Karl Dorrell Monday Press Conference Quotes

Colorado Head Football Coach Karl Dorrell
Monday Weekly Press Conference Quotes

General
"We had our meetings with our players last night for our game on Saturday. We had a consensus and felt that San Diego State was a really good team, particularly on the defensive side. They have done a tremendous job with their scheme. It has been a very good scheme for them for a number of years, even when Rocky Long was the head coach. They are pretty stingy on defense. We had some hard-earned yards in the rushing game with Jarek (Broussard). He made some plays when some plays were not made in terms of blocking very well. He has done a nice job of finding creases and finding ways to extend for more yards. That is what makes him special. He is able to see those things, adjust, and has good vision to find creases and things like that. We felt defensively, they were a really good team. We knew that on offense they had been struggling with the quarterback position. They have had a number of players that played quarterback. Anytime, just like myself, there is a first-year head coach and quarterback, you are trying to get your offensive rhythm and system to a consistent level, and it has been a big part of their challenge. Defensively, we have gotten much, much better. The work over the bye week, or pause week, we worked on a lot of issues to try to fix some things. I think it was evident that a lot of those things were shored up. We played much better with a great coverage scheme. We felt like our front is continuing to get better and our depth is getting better up front. We feel like the process on the defensive side is really doing some very positive things for us as we work through this season. We hope to continue that trend, particularly getting some things resolved offensively. We will get a chance to get a couple of players hopefully back this week. We will see how the week goes and what we were missing in the last game and go from there. It was a good win. All we had with our players was one big walk-through, then they had to play. I felt like they made all the adjustments that we needed to make that was given in our game plan going into USC. We had to quickly revamp everything. I thought our players responded and did a good job. We are fortunate to get the win. Now we are off to the Arizona week. Hopefully everything goes according to plan this week."

On Nate Landman Earning National Defensive Player Of The Week
"Nate had been a really good player prior to me being here. I am glad he is off to a tremendous start to the season. He is playing really well. He's one of the leaders of, not only the defense, but of our football team. He embodies everything that I envision our program to be. He shows the commitment, toughness, work-study, and everything that allows him to play at a high level. He is a great example of what I envision this program to be in a short period of time and everyone having that type of likeness. I am very proud of what he has done. I know in his mind he knows he can be better which is a great attribute for a player of his caliber. We are hoping he continues his play over the next few games. We'll see how that works out. The things he has garnered for himself are well deserved on his part. We are hoping people recognize that and it looks like there is some recognition going on."

On Having A Balanced Offense
"We want to be a team that is very balanced on offense, has the ability to run the football and has some great passing concepts and getting some plays in our passing game. For the most part, that is the style of play that is really important for us to have that balance and to be able to make sure the defense is defending all areas from what we do from an offensive perspective. I think the same thing defensively. We have to be good against the run. We have to be good in coverage. We are making a number of positive changes and improvements in those areas on our defensive side. It is definitely working in that direction. We want a sound system of play where we are playing hard and physical. Those are the attributes of what I want this program to be. We are working progressively in that direction."

On The Importance Of No Excuses To Having Success
"It has been a big part. From day one, the thought process in mind was this team felt like they were capable of winning and having success right now. That was my very first press conference with this football team and when I had my first team meeting. What we came out of that meeting was, to do those things, we have to work hard, trust ourselves and what we are doing, have great preparations and not use any of the outside elements as a deterrent to our success and what we are trying to build in our program. I didn't want to make excuses early. We don't make excuses. We are going to do the best we can with what we have in our program. We feel like we have really capable players. They are proving that. We are trying to build the depth and standard of how we play. Everything is geared on maximizing our potential with what we have here in this building. That is the mindset the whole team understands and has bought into. Everybody has a role. Everybody has something they can do to help us be better. The team has bought into that mindset."

On C Kary Kutsch
"We are really working with Kary. He struggled some with exchanges in the game, particularly this last game. We are working to get those things eliminated or minimized as best we can. He is not a natural center. That is not a position he has played extensively. He has made those adjustments very well for us offensively because of need. He is a really good player. We wouldn't put just anybody at center if we didn't think they could handle it. We know he can handle it. It is just him getting more intensive work on some of those elements. He is willing to do whatever it takes for us to be successful until we get our health back. We are going to continue to work on that process of helping him, particularly the snapping, and helping get those things addressed as we go along and hopefully, he'll get better and better each week."

On The Layout Of A Week Of Practice
"Sunday is our film day to go over our corrections and adjustments and all those things we want to address right away after a game to get them talked about, fixed and to move forward to the next week. Sunday is built for that. It is also built for, what we call, restoration which is getting our guys in the training rooms, in the recovery pools, and doing all the prehab things to get them ready for the next week. Sunday is a big day for that. They are here most of the day on Sunday doing stuff like that. It is not practice but more getting ready for the upcoming week. Monday is a big game plan day for the coaches. We use Monday for primarily getting our plans together for the early part of preparation and getting the base systems right and how we want it for that opponent. We get a chance to practice and continue to game plan and put things in as the week unfolds. I know a lot of teams probably do it differently. It is a way I have done it which is probably more NFL driven which is what I have been in the past 12 years, but I think it works well. It gives them a chance to recover and gives us a chance to work. The work we do on the field, we try not to waste any reps. We do everything in a fashion that allows for us to be fresh and ready to go at the end of the week."

