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ROSE BOWL GAME: GEORGIA VS OKLAHOMADecember 28, 2017Jim ChaneyPasadena, California Q. What's the difference -- JIM CHANEY: You say what, what do you want to change -- what change, wide out over there -- I want to block that. I just want to block better. And it's a year later and you ask me what's the difference last year to this year, we blocked. Yeah, we've got some talented kids carrying the ball but at the end of the day we blocked better. On offense, that's an admirable thing to buy into. So I'm tickled with that. Our kids understand that to play, they have to block and that's been good and our wide receivers have understood that role and when they get a chance to make a play, they have for the most part. People always ask: What's going to happen when you have to throw it 40 times a game? Hell, I don't know the answer to that but if we have to do it, I am not at all scared of that scenario because I think the kid is pulling the trigger, has a great brain and makes good decisions. If it gets to that, it gets to that. I'd prefer it not to but if it does, it does. Q. I sigh earlier said on the blocking, it took him awhile to adjust to Sam's coaching style. Doing something different scheme-wise or is that a natural change? JIM CHANEY: I think just talking about familiarity. I mentioned it to the other guys. When you are two years with a set of people, three years -- everybody tries to make us do something different than y'all's job. When you're working with somebody for two years you understand what pisses them off and what doesn't and you understand the dynamics of the workplace. That's what's taking place now. There's a lot of familiarity with what we do and we all know one another and we understand that we share one common thing and that is to put Georgia football in the relevance and win a championship in the SEC and move on and we did. Q. How much more RPO are you running this season than last year? JIM CHANEY: Four or five a game. Six or seven a game, something like that. Q. Not really significant? JIM CHANEY: No, it isn't. You can't look at our success and say, oh, changing to the RPOs, that dumb ass didn't do a year ago (Laughter). Sorry, didn't mean to ruin your article. I'm sure there's some merit to it. (Laughter). At the end of the day, I think the RPOs are a good part of football but I've had to learn a lot the last year or two. I'm tickled that we are doing them. Is it the savior to everything? Not really, not when you're outnumbered in the box and it's man-free press everywhere in our league and they say you can't run it. What we have been able to do is say, oh, yeah, we can and we're going to go try it anyway and been able to have success with that. We have a little bully-bully identity but doesn't always have to be that way. Q. How has Isaiah had so much success? JIM CHANEY: He's got very good hands and extremely quick feet and strong, so he puts his body any position to make plays. He gets the game of football and he plays at a pace that not many people can keep up with. He's fast. He plays hard and he's just got -- he's a good athlete. So the athleticism takes over. His tenacity is what makes him who he is. You look at the all-league teams and all that stuff; we've got good players but we don't have seven first-team All-Americans out there playing for us. Our guys, they play for each other and they play really hard and as a coach, try not to get in their way as a coach and let them play hard and I think we have been able to do that better this year than the previous. Q. Was there a moment for you -- JIM CHANEY: You know, I don't think it was ever premeditated. We went up and then Jacob wasn't healthy yet and we came up and beat Notre Dame and came back home and won another ballgame and you could see us starting to click and the ball starting to move down the field. It was a good formula at that time. We never predetermined anything. But you couldn't make that change until we got Jacob healthy and back because it wouldn't have been the right thing at the time. Q. The separation -- JIM CHANEY: I wouldn't argue it was significant, but it was such that we didn't feel comfortable in the other direction at the beginning of the App State game. Q. And what changed? JIM CHANEY: Playing. Got on the field and performed. It's always performance-based. As y'all know, he went out on the field and performed at a really high level. So when you're doing that at that spot and you're moving the field, it's hard to make a change at that spot. Q. How have you managed, a lot of quarterbacks will transfer immediately when they are not the starter anymore. How have you navigated that and have you had talks? JIM CHANEY: We have not spoke about that. Jacob, like I mentioned in there, he has handled this situation as good as any human being could ever handle it. Because I mean, it's been hard on him. I