Defensive Coordinator Carl Pelini - Aug. 29

Defensive Coordinator Carl Pelini - Aug. 29
On what he's seen from Lavonte David so far this year:
"Well, he's bigger. His speed is there. He has all the same intangibles he had a year ago, but I think he knows his defense better. He was a new kid out of junior college last year and was learning on the run. This year, he's really confident with his reads and he is quicker. You never know if that will show up on his stat line, but we are certainly excited about where he is. He gets it a lot better than he did a year ago at this point."

On the progression of Sean Fisher:
"Fish has put on some size, too. It was funny, in the spring, you could still see the after effects of the ankle injury, but you don't see it anymore. I'm sure it gets a little sore for him, but as a coach watching him, you don't see him limping at all. It's amazing; that's a rough injury to come back from. That's the same one that Barry Turner had our first year here. That's a difficult one to rehab, but he fought through it in the spring and it helped him because now he's got the mental aspect of it, and he feels good physically. He has had a good fall camp."

On if Daimion Stafford is a player the team could move to linebacker:
"No. He could, but there is no plan to do that; he's a really good safety, and he will help us on the back end. It would be a waste of his talents to do that."

On how he plans to work a junior college transfer into the safety rotation:
"May the best man win. He came in and immediately established himself as a contender for playing time. He gets the game. He's very instinctive, he's big, he's physical and tackles well in the open field. It created more competition on the back end, which is good for everybody."

On if the reliance on newcomers is as low as it's been since he started coaching here:
"Yeah, maybe. On the defensive side, we haven't had a lot of new guys playing early in the season. Alfonzo Dennard played a little bit our first year, Ciante Evans played a little bit last year, so not really. If you bring in a couple junior college guys like Stafford and Carter, you'd like them to be part of the mix and work into some playing time. You don't recruit those guys unless you think they can contribute right away. At corner, with Alfonzo's injury, you are counting on some guys that are a little green, but they've been playing very well and we are deep at that position. We've got great competition fighting for those spots. I'd have to look at the numbers to answer that question, but I think we're deeper than we've been. If you look at experience, we've got more experience back this year than we have. If you say 'new guys' in terms 'young guys,' that's one thing. But the experience is certainly better this year."

On If Alfanzo Dennard can't play Saturday:
"He'll be a go. He'll go in eventually, unless you knew something I didn't. (Andrew) Green is going to play opposite Ciante (Evens). But again, we're very, very, versatile. You're going to see Josh Mitchell in there. You're going to see Blatchford at the nickel. You're going to see Ciante at the nickel. You're going to see Dijon Washington at the corner spot. You're going to see four, maybe five different safeties at different times. This early season, the competition continues, especially now with the heat of the game in who's going to perform. So you're going to see a lot of guys back there playing different combinations.

On P.J. Smith's improvements from last year:
"He's a better open field tackler. If I had to critique his game, I'd say he was always good against the pass. He's a very smart, heady player. He's a good leader; understands the system. He needed to get better as a tackler. He was given that message again coming out of spring. He worked hard on it and as of right now, coming out of camp I think he's made vast improvement as an open field run defender and that's going to open up a lot of opportunities for him to play even more."

Overall confidence level of the defense:
"I'm scared to death, as I always am five days before the opener. You just never know what it's going to look like when you throw it out there. Our guys are confident. You know, it's the same thing as every year. If they continue to prepare like they have been and focus in on the game plan and hone in on the opponent, we'll be fine. We'll be fine.

On the other defensive end spot and how the rotation will work:
"You mean opposite Cameron (Meredith) and (Jason) Ankrah? Josh Williams. Josh has had a great camp too. I think he's taken a definite step ahead. I think the competition has been great for Josh. Last year he put on a lot of size. He was like Jared (Crick). That first year he put on all that size, he didn't quite look comfortable with his size. Now he looks comfortable at 270. He'll be the first guy off the bench on both sides. He's a very valuable guy for us. Eric Martin has a role for us; Joe Carter has a role for us. They're all going to see time in different types of situations."

On what the last few days before an opener are like for a coach:
"All the worst-case scenarios; you look at a play and you think about what your calls are in that personnel. You always think, if I make this call, this is the play I don't want to see. And if I see it, are our guys going to be able to execute it. As you think about any game, but really early on, especially with a couple inexperienced guys in there, you always think worst-case scenario. What if this happens or this happens? He doesn't go to his coverage on this, or he hits the wrong gap on this blitz. But eventually, you got to cut the umbilical (cord), throw them out there and see what happens.

On when that feeling leaves on Saturday:
"Yeah, first play. It goes away after. The jitters, just like players, it goes away as soon as you get into your job."

On the types of things that allowed (Jason) Ankrah to rise to the top:
"He's gotten really physical. He reminds me of Pierre (Allen) in terms as to how he defends the run. He plays at good pad level. He has a lot of lower body strength. He's gotten a lot strong in his upper body. He allows himself to play very physical against the run, but he still has the athleticism in a third down situation to rush the quarterback like a pure pass rusher does."

