Up next in 10
#UNC defensive coordinator Geoff Collins ahead of Saturday's game at Boston College
Nov 18, 2024
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0:07
was talking to this game come out tough
0:10
sure if you want to use one word you
0:13
kind like that age I do I do their uh
0:17
big physical group they want to run the
0:19
football they want to establish the line
0:20
of scrimmage um I mean I think we're one
0:24
and two our team and their team and
0:26
running the football a number of
0:28
attempts so it's going to be a physical
0:30
game it's going to be uh nice cold
0:33
Northeastern weather so let's put the
0:35
ball down and go
0:37
compete 31 those tackles I think in bit
0:40
Georgia Tech games 11 in the last three
0:43
according to PFF I imagine those fairly
0:45
accurate why what's the difference I I
0:48
mean you know obviously credit to the
0:51
players um embracing uh the fundamentals
0:54
the techniques all the things uh that
0:57
we're pouring into them and they're
0:58
going out and executing at a very high
1:00
level um I think they have confidence in
1:03
knowing what their assignments are they
1:05
have confidence in their teammates
1:07
executing their assignments so the fits
1:09
are clean um where they're supposed to
1:12
be how they're supposed to execute
1:13
whatever movements or the coverage
1:15
Concepts um so they can just play free
1:18
and go and fit the where they're
1:20
supposed to fit and ends up being really
1:23
good when you went back and did the day
1:24
one install during the first open day
1:26
and simplify by simplifying I think you
1:28
said the following week they'd be a
1:29
little bit quicker off the snap is that
1:31
a difference too in tackles because of
1:33
where their engagement begins where they
1:35
initiate the engagement as opposed to
1:37
being a split second uh a little bit I
1:39
mean I guess on the front up front
1:42
possibly um but I think the back end uh
1:45
just trusting where the the front
1:47
Fitters are going to be so your entry
1:50
angles are even more clean um and you
1:52
can just use proper uh angles and
1:54
leverage to make the tackles so and they
1:57
just been stressing uh doing that at
1:59
High level the way we practice uh versus
2:03
the show teams has been really good too
2:05
uh give a h h shout out to Major bird uh
2:08
Selby our running backs on the show team
2:11
I mean they when we're we're physical
2:14
and they're physical right back and uh
2:16
you know out of love and respect but
2:18
it's been it's a really good look by
2:20
those guys um and our guys have embraced
2:22
the there's Jaden right there embrace
2:24
the the physicality of those practices
2:27
um each and every day which is really
2:29
cool to see je with with Travis what has
2:31
been the key to unlocking him this
2:34
season and tapping into that potential
2:36
that he showed when he was in high
2:37
school I mean I I I absolutely love
2:39
Travis Shaw I think it's been no secret
2:41
uh since the day I met him and have
2:43
gotten to uh grow with him and our
2:46
relationship is built um just tremendous
2:49
young man and uh just his growth and
2:52
maturity and how coach monino and Coach
2:55
Lindsay and cam have poured into him and
2:58
he's become ridic ridiculously coachable
3:01
um and it's just a fun uh just a fun
3:05
development to see all the work uh all
3:09
the maturity show up on game days and I
3:13
mean he was he was musty TV on Saturday
3:16
night um it was fun to watch and I was
3:19
very very proud of him his attitude his
3:21
Demeter his Focus his work ethic um the
3:25
toughness that he's shown throughout the
3:27
season um has been very impressive so
3:30
very proud of him was this the best game
3:31
he's played this season oh yeah
3:33
absolutely and it just just consistent
3:36
uh with it like he made some Flash plays
3:38
um but the consistency of his technique
3:41
uh the consistency of his execution was
3:44
what led to a lot of them I mean the
3:46
spin move was the spin move and the tack
3:49
loss that was I mean you can't draw that
3:51
up I mean only Travis can do that um but
3:54
just I've just been very impressed with
3:56
his maturity uh his leadership uh
3:59
because I think people recognize the
4:01
growth that he's gone through so that
4:03
Garners respect from from everybody as
4:05
well what do you Jeff we've heard about
4:08
the the tough love that Ted and Josh
4:10
Harris those guys have given what you
4:13
have you told him privately um that
4:16
maybe you could share with us like what
4:17
are your like sort of intimate
4:20
conversations with TR yeah I'll keep
4:21
those between us but I mean we try to be
4:23
transparent and real and um I just think
4:27
coach monino uh is as good is anybody
4:30
out there coaching defensive line um and
4:33
how he's poured into Trav and been
4:35
honest with him um good negative
