Chip Kelly discusses why Will Howard won Ohio State's starting QB job, OL competition

[Music] it's just as critical to be that guy in the Run game as it is in the past game in terms of what we asked the quarterback to do here so um I think he's really worked extremely hard in the offseason you know from the end of Spring ball on April 13th to to now he's made great strides but you know we gave him a plan over the summer to work on and he took it and ran with it so you know where he is now um is pretty impressive you know the one thing that you know he has is he has experience he's been in a huddle he's been in a huddle in a lot of games he's been in a huddle in big games so you know like this isn't new to him you know Columbus is new to him but playing college football isn't new to him so I think that experience you know really started to shine through here during camp and um you know excited to see where he goes with us deep left field wall Brendan Gul Bucky now on sports illustr coach uh I certainly don't want to put words in Ryan day's mouth but it seems like the last few times he's kind of gone through this exercise of naming a starting quarterback that being able to trust that quarterback to make good decisions has been pretty high at his pecking order what is most important to you when you're looking at the quarterback in terms of evaluating skill sets decision making all of that yeah I think decision- making is at the top of the list for all quarterbacks um just because that's what the game is you know it's it's uh are you putting us in the right play are you getting us out of a bad play are you making the decisions to throw the check down and try to instead of forcing it into coverage you know it's not just who has the strongest arm um but the decision-making process has always been at the top of the list and then after that it would be repetitive accuracy and then athleticism you know and I think Will has all three of those um his ability to help us in the Run game is a going to be a really big plus for us this year um you know because he's not just a a guy that's going to hand it off back there I think people are going to have to respect him with the ability to run again part of his work ethic in the offseason I mentioned it the other day he ran 22 miles an hour the summer at 236 lbs so you know there is a threat of a run from that position so you you're going to have to defend 11 you know some teams when you play against them you have to defend 10 because the quarterback's not going to hurt you in the Run game but will can if you do now there's not going to be a ton of quarterback driven run where we're just snapping the ball to him like he's Tim TBO and just ramming him up in there but there are certain packages that we have for our quarterbacks to to make sure that we're keeping defense is honest and I think as you said you know decision- making repetitive accuracy and that athleticism I think Will has all three of those following up on that how would you evaluate Devon and Julian in particular and their decision making for what you they're both both do a really good job you know I think that's the one thing about it this was not one guy's here and the rest of them just didn't show up they all competed every day and I think the room is really it's a it's a great room to be in they all are really truly care about each other they they they enjoy each other's success um you know we talk about the word mudita which means I vicariously derive Joy from other people's success and they're like that when when another quarterback makes a play those guys are fired up you know it's a it's a really close-nit group I know every one of them wants to be the starting quarterback but I know they're not disappointed that it's will cuz they they really care about him so um all of those guys did a really really nice job they do a good job in decision-making they do a good job in repetitive accuracy um right now we just above those guys third row right Dylan Davis delette right said that Julian s's most certainly in that competition to be the backup quarterback I guess just how close is he to Deon right now where does maybe Deon have a step on him and how can he can he close that Gap and with the time you have left yeah I don't I'm not a predictor of anything so you know it's it's always about what what was done we evaluate it and then we work off of that so I'm not going to make any predictions on how it goes forward but um I thought Devon had a really good camp you know this was this was a really close competition you know and I think all three of those guys and Lincoln too were really in the mix at that spot um and then we'll continue to go you know and the one thing we talked about um that I think everybody here knows you know even better than I do is that you just mentioned the name Cardell Jones you know they won a national championship he started the season off at three uh and there's a million stories about that and I think our players are really conscious about that to that point whoever does win that backup job on do you feel like maybe more pressed to get those guys into the meaningful snaps during games than maybe you would in other years where you know because those guys don't have that experience to to lean on I mean ideally if you were but you don't have control of that you know it would be great if we can get these guys valuable reps in these games but if it's a slugfest you know and it's a 28 27 ball game you know in the back of your mind you're not thinking about hey I gotta get my second guy some reps now and we don't win this game you know so I think how the game dictate themselves