ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia defensive coordinators Glenn Schumann and Travaris Robinson spoke to the media on Tuesday.
They talked about fall camp and gave their opinions on Buford's KJ Bolden and Jefferson's Malaki Starks.
Everything they had to say is below.
Glenn Schumann | Fain & Billy Slaughter Defensive Coordinator - Inside Linebackers
Opening Statement…
“It's great to see y'all for our annual meeting here today. Six days into camp, install is intentionally really heavy as we start things. We like to challenge guys early, both old and young, look at some new things, move people around and really try to stretch them mentally and physically early in camp. Guys have been battling through that with the new staff additions. The new additions in terms of players have been really pleased with how we've got things started, and guys have embraced what it means to play defense at Georgia, the standard and expectations and look forward to continuing with practice six today.”
On strong offensive players in camp…
“It's a great opportunity every day to go against our offense. At every level, all the positions, offensive line, ton of experience, really talented. Carson [Beck] plays at a really high level. There's depth in the running back room, in the receiver room and in the tight end room. When you have an offense where there's not one guy in every position group can be a threat, it's really challenging for every position group on our side of the field. It's an awesome opportunity for us to compete against them every day.”
On being a good football teacher…
“We just like to challenge them because growth in anything you do comes from challenging yourself. You have to be detailed, and you have to be a clear communicator. Coach [Kirby] Smart talks about assuming nothing. As a teacher, you can't assume that the people that you are delivering the message to are understanding what you are saying unless you get that communication back and forth. I think those elements are important.”
On working with Travaris Robinson…
“We had met each other. I always had the utmost respect for him, as a coach and as a recruiter and just as a person. Will [Muschamp] spoke incredibly highly about him even before this opportunity came about. I trust Will and his opinion with just about everything. It's been awesome to have Travaris here, and he's been a great addition.”
On working with Robinson and Donte Williams…
“Great energy, and they've bought into what we do. They knew what the expectations were here, they embraced them and they wanted them. They've approached every day with a lot of passion and energy, and they really care about their players.”
On Will Muschamp…
“It’s awesome to be able to have Will here. When he made the decision to move into an analyst role, the ability for us to keep him in the building and keep him part of the program, even before they approved the coaching restrictions, was a blessing to all of us. The best thing, and I'm thankful for Will in this regard, is as much as he's done in his career, Will does not have an ego in any way, shape or form. That collaborative effort, we work together. He helped me grow in a lot of ways, and when things were difficult, he was a great supporting cast member, and we worked together as a whole defensive staff does every year.”
On Smael Mondon, Jr., CJ Allen, and Raylen Wilson…
“Smael is doing a great job in his rehab. I would say he's exactly on track. He was moving around really well yesterday. We have a plan for him. He's following the plan with the maturity that you'd expect from a guy with his experience level, and as both a player and an age. CJ and Raylen really benefited from this spring, having the opportunity to take over heightened leadership roles and in bowl prep, and they've only grown from that. I think you’ve seen an increased confidence in them, and those guys are really mature beyond their years in terms of how they prepare, so they've been growing every day.I'm excited about how they're going to play this year.”
On Muschamp’s influence on Robinson…
“I think they talk about your closest circle of friends. Those are the people you end up being most like. Those influences, as it pertains to T-Rob, is that he's incredibly passionate. He cares about the players. He is detailed, and he attacks everything that he does. He's not passive. He's urgent, and he's a really good football coach.
On the defensive line’s play in camp…
"We're still in the infancy of pads, and so I think that we're going to really see that group take the next step as we continue to have more padded practices. There's a lot of other positions where you can benefit from non-padded practices in terms of executing assignments, covering people and things of that nature. You only really get highly skilled at your craft up front and develop by putting the pads on and striking blockers and feeling 700 pounds in a double team and that force on your body. I think we're going to see those next steps being taken over the coming weeks.”
