August 5, 2009

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Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher spoke to the media on Wednesday. Here is a transcript of that conversation:

Q: What are your plans with the fullback position this year?

Fisher: What we are going to do with the fullback is to take tight ends and put them at fullback. If you ever go back and look at us while I was at LSU, the only time we really used a fullback was with Hester which was at the end of my run there. We always used tight ends. My theory is that a tight end can do what a fullback can do, but a fullback can't do what a tight end can do. They can line up on the ball, their routes, their vertical packages and stuff like that, we had a bunch of guys, but we always played a two tight end set. We used one of them as a fullback or h-back type guy. We had some walk-ons, Danny Ard did a nice job in the spring.

Q: Are any of the tight ends then emerging into that role faster than another?

Fisher: When we teach it you don't realize, when we teach that position even when we have two tight ends in the game, or when we have three wide outs and Caz (Piurowski) in the game, we moved Caz around and he was actually doing a fullback's assignments. We teach it as a fullback to tight end position. When it is taught, it is taught at that position. So they have already learned that. They learned that last year. We didn't use as many because we thought with the youth at tight end, to go along with we had an experienced fullback we went along with him. They have already actually learned it. They need a few more reps, but assignment wise it is nothing new for them.

Q: Does a stronger offensive line help out with this?

Fisher: I think so. You could go with two tailbacks, what we call a pony situation where we have two of your fast backs. There are a lot of different variations. They had to learn schemes too. You can go big and be physical, or smaller and more athletic.

Q: Will we see even more of your playbook this year?

Fisher: I hope so. As I have said, we are still a very young football team, but we are still a team that has played a lot of football. If that makes sense. Even though these guys are young, they have still played a lot. I'm anxious to see the next step we take, but hopefully we can keep expanding out and do more of the things we want to do. When we get more experienced up front, it will let you take more chances. When you have guys up front that can handle the one-on-one blocks and you don't have to double team, and the guys learn more about what they have to do, and Christian (Ponder) has more of a grasp of what we are trying to do he has a chance to make more big plays. We'll see that as we go.

Q: Are you pleased with where your passing game is and confident it will be good enough?

Fisher: I feel very good coming out of spring. We threw the ball very well in the scrimmages and made plays, made big plays. We didn't throw a lot of interceptions. We made some great decisions with the football, we were accurate with it, and guys caught it. This summer they worked extremely hard. Probably the best summer that I've been around, just talking to them. You can tell that this year. I never saw them at all. Christian would call every couple of days after the workout and say that so and so did a very good job. He would say that he would want to try some new things and I told him that he is running the show. They were out there sometimes for two and a half hours. So the offense and defense were out there working hard and having fun.

Q: What do you think is different about Christian now from a year ago?

Fisher: As much as anything, confidence. I think that is the greatest thing any athlete can have. He has improved in every aspect that an athlete has. He is bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter. But you know what, until he gets confident, you are never as good as you can be. The guys that are very confident in what they do, they do a good job. When you doubt yourself, deep down in your mind, was that good enough? Was that wrong? Sometimes you don't do your best work. Until you wake up one day and you say to yourself I can do this, I am doing this, I am good enough to do this. I get that impression from him. His leadership, he is taking over team meetings, coming up with team slogans, ideas with what he wants to do with camp. A whole different mental approach, and only people that have confidence do that. That's where I think the change is starting to come in him. I can see it in the way he talks to you, the way he carries on a conversation, how he looks at you. Even how he answers you back, what his thoughts are, what he thinks can be done different to help him or his teammates. I hope it continues to grow on the field.

Q: How much is the fact that the depth chart is clearly defined helping him?

Fisher: I think it is with him. In another words, he has another year under his belt. Last year we went into camp and the job was up for grabs. Now this year, EJ if he has a great camp has a chance to impress. There is always a chance for guys to win a job.

