Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbo. I'm that for me.
Speaker 2: I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say,
Speaker 2: well I want to be happy. You want to be
Speaker 2: happy for dake Edo State?
Speaker 1: Is that? Whoo whoom? And Dan and Tye welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Solid Verbal boys and girls. My name is
Speaker 1: ty Hildenbrand, joining me as always over there in New
Speaker 1: York City, Dan Rubinstein and once again, scheme theme Scheme
Speaker 1: theme rolls on here on the podcast. Dan, how are
Speaker 1: you boo boo boo?
Speaker 2: I don't know why there's like an old school computer
Speaker 2: sound that I'm making because scheme doesn't have anything to
Speaker 2: do with that. I'm great, Ty, I am. I'm pretty
Speaker 2: juiced for everybody to hear this show.
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 2: I'm very excited.
Speaker 1: Last week we talked to Seth Latrelle from the North
Speaker 1: Texas Mean Green. People were really excited about that interview.
Speaker 1: Today we've got another great one. He is the new
Speaker 1: head football code for Mississippi State. His name is Joe Moorehead.
Speaker 1: You may know him from some of his previous stops.
Speaker 1: He's been at Penn State the last two years, coordinating
Speaker 1: an incredible offense that was so much fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Before that he was at Fordham, He's had stints elsewhere
Speaker 1: like Connecticut, so on and so forth with ja Ackron. Yeah, Acker,
Speaker 1: And we're going to get into all that in much
Speaker 1: much more. But we are so excited to have coach
Speaker 1: Morehead with us tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely no excited to talk to him about the sort
Speaker 2: of I mean, he has become known as somebody who
Speaker 2: perhaps has mastered the RPO more than any other coach
Speaker 2: and has succeeded wildly in that system for penn State.
Speaker 2: And you know, sa Quon Barkley is now a household name,
Speaker 2: Trace McSorley, you know all these You know, Micah Sickis
Speaker 2: has turned stars into megastars whatever, just putting up a
Speaker 2: ton of yards and crazy excited to see what he
Speaker 2: is able to do at Mississippi State with a different
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say a different sort of athlete, but going
Speaker 2: to a region that perhaps is even crazier about football
Speaker 2: than Central PA, which Pennsylvania is super underrated in terms
Speaker 2: of the talent and the passion for football. But to
Speaker 2: see what he's able to do on arguably and even
Speaker 2: bigger stage in the SEC West, I think is pretty
Speaker 2: exciting as just a general college football fan.
Speaker 1: I admire the innovation and we can link it up
Speaker 1: as part of this show. But Bruce Felman put together
Speaker 1: an incredible oral history of the Joe Morehead offense that
Speaker 1: we saw at Penn State the last two years, and
Speaker 1: of course it stems back to Morehead's time with Randy
Speaker 1: Etzel at Yukon and some of his other stops, but
Speaker 1: you really get a nice picture of how he cobbled
Speaker 1: this thing together and really you get a portal into
Speaker 1: how he was able to innovate in a sport that
Speaker 1: it's just you wonder to yourself, how our coach is
Speaker 1: going to continue innovating. It's because Joe Morehead thought about
Speaker 1: things a little bit differently. So whether it's the way
Speaker 1: he approaches the passing game, whether it's some of the
Speaker 1: RPOs he installs in the running game, just so many
Speaker 1: creative things that he's brought to the four that I'm
Speaker 1: excited to have him as part of scheme theme.
Speaker 2: One of the sort of huge success stories of like
Speaker 2: the basketball on grass mentality, especially with the options that
Speaker 2: a quarterback has, you know, adding something on at the
Speaker 2: last second. It's almost like backdoor passes, reading somebody coming
Speaker 2: out to guard the three point line and suddenly there's
Speaker 2: an aalupe available that's wide open. That kind of thing.
Speaker 2: It sort of flows really nicely when you break down
Speaker 2: and watch some of these offenses over and over again.
Speaker 2: And fun fact, Ty and I'll ask him about this
Speaker 2: in the interview, is he overlapped at Yukon as first
Speaker 2: an offensive coordinator, then a quarterbacks coach, the coordinators on
Speaker 2: defense while he was there Todd Orlando and Don Brown. Wow,
Speaker 2: pretty nice, pretty good brains to pick. Wow, So sort
Speaker 2: of fortuitous, and that coaching staff and staffs were pretty
Speaker 2: ridiculous and it shows with you know, Jordan Toddman and
Speaker 2: the success that they were able to have in like
Speaker 2: twenty ten, twenty eleven in there. So just a ridiculously
Speaker 2: interesting story and a fun offense to watch throughout the year.
Speaker 2: It's very exciting for US.
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Speaker 2: All right, I am now joined. You already know who
Speaker 2: I'm joined with, but of course let's welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: You know him from his time coordinating the offense at
Speaker 2: Penn State and of course, of course as head coach
Speaker 2: of New York's one True team, the Fordham Rams. Now
Speaker 2: Mississippi State. New Mississippi State head coach Joe Morehead, Joe,
Speaker 2: how's life in Starkville? I assume basically the same as
Speaker 2: the Bronx.
Speaker 3: It's going great and hailman of fordhamn in Hale State.
Speaker 3: I believe that's appropriate at this time.
Speaker 2: Fair fair, So when you're talking to Mississippi State, I
Speaker 2: think this is November. How familiar at that point are
Speaker 2: you with just basic things personnel, previous scheme and even
Speaker 2: like the potential of building your vision in Starkville.