On maximizing Jalon Walker…
“I think we have a responsibility in two ways in everything we do. One, to do what's best for this team and this defense to be successful as a unit because those guys care about the collective goals. That's part of why they came here, the connection and the ability to play and compete for championships and play great defense. Two, we have a responsibility for each player to put them in the best position to have a career in football if their ability gives them the opportunity to do that. With Jalon, we have to expand his role because he's a talented player, and the best way to expand his role is to continue to develop him as a hybrid player, while also maximizing his opportunities to do what he does best. He's really improved in both areas, and the way he's attacked practice, both from an effort and a leadership standpoint, has been really impressive, so I'm excited about where he's going.”
On his coaching journey…
“I'm going to try to sum this up to the best of my ability because that's a long story. But essentially, going into my senior year of high school, my dad was a coach, my mom was a coach, and I didn't necessarily ever want to be a coach. I always wanted to be involved in athletics in some shape or form. Going into my senior year of high school, there was a moment at football practice where I helped another player with something, and I had the biggest rush of my life seeing them be successful after me helping them in some way, shape or form. Kind of at that moment, I knew I wanted to coach. My dad had played for Bear Bryant at Alabama. There's a Bryant scholarship. I had the opportunity to go there, and I essentially just came in and worked for nothing at first and tried to just do anything I could to earn trust and respect and then grow my football knowledge from that point. I didn't necessarily set out to be a college football coach at that point. I just wanted to be a football coach. Then it led me here, and I've tried to do the best job I could at each step of the journey.”
On Mykel Williams…
“Because of the style of defense that we play, the different personnel groupings, the packages, the way that we rotate and mix and match based on our opponent, the situation in the game, I think it gives us the opportunity to dual train guys like Mykel, Jalon and Gabe Harris. There's a lot of guys in the secondary. There's guys who play safety and STAR. We do this a lot in practice. On game day, their roles are based on what we think is best to win the game. As these guys have matured and grown and have been able to go through this learning process multiple times, they can take on more, and it makes it easier to play them in a variety of roles. Guys that can do multiple things, you obviously want to find ways to highlight them if they're productive, and Mykel's one of those guys. He's going to affect the game in a variety of ways this year.”
On the outside linebacker group…
“Those guys really starting in the offseason, it was really unique. I'm going to go with the young guys. Obviously, there's the utmost respect for what Chaz [Chambliss] brings to that room, and he has been a better version of himself this entire offseason. I think he's really attacked areas that he needed to grow. He's affected the passing game more, and he's done a better job in terms of what he's done in his place while remaining a tough, gritty player. Kind of that sums up the whole room in a lot of ways. You have guys that last year were some of the young guys, who are really good in one area, and that position requires a lot. You have to be able to cover. Robert Beal is running down the field covering Emeka Egbuka in the Peach Bowl and wheel route, stride for stride with him. That's part of the job responsibility. You have to be able to set edges and rush the passer. Because of the style of defense we play, it's a really hybrid role even though it's an edge player. Those guys in that room have all kind of attacked their weaknesses, whether they've put on a lot of weight, gotten stronger in the run game. Gabe has become a position versatile player that was really just a hand-down D-end before, and now he's a much more well-rounded out player. Sam M’Pemba, he's a guy that didn't play a lot of outside backer before his senior year at IMG, so he's grown a lot as a football player. That whole room has done a really good job. Those guys that are in that room, I think that they've all attacked areas that needed to improve, which is what you expect of people if they want to grow, and they've done a really good job. I'm pleased with that room to this point of camp.”
On Clemson…
“Our focus right now is on getting better. It's focusing on our installation, focusing on our players and their development. It's this window of time for these two weeks that you have to attack your technique and fundamentals. Your mental part of the game. Every area that you need to focus on towards yourself because if you become a better player, if each person, each coach grows themselves over this period of time, that will pay more dividends than just about anything they will do in opponent prep. In terms of them, we shift our focus once we've made it through the conclusion of camp and we've figured out who's on the bus and what seats are they in. And in terms of their program, obviously what Coach Swinney has done there has been outstanding. They added – they have Coach Riley, Garrett Riley, that was at the offensive coordinator at TCU, and they were outstanding. We played them in the national title game and then they added Matt Luke to the rest of their offensive staff, and it should be a great game.”
