Q and A with Tony Franklin
September 27, 2007
Weekly thoughts from offensive coordinator Tony Franklin
Travis Boyd has done a good job at tight end so far. How does the tight end fit into your offense?
It’s hard to recruit people to fit what we want to be. We’d like to have a guy who’s 6’3, 230 and runs a 4.6, but there’s not very many of them and the ones that are there, usually we aren’t going to get. He’s done a pretty good job and catches the ball pretty well.
Thoughts on Omar
He hasn’t had a pick that was really his, which is a shame. I hate it for him. They sit in the nose there and mirror him and try to jump and tip it and they got one. He’s playing as good as any quarterback in the country, I guarantee that.
With the production of the guys at the Y position, is the opposition focusing too much on the outside guys (Gary Banks and Mykeal Terry)?
Gary’s had a lot more victories and wins versus coverage and sometimes we haven’t gotten him the ball. Mykeal hasn’t played as well as he did this summer, he had a great summer.
Terry hasn’t shown up as much as the other guys. Is he just off to a slow start?
He hasn’t won very many battles so he hasn’t gotten very many balls. Sometimes people get in a rut and they hurry and the biggest thing as a wide receiver is to not forget your fundamentals. He has occasionally forgotten his fundamentals and hurried against press coverage and hasn’t won as much. Hopefully he’ll get better.
On the O-line’s performance
They played really well. They’ve given up two sacks (of the three) the entire year. They played their best game as a group by far this past week. The best game we’ve played as an O-line since we’ve been here.
Do you think eventually (true freshman RB) DuJuan Harris will break a 75-yarder?
If we gave him the ball 20 times, he’d break at least one or two. Kenny’s (Cattouse) our guy and if he’s healthy, he’s going to get most of the carries. DuJuan’s going to be special — he has a chance to not be a good one, but a great back. It’s a matter of getting through these early stages with stuff like blitz pickup. I’m not afraid to run him 25 times. He’s a tough, hard-nosed kid that can do it. You can tell when he comes into the game, there’s a big difference in speed. It’s a good complement with Kenny.
How many running backs do you anticipate bringing in next fall?
Two at least. We signed Stanley (Jones, last Feb.) and he’s going to be a receiver. We’ll have to go to the drawing board and sign at least two, maybe more.
How much did ULL not kicking to Leodis help you guys out?
Field position always help. We tell our guys we don’t care about field position. We like being on the 1-inch line coming out. That gives us 99 yards on that drive. We always talk about grass, and if you’re on the 1-inch line, you’ll have more grass, but field position always helps.