Speaker 3: From the initial conversations, I had very little familiarity. Obviously
Speaker 3: knew they played in the SEC West, Coach main had
Speaker 3: done a very good job here building a solid foundation,
Speaker 3: and you know, had known about Nick Fitzgerald from just
Speaker 3: you know, catching games here and there, but but really
Speaker 3: didn't have too much of an in depth knowledge of
Speaker 3: the team.
Speaker 2: So even knowing the South for instance, obviously that's a
Speaker 2: big thing that that people are going to talk about
Speaker 2: that you know, you're you're from the Northeast. You've coached
Speaker 2: in the Midwest and the Northeast. Is that Did you
Speaker 2: get any initial pushback about recruiting and scheme and sort
Speaker 2: of even language of football down there or are you
Speaker 2: confident that you know that those are things that can
Speaker 2: be transcended.
Speaker 3: I don't think it all was scheme and with language
Speaker 3: scheme a little bit from from the recruiting standpoint, because
Speaker 3: there is a certain regional aspect to it. But ultimately,
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, if you can recruit,
Speaker 3: you can recruit. If you can't, you can't. It doesn't
Speaker 3: matter where you come from. And the things that that uh,
Speaker 3: you know, that have no bounds are hard work, the
Speaker 3: ability to communicate and build into personal relationships and the
Speaker 3: ability to identify prospects. So if you could do it
Speaker 3: in the North, you can do it in the South.
Speaker 2: So now that you've seen your team, you obviously know
Speaker 2: a lot more. You know, going into spring practice, you've
Speaker 2: had a chance to watch tape. Do you see this
Speaker 2: as a, you know, because of the success in these
Speaker 2: past couple of years, as sort of a turnkey operation,
Speaker 2: as you know, there are pieces, but there's a lot
Speaker 2: of work to be done. Or is it, you know,
Speaker 2: almost like a starting from scratch kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Definitely not starting from scratch. You know, every day that
Speaker 3: I'm here, I become more and more confident of the
Speaker 3: opportunities presented to us. I think coach mon did a
Speaker 3: fantastic job, like I said, building the foundation, and our
Speaker 3: job now is to elevate it from good to great.
Speaker 3: And you know, the term that we're using around the
Speaker 3: building now is championship standard. Sure, I've been very fortunate
Speaker 3: at the last four places i've been Penn State, Ford, Them,
Speaker 3: Yukon and Acron that we won a conference championship. And
Speaker 3: you know, Mississippi State's had one winning season in the
Speaker 3: last fifteen years in SEC play. Now we've been to
Speaker 3: eight or nine straight pulls, but not. My job is
Speaker 3: to make sure that you know we're competing for an
Speaker 3: SEC championship and have the ability to you know, to
Speaker 3: get in the national championship mix.
Speaker 2: So in talking to coaches, you you consistently learn, and
Speaker 2: I speak saying you, I playbooks and systems and I
Speaker 2: love a good food analogy. They're sort of complicated stews
Speaker 2: of ingredients you like and see along the way. So
Speaker 2: I guess, walk me through your biggest ingredient influences as
Speaker 2: it stands in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've sometimes in clints referred to our offense as
Speaker 3: the Chipotle offense. Love it that there's not a ton
Speaker 3: of ingredients, but there's a lot of mixing and matching
Speaker 3: going on. You have a few things you can hang
Speaker 3: your hat on, and then through different tags and RPO aspects,
Speaker 3: you can change the presentation and make it look like
Speaker 3: you're doing a lot more than you actually are. So
Speaker 3: I love a good food reference too, particularly not on
Speaker 3: here that they put thirty pounds on me. But you know,
Speaker 3: I think this offense was one you kind of saw
Speaker 3: the initial phases of an actor, and not so much
Speaker 3: at Yukon. But then when we got to Fordham and
Speaker 3: I became the head coach and had fifty one percent
Speaker 3: of the vote, you know, we really was the bones
Speaker 3: or the structure of what you see now.
Speaker 2: Who are your biggest influences And obviously aside from your
Speaker 2: own brain and the staff, that are the staffs that
Speaker 2: you worked with when you looked outside of college football.
Speaker 2: I know there are stories talking about watching Oregon tape,
Speaker 2: even watching Eastern Illinois tape with Jimmy Garoppolo, where do
Speaker 2: you draw? Like what where did you see along the way?
Speaker 2: Like I really like what they're doing. I'm going to
Speaker 2: add blank.
Speaker 3: You know, from an overall from a quarterback coaching perspective,
Speaker 3: I'd say Walt Harris at Pitt. From an overall coaching structure,
Speaker 3: Larry Corer was a guy that was a graduate assistant
Speaker 3: for a Pitt from coach Edsel and coach Franklin a
Speaker 3: lot of program management and things how to run an organization.
Speaker 3: But I'd say, you know, we've studied a bunch of
Speaker 3: different teams in every year. You know, we picked something different,
Speaker 3: you know, from from one offense or another. But I
Speaker 3: think that's the beauty of our offense. And Coach Browner,
Speaker 3: who's our quarterbacks coach, referred to it as sophisticated simplicity.
Speaker 3: Simplicity that what we're doing from an overall context never
Speaker 3: really changes, but we could tweak a few things here
Speaker 3: and there to continue to make us better and make
Speaker 3: it harder for defenses to come out what we do.
