08-23-2023, 07:08 PM
Williams:
* It's a Troy Taylor staff coach so it's all about process - taking it one day at a time, worrying about today, cleaning up techniques. Stacking days adds up to something and you get there by just continuing to have good days, not worrying about where you'll end up or even putting much thought into putting into perspective how things are looking so far. I dig it but it doesn't always lend itself to the most interesting answers to the questions trying to get a snapshot on camp.
* The answer on Manley was about leadership, preparation, and showing by example. It sounds like somebody Williams appreciates most for the example he sets for his teammates rather than the particular future Manley himself has with Stanford. This may be partly psychological as Williams knows he's part of a rebuild and Manley is a fifth year guy, a short-timer. Still, for a guy who has been a legitimate Pac-12 DB in numerous past seasons I was expecting a little bit more of a commentary on Manley as a player. I think Manley faces some risk of being passed up by younger guys as the season progresses. Caveat here is after extolling Wright's virtues Williams circled back and said both Wright and Manley are talented, so it's not like Manley didn't get any praise beyond leadership.
* There have been many data points establishing Wright as the breakout player but this interview goes to the top of the list. Zero restraint or expectations management for a guy with 22 snaps. I'll share the whole quote as it's so notable for somebody at this stage: "for a freshman, he's waaaaaaay ahead, you know. I've coached a lot of good DBs and I think he has a very bright future. He's a quiet kid but he comes to work every day, you know. He competes, he really tries to work his technique, and he gets better every day, you know. I'm really looking forward to the rest of camp with him and just to see how he plays this year but he's a talented guy." In coachspeak that's "I lucked out to inherit this guy right away, what a stud."
* Williams noted that most of his career he's coached the whole DB room and now getting to focus on corners and nickels he can be more detail-oriented on technique. This is exactly what I've long harped on with DB coaching and praised Taylor for getting with best practices and breaking DB into two rooms, and we've heard players validate/demonstrate this point in their comments too. Very excited about this change.
* I had been somewhat worried previously about the lack of clarity on who in our two-headed DB coaching arrangement would be coaching the nickels, in part because previous interviews with Williams and Gregory made it sound like both/it depends, which has some logic but would raise questions about clarity, coordination, and specialization. This interview with Williams is one data point suggesting Williams is responsible for nickels. It's not dispositive because if the answer is both/it depends they both could fairly see themselves that way, but I do think it's a data point. On balance, though, I am still not sure whether the real answer is both/it depends. Depth chart reporting on TOS has consistently suggested that Slocum (a corner) is the nickel and Wyrick (not only a safety but a starting safety) is the backup. The question I'd have is whether Williams coaches Wyrick on nickel responsibilities or if that's Gregory as the safeties coach. I really don't know. I think I'd prefer one cook in the kitchen and Williams as the far more experienced and proven DB coach takes Wyrick under his wing for the nickel responsibilities. I'm not confident that is the case, though, as nothing in the interview came close to alluding to Wyrick as far as I could tell.
* Williams on April seemed a bit more comfortable and less conflicted than I thought I may have picked up from the earlier interview. One consistent point of praise for April is "great football mind" and Williams also added that every day April comes in with some "juice," which I interpret as energy and fire to get to work. Williams called the defense "a good package" with some uniqueness. The reference to uniqueness gave me a bit of the adjustment/learning curve/not totally what Williams is used to vibe I picked up before, but the buy-in/excitement/fun quotients seem reasonably high. Certainly good vibes on defense right now.
* Minor thing but Williams noted that Kelly had been drafted and Bonner is in camp as a free agent, which reinforced a view I already had of Williams as somebody very attuned to developing NFL talent. His bio emphasizes this. In the same way I observed Wright is a striver who's keeping score when it comes to the practice turnovers he generates, I think Williams keeps score on who goes to the NFL. I am confident he'll have somebody to add to his resume within a few years.
* Riffing off Ben's question, Williams really emphasized the youth and inexperience of his group, noting the time off Manley (via leaving the team) and Slocum (via redshirting) had. At the same time, he said that from watching them play you really wouldn't know it and that they look like a veteran group. I think this is the real point. Manley has 350 snaps and Slocum has 275 snaps. Those are veterans. To have your three primary corners include two veterans and a young guy you're ecstatic about is not a tough situation. As I keep saying, CB is right at the top of the list of best positions on our roster. To that point, it seems clear who the top three in his group are: Manley, Wright, and Slocum. Those were the three he named when asked about his group.
* All of Williams' positivity about his group is great to hear but what I like best is that the corners have "great work ethic" and "want to be good" and "want to work." We've been hearing a lot of that from our coaches and we really need it to be true. I do not believe our players by and large played like that the last several years. If they were just beaten down and now with a new staff a pall has been lifted/switch has been flipped, that would be great. Similarly, we very much have to hope there's truth to all the happy talk about how guys are competing and making each other better. Hope springs eternal and we can't just assume all this talk will translate. But we certainly can hope while we wait for real fall action.
* We always hear about how DBs are different and corners especially are on the island. Wright's comments gave us a glimpse into the us against the world mentality. But what I appreciated about Williams' meditation on this was that he homed in on how that vulnerability to exposure means you have to come to work every day. I don't think there's anything novel about this mindset and I think we've had plenty of guys who've embodied it (Kelly, Meeks, etc.) but I do like seeing evidence it's the tone being set by the position coach.
* As with Wright, a lot of talk about competing. As always, it's just words....but that is the word I want to hear.
* Williams really does seem effusive about Taylor and April and the current vibe. All the good vibes are soon going to come into contact with reality and that's what really matters, but there is unmistakably an optimism around the program and that's refreshing.
