ShotgunDawg
08-27-2015, 12:17 PM
I saw this interview yesterday and was reminded of how much I love Diaz's interviews. I remember from the first time he was at MSU, and possibly more than any other coach we had, when Diaz is interviewed, he is extremely interesting, though provoking, & offers insight. At some point, when his coaching career is over, he'll make a great analyst for someone.
Below is the interview:
With almost a week left before the opener, what do you think about your defense?
Diaz: We've had a good camp. We've kinda hit that spot where we are ready to go play. We've gone against our offense enough times and we've had an opportunity this week to work a little bit of scout team in so we can start working on some different looks that we anticipate seeing coming up and getting in some game preparation. We are obviously focusing our attention and our guys are highly focused on Southern Miss. At this stage they are ready to go play. They understand what a big game that is going to be and what a great environment that is going to be and what a great game for this state. So we have a high sense of urgency to make sure we perform at a very high level that night.
Southern Miss has a lot of new players and the possibility of a new quarterback. How difficult will it be to scout a team like that?
Diaz: Well, it's Game 1 anyway so you never know. People in the offseason go look at different things and go do different things. You never know what somebody's identity is going to be. And players improve. Sometimes the light comes on for a guy so we won't know what to fully expect. But Game 1 are generally like that anyway. It's a game of rules so you have to know your rules. They can line receivers up 1, 2 or 3 on one side or they can line up and run the ball inside or run the ball outside. You have to understand the fundamentals of defense. I told them Game 1 sometimes is about yourself more than your opponent and fundamentally doing well. Tackling, obviously in Game 1 is paramount so we've done a lot of work on that to pride ourselves on being a great tackling football team.
What are some of those signs that you see guys are ready to play?
Diaz: Well, you go against your offense so many times and you get tired of seeing the same guy. You can run into somebody so many times before you prefer to run into somebody else. And the offense feels the same way. But at the same time you have to broaden your horizons, mentally, because we don't play Mississippi State on offense. So they may do something on offense that we won't see for 13 weeks this season. You have to be careful that you don't get used to what you are seeing every day and understanding there are other things out there that we're going to have to defend.
How well do you think your guys have picked up your defensive schemes?
Diaz: From Day 1 when we came back in August, I thought our guys had a really strong foundation of what adjustments we were trying to do. There's no major wholesale changes. I think it's like any year that year-in and year-out, you're always trying to look to improve on what you've done the year before. So our guys get it. We've got a veteran group of guys that have played some ball. In the spring you could tell they were thinking about it for a week or two. But once they got it, they hit the ground running. I think our kids have a pretty firm grasp of what our identity is.
With a couple of scrimmages under your belt, how do you feel the safety position is breaking down right now?
Diaz: I like the way those guys have played. From spring into fall, I think the development of Kivon Coman has really changed our entire defense. Just the level of pride that he plays with, his attention to detail, trying to do everything right, being a leader and making calls back there on the back end. He is playing like a guy with a lot of experience than he actually does have. He is playing with a lot of confidence back there. Then the play-making has come along with it. Another guy, Brandon Bryant is developing every day and getting better. Physically, he is so gifted and mentally he wants to do it right. He just needs reps, reps and reps. You see every day he is getting better, which the team can see. I think they trust him physically and know he can make a play when he is back there.
Two exciting guys, (Mark) McLaurin and (Jamal) Peters, both of those guys have a lot of promise. But it's still a lot of learning for them. It's hard to get on-the-job training at safety. Safety is one position, as you know, if you make one mistake the next play is usually an extra point. So we love the future that those guys have.
Then you got Poke Dog (Kendrick Market), he is just the consummate football player. If you were playing pickup ball and just drafting guys with no positions, you would want him on your team. Whatever we ask him to do, he is going to do it well. Then a guy like (Deontay) Evans is solid, steady, good tackler and can play a lot of different roles for us back there. So all of a sudden, we feel like we've got guys that can help us in a lot of different ways at that position.
What does the return of a Kendrick Market do for your defense?
Diaz: No. 1, you just see the calmness of the reps. That's the whole thing and everybody gets better the more time they do something. So his experience, he is not wowed by the speed of the game. And second, he is just so tough and such a great hitter. He is a great tackler and he absorbs the knowledge that Coach (Tony) Hughes gives him like a sponge. And Coach Hughes has done a phenomenal job with the safeties since I've been here. He's been on point with those guys and doing a great job. A guy like Poke Dog, whatever you tell him he's going to do it because he listens to every word you say. He's on it. Whatever you tell him to do, he's going to do it with a lot of passion.
What did you take away from the two scrimmages?
Diaz: What I liked is that I saw the identity of our defense start to come through. I thought we played fast. We attacked the line of scrimmage. I thought we showed toughness and I thought we tackled well, which to me is the first thing you evaluate when you go into a scrimmage. You never want to talk about this coverage or this blitz or whatever, but the defense is getting off blocks and tackling. Sometimes it is more fun to write about this fun coverage that just changed or whatever. But we've got to be a great tackling football team. We've changed the system of tackling and I think our guys have bought into it and they understand it. And you can see it. It's funny, you can just see it now that in every drill we do, we've changed our whole mentality on tackling.
