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ROSE BOWL GAME: OREGON v FLORIDA STATEDecember 30, 2014Scott FrostPASADENA, CALIFORNIA Q. Do you rely on a lot of young guys, what has gone into those guys getting going so quickly? SCOTT FROST: I think we've had some exceptional young guys in our program this year, and seems like every year I look up at the guys making plays in our program and it feels like we're young. Every year I felt like we were young. Looking at that Pac 12 Championship Game, Allen made plays as a freshman and Carrington as a freshman and Charles Nelson as a freshman and Royce Freeman as a freshman and Tyrell (ph) as a freshman, Cameron as a sophomore, Byron as a junior; I could keep going on. But I think the future is bright for the Oregon offense. And it's a testament to the type of kids that we're getting in this program that so many can come into what we are doing, and not just play, but we haven't pulled back on the number of things that we're trying to do on offense. In fact, we have accelerated it and we have been able to accelerate it with a lot of young kids, which it speaks to their intelligence and maturity. Q. December looks good, but July and August, what were you thinking with the depth chart, were you apprehensive? SCOTT FROST: To be honest with you I was freaking out about the wide receiver spot. When Bralon went down in the spring, he was going to be our go‑to guy. Had two really good seasons for us, and we had a couple other guys banged up, Stanford still wasn't healthy from his ACL. Devon and Darren had not played at all. We didn't know what Charles Nelson was going to be. Byron was still at tailback. So it looked pretty bleak at receiver. Can't give enough credit to Coach Lubick forgetting those guys ready. A couple of those guys are here today because of what they have done and what he has helped them to do. We were a little bit worried about receiver and I can tell you, it's been a strength of our football team this year. Q. You said it was no longer a worry, the wide receiver‑‑ SCOTT FROST: It kept getting better as the year went along. Guys like Devon really started to shine in fall camp. After the Michigan State game when the group played so well, we felt like we definitely had a great group there. We have had some talented receiver groups here and in my six years at Oregon, this might be the best one. Q. What do you see from Mark as he's come into this job fully? SCOTT FROST: I think Mark's done a great job since the second he stepped in. The only thing I can relate it to is I took over for Tommy Frazier as a quarterback at Nebraska. We could have won 52 games in a row and it still wouldn't have been as good as what Tommy did. Might have been a bad comparison but Mark had a little bit of an uphill battle taking over for Chip just because the perception. To me, we have not just stayed at the same level. He's been great at changing the things that needed to get changed, continuing to evolve. I can't speak highly enough about what he's done. I haven't really noticed him being more comfortable this year. I thought he fell into the job and was a great leader last year. Maybe some of the staff around him like myself are more comfortable in year two in our new roles, but Mark's been the same guy from the first day he took over. Q. Are you more comfortable this year? SCOTT FROST: You know, I think we've done a really good job as an offensive staff, game planning this year. We have changed some things that have really helped. I think it's helped us in the red zone. I think it's helped us be more consistent. Sometimes when you're successful, you kind of resist change. We're never going to rest on our laurels and keep doing the same things. I think we have evolved more offensively this year than we have in years past, and some of the new things have really been weapons for us. Q. What goes into that‑‑ SCOTT FROST: Study, making sure we're trying to stay at the Vanguard of what's going on in football. Matt Lubick has been a big part of that in the passing game for us. Look at things in the off‑season, tinker with things, test things, and we have come up with a formula that's been pretty good this year. Q. Probably a lot of high school coaches and college coaches come to you guys. Do you guys get out‑‑ SCOTT FROST: I talk to coaches once in awhile and share some ideas. But we play it pretty close to the vest at Oregon. I guess we kind of figure that we are not going to get as much out of going to other places when we lose and show what we do‑‑ and that might be misguided and sound arrogant but we are comfortable with our scheme and our system and we want to keep it in‑house. Q. How many for spring‑‑ SCOTT FROST: The only guys that get into our practices at all are people that we are really close with that we trust. Q. From what I gathered, Marcus has traveled from Oregon to Tampa, Charlotte, New York, back to Oregon, Hawai'i for Christmas. Have you seen him exhausted from the traveling? SCOTT FROST: Yeah, one day back in Eugene after his whirlwind Marcus Mariota Tour, I think he was just fed up with it and done with it and decided he wasn't going to do any interviews that day. I wouldn't want him to play that card too many times but I certainly understand. I think getting home to Hawai'i for a few days really helped him get centered and get rested and he's shown up down here ready to go. Q. Do you feel like he's just trying to get this over with and just want to get on the field and play? SCOTT FROST: Yeah, he actually told me yesterday, I can't wait to play. So he doesn't like being in front of the cameras and the media. I love him for it. I'm glad we have a guy that doesn't crave those type of things and that type of attention. I think that's part of what makes him happy, and when he's on the football field, that's when he's in his happy place. Q. After winning the track nationals, Devon said he had a lot of people in his ear trying to say, you should be running track, doing this professionally but had not seen what he's done on the football field and he's always said that football is his main priority. Do you think this season has validated that? What have you seen from him? SCOTT FROST: First of all, Oregon, we are one of the few places that tell kids they can actually do two sports and they actually do it. We'll have kids on the baseball team, track team, football team‑‑ I don't see why any kid