Speaker 2: What was the quarterback coaching lessons you took from Walt
Speaker 2: Harris and Pat.
Speaker 3: Now Just attention to detail, throwing on footwork, throwing on timing,
Speaker 3: the ability to recover his pre and post snap, you know,
Speaker 3: and I just think he's one of the best.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Obviously it was a different style offense. You know, more
Speaker 3: under center, more pro style, but a lot of things
Speaker 3: he taught or you know, things we carry with us
Speaker 3: to this day.
Speaker 2: What do you task with a quarterback? Obviously in your offense,
Speaker 2: a lot of quick decisions need to be made. So
Speaker 2: even first year installation, how does that that vary from
Speaker 2: second or third year? You know, what do you ask
Speaker 2: of your quarterback as soon as basically you start meeting
Speaker 2: with him?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the thing that we need from a
Speaker 3: quarterback is the ability, you know, to beat the defense
Speaker 3: with his brains, his arms, and his legs. I'm literally
Speaker 3: sitting here, you know, going through practice scripts now and
Speaker 3: it's amazing to me. In year one in the installation
Speaker 3: of the offense, you know how elementary it is relative
Speaker 3: to year two, year three, or some of the things
Speaker 3: we're doing at Penn State. But like anything, it's going
Speaker 3: to be a whole part, whole installation process. We're going
Speaker 3: to give the information that they need to know to understand,
Speaker 3: you know, how how the offense runs and the base
Speaker 3: nuances of it, and then kind of the subtleties, you know,
Speaker 3: we'll continue to add that on through the process of springball,
Speaker 3: throughout fall camp, and then certainly into the season.
Speaker 2: As a head coach, you're going to be tasked with
Speaker 2: finding guys who can absorb information, top learners, guys who
Speaker 2: can make quick to decisions. But you're also looking at
Speaker 2: them play against high school defenses, and you're asking them
Speaker 2: to do things against talent and speed and size that
Speaker 2: is so unfamiliar to them.
Speaker 1: What do you look for?
Speaker 2: How do you look for, you know, a really good
Speaker 2: quarterback brain when you just have for a lot of
Speaker 2: the time just tape.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's a very that's a great observation. And
Speaker 3: at every level, recruiting or player selection is an inexact science.
Speaker 3: And you know what we look for obviously at the
Speaker 3: quarterback position or the measurables. You know, how tall the guys,
Speaker 3: how much is he weigh? How does he run? You know,
Speaker 3: from a decision making process, I like to look at
Speaker 3: a completion percentage and touchdown to interception ratio. I think
Speaker 3: that's something that's vertically important. Uh and and it really
Speaker 3: is he a winner? I mean you see a guy
Speaker 3: that's put the team on his back and led them
Speaker 3: to great records and led them to state championships and
Speaker 3: then really trying to get a feel from the game
Speaker 3: film and the highlights of how the guy competes and
Speaker 3: how his teammates rally around him.
Speaker 2: Are you seeing more and more kids in high school
Speaker 2: quarterbacks and high school running things obviously not exactly what
Speaker 2: you do, but similar, having similar concepts, similar tags, stuff
Speaker 2: like that. Is it becoming more and more mainstream when
Speaker 2: you're watching these kids?
Speaker 3: I think it's more similar than less similar. I'd say,
Speaker 3: I hate to put a number on it or a percentage,
Speaker 3: but an overwhelming majority of the quarterbacks at in the
Speaker 3: high school level that we see on tape or operating
Speaker 3: out of a you know, out of a shotgun offense.
Speaker 2: Sure, and when you obviously you've been you call them tags. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Now they're sort of more commonly known as RPOs and
Speaker 2: adding passing concepts to to running formations and running plays.
Speaker 2: Where where did you sort of start doing that? When
Speaker 2: did you start doing that? Why did you start doing that?
Speaker 3: No, we did a little bit of it heat Acron
Speaker 3: and a little bit at Ukon, but we really got
Speaker 3: you know, both beating the boat and kind of made
Speaker 3: it a full fledged deal at Ford them and really,
Speaker 3: you know, people kind of assume that it has something
Speaker 3: to do with throwing the ball, and in a way
Speaker 3: it does. But to me, the run pass option or
Speaker 3: adding tags is a way to neutralize defensive numbers because
Speaker 3: to me, the run game comes down to three things. Numbers, angles,
Speaker 3: and grass. We're the best numbers, we're the best angles
Speaker 3: for your blockers, and how do you get your speed
Speaker 3: into open space? And I think the thing with the
Speaker 3: tags and the RPOs and post snapperings second and third
Speaker 3: level defenders, it allows you to throw the ball if
Speaker 3: the seventh or eighth defender is able to tackle the
Speaker 3: ball care if you hand them off, and if he isn't,
Speaker 3: you're able to hand the ball off and you're blocking
Speaker 3: six for six or five for five. So I think
Speaker 3: one of the that's one of the reasons. You know,
Speaker 3: Sequah and Chase of Edmonds before that Fordham and even
Speaker 3: going back to Jordan Todd and Denis Kennedy at Actor
Speaker 3: and that we've had running backs we've either led the
Speaker 3: league or been in the top two and rushing because
Speaker 3: we don't hand the ball off to our backs when
Speaker 3: there's people with the line of scrimmage we can't block.
Speaker 2: What's the most difficult part of installing.
Speaker 3: Installing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, just getting everybody on the same page with tags,
Speaker 2: with you know, timing, with you know, overall understanding.
