Montgomery Q&A: The Past, Present and Future

August 20, 2018 | Football

Third-year ECU Head Football Coach Scottie Montgomery sat down with ECUPirates.com reporter Joe Corley on Monday and provided his thoughts on the Pirates' recently-completed preseason camp and a promising look ahead to the 2018 campaign:

JC: How do you feel coming out of camp?
SM: I really think we had a great camp, the best that we've had here. We have a lot more depth than we've had. We've had to make some tough decisions coming out of this camp. Some of those decisions that you have to make about who runs out there first, this is the first year we've had multiple positions where we can start a lot of guys. We really feel prepared coming out of camp.

JC. How important was what you called a "good football offseason" to what you were able to accomplish in camp?
SM: There was just a continual idea or motion of football all the way from January, starting with winter conditioning and then jumping into spring ball so quickly. We were able to get everything in quickly with our guys, and then in the details we've been able to grow and grow and grow. We've seen a lot more of our players than we had in years past. I don't know if it's how we used our summers. I know we spent a good amount of time with our kids this summer. A lot of it was really football-based. I feel like in the past we did a lot of conditioning-based things. This year we had a lot of time in which we were able to do things we needed to do with all of our kids. Our first day of camp was not like a first day of camp. It felt like we were in week two. And now, even though this is our mock game week, it really feels like game week, everything from our devotional this morning to the way that we're practicing in the mornings the rest of the week. It feels like it's been a long time, and a lot of things have happened in that period of time.

JC: The opening of the new locker room coincided with the beginning of camp, which is all part of the huge Southside Renovation Project. How does all that impact the program?
SM: It's atmosphere. Our kids enjoy coming into our building. They love being over here. They're always here when they're not in class. This has become their home away from home. If you go down to our players lounge, there are probably 30 to 40 guys there, whereas before there was nowhere for them to go so they left the building, and when you do that you go your separate ways. While you're in the building, you're all together. Being able to be around each other has been really good for us. The flip side of that, too, is that since we do have the lounge and since we do have the training room and training area, you look at our injury report and it's probably a third of what it was in the past, and that's directly connected to the Pirate Club and the donations that came in to create our training room. Usually you're 10 or 11 guys down at certain times during camp, but I think the most we were down this year was three or four.

JC: Any major injuries or concerns at this point?
SM: We have a couple of injuries that I'll talk about at the press conference next week. Outside of a few things that happened early in camp, knock on wood, we're pretty healthy right now, especially at some of the positions where we've struggled in the past coming out of camp healthy. The one position of concern is our offensive front. We're getting some guys back on the field this week that hadn't been practicing for a week or so. We need those guys to get back and do well this week so that as we get into our real game week, we know where they stand.

JC: What is it about the quarterback situation than enables you and offensive coordinator Tony Petersen to have so much confidence in it?
SM: We have a tremendous amount of arm talent with our starter, Reid Herring. But probably the biggest reason for my confidence is the mobility of all three, including Holton Ahlers and Kingsley Ifedi. That mobility that we have now not only helps our offense but it helps prepare our defense for what we see in the American Athletic Conference. The biggest area of confidence I have is that, if a play breaks down, in the past it would turn into a sack. Now it turns into a scramble and a completion or a scramble to a six- to 14- or 15-yard gain. All three of them can do it. The confidence also comes in knowing we have three major Division I guys that could've played multiple places. We're healthy at the position as we speak and we have a lot of skill there, and their mobility helps us.

JC: You have a few guys back at running back, and Trace Christian has joined them in the top four. How do you feel about the running game?
SM: After the scrimmage on Saturday, we took some major, major strides. We didn't have very many running situations in the scrimmage. We had a lot of third-down situations and we were in some red-zone situations and some backed-up situations, but mostly we had a lot of third downs because we wanted to see what our passing game could do there. But when we got into our running situations, we were really good there. I've been really impressed with Trace Christian. His ability to run the inside zone has catapulted him. He's shown us what he can do when we give him the ball in the inside zone. We have to make him a well-rounded back. There are other things we need to get him better at. There are things that we love and there are things we probably dislike about all of our guys as far as their skill set in the backfield. Anthony Scott had a fantastic camp. He's hit home runs that we haven't seen. Not having him last year, it was a decline in overall team speed. Now having him back and with the mobility at quarterback and the ability to scramble and get the ball in his hands, he can be a home-run hitter at any time. Hussein Howe has been solid at understanding what we want from the position, and he's doing exactly what he needs to be doing. Darius Pinnix is probably the most well-rounded third-down player. He can route-run and he can protect. All of them have their good pieces, but right now we're really impressed with some of the things Anthony has done and Trace has done. I'm not saying that they are in any position to be a leader at this time, but we have now less than two weeks before our first game and those guys have done a great job.

