the defensive line, but we already know we are strong there. It's a 12-week trip we're about to take and I don't know that in the first week or two or three that we'll look the same as in week seven, eight or nine. I think there's a lot that could go on with this football team, which I think is very exciting for the fans and the people that follow the team. It won't go on at quarterback, but throughout the rest of the team, there's a lot of things that could go.
(regarding right guard possibilities): "It's going to be an interesting battle. Jason Grain and Zach Wilson would be the beginning part of that. Now, Lenny Vandermade has been working on the left side, but can work on the right. Faaesea we're leaving on the left, but I don't want to get locked into any of those things. We've got an injury to Brent McCaffrey which is a puncture in his foot, which is a little more significant than we had thought. So for the first four or five days, we'll probably be very cautious with him. That gives two young guys and as well as some others a chance. Welch will probably see some action at left tackle to start with. We may work Trevor Roberts at tackle and take a look at some guys. But Brent will be fine in a few days.
(on Travis Claridge at tackle): "It's not a final, final decision. The biggest reason was that Matt Welch couldn't participate in the spring. He is now 100 percent. The development of Wilson, the addition of Mailo. Where do we get the best line? I'd like to tell you it is set, but I can't yet. We've got a starting point and I'm excited about it. There's more competition, more depth with guys. We went from 11 offensive linemen to 17. Now we have a chance to develop some offensive linemen. In spring practice we had to stop practice because we didn't have enough linemen. And we are going to keep recruiting the best offensive linemen we can find anywhere because that's going to be the key."
