Scott Satterfield Notebook | 8.26
Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield spoke on Monday about fall camp and the upcoming matchup with Notre Dame.
On personnel:
“I know we are still about a week out from today and we haven’t exchanged depth charts as of today. I think that’s going to happen in the next couple of days, so we really can’t talk much about depth chart issues from either side or either team, us or them. Once we get that we will put that out mid-week and then we will know more about that.
“Jordan Davis our tight end he will miss the first two games. When we first got here, he was going to be put on academic probation and miss the first four games, but then got enough hours to where they cut it back to two games which hurts our tight ends a little bit there. He has been practicing and looking good, doing a lot of good things. He will be back for our third game of the season.
“Then PJ Blue is a player that got hurt about a week ago. He hurt his knee. We found out that it was an ACL, so he will be out for about the rest of the season. He has had surgery and getting that thing back on the mend. Those are two things we needed to put there, and I think overall coming out of camp we are healthy. PJ Blue is out for the season, and everyone else will be back. A couple other guys that have been dinged will be back here in a week or two. Malik (Cunningham) is back at practice. He came back 3 or 4 practices ago and every day he is doing more and more so he will be back in the mix.”
On emphasis of tackling well:
“Looking at the rest of the team, we are healthy coming out of camp even though it was a physical camp. Looking at the number of scrimmages plays we have tackling, I think that’s a big issue coming out of camp and the start of the season is the tackling part. As you watch that Saturday night that Florida Miami game you notice it wasn’t great tackling out there. Both defenses flew around, were fast, but you could see a lot of missed tackles out there and I think that’s just early in the season just what you are going to see from a lot of teams that just the way we practice now. That’s the one thing that is the unknown just the tackling, also the sloppiness of the game.
“The NFL gets so many preseason games and in college, we don’t get that. We have to scrimmage each other then all of a sudden you’re coming out and playing a game and you don’t look as sharp as you would like to look and as a coach your shaking your head. I’m talking pre-snap penalties, and that’s the one thing we are trying to harp on is playing a clean game, taking care of the football, eliminating those penalties, I think that is huge and gives you a chance. Were excited about heading into this week and getting ready to play for Notre Dame.”
On quarterbacks Juwan Pass and Malik Cunningham and if Cunningham will play against Notre Dame:
“With the time that Malik has missed, Jawon will start for us. A lot of it depends on what he does in the next couple of days. He's looking good. I mean he is throwing the ball; he is doing a lot of good things. With Malik, his strength is running, and you want to be able to do that 100 percent so well know a lot more of it come the end of the week.
“Evan (Conley) has gotten a lot of reps throughout and the benefit for him is he just gets thrown into the fire throughout practice and for a true freshman that’s always difficult. He has done a great job with that, learning our offense and making all the reads and that type of game but he obviously has never played a game, but he will obviously be there and be available.”
On if he can take anything from the App. State upset of Michigan and incorporate that to the Notre Dame game:
“I think that it was completely two different scenarios in the fact that we were a team back then that had just come off two national champions and we were rolling. We were a good football team even though we were at a lesser level. I think we had only 58 players on scholarship, but you know they were accustomed to winning and playing hard. We are all new here all the staff, and everything is new, so it's kind off hard to correlate that you know. The fact that we were a big underdog and playing a well-known team that’s coming in here I think that’s the correlation and it might stop right there.
“We have not seen our guys play a game yet. We don’t know how they are going to go out and react in a game situation. All the preparation we have put in we have a good idea, but we don’t fully know until we put the ball down and snap the ball and see what happens. This is a great opportunity for our guys to go out and showcase what they have been working hard to do and play. As coaches, we are anxious to get out there and see everybody, lets put this ball down and play the game. I think anytime you go through a camp like this in the offseason particularly the changes we’ve had and the new coaching staff, then the kind of year Louisville had last year, everyone is ready to step up and play this new season.”
On concerns from Notre Dame:
“I think their overall size and speed. I mean when you look at that as we look going back looking at last year, and some of these guys that are 6’4 260 lbs at linebacker. I mean, that's pretty impressive. The size and speed that they have, because when you have that link to cover a lot of ground on talking defensively. They are coached well. I mean, these guys are where they're supposed to be and then they play hard and are coach well. They played in huge games, big games. Obviously just came off of the Final Four last year and a team that was outstanding all year and particularly when you look at I think it was their Wake Forest game when they made the change quarterback and they brought the Book kid in and I mean their scoring went up the rest of the season after that point. He’s a threat, what he brings to the table.
“They have four starters back on the offensive line that are there solid up front, big guys that can move. This is a talented team. I mean, you know Notre Dame, every year they go get the best players throughout the country. So it's like whenever they do lose some guys, the next guys that are in line are just as good. Coach (Brian) Kelly and his staff have done an outstanding job they build great depth.
“I think he may have been, well he's one of the longest-tenured guys there and that's a tough job there. You get scrutiny in everything that you do. So I think just the overall program, the way they play, offense, defense, kicking – there really isn’t a ton of weaknesses.”
On problems Notre Dame’s defense presents:
“Well, one of the guys, one of their better plays, #42, I think had close to 10 sacks last year. You’ve got to know where he’s at all times, and he can cause havoc. He’s more of a standup defensive end. But then #53, their other end, he’s solid. He’s 6’4, 260, strong, but can also put pressure on the QB. I think those two ends can cause a lot of problems for offenses. When you have those two defensive ends that’ll put pressure on the QB, now he’s gotta step up and make the throw you don’t want to make.
“I like #11 for them, the safety, he’s 5’11, 200, not really big but, man, he’s active. He gets down in the run game. He does a lot of things with what they do defensively. Their corner, #5, I think he’s a very good corner. They’re not scared to play - we call it breathalyzer defense, where they’re right up in your face. So they can play that man-to-man, and it makes it tough on those wideouts because they’re getting their hands on them and we’ve gotta be able to get off that press coverage and make some plays down the field.
“I’m assuming they’re gonna load the box up, stop the run, and we’re gonna have some one-on-one matchups, and our guys are gonna have to win those one-on-one matchups. That will come down to what kind of plays can we make on the outside here with our wide receivers and Jawon making those throws.”
On concerns this week:
“This week? I don't really have any worries this week. I think for us, it's just about preparing the right way. This is our first game. We're having to go through everything that we're going to do leading up to that first game and including, like today we have a mock game where we're just basically a run-through of next Monday night. Then we got to go over pregame warm-up where everybody stands when we how we're going to warm up when you come to the locker room, where are you going to what you got to do when you go in the locker room at halftime.
“It's the first game I mean, so the new staff that we brought in, they don't really understand what we're doing yet. Of course, all the players haven't done it yet. So those are the things that as a coach, you just want to be fully prepared for everything and that's what we're trying to do, is get fully prepared and to try to cover everything we can and that may come up next Monday night.”
On the magnitude of the first game:
“The magnitude really sunk in when the day I had my press conference and that is a pretty big deal, right? I mean, it was a lot of people out there. It's not like Boone, North Carolina, where we had two reporters. There was a lot of reporters there and a lot of people and you're in the ACC. It’s big time. We've just tried to do the best job we can do with what the hand dealt the guys that we've had, and what we can we do to get these guys in position to make plays and that's kind of what we're going to focus on.
“How much better can we get and all those things now. There's not a very long time to get ready for Notre Dame and this season is a great schedule. We have one of the toughest schedules in the country. So we've done a good job of getting to this point right now. It's a big deal and we're anxious to get out and see where we're at and see kind of where we go from here.”