Head Coach Scott Shafer Transcript (August 2, 2014)
Opening Statement
“Thanks for being here, I’m excited to get 2014 kickoff going today, albeit with no pads.
“Before we get started, just a couple things. (Senior kicker) Ross Krautman, as you know had a hip injury and some surgery and we were really hopeful that he’d make it back, but it’s continued to be a bother for him and chronic and he’s had a lot of pain with it so he’s made the decision that he’s going to have to put the cleats up. So I just want to say thanks to Ross. Ross is a great kid, one of my favorites on the team, so I really appreciate the effort that he put into his time here at Syracuse and he’ll be missed. He really will – more as a person than anything. That’s the way I look at it.
“The other one is (freshman quarterback) Alin Edouard. He needed to go home for some family matters, so he won’t be here today. We’re going to try and get him back as soon as possible once everything is copasetic back home.
“Other than that I’m excited to kick off the season.”
On eight wins being the goal:
“For me you always want to have a start point, but you never want to put limits on yourself, both as an individual and as a team, so we talk about getting better daily with everything we do. So when we started went about looking at our goals, I said, ‘Let’s start off with eight wins.’ That’s what our initial target is but by no means is that the bar. We want to go out and win them all. We want to go out and win an ACC Championship, that’s the ultimate goal in our program and you can’t do that without getting better one season to the next and then doing a great job in your division and then shoot for that ultimate goal of winning the ACC Championship and we had a great talk about that last night.”
On the difficulty of the 2014 schedule:
“I don’t worry about that. I never have here. If you go back and do some research, you’ll find that we’ve had some of the toughest schedules in the country in the last eight to 10 years and nobody that’s lining up against us cares about that, so we’re just going to focus on being a better football team daily and a better football team week-to-week.”
On the coaching staff:
“I’m very pleased and proud of this staff. I think we have a great group of men, who are good fathers and good husbands. Guys who are extremely diligent in their work ethic, both in recruiting and football. I’m pleased with where we are, we have to get all the way to February in recruiting, but I feel like we’re in a good position where we are targeting the last couple scholarships that we’re looking at and targeting 2016 kids, which is crazy to me but it’s the reality of recruiting. I was watching a kid’s tape the other day and I was thinking maybe he’s not quite as physical as he should be and then I have to remember that he was only 15 when he was playing.
“I’m really pleased with this staff and I’m excited to get them on the field. I know they’re anxious. We had a chance to get all our meetings in this morning with the kids. It was nice to get an opportunity to talk some football as a full team and a full unit for me. I probably slept the best I’ve slept last night because I was finally able to get in front of them as a group and talk to all of them. So I’m fired up about the staff and looking forward to the future.”
On getting back on the field:
“It’ll be great, it’s always my favorite part of the day to be able to get back on the field and do a little coaching. I’m excited to see some of these kids running around. I’m anxious to see these young kids who everyone has been talking about. I’ve seen them run, but they’re just running and doing drills. I’m looking forward to seeing them run routes and cover each other and block people. Two of the three things I just mentioned are going to happen today, the blocking won’t happen because we don’t have pads on. It’ll be just putting our hands on each other and being smart. It’ll just be glorified run through, walk through type situation but we’ll be able to get a lot of work done through repetition and seven-on-seven type deals.”
On heading into second year:
“I think whenever you get to the second year of any job, I remember when I was a defensive coordinator from year one to year two, and I look back and say man I wasn’t the brightest guy in the world and you wish you can get some things back. I would say the same as far as being in my second year (as head coach). The good thing is that I’ve been around these kids for quite a few years. Our senior class – I’m excited about, Cam Lynch, Dyshawn Davis, Sean Hickey, all the kids really. When I look at the senior class I’m excited to see where they are. We’ve done some work trying to do a good job organizing and being good leaders. So going into year two I feel more comfortable because I’ve already done it once and still not a lot of experience, but year two is better than year one.”
