08-23-2023, 06:54 PM
Phillips and Moi:
* No surprise, but this reinforced the sense we're getting from everything else that the team morale/excitement/energy is in a good place....at least before everything hit the fan with conference realignment. Phillips and Moi seem excited about playing and this new era.
* As with Rogers, Phillips introduced himself as a senior. In football terms he is a junior. It is probably not good for Stanford football if this is the last year for Phillips. We'll see what happens.
* Both Phillips and Moi introduced themselves as defensive tackles, which I noted because Kolodziej talked in the spring about finding guys versatile enough to play all five positions, which I guessed (but did not know) to mean 0 (nose), 2i (inside shoulder of the guard), 3 (outside shoulder of the guard, 4i (inside shoulder of the tackle), and 5 (outside the tackle). When Kolodziej and April talk about the base defense and its "Tite Front," they're referring to three down linemen including a 0 technique and two ends in a 4i. It's interesting both Phillips and Moi, presumed to be two of our top three DL, would both introduce themselves as tackles. My guess is this isn't much of a revelation and that one or both will play plenty of 4i. Moreover, part of this distinction may relate to the (I expect very high, given the conference we're in) frequency of playing in the nickel, in which case I am assuming we will have two of Phillips, Moi, Franklin, and Armitage on the field both as "defensive tackles" in a 2-4-5 nickel (or 4-2-5 or 3-3-5 depending on how you want to render the OLBs in the nickel). So this likely isn't that interesting. But I did notice they said "defensive tackle" rather than "defensive end." I wonder if Franklin and Armitage would refer to themselves as one of those or DL.
* I don't think Phillips' description of a "smooth transition" was the operative part of that answer, or at least it's only half the story. First he said it was a big change at first coming from Reynolds to Kolodziej and only after that did he say they adapted well and Kolodziej had a good plan that he taught well. I'm hearing this in tandem with Kolodziej's interview talking about building up from scratch in terms of fundamentals and having a blank slate. Putting these interviews together I think it was a real transition. We can hopefully take Phillips at his word that based on how well it was taught and how well players adapted now things are "smooth," but I think the August 3 (or whenever this interview occurred) is different from what it would have been four months ago. Phillips also mentioned later that learning a new playbook is an adjustment, that spring helped, and that they're still installing. I wouldn't be surprised if DL is one of the rooms with a pretty big adjustment, though fundamentally I think this coaching transition is a big adjustment for everybody.
* Moi referred to Kolodziej as high energy, fun, passionate, and high intensity. This was interesting to me on two levels. First, in the Kolodziej interview he made a comment that I wondered if it implied that the rest of the staff is so high energy that it motivates him to be higher energy than he might otherwise be. Second, I can't help but compare with Reynolds, who always presented as an NFL coach who would rather be coaching pros (certainly more than he wanted to be recruiting). It's impossible to say whether Moi, who only had a few months with Reynolds as his coach, was consciously or subconsciously comparing the two or just saying things he likes about Kolodziej. Either way, Moi lit up when making these comments.
* Phillips talked about how playing so much last year gives you that much more confidence this year. I think this is a big deal and is part of the perennial dynamic at DL, one of the quintessential grown man positions. We should expect big strides from the returning linemen. At the same time, part of the reason for that is that there isn't much room to go anywhere but up. Among 43 starting-level (200+ snaps) DL in the Pac-12 last year, PFF had Phillips graded at #40 and Moi graded at #41 with practically identical grades. Moi's can be explained as being a true freshman thrown into the deep end on a terrible defense. Phillips is a bit harder to wave away as he was a third year player. In both cases, it's a strong bet they'll be better this year. The question is how much better. Taylor has talked about legitimate confidence and I think that's a big deal for all of our players. Phillips may be a prime case. He says playing so much last year gives him that much more confidence and I'm sure that's true, but his experience is in being manhandled. True confidence will come when he can, hopefully, start succeeding and building off that.
* Phillips also talked about the new defense starting new bringing so much excitement to the team and defense. This seems to be the overarching theme right now. So nice to have players excited to play. Been a long time. Phillips followed up on this by saying later than he can feel the difference Taylor has made in instilling passion and love for the game. This sounds so basic but it was so lacking in recent years. Let's have some fun and want to be here!
* Moi had a very understated and short answer about how playing last year showed him what to expect coming into this year. I'd be surprised if he yet has the confidence that he hopefully ultimately will. His trial by fire last year was a tall order. Among those 43 starting-level DL, Moi was one of only three true freshmen (Arizona's Taitai Uiagalelei was #27 and Cal's Nate Burrell was #39). Stanford's had three NFL DL in the PFF era and among those three Solomon Thomas redshirted, Harrison Phillips played graded a bit better than Moi on many fewer snaps as a true freshman, and only Thomas Booker clearly had a better true freshman year. It's really a grown man's position and I don't take Moi's play last year as anything other than an indication he was ready to bang bodies as a true freshman, which for DL typically means an eventual all-conference college player and NFL player.
* Moi ended that answer with a quiet remark (pretty soft-spoken guy) about how the DL wants to prove people wrong and show them what we can do. Add to the Fisher Anderson interview in terms of data points from the rising second year class indicating chips on their shoulders.