would not want to give themselves options and excel at more than one thing. I even watch high school kids now that only play one sport so they can try to focus on that. Sometimes the best things you can do are to try to gain skills by playing other sports. To me Devon, he's got a future in both sports and that gives him options. Also makes him who he is. He's a competitor. He's tough. I'd love to see him be an All‑American in football and an Olympic champion in track, and you know, some people might say he can't do that but I think Devon has a mind‑set of why can't I do that. Q. Was there any thought that maybe he might decide to just go track early‑‑ he was saying after he won the nationals, someone called with an opening in the Paris Grand Prix. SCOTT FROST: First of all, I think he's 19 years old. He's young to make a decision to go be a professional at something right now, rather than being in college and part of this, I think might have been a premature and foolish decision. The other thing I would say is most of the people tugging on you in most of those directions are people trying to get something from you, kind of like agents who are around our guys trying to get them to leave college early, trying to get him to take whatever he might have been offered to go run track and miss out on this. Some of those people don't have his best at heart. I'm glad he made the decision he did, and I think he is, too. Q. How much have you broken down film of FSU, anticipating this final four? SCOTT FROST: We didn't really break‑‑ we had tape broken down by our interns, DAs, so we were ready to look at it. None of us looked at any of the tape until after the announcement was made. We still had a bunch of time, more time than we usually have for a game to prepare for a game plan. Same thing, whatever happens in the Rose Bowl game here, we have the tape broken down for the other two. But no coach is going to look at it until we see what happens in this game. Q. Is there any part did Marcus's game that's underappreciated? SCOTT FROST: Well, he just won the Heisman Trophy‑‑ Q. Is there any part that gets overlooked? SCOTT FROST: No, I don't think so. All I hear is some of the‑‑ I would raise my hand and air quotes, but some of the quote, unquote, experts that try to pick apart his game a little bit; I've heard that he's not a good pocket passer, that he doesn't get to his third and fourth reads. Those guys must not have video to be honest with you. There was some media guys at practice the other day and they were marveling at how accurate he was in the pocket. A comparison was made to St Curry shooting free throws. That's what he's like and if you're around him the time you see it. So we kind of laugh when those things are said on television by people that don't know. Listen, he's getting all the credit that he deserves right now, and he's getting more credit than he wants right now, so I don't need to give him any more. Q. Has he given you any opening about coming back next year? SCOTT FROST: I want what's best for Marcus. I think staying this year was a great decision, even though some didn't think it was.  I think coming back and having the kind of year he's had is a dream come true for him. He's going to make a decision with his family based on what's best for him. I think he made it last year. He'll make it this year. I think all of us kind of know what he's thinking and what he's going to do, but with him, hey, nobody knows for sure. Q. Do people want to start picking you apart‑‑ I've heard the same things, Winston, had a brilliant season. Do you have any thoughts on why now all of a sudden‑‑ SCOTT FROST: No, I just think when you're on top for as long as Marcus has been on top of his game and you're one of the best players in college football for as long as he's been, people might get tired of talking about how good you are and start looking for weaknesses. Sometimes guys like Bortles last year might have a little advantage because they pop on to the radar a little later and there's less time to dissect any possible weaknesses. But whatever weaknesses they find many Marcus‑‑ I'll challenge them. Q. How important are your undergraduates? SCOTT FROST: I think our program is the same as every program is: The guys that nobody knows about are vital. I've got two guys, Joe Bernardi, our graduate assistant, Matt Noyer, one of our interns that they keep me on task, they are really organized. Make sure that everything runs smoothly and we have got guys like that throughout the program. I think guys in our program have more fun than in most places because guys in our program don't get yelled at and treated like they are beneath the coaches, which I think they appreciate. Those guys are our friends and they are important to us. Q. Do you have kids who are actually undergraduates, too, who are contributing, helping break things down? SCOTT FROST: Yeah, we have several undergraduate volunteers and those guys are important, too, helping break down tape and helping get everything ready to go and organized for us. Q. Irrespective of what‑‑ SCOTT FROST: I think freshmen a lot of times show up to the program and they kind of dip their toe in the water. The ones that are successful dive in head first and go full speed. Royce did a good job of that. I think about the UCLA game was a turning point for him, both him and Thomas. Both guys we really challenged to go as hard as they can go to hit holes full speed to run downhill, and as good as he was in his first few games, that UCLA game he took a big leap forward. He's been on a mission running the football ever since. Q. At this level‑‑ SCOTT FROST: No, Royce is a confident kid. I don't think he had any problem believing in himself. I just think it takes a while to learn, to really hit it and to let it all go. He was probably playing with the choke on just a little bit early in the season to make sure he didn't make a mistake and he's been full throttle ever since. Q. Do you ever struggle with the battle between being loyal to Oregon and appeasing your career arc? SCOTT FROST: You had to get one in, didn't you. No, I'm loyal to Oregon because I believe in what Oregon does, and I love the guys that I work with and the guys that I coach. And I say that with all honesty. Oregon is a place that I have enjoyed being. Love everything about the program. Love the players I'm coaching. Love the guys I'm working with. That's a hard