JC: What should fans expect to see from this excellent and very deep group of receivers, led by Trevon Brown?
SM: We're getting back to being talented and disciplined at that position altogether. We've added Blake Proehl and Leroy Henley back. Terrell Green had a fantastic camp, the best he's had here by far. We're excited about him. Deondre Farrier took the offseason to become a total football player, and I'm very impressed by his jump at the position. Trevon, his ability to make plays and his details throughout the offseason and in camp, he just works. I gave him one day off the entire camp, and we've pushed him to play every snap during his ones cycle. He's been fantastic. They're deep and very talented. And we have a lot of young guys under them who we haven't talked about quite yet, and they'll come into the mix later. We're deep and we're young. We have two old guys in the group in Trevon and Terrell, and everybody else will be back next year. These wideouts can go and get it done. Our entire offensive board is young right now, so we're happy about that.

JC: Depth is not as good on the offensive line. How do you feel about the line?
SM: We've done a good job of late of recruiting guys. Peyton Winstead, add him to the mix, Noah Henderson, add him to the mix. We've added people to the mix, but we're not quite ready to have those guys be in a leadership role. We've added Jordan Johnson. We probably have 10 guys that we can go play with. I'll just feel a lot more comfortable when we get to the point where we're 13 or 14 deep with some swing guys. The one thing we have is multiple guys who can snap the ball. With Branden Pena coming back to our team this year and also Winstead we have some guys who can play guard/center/guard. Before, we had to take our right tackle and put him at center. Garrett McGhin is back for us at right tackle, and now we don't have to stress him with the snapping part of it. We can leave him out on the edge. We just have to continue to build depth.

JC: What's the philosophical difference between last year and this year on defense?
SM: Speed. In every sense of the word we got faster, and now with (defensive coordinator David Blackwell) we also have a faster scheme that fits those people. We're going to be an attacking team, and you can't attack unless you have speed. That speed starts on the ends. Kendall Futrell and Nate Harvey have just had a well-above-par camp. Chance Purvis has also been great for us at end. We have some young talent: Damir Faison, Dorian Hardy, Trey Love and Michael Swift have been solid for us. It starts outside. And then at linebacker, we have speed - a ton of speed. You talk about Ray Tillman, Bruce Bivens and Aaron Ramseur, all those guys are fast. We're faster than we were before. That's what you have to build to win in this league. When I first came into this league, the first thing I noticed was that we needed to increase our overall team speed, both defensively and offensively. And then in our secondary with Corey Seargent and Colby Gore, the things that we've done with our strong safety position, some people might call it the field safety position, by adding Marcus Holton, Jr., another fast guy, to the mix. Davondre Robinson and Nolan Johnson, these guys can really run. It's really been the biggest difference from one year to the next.

JC: How has Kendall Futrell been able to come in and be as dominant as he's been in camp?
SM: We didn't have him last year for the majority of the season with an illness, and he never got back healthy and he never got back strong. He just took it upon himself in December and January to make the decision that this was going to be his defense and his year. And wow, he's gotten us better on offense, too. We've chipped him, we've double-teamed him, we've learned how to take care of a master pass-rusher. And as good as he is rushing the passer, he's also been dominant in the run game. It's because of what he's been able to do with (strength and conditioning coach) Jeff Connors and his strength numbers. His weight is up 15 pounds. He's in great shape, but he's also just tremendously talented. He's a super talent. He's not one of those guys that we had to do a whole lot with. Most of his work has come in the weight room. The developmental process for him had a lot to do with his genetic code. He's probably one of the most talented guys in college at that position that I've been around or coached against. We're looking for him to put it together this year. It's enough of it being well-said, we need to see it well-done.

JC: How does this defensive line stack up with the lines ECU had in the past, like when it was winning conference titles a decade ago with NFL-caliber players?
SM: This one is pretty talented. I would be hesitant to talk about some of the guys we've had here, but with Alex Turner, Jalen Price, Raequan Purvis and Shaun James, we have some guys on the interior now that will play in the National Football League. I don't know if they'll reach the heights of some of those other guys, but when we played them as true freshmen they were able to hold their ground. Last year they got a little bit better. Now they're grown men, so we're really happy. We have depth at all those positions. When I first got here we were talking about offensive line depth and defensive line depth. We're still talking about the offensive line depth, but the defensive line depth is no longer a concern.

