	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: FLORIDA VS VIRGINIA

December 27, 2019

Nick Howell

Miami Gardens, Florida

Q. (Question on Kyle Trask?)
NICK HOWELL: Yeah, I think he just fits really well in the scheme that they're doing. I think if you're a quarterback and you drop back and it's not a guy or two guys but multiple guys that you can throw the ball to in a scheme that is really good, he has a lot of options, he's a big-bodied kid, know what I mean? He's not going down easy. He's got a really strong arm. So those are the things that stand out to me.

Q. Dan Mullen as a play caller, he's pretty (indiscernible).
NICK HOWELL: I mean, each week you analyze schematics and things like that, and there's a heightened level of stress with each scheme that you play against. I think it comes down to what you do well with the players that you have, and then what are the complements to it that make it hard. So it's really difficult to, like hone in on one thing, and I think that's the mark of a good scheme, where all options are available, stress laterally, vertically, all those things are present. So yeah, they do a good job. They do a really good job.

Q. (Indiscernible).
NICK HOWELL: I mean, I think these guys are more sophisticated in their pass game. But I think a lot depends on the quarterback, as well. They're doing things that are really good for this quarterback and the quarterback that they had previously, which are pretty similar. So I think that their ability to adapt to that quarterback has been good. So have we played somebody like this this year? I don't think so. You know, it's not as RPO-ish. There is some, but this guy is more of a drop back, get the ball to guys, different route concepts. So yeah, this is definitely I would say different than others that we've faced.

Q. Is it harder to game plan for a team like that (indiscernible)?
NICK HOWELL: I think it can be challenging for sure. I think it can be challenging, because yeah, just like you said, the focus is on really defending the whole entire field versus a guy. Yeah, call it -- it's been rare where you go into a game and you say, man, we can just do this or do that. There's so many good teams out there and so many complements to the plays that they run. But these guys do a really good job of spreading the ball out and making that a challenge for sure.

Q. What do you take from the Clemson game?
NICK HOWELL: I mean, I think every learning experience, even though that was not a good experience, you know, you take the things that you learn, you can make that a positive experience. The bottom line is we did not play well, and we did not put our best foot forward. So when you watch that individually and collectively with the group and you see guys not playing, putting their best out there, that's hard to watch, and that's hard to live with.

What we talked about is going through each specific play with each particular player and each particular position group and just assess, did we play our best right there, and oftentimes and in most cases, we didn't play our best. So the challenge and the focus -- and we had not done that all year, and Clemson, obviously give them credit, they're a good football team, and they're a better team than we are right now, but you'd like that to have been a closer football game. You'd like for our kids to put it out there. One thing we talk about a lot is just -- like when you do your very best and you lay it out there, there's really nothing else you can do. The outcome is the outcome. We talk about surrendering the outcome and going out there and playing as hard as you possibly can, and that did not happen, so hopefully we take that away from that.

Q. (Inaudible.)
NICK HOWELL: Yeah, I hope so. You hope the kids are ready to go and play, and yeah, you hope they're ready for this situation and that they learned from that experience, and that's the hope for sure.

Q. Have you seen an edge?
NICK HOWELL: From our guys? We practice with edge all the time. I don't know if you guys have been to any of our practices, but there's nothing easy about it. Dudes are getting challenged at every turn, and I think that's what's built this program. I think our program is built on edge. We're not going to walk in and shy away from anybody. The result is not always the result that you're going to get, but our guys are trained to play with an edge, and that's who they are, and that's what has gotten them -- we didn't get to this point by not playing with an edge. But a lot of those games we won. If you look at a lot of the games we've won over the past couple seasons, those are close football games. That's courage. It takes courage to step up and make a play in a big time situation. The hope is that we play with edge in this game. I want to play with edge every game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297