Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and special teams coordinator John Papuchis on the Clemson game, bye week and Virginia Tech.

On what needs to be cleaned up on offense for longer sustained drives

Atkins: "I give a lot of credit to Clemson and the job they did. They have an experienced front and two of the best linebackers in the country. When we have a chance to hit them, we have to hit them. We missed a couple of those opportunities there. I was talking to [Maurice Smith] in the hallway not too long ago and he always tries to keep me positive, that’s his job. He told me, ‘Coach we rushed a lot against [Clemson] last year and we lost to them. This year we didn’t rush for nothing and we won.’ I am going to talk to him about that later. We got the win, but when we do get it blocked off and it's clean, we have to hit them. And when it’s not, we have to make sure we’re finding the good things they can do. So I think with guys getting back out healthy, Rob is a possibility to come back and be healthy. So we're back to come in normal rotation we had at the beginning of the season which, kind of in hopes that I think that it gives us a little bit more of what we're looking for. But I have to improve really, we always have to do the job of finding what they do well because sometimes I get comfortable with what I like, and I have to make sure we’re doing what they like, what they can do and what they are capable of."

On what VT did well against Pitt in the run game

Atkins: "I think what they did fundamentally was that they tackled well. They didn’t miss any tackles and they were able to penetrate the front a little bit. I think Pitt was having some troubles with injuries up front, so that takes into account too. In the end, as you watch the defense, as you go through the season, they are getting better, which you should and what we’re looking for. We have the results we want but there is still the process of improvement. I think they are tackling better. They keep it very simple, now they could give you some problems with some wrinkles, but for the most part, you don’t see any missed assignments. They are doing a good job of playing sound football and they make tackles. When they make tackles, it could make it tough."

On deep shots to Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman

Atkins: “We’re going to do that. Of course, we want to hit them all every time we throw one. But there’s always something different every time, whether it's the defense and what they present, whether the receiver can do a good job of getting separation and if we’re giving Jordan time and protecting him. Our identity on offense, we’re going to take shots and push the ball down the field. We have the talent and the quarterback with the big arm. When they hit it, it’s good but we also have to find the consistency on the next down and make up for it. We don’t shy away from taking the deep balls or the shots based on percentage. We did it in overtime on second and long and that was possibly could have been in a third and long situation. But we still took the shot because we believe in those guys to make the plays. So, we’re okay with whatever the results are of taking those long shots."

On being close in the running game

Atkins: "Credit to some of the defenses we have played. Clemson is a strong front, so I want to make sure I am not discrediting them at all and they stopped us. But I think with us, Trey is referring to we had a couple of times to hit them and we kind of missed those opportunities for a number of reasons, whether it be us, whether it be the O-line or the running back. But I think that’s why the closeness is coming because when we slow it down and watch it as a group, you see the development of it. Now we have to do a better job of creating space, finishing the runs and making sure we’re not tackled by the first guy. But the opportunities are there, we just have to take advantage of the opportunities."

On third downs

Atkins: "We went and looked at all of them. With the bye week, we had a little bit of time to evaluate it all, every play call, every detail, all of it. What we found is execution is number one. We’ve had some times where maybe we had a missed assignment or a drop or a protection error. But all the things we talked about came down to execution. So, we think we’re on the right track with what we’re doing and we just have to execute at a high level. That’s a part of getting better throughout the season. We want to make sure we’re getting better as we go now. We’re thankful for the results and wins but there’s still so much more improvement to be playing your best ball at the end of the season. I think we have a chance. Our players, coming back from this practice last night, I felt that coming back. You’re always worried when you win a big game and get a bye week, get some time off. They came on Sunday night and attacked it. We tried to make it forcibly more uncomfortable. We worked on things that we might not have worked on in a while to make sure that mental sharpness was tested. They did a good job. I think they are optimistic and they want to get better. So I think we’ll be fine."

On offensive line pieces moving around and newcomers

Atkins: "Yeah it's extremely helpful because when you have for example Darius was the primary center, Casey Roddick first time starting for the Noles, Meech and then he’s rotating with Keiondre, JB and then Darius is still playing multiple spots, they’re doing what we ask them to do but it’s more of me understanding what they do well and make sure I am highlighting that and not using what I have probably done in the past that’s had a lot of success. That’s more of the balance of it. I am going to coach them hard and we have to block all of that normal stuff you’re going to have. You can watch any football game, you have to do stuff better. But what are they doing well and what can I do to put them in a better position to showcase their talents."

