Offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and special teams coordinator / defensive ends coach John Papuchis spoke to the media on Monday to review the Seminoles' win over Duquesne as well as preview the matchup with LSU.

We have added some quotes from Atkins and Papuchis and will add more throughout the day.

On Saturday’s offensive performance:

"Yeah, it was good to put some guys in some multiple positions. And then I think we rotated four guys in there to snap the ball. I told you a while ago, I thought those backs were interchangeable. They all do some things well, very similar. One thing with all the run game that I thought was good was the perimeter blocking. Some things we've got to improve on. But I thought overall guys like Mycah Pittman really fought, showed his toughness. I thought Jordan was poised, made good decisions, didn't force anything. Of course, there's gonna be a lot of correction. Duquesne did a good job of presenting multiple fronts, which caused a little bit more communication, we had to check a couple of plays, and some guys kind of didn't get it and things like that. So every game we will come up here and talk about correction of mistakes. But overall, thought it was a good game where we didn't have many focus penalties and alignment errors. We wasn't screaming from the sideline about something, so I thought that was good."

On the centers that played and potential return of Maurice Smith:

"Maurice has been hungry to get back. He brings us experience. He has played the position for so long. He knows the offense. He’s been in it for three years and things like that. So I think we'd be fired up. Once he says he's gonna practice, so I think he will. So I think that's a good thing looking forward to it. But overall, man, I mean, you know, having those guys in there, it's just really get a chance to have multiple guys that can snap the football. So I was pleased in that where we didn't have any where we had the quarterback going to chase any, so that was a good day."

On the Dillan Gibbons getting downfield to block, his general contribution to the offense now in Year 2:

"You know, we wanted to get the screen game going. You know, we knew that, that was one thing we wanted to kind of this year make a commitment to, make a commitment to the screen game a little bit more. Which you know, Coach Norvell has always done in the past. We've just kind of put an emphasis on it this year. And Dillan Gibbons, you know, he's a vet. He was playing center on that play, so that was good to see him get out and run. I think I saw him re-tweet that thing like 10 times. So I think he enjoyed it. But no, Dillan is a vet. He is experienced. He knows the offense. He can play both positions. So you know having him is a value that I can’t begin to describe, it is immeasurable to have a guy like that, that been in the system and has some carry-over and brings toughness and leadership to the room."

On the LSU defensive front, scouting them:

"They present problems because they're not only talented, but they're long, strong guys. So what we do is we just study their tendencies and pretty sure that they are breaking us down the same way. Welcome to college football, we play against good fronts, play against good teams, playe against good talent. So it's not really more different in preparation. It’s just more of understanding what you're facing, and how you can put our kids in the best position to have success. Pretty much all fronts we play are going to be pretty good. I believe that our guys are up to the challenge. When I walked past them not too long ago, they're already breaking the personnel cut-ups and film, moves, and how you play these blocks and things like that. So, you know, I think they're welcoming the challenge. And they understand it's starts with the work."

On finding best 5 on OL, figuring out who can play multiple spots:

"It is more just the learning curve of understanding concepts, before you have to do it in multiple spots. Early on, Dillan played left guard. That’s what he played and we never moved him, because he was just coming in, he got here in June of last year., so it would be unfair to play them in multiple positions when you first get here. I think that deters a lot of the learning because they can't just learn the position and the base concept of what we're trying to accomplish. But now that he's been in the system, we've talked about the experience, now he understands that position, he understands what we're trying to do. Now it makes you more multiple. Now you can kind of go play center or play the other guard position because now you're not, you know, reactionary thinking about what my job is, you understand the base concept of what we call when we call the scheme. That's what make you multiple is the experience. Early on a lot of different guys playing positions and they hadn't been acclimated to playing one, which causes issues. Now we've been fortunate to have guys that learn the concept in a position and then that makes you more multiple."