Then what's cool for us as coaches, you get into a scrimmage and it shows up. They have a lot of confidence in our ability to get guys on the ground, which really helps. And I just like the passion and the energy we want to play with, I thought both nights we were out there was outstanding.
Your impressions of Leo Lewis?
Diaz: I am really excited about Leo. Like most freshmen, they usually go on a curve. The first week is better then you coach them and they get worse because they start thinking about more stuff, kinda like my golf game is. And then as time gets on, they start to improve again. Instinctively, he's really, really gifted. Just his ability to read the game as a linebacker, understand body position and staying square and being able to explode out of his hips on contact. He has some things that you don't have to coach. He already has it. So now for him it's just getting comfortable with the defense and call after call and understanding formations and offense and what they're trying to do to him. But we are very excited that he is in Maroon and White, for sure.
We've talked to Dan Mullen and David Turner about the corner that Nick James has turned. What have you seen from him?
Diaz: I've sorta got the fill-in-the-blank story on how far he's come. But I've even seen it in the time I've been here. He is just a guy that instead of being a guy that just flashes every now and then in practice or maybe would flash a high-high and then a low-low. One of the neatest things about Nick is that when we were going through the fall camp process, there was one day that, and this sounds funny to say, you realize that you hadn't noticed him, which is actually a good thing. What that meant was he was in a mature fashion of just going about and doing his job. Because sometimes those guys in there, you're not going to notice them unless it is something really, really good or if it sometimes that it is really, really bad. So just the fact he has that maturity to just go out and work and just be a dude in practice, I thought that was really impressive.
To me, he is what we pride ourselves as a coaching staff. Again, the first thing we have to be is a player-developmental program. And that's in all aspects of our players' lives. And that is the cool thing for us. It is neat, like your own children, when these guys mature and become something they weren't the first day you got there. And to a guy like David Turner that has invested so much into Nick, when you have an impact like that on someone's life, that is pretty neat from our standpoint.
Would you say there is any pressure on you as a new coach coming back to Mississippi State?
Diaz: No, I don't think so. First of all, I don't know what pressure is. I mean, we have a pretty high standard for the way we play defense and things like that. And as you know, the more you do this, this game is about the people that play and not the people that coach it. It's fun to write about the coaches but the guys that deserve the credit are the ones out there running around sacrificing themselves for the game. To be honest, I am at the point right now where I am excited to go watch them play. I feel like we are going to put out a good product that our fans are going to be proud to watch us come play defense.
Below is the interview:
With almost a week left before the opener, what do you think about your defense?
Diaz: We've had a good camp. We've kinda hit that spot where we are ready to go play. We've gone against our offense enough times and we've had an opportunity this week to work a little bit of scout team in so we can start working on some different looks that we anticipate seeing coming up and getting in some game preparation. We are obviously focusing our attention and our guys are highly focused on Southern Miss. At this stage they are ready to go play. They understand what a big game that is going to be and what a great environment that is going to be and what a great game for this state. So we have a high sense of urgency to make sure we perform at a very high level that night.
Southern Miss has a lot of new players and the possibility of a new quarterback. How difficult will it be to scout a team like that?
Diaz: Well, it's Game 1 anyway so you never know. People in the offseason go look at different things and go do different things. You never know what somebody's identity is going to be. And players improve. Sometimes the light comes on for a guy so we won't know what to fully expect. But Game 1 are generally like that anyway. It's a game of rules so you have to know your rules. They can line receivers up 1, 2 or 3 on one side or they can line up and run the ball inside or run the ball outside. You have to understand the fundamentals of defense. I told them Game 1 sometimes is about yourself more than your opponent and fundamentally doing well. Tackling, obviously in Game 1 is paramount so we've done a lot of work on that to pride ourselves on being a great tackling football team.
What are some of those signs that you see guys are ready to play?
Diaz: Well, you go against your offense so many times and you get tired of seeing the same guy. You can run into somebody so many times before you prefer to run into somebody else. And the offense feels the same way. But at the same time you have to broaden your horizons, mentally, because we don't play Mississippi State on offense. So they may do something on offense that we won't see for 13 weeks this season. You have to be careful that you don't get used to what you are seeing every day and understanding there are other things out there that we're going to have to defend.
How well do you think your guys have picked up your defensive schemes?
Diaz: From Day 1 when we came back in August, I thought our guys had a really strong foundation of what adjustments we were trying to do. There's no major wholesale changes. I think it's like any year that year-in and year-out, you're always trying to look to improve on what you've done the year before. So our guys get it. We've got a veteran group of guys that have played some ball. In the spring you could tell they were thinking about it for a week or two. But once they got it, they hit the ground running. I think our kids have a pretty firm grasp of what our identity is.
With a couple of scrimmages under your belt, how do you feel the safety position is breaking down right now?