How helpful was the bye week, spend time on scheme, individual players?

Fuller: "I would say both. Once we got off that plane from Clemson, that Sunday was very much just making sure all the data was in order so that we could dig through it Sunday night into Monday. I would say the first, before we got back with the players, a lot of it had to do with just the data through the first four weeks, where we’re at, what we were doing. What are the things that we can build off of. Defense is kind of like offense, too. ‘Hey, these are the pictures we’ve shown, let’s make sure the pictures change up going into next week. All the things that you do with all of the information that you get through the first four weeks. And then there was a big personnel meeting. Unlike the first several years here, we have a bunch of really good young players that aren’t playing a lot right now. So then what was the plan, where were they at this point. What we can do to expedite their ability to get on the football field, whether it’s in the kicking game or on defense. That was kind of a synopsis of what went on early in that week last week."

Through four games, going up against good defenses. On defense, what do you feel FSU is good at and where do you need to improve?

Fuller: "We went into the year making sure we were better in the run game in all ways. Minus a run here or a run there, I thought we’ve done a nice job of building walls and being better in that way. I think we’ve got to do a better job in the pass game just of staying connected to receivers more. That can definitely be improved upon. I liked there were different games of different focuses, keeping some of these quarterbacks in the pocket. Going back all the way to the LSU game, I thought our front really did a good job of just understanding what we were trying to get accomplished in that game and their execution of it. As you build on year to year, week to week, you put more and more on them and just measuring what’s too much. What is allowing your guys to go play. Coaching is always about trying to put yourself in a position to reflect with a fast forward button on. I have a good sense of what our guys do well. We have to continue to double down on that. But also stay ahead of it so that offenses, every time they line up, have a little bit of this but this mindset. I like the guys that we have and I like the direction that we’re heading and just the urgency of what it needs to look like this week is full throttle."

Against Clemson, when you blitzed more often you have more success. The next question is why don’t you blitz more, what goes into those decisions?

Fuller: "If blitzing was always what was going to work, we would blitz every single play. We have blitzers ready for each play, to be honest for you. Whether they’re in empty formations, unbalanced formations, condensed formations, four opens. You have mindsets going into each game. When we look at things it’s always, ‘What’s the matchup personnel-wise? Are there any tips or identifications in motions and splits and formations that you want to pressure those looks? Are there certain looks that you don’t want to pressure? Are there certain times that you don’t want to show a look so then when that comes up again in a critical situation, they’re not prepared for what you’re going to do.’ There’s all of those things. There’s times that we’ve played a lot of coverage. There’s times that we pressured a lot. I hope in both of those instances they both work. It’s my job to continue to work through that and put them in the best situation. That’s the job every week. Whether it’s the first play of the series, whether it’s the last play of the game. What is the scenario that we can put our guys in the best position that they can go play their best. Sometimes that has to go with rushing four, sometimes that has to do with rushing seven. All of that stuff just goes into putting together a plan."

Kalen DeLoach sack, scoop and score. What did you see that prompted you to be aggressive?

Fuller: "That whole series, I wouldn’t even want to say that was a back and forth game, but I would say it was a critical moment. We had done a really good job in the run game. And they hit their first big run, over a 30-yard run on a counter play. Then Jared (Verse) comes back and answers it with a TFL on just a base look. And so we got them in second-and-long-and-plus. There had been a few of their throw games that took a little bit longer to develop per se in some of their route combinations. It’s something that it’s something that, just pressures we feel comfortable with. What I was proud of is the communication that happened between Tatum (Bethune), Shyheim (Brown) and Kalen on that play. When you execute at a high level with good players, usually good things happen. That was a big play. It was a critical play. Momentum is as big as the next play. But that was a really big one for us. Proud to see Braden (Fiske) pass it to Kalen to make that thing work."

FSU defense had dominant stretches in various games. Is there a combination theme to why it hasn’t started from the beginning of a game?

