Mike Norvell's first hire at Florida State was retaining longtime Seminole assistant and current interim coach Odell Haggins. Norvell then swiftly moved to bringing aboard one of his longtime assistants, Kenny Dillingham, as offensive coordinator and Memphis assistant Adam Fuller as defensive coordinator.

Both coordinators took the podium on Monday for the first time at Florida State and described their particular coaching philosophies, how they've been shaped by their coaching journeys as well as their admiration for Norvell.

FSU faces Arizona State on Dec. 31 in the Sun Bowl

CYBER MONDAY EXTENDED ** Get 50% off a new Warchant subscription **

Q. What's it about Coach [Mike] Norvell and your relationship with him that led you to want to rejoin him down here and I guess what kind of inspired you to stick with him?

ADAM FULLER: Well, it's kind of, Mike called when I was at Marshall after our bowl game, about this time last year. It became apparent to me that you always want to surround yourself with people that will help you grow, improve. And it was quickly in our relationship that I realized that was the type of person he was, somebody that I wanted to surround myself with. So we went off and had a really good year this year. So it was two part, right? He happened to get a job here, so the university itself was incredibly appealing and exciting. But the opportunity to stay with him because I think I grew as a football coach defensively, but just how to improve and how to go about certain things. I thought, Mike does a great job of developing his coaches and hopefully that will continue to happen and I was just fortunate enough to stay with him.

Q. How would you describe your defensive philosophy and what would you say are the key principles of your scheme?

ADAM FULLER: Well, it's always going to start with the players, and however that's going to look here as far as what we have here and what we'll be able to recruit over the next six months. But the things that are important that I want to -- we're going to have certain schemes that we're going to run, we're going to have coverages, we're going to have pressures, and all that stuff is part of it, but it really comes down to the components of when I, when people look at the Florida State defense and people watch us play, it's going to be important that they're able to define us with certain things of, like, I want us to play fast, I want us to be able to lineup fast, I want us to be able to coach quickly, concise and clear, clean things up for the players so they can get lined up. And when the ball turns over that we have got 11 guys playing on the same accord but with an incredible passion and speed. I think we got to be a tough-minded group and that just isn't about getting moved on and off the line of scrimmage, but just how we approach each day, how we go about meetings, how we go about walkthroughs, how we go about class. I truly believe everything we do is connected to our success and our growth whether it's on the field, off the field, how we approach things. And then we're going to have a smart defense. That starts with me, our assistant coaches, and making sure we're coaching things with the right energy to create buy-in from the players, give them enough situational awareness to be able to play creative in how we coach with technology, with our thoughts, whether we're, and I'm a true believer, like, I'll have a part in every single position on our defense. I'll have a position specific, but I will touch every part of our defense. And I want all of our coaches to be that way too. Because, listen, the goal of this football program is to improve, the goal of our defense is to improve. And that's not only in our techniques, that's not only in our schemes, but that's with everything. So we'll be a driven group, we'll play extremely fast. Everything we do we'll do with those words: Fast, tough, and smart in the forefront of how we need to play. And so we want to be multiple with how we appear to people, but we want to be simple enough so that we can play fast. So it comes down to teaching, it comes down to lining up in a certain way. We want to give certain presentations throughout the year so that teams may look at us and say, well, if they line up like this, they're going to get that. And we want to tell a story as the season goes on that we know what the ending's going to be and not only we know the ending, we don't really want the offense to know exactly how the picture is going to be painted.

So we'll lineup in a certain way that I think will be, that you'll be able to say, yeah, that's what Florida State looks like. But when the ball turns over we would like to be able to give a couple different reactions from the offense. And so from that standpoint we'll be multiple.

Q. You've taken over some defenses that struggled in the past and have had progress. What are some of the things that you need to do to help reverse that trend of a unit that hasn't had success in the past?

ADAM FULLER: Mindset and hard work. It's really about the work and that will be the message from day one. Everybody wants to get in. And I told the players, they have been coming up the last couple days, and when you

hear about the great defenses of Florida State past, or the great defenses in football, you hear about schemes sometimes, you hear about certain alignments or pressures, but you hear more about descriptive words and how they play and the work and the mindset and the toughness and the finish and resolve that certain defenses have. And so I think those are the messages that I'm trying to show. And I told the players, as they come up, you don't have to trust me, you just have to watch us work. And we're going to lead the way with our actions and how we do things. And players that are about the right stuff and players that want to improve and want to get this program, this proud program in the way that we all want it to be, is going to follow that lead. And it's really about our actions and how we're going to go about our business and the things we're going to do daily and the habits we're going to create as a group that really aren't going to change, whether it's the end of the season getting ready for a bowl game or January 2nd when we come back and go to work. There will be different folks and aim each week or each session of the workouts. But really the mindset and how you do things are the most important things to me.

