Will Muschamp talked about numerous topics at the on-going SEC Spring Meeting yesterday and he'll talk about plenty more as the week goes on. Among the topics he talked about were the Blakley transfer, oversigning (surprise!), who will handle the defensive play-calls, Janoris Jenkins, Jim Tressel, Nick Saban, offensive philosophy, and studying film of the opponents the Gators will face this year.
No word yet on what he plans to do with that beach house he shares with FSU coach Jimbo Fisher. I say the winner of the game this November gets the house while the loser gets the grill.
Muschamp on the Blakley transfer:
"It's not my policy to clear a kid to leave for another conference school," Muschamp said Tuesday. "I don't want to face our players on the field. I know how good they are. They signed with Florida for a reason, so that's a situation I'm going to avoid."
"He wanted to be there (at Auburn) and he deserves that chance," the Florida coach said. "I talked to everyone. I talked his high school coach, to the parents. This was the best thing for that young man. I'm not looking forward to playing against him in a few years if that's what happens, but this was the right thing to do."
Yeah, that is probably the smart play. If he allows a kid every once in a while to go to any school he wants, that'll work for a lot of people. It isn't wise to do it all the time because as Muschamp points out, we would have to play the majority of them. The first time that the Gators will face off against Blakley will be September 29, 2012 at The Swamp because Blakley has to sit out this year per NCAA transfer rules.
Nick Saban on his Muschamp mistake:
"I just made a mistake," Saban said. "I didn't want to put guys that were college coaches in coordinator positions until they'd coached in the league and gotten some experience. I should have made him the coordinator (in 2006). I was trying to protect people that were important to me. I think Will understands that. We don't have any issues or problems."
If you were wondering why Muschamp left Saban's staff and went to Auburn, now you know.
Muschamp responded about the how everyone follows Saban's blueprint:
“Obviously we had a lot of success at LSU. As you move forward, certainly Nick’s success in the NFL, at Alabama, certainly has helped us because people want the blueprint,’ Muschamp said. “They want what’s happened before. What made them successful? Was it just one guy or was it a collection of guys on that staff? Because we had really good players, I can tell you why we’ve been successful.”
That Nick Saban staff included Muschamp, Derek Dooley and Jimbo Fisher. No wonder they were very successful.
Muschamp again addressed the oversigning issue:
"We don’t over-sign," Muschamp said. "That’s a policy we have at the university. We’ve been successful, so it’s not an issue for us."
We shall see. So far he is saying all the right things on the issue.
Muschamp on who will call the defensive plays this season:
"I’ll be very involved with what we do," Muschamp said. "I hired Dan Quinn, who is philosophically on the same page with what we want to do. I can leave the meeting room for an afternoon and come back and nothing’s changed. We’re going to have the same terminology, believe in the same things in how you play. He’s as good a front coach as I’ve been around, so having him on the front end and then I’m helping on the back end is certainly a benefit for us, but I’ll be heavily involved.
"I’m very pleased with how we did in the spring. Dan called everything and I think he did an outstanding job. He’s very capable. We’ll make that decision closer to the season."
Sounds like this might work.
Muschamp on Tressel:
"I don’t really have all the information of what all happened," he said. "It’s all hearsay. The big thing is go on gut feeling and do the right thing. That’s what I do. That’s what I expect our guys to do. I don’t have all the information on what happened there."
Muschamp touched on the Janoris Jenkins issue once again:
"I don’t look at it as trying to send a message; I look at it from a standpoint of doing what’s right for the program," he said. "Guys are going to be expected to act a certain way and have a certain behavior, and if they don’t do that then they’re not going to be a part of our football team."
Seems like it is a he-said, he-said type of deal. I'll side with the coach instead of the player on this.
Muschamp on how he'll spend his time this summer:
"We will fully game plan our first four and then we will look at every opponent and watch most every game from last season and look at anything in the off-season that they may have done to tweak their scheme and system," he said.
This is more of what will happen when Muschamp (per NCAA rules) isn't allowed to be in contact with the players.
Muschamp on the offensive philosophy for the upcoming season:
"We’ve identified things we feel like our strengths are and we’ve curtailed our offense to be what we can be based on those guys," he said. "So, granted, I’d love to be 50-50 balanced down the middle, run and pass. When you become too one-dimensional, I’m just looking at it from a defensive perspective, it makes it pretty easy for you."
Getting the ball to your playmakers while running a balanced offense. How great does that sound?