On Daniel Harris and Julian Humphrey…
“That whole room is still in competition. So, I just single out those two guys. There's a lot of young players in that room because whether it's young based on experience or age, everybody is constantly growing. And I think when you look at them, you have to be able. When you play corner in college football, you have to be able to not only be a guy that's a man-to-man cover guy, you have to be able to show up in the run game, perimeter block destruction for bubble screens and be a good tackler. So that's really what we need out of that position in general, is to be able to be successful in man-to-man, play the ball down the field, and still be able to be a factor in the perimeter block destruction game and tackling. And I think that those guys flash in each of those areas, but increased toughness, it's part of the Georgia defense, it's part of playing defense in general. And as those guys continue to grow in that area, they'll become better players.”
On KJ Bolden…
“Being a freshman, no matter how much success you have, whether you're instantly successful or whether you have to go through some of the growing pains that guys have gone through in the past, just the transition from going to high school to college, it's hard on a normal student, right? And what separates guys that are able to help you when they're young versus guys who would take some time, a lot of times doesn't necessarily have to do with ability, it has to do with maturity and their prep. It does not mean that guys who don't play early don't have the maturity, but the maturity in terms of being a pro every day and not having to acclimate as much to the demands of college football, it helps them. And I think in terms of how he approaches his business, he's had a maturity about himself since he's been here, and if you match that up with ability, you continue to grow, you have a chance to be a good player. I think his maturity has impressed me from the moment he's been here. He's been very serious, and that's focused on the task at hand, which is what you need to do on a day-in and day-out basis.”
On Ellis Robinson IV, Xzavier McLeod, and Troy Bowles…
“Troy did a really good job attacking his physical development this offseason, and also he really didn't play much linebacker coming into college. The development as a linebacker and then the physical development, and I think he's done a really good job in that regard. Obviously, his skill set in the past of being a guy who played DB, it helps that he has a unique coverage skill set that as we continue to grow him as a backer, he has the opportunity to be a really good player. Xzavier McCloud has been really active. He obviously has size. When I say active, I'm just saying he's a really good athlete for his size. And so, when he's able to move, which is very helpful, he has to be able to go and show up in the run game in terms of anchoring double teams at the point of attack, which, like I said, we just put pads on a few days ago. As time goes on, we'll continue to grow in that area. And Ellis, you know, his approach in fall camp has been what it needs to be in terms of attacking. The demands of a practice at Georgia are, if you all took in the open practice or people who are there, it's a lot on high school guys transitioning. I think that he's attacked his personal conditioning and everything else to be able to maximize his ability. And I don't mean that to say that he wasn't, but there's a lot of demands on that position to be able to be at your best every snap. I think the way that he's approached that has given him an opportunity to compete in camp, and he has to continue to do that.”
On Joenel Aguero…
That's one of the most underrated aspects of coming to play football at Georgia is the people that you get to play with that become a part of your circle, that you get to learn from, that become a part of your family. And so, he had the opportunity to learn from three guys, not just those three, but those three guys that left here last year were incredibly detailed and mature, and they went about their business the right way. And I think that really helped him go through last season as he was learning. I'm really pleased with how he's attacked camp. He has grown up a lot in terms of his ability to consistently do what we ask him to do. And obviously he's a physically gifted player, and I just really appreciate his growth on a personal level because he has matured a lot in the last year. And it's showing up on the field. And so hopefully he continues to do that.”