* It's a Troy Taylor staff coach so it's all about process - taking it one day at a time, worrying about today, cleaning up techniques. Stacking days adds up to something and you get there by just continuing to have good days, not worrying about where you'll end up or even putting much thought into putting into perspective how things are looking so far. I dig it but it doesn't always lend itself to the most interesting answers to the questions trying to get a snapshot on camp.
* The answer on Manley was about leadership, preparation, and showing by example. It sounds like somebody Williams appreciates most for the example he sets for his teammates rather than the particular future Manley himself has with Stanford. This may be partly psychological as Williams knows he's part of a rebuild and Manley is a fifth year guy, a short-timer. Still, for a guy who has been a legitimate Pac-12 DB in numerous past seasons I was expecting a little bit more of a commentary on Manley as a player. I think Manley faces some risk of being passed up by younger guys as the season progresses. Caveat here is after extolling Wright's virtues Williams circled back and said both Wright and Manley are talented, so it's not like Manley didn't get any praise beyond leadership.
* There have been many data points establishing Wright as the breakout player but this interview goes to the top of the list. Zero restraint or expectations management for a guy with 22 snaps. I'll share the whole quote as it's so notable for somebody at this stage: "for a freshman, he's waaaaaaay ahead, you know. I've coached a lot of good DBs and I think he has a very bright future. He's a quiet kid but he comes to work every day, you know. He competes, he really tries to work his technique, and he gets better every day, you know. I'm really looking forward to the rest of camp with him and just to see how he plays this year but he's a talented guy." In coachspeak that's "I lucked out to inherit this guy right away, what a stud."
* Williams noted that most of his career he's coached the whole DB room and now getting to focus on corners and nickels he can be more detail-oriented on technique. This is exactly what I've long harped on with DB coaching and praised Taylor for getting with best practices and breaking DB into two rooms, and we've heard players validate/demonstrate this point in their comments too. Very excited about this change.
* I had been somewhat worried previously about the lack of clarity on who in our two-headed DB coaching arrangement would be coaching the nickels, in part because previous interviews with Williams and Gregory made it sound like both/it depends, which has some logic but would raise questions about clarity, coordination, and specialization. This interview with Williams is one data point suggesting Williams is responsible for nickels. It's not dispositive because if the answer is both/it depends they both could fairly see themselves that way, but I do think it's a data point. On balance, though, I am still not sure whether the real answer is both/it depends. Depth chart reporting on TOS has consistently suggested that Slocum (a corner) is the nickel and Wyrick (not only a safety but a starting safety) is the backup. The question I'd have is whether Williams coaches Wyrick on nickel responsibilities or if that's Gregory as the safeties coach. I really don't know. I think I'd prefer one cook in the kitchen and Williams as the far more experienced and proven DB coach takes Wyrick under his wing for the nickel responsibilities. I'm not confident that is the case, though, as nothing in the interview came close to alluding to Wyrick as far as I could tell.
* Williams on April seemed a bit more comfortable and less conflicted than I thought I may have picked up from the earlier interview. One consistent point of praise for April is "great football mind" and Williams also added that every day April comes in with some "juice," which I interpret as energy and fire to get to work. Williams called the defense "a good package" with some uniqueness. The reference to uniqueness gave me a bit of the adjustment/learning curve/not totally what Williams is used to vibe I picked up before, but the buy-in/excitement/fun quotients seem reasonably high. Certainly good vibes on defense right now.
* Minor thing but Williams noted that Kelly had been drafted and Bonner is in camp as a free agent, which reinforced a view I already had of Williams as somebody very attuned to developing NFL talent. His bio emphasizes this. In the same way I observed Wright is a striver who's keeping score when it comes to the practice turnovers he generates, I think Williams keeps score on who goes to the NFL. I am confident he'll have somebody to add to his resume within a few years.
* Riffing off Ben's question, Williams really emphasized the youth and inexperience of his group, noting the time off Manley (via leaving the team) and Slocum (via redshirting) had. At the same time, he said that from watching them play you really wouldn't know it and that they look like a veteran group. I think this is the real point. Manley has 350 snaps and Slocum has 275 snaps. Those are veterans. To have your three primary corners include two veterans and a young guy you're ecstatic about is not a tough situation. As I keep saying, CB is right at the top of the list of best positions on our roster. To that point, it seems clear who the top three in his group are: Manley, Wright, and Slocum. Those were the three he named when asked about his group.
* All of Williams' positivity about his group is great to hear but what I like best is that the corners have "great work ethic" and "want to be good" and "want to work." We've been hearing a lot of that from our coaches and we really need it to be true. I do not believe our players by and large played like that the last several years. If they were just beaten down and now with a new staff a pall has been lifted/switch has been flipped, that would be great. Similarly, we very much have to hope there's truth to all the happy talk about how guys are competing and making each other better. Hope springs eternal and we can't just assume all this talk will translate. But we certainly can hope while we wait for real fall action.
* We always hear about how DBs are different and corners especially are on the island. Wright's comments gave us a glimpse into the us against the world mentality. But what I appreciated about Williams' meditation on this was that he homed in on how that vulnerability to exposure means you have to come to work every day. I don't think there's anything novel about this mindset and I think we've had plenty of guys who've embodied it (Kelly, Meeks, etc.) but I do like seeing evidence it's the tone being set by the position coach.
* As with Wright, a lot of talk about competing. As always, it's just words....but that is the word I want to hear.
* Williams really does seem effusive about Taylor and April and the current vibe. All the good vibes are soon going to come into contact with reality and that's what really matters, but there is unmistakably an optimism around the program and that's refreshing.