Q. Wondering how much time have you been able to spend watching film of the defense, watching practice, and just what are your initial thoughts of the defensive roster that you've inherited?

ADAM FULLER: Well, I tried to form, obviously, we're constantly forming opinions about everybody, right? But I'm very open minded to position moves, I'm very open minded towards drawing assumptions about individuals that I wasn't involved with. So I'm constantly trying to gain information, but I'm not drawing any assumptions at this moment. It's more at this point, I want to be here at Florida State 24 hours a day for these players, so they can get to know who I am and what we're trying to get out of them and what we're trying to, our aims for each individual player and collectively as a defense. Haven't really broken down the roster. From a recruiting standpoint, we have because we got to move forward with numbers. But we're not making position moves at this time. It's more about people and just trying to relate to them, trying to get to know them, trying to show them who I am, what we're about, expectations of how we operate. But haven't really delved into the entire roster from the skill sets of each individual. But have known, as far as if we're going to move a group of people, how we got to do it just for recruiting needs. And that's about as specific as we have gone at this point.

Q. Everybody's journey is a little bit different. Not everybody lands a Power 5 coordinator job at the age of 30 like Coach [Kenny] Dillingham. But for you, just to, your journey to finally get to this level of football Power 5, what have you appreciated and learned from your sort of your travels and your journey from Assumption to Chattanooga to Marshall to here we are now?

ADAM FULLER: Yes, sir, appreciate the resume. Well, you know, it's, listen, I'm sure what I'm going to say and what Mike [Norvell]'s going to say and what Kenny's going to say, it's going to be a lot of the of the same stuff because we're like-minded. But my path has made me who I am, and who I am is who we want to be as far as, my career has been started out because of really not one individual coach, but more about the sport and what I thought it helped create and the things that it made me feel, and the characteristics that it's really shown me that are important. And it's really been just about every job I had to take, as I've moved through the profession, it's whether I had to take a position move back or a level back to move up, it just has been a progression. And a lot of work has gone into it with unbelievable family support and it hasn't been easy, but it's been a joy and it's been a passion. And to end up at a place like Florida State University has been a dream. But I only got to this dream by a work ethic and by a will to prepare and being good to people and trying to do it the right way and out-work everybody in the country. And when you finally get here, you don't let up. You just hit the accelerator a little bit more. So just looking forward to the opportunity.

Q. Going off of the last question about your journey, this is going to sound like a simple question, but what made you want to be a coach? When did you decide to get into this profession?

ADAM FULLER: That's a good question. I graduated from Sacred Heart University and I was really unsure what I wanted to do. I knew I loved football. I played in a small all-star game and realized that it wasn't going to be a future as far as playing still. I had taken the state trooper's test. I was a criminal justice major. And that was more in support of my grandfather who was a military member in World War II. So I was just doing it out of respect for him. Maybe I would go down the path of law enforcement. And as I walked out of the test, I realized this is not what I want to do. And football kept coming to my mind, but I wasn't really sure about what that was all about either. I didn't have a mentor in mind, a high school coach, a college coach. I had people that influenced me, but no true mentor. So I went to my college coach and said, I would like to get into coaching, hoping that he would just give me a job at the current school so I could prolong the process of making a decision of what you want to do with your life. Three days later he called me and said, I got you a job. It's at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a Division III engineering school. You'll make $2,000. I said to myself, well, that's not really what I was thinking about, but he got it for me so, yes, sir. And I showed up. And that first year was good. It was solid. But the head coach got let go in November, and it's, like, I'm making $2,000, like, at what point, you know.

So then I went to Wagner College and there was an athletic director it there named Walt Hameline. He was the only AD/I-AA head football coach combination. And within about a year of working with him, and his passion and his drive, his work ethic, his commitment to improvement, always sort of working at the things he was doing, it clicked. And then I realized I could stay in football. I could quench my thirst for just the work. And I thought this is a place, every dollar I made went into buying a book, trying to get to a place to learn, and I just got caught up in it. And probably year two is really when it became my passion and what I wanted to do. And the influence that I would have on players, the influence they would have on me, it really provided a platform for improvement that I wanted to be a part of. So it just started that journey of just trying to study and get around the most successful people I could find and just constantly trying to wake up every morning a little bit earlier, go to bed a little bit later, and just work a little bit harder. And that's really been the aim at all the different places I've been to. And really it started back then at Wagner College for Walt Hameline.

Q. Two questions: First, did you give up the dream and have to do what I did with the hair?

ADAM FULLER: I didn't give it up. It's coming back.

Q. Congratulations.

ADAM FULLER: Well, I appreciate your assumption.