OL got work at multiple spots:

"I did that just for more understanding of concepts, just to kind of test that because it sounds good in front of the microphone, but they got to display it on film. I thought that handled that well. Jaz (Jazston Turnetine) was a guy like we talked about, he hadn't been acclimated in the system, but he's played a lot of college football. So his understanding of concepts kind of helped a little bit quicker because he's played a lot of football. He's an older guy, so I've kind of cheated with him and used him at both guard and tackle. But we had some, a couple of miscommunications and things like that. We got to work with the communication, that builds with more continuity. Are we get better as the season goes? It's a value to have some experience and have guys that can do multiple things because it builds in that depth a lot better. So that's why you want those older guys like the Jazzs, the Dillans (Gibbons), the Darius Washingtons, and those guys. Rob Scott, who has played both back positions. As that depth is building and those young guys are starting to come on, I’m still pushing this thing forward."

Deuce Spann, Kentron Poitier, young receivers got playing time vs Duquesne:

"The proudest thing I was was they didn't have any mental errors. Those guys are talented. There'll be able to catch the ball and run. A guy like Deuce (Spann), who played quarterback in high school and now is playing full-time receiver, to make that transition at the previous place, seeing him have a full offseason to be able to rep and do it. His confidence is at a high level because he believe, the first thing we talk about in our program is playing smart. The knowledge of the game and understanding what your assignment is. So the more they've been comfortable in their assignments, the better they can be to showcase their talent and showcase their skills. It's our job to make sure we've got them in a position where they are playing fast and confident. So I think those guys’ confidence, in my career wide receiver, you don't have to worry about their confidence too much."

Young OL, Armella, Estes got playing time:

"I think them running out on that field was a little different than running out there at practice. I saw a little bit of the wide eye but I think things calmed down for them and slowed down. We got Julian (Armella) out there, we got Daughtry (Richardson) out there, we got (Bryson) Estes, Kanaya (Charlton). You can’t simulate that. That's the reality of it. So to see those guys calm, a couple of them got emotional after just because that was the first time getting some live action. So just moving forward is about that progression of just getting better and just giving him like, ‘Hey, you can do this.’ And then a little bit more and a little bit more. And now the preparation goes up because they want more because they want to be out there more. So just having those young guys around and get them a little action, it goes a long way because you can’t simulate that in a practice situation a lot of times."

LSU DC Matt House was the KC Chiefs LB coach:

Coaches mostly stick with what they've had success with, but also they have to evaluate the personnel that’s in house. You can sit down and throw a playbook down but you got to make sure it fits the guys that’s on the roster. Like we all know, the strength or the room is the d-line and things like that. So we studied not only the previous stop they've been, where they’ve had success and fronts and situational work, whether it be the Chiefs, whether it be Kentucky, however far you want to go back. But you also have to study the personnel that’s in front of you. Because those are the guys that are going to run out there and do the scheme. So how they play blocks, how they play eyes and things like that. It's all inclusive in all that information to come out with the best idea which concepts you are going to get.

DL Mason Smith, BJ Ojulari and others on LSU defensive front:

"High respect because, No. 1, I know how they have been coached. They are going to be disciplined, they’re going you're going to play with hands, they know how to play those gap-and-a-halves, two-gap techniques, attacking. They’re going to play a base, make sure they can stop the run. Everybody's going to these run-twist deals and things like that. My respect for them goes into the work I know they’re getting from coaching. I know how they’re attacking, I know how they’re attacking the day. We got our work cut out for us. More than just the talent level, the effort, the workload. Those guys are growing. My respect for them goes because I know the work that they're doing and the excitement from getting a new staff. We better come ready for work."

DL more athletic than OL, what’s the mindset of an OL that comes with that:

Sometimes we make fun of d-line, because they come out and do a lot of drills. It's like a drill practice. We have to understand what front they're gonna be in, what the pressure is, whether it be three-down (linemen), four-down (linemen), strong-side pressure, weakside pressure, middle pressure. I got to understand who I'm working with. There's a little bit of a mental processing out there. It's not many times I can just go out there and say, ‘Be a better athlete.’ We got to learn how to work together and work as a unit. The five as kind of mentality of understanding how we're going to defeat what they present as a complete defense. So I think, O-linemen have a chip on his shoulder because we try to be the guys that can dissect information and also still be able to attack. There’s not many times you just say ‘Hey, tackle, go do your thing, go dominate.’ It's more of a collective thoughts and process to be able to be on the same page and be able to find our angles like, ‘Hey, we might need a little help here on this three-technique.’ Or ‘Hey, that linebacker is a little wide, I'm gonna hang with you a little bit more here but I got to go eventually.’ So being able to dissect all that information takes a lot of pride and preparation. I like how the guys they come in together, they study together, they meet together. It’s more growing that unit mentality. But also, yeah, D-linemen, they're special. So you better find a way to work together and find your angles and your advantage points to get the job done.

