Coach Montgomery’s Weekly Press Conference Quotes

Press Conference

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Third-year ECU Head Football Coach Scottie Montgomery addressed members of the media on Monday prior to this weekend's road game at Temple. The following are selected comments:

Opening Statement:
"We didn't avoid an injury this week. We've been coming out of the games pretty lucky so far as we've been coming out of games with no injuries. Brandon Pena (right guard) will be out for this week. We will continue to look at his injury as we move forward, but as of right now, he will not be available to play this coming weekend.

"Starting with ODU, overall, I thought our defense did a really good job. I thought it was an unbelievable effort from the people that were out there. We did a good job of rotating people into this game. Not a lot of our guys had over 45 to 50 snaps. When that happens on defense, we're definitely getting better. I think we had nine sacks, about 14 or 15 tackles for losses. We looked extremely well-conditioned in the final 46 seconds of the football game. I was really excited with how we played. That's all stemming from our rush defense. I thought our rush defense is playing as well as I've seen a defense play. There's a couple of things in our pass defense that we've got to get corrected. We haven't gotten off the field a couple of times on third or fourth down. If we can correct those, they stem from a few mental errors or missed alignments, then we can get better there.

"Offensively, I'd like to see our quarterback make great decisions all the time, no matter who is in at quarterback. Throughout the game, we had some poor decisions, but we also had some unfortunate things happen. On the interception that Reid (Herring) had at the beginning of the game, Hussein (Howe) had a tug around the waist by the outside linebacker that only allowed him to tip the ball up in the air and they were fortunate to get that as an interception. The effort on that play, even our offensive line was chasing him down, is the sign of a good football team. Also, I'm really happy with the creativity that's coming with our run game. We're going to continue to grow it. Our run game can still get better and that in turn will take a little bit of pressure off us in the pass game. As we look at it all, I thought the most special time of the game was the last play by our special teams. Watching Jake Verity, who hadn't been in a situation like that here, go out and nail a big-time field goal, hence him being the conference Special Teams Player-of-the-Week, we're very happy for him. Also, congratulations to Nate Harvey for being the Defensive Player-of-the-Week for our conference."

On Temple:
"Offensively they cause you stress because they have so many formations they can throw at you. Just in the first two drives alone last week, there were multiple formations. Whether they were three back, whether it was empty, whether it was three-by-one or three-by-one with a nub side tight end, they do a lot in their formations. They are really talented and No. 13 (Isaiah Wright) is a great player. They can put him in any place on the field, whether it's running back, receiver or quarterback. He's a very talented football player. They're also talented at the quarterback position. I love the way (Anthony) Russo's throwing the ball and placing the ball all over the field. He's spreading the ball to a lot of people. But probably the engine in their offense is their running back. (Ryquell) Armstead is a hard, down-hill runner. He'll be one of the toughest backs we will see this year. So, we have our work cut out for us defensively.

"Offensively, what you see on their defense is they're led by two major Division I linebackers. They're really good at that position. They can go sideline to sideline, they can create pressure in the run game and the pass game. They're very active in their defensive secondary. They have tremendous amounts of experience on this team even though some of them haven't started last year, they've seen a lot of action. We're going against a good Temple team which shows what they've done in recruiting. When you look at their depth chart on both sides, the only freshman that you see is a starter at right tackle. Everyone else is redshirt sophomores, juniors, seniors or graduates. So, they've had a long line of great recruiting and now they're reaping the benefits of being able to lose some starters and still being able to replace them with guys who have a lot of experience. On special teams, this is going to be a big week for us. They apply a lot of pressure in special teams and are very opportunistic. They tip the ball away in a turnover situation. They've dominated games through special teams. We have our work cut out for us in that area. We're going to have to be really sound and our best players are going to have to play their best on special teams this week."

On Nate Harvey Transition From Running Back To Defensive End:
"He transitioned from running back to linebacker to defensive end. I really think we were about two weeks before training camp started when we knew he was going to be an exceptional player because of everything he did in the offseason. He had a really good spring at linebacker, but we thought we had a lot of depth there with Cannon Gibbs and everybody that is playing at that position. So, we decided to put him at the defensive end position and immediately it was really hard to get a hand on him and block him in practice. Then we worried about him understanding the run game. Within two or three days of moving him, he knew every part of the run game. He's a very mature kid and also a guy that leaves it all out on the field. If you tell him to do something, that's exactly what you're going to get. I know I can go to him in just about every situation. Whether it's defense, special teams, or even on offense if we need it, he'll get it done. He's matured a lot, but what I'm most proud about is that he's worked away from the field and in the classroom so he's able to handle the defense. He's done a really good job."