Travaris Robinson | Co-Defensive Coordinator - Safeties
Opening Statement
"I'm very excited about this opportunity. I'm excited to be at the University of Georgia and get a chance to meet you guys. As we go through this entire process hopefully, I'll get a chance to see you guys around and build relationships with you guys."
On working for Muschamp, Saban, and Smart…
"Obviously both of those guys, Coach Smart and Coach Muschamp, obviously worked with Coach Saban for a long time and some of the core values of the organization and how we do things is something that they really looked at and you can tell that they've done a really good job of learning from Coach Saban and doing those things. But I think as I got here at the University of Georgia, I saw that Coach Smart was able to take some of the things that we did at Alabama and expound upon those things. And I think from how we practice, the energy, the different things that we do, I think is very important and he does a great job of doing that."
On Will Muschamp…
"I've been with Coach Muschamp for a long time. I GA'd for him at Auburn, worked with him at University of Florida, was his defensive coordinator at South Carolina. He's a guy that's been a mentor to me, father figure. And everything that I've done in my career, he always assisted me in. When he told me that he was looking into not being here full time, but being here a lot of the time, it's something that I wanted to do. Because he wanted someone, because he's a big time Georgia guy, obviously played here and did those different things. And he wanted to pass that torch to somebody that he felt that can come in and kind of run things like he did. And I was excited about that call. When Coach Saban retired, Coach Smart called me and Coach Muschamp and him got on the phone and told me exactly what it was going to be. And I was excited to do it. And I wanted to be a part of the same type of culture, the same type of environment. And I thought it was the best thing for me to do."
On Malaki Starks…
"Man, what a great kid. I talk to my kids a lot about Malaki. Malaki is a guy who you want your son to be like. I'll give you a quick story. I was gaining a little weight. Okay. Alright. So, I'll be the first person to say it. I was gaining a little weight. I told Malaki, ‘I'm going to start running.’ And he was like, ‘Okay, what time are you going to run?’ So, I said 5:30. So he says, okay. So, I get in at 5:30 and Malaki's in the dang indoor waiting on me. Alright, so I run the first day. So, I'm like, alright. So, he said, ‘What time are we coming tomorrow, Coach?’ So, I said, ‘All right, we're going to come at 5:30 again.’ Same thing. So, then the next day I was kind of, my knee was bothering me a little bit. So I said, ‘I ain't going to run tomorrow.’ But I wasn't going to tell Malaki that. So, I get home. It's probably about 10:30, 11 o'clock. And I get a text from Malaki. Hey, what time are we going, Coach? And Malaki's a lot faster than me in case you guys are wondering. And that's even when I played. So, you know, he's straining, he's doing all the things, but it's the same thing he does on the field. Right. He's holding people accountable. I think that's one of his greatest traits. Yes. He's a good football player. Yes. He's a great ball hawk, all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, Malaki holds people accountable, and he holds himself accountable. That's why he's a good player."
On Muschamp’s analyst role…
"His role looked like the same thing if he was a head coach when he was coming down my neck every single day. I mean, he's in every single meeting with me, bothering me all the time. So, it's crazy, man. My entire career, whether it's been Coach Muschamp, Coach Saban being in the room. Now I'm at a place, I'm at the University of Georgia, Coach Smart's in the defensive back room. He's a DB guy. Coach Muschamp's in the DB room, Coach Donte's in the DB room. I mean, it's like an AFCA clinic every single day, man. But you know, at the end of the day, man, it's been, it's been great. I really enjoy Coach Muschamp being here and helping me kind of get through the process of learning how we do things. Because some of the things that we do here is a little different than what we did at Alabama. Kirby's done a really good job and Coach Schumann of changing some of the different things that we did and making it not as complex. And I think our guys are able to play faster because of that."
