Karl Dorrell Monday Press Conference Quotes

Colorado Head Football Coach Karl Dorrell
Monday Weekly Press Conference Quotes

General
"It was a good performance. I think our team grew from week one to week two. Winning on the road is always going to be difficult. We felt that our team was ready to play. I was really excited and impressed with what our defense did early in the game. Stanford had a couple of drives early in the first quarter that kept them out of the endzone and at least they kicked field goals. Offensively, we had a little bit of a slower start than we did the first week. Sam (Noyer) threw his first interception. All of those things were in the early portions of the game. The offense eventually settled down and kicked in. The defense allowed for that to happen. The defense played really well. The first two drives we had them kick field goals to get ourselves a chance to get going offensively, which we did. It was a good testament to complimentary football for either side of the ball. I felt we did some really good and positive things."

"Coming out in the second half, the offense was hot. We had the ball and had a chance to make a couple of good quick touchdowns. There was a point in time we had a pretty good lead in the game which is something we have to keep building on and not make those opportunities come closer than they usually have been the last couple of weeks towards the end of the fourth quarter. When you are going through games like that, I think your team learns a lot about themselves, particularly going through it on the road. I felt we did what it took to be successful and finish the game. Defensively, I thought we made a lot of improvements from the previous week. There weren't as many explosive plays. Our run defense was really stout. We try to keep that at bay, so to speak, which is hard to do against a Stanford team. We shored up some of the coverage things that we were plagued with in the first week. We still have some things to continue to clean up in the backend. That is the youth of our defense right now. We had some better performances."

"The thing that we kicked ourselves in the butt about, on the defensive side, was there were five or six guys who had their hands on the ball that could have been turnovers. That is a good thing that we got some hands on some balls, but we need to execute and finish those opportunities because if we did, then the score wouldn't have been as close as it was either. There were definitely some great things for us to work on and improve as we move forward. The team is excited about making the next step."

On The Cancellation Of The Arizona State Game
"We knew that at some point in time it was going to happen where throughout the course of the season there was going to be a no contest. We kind of knew that going into it. We try to stay as healthy as all of our conference members are trying to do. I am concerned about our group and our team. We have done a really fabulous job with our health. We have to continue to stay on that path. It is unfortunate for us coming off of two games where we played well and won games. Now we have a little bit of a pause in the season."

"We had a great discussion about it yesterday. We understand that this was going to be part of the process. We are going to treat this week as a week to really clean up a lot of things that we can do for ourselves, offensively, defensively, and on special teams. We saw what happened to the UCLA and Cal game late in the week where they got an announcement that they were playing (on Sunday). That might happen at some point in time during the week. We are on high alert for anything and everything that could happen in this given week. It is kind of the nature of this year. It is a year where everything can change day-to-day. We are just going to not bat an eye to it and rise to the occasion when we get an opportunity to play and hopefully continue the success we have been having."

On This Week Of Practice
"The biggest thing is that we want to continue to develop our depth and improve schemes, obviously on offense, defense and special teams. We can always improve those areas. I am looking at this fall as really improving our depth and getting some experience at certain positions with guys who haven't played, like some of our freshmen who haven't played. We'd like to get them some experience and playing. Anytime we can do that, with guys who haven't played, it helps their confidence and game experience of what it feels like when they do play. We are going to focus on shoring up the issues that we feel are concerns for us in our program. We will kind of scratch where it itches, so to speak. If there is an itch here about getting things fixed, we are going to address those things. Also, we want to create depth. At some point over the course of the season, whether it is because of COVID or an injury, we want guys who can step in, replace and function really well for us."

On Injury Updates On TE Brady Russell And C Colby Pursell
"Those positions (tight end and center) are nicked up right now. The positive thing, if we don't play, is it gives us a week of recovery in certain aspects that might help some of those guys. Kary (Kutch) played well (at center). He came in and, being a senior because he has played some center snaps before, did some nice things. He started a little bit, I would say, on the low side of his snaps. The snaps in the early part of the game were a little bit low. I think he settled in and played really well. We have been really appreciative of Kary. He has been one of our top offensive linemen who has been so consistent. He is kind of a steady rock for our offensive front. He is kind of the middle of that core. For him to do that just shows you a lot about the confidence he has in himself and the confidence we have in him."

On CB Christian Gonzalez
"He is trending in the right direction. We are working on his confidence. Here is a true freshman who is playing major college football and is starting for us. We feel in time he is going to be one of the best players in our conference with his experience and everything that is in front of him. Right now, he is getting targeted a lot. I told him that after the game. Part of it is he is learning with trial by fire in this conference and this conference throws the football. They are going to go to who they think is a fresh, new, young player that has little experience. They are going to make him earn his metal with all of the stuff that goes with playing. I told him, 'Continue the onslaught. It is going to happen. They are going to continue to go after you, but your technique will improve, and you will get your confidence to where it should be. You will start making more plays on the ball where they become interceptions. All of a sudden they won't be throwing at you anymore." It is one of those processes that most young players have to deal with. It is a trial by fire. I have a lot of confidence in Christian. He is going to be a really, really fine player. He has to get better week after week."

On Approaching A Possible Rescheduled Game Late In The Week
"I don't think it will throw everything out of whack. From my standpoint, I have looked at all the teams and have kind of a preliminary scouting plan for all of our conference members. For that to occur (rescheduling a game) it wouldn't be a tremendous thing for us to shift gears to do just because we have already put some work in all of our conference members that we are playing this season. I think it would be harder to try to play someone out of a conference that you don't have much familiarity with. That is the harder scenario to get that type of game schedule later in the week and all of sudden you are playing someone you are not anticipating. That would be more challenging. We are really taking this a day at a time and not creating a panic opportunity in anything that we do. Anything and everything can happen and literally that is kind of what our approach will be as we move forward. We are going to be ready for anything that comes up and do our best when it does."