Fuller: "We always want to start fast. There are some games that we started faster than others. When you look at how the season started (against LSU), that was the opposite of the way. Big play but then you go down and you stand up (goal-line stand). What my message has been through four weeks is, ‘What I really appreciate is when we’ve needed you and we’ve needed you at times as a defense, when our backs have been against the wall, we’ve played our best. That’s great. Let’s play our best when we’re not near the wall.’ It’s taken a lot of work to get that mental toughness and that belief in that fortitude, whether it’s a goal-line stop or whether it’s a critical third down or whether it’s in the fourth quarter or whether we have to create a takeaway and score, whatever that all is, really happy that we have that to us. Because that’s an important trait. Toughness, mindset, ability to respond. All of those things. How do we create? I use the word urgency. How do we create that constantly? We try to do it here at practice. We do it in meetings. In some of those games, sometimes there are some good players you play against and they make a play. But you never want to take a knee to that. You want to force the action, you want to make sure your guys are always the aggressor, you want to make sure you tackle well out of the gate. I go back to some of the Friday practices that we’ve had. Some have been better than others. And that’s a continued push to me to connect what we’re doing out there and what we’re doing out there on that game field. I do appreciate this: When we’ve had to make an adjustment, whether it’s tackling, whether it’s pressuring, whether it’s how do we play certain sets, our guys do listen. And they do respond. We just want to create that for 60 minutes."

What has it been like seeing Renardo Green play at such a high level?

Fuller: "Renardo is a great competitor. He really is. I think he's got confidence in coverage right now. He's always been a great run-supporter, that's why we played him at safety a little bit earlier in his career. He's really good in run support, he's been a really good 1-on-1 cover guy this year. He's somebody that we have a lot of confidence in. That (TFL of Will Shipley) was a big play. I think that running back at Clemson is one of the better in the whole country. He's a ferocious runner and he breaks a lot of tackles. There was one run fit that was absolutely textbook and it was multiple people. The ball just bounced out to our unblocked player. We talk about building a wall and what it needs to look like, that free player has got to go tackle like that. Renardo did it. I've got a lot of confidence in him."

VT has already made a QB change. How far in advance do you scout an opponent?

Fuller: "There's a lot of summer pre-study that you do, especially with uncommon opponents but even with guys that you have played for four years now you're still doing some pre-work in the summer. Coaching is maybe like your profession. You do a lot of groundwork underneath the surface and you could study something for 45 (minutes) to an hour and you find that falsifies the information, you just move forward. That's just our profession. You're constantly trying to find tips, clues. You're trying to find an edge. You can't get frustrated when it comes up and you find a reason why it won't be an edge. You just drop it and move to the next topic. Personnel changes, quarterback changes, we've gone through that here. I think (VT) has pretty much settled in on why they made the quarterback change. I think it was due to an injury early, but I think they have a lot of confidence in how that game has played, especially the last four quarters."

When Akeem Dent returns, what will that do for the secondary?

Fuller: "That's a guy that has been almost a three- to four-year starter so that will just continue to build playmaking and depth and competition. Whenever he is back, it still doesn't take away the urgency for this younger group of DBs. We've got to continue to push that. It's human nature when you're a young player to come in and all of a sudden you don't play a lot in the first game and you get not frustrated but just kind of set in the way of this is the way of the rotation. Our message to them is, 'Rotations, as much as we want consistency and we'll lock into a consistent rotation, we're trying to find ways to involve people.' Just the opportunities, whether it's on special teams, whether it's just out there on the practice field of making sure that regardless of who is available that has played here in the past. We've had guys that have come back as returning starters that have gotten beat out. We've had guys that have come in as true freshmen that have taken starting roles. Akeem is definitely somebody that has played a lot of football for us, is somebody that was playing good football and we look forward to getting him back at some point. But the urgency of improvement for all players is still out there."

On Jared Verse vs. Clemson

Papuchis: “I really thought that was probably his overall game that he’s played since he’s been here. Obviously some of the passing statistics aren’t going to reflect that, but I do think he was impactful in terms of his pass rush. But the way he played the run was definitely his best since he’s been here in terms of being impactful but also doing his job within the defense. He went into the game with a mindset of doing whatever he had to do for the team to be successful, and I thought he played really hard and I thought he played really well.”

On Clemson’s missed FG

Papuchis: “I was probably a little bit cautious on the first field-goal attempt with them having a new kicker situation. We were very fake aware on the first field-goal attempt. But on that field-goal attempt I didn’t think a fake was necessarily something that would have a high likelihood of happening, so we went to a more traditional outside block. But I don’t know it was that that had a big impact, I think he just pulled the ball a little bit. But I do think we got pretty good pressure with Renardo off the edge. Whether that impacted it or not is really hard to say. But obviously a critical play in the game."