Part of it, and I will say this in regards to Drew (Weatherford), when he (Ponder) became the starter, I still think it hindered his ability to be outgoing and take things over and grasp them just because of his presence. They were also good friends. They were good buddies and he didn't want to make him feel alienated by saying this is my team and I am taking it over. Now that he is there and Drew has graduated, I think that has helped his maturity level. The bowl game as well. He played very well in the bowl game and made a lot of plays as well. He read coverages, threw for a couple hundred yards, made good decisions, and had a good, solid spring. He really came out of spring feeling really good about what he did. There is a time, and we all do it, sometimes you do things where you kind of know that you lucked out there a couple of times. We've all done it. Occasionally he will make a play and it is like, boy I am glad it worked out like that. Then there are other times you do it and you knew it was going to work. There is a difference between knowing when something is going to happen, and when you fall into it. I think in the spring, all the things he did, he understood why he did them. And why the results were what they were. Whether they were good or bad. That is a great feeling because you know even when they are bad, when you know why they are bad, you can always fix them. Sometimes when you don't know why things happen, good or bad, you can't ever repeat them when they are good, and you can't ever fix them when they are bad. I think the why question for him is being answered more and more. That is the key to playing the position. You have to know why everything is going on.

Q: How different of a situation is it for you knowing who your quarterback is?

Fisher: I don't know if it is any different, but maybe when you go and where you spend a lot more of your time. I mean, that is still going to be a battle, that is still a competition, but I may spend some more time to isolate and watch a receiver, or somebody else develop. The thing that I am excited about is the ability to take a guy to the next level. You can give a guy too much information. You can force things on him too quick when he doesn't understand why. You can't keep taking baby steps, so I am excited to see how far he can go in this fall camp. I'm excited to see how much I can put on him and what he can do, and the consistency in which he does it. That is the key.

Q: Now in your third year, does everyone know what to expect from your coaching staff?

Fisher: Definitely. The big thing that I keep saying is that it is going to be the same group for the next three years. I mean it really is. It's really a young, experienced football team. If that makes any sense. I know that is talking out of both sides of your mouth, but it really is. That is the exciting thing about what we got going on. What you are getting now is that when young guys come in, they are going to have experienced guys in front of them that will not only teach them what to do, but how to act, the desired effort, the temperament that is desired, the mentality that is desired. You start teaching the young guys so you don't always have to start over again. It's going to be interesting.

Q: This will be the first time that your back ups have no experience. Will you do anything to get EJ more reps?

Fisher: He is going to get plenty of reps as it is with only three scholarship guys in there anyways. We keep the reps even between the ones and twos at least for the most of fall camp. It's crucial for both of them in two different ways. It's crucial for Christian to start taking steps up and for EJ to show consistency and what you can do with him. You never know, EJ is a very phenomenal guy in the way he learns and talks. He asks the right questions and he learns very well, so he may be a guy that grabs a hold of it. We will have to get him involved in reps and give him a bunch of them. I'm anxious to see it. The thing he did though, which a lot of guys won't when they get hurt which shows his maturity level, he would still pay attention to what goes on. The questions he asked me, I knew that he was paying attention to what was going on. He did all that he could without taking the physical reps. He took the mental reps. It is going to be crucial for him as well, but if he learns fast we will see what he can do. He is very smart and a very intelligent guy and he has that same knack, that same ability and charisma that people migrate to him. When he is in the room, people naturally migrate to him and he becomes the leader in the room.

Q: When Christian would give you updates of who looked good in the summer workouts, were there any names that kept coming up?

A: You know what's funny, it would go in spurts sometimes. There was a two or three week period where every day [it was Jarmon Fortson]. Then there was a week or two that it was Bert [Reed]. Then it would be Rodney [Smith] and some of the young guys. Then he'd say Rich [Goodman] or Rod [Owens]. The tight ends, he'd say [Beau] Reliford. ? What I think you see happening, and what I'm excited about [is] I think the guys are starting to see the competition. In other words, they're going out there knowing that there's a lot of guys out here who can make some plays. And I think we're starting to get a little bit of depth. When they see a guy at their position making plays, they're not saying, "Well, he's the guy every day." Then two days later I hear him talking about the other guy.