On Donte Williams…
"I've known about Coach Donte for a long time. He's been kind of the T-Rob on the West Coast coaching all those guys. We heard about him in recruiting, had some really good recruiting battles with him. But he's a very personable guy. He's a guy that has a lot of energy. I don't know if you guys had a chance to see it, but one time I was out at practice, I guess my first or second day, and I see a guy running down the field with a helmet on, but he had no jersey. So, I was like who don't have a jersey at practice? I thought it was a player. It was Donte going there and doing some different things with the corners, working on back shoulder fades and different things like that. And I asked him, because he's kind of a pretty boy, he's a good-looking guy. And, he said to me, he did it before when he was at other places, and he got hit in the face. So, he started putting on a helmet because of that. But Donte's a really good dude, very smart coach. I'm very excited to get a chance to work for him. He's a relentless recruiter and I'm excited to get a chance to work with him here at Georgia."
On Joenel Aguero…
"I'll tell you what the good thing about these guys, I recruited a lot of these guys, so I had a previous relationship with Joenel. So, always knew that he was very explosive, knew he got great coverage ability and different things like that. So. getting a chance to come here and watch him develop and learn the system and learn how we do things and why we do things, it's been very good. I thought he did a really good job in spring and he's processing through camp. And I think he's doing an amazing job of learning how we do things and trying to do what we're asking them to do. But he's a talented guy. We're in a competition battle all across the board. Like we told our guys first day, we stood up Malaki Starks. Yes, two-time All-American. Now, he don't have a job. The motto this year is assume nothing. So, if everybody takes that approach of assume nothing, everybody will get better. And I think Joenel has kind of taken to that and he's doing a really good job with the reps that he's getting out in camp."
On running with Malaki…
"No, I'm not, as you could tell. Obviously, we in camp right now, so he isn’t getting up and doing that with me right now, but I need to take my butt back out there and start running. So maybe I need to make him hold me accountable again."
On comparing Kirby Smart and Nick Saban…
"First of all, I would say, you see this microphone right here. That'd probably be the main difference. As far as from the energy and different things like that and getting out the guys and holding guys accountable, I would say is equal. Say the same thing. I would say the microphone, getting that public talking to, cause it's a little different now when a guy come run to you and tell you something, or when you hear it on that microphone and your players hear, I'm talking to you, hey T-Rob, this guy don't know what he's doing or you don't know how to coach it. So, it holds everybody accountable. It's really good. And anybody can get it, man. That's the great thing about this place. Coach Saban has been a mentor to all of us. We talk to him all the time. He's a guy who, everything we learned, we learned from him and, he's been great to us. So, excited about those guys and excited to be here."
On the freshman secondary players…
“The guys are doing a really good job. You look at, from the safety position, we brought in KJ Bolden. We brought in Collin Gill, who was a guy that transferred in from Oregon, and we brought in those guys, and those guys are learning the system, learning how we do things. KJ is really doing a good job with the reps that he's getting. Obviously, he was here earlier. He was a mid-year, so that helps. It helps a lot because he understands what we expect from him like the drills that we're out there introducing to them, he'd done them before, so nothing's new to him. It gives him a little confidence that he can go out there and get it done. When you talk in terms of corners, you look at Ellis (Robinson), you look at Ondre (Evans), you look at some of those guys, and those guys have done a really good job. They have a chance to be really good football players, but they're learning, and this is their fifth day of practice going into their sixth day of practice and fall camp. Those guys are going against some of the best athletes in the country, and they're doing a good job of trying their best to hold their own, but it's a lot. It's a big learning curve. It really is. It's a big difference between high school and college, and those guys are learning how to do things the right way and do it at the right time because they have always been the best athlete, but it's different when you get to college. The higher you go up in sports, the competition becomes so much greater, and those guys are at the best place in the country, and they're going against the best athletes in the country, and they're doing a good job of getting better.”