Speaker 3: Well, for the offensive line, it's really not that big
Speaker 3: of a deal because they hear the run play and
Speaker 3: they block the run play. They could pair less with
Speaker 3: the tag is you know, they have no idea what's
Speaker 3: going on in the outside. I think probably the most
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say difficult, but time consuming aspect is the
Speaker 3: quarterback known who's pre and post snap reeds are and
Speaker 3: allowing him, you know, the leeway to differentiate that the
Speaker 3: guy he's reading is playing to run, playing the past,
Speaker 3: and whether he should hand it off or actually throw
Speaker 3: the ball. I think that's one that comes with a
Speaker 3: lot of repetition. But once it's installed, we keep doing
Speaker 3: the same things over and over and over again, So
Speaker 3: there's a lot of repetition that that AIGs in that process.
Speaker 2: Roughly, what percentage of the quarterbacks reads will he have
Speaker 2: installed in year one?
Speaker 3: In year one, I'd say he's going to have In
Speaker 3: spring one, he won't have all of them. By the
Speaker 3: time that we hit the season, through spring ball and
Speaker 3: fall camp, he'll have he'll have all of them. Now,
Speaker 3: I won't say it's to the sophistication or to the
Speaker 3: degree that you know that we allow Trace to do
Speaker 3: in year two with you know, Penn State because the
Speaker 3: offense has grown. But you know, we're going to give
Speaker 3: them the necessary information for spring, see how we do
Speaker 3: with that, and then build on that in fall camp.
Speaker 2: With all the quarterbacks, is there any particular position that
Speaker 2: you have to recruit differently on offense or our numbers
Speaker 2: that are different for what you want to run than
Speaker 2: than might be for different other systems or schemes or packages.
Speaker 3: We don't recruit a fullback, so that'd probably be the one.
Speaker 3: The one thing that's a little bit different. I mean,
Speaker 3: we use our tight end in and off the ball capacity
Speaker 3: and he kind of, you know, does some of the
Speaker 3: job that inline tight end would do or some of
Speaker 3: the things you know, because he's off the ball, he
Speaker 3: can split flow and do things like that. But from
Speaker 3: just a purely quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver,
Speaker 3: O line, you know, I don't think you're recruiting anybody differently.
Speaker 3: You know, with Michael Gisiki and some of the things
Speaker 3: that are tight end, does you know you want that
Speaker 3: guy to be kind of a hybrid, you know, tight
Speaker 3: end slash big receiver, because because you asked them to
Speaker 3: do both things. So I'd say that's the one position
Speaker 3: that's probably you know, a little bit more unique than others.
Speaker 2: You mentioned some of the the RPO stuff evolved while
Speaker 2: you were at Yukon, and I believe you overlapped with
Speaker 2: both Todd Orlando and Don Brown. Is that correct?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Todd I went to the same high school. So
Speaker 3: Todd and I were there for our first two years
Speaker 3: with with coach Edzel, and then I was with Donnie
Speaker 3: our last year there.
Speaker 2: So that's that's a hell of a duo, a defensive
Speaker 2: duo to be on a staff with in terms of,
Speaker 2: you know, picking their brain and sort of seeing their
Speaker 2: defenses and their minds as they are, you know, guys
Speaker 2: who are maybe not used to seeing on the other
Speaker 2: side of the field, you know, tags and RPO stuff.
Speaker 2: How did sort of overlapping help you in developing your offense?
Speaker 3: No, those guys are two of the best in the business.
Speaker 3: And Todd of Textas and Don at Michigan. You know,
Speaker 3: they're guys that I have an immense amount of respect for.
Speaker 3: And you know, I guess they say iron sharpends iron
Speaker 3: and when you're going against those two guys every day
Speaker 3: in practice for Carls bringing a fall camp, it certainly
Speaker 3: prepares you for the rigors of the season because you
Speaker 3: know those those are two of the best in the business.
Speaker 2: Do you consult with them like I'm thinking about doing this?
Speaker 2: Does this make sense? Could there be a defense that
Speaker 2: would be ready for X, Y or Z.
Speaker 3: Not so much with Donnie for the last two years
Speaker 3: since they put it on us.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean at ukon you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we certainly you know, you step in this the
Speaker 3: defensive staff room, we're all the way around and say, hey,
Speaker 3: we're running this how how would you attempt to defend it?
Speaker 3: Or vice versa. We're going to run this flitz? How
Speaker 3: would you guys try to pick it up? In the
Speaker 3: six man protection? So those things go on in staffords
Speaker 3: all across the country, you know, with you know, guys
Speaker 3: that work well together, and ultimately it's about pulling a
Speaker 3: rope in the same direction.
Speaker 2: What have you seen from as you and you our
Speaker 2: offenses have evolved and succeeded. What have you seen from
Speaker 2: you know, really smart defensive coordinators, smart defenses in the
Speaker 2: way that defenses have tried to evolve with you.
Speaker 3: And that's what I love most about, you know, coordinating
Speaker 3: offense and calling plays is the is the chess match.
Speaker 3: You know, the chess match during the week is your
Speaker 3: game plan and then it's certainly on game day and
Speaker 3: as offenses evolved, defenses continue to evolve. You know, some
Speaker 3: people start to try to play more man to man
Speaker 3: because that takes the air out of the zone and
Speaker 3: takes defenders out of conflict. Then offensively, you got to
Speaker 3: have your answer for that. So I think it's it's uh,
Speaker 3: it's just a it's a it's a great back and forth.