What was interesting to me listening to him [Ponder] as a leader, he was very observant. It's another sign to me that he's getting a grasp of everything that's going on because when you don't understand what's going on, you're not worried about everybody else. You're just trying to hold onto yourself. But every day, he'd notice a back, he'd notice a tight end, he'd notice a receiver. His observations are very interesting to me and showed me that he really had a grasp and a feel for what was going on around him.

Q: Are you expecting to have to take it slow with Tavares Pressley and Taiwan Easterling?

A: They're conditioning and they're in shape. I hope not. We'll watch them. I'm sure there'll be some soreness, probably with Taiwan more so than Tavares. With Tavares, the best thing that's going to happen to him is the first time he gets hit and tackled and gets up and says, "You know, it's all right." There's always that feeling with a knee or something like that.

Q: Do you expect to have Richard Goodman available for the first game?

A: Yeah.

Q: With what Goodman had to go through this summer, can you talk about how he also maintained his role as a leader?

A: He really has. It takes a very mature guy to have all that on your back and still ? say, "Let me control what I can control and put that aside," takes a very mature person. You know, Rich was a heck of a leader last year. People didn't realize, even though he didn't play, being around the guys and what he did for our team and the other receivers - how he helped them. He has really turned into a heck of a guy, a heck of a person off the field. He's going to be successful after ball too.

Q: How does it allow you to open up your playbook more now that you have an experienced offensive line?

A: If we left those two young tackles exposed last year ? you want to spread the field and do things, but it wasn't fair. One was 270 pounds and one was 280, and they were true freshmen. It's going to allow us to do some different things. Hopefully, we'll get a little more time to get some of the deeper stuff. ? The ability of having those guys that can block on that edge and say, "I'm one on one." When you've got a tackle that says, "I got you" [to] a defensive end. Heck, I'm gonna tell you what, life's fun. And that's I'm hoping we can step up and we can get that. It should allow us to start getting that ball down the field a little more.

Q: Given the fact that you're opening up with Miami instead of a Western Carolina or someone like that, how does it affect what you do with the incoming freshmen early in the season? How much will they have to show you before you can even put them in that game?

A: Well, you say that, but who are you going to put out there? Some of them are going to have to get some backup roles. They'll have to show that they can be dependable ? but some of them are going to have to. Just because of numbers. Some of these guys will have to play a lot of ball. Just because of who you have on your team. How much of a role they have will depend on what they do in camp.

Q: What did Christian tell you about the two freshman running backs?

A: He said they work very hard. They're strong. He said they catch the ball very well. He said they seem to have good quickness. And he said they learn well. He said they're there every day. The accountability and dependability of this team is getting greater. That's what I see. And I see them together a lot. I see a tighter football team. That's why I like coming down here and eating in the cafeteria as much as I can. The first year or two, sometimes you wouldn't see two, three or four guys eating in there. They're all in there eating now. And they all sit together; they're all talking. It's offensive guys with defensive guys, it's different positions together. They seem to have a very good camaraderie between them. They get along.

Q: Florida State hasn't had a 1,000-yard rusher in 13 seasons. Do you anticipate that changing?

A: I hope so. It would be nice to be able to do that. Or if we had about three 800-yard guys, that wouldn't bother me either. But I could see that happening. We'll try to keep the balance to give them the attempts.

Q: Jermaine Thomas showed an awful lot last year.

A: He did. What did he have, 500 [yards] last year? About 7 yards a carry. But you know, the thing about that, which is going to be interesting, is durability. And that goes back to your conditioning and your strength, which he's had a great summer. And Ty [Jones] and those guys have all ? this is the best summer we've had. We're in the best condition of any of the three teams we've had since I've been here. By far.

Q: Not having seen these guys all summer, how quickly will you be able to tell where they are at?

