Michigan State defensive coordinator Joe Rossi previews Florida Atlantic

coach if you had to talk about the mental uh status of where your players and team is and even you where would that be right now describe yeah I think number one we're excited you know you put a lot of work in since January and now you're kind of getting to game week you're getting closer so I think there's an excitement level um I think there's an eagerness to get a chance to go and and play Under the lights and in front of the fans and so I think there also been a a work mentality you know if hey we got to prepare we got a lot of work to do you know the best teams I've ever been around personally they get better from the beginning of the season to the end and that's what we've been kind of preaching to the guys and I think the the big thing too is just our ability to handle adversity responding when things don't go well um throughout the course of a game throughout the course of a season things aren't going to go your way but you got to be able to handle those and the teams that handle them better usually are the ones that are more successful so those are kind of the things that we've been talking about Jonathan talked about yesterday you're going to be rotating a lot of different guys on your side I'm wonder where do you feel like right now you have your one in onea kind of guys where you feel like okay this is where I know that we are this deep yeah I mean we know who the ones are we know who the twos are but I would say we're going to be like coach said we're going to be rotating a lot of guys the one advantage I think we have defensively is we have a lot of guys who have earned the right to go play in football games and so to me that keeps us fresh that keeps us engaged that creates buyin um throughout the course of a big 10 schedule get to the end of the year sometimes it's a war of attrition who has healthy bodies so I think that's an advantage that we have acknowledged and that we're going to take advantage of so I I feel good about that top group of players uh and they're all going to play and then how how many reps they get will be determined a little bit by the game and then you know at the end of the game what's it look like for next week so what do you see from for Atlanta what offensively where do they pose problems yeah I think number one I got a tremendous amount of respect for their coaching staff I know some guys on the staff personally I I think they've done a really good job and and it's been impressive to me um you know what they've been able to do to feature their skill level you know they they do a lot of shifts and motions um they they move the pocket well um they create a lot of picks and rubs um you know they ran it well they threw it well so you know I I I think they're a team if you watch their their their power five games last year versus Clemson you watch their game versus Illinois you know they were in it right until the very end with a chance to win it against Illinois against Clemson if it wasn't for the the pick sixes is I thought they moved the ball you know relatively well so that tells me that number one they got you know players who you know rise to the challenge and two they got a really good coaching staff so they present a lot of challenges they're going to have a lot of speed they have some new players on offense so there's some unknown right talk about uncounted looks first game of the season there's always an unknown but whenever you have so many you know it's transient college football you got players in and out you don't know who the feature players are necessarily at the beginning of the Season that kind of sorts itself out so play our roles play with you you know our effort is this a game where you build in more in terms of say adjustment like okay we know that we're going to see them for a quarter we you're going to probably have to move and adapt things on the yeah so I it's here's what it is I don't think you're building it in necessarily on the front end because if you do that then you're chasing ghost I think what you rely on as a coaching staff our years of coaching uh and our years of being in the system uh and being able to say hey okay they're doing this they haven't necessarily shown that this is what we go to um I'm not a big believer making stuff up on the sideline uh but you know the gray and the beer gives you a little bit of Rolodex to be able to go back to some things that you've done before uh and you're not necessarily making it up so I think that's always a big thing in game one uh there's uncounted looks we we're going to give them looks we haven't shown you know they're going to give us looks we we we haven't seen so it's hey what are my roles and how do I adjust on the sideline Joe how would you describe a Tom Herman offense he's done it pretty well for a long yeah and and you know obviously he's not necessarily calling it now but he's the one who oversees the program you know the thing that I always thought cuz we we defended him back in the day uh when I was in another spot like he he gets the ball in the hands of his Playmakers right whoever that may be um and you know last year they had a really talented receiver who they just got it to in just a variety of different ways and now he's kind of moved on um but who is that guy well game one you know you don't necessarily know who that guy will be um so you kind of got to get a feel for that as the game goes on but I think they feature their Playmakers that's the one thing that really has stood out to me over the years what will you learn about your defense in game one normally does that confirm assumptions you have or do you come out of that game saying we can do this or we really need to do this yeah I I think it it shows us as a defense are we ready for prime time you know in terms of when the bullets are flying it's one thing to do it in Spring it's another thing to do it in Camp it's another thing to do it in a scrimmage but now you got to go out and do it in a game right of the rotational guys as we're playing a lot of different players who you know