* No surprise, but this reinforced the sense we're getting from everything else that the team morale/excitement/energy is in a good place....at least before everything hit the fan with conference realignment. Phillips and Moi seem excited about playing and this new era.
* As with Rogers, Phillips introduced himself as a senior. In football terms he is a junior. It is probably not good for Stanford football if this is the last year for Phillips. We'll see what happens.
* Both Phillips and Moi introduced themselves as defensive tackles, which I noted because Kolodziej talked in the spring about finding guys versatile enough to play all five positions, which I guessed (but did not know) to mean 0 (nose), 2i (inside shoulder of the guard), 3 (outside shoulder of the guard, 4i (inside shoulder of the tackle), and 5 (outside the tackle). When Kolodziej and April talk about the base defense and its "Tite Front," they're referring to three down linemen including a 0 technique and two ends in a 4i. It's interesting both Phillips and Moi, presumed to be two of our top three DL, would both introduce themselves as tackles. My guess is this isn't much of a revelation and that one or both will play plenty of 4i. Moreover, part of this distinction may relate to the (I expect very high, given the conference we're in) frequency of playing in the nickel, in which case I am assuming we will have two of Phillips, Moi, Franklin, and Armitage on the field both as "defensive tackles" in a 2-4-5 nickel (or 4-2-5 or 3-3-5 depending on how you want to render the OLBs in the nickel). So this likely isn't that interesting. But I did notice they said "defensive tackle" rather than "defensive end." I wonder if Franklin and Armitage would refer to themselves as one of those or DL.
* I don't think Phillips' description of a "smooth transition" was the operative part of that answer, or at least it's only half the story. First he said it was a big change at first coming from Reynolds to Kolodziej and only after that did he say they adapted well and Kolodziej had a good plan that he taught well. I'm hearing this in tandem with Kolodziej's interview talking about building up from scratch in terms of fundamentals and having a blank slate. Putting these interviews together I think it was a real transition. We can hopefully take Phillips at his word that based on how well it was taught and how well players adapted now things are "smooth," but I think the August 3 (or whenever this interview occurred) is different from what it would have been four months ago. Phillips also mentioned later that learning a new playbook is an adjustment, that spring helped, and that they're still installing. I wouldn't be surprised if DL is one of the rooms with a pretty big adjustment, though fundamentally I think this coaching transition is a big adjustment for everybody.
* Moi referred to Kolodziej as high energy, fun, passionate, and high intensity. This was interesting to me on two levels. First, in the Kolodziej interview he made a comment that I wondered if it implied that the rest of the staff is so high energy that it motivates him to be higher energy than he might otherwise be. Second, I can't help but compare with Reynolds, who always presented as an NFL coach who would rather be coaching pros (certainly more than he wanted to be recruiting). It's impossible to say whether Moi, who only had a few months with Reynolds as his coach, was consciously or subconsciously comparing the two or just saying things he likes about Kolodziej. Either way, Moi lit up when making these comments.
* Phillips talked about how playing so much last year gives you that much more confidence this year. I think this is a big deal and is part of the perennial dynamic at DL, one of the quintessential grown man positions. We should expect big strides from the returning linemen. At the same time, part of the reason for that is that there isn't much room to go anywhere but up. Among 43 starting-level (200+ snaps) DL in the Pac-12 last year, PFF had Phillips graded at #40 and Moi graded at #41 with practically identical grades. Moi's can be explained as being a true freshman thrown into the deep end on a terrible defense. Phillips is a bit harder to wave away as he was a third year player. In both cases, it's a strong bet they'll be better this year. The question is how much better. Taylor has talked about legitimate confidence and I think that's a big deal for all of our players. Phillips may be a prime case. He says playing so much last year gives him that much more confidence and I'm sure that's true, but his experience is in being manhandled. True confidence will come when he can, hopefully, start succeeding and building off that.
* Phillips also talked about the new defense starting new bringing so much excitement to the team and defense. This seems to be the overarching theme right now. So nice to have players excited to play. Been a long time. Phillips followed up on this by saying later than he can feel the difference Taylor has made in instilling passion and love for the game. This sounds so basic but it was so lacking in recent years. Let's have some fun and want to be here!
* Moi had a very understated and short answer about how playing last year showed him what to expect coming into this year. I'd be surprised if he yet has the confidence that he hopefully ultimately will. His trial by fire last year was a tall order. Among those 43 starting-level DL, Moi was one of only three true freshmen (Arizona's Taitai Uiagalelei was #27 and Cal's Nate Burrell was #39). Stanford's had three NFL DL in the PFF era and among those three Solomon Thomas redshirted, Harrison Phillips played graded a bit better than Moi on many fewer snaps as a true freshman, and only Thomas Booker clearly had a better true freshman year. It's really a grown man's position and I don't take Moi's play last year as anything other than an indication he was ready to bang bodies as a true freshman, which for DL typically means an eventual all-conference college player and NFL player.
* Moi ended that answer with a quiet remark (pretty soft-spoken guy) about how the DL wants to prove people wrong and show them what we can do. Add to the Fisher Anderson interview in terms of data points from the rising second year class indicating chips on their shoulders.