Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey -- November 15, 2018
Q: What did you think of Corey Coleman as a kickoff returner?
A: He did a good job. It was refreshing to make an explosive play in the kickoff return game. It was fun to watch.
Q: What made you know he was able to do that? He hadn’t returned any kickoffs in games.
A: He did it in college. That’s part of our job as coaches, we’ve got to do our research. I worked with Art Briles, so I always followed Baylor kind of closely so I knew about him and I knew about his past. Kid can run. He showed his self-value, definitely.
Q: Was he supposed to bring that one out?
A: Yeah. We’re trying to make plays, this is not one of those deals where we just sit back and wait for the offense to make a play, for the defense to make a play. We’re an (integral) part of it, and it’s three phases working as one. You’ve got to have one working with the other. We’re not just going to give way to one phase or the other, we’re out there making plays.
Q: As the weather gets colder, will there be more opportunities?
A: Absolutely. The ball doesn’t fly as far, especially in the northeast. It doesn’t fly as far, so you’re going to get those opportunities. You’ve just got to be ready for them when they come.
Q: What have you learned about Corey? He came with some baggage and perceptions about him, what have you learned about him as a player and a person?
A: I don’t get into all that, the stuff that happened before. All I can do is take him for what’s going on in front of me. He’s been great in our meetings, he’s been very receptive to coaching, he listens to everything we say, and he’s doing a good job.
Q: Do you worry you might lose him to the offense?
A: That’s part of my job. I don’t worry about that stuff. My job is to get him ready to go to offense and defense, so I don’t worry about losing one way or the other. If he’s gone, then it’s next man up. That’s just the reality of it.
Q: How much of it is speed? Is there more to it? It seems like on kick return, that’s the most important trait.
A: Yeah, speed and vision. You’ve got to be able to see it, and obviously got to be able to get there. Corey possesses both. He does a good job of fielding the ball and he has some mobility. He’s a first round draft pick for a reason. Definitely has some big time ability.
Q: Aldrick (Rosas) has always been really accurate on the field goals, but has two kickoffs out of bounds. What’s been going on there?
A: That happens. He’s a young player. It’d be different if I had Graham Gano, a guy that’s been doing it for 10 years, but people have to realize he’s a young player and young players make mistakes from time to time. He’s had a lot more touchbacks, a lot more good things than bad. We’ll fix that little issue that he’s having. I think it was more honestly the field conditions a little bit there. I(f you watch Aldrick every day on our practice fields, when he plants and puts his foot in the ground, he puts a crater in the ground that’s probably six to eight inches. That’s a big, strong man. If the ground is slipping underneath you a little bit, he wasn’t really planting his foot in the ground because he didn’t want to slide. It happened.
Q: How do you clean up the early penalties?
A: It’s technique. Some of the stuff is self-inflicted, we shouldn’t have done it and we’ve been told not to do it, and we did it anyway. We’ve just got to do a better job of listening when the coach tells you to do something, and then some of the things are just technique things. Got caught in the crossover, stay square a little bit more, but other than that, we’ve been playing pretty clean up until the last couple of weeks. We’ve just got to make sure those little small details as far as penalties are concerned, we’ve got to make sure we get that cleaned up.
Q: The punter was a concern here last year and you brought Riley (Dixon) in. What did you expect from him and how has he matched up to that?
A: We expected Riley to come in and just fit in. He showed really good direction in Denver, he was just a little bit inconsistent. Again, these guys are young players and you just can’t give up on a young guy. Eventually, they’re going to fail their way to success. They’re going to make mistakes, they’re going to learn from their mistakes, and then they’re going to have success. That’s what you hope, anyway, but that’s been the case with Riley. He’s done a really good job of working, and again accepting coaching, and just maturing as a young player.
Q: When you’re scouting a guy like Riley, do you take into account Denver, the altitude? Do you look more at his road games? How did that play in?
A: Absolutely. I coached in Denver for two years and people always talk about the altitude. The altitude doesn’t make the ball hang, it just makes it go further faster. When you compare the two from on the road and what he did at home, it wasn’t a whole lot different. As a matter of fact, he was a little bit better on the road. He’s a young player, and we’re just happy that the maturation process is taking place with him, and we look forward to great things from him.
Q: Michael Thomas as a captain of yours, do you see a noticeable impact from him on the younger players on the unit?
A: Absolutely. Mike T is unbelievable for our room. He is an outstanding leader, he’s an outstanding person. He does everything he can possibly do to help this football team win. They don’t get any better than him. He’s one of my favorite guys, and one of my favorite guys I’ve ever coached. He brings that much juice to the room, and he’s always coaching the young guys, he’s always encouraging the young guys. He’s the type of guy that you want with a C on the chest.
Q: Is that what you expected from him? It seemed to be what he was known for.
A: Yes. The thing with Mike, the guy who gave me my first job, his name is David Suggs, was Mike’s high school coach. He’s always talked about Mike, so I’ve known about Mike since he was in high school. I followed him his whole career and when we got a chance to pick him up, I was definitely on board with him. You love to have a guy like that in your room, and he’s fun to work with.
Q: How is Lorenzo Carter adjusting to as many snaps as you’ve given him on special teams? Have you seen him develop in the roles you’ve asked him to do?
A: Absolutely. Lorenzo is one of our top tacklers. He’s 6-5, 250 pounds and he runs 4.4. He’s a big talented guy. How many of those do you want? I want 11 of them. He’s a good young player and he’s coming along. I foresee him graduating here pretty quick, his special teams reps will probably go down a little bit moving forward, but he’s a very special player. Kind of reminds me of JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul) a little bit.