On Ryan Fitzgerald continuing to kick well

Papuchis: “Well you know, Ryan has done a great job this year to this point. And he’s handled everything like a pro. Whether it’s when he wasn’t hitting the ball as well a year ago, and really toward the end of last year I thought he did a nice job of responding I feel like it’s carried into this year. And he knows though that you’re one kick away or one game away from, you know, people being back on you a little bit. I don’t think he worries about that. I think he’s going to go out there and do the best he can possibly do.”

Papuchis on Alex Mastromanno vs. Clemson

Papuchis: “That was huge. I thought Alex did a great job for us. He was able to flip the field over a couple times, especially that punt that was late in the game and we were in our own end-zone, I thought he hit a great ball there. If he doesn’t, he’s going to set up a pretty short field position for them. Our coverage was really good and I think our guys recognize that. As a matter of fact, Alex was our special teams player of the game among our own team last week and it really came down to how he operated and how he was able to affect the field position in the game.”

On preparing for a mobile QB vs. VT

Papuchis: “I think any time that you play a mobile quarterback, there is the point of emphasis in terms of everybody being able to execute their role and their responsibilities, especially in the designed quarterback run game. Especially in [triple-option looks]. Everyone has a job, everyone has got to fit their gap, everyone has a role and responsibility especially when the quarterback starts running the ball and it’s critical that we’re disciplined in everything that we do to make sure that we handles our role within the defense.”

On Australian punters

Papuchis: “Well, actually his coaches that kind of facilitated some of that recruitment are some that I talk to. I’m sure he has a pulse in terms of who else might be good players, but not something that he and I general engage on. But we’ll have to make some decisions when that time comes. I really like Mac Chiumento when Alex is graduated and stuff, so we’ll see where that goes because it’s a little bit early on in that process. I guess the thing that the Australian player brings to the table is just multiplicity in how you punt, the rolled punts both ways, now you see more and more guys kicking with the left and right foot. So it does add an element to your strategy when it comes to punt, and it also adds a little bit of a challenge to your punt return as well.”

Papuchis on place kickers handling struggles

Papuchis: “I think in those moments that you’re referencing, those are high-pressure, high leverage situations, and you’ve got to be in them enough times in your career to probably be comfortable with them. I don’t know that anyone is ever totally comfortable in those moments. I think Ryan has done a great job of responding to both positive moments and moments that were negative, and just continuing to focus on the next kick. But you’re right, there’s a lot of games where that’s what it comes down to. We talk about it all the time as a team, as a program, as a staff, that you’ve got to play every play because you never know which one is going to be the one that directly impacts the game. Because a lot of the time it’s the kicking games that does, and you’ve got to be ready for when your opportunity presents itself.”

On rotating kickers in a blowout

Papuchis: “It depends on the situation. In that game, we did play Mac Chiumento as a kickoff guy in that Southern miss game to give him some reps and opportunities. It just depends, it just depends. There may be a situation where that comes up at some point in the year, but especially at that point in the year I was just looking to keep Ryan in rhythm. Wasn’t really looking to make any adjustments there, but we’ll see as the season goes on if that’s something that can come up.”

Patrick Payton’s PBU on last play vs. Clemson

Papuchis: “Yeah. In terms of that specific play, first of all I thought Pat played really, really well. He was impactful on a couple plays where he’s able to use his length and just hands up impact throws, made a huge stop the play right before the field-goal that we forced on the quarterback run. Pat really played well, and I thought he really played well in the fourth quarter. But in terms of that call, I thought Coach Fuller made a real good call. Fourth and two, everything kind of happened real fast because we went from 3rd and 1 to now 4th and 2. Think if they were maybe going to come out and run the ball on third-down play and they come out and throw a spot screen, and coach made a great call. He went 0 pressure, brought double edge pressure, and Pat was able to get his hands up on the throwing lane knowing the ball was going to come out quick in that situation. Thankfully we were able to make a play, he needed all of that 6-5 frame and length to get a finger on it. It was obviously a critical play in the game, and it was exciting to see him have that opportunity in that moment in such a big situation for the program.”

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