takes the the bull by the horn so to speak and really seizes the opportunity maybe who doesn't as well and that'll be a constant evaluation but I think the first game just gives you information of where you're at and then what you need to do to go move forward your players been banging heads now 6 weeks 23 practices whatever as a new staff how anxious are you to see how nervous are you about this about what kind of product you're going to put out there Friday night yeah I so if you if you knew me I worry about everything at all times okay and uh you know I think that's what most defensive coaches are like right you know offensive coaches are a little bit more laid-back than the defensive gu so I worry about everything at all times um and so you know for me it's like I'm not wishing the day to be here we need the work days so like hey don't wish time away hey we today was a big day for us with work tomorrow is another big one with a different situation Fridays we're putting it all together so we're excited for the opportunity to go play um you know it's hey let's get out there let's see what we have and let's see how the guys respond in game situations and then let's coach our butts off that's kind of the process and if we do that for long enough we we'll eventually get to the point where we feel really good how experimental can you be though I mean you got the Maryland game you know week later I mean like is it more about trying to kind of I'm not worried about Maryland just like streamlining the defense so that you guys are you know solid by by that game yeah I mean for us it's you know been a constant evaluation from the spring through training camp what can we handle what can't we handle you know and to me each game's its own entity you know this team I you know is is is very talented and they brought in a lot of players in the transfer portal uh the quarterback that they got from Marshall I think is a good player man he's athletic he can make plays with his feet they brought in some receivers that we were looking at in terms of just evaluating um so you know I I I think pose a tremendous Challenge and so you know again watching how hard they played against those power five teams last year they're going to come in there they're going to play their butts off and they got really good players so for us it's about going out and executing our calls flying around to the ball and handling anything that they throw at us that we might not be able to see then we'll come back look at it and see what we need to do for the next one so are you all set with your green dots and because I would think like you don't you have to have one on the field right yeah does that change like substitution or you know anything like that yeah so here's our philosophy none is better than two so zero Green Dots doesn't get us a penalty two green dots does and so what I mean by that is like yeah we have one guy that's in it right we have three other guys who have helmets that are Green Dots so that if we're going to rotate okay if someone sews in in a series you're going to switch out who the Green Dot is but if the Green Dot gets injured in the middle of the drive you may not get a Green Dot in that's just the nature of the Beast and you'd rather have zero than have two because we don't want to get a penalty so still signaling the whole time as well oh there's lots of stuff going on there's boards there's signals there's hieroglyphics there's cards you know I mean we've seen it last year the extent that people go to try to to to cheat so you know we want to make sure that we're able to you know have a variety of ways to get the signals in whether it's through the earpiece whether it's signaling whether it's cards whether it's you know smoke signals those type whatever we got to do so does that help like are you noticing you can give a little more detail with the helmet cuz the signal is kind of just black and white but you can give the signal and then you can say hey look for this or that you know there's a little more context on top of there isal so I I fortunate to coach a guy who wears the Green Dot in the NFL so I called him and I said hey talk to me and uh he said look he says it's good he goes talk to him but don't talk to him too much and so like there's a book by Pete uh by that uh Pete Carroll recommended I forget who wrote it but it's the in Game of tennis and it talks about you can cloud people's minds when you talk to them too much so we've done a lot of preparation during the week I coach him in the meetings I coach him on the field we as a staff coach him they go in a game we might give them a blur but they got to go play we start yapping in their ear okay when the ball's being snapped and now they're thinking about that and then they're not on their keys so it might be a quick reminder hey think about this here but we want to get them ready during the week to be able to go play you be up in the Box I am yep who who on staff is sort of task making sure not to It's a combination of the coaching staff and a combination of the equipment staff you know so like that thing the extra ones are like not in under lock and key but away all right and they don't come out until they're told to come out so again like my my mentality is I'd rather have zero than have to so who the NFL player uh Jack gimons uh for the uh for the Titans um he uh you know I called him and and I said man what what do you think and he was like it's good he was like and it could be helpful he goes just but you know some guys talk too much he goes don't talk too much I said I I I got it message delivered are there one or two that made the most progress the come I'm sure they all did did one or two really please you with the way they got off TR yeah I I think you know I think Malik you know made a big jump um from the from the spring uh to where he's at now you know I think there was a lot of growth there um and uh I thought Chuck you know it just I've been he's been very bus like the last uh two weeks um and I've been I've been pleased those those two guys to me have made you know good gains since the spring