Arizona Football Press Conference - Dino Babers

startas do you believe do you go into a game saying we need to run a balanced offense or do you believe in balance or justes a matter what the the game call for well I think that uh everybody wants to be balanced because if you're balanced you're unpredictable but when defenses are geared to stop the run you've got to be really really good to run it when they're geared to stop it so if you can get some kind of balance somewhere in there whatever those numbers are that normally gives you the best opportunity to be successful in mat from Individual players standpoints what have your tight ends shown you during fall camp that shows they can be balanced and you know be uh mind have the mindset of blockers that can also get out and make catches you know that's that's interesting because I got an opportunity to talk to him today and uh I think the uh we've I've had tight ends that have played for me before at this school and they both of them or all three of them ended up being in the pros and I told them I said if you learn how to block here you always have a job they may hire you as a receiving tight end but that guy gets one one contract and and then he's gone to some other place I said if you can block you'll get two or three contracts and just watch the guys that have gone through here so it's the key thing for a tight end is he's part running back part offensive lineman part receiver but if you do the two parts first if you're a blocker and you're a running back if you're a lineman in your running back and you can block that means that the defense has to put heavier Personnel in there and then when you put heavier personel in there that means you get to run routes versus linebackers and safeties instead of going against nickolls and DBS and that's what really gives them their value what are Jak's biggest strengths as a running back uh he's big I think the when you talk about the strengths I don't know I don't know if I like to pull it out I don't want to separate it like that I'm not a scout I do have eyes I do know what he does well and what he doesn't do well but I'm not going to put that in the newspaper put it in the Press I think that uh that entire group has worked hard and uh I think as a group we've got a very ex we've got a very good group I think we're almost four deep and I'm excited to see what they can do Brian Michael when we uh talked with you last week you had said that you you really hadn't seen the the possible starting lineup on the offensive line working together with this extra week do you feel more confident that that you're going to have the best five out there both in terms of health and and uh performance you never know with the health we still got some guys that are banged up from a camp and as they get healthy and if they show us what they need to show us they'll have an opportunity I really don't think that uh offensive lines really get settled until like the third and fourth week of the season and then you've got two-thirds of the Season left but I am excited about what I've seen the last four or five practices out and I do think that they're coming together uh coach Brenan said uh that Noah faita is maybe the best leader that he's ever been around um what have you observed in that regard when comes to know I I keep saying the same thing and I apologize he's he's an exceptional leader he's an exceptional person he's a young man of Faith which is rare at that age and uh he's either the first or second best I've ever been around and uh you know the other guy is still playing in the National Football League so all I can say is what I end up saying all the time is he's not average the more and more you're around him he's just like the guy is special and he needs to be treated as such who was the other guy you mentioned the other day Jimmy garoo oh Jimmy Garo yeah when it comes to season openers the first non-conference games of the season their tools obviously you want the first priority is winning the game but they're also evaluation tools to some standpoint do you put statistical marks that you want the offense to hit do you put performance marks grade each individual player how do you self- evaluate for this game we will we'll grade the players you know but a lot of it comes down to uh not only what they did in practice but how they perform in the game and the number one thing is to win the football game no football team grows more they grow football teams grow the most between between the first and second game and the team that we saw on Saturday between 1: and 4:30 uh Pacific time is not the team that's going to be here we're going to find a team that's much improved much better and we need to be able to make sure that we're playing up to our standards and no one else's I know it was only one game but what do you think is the identity of New Mexico's defense and what they're going to bring coach Bronco menen Hall was was the head coach at Virginia when I was the head coach at Syracuse uh he's a fantastic coach his offensive coordinator was a person that I named made offensive coordinator at Syracuse by last year there he's a fantastic coach I know that they will have that team ready to go and I know that they're doing everything that they can possibly be to put their best foot forward those guys are good coaches those players are good tough players and we're looking excited for to our contest coming in here on Saturday Jason and then Michael uh the players often mention that tired going against the same guys every single day as a coach is it kind of a nice change being able to go against a different team and call plays in that situation yeah I'm tired of going against our defense too it's it's one of those things where you know you work you work you work you work and and hello and uh and now it's time to uh you know go start the season and go play everybody's ready to go play everybody's tired of banging on each other and and uh we want to go out out there and find out exactly what we can do um in a situation where you're heavily favored if you pay attention to such things do you is the messaging at all different to the to the team than it would be otherwise I don't even know what we're favored and whatever that is that doesn't make any sense I think that Florida state was really favored and that when you looked at it you know I won't talk of another team those things happen all the time that's what makes college football so great as you can't predict it and what we need to do is cross the te's dot the eyes uh win the turnover battle make sure our kicking game is intact score points on offense stop them on defense play with a physical attitude keep penalties to a minimum and then maybe if we do all that maybe we'll have a chance uh this what first time in maybe 13 years that you're heading into a season opener where you don't have to worry about all the ducks in the row just a a set one how is this kind of this preseason all that for you not having to to worry about everything I thought I would sleep better but I'm not I really thought I would sleep better but it's it hasn't happened yet I'm still sleeping the same hours those last 13 years but it is it is uh it's it's it's interesting to get back to just worrying about 54 guys instead of 108 or 120 and uh it really allows you to focus and really give more uh to the 54 and I'm looking forward of this I'm looking forward to the opportunity of giving these young men more on the offensive side of the ball not that I don't talk to the defensive players and the Special Teams players but uh it's going to be fun to go down the road and go into war with them last question Michael as evidenced by the fact that the guys just came off the field coach brenon is an advocate of morning practices versus late afternoon or evening um what did you do when you were uh a head coach and what are the pros and cons of you know well you're trying to get me to go against my head coach I can't do that but I was we started off when I first started as a head coach we were an evening practice team and when we ended up we were a morning team and to me mornings you get the best out of the young men before they go into the classroom and they're all going to go into classroom and do their best it's an early start and it's a long day for the coaches but you know we'll get over it and uh we can get tired we just don't want them to get tired and by going early in the morning you can get the men early to bed so they can get their rest which is important to be ready to go the next day and uh the one the last thing that I'll say on that is when they have to check in to a football complex at 6:30 between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. in the morning for a 9:00 practice or a 10:00 practice it kind of puts them in the same pattern that they're going to need to they need to be in to they're going to need to be in when they leave college and they start working they're providing for their fam so you know get up early go to work do your job come home enjoy your lifestyle and uh that's what one of the things I thought was really positive in moving to morning practices all right that's time thank you guys