[msqueri]

* Amusing moment of self (or team)-deprecation and expectations management when Taylor corrected a comment about OL inexperience by interjecting that "really" should modify inexperienced. There were a lot comments like this in the spring and less so far in camp, but clearly Taylor is keenly aware of OL inexperience. In his view we need patience and repetition, especially to build confidence in an inexperienced group. There's a long game implication here to his use of patience that does strike me as managing expectations. There was also an interesting insight about balancing doing things to put them in positions to be successful (a coaching to cover up weaknesses/not coaching to the top of the class kind of comment we don't hear a lot of from this staff) with putting them in pressure situations so they can get better. I don't think there's any science to that balance, just trying to optimize for both to the extent you can. What we must avoid is the demoralization and building of bad habits that afflicted our lines from 2003-2006. Our 2023 line should have vastly more experience and recruiting hype than the 2003 line did so I am hopeful we can avoid utter demoralization. Even our 2019 OL avoided that, though they arguably never built up the confidence that needs to be the next step. This is one of the big things facing our program, how Talamaivao and Netter can help build up confidence and make it a progression the next few years. It's a lot to put on first time major college football coaches, but at least they're doing it together and we're devoting manpower and intention to this. By the way, Taylor also had a brief, interesting comment about how we have "some really good pass rushers" to test the OL. We've talked a lot about our OLB group but it's good to get some validation from the head man. Of course, speaking of the mid-2000s, we face the perennial challenge that when one part of our team does well in practice it's going up against another part of our team. We can't really know what we have, including at OLB, until live bullets are flying.

* Taylor was asked about Simi Pale, as a true freshman OL playing with the first team OL in the practices reporters observed leading up to this interview is a quite notable development. Taylor talked about Pale being a "really powerful guy, really tough, picks up on football" and the praise just continued from there with "he's super strong, once he gets his hands on you it's very hard to come off" and "he plays with a great pad level, super explosive, just an awesome kid." As effusive as it gets for a true freshman. One of the stories of the Taylor era so far. The mention of the triple option high school offense was not meant as a compliment but rather by way of explanation that Pale didn't do a lot of pass blocking, which Taylor says Pale has adapted really well to. As I've pointed out previously, Elk Grove ran 92.3 percent of the time Pale's senior year and 89.9 percent of the time Pale's junior year. So yeah, essentially no pass blocking experience. It is very interesting a player like this may be in line to start from the first game of his college career. Actually, it would be historic for even an elite recruit with a ton of pass blocking experience. Walker Little's first start was his third game. Nate Herbig's was his eighth. Andrus Peats' was his 15th. (I believe cracking the lineup as a true sophomore was also the case with Kwame Harris.) Herbig started his eighth game. Ismail Simpson, Jeff Edwards, Alex Fletcher, David DeCastro, Jonathan Martin, David Yankey, and Cameron Fleming started from game one as freshmen but redshirted. Maybe somebody can help me if anybody has ever started earlier than Little. I'm ecstatic to have an apparent stud lineman but do worry a bit that our lack of interior OL quality and depth could rush him. Really need to make sure to avoid the demoralization possibility of playing before you can be effective enough to build confidence. I think about Herbig and how by the time he got rolled in as a true freshman he was ready to be quite competitive. Hopefully Pale is like that even earlier.

* Taylor's initial reaction to the EJ Smith question was to note that getting healthy was the biggest thing and now he looks comfortable and then Taylor talked about how versatile of a position it is and how much information you have to know to combine running, receiving, and blocking....without actually commenting on how Smith is checking those boxes (aside from an aside on receiving that Smith is good with the ball in his hands). It sounded more like an apologia for why Smith isn't favored and/or may not be featured front and center than like any kind of praise of Smith. It would be interesting to have gotten a question about Filkins or about the RB room generally rather than a question on Smith specifically. I continue to think Smith may have to fight Filkins for touches. At a minimum, Taylor strikes me as somebody who thinks Smith has a lot to prove.

* I take Taylor at his word that he's not distracted by the conference realignment drama. I'd like to take him at his word that his coaches and players aren't either, but it certainly can't help. The longer it drags on the worse. Hopefully there's a resolution that finds a power football home very soon.

* The Yurosek praise, especially of Yurosek as a runner, seemed genuine but also a bit removed, acknowledging that a lot of what Taylor knows Yurosek can do comes from tape. I've always viewed Yurosek as more of a gamer than practice guy and do wonder how cautious we may be with our one and only big-time proven playmaker. Feels like a toy Taylor knows he has and won't scuff up too much before taking out of the box before it's time to shine. In terms of TE usage in the offense, Taylor says TE is a brobdingnagian part of the passing game and obviously will always be involved in the run game. That part sounded pretty boilerplate and obligatory. The part about loving that Stanford gets multiple good tight ends sounded like more the real answer, that this is a luxury he isn't so used to. I continue to think that utilizing TEs anywhere close to how Stanford has in recent years (or Utah has after Taylor left) would be a really big adjustment for Taylor that may or may not happen but that Taylor probably will try to adjust to personnel and use TEs more than he's used to. I've done previous in-depth analyses on TE usage and won't repeat that here, but my current operating assumption is that going forward Taylor will use TEs slightly less than Shaw tended to but more than Taylor did at Sacramento State. If anything, 2023 may look more like the personnel usage we're accustomed to because TE is a stronger position for us than WR and presumably that gap will be narrowed or even totally reversed with Taylor's future recruiting.

