After a week off, interim head coach DJ Durkin stood in front of the media and talked about Auburn’s upcoming matchup with Mercer.
Opening remarks…
“It’s good coming off a bye week with our team. I want to commend our guys, they did a really good job of practice and preparation through the bye week. I think those weeks are so important to continue to improve and get better. Obviously, when you have one late in the season like that, sometimes those things can go either way. I thought our guys did a great job. We got a lot of work done, worked on some specific things in all phases of the game, and I feel like we got better.
“On the game week here, we’re looking forward to being at home against a very good opponent. Mercer does a tremendous job. They’re really well-coached. Mike Jacobs, their head coach, is a guy I’ve known for a long time. He’s an Ohio guy. He’s won at all places he’s been, extremely successful. They just clinched their conference again, back-to-back years. They’re 9-1. When you look at their performance on both sides of the ball, they’re first nationally in total offense and second in pass offense and fourth in scoring. They’re putting up a lot of points, throwing the ball down the field. They have an extremely talented freshman quarterback that’s doing a really good job. He knows where to go with the ball. And, like I said, it’s a lot of vertical routes and passes down the field. Their receivers go get it, they do a really good job.
“Defensively, they’re very disruptive. They do a really good job stopping the run. They’re leading the nation in sacks and produce a lot of tackles for loss and negative plays. Their defensive coordinator is a really good coach, he’s a guy that I actually coached him when he played back at Bowling Green. So I’m familiar with these guys, I know how they coach and how they work, and we know it’s a challenge ahead for us. Our guys are going to do a great job focusing on Mercer this week and preparing well for this game.”
On making a decision to preserve Ashton Daniels’ redshirt…
“I had a bet on if that’d be the first question or not, so thank you. {Laughter} Yes, we have. I feel that you have a great responsibility as a head coach to do what is best for your football team and your program at all times. That’s what you’re hired to do. That’s what you need to do. I also feel you have a great responsibility to the young men you coach and their families to do what is best for them. Anytime you can kind of thread that needle where those two things align together, that’s the best and what makes it work. In this case, we had that. I think the best thing for Ashton (Daniels) is to preserve his redshirt year and be able to come back and play another year. I think it’s tremendous for this program and also for him. He has great football ahead of him, so we are going to do that. He will not play in this game so that he can keep that redshirt year. Again, I just think it’s clearly the right thing to do.”
On who the starting quarterback will be vs. Mercer…
“Both of those guys are playing in this game, Jackson (Arnold) and Deuce (Knight). We’re going to go through practice this week and sort out what exactly that looks like, but I’m looking at both yesterday and they are both tremendously excited about this. I feel like Deuce has a lot of great football ahead of him, and he hasn’t had that opportunity. He is going to get that opportunity. And you can just tell a difference. We practiced last night, you can tell a difference in him right there. And I think the same with Jackson. Jackson’s a talented guy. We’re going to put together a great plan for both these guys to have success, and I told the team it’s their job to rally around them, and I know those guys will. They feel strongly about that. I am looking forward to how the entire team responds. “
On preparing Deuce Knight for extended playing time…
“So again, we haven’t decided starters and all that, but both quarterbacks are going to play in the game, and we’ll make that determination later in the week. I think with Deuce, it’s like any other guy. You give him a plan, and you give him the right tools to help him that suit his strengths. I think, again, it’s about the teammates around you. The quarterback position gets the spotlight, obviously. They often get more credit than they deserve and definitely get more blame than they deserve, but it’s about the guys around you. I think Deuce understands that, too. He’s got great players around him, and his job is to be the distributor of the ball to those guys, and that’s what we’re going to ask him to do.”
On the benefit of having a bye week as an interim coach…
“I think in this game we’re a lot more settled into what the new norm is and what that looks like, for me in particular as well. That was certainly helpful in that there was a lot coming at us right there in the quick turnaround that week. I think we’re more settled in that way, and I believe that carries over to our players. I think always as a coaching staff, when you’re detailed, when you’re organized, there’s a flow, there’s a routine. That helps your team lower the anxiety level of what’s going on and know what to expect. That way they can focus on the right things and prepare. That is certainly the plan and I feel like we’re in a good spot for this week.”
On interviewing for the permanent head coaching job…
“I view every day here on the job as an interview. I think you’re getting a good glimpse of what I would be as a head coach here, so I just treat it that way. Certainly, there’s conversations almost daily with our administration about a lot of things in the program. So that’s how it is. Our focus is solely on this team right now and preparing for a game this week, and that’s it. Those things I think will play out and handle themselves.”