On going against Carson Beck in practice…
“I think it's Carson Beck. I think it's the offense. I think it's the running game. I think that all the different elements of what we do is hard. I was fortunate enough that I got a chance to play in a real game against Carson Beck. I got a chance to prepare against Coach Bobo in a real game, so I understand the difficulties of some of the things that we do that cause problems to a defense. I think the tempo and the different things like the motions, and Carson is a really, really good quarterback who knows where to go to football, gets the ball out of his hand very well, and really throws the deep ball well. So, I'm excited and challenged every single day, and I talk a lot of trash to Carson, and he does a good job of handling in the right way. He does a really good job of responding. He makes bad plays. He picks it up and he goes and does something different. And then he hurts us. He's a talented guy and we're going at it and battling every single day.”
On the simplification of the defense…
“I think we did a really good job. Coach Schumann and Coach Muschamp and the rest of the defensive staff is doing a great job of compartmentalizing the calls. We have different families and it's easy for our players to learn when you go in, and you say NFL quarterback is this. A generic man is that. This is what you do, so I think we do a really good job of simplifying those things, the verbiage and all the different things. We have a bunch of calls that the star doesn’t have to worry about lining up when they're going fast. He’s lined to the field, so we’ve got some different things to get guys, younger guys, more guys on the field to go out and execute. I think they've done a really good job of shrinking the system. I'm still doing the same variance of what we do but simplifying it so we can do it in faster ways.”
On mimicking Coach Muschamp…
“No, I'm not coming up with anything new. I am who I am. I learned from who I learned from. He's a guy that I respect in this profession. I respect as a man, I respect as a father, I respect him. He's a great guy, and I think the one of the things that I do is stay true to who I am and what I believe. I’ve got a different delivery. Coach Muschamp and I, we say some of the same stuff, but I say it a little different to him. I’ve got a little nicer side than he has sometimes.”
On the SEC Championship Game…
“It was just two good football teams going at it, and one football team happened to win the game. It was nothing that they gave away. It was nothing like that. It was just two really good football teams battling and competing. They have the same mindset because they came from the same type of environment.
On difficulties for freshmen in the secondary…
“The margin of error is very small back there. When you make a mistake, it's seven points. When you’re a defensive lineman, if you jump out of your gap, the linebacker has a chance to tackle. If you're a linebacker and you missed the tackle, the safety has a chance to tackle. Well, that safety is a guy who hadn't played a lot of ball or don't feel that he can get it done or makes a mistake or something like that, it’s seven points. We're on a back level where it's like being a quarterback. We have to do a lot of different things from a communication standpoint. We have to be on the same page. Everything that we practice, it doesn’t necessarily show up in the game. There's going to be some new stuff show up in the ball game that you have to have your experience. You got to have guys that have been in the fire, that've done it. That's why it's a little hard to play at that position, but we have guys do it every place I've been. If a guy's mature enough to do it, a guy's capable enough to do it, handle it from a mental standpoint and talented standpoint, then he'll be just fine.”
On Mike Bobo…
“Coach Bobo is the most competitive dude I know in no matter what we're doing, whether it's golf, whether it's cards, it doesn't matter. He's always been that way, but from a schematic standpoint, you look at all the different things that he does here, and we didn't have all those motions (at South Carolina). We had some of the fast huddle, huddle breaks, different things like that, but we didn't have all these speed motions and all these different things that we have here. It's a lot of moving parts, and it's very important to do that on offense in today's football because of all the different things that a defense is trying to do to you. The key to the drill when you're on offense is trying to make the defense talk, trying to get them to make a mistake. The easiest way to do that is by going fast and motion, and we do that better than anybody in the country.”
On Glenn Schumann…
“We call him like Rain Man. He's very, very intelligent. Very intelligent. He sees everything, has really good ideas, and he does a really good job in front of the guys. I think the guys really respect him. He does a really good job of delegating different things to the staff and giving people ownership in their job. You also should see him make some kind of edit or any kind of slide. He's the best on the computer I’ve ever seen, but he's an awesome dude. He's a great guy. He's a staff guy. He's a guy that I'm eager to continue to learn from and be a part and help with what we're trying to get accomplished here.”
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