On future scheduling and his approach now that Syracuse is in the ACC:
“I think stepping up to the ACC you definitely want to reassess it. You’re going to be playing teams like Florida State, Clemson and Louisville every single season. You’re talking about teams that have been in the top-10, so you always want to look at the schedule and say how are we going to find balance in what we do. I think you want to look at old schedules and try and learn from the past but we have a great conference, great division and we understand where we’re at and we’ve got to do a good job of catching up to them. I think you’re always looking at where you’re going and being in the ACC is always something you have to take a good look at.”
On what Syracuse needs to do to take the next step:
“Just getting better, you don’t have to overcomplicate things. I think every season you want to get better at the things you’ve targeted. Our passing game consistency, our quarterbacks ability to throw the ball before the receivers are open, we’ve talked a lot about that and Terrel did a nice job with that in the spring. Develop who is going to be our backup center, that’s a big question mark right now. It’s just doing the things we do every season and not trying to look too far down the line. You get better when you focus on the job at hand or the task at hand. Our task at hand right now is to go into the practice today and see if we can get better at the things we started at last year, with some different faces but also some faces that have played some football now.”
On losing (placekicker) Ross Krautman:
“I think we’re going to miss him. He was kicking hurt for the last two years and he hid some things trying to be tough. When we really investigated it we found out that he had some legitimate issues that we had to get fixed. We were really hopeful that we were going to get him back, but until you swing that leg as hard as you can like have to when you’re kicking, you don’t know. So even though he was feeling really good and we felt like we were really progressing well, it came back when he started kicking so we backed him off and tried again but it just never felt right and it breaks my heart because the kid was just beside himself. But, he’ll do well with that SU degree and I’m looking forward to what he’s going to do in his private life in the next couple years.”
On the on-field impact of losing Krautman:
“The on the field impact is that we lost a great kicker, so the next man up better be ready.”
On (senior quarterback) Terrel Hunt’s experience carrying over to his second season as the starter:
“I’m excited to see Terrel and his role of being a returning quarterback. He had a great Texas Bowl and all those things, but those are all in the past. I’m excited for him to get better and I’m excited to see his progress day-to-day, but I also know there are some guys behind him who would love to steal his job and make it controversial. I don’t know that that’s going to happen. Terrel’s our starter, but I’m excited to see how Mitch (Kimble) does and how A.J. (Long) competes and how Austin (Wilson) does and once we get Alin (Edouard) back. Really we have to go out and see who that number two is and right now that’s key. There is a calm compared to last year knowing that I trust the offense in Terrel’s hands. I’m excited.”
On offense going even faster – is the goal to be fastest in the ACC?
“Yes and no. The goal is to win a bunch of games however we have to and adjust as we have to. You start the season with all these goals and things you want to do and adjust as the season goes along. We’re going to have people get hurt and have different scenarios come up.
“But the goal is to go fast and to be creative and I really like what our offensive coaches have put together from the beginning of spring to the end of spring and I’m excited to see what those guys are putting together.
“I know the defensive guys are the same way. We’ve tweaked a few things here and there and I’m anxious to see what it looks like, but we won’t see that until the middle of next week when we get those pads on and start doing some things.”
How much better is it for the offense having a returning quarterback?
“I think there’s always a sense of calm when you know that signal caller and you know how he is. How he is on the sideline, how he is adjusting to things, so I think there’s a lot of calm among those guys who are back and who have played with him. Snap counts, the way he speaks, the way he makes his checks and adjustments and the way he sounds up there, I think there’s a comfort level with all those things.”
On managing reps for the backup quarterback position:
“We just let them compete. The guys who are playing the best and most consistent will play more than the guys that aren’t.”
On having (assistant head coach/defensive line coach) Tim Daoust on staff – someone he’s familiar with:
“I’m really lucky. It’s great to look up and down that table and see so many guys who I have familiarity with. It makes you feel great as a coach to have guys who you really look at as brothers. Tim is one of those guys. He’s a special guy, we jab each other a lot, but he and Jen, and their baby Leona, are near and dear to my heart, along with the rest of those guys in the room.
“We’re enjoying it. So many of us end up all over the place in this career and to come back and be able to look around the room and know where they’ve been and know their children is so great. I look forward to it. This is the best time, we get into a situation where we’re grinding – we’re definitely doing that, it’s long hours, it’s 6:30 to maybe midnight – but there’s something you love about it.