Speaker 3: And you know it's like uh, you know, having a
Speaker 3: h a vaccine to fight a virus. As offensively, we
Speaker 3: want our streen to continue to mutate and stay one
Speaker 3: step ahead of the defenses as they're trying to neutralize it.
Speaker 2: Sure, and how much end game do you see that
Speaker 2: uh able to happen? How much are you able to say, okay,
Speaker 2: this is what they're doing. What if we tweak this
Speaker 2: or is it a you know, at a certain point,
Speaker 2: the game plan is the game plan, and you know,
Speaker 2: the play is installed for that week, are what you have.
Speaker 3: That's really what our offense is all about. And I
Speaker 3: think the simplicity of it allows us to enter a
Speaker 3: game with a contingency plan of we're making this call
Speaker 3: if they play this defense is this is what we
Speaker 3: go to. So we kind of have that mapped out,
Speaker 3: you know, during the week entering the game. Now, if
Speaker 3: a defense presents something that we haven't seen at all,
Speaker 3: or you know, there's a play based on a certain
Speaker 3: technique or or a defensive look that's being presented, we
Speaker 3: can you know, go back to what we call our
Speaker 3: library and pick something maybe that we haven't you know
Speaker 3: run during the week. And that happened a bunch of
Speaker 3: times at Penn State and Foredom, But I think most
Speaker 3: of that heavy lifting is done during the week where
Speaker 3: we're running play X and if they do something else
Speaker 3: and you know, we're checking the you know, WI or Z.
Speaker 2: Do you have a favorite contingency play that you've called
Speaker 2: over these past few years?
Speaker 3: The wheel route to Sequan in the Big Ten Championship
Speaker 3: game was was one that uh, you know, I look
Speaker 3: back on and comes to mind immediately. That was a
Speaker 3: play that wasn't in the original game plan and one
Speaker 3: that we kind of just caught off the cuff and
Speaker 3: got him matched on. You know, their outside linebacker, a
Speaker 3: defensive end and a trace did a good job, you know,
Speaker 3: putting the ball where I think it was one. I
Speaker 3: think it was a wat kid where just he was
Speaker 3: you know, kind of put it right there in the
Speaker 3: back corner the end and that was what it kind
Speaker 3: of sticks up?
Speaker 2: Am I crazy for thinking the wheel route has a
Speaker 2: one hundred percent success?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: What is it about the wheel route that makes it
Speaker 2: the most perfect thing to watch as an outside observer.
Speaker 3: That the kid that runs for three nine is running it?
Speaker 3: So that's that kind of helps fair.
Speaker 2: And now as you prepared to oversee the installation in Starkville,
Speaker 2: have you have you discovered a specific learning curve like
Speaker 2: a time it really takes things to click for kids,
Speaker 2: like with you know, Penn State's offense almost flipping a switch,
Speaker 2: things seemed to completely click. I think it was during
Speaker 2: the twenty sixteen Minnesota game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it'll, it'll. I think we'll have a
Speaker 3: good gauge on it through these fifteen spring opportunities. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, we take a week off here for spring break,
Speaker 3: then we come back on the nineteenth. You know, we'll
Speaker 3: have position meetings on the twenty four position meetings and
Speaker 3: get out there and start practicing. And uh, you know,
Speaker 3: our assistant coaches have had time, have had meeting time
Speaker 3: with our players CERNCA rule. You know, throughout the past
Speaker 3: two months. We're able to get with them and talk
Speaker 3: a little bit of scheme. So it's good that we're
Speaker 3: able to kind of get them some of that formation information.
Speaker 3: So they're not hearing it the first time in our
Speaker 3: first spring meeting, so I think they've digested it very well.
Speaker 3: I think there's a good understanding this style of football.
Speaker 3: So I think we're going to hit the ground running
Speaker 3: on the twentieth.
Speaker 2: So you're you're called a head coach, but in reality,
Speaker 2: it seems you're you're sort of a head teacher. You know,
Speaker 2: you're teaching your your staff, you're teaching players, and really
Speaker 2: you're learning yourself as as things evolve. How how have
Speaker 2: you evolved as a teacher over the years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, I think, well it was
Speaker 3: really beneficial to you know, in my time at Penn
Speaker 3: State to leave the head coaches chair and get back
Speaker 3: to being an assistant and it kind of gives you
Speaker 3: a fresh perspective of the things, and you know, the
Speaker 3: saying I've heard is you know, assistant coaches make suggestions.
Speaker 3: Head coaches make decisions. So I went from decision maker
Speaker 3: to suggestion maker. Now that I'm back in the seat,
Speaker 3: and you know, between coach Shoot on defense and his staff,
Speaker 3: they're gonna do a great job Coach Jones with our
Speaker 3: special teams. I've hired a bunch of guys in our
Speaker 3: offensive staff from Coach Gets he's the coordinator, coach Brianers,
Speaker 3: the quarterbacks coach, Coach Haugh who was with me at
Speaker 3: Penn State as the running backs coach, and guys who
Speaker 3: are familiar with our scheme that you know you have
Speaker 3: to give a certain level of autonomy to all three
Speaker 3: phases in your coordinators. You know when you're gonna spend
Speaker 3: a bunch of time with one side of the ball.
Speaker 3: So I think I think I'm very excited about the
Speaker 3: staff to put together.