On Having Two Conference Player-of-the-Week Selections:
"Once you look at it, all of them are connected, especially this week. If Jake (Verity) doesn't get that chance to kick that field goal at the end, then he probably wouldn't be the Special Teams Player-of-the-Week. If Nate doesn't make the sacks and the tackles for loss that give us the chance to get the ball back, then he wouldn't be the Defensive Player-of-the-Week. We're really happy that it's connected, and it says a lot to our team. It's good to get your specialists recognized too. We forget about them quite a bit. We talk about the offense and defense a lot, but the only time you talk about specialists is when they make it or when they don't. So, it's really good to be able to talk about them in a situation where he's had some success."

On Jake Verity's Consistency:
"It's unfortunate that the only time we did miss a PAT was on a block. So, it feels good, but to see him grow, he's gotten a lot stronger both physically and mentally. The pressure and stress are on him in practice and he's done a great job in practice of hitting these kicks. So, he's grown quite a bit. But you can't forget about him not having to be the kickoff man too. So, the fatigue that goes with that, with having Caleb Pratt to go out and kill the ball and kick it through the back of the end zone, takes a little stress off of him there. Then the consistency can go all the way towards field goal kicking."

On Holton Ahlers' Limited Package:
"No, it wasn't limited in a couple of plays. We took the limitation off him, but there is a certain amount of protection limitations that we have with him, so he doesn't have to correct the protections at the line of scrimmage. If he doesn't have to correct the protections, he has to get the ball out a little quicker. If he could correct those, we could get him to hold the ball a little longer and he could look downfield. He is getting much better at it, but what's happening is that when he goes into the game, it's the unknown. People are preparing for him to go into the game with stuff that we haven't seen. But he is getting better. We have to get him to look downfield a little bit more and not worry about the rush that's in his face as much. He could have stepped up in the pocket or stepped to the side and delivered a few balls there. But he's getting much better and having a tremendous impact on each game."

On Holton Ahlers Changing The Protections Or Reading The Defense:
"In the protection fixes, there's some situations where he can keep backs in versus getting backs out. Which if the back is out, the route is completely different and the stress on the defense is completely different. Some of those things, he's learning at and growing, and he'll be better. We will continue to coach him too. But we're really excited with where he is right now. I don't know if you told me that he would have this big of an impact, this early, with how much goes on in a college football game, I would have believed it. Kingsley (Ifedi) was also effective when he was in there in the run package and with some different things. We've just got to make consistent decisions with all three of them. I think all three of them, once I went back and looked at the tape, there was some critical decision-making errors that we have to fix."

On When The Decision Will Be Made Regarding Redshirting Holton Ahlers:
"I'm not ready to say it publicly, but he's pretty good as a football player. We still have four or five more days until the game. But do I want him to play better and better every week? He's one of the best football players that we have on our football team and we have some good football players on the team. I think the people around him are starting to do better because of him and he's starting to do better because of them. So that package is growing. It also throws opponents a curveball when Reid is back in there and they see a formation that had Holton in it and now they have to prepare for it differently. I didn't understand how much of an impact that a one-yard or a two-yard gain had when he was in there, until you go back and look at the tape and see the safety placement. You see us getting over the top in the same set. A three back set and we're able to get over the top with Trevon (Brown) in some of those situations. Because of them seeing sets that they think are Holton's we can flip-flop them."

On Temple Creating Defensive And Special Team Touchdowns:
"We need to take care of the football. There's no question about it. We're doing a better job of taking care of the football, but we need to continue to grow there. Where I see them really being opportunistic is on special teams. They get after the punter, they cover like you couldn't believe. They're very aggressive in situations where people are not used to handling the football a lot. They've done a really good job in special teams and a really good job in defense. They made a spectacular play a few weeks ago with the middle field getting off the hash and being able to make plays. They've got great guys with ball skills in the backend. So, it's important that we take care of the ball. But taking care of the ball is directly connected to decision making. There were some big-time decisions made in the game by our skill people. You may not remember it, but Deondre Farrier had a catch over the middle. He caught it and the first down was there and three people were converging on him. He jumped and dived and got down with the ball and took care of the ball, then we got up and got ready to run the next play. Those are the decision-making skills we need to make versus running in there with your chest held high and the ball up and one guy hits you, the next guy rips it out and we fumble in the red zone. That happened to us two years ago, it happened to us last year. So, we're getting better at those type of things."

On Going Back To Reid Herring In The Second Half:
"It wasn't that we were in a situation where we were benching Reid. We were just in a situation where we needed to be more effective at the quarterback position and be more effective around the quarterback position. So, we wanted to change and get more energy. We got that boost. We thought we had a couple of plays dialed up, but we had a mental error. When Holton was in there, we had a mental error at another position. We had a play dialed up, but it didn't work. So, we knew we had to go back to Reid there at the end to get some passes generated and understand the protection. They were starting to mix up the pressure on us, so we did it. I was just happy that Reid's confidence level was in place. Holton and Reid have such a good relationship that they can go in and out and still give each other information that can help us be successful there at the end."