“I’ve seen Tim do it as a video coordinator to get his foot in the door, then a GA, then to being a full-time position coach and now an assistant head coach at Syracuse. I’m so proud of him. It’s nice having him in that room and next to you on the field at kickoff.”
When did you make the decision on (placekicker) Ross Krautman?
“It’s been a tedious situation, I couldn’t give you a date. I think you always keep hoping. He came in a while back and we had a heart-to-heart and he was crushed. I said, ‘Look let’s not make a rash decision here,’ and he thought about it, and we thought about it and we talked to the doctors and came up with it a short while back. I can’t give you a date.
“This has been on going, chronic is chronic. I talked to him today through text and he said, ‘Good luck and I’m going to miss the boys,’ and that sort of deal.”
On electing captains:
“I know how we’re going about electing them. I was never big on voting for captains early on because I think leadership is a tricky thing, especially this day in age. We have 25 or whatever the number is freshmen here and they don’t know these guys and then you’re going to give them a vote? That’s a big part of the vote.
“The one thing we do that’s a little bit different is anyone who has been here four years academically, they get four points for their vote. Then it goes down, juniors get three, sophomores get two and freshmen get one and then coaches’ votes count for four, as well.
“So when I feel like the time is right, it’ll probably be when we get back from Fort Drum. I always like watching the development at Fort Drum, when there’s no social media and no wifi and it’s just them and they can make good decisions on who should lead.”
Any new technology or safety things you’re working in after using GoPro cameras and extra protective padding on the helmets during spring?
“Nothing right now besides what you already mentioned. We’ll have the pads on the helmets until we put the shoulder pads on the first couple days.”
On players who have a chance to ‘take the next step’:
“We have a lot of them and I hate to single them out. For me, I tell the kids and I want to be consistent in the way I talk to you folks.
“So we start with the depth chart, that’s extremely overrated in my opinion. Then we go to war and they battle the hell out of each other. Give me a week and I’ll tell you who’s improving and has a chance to do great things. The names are countless. Guys who are returning, the Brisly Estimes, the Durell Eskridges, the Terrel Hunts. I could go down the list and single them all out, but I’m just anxious to go.”
“Thanks for being here, I’m excited to get 2014 kickoff going today, albeit with no pads.
“Before we get started, just a couple things. (Senior kicker) Ross Krautman, as you know had a hip injury and some surgery and we were really hopeful that he’d make it back, but it’s continued to be a bother for him and chronic and he’s had a lot of pain with it so he’s made the decision that he’s going to have to put the cleats up. So I just want to say thanks to Ross. Ross is a great kid, one of my favorites on the team, so I really appreciate the effort that he put into his time here at Syracuse and he’ll be missed. He really will – more as a person than anything. That’s the way I look at it.
“The other one is (freshman quarterback) Alin Edouard. He needed to go home for some family matters, so he won’t be here today. We’re going to try and get him back as soon as possible once everything is copasetic back home.
“Other than that I’m excited to kick off the season.”
On eight wins being the goal:
“For me you always want to have a start point, but you never want to put limits on yourself, both as an individual and as a team, so we talk about getting better daily with everything we do. So when we started went about looking at our goals, I said, ‘Let’s start off with eight wins.’ That’s what our initial target is but by no means is that the bar. We want to go out and win them all. We want to go out and win an ACC Championship, that’s the ultimate goal in our program and you can’t do that without getting better one season to the next and then doing a great job in your division and then shoot for that ultimate goal of winning the ACC Championship and we had a great talk about that last night.”
On the difficulty of the 2014 schedule:
“I don’t worry about that. I never have here. If you go back and do some research, you’ll find that we’ve had some of the toughest schedules in the country in the last eight to 10 years and nobody that’s lining up against us cares about that, so we’re just going to focus on being a better football team daily and a better football team week-to-week.”
On the coaching staff:
“I’m very pleased and proud of this staff. I think we have a great group of men, who are good fathers and good husbands. Guys who are extremely diligent in their work ethic, both in recruiting and football. I’m pleased with where we are, we have to get all the way to February in recruiting, but I feel like we’re in a good position where we are targeting the last couple scholarships that we’re looking at and targeting 2016 kids, which is crazy to me but it’s the reality of recruiting. I was watching a kid’s tape the other day and I was thinking maybe he’s not quite as physical as he should be and then I have to remember that he was only 15 when he was playing.
