Coach Montgomery’s Weekly Press Conference Quotes
October 10, 2016 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. – First-year East Carolina University Head Football Coach Scottie Montgomery addressed members of the media Monday following the Pirates' road game at USF and prior to the Navy-ECU rescheduling announcement. The following are selected comments:
Opening Statement:
"It's good to be back in Greenville after coming off a road game against USF who was definitely a good opponent. We felt like we found out a lot of things about our team down there (during) some adverse conditions against a good football team. A lot of speed and athleticism is what this game came down to. We have to continue to grow our team from an athletic and speed standpoint, but we thought our guys played really hard throughout the game. We had an opportunity at that point in time (following James Summers' touchdown) to go for two, but we did not get it and they came back and made a big-time play that really was the difference in the football game. Our guys competed hard.
"I thought our special teams came back to be an asset for us in the game. We did a lot of work on that. Also, ball security. I know we've talked about it quite a bit, but we thought James (Summers) did a good job protecting the football and protecting the quarterback at times at the running back position. In the first few plays of the game (UCF), we were unfortunate to lose Corey (Seargent). That's tough, and then you come out this week and you lose Colby (Gore), and in back-to-back weeks you have your two starting corners out. I thought our guys that came in competed as well as they could not knowing they were going from the No. 3 to the No. 1 role and the No. 4 role to the No. 2 role. That proved to be hard on us sometimes late in the fourth quarter.
"We also had a situation where we lost our quarterback in the game, but we were really pleased with the way Gardner (Minshew) came in and competed. You could tell that he had a full week of work with the first team and receivers. His timing was much better than the first game. He took care of the football in most situations outside of the one (yard line) where we had to start throwing every single down.
"All in all, we didn't come out victorious, but we thought we played a lot better than we did in the past. We've got to continue to push forward."
On Injury Update For Offensive Tackle Justin Sandifer:
"Our offensive line was a position of concern. I think everybody knew that coming into the season. At different times for different reasons, we've lost people on that line. We really don't know how long it's going to be for Sandifer. We do know that it is an ankle sprain that will (take) a little bit of time to get him back. We know we will not have him this week."
On Worrying About Players Who Live In Low-Lying Areas:
"Our administration and our football administration, Terrell Smith, that was our main concern when we got back (Sunday). We immediately got people out of their places if they were in some of those zones. We also got some new words this morning that we had to move some kids, so we've moved them. They are in a safe place. I'm not going to tell you where we moved them of course, but we've moved to a place where they're safe and their belongings are safe. We're listening. We're not going to make a mistake by not listening. The main concern right now is we're going to work around the clock to get our guys put in safe situations. We don't want any parents to be worried about their kid, whatsoever. We have some kids that were here over the weekend and are at their parent's houses right now. They don't have the ability to get back on campus."
On The Targeting Call In Saturday's Game At USF:
"The hardest part about it all is having to be the one to tell the kid he has to take his helmet and pads off and go in the locker room. We're going to coach it the way that we have to coach it. We've talked about lowering the target. We've talked about leading with the shoulder and not any part of the head. The other part is that launching is an indicator. Launching itself is not the targeting foul. As a receiver, I can tell you I would much rather be hit in the chest than (have) a guy to lower his target to below the waistline and hit me in the knees. Hopefully, we can continue to work on that, and not just us but everybody included, to make sure the safety of the player is at the forefront. I know that's where it is right now. We need to protect our players. I have a lot of friends who played in the National Football League that have a lot of issues (due to) some of the things that they went through. First and foremost, I want our players protected more than anybody, but there is also a point in time where we have to really look at what we do and how we coach it. I want that target lower, but there's also such instantaneous things that are happening out there where the receiver is lowering to brace for the blow. The hardest part of it all is telling the kid that's trying to do what we coach him to do to go take his pads and shoulder pads off and leave the game."
On How The Targeting Call Changed The Momentum Of The Game:
"There was a lot to that play. There was a big-time momentum shift there, but there was also an inadvertent whistle and that's what I was upset about. When that whistle blew, if they didn't call it targeting, we were going to get the ball right there. It may have been at the one yard-line versus the 42 yard-line."