then you then you kind of you'll have a plan but most of the time when you have a plan it doesn't go the way you think it's going to go so just ask all those betters out there that lose a lot of money every weekend right doesn't go exactly how you think it's going to go so um you've obviously love to get everybody reps you know but you'll you'll take it as the games come all right kellyan Stitz W syx coach Kell you mentioned that there was a progression with well through the spring until now I'm taking steps but was there specific moment you guys saw in practice when scage that solidifi J I wish there was and most of the time there isn't you know and it's it's a you talk about that with people's Heisman campaigns and like what won them the Heisman was at this specific play but when that it's the process of what they did over the course of the time and I think with will it's it's over the course of time what he did you know and and again he was probably a little behind when he got here cuz he got here you know Deon and Lincoln had been here they'd been in this offense they they had reps season reps in this offense and and will and jul air just got in here so they they were just trying to catching up during the Spring you know we talk a lot like Ryan talked about are you remembering or are you learning you know most of the spring every single day for for will air and and uh and Jules was learning every day because there was a new install every day and they kind of just figured this out now we're putting more stuff in you know where Dev and uh Lincoln had been through that before so I think when the things settled down and he could go through all the spring cups watch film on his own kind of study on his own you started to see him so when we started to meet again when we got back here um in August you could see that he had a really good command of it because of the time that he put in between April 13th and then we started back up on the 31st F thr right Cameron te Robinson the athletic sh you you Ryan talked a lot and you talked a lot about Will's consistency kind of brow in the offense but how important is say a scrimmage when you you have a quarterback battle how important is seeing him in that time and and how did he stand outsid yeah well offensively we you know we honestly in the first day practice got our Tails kicked you know that is a pretty good defense but last Saturday I think they really showed up and and they really and you know when the when the lights are on and we had a scrimmage situation they all made really good plays no one turned the ball over that day you know we really consistency I think we completed at over 70% they were efficient with the football you know and we were really good P really good mix of run and pass so you know in that in that one scrimmage that we had last Saturday that you could see them but they all played well you know and that was that was a day that I think all of them kind of stepped up last Saturday so you know we're hopeful that we can do the same exact thing this Saturday and then continue to build upon it so deep middle Jeremy Birmingham the podcast chip uh I don't know if it was last week or week before you mentioned that you thought there were three like NFL caliber offensive linemen starting on this team as you've gotten to experience the depth a little bit more do you have anybody that you're you're kind of renowned as like a run Guru guy so I'm curious like where do you see the next wave of offensive lineman in this program and who's catching your eye of the guys that are not in the starting line no good question I think we've been forced because of the illness that's gone through Jimmy spent some time out Donnie spent some time out Fitz has spent some time out Carson's been out for a little bit Luke's been out for a little bit so I think Zen and Austin are two guys that have really stepped up and kind of caught your eye that you know maybe not as much as it was in the spring but they're taking advantage of their reps and I think you know one of the things you always preach as a coach and sometimes it's coach Peak you know don't count your reps make your reps count but those two guys are two guys that have really made their reps count I think Tegra because Tegra is taking every snap since you know wasn't hasn't missed a day he's made his reps count Seth has made his reps count so you know those four guys have probably been the most consistent just because the other guys have been out you know so it's been in and out in and out in and out so but those four guys have kind of stood out for us have you noticed with Ian Moore I mean he's a guy that was recruited but we we haven't really talked much about freshman offensive lineman because there's just no real reason to generally but sure his parents sure par let's just make sure with his there's never no reason talk about for our purposes what have you seen out of out of Ian and Ian's Ian got his black stripe removed today which was really cool so a really great timing by you uh great question and I know you have I know yeah I know you know a lot about this place um but he did actually have his black stripe removed today so he's really he's come along too but he's another guy that's benefited you know from those extra reps that sometimes they don't normally get hi galani it's my guy they left Andy Anders 11 Warriors yeah continuing with the offensive line you know I you talked about the quarterbacks a little bit in the scrimmage how have you seen them you know as some of this illness has has worked has started to I guess relieve how have you seen them respond to the challenge of this defensive line