Diaz: I like the way those guys have played. From spring into fall, I think the development of Kivon Coman has really changed our entire defense. Just the level of pride that he plays with, his attention to detail, trying to do everything right, being a leader and making calls back there on the back end. He is playing like a guy with a lot of experience than he actually does have. He is playing with a lot of confidence back there. Then the play-making has come along with it. Another guy, Brandon Bryant is developing every day and getting better. Physically, he is so gifted and mentally he wants to do it right. He just needs reps, reps and reps. You see every day he is getting better, which the team can see. I think they trust him physically and know he can make a play when he is back there.
Two exciting guys, (Mark) McLaurin and (Jamal) Peters, both of those guys have a lot of promise. But it's still a lot of learning for them. It's hard to get on-the-job training at safety. Safety is one position, as you know, if you make one mistake the next play is usually an extra point. So we love the future that those guys have.
Then you got Poke Dog (Kendrick Market), he is just the consummate football player. If you were playing pickup ball and just drafting guys with no positions, you would want him on your team. Whatever we ask him to do, he is going to do it well. Then a guy like (Deontay) Evans is solid, steady, good tackler and can play a lot of different roles for us back there. So all of a sudden, we feel like we've got guys that can help us in a lot of different ways at that position.
What does the return of a Kendrick Market do for your defense?
Diaz: No. 1, you just see the calmness of the reps. That's the whole thing and everybody gets better the more time they do something. So his experience, he is not wowed by the speed of the game. And second, he is just so tough and such a great hitter. He is a great tackler and he absorbs the knowledge that Coach (Tony) Hughes gives him like a sponge. And Coach Hughes has done a phenomenal job with the safeties since I've been here. He's been on point with those guys and doing a great job. A guy like Poke Dog, whatever you tell him he's going to do it because he listens to every word you say. He's on it. Whatever you tell him to do, he's going to do it with a lot of passion.
What did you take away from the two scrimmages?
Diaz: What I liked is that I saw the identity of our defense start to come through. I thought we played fast. We attacked the line of scrimmage. I thought we showed toughness and I thought we tackled well, which to me is the first thing you evaluate when you go into a scrimmage. You never want to talk about this coverage or this blitz or whatever, but the defense is getting off blocks and tackling. Sometimes it is more fun to write about this fun coverage that just changed or whatever. But we've got to be a great tackling football team. We've changed the system of tackling and I think our guys have bought into it and they understand it. And you can see it. It's funny, you can just see it now that in every drill we do, we've changed our whole mentality on tackling.
Then what's cool for us as coaches, you get into a scrimmage and it shows up. They have a lot of confidence in our ability to get guys on the ground, which really helps. And I just like the passion and the energy we want to play with, I thought both nights we were out there was outstanding.
Your impressions of Leo Lewis?
Diaz: I am really excited about Leo. Like most freshmen, they usually go on a curve. The first week is better then you coach them and they get worse because they start thinking about more stuff, kinda like my golf game is. And then as time gets on, they start to improve again. Instinctively, he's really, really gifted. Just his ability to read the game as a linebacker, understand body position and staying square and being able to explode out of his hips on contact. He has some things that you don't have to coach. He already has it. So now for him it's just getting comfortable with the defense and call after call and understanding formations and offense and what they're trying to do to him. But we are very excited that he is in Maroon and White, for sure.
We've talked to Dan Mullen and David Turner about the corner that Nick James has turned. What have you seen from him?
Diaz: I've sorta got the fill-in-the-blank story on how far he's come. But I've even seen it in the time I've been here. He is just a guy that instead of being a guy that just flashes every now and then in practice or maybe would flash a high-high and then a low-low. One of the neatest things about Nick is that when we were going through the fall camp process, there was one day that, and this sounds funny to say, you realize that you hadn't noticed him, which is actually a good thing. What that meant was he was in a mature fashion of just going about and doing his job. Because sometimes those guys in there, you're not going to notice them unless it is something really, really good or if it sometimes that it is really, really bad. So just the fact he has that maturity to just go out and work and just be a dude in practice, I thought that was really impressive.
To me, he is what we pride ourselves as a coaching staff. Again, the first thing we have to be is a player-developmental program. And that's in all aspects of our players' lives. And that is the cool thing for us. It is neat, like your own children, when these guys mature and become something they weren't the first day you got there. And to a guy like David Turner that has invested so much into Nick, when you have an impact like that on someone's life, that is pretty neat from our standpoint.
Would you say there is any pressure on you as a new coach coming back to Mississippi State?
Diaz: No, I don't think so. First of all, I don't know what pressure is. I mean, we have a pretty high standard for the way we play defense and things like that. And as you know, the more you do this, this game is about the people that play and not the people that coach it. It's fun to write about the coaches but the guys that deserve the credit are the ones out there running around sacrificing themselves for the game. To be honest, I am at the point right now where I am excited to go watch them play. I feel like we are going to put out a good product that our fans are going to be proud to watch us come play defense.