JC: Has the offseason been a good one for the linebackers?
SM: It has. We've matured Bruce Bivens and Aaron Ramseur in the football aspect of understanding why we're calling things. Their communication with the defensive coordinator makes it easy for them to communicate to our front, to our back end, and I think that's been big in the offseason — we've matured. Then we have Ray Tillman and Cannon Gibbs, and they understand that maturation process, but also understand this new scheme benefits them more than they've seen in the past. We've stressed them in certain situations, but with great communication, we've taken some of the stress they had last year off.

JC: What has the improvement been like at the corners?
SM: Recruiting helps not only the guys that are coming in, but also the guys that are already here. Colby Gore and Corey Seargent have had to have a great day every day because of us adding Michael Witherspoon, who is a super talent. He's a 6-1, 200-pound kid that can run. He's a 4.4 kid who can cover, and he's elevated the game of Corey and Colby. Then on the other side, one of our best ball-skill guys is Warren Saba, and he's added a lot of depth. We also have a young kid we're really excited about in Damel Hickman. He's a 6-0 guy and he's really fast. At the beginning of camp we were just trying to get him acclimated, but he clearly started to work his way up the board. With him in the mix, we're five to six deep at corner, which is a great feeling. Our safeties and nickels, we have speed back there, adding Keyshawn Canady back. We've added speed and we have depth, which creates competition. They love each other, but they all want to start.

JC: There's a coaching difference this year with Brandon Lynch concentrating on the corners now and Daric Riley here to work with the safeties. Can you explain your thought process there?
SM: I felt like we didn't communicate as well as we could have at times last year in the back end, and I wanted to make sure our safeties were getting the attention they needed and our corners were getting the attention they needed. They're like yin and yang, Lynch and Riley. They work so well together that when they do come together it's as cohesive as we've ever had. That information is coming directly from me to coach Blackwell to them in the way that we play back there. We're a lot more aggressive, and they challenge each other. They're both competing. They want their guys to play at the highest level. We've really been able to detail the work for our corners. Our corners needed some detail work in playing balls down the field, press coverage, also off coverage in their transition steps. We've been able to do a lot of that stuff by splitting the coaches.

JC: And they share their time with the nickels, right?
SM: We try to do as good a job as we can because the position is kind of the cross-hybrid between a linebacker, a corner and a safety. Sometimes they can be presented as a 4-3 box, sometimes they'll be working really closely with coach Blackwell and the linebackers, sometimes it'll be more about where we placed them on the interior vs. the exterior when we're playing some of our coverages. And then on third down they turn into a third corner on the field. So with all of that mixed together, we've done a good job of making sure they get what they need. It's such a critical position because not only can you blitz, but you can cover man-to-man and you can get into a zone. There's a lot to it, and those guys have done a good job merging what they teach. I'm looking forward to that position being kind of a splash position this year.

JC: Two of the three kickers are back, and the new punter seems to be adjusting well. How would you assess that situation?
SM: Our punter, Jonn Young, is so mature, it was shocking. It was really easy for him to come into this team. He has acclimated himself really easily and he's so much further along in his maturation process that he feels like a grad transfer, not just a transfer. I think we're really strong in our kickoffs with Caleb Pratt. I think we have to continue to grow in our place-kicking. Jake (Verity) has been gaining more confidence as camp has gone on, and he's in a really confident spot right now. There's going to come a time when we're going to have to call on him and he's going to have to get it down. Overall, our team is faster, so our special teams are better. I have no limitations on who we put on special teams. Everybody from Kendall Futrell to Trevon Brown, all of them are playing special teams. We're going to put our best people on special teams

JC: How nice is it to have Kirk Doll back as special teams coach?
SM: He's as solid as a rock. I utilize him in so many different areas outside of special teams. I can consult with him because there is no offense-defense bias. His knowledge of player evaluation goes back a long way. Also, a lot of coaches don't understand how important time management is. As I've talked to coach Doll, I was shocked how much I spend in time management, not only in games but in practice time management and in staff time management. It's always good to have someone to lean on in those situations who will tell you the truth, and that's what he does.