know it has. It's been difficult. I love him to death. He's a wonderful young man but that's all I really like it talk about with that because he's a great kid and it ain't about him; it's about our football team. Q. You've been around a long time. Can you put in perspective what it's like to have two backs like that in your backfield? JIM CHANEY: I like to have one. Once again, those two set the tone every game. They are a little different. They have a little different style, which always helps. You don't want two cookie cutters back there. They have the ability to break the game open at any time and it's been fun to have them. You know, no matter who we put in at running back throughout the season, every one of those kids had a good amount of success and a lot of that at the line, they are blocking hard. Those boys are fresh, when you have an abundance of tailbacks like we have, some teams have wide outs and we happen to have running backs. We don't beat them up in practice, so they go to the games pretty fresh and that helps a lot. Q. Going back to Jacob, how important was his preparation in the off-season to put him in that position? JIM CHANEY: Very. Q. The competition -- JIM CHANEY: It's the same old stuff. We get in the off-season, it's all back to who is going to win the spot. That's the way it is and the way Kirby makes it and that's the way we want it to be. We want to have as much competition in every room as we possibly can and may the best player win the job. We have no preconceived nothing. Obviously when a player has played, he has a little more form than the other guys have because he's been on the field and performed and understands it. But Jacob has got a season under him, also. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I can't guess. But I know this: I love both those kids and Georgia will play the person that's right at that spot. Q. Has Jacob surprised you with what he's been able to do at this point? JIM CHANEY: No, I wouldn't say that. I think midway through spring ball, you could see some of the traits that he had that were uncanny, his timing, anticipation. He could see the field well. Just the little things. I'm not trying to sound cliché but a lot of times with young kids, you don't see the field the way he does. He sees things and quite honestly puts the game forward faster and farther than some of the players around him, so he's got to be careful -- "Coach, I can go right over here and do that." "I know you can, but he don't know what the hell you're talking about. Slow down a little bit." That's always a pleasure as a coach. That position doesn't have to be your governor. Q. Has anything the way he's played surprised you -- JIM CHANEY: I think people don't give enough credit to throwing the ball down the field. He's a freshman out there playing with the big boys and doing a hell of a job. Q. What do you remember about that process -- JIM CHANEY: Not much. I remember Trey coming around and being around a little bit but I don't remember. Q. The downfield throwing, does that bother you that he has that perception that that's -- JIM CHANEY: Not much bothers me. Perception, it doesn't bother me a bit, it really doesn't. I think I know him about as well as as anybody knows me. I'm comfortable with what he can do physically. Q. Is there anything you don't call? JIM CHANEY: Not really. Not a lot of triple-option but that would be about it. But I don't think that he's going to go out there and out-run everybody in the end zone but I think he's proven through the season, he can run the ball when we've asked him to but I don't think he's a kid that's going to run ten times a game. Q. Is that being a true freshman? JIM CHANEY: I think it's an innate thing that he has that a lot of them don't have. I don't care, you can coach till you're blue in the face. Some kids just can't see it, don't feel it, don't get it. He just happens to be that kid that sees it, feels it, gets it. Makes it easy for me. I think as a coach you want to be put in a position where you can go out and have an opportunity to win all your games. There's so many players around, and high school coaches in Georgia do a great job, as they do out here. But we're the home boys there in Georgia, and we feel like we can go up with anybody in the country but largely we want to recruit in our state. If we can keep the good boys in our state home, we feel like we'll always be able to be in a compete with anybody we play. That's what we want to do and as a coach that's all I ever want to do is have that opportunity. Q. Inaudible. JIM CHANEY: There's too many to even bring up. Q. What were you talking about in there -- JIM CHANEY: Well, I think he'll admit to the Tennessee early in that ballgame he took a Pick-Six early. The game, the lights, everything was fast. Everything was going fast for him. Usually it takes these kids four or five games to calm down and get to