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C O A C H S P E A K • E X C E R P T S F R O M J A M E S F R A N K L I N ' S W E E K L Y P R E S S E R Aside from the two blocks, has there been a common thread in Tyler Davis's misses? And have you considered giv- ing kickoff responsibilities to someone else so he can focus only on field goals like he did the last two years? He's been awesome on kickoffs. I think we are better on kickoffs now than we've been, so no, we'll get it fixed. To be honest with you, if you take the blocks out of there, he's doing pretty good. He's doing pretty good. We're just going to continue to work through it. We've got a new holder. We've got a new snapper, and like I said, the blocks really aren't on him. You know, our operation time was fine. I wouldn't say the kicks were overly low. But when you don't block a guy through a gap and he comes screaming through free, they are going to block the kick. So no. Right now, we feel very comfort- able with what he's doing on kickoffs, and we know he can be great as a field goal guy. We've just got to make sure that everybody who's around Tyler is support- ing him. Irvin Charles has really been a weapon for you on special teams as a coverage player. He had that good catch against Minnesota last year. He looks like a physically imposing kid. How close do you think is he to becoming more of a factor in the passing game, and is there anything in your mind that's holding him back? Yeah, he's been great on special teams. He's made a bunch of big plays on special teams, and he's getting opportunities in the game in terms of reps. You know, we don't go into games say- ing we're going to throw the ball to Mike Gesicki 10 times. It's however the game goes and however the game flows, and Irv, as well as a bunch of our guys, know that they just have to keep working hard and when the opportunities come, take ad- vantage of them. It's nothing more than that. On special teams, he's had some oppor- tunities and the plays are coming his way, but it's really nothing more than that. We've got depth and talent across the board at a bunch of positions. Irv is one of those guys, very talented. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, something that's probably a little bit dif- ferent in our program than has been [the case] in the past is that some guys are going to have to have a little bit of pa- tience. That's a very important quality and trait to learn early in life, because things don't always come at the time that you want them to come. You want them to come at the time they are supposed to come. Just control the things you can control. Continue to work hard and con- tinue to develop and continue to grow. When opportunities come, capitalize on them. The tight ends behind Mike Gesicki have developed in the past year. Any update you can give on Mike? No update on Mike. I know you've got to ask, and I think you all know what my an- swer is going to be, but no update. Looks great. Then the tight ends, we're excited about the development. I think [Tom] Pancoast has played really well this year in the op- portunities that he's gotten. I think Jonathan Holland has got a very, very bright future and is continuing to grow. He's another one of those guys who has been learning and understanding pa- tience. When opportunities come, take advantage of them. Obviously, he got some opportunities last week. Both of those guys did. There are going to be more opportunities as this season progresses. But you know, really no updates. I mean, we expect Mike to play on Saturday, as well as the other tight ends. How is Trace McSorley a better quar- terback now than he was last year at this point? To be honest with you, it's not even re- ally close. … Last year, through the first five games, our record was 3-2. Right now our record is 5-0. I think the most impor- tant stat that you have as a quarterback is wins, and he's 5-0 compared to 3-2. So I think to me the discussion should end right there. But I will go further: Completion per- centage, first five games from last year he was at 58 percent. He's at 65 percent [this year]. Even if you want to take the last five games of last year, he was 61 percent [in those games]. He's 65 right now in the first five. Touchdown-interception ratio, last year in the first five games, he had six touchdowns and three interceptions. Right now he has 12 and four. I don't think it's even close in any cate- gory that you can look at. If you compare him to the last five [of last year], he's pretty much on par. You can make an ar- gument that he's better in some cate- gories. If you compare it to the first five games of last year, he's far ahead. I think he's pretty much better in every metric possible. How much latitude does Trace have at the line of scrimmage as far as chang- ing the play, and at what point does that happen? How would you evaluate his decision-making? That's been kind of his deal from the be- ginning. I tell you what, it's impressive sitting in the quarterback meetings. It's impressive sitting in the offensive meet- ings. I mean, he's got the stuff down, he really does. In terms of this system compared to other systems, obviously the check-with- me system where you look back to the sideline, the coaches are handling that, which in a lot of ways makes a lot of sense. I know a lot of times, the NFL guys are not as complimentary of this system sometimes, which I disagree with. I think you look at us, we're a West Coast passing offense with progressions and footwork and very similar to what I came up in. The difference is that you've got the coach making the adjustments from the sideline, which makes sense, because the players spend 20 hours a week on this and we spend whatever ridiculous number of hours we spend. So you might as well have the guy who's most prepared, most experienced, mak- ing those decisions. What we need Trace to do is we need Trace to make adjust- ments with the protection, some adjust- ments in the run game, but mostly in the protections. I think the other thing is coming back to the sideline and having great conversation and feedback with Joe [Moorhead] to O C T O B E R 4 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 12

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