Opening statement…
BROWN: “We actually had our first scrimmage since before Temple. In fact, I guess the Temple game is the last type of game situation we’ve had. Obviously, everybody missed spring, so this was fun. A lot of our guys are young and they hadn’t even been in the stadium before for a practice like this, a scrimmage. So we felt like we got a lot out of it. It was new and different that you have to think about what COVID’s going to do for a ballgame.
“So, number one, we’re anticipating very few fans in the stands or none for our opening game against Syracuse. We actually told the guys to look up and this is what the crowd’s gonna look like, or probably is. We tried to play crowd noise, we tried to play music. We were going to try to get whoever will, who's in charge of doing our sound for the games, in the stadium for our scrimmage on Saturday, so they will be able to show our players exactly what crowd noise means and who controls it and what they're going to do with it because, obviously, it's all different. The coaches were wearing masks the entire time. The officials were wearing masks. The officials have a handheld whistle. That's really unique because they don't want to be putting it in their mouth and pulling it back out.
“I don't know whether the official will be able to take his mask off to announce the penalty, or if he'll just do it through his mask. I would think he'll probably keep his mask on. When our guys were coming to the sideline, we took all the benches off the sideline and we put chairs. The defense had theirs in a semicircle because Jay Bateman thought he could see the faces of the players better and they're still social distancing. The offenses went just in a line all the way across. But, we just did it the way the coaches want to do it. When each player came off of the field, he had his fluids, whether it was Gatorade or water, in his seat waiting on him. And also, they were all required to wear a mask, so there's either a mask sitting in their chair, or now we've even found some that are just masks that you can throw away but you hand it to the player, he sticks it on his face while he's on the sideline. He strips it off and throws it away as he gets ready to go back.
“So, it was different, it was unique but, at the same time, it's still football. And when you get out on the field, it's the same stuff that we're used to. Special teams was inconsistent, which is usually expected for a first scrimmage, so we've got to get better in that area. Our offense was also inconsistent. There were some big plays, but there weren't a lot of consistent drives. And, as you would expect in a first scrimmage, the defense was better and more consistent than the offense. It's funny, the offensive coaches say, ‘Well they've been watching our plays man for two years’ and I said, ‘Yeah, well, that's the same way everywhere, so don't change it.’ There's no game plan, so there's some good plays, bad plays, but that's part of an opening scrimmage. So, we'll practice tomorrow.
“We gave them off today. We'll practice tomorrow, we'll scrimmage again on Saturday and that'll be the last really big scrimmage before we get ready to play Syracuse. I do think, from everything I'm hearing I'm feeling, more like we're going to play right now than ever before. They're talking about game times with TV. They're talking about, like the official said yesterday, they've already got the assignments for their first four ball games. Seeing the NC State game being moved is a positive that people are still trying to make this craziness work out so we can play. So I do think, for our players and our coaches, this is really the first time everybody feels like that we're getting this close to playing and this is really going to happen. So, they're talking about testing three times a week. The tests are not very much fun, but that's something that I think will be decided here soon by the medical group from the ACC. And I think, from what I hear, that would be testing on Monday, testing on Wednesday and then an outside group testing you on Friday before the ball game.”
Q: How much easier is it having Sam (Howell) established as a starting quarterback and not having to go through a competition to try to figure out who's gonna lead your offense? How much does that help given all the other things you have to deal with right now?
BROWN: “I think that really helps us. We only lost one starter on offense and that's Charlie Heck, the left tackle who's playing for the Texans. So, we've got a lot of continuity back on offense and our play caller’s the same, our offense is technically the same. And we only changed out the tight end coach. Tim Brewster did a great job for us, but he went to Florida, and then we were able to hire John Lilly, who came from the Cleveland Browns, and John's just stepped right in and done a tremendous job.
“So, the biggest thing about the offensive guys is we're trying to establish depth, and there's a lot of young guys out there… but we didn't have a lot of backups. We had to play guys too much last year and, and it's gonna be hot when we start in two and a half weeks. So, depth is a key, and right now we've got six offensive linemen that we think are ready to go and that's just not enough. We’d love to have eight. You want to have 10, but you'd love to have eight and that's what we're working on right now is trying to get a couple of more offensive linemen. Everywhere else we think we've got enough depth and we'll be fine, but the offensive line’s still a question mark.”
Q: Is it easier to figure out depth when you kind of know what the personality of the offense is gonna be?
BROWN: “It is. Weirdly enough, without a spring practice, you had more meeting time. And then, this summer, the NCAA did a good thing in my estimation and let the coaches and kids have a lot of walkthroughs. So, everybody should know what to do. Our offense hasn't changed much and the continuity should be really, really good with the ones that have played the most. It's the other guys that still have to learn what to do. And, Andy, you played this crazy stuff. We had a long discussion yesterday, it's harder for the offense, because you don't allow offensive linemen to cut, and in the games they’re going to cut. So, there's some plays that look really bad simply because I mean, ‘Man, I would have cut him,’ I said, ‘Well you can’t.’ So, we have that argument every year and this year is no different.”