General impressions of defense against Duquesne, what can you take away?

"I think you take away it's a game-one experience. Live tackling, I think it's a big part of college football now when you get those game-one experiences. For the most part, I think we had 49 snaps, did a really good job on third down, tackling was solid. I think overall it was a solid performance."

With new coaches/players at LSU, how deep and far back a dive has the coaching staff done to prepare for the Tigers?

"With a staff change, it always goes back to who's calling the plays and then the personnel that they have, so that's twofold. Sometimes when that question is answered, it's the same thing, returning coach, returning players, it makes it a little bit more clean as far as the breakdowns. When those are different, that's when it becomes a little bit more of you've got to be smart on what information you're using. I think no matter what personnel is, the play caller, his personality, his organizational structure of how he calls games, those things, you're always taking that so there's a history of that that you're gonna put in play. And then the players he has, and that's not all LSU. That could be transfers, it could be incoming freshmen. Those are the puzzle pieces that you have to put together and that's why you need to get that work started in the summer. There's some history there, too. We've coached against this staff in different pieces, in different ways and some of the players as well. So there's some history there, which helps, but it's definitely a bigger folder up there where it says LSU 2022. It's a bunch of sub folders that you've got to kind of put together and then as you get going through it, other things will come up and it'll say, 'When he had this type of wideout, what years was it in? What did it look like that then?' Those type of things always come up."

How do you prepare if they haven't yet named a starter?

You get ready for both quarterbacks. That's pretty much how you have to do it. Quarterbacks are quarterbacks. You're always studying the backups, you're studying the starters. There's a chance there could be a starter that hasn't played in an LSU uniform, but there's enough film out there you can get a good sense of who people are and try to put that person to another quarterback in the system before and you try to piece that together."

Tatum Bethune's debut/linebackers in general"

Yeah, I thought Tatum did a nice job. He flashed . We show cut-ups on Sunday. Sometimes we show a making-a-play cut-up with just guys winning their 1-on-1s and, Tatum had a nice play. He brings a good energy. Tatum was exactly the way I thought he would be on game day and I was proud of him. He did a nice job, definitely brings something to us. We rolled some of those linebackers through a little bit. I think for the most part, I thought they played well together and they led the defense for the most part. I thought they did a nice job Saturday night."

Going against LSU OC Mike Denbrock before, what does he do well?

"He's been super successful at every place he's been. There's a reason why coach Kelly is one of the best in the business and he brought him with him to LSU. They were a challenge back then in '19 to prepare for. They had good players like they have good players at LSU, too. Everybody's got their own personality to play-calling. Everybody's got their own stamp that they try to put on things regardless of what players they have. And then some guys are more tailored to change. Some people aren't. Whether it's just situational, whether it's scheme, whether it's use of players, I think it's all part of the evaluation when you put a plan together. But coach Denbrock has been super, super successful in a lot of different ways. He's been really balanced and he's had success at a number of different places."

Learn anything about the other new transfers from Saturday's game?

"I don't think we learned anything new. I think there were some opportunities out there for all the different players that were out there and I came out of that game pretty much with the same information on our defense and the same information on the players. Obviously, there were some things that guys flashed in a really good way. Sometimes, there were some things that we've got to correct. But I think we came out of that game verifying a lot of our thoughts on the group that we have out there and the rotations."

How valuable is it getting those young defensive players that game experience they got Saturday?

"I think very valuable, right? In those games, it's always, I tell the coaches, whatever your plan is just stick to it when it comes to rotations. Especially when in games like that and it starts to get away from the opponent pretty quick. We tried to stick to a rotation and at one point I just kind of let him know what Plan B is for now what is the rotation when you start moving guys around in games like that. I thought our guys, the ability to keep focused, what I loved about it was on the sidelines, even the last play of the game when Azareye'h (Thomas) comes up and makes a tackle with Omar Graham,how excited our guys got. When Rodney Hill scored, to see our sideline get excited, that shows you something about your football team. The other one that you mentioned is Daniel Lyons. Daniel played really well. You can empty your bench in games like that., but what we did is the guys that deserved to get in the game, we tried to get them in the game because they've earned the right to do it. Playing out there on that field is special. When you get the opportunity to do it, regardless of the score, it was good to see some of those young guys take advantage of it."