On What Improvements He Was Most Please With From The USF Game:
"Running the football I think is going to give us a chance to be really good down the stretch because I think we found some things that we can live on. I wanted to be at the line of scrimmage more and that's what we did. At the line of scrimmage, we wanted to develop an identity of coming off the ball versus being sideline-to-sideline and then mixing some sideline stuff in there. So, I was happy about that. We can fix some of the issues that we had. We're playing really disciplined football from a penalty standpoint. I don't understand some of the things that are happening, but we're going to continue to work at it. When you come out of back-to-back games with, I think, two penalties for 15 yards and two penalties for 19 yards, and the team that you're going against has 10 penalties for 100 yards, you're looking at everything you can look at. We have to get more points. There's no question about that. We've got to be able to target more guys. We've also got to get a little bit healthier all the way around. We've got some guys that are dinged up and maybe not at full speed. We think that the last couple days of not practicing them, that will give us a chance to get back."
On James Summers In The Running Back Role:
"He was a little bit more fatigued this week, and that's why we made the decision to move him out of the return. Coming in and coming out for four plays is a lot different than carrying the ball and being responsible for the ball's security every single play. If a receiver catches a ball, he's much more fatigued than if he doesn't catch the ball. That's just kind of the way it goes. Even if he's running at full speed and stops at the same time, the concentration that goes into it fatigues you. He's got to continue to grow from that standpoint, but we think he did a great job for us. He was a 100-yard rusher on not that many carries, but we know he can carry the ball even more now. It also gave Anthony (Scott) a chance to come in and hit an explosive run when we thought, in that last drive, we were going to be able to hit some really explosive runs with some of the things that we had figured out going into the second, third and fourth quarters."
On Why Wide Receiver Jimmy Williams Wasn't Targeted As Much As Previous Weeks In The Passing Game:
"Really, I think we missed him a few times. Early, we definitely missed him a few times. We thought Phil, at the beginning of the game, had a few plays where we were monitoring his play just because he came off of a week where he didn't practice as much. We think we missed Jimmy a little bit. He did a good job. He had some great routes where he definitely got open. We also missed Zay (Jones) a few times down the field. We'll live with Phil. We think that he's a tremendous competitor, and I liked the way he pulled the ball down and ran a couple times. It's something we're trying to get him to do more, to use his legs. Everybody (quarterbacks) in the conference are using their legs a lot better than us right now and we're putting too much into our passing game. You add that part of the run game to what James and Anthony are doing, then we have a chance to be better."
Opening Statement:
"It's good to be back in Greenville after coming off a road game against USF who was definitely a good opponent. We felt like we found out a lot of things about our team down there (during) some adverse conditions against a good football team. A lot of speed and athleticism is what this game came down to. We have to continue to grow our team from an athletic and speed standpoint, but we thought our guys played really hard throughout the game. We had an opportunity at that point in time (following James Summers' touchdown) to go for two, but we did not get it and they came back and made a big-time play that really was the difference in the football game. Our guys competed hard.
"I thought our special teams came back to be an asset for us in the game. We did a lot of work on that. Also, ball security. I know we've talked about it quite a bit, but we thought James (Summers) did a good job protecting the football and protecting the quarterback at times at the running back position. In the first few plays of the game (UCF), we were unfortunate to lose Corey (Seargent). That's tough, and then you come out this week and you lose Colby (Gore), and in back-to-back weeks you have your two starting corners out. I thought our guys that came in competed as well as they could not knowing they were going from the No. 3 to the No. 1 role and the No. 4 role to the No. 2 role. That proved to be hard on us sometimes late in the fourth quarter.
"We also had a situation where we lost our quarterback in the game, but we were really pleased with the way Gardner (Minshew) came in and competed. You could tell that he had a full week of work with the first team and receivers. His timing was much better than the first game. He took care of the football in most situations outside of the one (yard line) where we had to start throwing every single down.
"All in all, we didn't come out victorious, but we thought we played a lot better than we did in the past. We've got to continue to push forward."
On Injury Update For Offensive Tackle Justin Sandifer:
"Our offensive line was a position of concern. I think everybody knew that coming into the season. At different times for different reasons, we've lost people on that line. We really don't know how long it's going to be for Sandifer. We do know that it is an ankle sprain that will (take) a little bit of time to get him back. We know we will not have him this week."