Speaker 2: You tend to see that coaches who have had a
Speaker 2: a lot of success on offense have very strong thoughts
Speaker 2: when running a defense when given the opportunity to hire
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator and to run a specific style of defense.
Speaker 2: I guess is that true for you? And what are
Speaker 2: your strong thoughts if they exist?
Speaker 3: I mean, I've been familiar with Coach Shoot, you know,
Speaker 3: since his time that you know, William Marriott, Manderbilt, Penn State,
Speaker 3: and then we grew up kind of in the same
Speaker 3: general area, but Coach Shoots a little bit older. But
Speaker 3: what I want is all three phases of the game
Speaker 3: to mirror each other from a philosophical standpoint, that we're
Speaker 3: going to attack on offense, we're going to attack on defense,
Speaker 3: and we're going to attack on special teams. In this
Speaker 3: day and age, I think you have to be multiple,
Speaker 3: whether it's four down, three down, where you're blitzing from
Speaker 3: you know, second, third level, mixing up the coverages. You
Speaker 3: can't just leave the picture of the same because, as
Speaker 3: you mentioned earlier, the sophistication level of these offenses and
Speaker 3: the ability to make a decision based on how the
Speaker 3: defense reacts, it's created a lot of challenges for defenses.
Speaker 3: So I think what Coach Shup was doing fantastic because
Speaker 3: you know, it's not just you know, staying static, lining
Speaker 3: up for one thing and playing one defense. There's a
Speaker 3: lot of pre and posts that movement. There's a lot
Speaker 3: of mixing of coverages and pressures, and I think that's
Speaker 3: what makes it challenging on an offense. And that's one
Speaker 3: thing I look for, you know, in hiring a defensive
Speaker 3: coordinator is what he does something that would give me
Speaker 3: problems on a weekly basis in season?
Speaker 2: What is the thing about coach Shup that you think
Speaker 2: is the most problematic for offenses?
Speaker 3: I think he's an one. I think he's a great teacher,
Speaker 3: and I think we have a bunch bunch of great
Speaker 3: assistance on that side of the ball to motivate our
Speaker 3: kids and get them going. But I think that the
Speaker 3: multiplicity that what I would say is the uh, you know,
Speaker 3: the biggest thing.
Speaker 2: Do you ever and as you're mentioning, and we've mentioned
Speaker 2: a few defensive coordinators and offenses that have been successful
Speaker 2: around college football, do you ever come across in what
Speaker 2: must be a pretty small community, do you ever come
Speaker 2: across defensive coordinators who you've played and succeeded against who
Speaker 2: have just been like.
Speaker 1: What the hell?
Speaker 2: Many who are just like left asking for answers and
Speaker 2: just feel defeated.
Speaker 3: I think that goes for both sides. I mean the past.
Speaker 3: You talk about going out of the frying pan and
Speaker 3: into the fire, I mean leaving the Big ten East
Speaker 3: and heading into the SEC West, You're talking about some
Speaker 3: of the best defensive coordinators and best teams in the country.
Speaker 3: So I think that's one thing where I've been very
Speaker 3: fortunate the last two years. He talked about, you know,
Speaker 3: Don bron Coach Allen and Indiana obviously coach Ciano, the
Speaker 3: coach D'Antonio and his staff. I mean, that's the best
Speaker 3: of the best right there. And you know, I think
Speaker 3: we were fortunate to have a little bit of success
Speaker 3: and you know, going to be able to hopefully carry
Speaker 3: that over into the SEC.
Speaker 2: Is there a defensive coordinator you've coached against who you found,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe somebody you haven't worked with, but somebody
Speaker 2: who has been particularly unpredictable and how they approach defense
Speaker 2: that you just sort of admire from afar because of
Speaker 2: how good they are at either disguising or just being
Speaker 2: creative with their defenses.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Todd and Donnie Brown are too.
Speaker 3: You know that we've mentioned already, but you know, in
Speaker 3: the past, you know, two years, I think you know,
Speaker 3: coach Allen in Indiana and Coachiano at Ohio State have
Speaker 3: been to have done a really good job with us. Uh,
Speaker 3: you know, it's been a great chess match. And you know,
Speaker 3: going back to the FCS stays there. I mean, there
Speaker 3: are a bunch of you know, obviously it's it's a
Speaker 3: different level when there's not as much publicity. But there's
Speaker 3: a lot of you know, a lot of great coaches
Speaker 3: at that level. I mean, guys that really give you
Speaker 3: a hard time with what they do.
Speaker 2: Do you have a name that we will know in
Speaker 2: like three years, maybe he's still at the FCS level,
Speaker 2: but you sort of see him as as a rising
Speaker 2: star either an offense or defense, just as like an
Speaker 2: x's and o's mind.
Speaker 3: Xes in those minds, I mean the one the one
Speaker 3: guy even though we have success from a statistical standpoint, Uh,
Speaker 3: the name is slip in my mind right now. But
Speaker 3: we played them two years in a row in the playoffs.
Speaker 3: The defensive coordinator at Sacred Heart who was with coach
Speaker 3: no free there, okay, I mean he just he just
Speaker 3: did some unique stuff that that really, you know, was
Speaker 3: problematic and it was in a lot of ways, you
Speaker 3: know how You know it was against Indiana that it
Speaker 3: was either an explosive gain or a five yard loss
Speaker 3: that there really was no in between, just because you
Speaker 3: were never really quite sure what was coming on any
Speaker 3: given snap.