On QB Sam Noyer
"I am trying to get the karate kick fixed. I love the kid because he is a competitor. He is trying to do the right things. He is minimizing his mistakes from one week to the next. He has made some ground that way where he didn't make as many mistakes in the first game as he did in this game. He is getting more comfortable. I want to keep coaching him about getting down, protecting himself and not being exposed. I think he took that as I should karate kick whenever someone gets near me. I am going to keep riding him on doing the safer aspects of protecting himself. I am really impressed with what he has done these first two weeks. He threw his first interception and didn't bat an eye about it, lose focus or get down. He just kept fighting and going out there. He quickly goes through the process of talking through it and understanding why he did it and moves on from it. That is what you want. You don't want a quarterback that is going to be lingering on things that have happened in the past. That seems not to be his nature. I am very pleased with how he is progressing, other than protecting himself better. That is going to be a thing we will keep focusing on."

On The Possibility Of Playing A Non-Conference Opponent
"I haven't heard anything yet. I know that is being discussed right now. Coaches aren't usually involved in that. It is the ADs (Athletic Directors), presidents and chancellors. That is the higher level and next level from me. I know there is a possibility that that might happen. I am not sure if that conference is willing to do that but we are going to explore all options. I know Rick George is going to be exploring every option he has at our disposal to see what happens. I actually expressed that with the team too. We could possibly be playing someone out of conference this week. We have to be ready in a moment's notice. We are all on high alert on anything and everything. I haven't heard of anything as of today. I would like to continue to play. There is a real possibility with what happened last week. There were a couple of games involved last week that allowed Cal and UCLA to play late in the week. We just have to see how every conference member's health is this week. That scenario might show up again. It might be a conference team or might be someone out of conference. I definitely want to play."

On RB Ashaad Clayton
"I think he is progressing really well. We have a number of freshmen, including Ashaad, that are playing. We want those guys to play. I would love for Ashaad to get more time and experience. He is a really good player just like a number of our freshmen are. We would love for our guys to gain more experience this year so they can use that as a feather in their cap next fall. We want to continue to bring his development along as well as a number of freshmen that we are playing."

On Developing Players
"Our coaches are doing a great job of developing our players. I think that is the biggest part of our success and continued success as we build our program and continue to develop our depth. We try to live with the next man up scenario. We understand that this game is a physical game. You are going to lose players and want guys ready to play. Development is critical. (Offensive linemen) Chance Lytle, a guy who is an older player, has gotten much, much better over the time I have been here. I watched him play on film last year. He has had some time and some experience. I watched him as a player in our fall camp before the season and he is a completely different player as I saw last fall. He is more competitive and confident in who he is. I think he understands what we are trying to build, and he is getting better. He had a chance to start his first game last week and played well. Our theory with our team is to develop our depth. Guys are going to go down and we are going to have to have guys come in and step up and understand that we are expecting the same type of production of guys who have started. So far, it has worked pretty well for us. We are going to continue to do that developmental piece."

On RB Jaren Mangham
"He has had a combination of a couple of things. His footwork and reads are sometimes not as consistent as they should be. The other part of that equation is he has gotten some opportunities where there wasn't as much space as other players. It is a combination of both. In either case, we have to get better. We understand that we want to have a balanced run attack. Jarek (Broussard) has done a nice job in the last two games in creating some production, running hard and doing some really good things. Jaren is a different player than Jarek. The style is different. They are different sizes and all of those things. It is a combination of a number of things. We want to play the guys who are going to be productive for us. That position is going to stay really competitive throughout the week. I think practicing is part of the evaluation for who the rotation goes to and things of that nature. It is a very, very competitive area because we have really good backs. Joe Davis didn't have any snaps, but he had a really good camp. We already mentioned Ashaad Clayton getting a snap. We have some hungry players that want to play. The guys who are above those guys have to continue to produce or else, you know what, we are going to go to the next guy. It is that type of competitive situation that I think will foster for that room to stay competitive and get better."

On Expectations For WR Brenden Rice
"It is always unfair when you have a famous dad (Jerry Rice) that is an All-everything, Hall of Famer, and all of that stuff. If you talk to the kid, he wants to stake his own claim. He wants to be who he is and not necessarily off of the coattails of his dad. I don't blame him. I want him to be him. Brenden Rice is a really good player. He has a chance to have his own great career and he is going to do it on his own merit, not on the merits or coattails of anything else. He has handled that really well. He is a very determined kid and a very competitive kid. I am a Brenden Rice fan. He has a chance to be a very good player and is on course, if he continues to trend like he is going, to be an excellent player on his own right."

On QB Tyler Lytle Not Appearing Against Stanford
"It was more the flow of the game. I talked to Tyler right away. I am a big communicator when those types of things happen, particularly right after the game. That wasn't my intention of not getting him in there. It was just from what I was feeling in the flow of the game at that point and time. He completely understood it. I am a big about addressing those things right away. He gets it. There is a chance this week that he will get a chance to play. He knows what my intentions are. It was basically just the flow of the game."

On Noyer Recognizing The Blitz On The TD To Rice
"He (Noyer) saw it and actually pointed at it and gave him (Rice) a nod like, 'I see he is coming.' They made the mistake of not having the safety rotate over the top. It was a great read for both Sam and Brenden to be on the same page. It was a well-executed play. They were both on the same page about it."

Colorado University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Ashaad Clayton

Joe Davis

Christian Gonzalez

Chance Lytle

Tyler Lytle

Jaren Mangham

Sam Noyer

Colby Pursell

Brenden Rice

Brady Russell

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