On Who Is Making Decisions On Switching The Quarterback:
"I'm making the decision here. I made the decision because I thought we had gotten a little flat there offensively and I didn't like a couple of the decisions that were made at the quarterback position. I also felt like we lost a little bit of the run game identity in that portion of the game and I wanted to see the ball ran a little bit more effectively. I made the decision. We moved forward. Holton goes in and makes a great play and we gave him two more drives after that to try to see if he could continue it. Then I had to make the decision to bring back in Reid to give us the opportunity to get the ball down the field."

On Having Three Quarterbacks:
"I like my three. I've had one and that one has gotten hurt and then you have zero. I hope that math can tell you I like my three and I like the skillset of our three. What's really significant for everyone to understand is that all three are playing in their first year at quarterback, all three of them. So, one of the things we're seeing is first-year mistakes from all three of them. If we can clean up some of the first-year mistakes with the talent we have around them and the creativity we have going on now around them, they have a chance to be pretty special. I like our three and I'll take those three all the time."

On The Relationship Between The Quarterbacks:
"It's amazing. I've been at places where my number one and my number two, they come into the meeting room and one sits on one side of the table and the other sits on the other side of the table. They take their own notes, they go and they want to be the starter. Parents call and all that. That's not what we have here. I think there was a great picture of Holton and Reid hugging and the rest of the team made a big deal out of it, thought it was kind of funny. But it's truly a great relationship in the room with Holton, Reid and Kingsley. All of them want to win. That's the most important thing, they all want to win. But all of them are competitors. Every time another one is in, they want to be in. Let me be clear, it's not that they like to be on the sideline, you shouldn't like to be on the sideline. But when one of the quarterbacks is in, the other two will cheer him on."

On The Improvement Of The Defense:
"After the second week of spring, I thought we had a major chance that we were going to be much, much better. To get into numbers, it's hard for me because one week you're stepping on grapes and the next week you're drinking wine. I don't get into numbers. I know that we're playing an exceptional amount better than we've played. The other thing is during the offseason, we got much faster. I told you guys as we came into the first press conference. As a defense, outside of the two interior guys, we're running about a 4.58 in the 40. We've increased our defensive team speed a tremendous amount. Then, you add David Blackwell to the mix of communicating to our linebackers. The communication to our linebackers has probably been one of the biggest keys to the success on defense from last year to this year. I think our defensive line is the core piece of our defense right now. Rod Wright is doing an exceptional job. Our DB's are making way more plays on the ball then they have and they're still growing at that. But to say we'd be at a certain number, I can't say that. To say that I'd thought we'd have nine sacks and six sacks? I wouldn't have imagined that. That's tremendous. But looking at (Kendall) Futrell, looking at Nate Harvey, looking at new people playing the position, it's been good. Some of the recruiting has really worked out for us. On the backend, Tank Robinson, Colby Gore, a lot of those things are working out and now they're not freshmen. Alex Turner is a grown man out there right now as a junior. Coach C (Connors) has done a great job. The flipside of that is that you never would have told me that our offensive line is able to run the football the way we're running the football either. But D'Ante Smith is a grown man out there right now. Cortez Herrin is much better. John Spellacy is playing really, really well. Garrett McGhin is too in his last year. So, there's a lot of growth, age and maturity. But we have to give a lot of credit to our Pirate Club for the things that I asked for. Feeding them, it's starting to show up. We're not losing weight. In the training room, we don't have a long list of injuries. These are the things that when you start to stack them two or three or four years, you can become really dominant."

On The Emergence Of Fernando Frye:
"His story is kind of one of those legendary fairy-tale stories where a guy comes in and is not on the team. He tries out for the team and makes the team. No one pays any attention to him. Goes to the show team and works really hard. Gets into spring ball and then people start to notice him. Seeing him in board drills and three-on-three drills, it's who is this guy? Then immediately, you start to see him get the respect of everybody. Then three weeks ago, we knew he was going to play for us this year. He had already started to get the reps at right guard position. Not splitting time but getting a lot of the one reps as well. But he really just came into his own. Strong, works really hard and doesn't say a whole lot - just does his job. Came out of the game with a pretty high grade for coming in and saw a whole lot while he was in there. Really excited that he was ready to play when he went in. So, we're really excited for Fernando. The guys, they absolutely love him. He has an outstanding personality and now that he's playing, you'll probably see a little bit more of that personality. Just a great young man and he got a great opportunity. Now we also have JJ (Jordan Johnson) at the same position there and hopefully he'll get going. So, we feel like we have a lot more depth in there so hopefully we'll see some of that this weekend against Temple."

Players Mentioned

Holton Ahlers

Deondre Farrier

Fernando Frye

Cannon Gibbs

Colby Gore

Nate Harvey

Cortez Herrin

Reid Herring

Jordan Johnson

Garrett McGhin

Caleb Pratt

D'Ante Smith

John Spellacy

Alex Turner

Jake Verity

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