the speed. But it was probably that game before the speed really -- I don't know why it was that day but it's going to rear it's head and it did early in that ballgame and it was probably -- and he would tell you this, too, midway through the second quarter before that game finally went -- and when it went, phew. We went, phew. I don't know why it happened to be at Tennessee. I think couldn't be because there are 105,000 orange people throwing crap at you. Q. The RPOs, did you speak with Lincoln -- JIM CHANEY: Oh, yeah, I talk with Lincoln. He's a smart guy. He's fun to be around football-wise. Overall football -- that's why they are always here. They get the game of football and Lincoln Riley is a wonderful coach. He does a great job. Doesn't shock anybody in the football world that he got the job and they are where they are at today. I think that he gets the game of football. He understands players, where they are at. They do a great job. Q. Was there anything when you came in to Oklahoma -- JIM CHANEY: No, it was just general, just talking football. I wouldn't get specific, give away all the tips -- no, it wasn't. It was more generic talk than anything. Q. How much did it shift things when Jake becomes the quarterback, maybe simplify things -- JIM CHANEY: Never had to do any of it. I don't feel like I had to alter anything when he became the quarterback. We test our kids all the time on their knowledge of what we're trying to get done but he got it all. There was no -- I never felt like I had to slow down for him a bit. For me, nothing, I just call base plays. To the defense, now they have got a fresh set of legs and a 215-pound kid to tackle who is explosive and good. He's a talented young man. I'm telling you,, you put him and DaQuan and Andrew Thomas, our right tackle, those three true freshmen, they're dandies. You've got a good one at all levels, it's fun to watch those guys. I mean, people don't even talk about Andrew Thomas but you don't talk about that because he owned that right tackle spot all year long. Did an incredible job. And he had to play through some bumps and bruises that freshmen, usually, oh, God, I can't do nothing. Shut up, you're fine. But he is an incredible player and a very good, tough kid. I'm glad he's with us. Q. The freshmen right tackle and then you had two different redshirt freshmen -- do you ever look out there and go, what the hell am I doing? JIM CHANEY: No. Because I look on the bench and there's nobody else. If there was two great seniors over there -- (Laughter). No, I think there was always competition. When I say that, I don't make light of that because Solly was playing a lot and by the end of the season we felt like Ben was playing better so Ben took the job over by game eight. It's competitive every day at our place. We don't care as a coaching staff who is playing. Whoever earns that right to get on the field will be the guy playing. Q. How do you keep -- JIM CHANEY: I don't know, I guess tell jokes (Laughter). Seems to me like their job is to get me happy, now all the recruiting and stuff is behind us, now the rubber hits the road, go out there and do it. I think you talk to any coach, what they want is if on offense, if we have the most competitive offense line room in the country; the most competitive tight end room in the country; running back, wide receivers, quarterback, I bet you we're going to be pretty good on offense and that's what we're trying to do that way. And I think by the fact that we can show these kids in recruiting that, hey, we don't give a rat's butt who plays; that's why we have been able to continue down the path of recruiting some high-profile players. Q. How well far back do you go with Lincoln? JIM CHANEY: Not very. I met him this summer. Q. The No. 2 running back in the history of the SEC, No. 3 running back at Georgia -- people are talking about the story for next year. Also have finally a quarterback with more than one year's experience -- JIM CHANEY: Unless we go back to the other way. Once again you're going to ask the question about me determining the question. I will say this: You'd be a fool to think that we are going to lose those two running backs and not feel a little pain there. Those kids are talented boys. We are going to miss Isaiah on the left tackle spot. These are good football players that we will have no longer, and it's time. They have done their job at Georgia and done a wonderful job so we wish them nothing but the best. Now a new team begins. It will be fun. We've got a couple other guys signed to come in, so let it go. We don't care. Get as much competitive as we can and let them roll. I got a kick out of when Lane and those guys were at Southern California, still get running backs. Why? I only had two, the other kid came. I thought, how is that happening. Those kids are going to be in competitive environments and always want to be in those positions. So