4:38
whatever it is um just consistent
4:41
honesty you know I think that goes a
4:43
long way um and then you combine that
4:45
with truly caring about somebody uh and
4:48
truly caring about their development for
4:51
their own good not for self- serving
4:53
purposes I think that compounds the
4:56
effect um that then you see you know on
4:59
Saturday
5:00
so it just been uh a group effort but at
5:03
the end of the day it is Travis Shaw
5:05
that has done it and just how he's
5:09
decided uh to unleash this part of
5:12
himself um and embrace you know those
5:15
kind of things and get better from it so
5:18
I'm just really proud of him Boston
5:20
College of course now we do have a cool
5:22
secret handshake but I'll leave that
5:24
I'll leave that between he and I it's
5:26
pretty it's pretty good one too you
5:28
can't just do that
5:33
binocular Boston College of course made
5:35
you know a quarterback change those guys
5:37
are you know different players of course
5:39
um but the offense as a whole just kind
5:41
of from a tendency standpoint what makes
5:44
that offense different with you know
5:45
obious well the the cool thing and so um
5:49
this is a a little caveat I learned
5:53
offensive football from Billy O'Brien so
5:55
I was a gradual assistant to Georgia
5:57
attch 1999 2000 to age myself a little
6:00
bit uh and real quick it's my wife's
6:02
birthday tomorrow I'm not going to age
6:04
her but happy birthday to my wife um
6:07
she's young she's beautiful she's
6:08
absolutely amazing so happy birthday to
6:10
her um but after my second year as a
6:15
defensive GA and all i' ever coached as
6:17
defense all i' ever played was defense
6:19
we had a tight end job open at Jordan
6:21
Tech and Billy O'Brien stood on the
6:24
table for me to be the tight ends coach
6:27
I'd never played tight end I'd never
6:29
study tight end and Billy O'Brien and M
6:32
mcarter taught me offensive football um
6:35
so I have a tremendous amount of respect
6:37
for Billy tremendous amount of love for
6:39
Billy um we've known each other I guess
6:41
now for
6:42
27 years um and his career path and his
6:46
Arc um of being a brilliant offensive
6:49
mind uh continues to show to this day uh
6:53
they're very multiple uh Personnel
6:56
groups uh the usage of uh differ running
6:59
backs the uses of the tight ends uses of
7:02
six to even seven offensive linemen um
7:05
so there's a great multiplicity in what
7:07
they do and obviously this game is about
7:10
toughness and it's going to be about
7:12
physicality but the other piece is all
7:15
of our guys to Aspire to play at the
7:17
next level well this game you're playing
7:20
against an NFL offense um run by one of
7:24
the brightest offensive Minds in the
7:27
game um the m multiplicity the
7:30
physicality the Angles and leverage and
7:33
the issues that they present
7:35
schematically um and then you combine it
7:37
with a big physical offensive line and
7:39
running backs that get downhill so
7:41
that's a that's a big challenge for us
7:43
and so the toughness piece and the
7:46
showcasing your talents against an
7:49
actual offense that is the style that
7:50
you're going to have to play against at
7:52
the next level I think that that
7:54
heightens the awareness of the
7:55
importance of this game even go off that
7:58
I'm kind of curious since you know
7:59
brought it up and things like that like
8:00
with uh Bill O'Brien and kind of
8:02
learning from him at at an early age I
8:05
guess what how did he help you see the
8:08
game differently and just the takeaways
8:10
you had kind of going throughout the
8:11
rest of your period so a as a defensive
8:14
play caller if I could go back and do it
8:18
again for anybody else that wants to be
8:19
in a position that I'm in having that
8:22
year of experience on offense because
8:24
you go through life thinking offense
8:26
sees the game one way and you plan a
8:30
certain way but then you're on the other
8:32
side as an offensive coach and an
8:34
offensive play call or whatever the case
8:35
may be is completely different and it
8:38
changed the way I perceived the game as
8:41
a defensive coach as a defensive play
8:43
caller and it was transformative in my
8:46
career and I you know I give credit to
8:49
any success that I've had from that year
8:52
of experience coaching for Billy and
8:55
working in that system and really and I
8:57
have no idea why people people think
8:59
coaching tight ends is an easy task it
9:03
is I mean you've got you got to be a
9:04
part of the Run game you're basically an
9:06
offensive lineman you've got to be a
9:08
part of the pass game you're basically a
9:09
wide receiver then you've got to be a
9:11
part of the running back quarterback in
9:14
protections and knowing all of the
9:16
intricacies so I don't know if it was a
9:19
tall task that I had to learn from Billy
9:20