JC: Of the players coming back, which ones have impressed you the most with the gains they've made?
SM: Terrell Green has been great, even in the latter part of his career. Kingsley Ifedi has been phenomenal. From last year to spring, from spring to now he's really had a lot of growth. Deondre Farrier has matured a lot. Anthony Scott, from where he was two years ago and the things he struggled with - we didn't hide those, we presented those. We worked through all those problems. From not being able to play last year, for him to be able to come back in the shape he did and work his way through everything he's had to work through, we're impressed. We hope he has a fantastic season. He had to come through a lot.

JC: Who stands out among the newcomers?
SM: Nolan Johnson, Michael Witherspoon, definitely they stand out. I don't know how much we're going to see him yet, but Dorian Hardy. He has to continue to grow understanding football and continue to grow as a young man, but he is really, really talented. Really talented. I hope I didn't leave anybody out, but those guys really stick out, along with Damel Hickman, as guys that can help us this year. Of course, I forget about Holton Ahlers because he doesn't feel like a newcomer. He feels like an old guy now. I feel like we've been coaching him for two or three years. He has it all. I just forget about him being a young guy. He's still making a few mistakes here and there, but man, he's got it all.

JC: The American has proved to be a tough league. Where would you say it stacks up?
SM: Wow, I think it stacks up definitely inside of the Power 5. We talk about Power 6, but I've coached against them all, and I think our unique difference is just how fast this league is. Coaches are doing a great job of recruiting in this league to where, maybe they're not getting a 6-4, 255-pound outside linebacker, but they're getting a 6-3, 220-pound outside linebacker that plays extremely hard, that plays at 4.5 speed and is strong. Once you put that on the field, it's shocking to a lot of people. Recent bowl games and recent games the American has had out of conference show that our speed teams in this league can beat anybody on any given Saturday. How fast this league is … is shocking.

JC: You brought most of these players in. Are they turning out the way you expected?
SM: Yes, and some of them have been even better. We knew that we had some great players, but they were young and they were under-developed, which happens in this league, but we also knew that we had recruited speed. Now when you look at the board it's so full with guys who can run, that have length, are fast, are disciplined. This is what I envisioned. Did I envision us making some of the strides in recruiting that we did? No. Some of these guys that we've been able to come into in recruiting have not been the work-the-body process that I love and I'm accustomed to. We have been given the ability through great recruiting by these assistants of hitting some guys that are big-time guys and not just developmental guys. Some people would call them acquisitional guys because of the other places that recruited them. The roster is turning out the way we want. We have to grow our tight end position, which we've made some huge strides in and hopefully you'll see that in our first game. We've recruited people outside that position and moved them to it by taking long, big bodies and putting them there. All in all it has started to turn into what I wanted. We'll eventually have 115 people on our roster. We had 105 in camp. We haven't been able to keep that number before. Now we're having to find ways to stay under that number, so we're excited about that.

JC: How are you planning to manage the redshirt rule this year?
SM: We really targeted certain people after the first week of training camp, which was the acclimation period. We targeted them with additional reps and getting them game-ready. We'll keep them game ready throughout the year. Because of our higher numbers now, our show teams can be a lot bigger, and the people we can keep with the offense and defense can be a lot bigger. Particularly early in the season, we're going to try to get guys some reps. I don't know that we'll get everybody reps in the first game that we want, but in the first four games we want to find out where a lot of those guys are at. Then we'll manage the rest of the season from there. Everybody knows our non-conference schedule is tough, and we'd like to play a lot of people. That's where we think we can get some great evaluations against great teams as we move into our conference. Those guys are going to stay game-ready. They won't go to, necessarily, the show team. They'll be running with the ones and the twos through the year if we have a thought of not redshirting them. I'd love to play all of them perfectly and then redshirt them all. Do I think that's going to happen? Probably not. But I'd love to have a whole group next year of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen in the area of 50 kids and still have a whole lot of experience. Then in a few years we're looking at 23- and 24-year-old men who know what they're doing.

JC: What is your expectation for this season?
SM: A winning season. To play extremely hard. To have offense, defense and special teams not recognize themselves as offense, defense and special teams, but as Pirates and they play really tough and hard together and really work the body. When we have a situation where we can pound somebody, I want to be able to pound. I want to be able to out-detail and to out-execute. When we have to take care of the football in critical situations to win games, I want to be able to do it. I want to work the body in academics. I want these guys to continue to grow on what we put together. All we've been doing is having a collective blow with everything that we've done here, whether it's socially within the community or academics or in the weight room. Now finally we're starting to see some of those things in practice that we've always wanted. There's only one piece of the puzzle left … we've got to win.