On the importance of not looking past Mercer…
“It’s critically important, but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for them because that’s what we’re doing; that’s where our focus is. I was told about the time of the (Alabama) game as I was walking down here, but I know there’s a game at 1:00 this weekend. That’s what we’re prepared for, and our guys know that and understand that. We’ve been game planning and preparing for this game, and that is where our focus is. We understand what’s coming down the road, but it has nothing to do with this weekend.”
On the last two weeks regarding roster management and recruiting…
“That question is probably better answered by those guys, but from our standpoint, it’s been good. Our guys have practiced really well at a high level. I think that actions speak louder than words, and anyone can say where they are, but if you’re bought in to what’s going on and you’re still with the team and two feet in, you’re going to show them how you practice and prepare. I feel like our guys have done a great job of that. The recruiting class has all been positive conversations. I think everyone is waiting to see what happens and what shakes out. That’s only natural. I’d probably be doing the same thing in their shoes. You look at the strength of those guys and their bond with one another and with our coaching staff, those guys that have all hung tight and are still in there, and they’re just kind of waiting to see how this plays out, and that’s what it will be.”
On what he learned from the Vanderbilt game from a coaching perspective…
“That game, probably on both sides, went a little differently than anyone thought it was going to go, and it changed throughout. I really wish, looking back, I would have made a few different adjustments throughout the game defensively, so I’m certainly going to be better that way moving forward. I think it’s important in any profession, especially ours, that you take time and reflect. You have to go back and reflect. We coach our guys all the time and grade them on the film on what they did. I think as a coach, we do the same things. There are certainly things that I, and our defensive staff, could have done better in that game. We’ve talked about them and addressed that, and I think moving forward we will be smoother with that, too.”
On improving defensively from the Vanderbilt game…
“That game kind of changed. They went to a different offense than what they’ve been running for the past two years. So you kind of changed what we’ve been practicing and looking at. And giving credit to them, I think they saw early on the game itself kind of changed. We were being successful on offense, moving the ball, scoring points. They were not moving the ball very well on offense, and so they did a great job as a staff and as a team. They have a quarterback who’s able to do that and kind of changing it out. And so, just for us is really it’s a lot about technique and fundamentals and eye control. That’s what we focused on in the open week. I think we have talented guys in the back, and we’ve played really well, obviously, at times, and I think it’s coming back to that. You’ve got to have your cleats in the dirt, your eyes in the right place, and play the call, not be looking around. I think we got out of position at times in that game just based on some of those simple fundamentals.”
On having to split time between both sides of the ball as interim head coach…
“It’s really important the team understands that you are present on both sides of the ball and supported in every way. I think Derrick Nix did a great job preparing our offense. He and I have a lot of conversations about what the plan is, what we want it to look like. He does a great job of executing from that plan. With our players, it’s just a matter of they don’t understand and get what the role is right now. It’s still partially defensive coordinator, but I do believe that it’s important that everything we do is as a team, bring it together. It’s not offense, defense, it’s just our team. We say it all the time and mean it, believe it. This is our team, it’s not any one side of the ball.”
On Cam Coleman’s status…
“Cam’s healthy, he’s great, he’s been practicing and doing well. He’s full go. Whatever he was hobbled from in the game, you know, that’s just part of it. He had a lot of touches, and he made a lot of plays in the game; that’s part of it. We are excited about what he is going to continue to do moving forward.”
On Ashton Daniels’ reaction to the decision to not play him this week…
“Ashton is like, that guy. He is a dude. Whatever we would have said, this is the plan we are going to do, he would have been 100 percent with and been full speed ahead, and not flinched. I think he’s just a tremendous person, just great character, a great teammate. His teammates know that, you feel that, you see other guys rally around him. He’s amazing. And then you say all that, it’s like, okay, well, how does that happen? And then you get on the phone with his mom and dad, and it’s, oh, okay, well, that’s pretty clear where he came from. I mean, they are just tremendous people and just about the team, about the right things. Both mom and dad are coaches as well. So you can tell where that comes from. I think it’s very clear what the right thing to do is; that’s why we’re doing it, but I also want to be very clear. It’s not something they were pressuring or pushing for. This is just, they were ready to do whatever the team asked of them. I think it’s just pretty incredible.”