On Building Confidence
"That is what you want. When you are having success and winning games, even though they haven't been perfect wins in terms of perfect execution, there are standards we are trying to establish in our style of play in every phase. Their confidence is getting better and rightfully so. It should be. We are a good football team. We know that we can be better. We always point out the things that need to be addressed, fixed and work on to get us to be better in everything that we do. Our confidence and growth are growing faster because we are having success and finding ways to win, even though it hasn't been perfect. They see the big picture of what it should look like. We are trying to, as coaches, continue to sharpen and home in on those systems so we are playing as efficiently and effectively as we can."

On The Running Back Group
"It is a good problem to have in a lot of ways, but I know it is frustrating probably from the player's end. We have good depth in the backfield. We have a lot of confidence in all of those guys. That position, at any level, you want to keep the hot guy going. Jarek has been tremendous these first three games. He is a big part of our success in terms of how we are able to run the football. Those other guys have to be ready when their number is called. It is kind of the nature of that position. There is usually some type of rotation there. We have four really good, quality running backs. We had two that played last week, and we didn't get the other two in. The goal is to try to get everybody a chance to show themselves. Sometimes it doesn't go out on paper as you would want it to in the course of a game. It is difficult on the players side because they want to prove and show that they have the ability to help this team. You want that attitude, and you want them to be determined, driven, and confident that they can do that. It is something that is difficult to manage and we have to continue to massage that as we move forward. The best thing we can do is to make sure we are in constant communication as to what our process is and why it is. They do have an understanding of why. Jarek is playing well. He is proving that up to this point. He is a big part of that. All of the other guys are hungry to get in there too. It is one of those things where it is a good problem to have but I understand the players side to it. I do."

"We judge it week to week. Joe (Davis) had a great week after practice last week and I put him in the two spot last week. The same thing can happen with Jaren (Mangham) and Ashaad (Clayton). Both of those guys, and everybody, are really practicing hard. They have already proven to us they are really good backs that can help us be successful. It is a position that does get nicked because of the carries and pounding they get a lot of the time. They do understand that their number can be called at any point in time. It can happen after the first play of the game where someone goes down and someone has to step up. We do have the depth that we feel can keep us moving in a fashion that can keep us rolling systematically. It is one of those things where they have to be ready when their number is called. They understand it. It is judged during the week in terms of how good of practices they have had. We end the week by figuring out, 'Okay, we are going to roll out with "so-and-so" and "so-and-so".' We judge it by the preparation, practices, and what it looks like at the end of the week where the rotation would start."

On Updates On STAR Chris Miller and NT Jalen Sami
"We have guys that are a little bit nicked. Chris has been dealing with his shoulder injury for a while. It set him out a couple of games ago. He missed some time and got back into practice the last couple of weeks. He played again this week and dinged it again and was out. That is something that will be plaguing Chris for the rest of the season. It is one of the things that he is trying to manage, and we are trying to manage for him to get back onto the field. It is still kind of a process of working with him week to week to see where his health is and what we can do with him as we go. With Jalen (Sami), he had an ankle sprain. He is fine. He is able to do everything from a productive standpoint and what he needs to do for his position. We didn't want to put too much on him. He is still a little bit dinged. He should be better this week where he will get more playing time. We have some depth and don't want to play an injured guy if he is not full speed yet with playing with the other people in our depth. You saw Janaz Jordan play quite a bit last week. We are really encouraged by that. We are creating depth on our defensive line. We don't want to put players out there that are at harm's way. If they can't play at a level that is important for us to be successful, we feel we have the depth that can do the job. That was the case in dealing with Jalen. Janaz had some snaps and played well. It is good to know we have a couple of good inside players in there in case one gets nicked up we have another one who can fill the role and do it well."

On Arizona
"They are trying to get themselves right and get their ship right and going in the right direction. They are a very good football team just like they have been in past years. They have just had a little bit of a rough start. They had a quarterback issue last game against UCLA where a freshman quarterback came in and played. They are very capable of having any kind of explosive offensive production at any moment. We have to make sure we are still defending the offense in terms of what their capabilities are, try to minimize the big play impacts that they do, understand what they try to do, and set our systems in place to combat all of those things. We have to be aware of those things. It makes any week, particularly a team like them, they can come out and do something that is different. They are at a point where they might try doing different things that they haven't shown yet. We have to be aware of those things. We have an understanding that they are trying to get things in a fashion that allows them to be successful. Our goal is to minimize that and defend them the way we need to defend them, so they don't get those types of opportunities to make some plays on us. I think offensively, we have enough working to do to shore up some things. We've had a few that are missing in terms of injuries. We have had some guys that have stepped up playing and are getting better. We have to continue to build our offense to be productive in the ways they have been productive. Arizona is at a point where I'm sure they are trying to create a spark and trying to create something for themselves to get the team back excited about playing, winning, and all of those things. We have to do a great job of defending and producing plays offensively so that we can do the things that were conducive to our success."

Colorado University Athletics

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Chris Miller

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