“I’m really pleased with this staff and I’m excited to get them on the field. I know they’re anxious. We had a chance to get all our meetings in this morning with the kids. It was nice to get an opportunity to talk some football as a full team and a full unit for me. I probably slept the best I’ve slept last night because I was finally able to get in front of them as a group and talk to all of them. So I’m fired up about the staff and looking forward to the future.”
On getting back on the field:
“It’ll be great, it’s always my favorite part of the day to be able to get back on the field and do a little coaching. I’m excited to see some of these kids running around. I’m anxious to see these young kids who everyone has been talking about. I’ve seen them run, but they’re just running and doing drills. I’m looking forward to seeing them run routes and cover each other and block people. Two of the three things I just mentioned are going to happen today, the blocking won’t happen because we don’t have pads on. It’ll be just putting our hands on each other and being smart. It’ll just be glorified run through, walk through type situation but we’ll be able to get a lot of work done through repetition and seven-on-seven type deals.”
On heading into second year:
“I think whenever you get to the second year of any job, I remember when I was a defensive coordinator from year one to year two, and I look back and say man I wasn’t the brightest guy in the world and you wish you can get some things back. I would say the same as far as being in my second year (as head coach). The good thing is that I’ve been around these kids for quite a few years. Our senior class – I’m excited about, Cam Lynch, Dyshawn Davis, Sean Hickey, all the kids really. When I look at the senior class I’m excited to see where they are. We’ve done some work trying to do a good job organizing and being good leaders. So going into year two I feel more comfortable because I’ve already done it once and still not a lot of experience, but year two is better than year one.”
On future scheduling and his approach now that Syracuse is in the ACC:
“I think stepping up to the ACC you definitely want to reassess it. You’re going to be playing teams like Florida State, Clemson and Louisville every single season. You’re talking about teams that have been in the top-10, so you always want to look at the schedule and say how are we going to find balance in what we do. I think you want to look at old schedules and try and learn from the past but we have a great conference, great division and we understand where we’re at and we’ve got to do a good job of catching up to them. I think you’re always looking at where you’re going and being in the ACC is always something you have to take a good look at.”
On what Syracuse needs to do to take the next step:
“Just getting better, you don’t have to overcomplicate things. I think every season you want to get better at the things you’ve targeted. Our passing game consistency, our quarterbacks ability to throw the ball before the receivers are open, we’ve talked a lot about that and Terrel did a nice job with that in the spring. Develop who is going to be our backup center, that’s a big question mark right now. It’s just doing the things we do every season and not trying to look too far down the line. You get better when you focus on the job at hand or the task at hand. Our task at hand right now is to go into the practice today and see if we can get better at the things we started at last year, with some different faces but also some faces that have played some football now.”
On losing (placekicker) Ross Krautman:
“I think we’re going to miss him. He was kicking hurt for the last two years and he hid some things trying to be tough. When we really investigated it we found out that he had some legitimate issues that we had to get fixed. We were really hopeful that we were going to get him back, but until you swing that leg as hard as you can like have to when you’re kicking, you don’t know. So even though he was feeling really good and we felt like we were really progressing well, it came back when he started kicking so we backed him off and tried again but it just never felt right and it breaks my heart because the kid was just beside himself. But, he’ll do well with that SU degree and I’m looking forward to what he’s going to do in his private life in the next couple years.”
On the on-field impact of losing Krautman:
“The on the field impact is that we lost a great kicker, so the next man up better be ready.”
On (senior quarterback) Terrel Hunt’s experience carrying over to his second season as the starter:
“I’m excited to see Terrel and his role of being a returning quarterback. He had a great Texas Bowl and all those things, but those are all in the past. I’m excited for him to get better and I’m excited to see his progress day-to-day, but I also know there are some guys behind him who would love to steal his job and make it controversial. I don’t know that that’s going to happen. Terrel’s our starter, but I’m excited to see how Mitch (Kimble) does and how A.J. (Long) competes and how Austin (Wilson) does and once we get Alin (Edouard) back. Really we have to go out and see who that number two is and right now that’s key. There is a calm compared to last year knowing that I trust the offense in Terrel’s hands. I’m excited.”
