New Florida State coordinators Gus Malzahn and Tony White spoke with the media for the first time since spring practice began on Saturday afternoon. We have highlights of what they said about the first scrimmage, beginning with Malzahn, and have videos from both coordinators.

Opening statement

Malzahn: First scrimmage down, I think 100 plays, 60 runs and 40 passes. That was kind of by design. All three quarterbacks played; matter of fact, it was pretty close to equal reps. Everybody on offense got a chance to play. We learned a lot about our guys individuals, which is good. Usually you learn more about scrimmages than any kind of practice, which was good. Had an opportunity to see how our guys responded to success see how they responded to adversity; that’s very important as you're building the offense together.

Overall, I like our guys attitude, I think they want to be coached, they want to be strained. We try to play fast. Our defense did some great stuff today. Its a challenge no doubt, Tony does a super job with that. Overall, there is a lot of things we can learn on film, that's what I told our guys when I brought them up, and we’ll have to improve in the areas of execution. The thing about offense it usually takes all 11 to execute, but there were times today where we had 8,9,01 guys executing and not one, but our guys will keep working to improve. I think overall there was a lot of good things, we need to improve, a lot of areas we need to improve, but there were some good things.

How have guys handled tempo?

Malzahn: It’s been good, there's nothing like when you have officials and they are administrating the game and all that, hand the ball to the official, that was the first time. We need to respond better at times, there were some good things. But for the most part, as a collective group, we have to play faster. And when you play fast you got to be mentally tough enough to execute.

How do you feel about game plan after six practices?

Malzahn: We have been slower to install, trying to develop a foundation. Trying to evaluate. I want it to be where our guys don’t have to think so much so we can evaluate them and so they can play football. Not a whole lot of scheming going on, its more of installing your plays and trying to get really, really good at the foundation. Hopefully the second part of spring, we’ll try to get a little fancier, but this is a base offense at this time.

How did backfield do today?

Malzahn: We gave them a lot of carries and that was by design too, we wanted to evaluate them. There were some good things... once I watch the film I’ll be able to tell you a lot more, but we protected the ball. I think really that was the number one thing with running backs, that first day you scrimmage you protect the football.

One-on-one wins for the receivers, how are they doing?

Malzahn: There was a couple of explosive plays, a couple plays where our DB’s did a really good job too. It’s really been that way all spring.

How did you like the play of the offensive line and the run game?

Malzahn: First of all, Luke (Petitbon) is doing an outstanding job identifying everything. He’s a veteran guy, played a lot of football. We’ve had some lineman move around, anytime you have to move linemen around it's kind of hard to get continuity. Hopefully, the rest of the spring, we’ll start getting our guys in spots and be able to develop that continuity. Luke has been off to a great start, been really impressed with him.

How have the players adapted to your scheme?

White: To our scheme. Because I’m very fortunate to be in the room with a lot of really, really tremendous coaches. Both young and old. And so I always want to make sure that all of us have input in it. I love referring to it as our defense here at Florida State. But in terms of the players-wise, I think they’re doing a really nice job. Moreso not only the times that they have to show up because in college football they have to show up 20 hours a week, right? They got their 20 hours and they got to do it and they got to show up and they think that that’s doing something. But you see a lot of guys in the building. You see a lot of guys on their extra time coming up and hanging out in the building, going one-on-one, coaches meetings. At any point in time, you’ll see numerous guys up in there, bringing their lunch. Trying to get in extra film, extra classroom work. That right there, that tells me that we’re on the right path. Still got a long way to go but whenever the players do that and buy in and find time to do the extra things like that, that tells me that you’re reaching them in a way that’s like, ‘Ok, it will have positive dividends later on.’ Been pleased with that. It can always be better. But it’s a good start so far.

Coach Malzahn said he learned a lot more from the scrimmage compared to the first practices. Is that similar for you?

White: I thought we learned something from the last practice. We had a red-zone period and we gave up a lot of touchdowns in there. And I got a feeling of that like, ‘Oh, man, here we go again.’ So it was great teaching moments. We brought them back in yesterday, showed them the film, showed them all the things. And just bringing it always back to us. And making sure that if we do what we’re supposed to do and we act the way we’re supposed to act then everything is going to be fine. The other team is going to make plays. They got schollies. They got great coaches on the other side of the ball. But I want to see the attitude that’s like, ‘Yo, what’s next.’ Like, ‘Hey, nothing fazes us. We gave up a play, ok, big deal.’ And one of the biggest plays today, we gave up a big, big play, and Elijah (Herring) chases a guy down 30 or 40 yards. He chased him down, got him down on the 10. The very next play we intercept the ball. So teaching moments like that are huge and necessary. Got a chance to see that on display. I think the biggest thing today was giving them a chance to get the coaches out of the way and everybody off the field and let them operate. And for me being here as well, how do we operate on the sidelines? What does a headset sound like? What do the substitutions feel like? Are we correcting things on the sideline? How are we as coaches on game day? This was my first preview. There’s going to be a lot of things that are going to get corrected. But we got a lot of good coaches, it was fun to go out there with the guys and let them run around. There were plays made, there were plays missed. And so we’re just going to watch the tape, get the schematics right but just more importantly making sure we operate the right way. Substitutions - didn’t like that. Especially with our guys going warp speed (on offense). Got to fix things like that. The headset stuff. But otherwise it was good to go out there and free flow a little bit.