it's fun. Q. The combination of Sony and Nick -- JIM CHANEY: You know, I didn't study those guys enough. But I know they are both half-backs and they are both very good football players. I was trying to work out two halfback system and we looked at those guys the way they used them. I would say there's some comparisons there. Mike would probably know better than I on that. One is heavy. One is a little more flexible. Nick is a little more fast like Sony. Nick is a bigger, stronger guy like the other kid. So I'd probably agree with him but I haven't studied enough to know. I know I like my two and I'm sure they like those two when they were playing. Q. After a third year of being offensive coordinator, how did you forget he's a tight end this year? JIM CHANEY: Well, good question. I don't know. That's one ball out there. I tell those kids that at the beginning of the season. One person is going to like me and the rest ain't going to like me. That's just kind of the way it is. I think it's just the nature of our best and how we unfolded and the identity we took on and we went with it. Next year, who knows, might be back to being a multiple tight end. We still use multiple tight ends, just not throwing the ball as much as we have. When we do, it's productive. We just haven't felt the need to do that. Q. The second back -- JIM CHANEY: I prefer to talk about that. Q. The first time, how did you -- JIM CHANEY: Well, there's a lot. We spent a lot of time after that first game game planning, basically, Auburn again to make sure we didn't make the same mistakes twice, with anticipation that it might very well get back to them in the SEC Championship Game and it worked out for us. We had a pretty good understanding at the start of the Championship Game week of the direction we wanted to go different than the first time we tried. I think it worked. I think Auburn is a team that's extremely talented with the front seven, and I probably tried to play a little too much bully ball with them early on. At the end of the day, on at that given day, I don't know who was going to beat them that day. They had their A Game rolling and we weren't playing as well as we should. They got us pretty good. Q. What is Taylor like? JIM CHANEY: A kind, humble good man. Really appreciated and respected the game, the game. He concentrated a lot at one o'clock on Saturday and didn't get caught up in all the B.S. you think about it, I was blessed to work nine years with Gene Murphy who was all about the joy of football; and then with Joe who was all about the business side of getting it right on game day. I'm really blessed to be that way, to have that background. It's served me well. I know I've always tried to have a lot of fun with the game of football. But it's not always fun. The stakes have gotten higher and the consequences for losing have become more difficult to deal with. It's very difficult. But those two -- my foundation was those two, helped me get through a lot of things. They are good people. But Joey would say is a kind man that really appreciated and respected the game of football. One of my favorite memories was when we first took the job when Lloyd said, they can't run that style of offense in the Big Ten. We just came from Laramie, Wyoming and I'm thinking, if you can do it in Laramie, Wyoming, there's no place like Laramie, Wyoming. I'm not bashing Wyoming. But the thought that we couldn't do it there -- and it's been tried. The Northwestern staff tried it. I just think that we had a good foundation on how we wanted to do it, and what happened, we struck lightning in a bottle with a serious quarterback and the rest is history. We had good linemen and and we had quarterbacks. When you have that, you find enough points to win. I don't think our defense or what Brock did there gets near enough credit. Those guys did a great job. When the guys go to the NFL, I stay away from them. They get pulled so many different ways. I talk to Drew very seldom. He does his life. I'm sure some day we'll get caught up and have fun and laugh a little bit, but right now, I'm trying to figure this thing out and he's trying to do that. Once again, when they go to that league, it's just crazy. I see a guy, same guy I watched play as a high school senior, licking his finger, trying to look over the top of his helmet. He ain't changed. Q. What do you see in Oklahoma from your perspective? JIM CHANEY: You know, I don't study Oklahoma's offense. I'll start with that. But I am familiar with their numbers they put up this year. I think what Lincoln is doing probably as good as anybody is getting players out in space and making people tackle in open field. Tackling is a lot of art it seems to me a little bit like and they are doing that as good as anybody, being out there and open it up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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