Norvell is here.
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"I thought we played one of our cleanest games. 100 percent ball security offensively, had explosive plays, had an explosive play in special teams. ... Defensively, there were three drives that North Carolina had. ... I thought we did some good things defensively, though we were down a lot of personnel. ... The physicality, the toughness, the mindset of how our guys responded after being down 10-0 ... I thought Jordan played at an extremely high level. ... the efficiency of him throwing the football was incredible. Great decisions. ... All in all a good team win."
On the postgame celebration: "I was a lot happier after this (UNC win) than I was after that one." Says it was a complete win. All three phases contributed. "It was a great celebration in the locker room. You see the joy, you see the excitement. .. This is a team that believes, you see it in their eyes ... From a discipline aspect of it, another game where we were limited in the penalties that we had.... The situational football is getting better, and that comes from the investment from our players. Good to celebrate, good to see them have that experience on the road. ....We believed that we could, so it was a great time in that locker room."
"It was fun watching the film. .... You see plays that are executing at a high rate ..." Gives a shout out to the offensive line and the TEs. Only gave up two TFLs and no sacks. "Been a while since that's happened. These guys, they're growing up. ... That group has been battling. ... It was nice to see 11 guys operating as one. Doesn't always mean it's going to be an explosive play. ... And other than the first quarter, that's what we wanted the game to look like."
"Rob Scott played probably his best game of the year. ... Darius I thought played really well. ... Maurice is still battling away ... his growth mentally from a year ago to where it is now is incredible." Said Gibbons played one of his better games since he got here from a physicality standpoint ... Says it's a challenge because of the injuries, and not getting consistency, "but they're growing in confidence in what they can do. ... It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but I think those guys are getting better."
"We haven't changed the emphasis in practice. ... But translating that from practice to the field. ... Our corners specifically, I thought they played one of their better games there on Saturday." Says it carries over to all positions, working on fundamentals and technique and playing situations better. ... "And when you see that success confidence continues to build. And I think we're feeding off that a little bit."
On Travis's poise: "He played very confident. ... I think the play that stood out, and Coach Dillingham and I were talking about, the third and six where he hit Keyshawn on the under route. ... that was a real play, went through a progression, looked so calm ... and I thought that sparked him a little bit." Says when you're an explosive player like Travis is, you can want every play to be a big one. "Jordan is growing in his confidence ... if he lets the game come to him he can be really, really good."
On the bye week: "We need it. Gave guys off. Yesterday they came in for treatment. Obviously, we've got to get guys healed up. ... We'll come back to work tomorrow and Wednesday, big fundamental focus." Says contact is going to be reduced this week, because they've been pushing hard. ... Says they're a physical team, and there are things that have to carry over in the second half of the season, but they need to let bodies heal up. "We played good football Saturday because we prepared to play good football."
On Emmitt Rice: "He is progressing well. And Leonard Warner is progressing well. Those guys are getting closer. ... If they get an opportunity to be able to help us, we're going to push forward to see if they can do that."
On Jammie Robinson's move to safety: Says development of Kevin Knowles at nickel back has shifted things around a bit in the secondary. And that allows Robinson to play the traditional safety spot. "We ask so much of Jammie. The production is there, he had a bunch of tackles on Saturday ... we want to continue to see Kevin continue to grow and make that kind of impact," and says Robinson's versatility is big for the defense.
On the zone read: "A lot of it is just the repetition. ... Any read game, it takes time for the mesh, takes time in the finer details in that, with him, the backs. Those guys, they're working hard at it. I thought they executed at a pretty high level there on Saturday ... He's definitely come along with the practice reps he's getting."
On Lovett: "I thought he played one of his best games. ... He's a great leader for us. ... It was impressive to see him perform. ... We've been testing our defensive tackles (because of injuries). ... Robert Cooper had to play a lot more snaps than normal ... you look at the two bookends and they played a lot of snaps. Both played over 60 snaps."
On the corners: "It's coming. Those are young players. ... We want those guys to take their game to the next level. ... I think the sky is the limit for what they can accomplish, but it has to be that consistency. ... That's what we're trying to instill in those guys."