How did defensive line perform despite quick passing game to negate their pass rushing?

"I mean, even the first third down, I think we put the quarterback down. I think Jared walked the tackle back into him and Derrick (McLendon) got the edge and kind of got a piece of him too. We came free on a couple of stunts, but there weren't many opportunities. They were 1 of 10 on third down and the one they got was a short-yardage flat route that we busted. But I thought our guys up front did a nice job. We're a four-man rush team and our guys did a nice job creating rushes when they needed to. I was happy with the upfront performance."

Is Jammie Robinson at all a different player than he was last year?

"Yeah, he's better right now than he was when he finished the (2021) season. He's playing more tight to his frame. You see that one pass breakup he made on the crossing route towards their sideline in space and just the violence that he got the ball out. And then we played him at dime, he had a 1-on-1 player on their sideline on a third down and he's a lot more calm in coverage. He is an accelerator, he is a violent mover, but just getting him in really good position and when he's at the top of the play, things slow down for right now. I thought he did a nice job with that. He's always been good when he sees the ball, running and tackling, running the alley. But the coverage stuff I think he's really made a lot of strides with. We added him in on one blitz Saturday night that was planned for him. Just finding different ways to get your good players in action."

Omarion Cooper update

"If we put him out there, Duke will be ready. He was out there last night moving around. Duke did everything he could to play in that game (Duquesne), it hurt him, but I told him ‘you try to get ready and it’s going to be my decision, not yours.’ I think that helped him feel like he doesn’t have to go above and beyond. I trust Duke, he works extremely hard in that training room and the practice field. He’s very reliable and I know he’ll give everything he can to be out there coming up Sunday."

LSU wide receiver room/Kayshon Boutte

"Super talented. Boutte is, I say this with all respect, he's a tailback when he catches the ball. He cuts, he makes people miss, he runs the daylight. He's got really strong hands, but to see him explode through tacklers is impressive for a wide receiver. He's taken short balls and made them into long runs. He's taken distance balls and got in the endzone. He's caught contested catches, really good player."

On PK Ryan Fitzgerald

“Yeah, I was really happy for Ryan, pleased, I can't say I was surprised, but really pleased by his performance, his focus. It's not always easy to balance both, you know, especially in your preparation in terms of kickoffs, and your place-kicking work. Because just the time dedicated to it, and the footwork and, and everything that goes along with it. And I thought he did a really nice job on Saturday, both with his place kicking, obviously he was was perfect on that, but also his kickoffs, you know, to they have four touchbacks to have the ball placement that he had. I thought that was really critical for us to see that from him. And I think it's a confidence builder, obviously, for him going forward."

On kickoff returns

“Yeah, I mean, we obviously wanted to go out and, and show the growth that we feel like we've had throughout the course of the offseason into that first opportunity to play. But you know, it's one of the one of those things that it takes all 11 to be able to execute. And even if you have nine or 10 of the guy doing a really good job, which showed up on Saturday, if you missed one of them, especially at a critical spot, in terms of the return, it could set the whole thing kind of awry. That's why, you know, it's one of the that's that I think makes those punt returns that are big punt returns or kickoff returns so special is that it takes a lot of factors to all play at the same time to have success on those, you got to get all all 11 guys in terms of execution, you also need the right kick the right ball placement, all the things happening at the same time for those to turn into big plays. And, you know, it wasn't as far away as it probably looked. But obviously, it's something that we need to continue to build upon because it will be a weapon for us going forward.”

On Sam McCall, learning experience as returner

“Yeah, my gut reaction on the field on the first one was that maybe he did panic, but looking at it on the tape, I don’t think that he did. At the critical point of attack spot, the return, there was color that showed up. And I don't know that he had many options at that point. Now in the second return going forward, we don't typically want to return a kick that's kicked outside the numbers, that'd be an opportunity for us to fair catch, we kind of drifted outside of what we call our hotbox. But those are great learning opportunities for him moving forward and for everybody as a unit, because just the angles when the ball is kicked that far into the corner, close to the sideline doesn't doesn't present the best return opportunities for you.