presents in practice iron sharpens iron you know when when you got to go against Jack and JT and tiik and Kenyata in that group every day you know you can't help but get better and and I think those guys have again have taken advantage of those opportunities that they've gotten and you can see growth you know from the spring until now so you know I think the one thing that we know is it's going to be a long season so you got to develop those guys you just you're just you're not going into the season with five linemen you know it's just not going to happen when you're playing a 16 Game season so when you're going to play that many games you got to have as much depth as you can and I think because those guys you know you never wish an illness or or a person to Mis practice on anybody but there are sometimes some benefits of it and the benefits of it is those guys that gotten the extra reps in these uh last week or so have really benefited from it second row middle Steven cleveland.com with Austin I think we were out there earlier in practice obviously so Chang since then but he was working a lot at left guard and ran just mentioned the fact that he's been moving a tackle a little bit what about his skill set do you think works at tackle he's done both you know and I think the one thing he's over 65 he's long you know so he's got the size to play tackle um but he's he's put together he kind of looks like a guard but until you pull up on him and go wow I didn't know he was actually that tall we had that conversation the other day like what is he you know he's 6052 he's got the requisite arm length to play t tackle and to have guys that are positioned versatile that aren't your starters that can be guard tackles or Center guards is is is critical in terms of uh being able to do that you know so you're always trying to find really your top eight you know who's your backup center who's the backup guard who's the backup tackle you know if there's someone that can be a guard tackle then that's obviously beneficial what have you guys like about Luke at Center so far same thing just develop in depth you know and I think um the more versatile you can make yourself the the more opportunities you're going to get to go on the field because you don't know who's going to go down you know so you don't want to be caught you know that's the one position because it's critical in terms of decision- making they usually are in charge of the blocking scheme in terms of where we're going and calling the directions out and all those other things but you also have to be consistent with the snap so the fact that we can get valuable reps with him and Pia and Seth and those guys in there is is and Carson um has been beneficial because you can never have too many centers four right Andy Backstrom lman CH for the scrimmage on Saturday was it pretty vanilla or were you able to kind of let it rip with scheme and what you've been trying to install yeah I mean they they are not vanilla um so I think we we you know whatever we had installed and they had installed um we did there wasn't any game planning that went on but it was you know really just I think that going back to it is is our quarterbacks had an opportunity to to be successful because they were they were really sharp in terms of we want to get completions understanding the game of football I thought they played situational football really well what are we trying to do on first down you know we're in backed up territory trying to get two first downs are we taking shots down the field in this situation a no we're not we're trying to get two first downs and get it move and now that we've gotten a couple first downs now we can start to take some shots but to watch them play the game within a game because in the other practice periods a lot of those times they're scripted so the play is called you know and then sometimes it's like well what are we going to do here and I was like I would never call that play against that defense I didn't know they're going to be in that defense but when when you get into the feel of the game and the flow of the game and how they're they're calling it then you can kind of adjust and put your players in situations to make plays Bill Reino Columbus Dispatch hey chip I'd like to get a sense of kind of the message that you had for will at the end of spring practice which was up and down for him understandably um I mean was it a thick notebook of stuff was it a long speed I mean what you can be with them and talk to them in the summer more than you used to be obviously but what was kind of the message to him what did you want to see him work on and improve yeah just the the specifics of the position you know so really footwork at the quarterback spot when you're throwing the ball you know your ability to set up your ability to have a base you know your ability to drive the football really starts from your feet up and I think he worked extremely hard from that standpoint in terms of throwing the ball I know Ryan had mentioned earlier in the season he felt like there was more zip this this Camp than we were during um the springtime you know and and then really the grasp of the offense because I also think you can put zip on the football when you know where it's supposed to go you know when you go back there and some you're somewhat tentative with it it's they're not coming out of your hand as quick because your decision- making process isn't that so really watching film you know Will's a a huge film junkie he's always in the quarterback room watching something trying to study it going through it calling plays out working on calling a play out of a huddle