On birthday plans (turns 40 today): "I'm glad to make it to another birthday. ... Each day you get a chance to make an impact on somebody, you take those experiences and you learn from them and grow from them. ... I've been blessed throughout my coaching career. ... 15 years ago or 16 years ago I didn't know a Division I coach, but I was blessed with an opportunity. ... Today, I'm going to celebrate it by working. .. Said he gave staff off yesterday and watched the FSU women's soccer team win."
Offensive identity: "We're always going to be an offense that takes what the defense gives us. ... We were able to establish the run. Limited the number of negative plays and were able to play ahead of the chains. ... Saturday was complimentary football, that's what I like seeing. ... As long as we can get the run game established and have productivity in it, that's what's going to allow (big plays to show up)."
On Ward's last run: Says it would have been a rough conversation for Treshaun if he hadn't gotten the first down, because he ran out of bounds on the previous play. "That was all heart there. The work he's put in, the player I believe he is and is going to continue to develop to be, he has a chance to be special. ... He doesn't have a bad day. Because he's had to earn it, he's had to work himself from the bottom up. ... Really proud of him."
That's a wrap on Norvell.
Kenny Dillingham is up next.
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On Travis: "Jordan is still a first-year starting quarterback. ... The more games he plays, I better see improvement. He's becoming more of a veteran than he is. Regardless of his class, you're not a quarterback until you play live snaps. .... He made all of those plays with his legs, but he managed to get down, to not take those hits. ... Those are the plays in the game that are never going to be talked about ... and he's a super intelligent kid. People don't realize what he does for us (getting them in the right calls, changing protections) ... when you combine all those things, he has a chance to be pretty special.
"We blocked them. ... We caught the football ... we made plays when our number was called. We scored in the red zone and didn't turn the ball over." It wasn't a special scheme they came up with. Just executed it better.
On third downs: Says coaches spend nine hours every week trying to devise all these great third-down plays, ... seven out of 10 third down conversions are a guy making a play. .... "In those situations, our guys made plays. And that's what we need to do the rest of the year to continue to grow and continue to get better." Says a scrambling quarterback REALLY helps in those spots.
On Ward: "He's just competitive." Said he was saying some really not nice words when Ward ran out of bounds, but then was saying the same words in a much different context when he made the first-down run moments later. "I was super proud of the way he responded at the end of the game." Says it was a great sign.
On O-line: "Getting Mo back is obviously huge for us. ... Those guys are banged up. They need this week probably more than any other position group probably." Says when they look at opposing defenses, they worry a lot about avoiding TFLs. Says he challenged the O-line. Told them if they had 14 possessions they were going to run for 300 yards. "They did a great job."
On the WRs: "We had no drops. We had guys fighting. ... Probably first game since we've been here where we caught every ball." Says they did the timing of the motions and bunches really, really well. "That's what creates winning football ... and then when they're number was called they made the play. ... That was our guys going out there and making a play on a critical third and 12. .... I think this was the first week they kind of reaped what they've been sewing."
On Travis: "I think this was his best game. ... I'm a big believer in Jordan Travis, but I'm not going to say he's anywhere close to where he can be. I think he needs to start better. ... He hasn't played much live football. So, every game he better get better. ... It just means every game you should see something you didn't see in the prior week. You should see a little bit more calmness. ... This week, he wound the clock down to two seconds, three seconds, and it was pure poise ... He doesn't get enough credit for his intelligence and getting us into the right plays, and getting us into protections ... I'm excited to see how much better he can get, because there's a lot of room for growth."
"To watch him smile and joke around and play with that passionate energy ... and you can feel his passion when he knows the game is over, that's exciting."
"It's not about us. It's about them. Seeing the guys work and work and work and believe and believe and believe, and then it clicked ... and we're not even close to where we should be ... to see the guys' faces, that's what excites me. To see their joy. There is nothing better than kids see you can work hard and achieve success."
Says they've been horrible on the road and he brought that up with the offense. Says he challenged his players to figure out something to do differently so they could play better away from home. "Honestly, that speech probably had no bearing, it just sounds good."