Fisher: I see it now from looking at their bodies. I see it now from walking around. We look different, we look stronger, we're in better shape, we carry ourselves different. You can tell when you look at a guy, you can tell if he has been doing what he needs to be doing during the summer. The strength coaches said they tested them on their times and they blew them away. They said they were great during the conditioning thing. I'm anxious to see it. You'll see it in the first half of practice. Some of these young guys it will take a week. You have to remember they have a lot of anxiety for a week. They will be so nervous out there. You know how anxiety takes it out of you. But the older guys you will be able to tell from the first half of practice. You can tell from walking around here.

Q: How have the measurables changed since you have gotten here?

Fisher: I think it's changed a ton. It's the type of guys. We are getting bigger guys with the same strength and speed. The conditioning, you can tell. The strength coaches said back in July that we are further along than when we started camp last year. He always keeps records of what goes on.

Q: Is the training different or is it recruiting different players?

Fisher: We are probably recruiting different types of guys too, but I think that their commitment level and understanding - holding everyone accountable.

Q: Are you guys at the point where if people don't want to put in the work that they can leave?

Fisher: You don't ever want to lose anybody. When you have 85 guys, there is going to be one or two that leave. I try to look at it as if that was my son. How would I approach it? Does that mean I get on him? Do I say grow up and stop being a baby or - sometimes you have to take different avenues. Just because they don't think right at that particular moment doesn't mean they are a bad guy. You have to help them and guide them a little. They are still kids. You can say they are men, but they are still kids. They are kids that are making grown up decisions for the first time in their lives. I don't want to lose anyone. I honestly don't. Sometimes that is the best thing and that's what happens. I don't like the approach where we say we are good enough and we don't need you. I don't like that. That is the wrong approach to take. Every individual is special and I truly believe that. He's somebody's baby. He is special to somebody. You may get mad at him, but he is special to somebody. No matter how you look at it.

Q: Do you think Marcus Sims ever got over the fumble at Georgia Tech?

Fisher: I think he did. I really do. I got over it. We gave him the ball next week. I had no problem with it. The guy had one fumble. Deuce almost fumbled two or three down in Miami. You have to put mistakes away. If there is ever a perfect football player, I haven't seen him. Everybody makes mistakes. I don't know that, I think he got over it, I'm assuming he did. Think about the two Heisman trophy winners you ever had. The two best quarterbacks in the history. They probably had the two worst starts of anybody. Charlie threw what, 16 picks in four games? Wienke he had a couple turnovers against Texas A&M in New Jersey, and six picks at NC State. They got over it. Sometimes how you deal with adversity determines the path that you take. Adversity is coming.

Q: Is that what you saw from Ponder last year?

Fisher: Yeah. He had a bad game at Wake Forest. How is that any different than Wienke. He just wasn't surrounded by a stronger team that kept covering things up. You have to learn how to put things away. If you are the guy that is going to win it, you have to take that with it too. He is an excellent competitor and he proved that. He learned to overcome mistakes.

Q: Did Ponder ever have to overcome the perception of being a role player?

Fisher: You know what's funny and I've said this before, when I first got here and he started doing things, I tried to keep an open mind. I knew in his mind he wasn't ready because he didn't have the confidence, but as I watched the year before, I noticed he was instinctive and did things naturally at times more so than anyone we had. He caught my eye a bunch of times. I don't think he realized how good he was. I think he is now just realizing what he is really capable of. I really do. Just like Bobby said, they thought they were recruiting him as a program guy. I think he took it that way. When he started having his success, sometimes you pinch yourself and you think is this really happening to me? You have to embrace that and understand that. You have to realize how good of an athlete he is. He's smart, intelligent. When you see that, all of the sudden he thinks I'm pretty good. That's what I am anxious to see how he takes a hold of it. That might have been something that he had to overcome.

Q: Mickey Andrews said that he thought the real strength of this team is the offense. Do you agree with that?