Speaker 2: Have you watched tape from from SEC West coordinators? Obviously
Speaker 2: there's a host of really good ones. Do you have
Speaker 2: any early impressions of what you know these defenses are
Speaker 2: going to try to do?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I haven't really delved into it with that level
Speaker 3: of uh, you know, detail going through the games. I
Speaker 3: was really watching our personnel more so, what went through
Speaker 3: all the Mississippi State offensive games and defensive games, and
Speaker 3: was really concentrating more on what our kids were doing
Speaker 3: than than kind of evaluating scheme. And you know we'll
Speaker 3: be able to get to that down the road. Sure.
Speaker 2: Fair enough and final and most important question, So your
Speaker 2: Fordham grad a former Fordham head coach, what is this
Speaker 2: single best thing to eat on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.
Speaker 3: I gotta go with dominics. I think that's the call there.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're not going pizza or hog or
Speaker 3: something like that, if you're talking one sit down meal
Speaker 3: at one place on Arthur Avenue, you gotta go dominics.
Speaker 2: What's your order?
Speaker 3: It's no been, you know, prices, so it depends on
Speaker 3: what day you go in there. So, uh, just about
Speaker 3: anything that you get picked is going to be served
Speaker 3: up pretty good any other looking farm guys. So when
Speaker 3: all else fails, chicken palm boom, You're done. You can
Speaker 3: just go with that.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: See that's sophisticated simplicity right there.
Speaker 3: Exactly.
Speaker 2: It's sophisticated because you you get what you get. But
Speaker 2: at a certain point, you like, I just want chicken palm.
Speaker 2: I like what else?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's something. Yeah, you go in, there's
Speaker 3: something piqued your interest, and you kind of want to
Speaker 3: go off the rails a little bit going ahead with that.
Speaker 3: But ultimately, at the end of the day, can't go
Speaker 3: wrong with chicken parm.
Speaker 2: And the best thing you've eaten in Starkville is.
Speaker 3: Is there's a place called Little Dewey Barbecue here that
Speaker 3: that kind of has been the best place of a
Speaker 3: bunch of Southern delicacies. But the Frog caf this year
Speaker 3: has really been wherever you get it, it's been great
Speaker 3: a I mean, it's been big time.
Speaker 2: And you're ready to hit the road and start eating
Speaker 2: a ton at the Houses of recruits.
Speaker 3: Oh, let me say this. I mean, I'm not exactly
Speaker 3: the most swelt person in the world, but you know,
Speaker 3: being an ext quarterback and now looking like a left tackle.
Speaker 3: I mean, we got to start getting on a treadmill
Speaker 3: or do something here because this food down here has
Speaker 3: really been getting me in a good way.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, Joe Morehead, head coach Mississippi State, thank you
Speaker 2: very much for your time and good luck this year.
Speaker 2: Very excited to check out the Bulldogs.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Alrighty, Dan, there you go. Joe moorehead on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Big thanks to him, best of luck to him in
Speaker 1: his new role down there at Mississippi State coaches new
Speaker 1: coaches have traditionally gotten a soliverbal bump in there first.
Speaker 2: That is true. That is very true. So what is
Speaker 2: your You are obviously completely unresearched and unprofessional at this point.
Speaker 2: Opinion of the higher and your questions your confidences. I
Speaker 2: have the schedule in front of me, so you don't
Speaker 2: have to guess about any of those things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, But.
Speaker 2: What is your general sense now that it's been he
Speaker 2: was hired in late November, so it's been what almost
Speaker 2: four months since it was made official. What do you think?
Speaker 1: I think I like it in the same manner that
Speaker 1: I liked the Dan Mullen higher, and we talked about
Speaker 1: it a little bit on the podcast, but Dan Mullen
Speaker 1: was regarded as someone who was brilliant, at least offensively
Speaker 1: in terms of x's and o's, and aside of the
Speaker 1: fact that he was a big name and an up
Speaker 1: and coming coordinator, I think Mississippi State's mentality was that
Speaker 1: we need to we need to look for an edge
Speaker 1: however we can get it, and if we can bring
Speaker 1: in a bright offensive mind who will stay here a while,
Speaker 1: that could presumably lift the p and to some degree,
Speaker 1: I think he did that. I do think he succeeded there.
Speaker 1: Morehead is a similar hire in that respect. He's an
Speaker 1: innovative guy. He's a very bright offensive mind, as you
Speaker 1: could just hear from the interview.
Speaker 2: I would argue, still a really or at least pretty
Speaker 2: good defensive coordinator, promising defensive coordinator Bob Shoop despite the
Speaker 2: uneven time in Knoxville.
Speaker 1: Absolutely so, I think there is a lot of symmetry
Speaker 1: with this hire as the last one with Dan Mullen.
Speaker 1: My question is how he uses Nick Fitzgerald, because you'll
Speaker 1: remember it wasn't until that Minnesota game of Morehead's first
Speaker 1: year in State College that things really started to turn around.
Speaker 1: And I have gone back time and time again and
Speaker 1: talked about how it correlates pretty closely to how they
Speaker 1: used Trace McSorley, and he got a little bit moreactive
Speaker 1: with his legs and maybe he saw some more of
Speaker 1: that RPO stuff coming into effect. Nick Fitzgerald will be
Speaker 1: the engine that runs this whole thing. He's a senior,
Speaker 1: he's an upper class and he's clearly the leader of
Speaker 1: that team. He got hurt this year, but Nick Fitzgerald
Speaker 1: now coming back running a Joe moorehead system. I expect
Speaker 1: everything to run through Fitzgerald and for Morehead to really
Speaker 1: come up with something that suits his skill set. So
Speaker 1: my prediction, if I can make one now, they will
Speaker 1: knock off somebody just because they're going to have such
Speaker 1: a bright mind running the offense where they're going to
Speaker 1: create mismatches just based on Nick Fitzgerald alone.