you know how do how do I cuz sometimes he can get he can get really wordy you know to practice all those things understanding that that aspect of the game but I think from a physical standpoint really getting his feet going in the pocket um being able to put a little bit more zip on the ball you know mechanically making sure that kenic chain is all working in one motion at the same time and then just a grasp total of the offense of what we're doing and getting a really good feel of that I feel really good about this and then being able to communicate like I this package is I'm still a little all right then let's let's grind on this one a little bit how do you feel about quick game I'm feel really good about that all right then let's let's move and find out what you know because we're teachers and teachers is just really education is the transportation of knowledge but you can't transport that knowledge to an individual if you don't know what he knows so he was really open with his feedback of you know I feel really good about this I think I need to work on this so spending time with them and just getting a chance to visit with them on those things I think really shown shown up for him this this Camp last question Austin podcast Chip sounds like AA had another pretty good scrimmage on Saturday with the variety of ways you might be able to use him does he remind you of someone you've had previously or is he in a box on his own he I think he's in a box on his own a lot of the slot receivers that I've had in the past have been smaller you know and and been somewhat mismatches from that standpoint but mech's ability to go in and dig out linebackers you know mech's ability to carry the football um and then mech's ability to to get open and make really tough contest contested catches I think is really what kind of sets him apart because um he can do everything in there you know I think sometimes the prototypical slot receiver is that small quick getting in and out of things but it really affects you in the Run game because you're trying to run the ball and he's an inside guy and now all of a sudden he's at the point of attack you know and and all of a sudden he kind of looking over his shoulder hoping they don't run him over where Mech isn't like that you know Mech Mech really can can do a lot of things and to have that versatility I think is is something that we hopefully we're going to have a lot of fun with this this fall trying to put him around and put him in different positions and allow him to make plays cuz he really is a playmaker you Haven got a lead in that group though like he didn't he didn't ask you he didn't I'm learning yes yeah I have a guy like that leading that group though how how huge is that I guess you know for my it is it's great and I think you can talk to the receivers but I think the tone that he set with that group and it it's it really is a special group you know that that that whole group of guys is a special group and for him to be the leader from the front cuz he leads by example but he also is a really good vocal leader like he he holds those guys accountable holds a whole group accountable and most importantly holds himself accountable so Joey Joey coffin dispatch would you like to interrupt there too thank you jry um just would just uh wanted to ask do you guys gain any advantage or by having Clarity at at quarterback announced 16 days before an opener two weeks does it does it help you at at all I think it does I think you know you know who's going out there with the one ones and I think it also for the offense you're starting to get into a gel and um every time I've been in in quarterback competitions it it expresses itself and it's authentic when it happens sometimes it doesn't happen till the week of the first game sometimes you go into the first game you still haven't made it so you're going to play two quarterbacks in that but I think from now from now until you know I it's two weeks from this Saturday that we're playing a football game is that we're getting that offensive line back together that one unit is starting to get together who are those guys who's the tight end you know you know you got Trayvon you know you got Q where you know you're you're pretty solid in terms of where you are at wide receiver now those guys got to get reps together so not that that you just named those guys but how does that 11 mesh together as a group and how do they do it and them learning will and will learning them you know just just little things you know it's it's it's it's the game is always one in the details you know and I think the longer the same group of guys is together the better you're going to be when with the details part of it so I think getting him in there early is beneficial from that standpoint just because it's more time on task with one unit coach we got one more question bill Landis Kings of the north chip um you mentioned that Tegra has played or hasn't missed a rep I guess um what stands out about him as you watch him and and as a guy who's I think he's like 66 330 playing guard that's what stands out about him well I'm sure it does but but do he I I I I just heard sometimes people describe sort of your your desire for offensive lineman to be maybe like a little more athletic and and movement oriented yeah I think Tegra is really athletic and can really sink his hips and he's long he's really really long and when you can play long on the offensive line and keep defensive lineman away from people because of your length that's a really big deal for us so we like offensive linemen that are big because big people beat up little people so we like Tegra a lot