[msqueri]

* Amusing moment of self (or team)-deprecation and expectations management when Taylor corrected a comment about OL inexperience by interjecting that "really" should modify inexperienced. There were a lot comments like this in the spring and less so far in camp, but clearly Taylor is keenly aware of OL inexperience. In his view we need patience and repetition, especially to build confidence in an inexperienced group. There's a long game implication here to his use of patience that does strike me as managing expectations. There was also an interesting insight about balancing doing things to put them in positions to be successful (a coaching to cover up weaknesses/not coaching to the top of the class kind of comment we don't hear a lot of from this staff) with putting them in pressure situations so they can get better. I don't think there's any science to that balance, just trying to optimize for both to the extent you can. What we must avoid is the demoralization and building of bad habits that afflicted our lines from 2003-2006. Our 2023 line should have vastly more experience and recruiting hype than the 2003 line did so I am hopeful we can avoid utter demoralization. Even our 2019 OL avoided that, though they arguably never built up the confidence that needs to be the next step. This is one of the big things facing our program, how Talamaivao and Netter can help build up confidence and make it a progression the next few years. It's a lot to put on first time major college football coaches, but at least they're doing it together and we're devoting manpower and intention to this. By the way, Taylor also had a brief, interesting comment about how we have "some really good pass rushers" to test the OL. We've talked a lot about our OLB group but it's good to get some validation from the head man. Of course, speaking of the mid-2000s, we face the perennial challenge that when one part of our team does well in practice it's going up against another part of our team. We can't really know what we have, including at OLB, until live bullets are flying.

* Taylor was asked about Simi Pale, as a true freshman OL playing with the first team OL in the practices reporters observed leading up to this interview is a quite notable development. Taylor talked about Pale being a "really powerful guy, really tough, picks up on football" and the praise just continued from there with "he's super strong, once he gets his hands on you it's very hard to come off" and "he plays with a great pad level, super explosive, just an awesome kid." As effusive as it gets for a true freshman. One of the stories of the Taylor era so far. The mention of the triple option high school offense was not meant as a compliment but rather by way of explanation that Pale didn't do a lot of pass blocking, which Taylor says Pale has adapted really well to. As I've pointed out previously, Elk Grove ran 92.3 percent of the time Pale's senior year and 89.9 percent of the time Pale's junior year. So yeah, essentially no pass blocking experience. It is very interesting a player like this may be in line to start from the first game of his college career. Actually, it would be historic for even an elite recruit with a ton of pass blocking experience. Walker Little's first start was his third game. Nate Herbig's was his eighth. Andrus Peats' was his 15th. (I believe cracking the lineup as a true sophomore was also the case with Kwame Harris.) Herbig started his eighth game. Ismail Simpson, Jeff Edwards, Alex Fletcher, David DeCastro, Jonathan Martin, David Yankey, and Cameron Fleming started from game one as freshmen but redshirted. Maybe somebody can help me if anybody has ever started earlier than Little. I'm ecstatic to have an apparent stud lineman but do worry a bit that our lack of interior OL quality and depth could rush him. Really need to make sure to avoid the demoralization possibility of playing before you can be effective enough to build confidence. I think about Herbig and how by the time he got rolled in as a true freshman he was ready to be quite competitive. Hopefully Pale is like that even earlier.

* Taylor's initial reaction to the EJ Smith question was to note that getting healthy was the biggest thing and now he looks comfortable and then Taylor talked about how versatile of a position it is and how much information you have to know to combine running, receiving, and blocking....without actually commenting on how Smith is checking those boxes (aside from an aside on receiving that Smith is good with the ball in his hands). It sounded more like an apologia for why Smith isn't favored and/or may not be featured front and center than like any kind of praise of Smith. It would be interesting to have gotten a question about Filkins or about the RB room generally rather than a question on Smith specifically. I continue to think Smith may have to fight Filkins for touches. At a minimum, Taylor strikes me as somebody who thinks Smith has a lot to prove.

* I take Taylor at his word that he's not distracted by the conference realignment drama. I'd like to take him at his word that his coaches and players aren't either, but it certainly can't help. The longer it drags on the worse. Hopefully there's a resolution that finds a power football home very soon.

* The Yurosek praise, especially of Yurosek as a runner, seemed genuine but also a bit removed, acknowledging that a lot of what Taylor knows Yurosek can do comes from tape. I've always viewed Yurosek as more of a gamer than practice guy and do wonder how cautious we may be with our one and only big-time proven playmaker. Feels like a toy Taylor knows he has and won't scuff up too much before taking out of the box before it's time to shine. In terms of TE usage in the offense, Taylor says TE is a brobdingnagian part of the passing game and obviously will always be involved in the run game. That part sounded pretty boilerplate and obligatory. The part about loving that Stanford gets multiple good tight ends sounded like more the real answer, that this is a luxury he isn't so used to. I continue to think that utilizing TEs anywhere close to how Stanford has in recent years (or Utah has after Taylor left) would be a really big adjustment for Taylor that may or may not happen but that Taylor probably will try to adjust to personnel and use TEs more than he's used to. I've done previous in-depth analyses on TE usage and won't repeat that here, but my current operating assumption is that going forward Taylor will use TEs slightly less than Shaw tended to but more than Taylor did at Sacramento State. If anything, 2023 may look more like the personnel usage we're accustomed to because TE is a stronger position for us than WR and presumably that gap will be narrowed or even totally reversed with Taylor's future recruiting.