BROWN: “We actually had our first scrimmage since before Temple. In fact, I guess the Temple game is the last type of game situation we’ve had. Obviously, everybody missed spring, so this was fun. A lot of our guys are young and they hadn’t even been in the stadium before for a practice like this, a scrimmage. So we felt like we got a lot out of it. It was new and different that you have to think about what COVID’s going to do for a ballgame.
“So, number one, we’re anticipating very few fans in the stands or none for our opening game against Syracuse. We actually told the guys to look up and this is what the crowd’s gonna look like, or probably is. We tried to play crowd noise, we tried to play music. We were going to try to get whoever will, who's in charge of doing our sound for the games, in the stadium for our scrimmage on Saturday, so they will be able to show our players exactly what crowd noise means and who controls it and what they're going to do with it because, obviously, it's all different. The coaches were wearing masks the entire time. The officials were wearing masks. The officials have a handheld whistle. That's really unique because they don't want to be putting it in their mouth and pulling it back out.
“I don't know whether the official will be able to take his mask off to announce the penalty, or if he'll just do it through his mask. I would think he'll probably keep his mask on. When our guys were coming to the sideline, we took all the benches off the sideline and we put chairs. The defense had theirs in a semicircle because Jay Bateman thought he could see the faces of the players better and they're still social distancing. The offenses went just in a line all the way across. But, we just did it the way the coaches want to do it. When each player came off of the field, he had his fluids, whether it was Gatorade or water, in his seat waiting on him. And also, they were all required to wear a mask, so there's either a mask sitting in their chair, or now we've even found some that are just masks that you can throw away but you hand it to the player, he sticks it on his face while he's on the sideline. He strips it off and throws it away as he gets ready to go back.
“So, it was different, it was unique but, at the same time, it's still football. And when you get out on the field, it's the same stuff that we're used to. Special teams was inconsistent, which is usually expected for a first scrimmage, so we've got to get better in that area. Our offense was also inconsistent. There were some big plays, but there weren't a lot of consistent drives. And, as you would expect in a first scrimmage, the defense was better and more consistent than the offense. It's funny, the offensive coaches say, ‘Well they've been watching our plays man for two years’ and I said, ‘Yeah, well, that's the same way everywhere, so don't change it.’ There's no game plan, so there's some good plays, bad plays, but that's part of an opening scrimmage. So, we'll practice tomorrow.
“We gave them off today. We'll practice tomorrow, we'll scrimmage again on Saturday and that'll be the last really big scrimmage before we get ready to play Syracuse. I do think, from everything I'm hearing I'm feeling, more like we're going to play right now than ever before. They're talking about game times with TV. They're talking about, like the official said yesterday, they've already got the assignments for their first four ball games. Seeing the NC State game being moved is a positive that people are still trying to make this craziness work out so we can play. So I do think, for our players and our coaches, this is really the first time everybody feels like that we're getting this close to playing and this is really going to happen. So, they're talking about testing three times a week. The tests are not very much fun, but that's something that I think will be decided here soon by the medical group from the ACC. And I think, from what I hear, that would be testing on Monday, testing on Wednesday and then an outside group testing you on Friday before the ball game.”
Q: How much easier is it having Sam (Howell) established as a starting quarterback and not having to go through a competition to try to figure out who's gonna lead your offense? How much does that help given all the other things you have to deal with right now?
BROWN: “I think that really helps us. We only lost one starter on offense and that's Charlie Heck, the left tackle who's playing for the Texans. So, we've got a lot of continuity back on offense and our play caller’s the same, our offense is technically the same. And we only changed out the tight end coach. Tim Brewster did a great job for us, but he went to Florida, and then we were able to hire John Lilly, who came from the Cleveland Browns, and John's just stepped right in and done a tremendous job.
“So, the biggest thing about the offensive guys is we're trying to establish depth, and there's a lot of young guys out there… but we didn't have a lot of backups. We had to play guys too much last year and, and it's gonna be hot when we start in two and a half weeks. So, depth is a key, and right now we've got six offensive linemen that we think are ready to go and that's just not enough. We’d love to have eight. You want to have 10, but you'd love to have eight and that's what we're working on right now is trying to get a couple of more offensive linemen. Everywhere else we think we've got enough depth and we'll be fine, but the offensive line’s still a question mark.”
Q: Is it easier to figure out depth when you kind of know what the personality of the offense is gonna be?
BROWN: “It is. Weirdly enough, without a spring practice, you had more meeting time. And then, this summer, the NCAA did a good thing in my estimation and let the coaches and kids have a lot of walkthroughs. So, everybody should know what to do. Our offense hasn't changed much and the continuity should be really, really good with the ones that have played the most. It's the other guys that still have to learn what to do. And, Andy, you played this crazy stuff. We had a long discussion yesterday, it's harder for the offense, because you don't allow offensive linemen to cut, and in the games they’re going to cut. So, there's some plays that look really bad simply because I mean, ‘Man, I would have cut him,’ I said, ‘Well you can’t.’ So, we have that argument every year and this year is no different.”