We've heard a lot about the defensive backs in the first practices. What are your thoughts on the group?

White: We're plenty big, athletic, strong, twitchy, fast, explosive, all the things you want to use. All the adjectives that you want to use. My deal is that you play football, that you put it on the grass. I mean, what good is jumping 40 inches if you don't do it when you lose every jump ball. Or you run 4.4 and you’re letting guys beat you to the football in pursuit. So it was really good to watch them just go out there and play. A lot of guys shined today. Earl (Little) did a great job, Ja’Bril (Rawls), Cai (Bates). Saw Q (Quindarrius Jones) make a couple really nice plays. I saw Christian down in there. There's a ton of guys that just made a lot of plays, but that's the thing you want to see, right? The whole offseason gives you a chance to go out there on the grass and play well. So I want to see you play well. I don't care how fast your 40 was. I want to see you play well and play fast. And so you got a chance to see some guys cut it loose and see some guys not cut it loose. And so now it's our job to take the film, which was great film, and correct it and try to get some more confidence in the guys who aren't playing as fast as they should be.

What are your first impressions of the matchup between your defense and Malzahn's offense?

White: I’m not going to give any kind of insight. I'm not gonna give no insights into calling the game. I'll just tell you he's one of the best in the country, period. I feel like if I can be prepared for that and what we go against every day, then chances are we're gonna be just fine. I give him mad respect, just schematically-wise, just what he's doing, but also you feel the attitude over there. You feel an attitude. And that's the thing. That's the thing that's hard to hard to combat. Schematically-wise, you can gain an advantage here and there with an extra guy. But when a team believes, when an offensive side or the defensive side, they believe they're better than you are, that's the thing that's hard to overcome. And so you can see that attitude that's starting to take shape over there with Tommy (Castellanos) and coach Malzahn and his staff. And it's fun to watch. Iron sharpens iron, right?

What are your thoughts on Earl Little Jr.’s performance and energy?

White: “It’s growing. It’s growing in the direction, the more they do and the more they see from their teammates, the more teaching moments we have. It’s just belief. Everything comes down to belief, do they truly believe in what you’re saying and what you’re doing? Great teaching moment today, when Elijah hawked ‘em down and then Earl was the one who intercepted the ball and ran it back for 6. Earl has made some of the biggest hits and made some of the biggest plays all camp. He is him. He is truly him back there. And it’s fun to watch, the things you can do with him. I think the more Earl makes plays, the more Ja’bril sees that and makes plays himself. And the more Earl makes plays, and the more Ja’bril makes plays, the more Q is starting to believe in making plays. And the belief is hitting on every one of them like that, you know what I mean? It’s just part of the process, right? It’s just the belief in what we’re doing, how we’re doing it. And then using valuable teaching moments to say this is why, this why right here. When they believe, guys move different. ‘Noles move different. They believe, they move faster, they see the game, they start jumping balls, they start yelling out plays. Juice (Cryer), today, like you see his progression and he just made a couple plays where you were like, ‘how the hell did you know that was going to happen?’ He was on one today. It’s just, they believe. They’re starting to see it. D-Jack today, it was third down, and D-Jack is calling for a pass rush and I say no. And he, during the middle of the play he’s like, I got you coach, I understand why. And sure enough, the next play was exactly what I thought, and he goes Coach, I see. Those moments right there, those moments you can teach them why we’re doing things, why we’re putting them in those positions. And I think we’re going to fly around faster and make more plays.”

What are your feelings about the transfer defensive ends: James Williams, Deante McCray and Deamontae Diggs?

White: “They’re all hits so far. Not only athletic ability-wise, but they’re learning, they’re making plays. All of them have done something every practice where they’re doing something to where you’re like ‘that’s a heck of a play, man, you’re going to be a really, really good player.’ …praises recruiting and scouting staff on twitch and athleticism and size they identified… “seeing them here, all of them can play and contribute. It’s fun to watch because now you can put some of them in different packages and stuff like that, like ‘well how about we put these guys in there, what happens when we put these guy in there? …Those guys are good, they’re going to be good football players here.”

What are your impressions of linebacker Elijah Herring?

White: “He’s Mr. Quiet Confident. He’s been there, done that, played at the highest levels. You just see as he gets acclimated to how we do things here, he’s starting to come out. He’s not a big rah rah guy, but he’s a guy you feel him, you feel his presence on the grass. That’s his time to let loose. He made a couple plays today where you’re like ‘that’s pretty big-time football right there.’ It’s fun that he gets a chance to have this rejuvenation about him. For his path and everything that he’s gone through, for him to come over here and truly enjoy what he’s doing and making plays for his teammates, I think the more plays he makes I think you’ll start to see more of his personality come out. It is fun, he made some, made a lot of plays today.”

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