Speaker 2: Correct, there's a lot of good news about Mississippi State
Speaker 2: football and this mixing of Joe moorehead. They should score points,
Speaker 2: which if you're going to take over in an extremely
Speaker 2: tough division, which the SEC West at least will be
Speaker 2: in the next couple of years, Obviously there's some turnover
Speaker 2: at Arkansas, Texas A and m Ole Miss. You know,
Speaker 2: turning Matt Luke into the full time guy and taking
Speaker 2: the interim tag off certainly is a change, but not
Speaker 2: as much of a change as the other places. But
Speaker 2: last year they didn't lose any dumb games, which is
Speaker 2: I mean, it speaks the job Dan Mullen did and
Speaker 2: speaks to the job that the players did last year.
Speaker 2: But you know, they get demolished by Georgia and Auburn,
Speaker 2: which turns out pretty much everybody did. Those teams were
Speaker 2: great and both of playoff quality. They almost knock off
Speaker 2: Alabama if not for some questionable decision making near the
Speaker 2: end of that game and being not as aggressive perhaps
Speaker 2: as they should have been. But at home, almost knocking
Speaker 2: off the national champion and almost coming back without their
Speaker 2: starting quarterback in the Egg Bowl is enormous and beating,
Speaker 2: you know, and scoring more than a talented Louisville team
Speaker 2: led by Lamar Jackson is significant. Winning nine games in
Speaker 2: Starkville is a big deal. Sustaining success like Dan Mullen
Speaker 2: did in Starkville near the end of his tenure is
Speaker 2: an enormous deal and shows that with good coaching and
Speaker 2: with buy in, Mississippi State will beat good teams, not
Speaker 2: just not lose to bad ones, but they will knock
Speaker 2: off and put themselves in position to beat great teams,
Speaker 2: and they themselves be a really good team. So I
Speaker 2: think culturally it will be a change for Joe Morehead
Speaker 2: in terms of recruiting, like he said, in terms of
Speaker 2: just speaking the language and sort of understanding the rhythms
Speaker 2: of the SEC and Starkville. But beyond that, I think
Speaker 2: he's a smart dude who gets by in I like
Speaker 2: the hires he made. I think they'll continue the success
Speaker 2: of evaluating three star types relatively locally well and sprinkling
Speaker 2: it in with some blue chips like they've done in
Speaker 2: years past. So I am bullish on sustaining that eight seven,
Speaker 2: nine an occasional maybe everybody's a senior and they have
Speaker 2: a transcending quarterback like Dak situation. I don't think there's
Speaker 2: any reason to say they're going back to sometimes Bowl
Speaker 2: sometimes not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the other thing that I think really needs
Speaker 1: to be mentioned here, we can underscore it again, he
Speaker 1: was a head coach previously. True, he was a head
Speaker 1: coach at forty.
Speaker 2: In college football's most important conference.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, so he's had a lot of those experiences that
Speaker 1: first time head coaches need to try and learn on
Speaker 1: the job. Joe moorehead's been there before, asked very organically
Speaker 1: through the coaching ranks, took a bit of an unconventional
Speaker 1: route to get there, and you can read his story
Speaker 1: again on the internet. It's incredible. But after he found
Speaker 1: a way to get into the college game, really made
Speaker 1: the rounds through you know the acrons, the Yukon's Fordham
Speaker 1: ended up at Penn State and now a Mississippi State.
Speaker 1: So he's a guy with a lot of good coaching
Speaker 1: experience that he brings to the table here and I
Speaker 1: think it'll serve him very well. Now, different situation, the
Speaker 1: SEC is certainly no picnic, but I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: what kind of innovation he can now bring to Starkville.
Speaker 1: Should be cool.
Speaker 2: So it's a rough middle of the season Florida Auburn
Speaker 2: a bye week before they go to LSU, and then
Speaker 2: the week after coming to Starkville is Texas A and
Speaker 2: M and then Louisiana Tech not a walkover, and then
Speaker 2: they go to Tuscaloosa. So I can't see how this
Speaker 2: team does better in the regular season than they did
Speaker 2: last year with the new staff and installing new systems
Speaker 2: and back coming off of a pretty significant injury. But
Speaker 2: I think they'll be fun ty. I think they will
Speaker 2: be in a position to win more often or much
Speaker 2: more often than not.
Speaker 1: There you have it, Okay. Scheme theme again presented by
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Speaker 1: percent off when you use the code solid at checkout.
Speaker 1: Please go check them out. They've been so supportive of
Speaker 1: what we're doing here all throughout the month of March.
Speaker 1: Thank you again to everyone who tuned in two shows
Speaker 1: this week. A little bit extra on the verbal menu.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for sticking with us. We will
Speaker 1: catch you all next week. Scheme theme rolls on, More Friends,
Speaker 1: more Football. We're excited to present it again all throughout
Speaker 1: the month of March. For that guy over there, my
Speaker 1: good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Ty Hildebrant, thanks again
Speaker 1: for tuning into the show. At you all in week.
Speaker 1: Stay solid peace, Chiens