On Worrying About Players Who Live In Low-Lying Areas:
"Our administration and our football administration, Terrell Smith, that was our main concern when we got back (Sunday). We immediately got people out of their places if they were in some of those zones. We also got some new words this morning that we had to move some kids, so we've moved them. They are in a safe place. I'm not going to tell you where we moved them of course, but we've moved to a place where they're safe and their belongings are safe. We're listening. We're not going to make a mistake by not listening. The main concern right now is we're going to work around the clock to get our guys put in safe situations. We don't want any parents to be worried about their kid, whatsoever. We have some kids that were here over the weekend and are at their parent's houses right now. They don't have the ability to get back on campus."
On The Targeting Call In Saturday's Game At USF:
"The hardest part about it all is having to be the one to tell the kid he has to take his helmet and pads off and go in the locker room. We're going to coach it the way that we have to coach it. We've talked about lowering the target. We've talked about leading with the shoulder and not any part of the head. The other part is that launching is an indicator. Launching itself is not the targeting foul. As a receiver, I can tell you I would much rather be hit in the chest than (have) a guy to lower his target to below the waistline and hit me in the knees. Hopefully, we can continue to work on that, and not just us but everybody included, to make sure the safety of the player is at the forefront. I know that's where it is right now. We need to protect our players. I have a lot of friends who played in the National Football League that have a lot of issues (due to) some of the things that they went through. First and foremost, I want our players protected more than anybody, but there is also a point in time where we have to really look at what we do and how we coach it. I want that target lower, but there's also such instantaneous things that are happening out there where the receiver is lowering to brace for the blow. The hardest part of it all is telling the kid that's trying to do what we coach him to do to go take his pads and shoulder pads off and leave the game."
On How The Targeting Call Changed The Momentum Of The Game:
"There was a lot to that play. There was a big-time momentum shift there, but there was also an inadvertent whistle and that's what I was upset about. When that whistle blew, if they didn't call it targeting, we were going to get the ball right there. It may have been at the one yard-line versus the 42 yard-line."
On What Improvements He Was Most Please With From The USF Game:
"Running the football I think is going to give us a chance to be really good down the stretch because I think we found some things that we can live on. I wanted to be at the line of scrimmage more and that's what we did. At the line of scrimmage, we wanted to develop an identity of coming off the ball versus being sideline-to-sideline and then mixing some sideline stuff in there. So, I was happy about that. We can fix some of the issues that we had. We're playing really disciplined football from a penalty standpoint. I don't understand some of the things that are happening, but we're going to continue to work at it. When you come out of back-to-back games with, I think, two penalties for 15 yards and two penalties for 19 yards, and the team that you're going against has 10 penalties for 100 yards, you're looking at everything you can look at. We have to get more points. There's no question about that. We've got to be able to target more guys. We've also got to get a little bit healthier all the way around. We've got some guys that are dinged up and maybe not at full speed. We think that the last couple days of not practicing them, that will give us a chance to get back."
On James Summers In The Running Back Role:
"He was a little bit more fatigued this week, and that's why we made the decision to move him out of the return. Coming in and coming out for four plays is a lot different than carrying the ball and being responsible for the ball's security every single play. If a receiver catches a ball, he's much more fatigued than if he doesn't catch the ball. That's just kind of the way it goes. Even if he's running at full speed and stops at the same time, the concentration that goes into it fatigues you. He's got to continue to grow from that standpoint, but we think he did a great job for us. He was a 100-yard rusher on not that many carries, but we know he can carry the ball even more now. It also gave Anthony (Scott) a chance to come in and hit an explosive run when we thought, in that last drive, we were going to be able to hit some really explosive runs with some of the things that we had figured out going into the second, third and fourth quarters."
On Why Wide Receiver Jimmy Williams Wasn't Targeted As Much As Previous Weeks In The Passing Game:
"Really, I think we missed him a few times. Early, we definitely missed him a few times. We thought Phil, at the beginning of the game, had a few plays where we were monitoring his play just because he came off of a week where he didn't practice as much. We think we missed Jimmy a little bit. He did a good job. He had some great routes where he definitely got open. We also missed Zay (Jones) a few times down the field. We'll live with Phil. We think that he's a tremendous competitor, and I liked the way he pulled the ball down and ran a couple times. It's something we're trying to get him to do more, to use his legs. Everybody (quarterbacks) in the conference are using their legs a lot better than us right now and we're putting too much into our passing game. You add that part of the run game to what James and Anthony are doing, then we have a chance to be better."
Players Mentioned
Offensive Line
/ Football
Wide Receiver
/ Football
Wide Receiver
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Friday, April 10
Tuesday, April 07