but it was it was an invaluable one I
9:23
was going to ask you to spend one year
9:24
coaching on offense that would be the
9:26
ideal position group because it's so
9:27
all-encompassing had had to know
9:29
everything yeah had to know all of it
9:31
and I worked for George O lry and I had
9:35
I think two weeks before we started
9:38
Spring ball to learn all of it I went
9:40
for absolutely zero to in two weeks
9:43
having to know all of it and there were
9:45
zero excuses uh with that and so I did
9:50
so I didn't see my beautiful wife I did
9:52
not see her awake for three years while
9:54
I was working for that wonderful man so
9:57
coach O'Brien he's a former B aant of
10:00
Patriots do you see a lot of influence
10:02
from you know his time CU you saw him
10:04
before he worked at Co and now you're
10:06
seeing him after do you see a lot of
10:07
what's interesting uh and I've always
10:09
said this about Billy I mean that at 30
10:12
years old Billy was like that and that's
10:15
a tremendous compliment um so I just you
10:18
know I think the world of him tremendous
10:20
amount of respect for him uh care for
10:22
his wife Colleen and uh you know
10:25
obviously we've got a big Challenge and
10:28
um the personal relationship can wait
10:30
until after the game so changing
10:32
quarterbacks what do you see there yeah
10:35
um I I the the the um schematically
10:39
there's not a ton of difference um a
10:42
little bit more 12 Personnel um you know
10:45
with the new kid but he's he gets him in
10:48
the right play gets him in the right
10:49
checks uh is very athletic um but is you
10:53
can tell is getting the ball to the
10:55
proper looks and running the ball where
10:57
it's supposed to be run based on where
10:59
three technique is where the shade is in
11:01
an odd front whatever the case may be he
11:03
knows all of those things and is able to
11:06
make it work and he's he's tremendous
11:07
athlete um and does a great job um
11:10
Distributing the ball because they've
11:11
got some really good players and some
11:13
some big receivers in the tight end room
11:16
uh arguably might be the best that we've
11:18
seen they're really good players power
11:21
said Saturday night he doesn't didn't
11:22
think the quarterback saw on the
11:24
pick he attributed some to the front the
11:27
defensive front how much does the front
11:29
line and get an assist for that
11:31
interception and maybe for you guys
11:32
getting more Hands-On balls the last few
11:34
weeks yeah so that's twofold it's really
11:37
good uh observation by him and by you
11:40
when we showed a lot of the sacks that
11:42
we got and the pressures that we got I
11:44
made sure that the dline even though
11:46
they're playing at a really high level
11:48
gave credit to the DBS that were doing a
11:51
great job on the back end and then
11:53
conversely with the rush and as much
11:56
pressure we've been putting on people I
11:58
think we had two sacks but the pressures
12:01
and the hits on the quarterback our guys
12:03
were Relentless um and that does have a
12:05
cumulative effect over time and maybe
12:08
even leading up to the game
12:09
understanding that there's eight big-
12:12
time defensive linemen that are just
12:13
going to be rolling through the game
12:15
that you've got to deal with so um I
12:17
think it's a compounded effort by all of
12:19
them on all of those things hard-hitting
12:21
journalism here you give the candy out
12:23
at practice the cookie cakes when a guy
12:26
gets a turnover what if he takes it in
12:27
the end zone what do they get then same
12:30
it's the same it's the say I think
12:32
there's I I guess there's got to be
12:34
compound interest at some point added to
12:36
it um I'm still a little sore from all
12:38
the push-ups that I had to do uh during
12:40
the game and then last week at practice
12:43
um but I I will give the guys credit so
12:45
when I was I think we had to do 70 on
12:48
Tuesday I think I had to do 70 or 80 on
12:50
Wednesday because we were getting a ton
12:51
of turnovers well during practice and
12:54
Amari Campbell is one of the biggest
12:55
culprits I would do the push-ups and I'd
12:57
be counting in my head and I would get
12:58
to three three and Amari would start
13:01
chiming in with one and then my account
13:03
would get all messed up so I do
13:05
appreciate on game day the guys counted
13:09
accurately and that helped me stay in
13:11
the Rhythm and stay in the flow so uh
13:13
big shout out to the guys for taking
13:15
care of me on game day oh he does do yes
13:18
know that on TV doing push-ups everyone
13:20
everyone has some fun with that
13:23
so somebody sent me the social media
13:25
post so um and then what Jeremy's crew's
13:28
been doing doing uh the last three weeks
13:31
in particular is making some defensive
13:32
videos for us that we show on Fridays
13:35