Fisher: It can be. It can be at times. On defense, as I was going through and looking at it, you have some guys with experience. Budd has played a lot. Stewart has played a lot. White has played a bunch. Dekoda has played a bunch. Kendall Smith has played a bunch. Nigel Bradham played as much as our freshmen did last year. Pat Robinson is as good of a corner as you got. Jamie Robinson has played a heck of a lot of football. Mangum has played off and on. Jenije is probably the most inexperienced guy, but he has played a bunch. There are a lot of draftable guys. On that side, I think they are a lot better than you think they are. I really do. I think we can be a dadgum good offense if we stay healthy and a couple of guys out wide step up and do some things, the quarterback, the offensive line is as good as we think they are going to be, our running backs - I like our football team. I think we have quality depth. Nigel Carr is a heck of a player. Mister Alexander is a guy over there doing some things. McCray, he is a big physical guy inside. Everett Dawkins, Brandon Jenkins. There are some guys over there. You could say we might be the strength, but I think they could be right there with us. I really do.

Will there be some possibly psychological difficulties for Easterling getting back to full speed?

First time he gets hit, that's what I'm saying. That part of it with the guys that have injuries. Once they get tackled or get hit a couple times it will go away.

How will not having Graham Gano in the lineup change things for you as an offensive coordinator?

It makes a big difference... He's (Hopkins) is very talented. They say he's kicking the ball off through the endzone, out of the endzone, and he's got a strong leg. He may do it, you don't ever know that. But you don't want to rely on that. To me about a field goal kicker, if you got to the 25 and if they could hit those 42 yarders, you get a guaranteed three there you are in pretty good shape. Maybe that's the approach we have to take, get down there 10 more yards or whatever before you do things. Hopefully, we'll score more touchdowns. We got a lot better in the redzone last year - we were just going over that, our goals for redzone, third downs and our percentages. We looked on both of those categories which are crucial for offensive football, and we wee very good in both situations. Hopefully we can score more touchdowns when we get down in that redzone.

Q: When you were talking about seeing guys' bodies, can you talk about the first time you saw Andrew Datko compared to when you see him now?

A: He was about 265 pounds or so. Now he's benching over 400 (pounds), he weighs 292 and his body fat's gone down. It's just a testament to how hard he works. He's such an intelligent guy. He understands the big picture of why you're doing things. It's been a dramatic difference. You look at him now, with his back and his shoulders, and he's 292 ... he looks like a lineman.

Q: When you guys signed him, did you think he'd make that much progress in a year?

A: I didn't know about in a year, but you knew he had the capability of getting there. You can be 265 pounds and you're going to be 265. You can be 265 pounds and you're going to be 290. It's about your bone structure, your hand size, your head, your feet, the structure of your shoulders. You have to judge off of those things.

I say that about Chris Thompson a lot. Everyone says he's a little guy. He's not only rocked up, but if you look at him, he has great big hands and big feet. You don't have big hands and big feet for your size if you don't have big bone structure. That means you can take more punishment. Other guys can be the same weight, but with a narrow frame and little hands. A guy who was like that for us at LSU was (Jacob) Hester. We called him "Cro-Magnon" at times. He was actually shorter than I was and he was 230 pounds. But his hands and feet looked like they'd be on a guy weighing 250 or 260. That's why he held the ball and could take punishment. He had those features. You felt he could eventually be that guy.

Q: You were joking earlier about never being home. How have the demands and expectations for coaches and players changed over the years?

A: It really has because you have speaking engagements and time recruiting. It's especially for players. These guys don't get a break. When I played, you got to go home for the summer. You saw Mom and saw Dad and saw the girlfriend. And two-a-days - everyone makes a big deal because two-a-days aren't as tough as they used to be. They don't have to be. You used to come back and do two-a-days because you were out of shape. You had to get back in shape and learn things again and get banged and bruised. You had a month to get into football shape. Now these guys train year-round.

