March 27, 2008

Transcript of Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo's comments following practice on Wednesday, March 26

Media in Attendance: Bill Wagner (Annapolis Capital)

Wagner: So how have the first two days of practice gone?

Niumatalolo: OK

Wagner: Just OK?

Niumatalolo: Just OK.

Wagner: What has bothered you?

Niumatalolo: It has just been OK. There's been good and bad. There have been some guys that have shown some good things, but there have been a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball. We are installing a lot of stuff so it is to be expected.

Wagner: How are the new assistants doing as far as understanding what you want them to do in practice? There has to be some level of training going on here with how you want them to run their portion of practice.

Niumatalolo: No, we do that before we even get out on the field. We don't just come on the field and practice, we meet all day and everybody knows what to expect.

Wagner: Do you feel pretty comfortable with these guys already?

Niumatalolo: I feel great about the staff. Ivin is doing a great job with the offensive guys and Buddy is doing a great job with the defensive guys.

Wagner: Joe DuPaix is a pretty sharp guy and obviously his offense at Cal Poly was pretty prolific, how much difference is there in what he did at Cal Poly compared to what Navy does? Was it an exact replica?

Niumatalolo: I don't know if anything is an exact replica, but he did a lot of the same stuff. Joe is a very smart coach and so is Ashley. Ashley has a lot of great ideas that he brought with him as well.

Wagner: He's another guy that ran the triple option at Bucknell.

Niumatalolo: Everybody has different variations, but for the most part the packages are very similar so we have been able to pick up a few things. Obviously we aren't going to revamp what we are doing because we have had so much success with it, but it is always nice to hear different ideas. You can take a look at things and it either reaffirms what you are doing or you might tweak something here and there.

Wagner: Will Joe and Ashley have much input in the offense?

Niumatalolo: Oh yeah, as an offense we all meet together and we all share ideas. The one thing you have to remember is that it's not like we haven't been successful on offense so we don't want to reinvent the wheel. The core of what we are doing is going to be the same.

Wagner: Are you doing anything different in the passing game?

Niumatalolo: We aren't making any drastic changes. There might be some technique changes, the way we run our routes, the depth at where we run our routes, what foot we lead with, what shoulder we are looking over, real small intricate details that might help us become a little bit more efficient.

Wagner: At what point did somebody suggest that you use Jarod Bryant at slot back?

Niumatalolo: I had been thinking about it all along, when I got the job back in December I was thinking about it. When we went back and looked at last year's tape it just reaffirmed to me that the kid is special with the ball in his hands. Unfortunately for him the guy in front of him is pretty good too. We don't want Jarod to sit on the bench. He is too valuable.

Wagner: When he was in at quarterback last year it seemed like you ran a package for him with a lot of inside runs and draws. Running the ball as a slot back is different. Do you think he can be as effective running the ball on the outside?

Niumatalolo: I don't know. That remains to be seen. We are going to find out. All I know is he makes people miss.

Wagner: How many reps will he get at slot back? Is that going to be difficult since he will have to take a lot of reps at quarterback as well?

Niumatalolo: That remains to be seen. It depends on how things are going with Kaipo and his knee. We want to give Jarod as many reps as he can at slot back.