On what next step looks like: "I think there were more opportunities to be explosive." Said there were a couple of missed runs, and some missed perimeter throws, including one to Toafili in the second quarter. "We're never where we want to be." Says if the guys keep working they're going to keep improving. "It's simple, but that's the only way to get better is to work."
And that's a wrap on Dillingham.
Adam Fuller is up next.
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Says they were excited about the plays the corners made. Said quarterback was very good and the slot WR was one of the best they'll see. ... "It was good to get some consistency in the back end in back to back weeks in terms of who's playing, playing together, and to see that show up ... that was definitely a positive."
"You can't fake confidence. You can try, but it's going to be empty when it really comes down to it." Says being able to show them the plays they made on film now should build confidence. "This place is built with dirt and mud and hard work ... " Says he's happy they built confidence, but the only way to sustain it is to keep working hard.
Says the practices can be challenging because some of the players simply can't practice, but they know they're going to play. Hard to develop some consistency, but they're getting better. "We had a couple of guys missing, but that's always going to happen in this sport. ... We're playing better together."
"It was good to go out and make some critical stops. ... That interception was critical. ... The fourth down was really a product of everybody doing their job ... what they wanted to do on that play got taken away."
"Our good players are playing well. ... We were in a little more in three down this week on third down," says that had to do with game plan and players that were available. Said Howell hurt them more with his feet than with his arm. They didn't want him to hurt them with anything, but they preferred it to be with his legs. "We can be better, but give him some credit, too."
Says he loves working with Norvell, because he gets it. He just wants to win the game. And he'll cater a gameplan or the flow of the game by how it's going. If defense is playing well, the offense will play to that. And vice versa. Says it's not a program or a team that is divided. They're going to do what it takes to try to win.
On Ray's performance: "Fabien Lovett went up to Coach Haggins and said he wanted Malcolm Ray to start. ... It shows confidence in each other, and the respect level in that defensive room. ... Said Ray played over 20 snaps, and it wasn't perfect, but it was solid. ... Fabien is playing really good football. He's backing up everything I thought he would." Said they're excited about Ray and Farmer, and hoping Jackson can get back to where he needs to be this week.
"He wanted to see Malcolm have that opportunity. ... Fabien, when he's been healthy this year .. he's made major impacts. Not only in the run game, but in the throw game. He's definitely one of our best football players in our program right now. And he's acting like it on and off the field."
Says the players know, even better than the coaches, who the real team leaders are.
On UNC's last TD: Says there was enough time when the drive started, you knew you were up three scores ... when the clock started going they weren't going at the rate we thought they would go. So he said he pulled back a little bit on aggressiveness, because he didn't want defense to make a big mistake and allow a long TD.
That's a wrap on Fuller.
John Papuchis is up next.
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On the Jay return: "That was a big play, I thought. It was a spark when we probably needed one. Down 10-0. To get good field position, to get it out to the 41 to start a drive, I thought that was a big play." Says the first return had a chance to be a really big play, but they missed that block that led to Wren getting hit.
Says he thought return units did a very nice job overall.
On hands team for onside kick: "Every week we spend time on it, and you prepare yourself for the moment when you get a chance to do it. And I thought the guys did a nice job. ... The guys did a great job of getting lined up properly, and ultimately when it mattered we were able to get the ball back."
On touchbacks on kickoffs: Says it was probably most solid day they've had kicking, and Groathaus did have his best day. "If he can do that every kick, that's what we want to get done."
Says the transfers on the D-line understand the concept that: "Everybody benefits when the team has success. ... It's a lot easier to achieve your individual goals when your team is being successful. ... I think Jermaine and Keir are both adamant that they want to put their stamp on Florida State football."
On defensive line vs UNC: "I think as a group we played well. From a statistical standpoint, it probably doesn't reflect that. ... The ball was coming out quick, so I thought that was a positive." Says they have been enjoyable to coach, they've been very consistent since Day 1. ... "It's why they've been one of the more consistent units on the team. It's been fun to coach them this year."
And that's a wrap on Papuchis. And a wrap on the day.
Go out there and attack the rest of the day. Live your best life.
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