On scheme limitations in opener

“In opening games, regardless of who you're playing against, you want to see execution. And your best opportunity to have a high level of execution is to rep a lot of things that you've spent a lot of time practicing throughout the course of spring practice and fall camp and everything leading up. And really that was mostly our thought process going into this past game was that the things that was the core of who we were, and what we did was what we were going to stick to, and we want to see the guys play with fundamentals techniques and see them play hard and be able to execute what our base is. And that's what we were able to go do. You know, I thought we executed a high level, especially up front. I thought generally speaking, we played with good fundamentals and technique. So you know, that was that was what we wanted to see coming out of it. Obviously, with each opponent, you're gonna have some tweaks and adjustments. And then the same is gonna be true this coming week. There's gonna be some things that we tweak a little bit. But that's going to be every week now going forward.

On pass-rush, Duquesne’s quick passing

“I mean, you said it, there wasn't a whole lot of opportunities where it was true drop back and quarterback was sitting in the pocket. But I did see some flash. And I saw Derrick McClendon was probably a step away on two or three rushes in terms of being able to make a play on the ball. You know, I did see some good get off there and good speed, I was happy to see Jared Verse be able to get the sack later in the game. And we played a lot of guys at the spot, we ended up playing seven guys on the defensive end spot through the course of the game, broken up over 49 reps, I don't know that guys got in a great-pass rushing rhythm. I think they were one of 10 on third down. And some of those were the ball was coming out, like I said, pretty quick. So we didn't get into a lot of our, our pass rush games, a lot of the things that we'll do going forward.”

On punt returns

“It's one of the things that we talked about every week, the bottom of the pump return, tips are reminders in our game plan, and always it says ‘believe’. And there's a lot of reasons why it says that. But the main reason I always put believe on it is when you take the field, you gotta believe this the one that's going to make the difference, and there's gonna be a lot of things that may be out of your control in terms of whether that kick is going to be a returnable kick. And obviously, if it's a great kick, with great hang time, you may not get an opportunity to return it or in this case, we got a lot of kicks, that were not really returnable kicks, because they weren't great kicks. But you still got to go believe and execute, because you never know which one of those seven or eight nine that you may have in the game is going to be the one. So I thought, I thought individually, if you broke down each one of our players, there were a lot of good things in terms of the punt return. There's definitely some things to clean up. You know, which, which is a little bit to be expected coming out of the first game. But I did like Micah back there. I thought he was poised. I thought he's in control. I thought there was a couple times he came over to me and said, ‘Hey, I could have done this. I could have done that’. So he knows what's happening out there. Which which is a good sign. And you know, I expect that unit to continue to grow as the year goes on.

On kick coverage, LSU’s returners

“They don't have a lot of experience coming back. They have a couple guys that that got a handful of returns a year ago. But we certainly respect the athleticism of their skill group both offensively and defensively, because they do have a couple guys that have gotten some return work that are on the defensive backs. But you know, so we know that it's going to be a weapon. We've played against Coach Kelly and Coach Polian for a couple of years now. So we kind of have a feel, at least what they've done in the past and the return game, and they've always been really good at it. So we're going to, we're going to prepare to the best of our ability with a lot of unknowns in terms of their return game. But really, with the focus on ourselves. The things that we did really well in our coverage unit, the other day, really don't matter, it doesn't matter who the opponent would be our speed down the field was better than it's ever been. In terms of when you pause the tape where the ball gets caught where our guys were, it was impressive to see and then the results showed up. I think we had three, three kickoffs where we pinned them inside the 15. And, and you know, a lot of that, all that is the speed that we had down the field and the implementation of fundamentals of technique at the point

On preparing for a true freshman at LT

“That's really a great question that yes, we will look at the HUDL film in terms of just to get a feel for what that looks like. Because, I mean guys do have certain strengths and weaknesses that may or may not have changed in the time that he's been in school, but you certainly want to do all, you know there's, there's not one stone that we want to leave unturned in terms of our preparation. So you know, anytime we're playing a true freshman, we will go back and look at some of this high school stuff. Obviously there's gonna be some growth and development just like there is for our high school players when they when they come in, but you know, there are certain tendencies that guys have and we want to know as much about them as we possibly can.”