situation to think about leaving. Q. Has it changed you coming here? You've been in some big time programs, National Championships, NFL; how much have you changed in your experience at Oregon? SCOTT FROST: Well, I can't run as fast as I used to. I've been on a lot of teams, college teams, a couple college teams, six NFL teams in seven years I think, which speaks to the fact that I couldn't stick on very long. Coached on a few college teams now. There's teams where everybody's kind of out for themselves. There's teams where you don't have a lot of fun coming and showing up and doing what you do every day. There's only been a couple teams I've been on that feel like a family. My couple years at Nebraska, that was a family. I think teams that come together and feel that way about each other over achieve. We achieved some great things there. We've achieved great things at Oregon because we have that kind of environment. Q. You won a lot of games at Nebraska and obviously Florida State has won a lot in a row. When you are going through a long winning streak like that, what goes into being able to win week‑after‑week? SCOTT FROST: Well, you've got to have good players. They have got great players. We've got great players. You can't win games without players. Coaches can scheme all you want and give themselves credit all they want. Without players, you're not going to win games. At the same time you've got to be consistent to win that many games. I marvel at what they have done, because they have been in so many close games; they have pulled them all out. Our team has not had as many close games but we fought through a lot of adversity and like I said before, when you get to this point, something's got to give. I think either team could win this game. I think either team could win the other game. I think any of the four could win it all. Just comes down to how the ball bounces and how each team plays in these games. Q. What is it about Florida State's secondary that stands out? SCOTT FROST: Well, they are not extremely complicated. They just do what they do well with really good players. They are fast. I really think Jalen Ramsey, like I said before, is a special player. He's disruptive in a lot of ways. Williams is a fast scrubber corner. And the other three guys in the secondary, you can't overlook them because they are really talented, too. Across the board, it's as athletic a group as we've played. Like I said, we just need to make sure we try to do what we do. If somebody is open for Marcus, he'll find them. Q. What do you think goes into being a good recruiter and how do you differentiate yourself from other recruiters? SCOTT FROST: It's easy to recruit when you believe in the product you're selling. There's places where you're working as a recruiter and don't really believe in it. You want to feel as a recruiter, like if you had a son that you want to send him to the place that you're trying to get them to send their kid to. And I can say without a doubt, that's the way I feel about Oregon: If I was an 18‑year‑old kid coming out as a quarterback, offensive player, I would come to Oregon because I know what it's like and I believe in it and that makes it easy to sell. Aside from that, we pride ourselves in being honest at Oregon, not trying to sell kids on anything, just showing them what we are and the kids that want in, and that we want, it's a good fit. Q. You also have to sell a lit bit of yourself, too, to parents? SCOTT FROST: I think kids are great for the most part of sizing up recruiters pretty fast. And that's why we don't go and try to sell them a bill of goods. I think the right kind of kid would smell that out pretty as a matter of fact. Like I said, all we're ever going to do at Oregon is show them what we have, tell them what we are about, and the ones that want in are going to be a good fit for us. Q. From a coach's perspective, what are the things‑‑ SCOTT FROST: The work environment at Oregon that our players come to, and that we come to, makes it fun to come to work every day. I was talking to a quarterback we used to have in our program that transferred out of the program two nights ago, and he was telling me that you don't know what you have at Oregon until you leave it. Some of these kids don't really understand because they have not been in other programs but there's other places where it's just not fun to come to work every day. And there's nothing I do over the course of my day, any day that I come to Oregon, that I don't enjoy. Q. Do you have a perception of the Florida State program? I ask because it seems like there's a negative image around them and whether it's Jameis or Jimbo, as a coach, do you have a perception of the program? SCOTT FROST: I wouldn't speak to a perception of the program other than they have won a lot of games. I think everybody does things different. They probably approach it a little different than we do; different than Texas, different than UCLA, different than Nebraska, but you have to give them credit for winning the games they have won. Q. Work environment, has that changed at all, the difference between Chip and Mark? What are the differences? SCOTT FROST: My role's changed, so it's changed for me a little bit but both guys made it fun to come to work. We listen to music while we're watching the practice every day in the meeting room. There's jokes lying around the office all the time. Genuinely care about our kids. The kids care about us. They care about each other. We don't work ridiculously long hours. We do what we need to do when we get out of there. Like I said, Mark is always the same guy, so he's not‑‑ win or lose he's going to be the same guy when you show up to work. Those things are rare in this business. Q. The difference in their personalities, are there differences? They seem like different type of guys. SCOTT FROST: They are the same and they are different. Both are extremely intelligent. Both are very reasonable, pragmatic. Both are great problem solvers. Both are great at dealing with young men. They have a little different approach to it but I've got a ton of respect for both guys. Q. What kind of music? SCOTT FROST: Every day we go in there, a different guy gets to pick what station we are going to listen to, so we get a variety. I'm a Zac Brown and Bob Marley guy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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