On offense going even faster – is the goal to be fastest in the ACC?
“Yes and no. The goal is to win a bunch of games however we have to and adjust as we have to. You start the season with all these goals and things you want to do and adjust as the season goes along. We’re going to have people get hurt and have different scenarios come up.
“But the goal is to go fast and to be creative and I really like what our offensive coaches have put together from the beginning of spring to the end of spring and I’m excited to see what those guys are putting together.
“I know the defensive guys are the same way. We’ve tweaked a few things here and there and I’m anxious to see what it looks like, but we won’t see that until the middle of next week when we get those pads on and start doing some things.”
How much better is it for the offense having a returning quarterback?
“I think there’s always a sense of calm when you know that signal caller and you know how he is. How he is on the sideline, how he is adjusting to things, so I think there’s a lot of calm among those guys who are back and who have played with him. Snap counts, the way he speaks, the way he makes his checks and adjustments and the way he sounds up there, I think there’s a comfort level with all those things.”
On managing reps for the backup quarterback position:
“We just let them compete. The guys who are playing the best and most consistent will play more than the guys that aren’t.”
On having (assistant head coach/defensive line coach) Tim Daoust on staff – someone he’s familiar with:
“I’m really lucky. It’s great to look up and down that table and see so many guys who I have familiarity with. It makes you feel great as a coach to have guys who you really look at as brothers. Tim is one of those guys. He’s a special guy, we jab each other a lot, but he and Jen, and their baby Leona, are near and dear to my heart, along with the rest of those guys in the room.
“We’re enjoying it. So many of us end up all over the place in this career and to come back and be able to look around the room and know where they’ve been and know their children is so great. I look forward to it. This is the best time, we get into a situation where we’re grinding – we’re definitely doing that, it’s long hours, it’s 6:30 to maybe midnight – but there’s something you love about it.
“I’ve seen Tim do it as a video coordinator to get his foot in the door, then a GA, then to being a full-time position coach and now an assistant head coach at Syracuse. I’m so proud of him. It’s nice having him in that room and next to you on the field at kickoff.”
When did you make the decision on (placekicker) Ross Krautman?
“It’s been a tedious situation, I couldn’t give you a date. I think you always keep hoping. He came in a while back and we had a heart-to-heart and he was crushed. I said, ‘Look let’s not make a rash decision here,’ and he thought about it, and we thought about it and we talked to the doctors and came up with it a short while back. I can’t give you a date.
“This has been on going, chronic is chronic. I talked to him today through text and he said, ‘Good luck and I’m going to miss the boys,’ and that sort of deal.”
On electing captains:
“I know how we’re going about electing them. I was never big on voting for captains early on because I think leadership is a tricky thing, especially this day in age. We have 25 or whatever the number is freshmen here and they don’t know these guys and then you’re going to give them a vote? That’s a big part of the vote.
“The one thing we do that’s a little bit different is anyone who has been here four years academically, they get four points for their vote. Then it goes down, juniors get three, sophomores get two and freshmen get one and then coaches’ votes count for four, as well.
“So when I feel like the time is right, it’ll probably be when we get back from Fort Drum. I always like watching the development at Fort Drum, when there’s no social media and no wifi and it’s just them and they can make good decisions on who should lead.”
Any new technology or safety things you’re working in after using GoPro cameras and extra protective padding on the helmets during spring?
“Nothing right now besides what you already mentioned. We’ll have the pads on the helmets until we put the shoulder pads on the first couple days.”
On players who have a chance to ‘take the next step’:
“We have a lot of them and I hate to single them out. For me, I tell the kids and I want to be consistent in the way I talk to you folks.
“So we start with the depth chart, that’s extremely overrated in my opinion. Then we go to war and they battle the hell out of each other. Give me a week and I’ll tell you who’s improving and has a chance to do great things. The names are countless. Guys who are returning, the Brisly Estimes, the Durell Eskridges, the Terrel Hunts. I could go down the list and single them all out, but I’m just anxious to go.”
