Instant Interview Replay: Jerry Odom

Instant Interview Replay: Jerry Odom

07/21/2003

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina University defensive coordinator Jerry Odom joined ECUpirates.com for a live Instant Interview on Monday, July 21. Following is a complete transcript of his responses.

Jim : I had the pleasure of watching you during your career at Florida and I'm looking forward to that hard nose mentality and intensity to carry over to our players that you played with.
Jerry Odom : Jim, thank you very much for the compliment. Football is second in my life only to my family. My wife will tell you I have no hobbies that I'm any good at. I enjoy watching tape, interacting with players and coaches and seeing them grow into good young men that play darn good football. If we can accomplish that here, I'll be very happy because I really enjoy being here.

Craig : Are you concerned about having a young, first-year coach to coach the secondary?
Jerry Odom : Craig, I believe in all my coaches. Coach Graves is an excellent communicator, understands the game very well and is a great addition to our staff. I have no doubt that everyone on the defensive side of the ball is very qualified and will do a great job for ECU.

raleigh pir8 : Just wanted to hear you thoughts on Josh Chilsom, and will he be one of our better linebackers.
Jerry Odom : Josh has a lot of ability. He is working real hard on learning more about the game. As a linebacker it is very important to understand what we're doing and what everyone else is doing on the field. That was something we lacked early in the spring. All of the linebackers, including Josh, have put in a lot of their own time learning not just their position, but how their position fits in the whole scheme of things.

Mike : You stated that you will run multiple packages. Do we really have a base defense?
Jerry Odom : Mike, the base package depends on what you're getting from the offense. College football is all about match-ups. We try to get our best players on the field in every situation. If you want to put labels on it, I guess we base out of a 4-3 defense.

Michael : Coach, who do you think will become the defensive leaders?
Jerry Odom : Michael, we've had great senior leadership since we've been here. These guys really want to be good. Damane Duckett has done a great job leading the defensive line. Travis Heath and Brandon Rainer have done a great job with the secondary and linebackers getting them together for player pass skell this summer.

John : Good afternoon coach. What is the biggest difference we should expect to see on defense this year?
Jerry Odom : John, the biggest difference that I hope you see is the ability to get off of the field. By that I mean, stop people on third down, don't give up big plays and create field position for our offense. We talk about this everyday as our goals for the year.

Billy : Who do you think the four main down lineman will be and do we have depth in the defensive line?
Jerry Odom : I don't know if we have just four guys that'll be our main guys. We would like to play eight or nine deep. This way it gives us an advantage as the game wears on; we get to keep our guys fresh. I thought Damane Duckett had a good spring. Guy Whimper has a big upside, Dontre Brown impressed me a lot, Derek Helms was solid, and Eric Foushee did some good things. Richard Koonce is a guy that gives us a lot of flexibility as an end or as a linebacker. Lorenza Pickett and Sammie Walton had good springs, and three guys I'm looking forward to working with are Ike Emodi, Shauntae Hunt and Eric Terry. Coach Kaufmann does a great job coaching those guys.

Billy : What type of defense will you run this year? do we have the personal to have 4 on the line
Jerry Odom : Billy, we will run a multiple defensive package with sometimes having four down linemen, sometimes having three down, sometimes having five down and having sometimes having no one down. I think that you have to be very multiple against today's offenses in order to give them protection issues and confuse them in your coverage scheme.

Jon : The Pirates face a lot of top QBs this year. What will you do to drastically improve our secondary?
Jerry Odom : Jon, we do face some good quarterbacks this year. It is not only the secondary's job, but also the job of the whole defense to stop another team. Sometimes the secondary takes the blame when it isn't entirely their fault. That being said, we need to work on being sound in our coverages and very multiple, so that we can keep these quarterbacks off guard.

Kyle Chase : How did the secondary perform this spring, and how can they improve going into September?
Jerry Odom : Kyle, I felt our secondary got a lot better as spring went along. We had a few injuries that kept us from being as multiple in our packages. They can get better by coming in in fantastic shape and ready to listen to their coaches.

Seth : Coach Odom, If a Pirate fan wanted to know what our defense will look like this season, could they just watch the Florida defense of last year, or do you plan to change it up a little?
Jerry Odom : I think we will be very multiple in our schemes and the way we attack offenses. There will be elements of many different defenses that myself and my staff have worked on over the years.

Seek and DESTROY!!! : Mr. Odom, I love to watch an intense coach who's spirit permeates into his players. My favorite to watch is John Gruden, because if his consistent intensity and scowl!!!. How would you classify your demeanor during practice and gametime?
Jerry Odom : You could probably classify me as an intense coach. I believe in production, not potential. I want it done perfect yesterday. At the same time, I think you must understand that certain players have certain limitations and work your schemes accordingly to get the most out of your players.

Adam : How much of an impact do you think the incoming freshmen will have in the secondary and do you think our pass defense will be improved from last year?
Jerry Odom : Skill players can usually come in and contribute quicker than lineman and/or linebackers. Because of this there is a chance for some young kids to contribute. I certainly expect our secondary to play well this year.

Brian : Hi Coach, Nothing bugs me on defense more than poor tackling/arm tackling. I have seen quite a bit of that by our defense the last two seasons. Seems to me an instilled killer instinct and some vocal leadership could correct that. Is that something you will harp on, if you see that inexcuseable lack of effort going on? Thank You.
Jerry Odom : That bothers me as well. We work everyday on the fundamentals of the game with tackling being a priority. Our defensive coaches will be emphasizing this in the coming weeks.

RJ : How's Chris Moore's recovery progressing?
Jerry Odom : Chris is doing very well. He is working hard mentally as well as physically and learning more about the ABCs of football.

Keng : Coach Odom, Who's going to be the quarterback on the defense and calling the signals during the game?
Jerry Odom : Every player will be responsible for knowing the signals and looking at them on a down-to-down basis. We must do this because of the amount of no-huddle teams that we play on our schedule.

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