They go to school ... think about it. I didn't like school. I went to school because I wanted to have a degree and have a future, but I loved playing ball. These guys don't ever get a month off. They're in summer school. They're training in both sessions. They get a week or two here and get 10 days at the end of spring. The demands on those kids' time now, with study hall all summer, the development of these kids and the pressure that's on them, it's tough. They don't get any time off. For a year around, you're going to school, study hall, meeting your mentors, meeting your advisors, work out, train. You get no time for yourself. It's a tough grind for those kids.

As the media has grown and you're putting things out more than you used to ... we keep developing all this stuff and I don't know if it's good or bad. But you're doing your job. You're doing what you're supposed to do and what the people want to hear.

The things that's funny about today's time, the practice field used to be sacred between the player and the coach. That was where you could push him, you could grind him. You broke him down or you loved him and had to build him up. Everything is seen everyday now. That time ... it's hard for that athlete and that coach to have that sacred time and really bond and get over that hump. I'm not blaming anyone, but that's the way it is with the media attention and what goes on and the exposure of all these kids. It's bad for them sometimes to have it. They can't have an off day. Then everybody judges them. I'm glad you didn't judge me on all my bad days in college. The kids adapt to it, but it's totally changes.

Q: So what do you do to avoid burning out?

A: You have to be smart about how you do things and when you push the buttons and when you get off. I think now, when guys are in condition, you can grind them and bang them, but maybe you don't have to condition them if they're staying in condition. You have to talk to them and have that communication with them.

Q: Following up on the kicker question, you also have to replace Michael Ray Garvin at kick returner and look for a punt return. Do you see some of the freshmen maybe stepping into there?

A: They're going to get some opportunities. We need them to step up. There's a couple of older guys, I think, that can take those roles, too. But some of those guys will have to step up early and do it.

Q: We were just talking about all the demands, and there are more demands as you step up and become head coach. How do you feel or assess how you're adapting?

A: I like it. You always say I change four directions at a time in sentence and I never finish a thought. I always have four different thoughts at a time (laughter). That may be a question more for y'all than it is for me. I understand what the media has to do. I don't mind it. I appreciate it. I look forward to it and to communicating our program out there and what we want people to see in our program and how we want it seen. I have no problem with that. I do think there are times the kids need a break now and then, because sometimes you catch them on a bad day and, when they're 18 or 19, they'll say something most 18 or 19-year-old kids would do. But I like it. Talking's never been a problem for me.

Q: Do you see any other freshman coming in and contributing at other positions?

A: I think all of them will. And I'd like to see the two big wideouts and the two running backs. And the offensive linemen with depth, I'm anxious to see whether maybe they can give you some depth. There's a lot of them. Defensively, Brandon Jenkins and some of the guys at defensive end or maybe the defensive backs.

Q: You got to see Jenkins in the spring.

A: Yeah. It's funny, I see him around here now and I feel like he's been here for two years. He made significant plays in the spring. Usually it takes guys another year. Usually, it's the second spring that catches your eye. He did that this spring. Sometimes when I see him in there, I don't equate him with the other true freshmen.

Q: You've had a couple of kids make comments about FSU's probation and how that's a reason they're not interested in Florida State. Are you surprised that's still an issue and how big of an issue has it been?

A: It really hasn't been that big of an issue overall. What they don't realize, they guys that played for the last national championships - Ohio State and Oklahoma - both have been on about the same kind of probation we're on. They went to the national championship game. Alabama will probably be back on it again this year because they got in trouble. It's just the negative recruiting part of it, and that's something you have to overcome. I'm not going to do it by bashing whoever's saying it. I'm just going to do it by reinforcing the truth to them. That's the thing about recruiting. You have to figure out who you can believe. Judging character for us on them and for them on us is a crucial part. We just have to keep reinforcing it and every time it's brought up, we'll address it the proper way.

Q: Has Rod Owens been cleared to practice and play with the team?

A: He's finishing up his things right now. I think he should be done by the end of the week. We'll wait and make sure.

Q: Those fifth-year receivers can make a big difference for you.

A: They can, because of their versatility. They can move around into different spots and give good leadership. We were just talking about that this morning, going back over personnel. I look for both guys to have good years.

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