and there should be a cookie cake
13:36
arriving for his crew within the next 30
13:39
minutes too the off caught him yet so
13:41
let's just drop the ball and watch
13:45
coach d DJ mazone Mazon mazone how do I
13:49
say It DJ
13:51
sure every now and then he'll have to
13:53
throw a um the last play of a rack I'll
13:56
say DJ throw it to whatever just so we
13:58
can end the rack posi and everybody
13:59
cheers or whatever and he'll get he'll
14:01
drop a dime right to power right to AC
14:03
or stick or somebody so Jeff when we
14:06
talk to power the other night he said it
14:08
was vision coverage that he was in on
14:10
the on the pick six um did he play that
14:14
perfectly in terms of what you want yep
14:16
so in that
14:18
schematic um he was supposed to tease
14:20
the tease the center to get the 411
14:23
blocks in the game or whatever and then
14:25
he had the back what wake was doing most
14:28
of their thir Downs they were keeping
14:30
the back in so even though he had the
14:32
back he didn't really have to go get him
14:35
he could just spy the quarterback and he
14:36
did it masterfully did a really good job
14:39
has Amari taking the Green Dot free
14:42
power up you think a little bit sort of
14:43
get the voices out of his head I think
14:45
so I think so and I try to be very uh
14:49
minimal uh when I am on the headset I
14:51
try to say it three times and then cut
14:54
it off um I do think Amari at times just
14:57
to take you a little deeper into M and
14:59
omari's relationship sometimes I think
15:01
he conveniently leaves out certain
15:04
things that he doesn't think we should
15:05
be doing and just let's you whatever it
15:09
acts like he can't hear me um but he
15:12
he's he's awesome um and there was even
15:14
some talk uh during the bye is you know
15:18
since power is the one that stays in in
15:21
our DME package should he have the Green
15:24
Dot since he's going to be down there
15:25
every play um but then Amari was adamant
15:30
that he wanted to make sure he kept the
15:31
Green Dot and uh so I players over plays
15:35
is is what we say around here so the
15:38
player wants it the player's going to
15:40
get it and he's done a tremendous job um
15:43
so in the B you don't have a Green Dot
15:45
we do not have a Green Dot and then it
15:47
relies on wristbands it relies on the
15:49
boards it relies on the multiple
15:51
signalers all those kind of things so I
15:53
think power even conveniently forgets to
15:56
add certain little twists or stun or
15:59
whatever at times too so
16:02
many how many times
16:04
happen not very much not very much I was
16:08
just being funny confidence that he
16:10
knows everything oh ridiculously
16:13
brilliant those two um they know the
16:16
scheme uh they know all the fits it's
16:19
it's really the thing that I've been
16:21
very pleased with is the level of
16:24
football that these guys know and can
16:26
digest and that's obviously a credit to
16:28
coach ch physic and all the other
16:30
coaches that have come through here the
16:32
guys know football and they understand
16:36
uh the fits the
16:37
concepts uh all of those things so it's
16:41
we're ahead of the curve when we're
16:43
putting in new things or you know going
16:45
through day one install whatever it's
16:48
really cool is
16:50
power is power all business all the time
16:54
he seemed so serious with us a lot of
16:56
the times like are you guys like that
16:57
like is it just straight ball all the
17:00
time he's very focused he's very serious
17:04
um he does have a light-hearted side um
17:07
the text messages that we were he and I
17:09
are having right now actually um he does
17:13
funny emojis back to me I think those
17:16
are sarcastic emojis because I like to
17:19
use emojis when I'm texted with him so I
17:21
don't think he really likes to use them
17:22
but I think he uses them
17:24
sarcastically uh with me but he's uh
17:27
tremendous leader
17:29
uh great dude in the locker room highly
17:32
respected as you guys all know but he
17:35
does have uh we'll do our Friday dance
17:38
party um after at the end of the walk
17:41
through and power will get in the middle
17:43
and dance a little bit you know so just
17:46
and I think that shows that goes to his
17:48
leadership style too do I think he would
17:51
be the first one on the Dance Floor I
17:53
don't know that I don't think that but
17:55
in that
17:56
situation we want to bond mind we want
17:59
to dance a little bit well power's the
18:02
leader of the group he jumps in there
18:04
and does it so it's okay for everybody
18:07
else to do if that makes sense and I
18:08
think that is a admirable leadership
18:11
quality that he has um and he's just one
18:13
of the best dudes uh that I've ever been
18:16
blessed to coach and I'm just proud that
18:19
he's one of us
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