At what point did he (Jason Ankrah) move into the top spot:
"Probably towards the end of spring, but the competition goes on. I could call him a starter, but I don't know if they're fighting for who is starting. They are fighting for snaps. In my mind, I look at every position on the field. To me, it doesn't matter who is starting; it is how do I want to use these guys situationally. And those are the snaps they're fighting for. My two top pass rushers are going to be on the field on third and long. My run guys are going to be on the field second and medium and third and short. So it doesn't really matter who's on the field for the first snap. It's how I envision rotation those guys. You know, if they want to play in more situations, they have to prove themselves effective in more situations, which is what the depth gives us, more flexibility."

On when did you get to this point of how you go about your substitutions:
"Truthfully, the first couple years, the same guys who were my best pass rushers were my best run defenders. That was probably true at the linebacker position and secondary. Just like we talked about in the secondary, we're going to use guys in different ways. We're going to do the same thing at linebacker and we're going to do the same thing at defensive line and try to play to their talents. We recruited them each for a reason. We recruited Eric Martin and Joe Carter for a different reason probably for why we recruited Cameron (Meredith)."

On your expanded role:
"It's different. A lot of it is different on how we handled camp and spring. A lot of it is the same. We still work as a team, Bo and I. But he's very involved with the offense. Much more involved than he...but he's always has been involved. He's in their meetings, like he's in our meetings too. I still got to answer to him, but so does Tim (Beck). I always laugh. I keep saying, Tim, and ask him about things in their meeting room and they're finally getting what we've been getting for three years. It's good to see. A little bit of justice."

On Jared Crick adjusting to his weight and concern if he may have never reached his potential:
"Jared's an athlete? Not a very good athlete. No. He just showed up at the door. I think anytime you ask a guy to gain weight, I thought it was easier for Jared than Josh (Ankrah) cause Jared did it right. Jared was 260 I believe or 255 when we asked him to move inside. He gained it a pound at a time, two pounds, maybe three pounds. Josh gained it faster, but he was lighter though. Josh gained it faster and that adjustment time takes longer. Yeah, some guys can't handle it. I don't just look at a guy and say, 'hey, I want you to be 270.' That's after extensive talks with (Strength Coach James) Dobson and our nutrition guys. What can his frame handle in your opinion? You know, you do it a few pounds at a time and just kind of see what happens. Like I said, Josh put it on a lot faster, and I think for him the adjustment period was a little bit longer."

On how excited he was when Jared Crick told you he was coming back:
"Oh, very excited. I wasn't surprised. I guess I should probably worry more about stuff like that, but I don't. I thought he'd make the right decision for him, and I thought that was the right decision. So I really wasn't surprised."

On the problems Crick can present for an offense:
"Obviously, he plays great with his hands. For an offense, I don't know. For a guard, it's tough. He plays right down the middle. You better be able to deal with his hands being all over you. And he's fast as hell out of his stance, and he's on you fast. And usually guards are bigger, 330-335, but maybe not as quick out of their stance and he's on them before their hands are ready for him. So, that's difficult to handle. He's a good pass rusher. He's got a great motor. For me, what he gives us and the problem he presents is he plays with a speed you rarely see from a defensive lineman. The way he plays, he makes plays all down the line from boundary to boundary. It's hard to account for that. A lot of times you don't worry about those back side guys as much. With him, you got to. You have to deal with that, or he's going to come chase it down from the back side."

Talk about Jared's progression:
"I told Bo maybe the second winter workout that he's going to be a good tackle. He was maybe 245-250 at the time. He just had that base; that pad level; that flat back, that a lot of guys can't get their body into that position. I didn't know he was going to turn into the player he is now, but I knew he'd be a good inside guy. It wasn't long after we got here that we moved him."

On how curious you are to see your two new coaches communicate on Saturday:
"I'm not curious at all. I've had enough communicating with them over the last six months. No, they're great. We're not going to miss a beat there. I haven't really thought at all about that because I'm just so comfortable with how we're working as a staff right now. I've worked with Ross. I've seen him on game day in the box. I know what he'll do."

On what secondary coach Corey Raymond brings to the staff and secondary:
"He's a great technician. He was a heckuva corner himself. He brings a lot of experience and different ways of looking at things. To me, change is good. You got to change to get better. You have to look at different ways of doing things. So, we've been awfully good back there for a few years, so you don't want to just change things, but the discussions we've been able to have is, he brings in a few different ideas and to start comparing it to the way we've been doing it, and the way he's been doing it maybe it makes you a little bit better, maybe you stick to the way you've been doing it. He's an intense son of a gun. He pushes his guys, and I like that. He gets what we're doing. He gets the technique aspect and the scheme aspect is coming for everybody."

On Andrew Green's developments over the past few months:
"He really started to show up in the spring and over the course of the summer workouts. Honestly, I think Andrew has always been a special talent. I think he feels healthy, really for the first time, completely healthy. There really aren't any nicks and he looks different. He looks like an athlete versus fighting through some of those injuries for a corner that makes you look slow at times. I think that getting healthy, his confidence has skyrocketed and it carries over into his play."