Q. Going up against Coach [Mike] Norvell in practice, can you describe what his offense is like? And what were those, I know it's practice, but it can get competitive on a practice field, what were those battles like for that year in practice with his offense?

ADAM FULLER: Great. Like when I say competitive, when we compete here, it's going to be us with them, not us versus them, right? And that's important. Because we're all trying to win each individual rep. The great thing about Mike and our offense here at Florida State is going to be it's going to be multiple. There's going to be a volume of run game, which I think to compete against that creates toughness, which is important on defense. It's important on offense too. There's a variety, there's packages of personnel groups of formations, of motions, of speed, of lateral runs, of direct runs, of action passes, which on defense this is, as we went into practice one, usually as coordinators you sit down for the first time when you're with each other and you say, all right, this is what we're going to do day one, this is what you're going to do day one. He said, all right, do you want to know what we're going to be? And I said, absolutely not. I said, do you want to know what we're going to be? And he said nope. And that's the way it should be. I think.

When you install a defense or an offense, like, each call is built in to be flexible enough to deal with whatever's going to happen. Now, there's not ideal calls for everything, right? There's specific calls for certain situations. But every call we use has to be built to deal with all things encompassing on balance and whatever you want to get into.

But there's a variety of it, you know. And just like every defensive coordinator in the country has a checklist of things you got to hit: Day one in spring, day one of fall camp, day one of week one, you never want to be surprised. Pretty much after spring that checklist is pretty much checked off from a things you have to prepare for. So from that standpoint it really helps the defense grow. From a competitive standpoint, he's competitive, and our entire program will be. But it is us with them and I think we'll all grow because of it.

Q. I know it hasn't been very long, but what's been your message to recruits and their families?

ADAM FULLER: Same message as to the players. You got to -- I guess in this profession when you get recruiting and you have been at a place for less than a week, there's a part where you have to, for lack of a better term, sell yourself, because the program has be sold and sold in a great way to these prospects. Nobody's hearing about Florida State for the first time, right? Growing up in this state and this surrounding area everybody knows what a Florida State Seminole looks like and what the program has been known for.

But there's a part of it that you have to educate the families and educate the recruits on, this is who I am as a person, this is what my wife, Hope, is about, this is my two children. You're always doing that. And then you got to go through your timeline and, like, these are the players that we have developed, this is the defenses I've been a part of, this is the vision of what Florida State is going to be about. I mean, there's a part of that that you're trying to sell and just trying to educate them.

So it's been a sprint, but anybody that's involved in this line of work, you absolutely love it. Of course, you're trying to get to know them, you're trying to make sure they get to know you. And it just, you can't replace time in relationships. You can't fast forward and say, signing day is on Wednesday, and we only have two, I mean, time is time. So does it mean, maybe, one more text message, one more DM, one more telephone call, one more FaceTime? Because you're trying to replace the time that we haven't had. But if you're sincere and you treat people the right way, usually that comes off the right way and that's what we're trying to do right now.

Q. When you met Coach [Mike] Norvell, I guess, what point did you realize, okay, this is a guy? This is a guy I want to work with? Was it during the interview? Was it what you had heard beforehand? Or was it after you took the job and was around him a little bit?

ADAM FULLER: First conversation. He called me and meeting Coach Norvell, the first time we met was when he picked me up at the airport in Memphis. We had never met each other face-to-face. We had phone conversations over the holidays. And I get off the phone the first time I spoke to him, and I told my wife, I want to work with him. Just, it was more, you know, he is sharing his vision of who he is as a man, basically, right? It wasn’t, you know, this is how you fit A-gap power, right? It was more, like, this is who I am, this is how I act, this is what I do on Tuesday. What do you do on Tuesday? Well, this is who I am.

And then it became a little bit more big picture of, in a program when a player acts a certain way, how do you react? And then there was just, whether it was some, he'll say something, I'll say that's a great idea or that's what I do or that's how I think. And I think it's important not to surround yourself with people that are exactly like you, but you want to surround yourself with people with like-mindset and like-work ethic and with high expectations. And so the first conversation, you know, I knew that -- I didn't know, I didn't even watch Memphis football. Obviously, it was appealing to me as a defensive coach to know that between him and Kenny [Dillingham], they have done a great job on offense and they run the football. And that was appealing, even if I didn't connect with him on that level.

But to combine it all it was going to create for a great work environment. And that's what provided last year and we had some success last year with it.

Q. You spent a long time at Marshall. How did you grow during that time as a coach and what influence did Coach [Doc] Holliday have on you?

ADAM FULLER: That was my first Division I opportunity. And again, Doc Holliday, did not know me. I didn't know anybody on their staff, and there was no connection. They had made a change on defense and needed to hire a defensive staff. And I went down there and interviewed with him and Chuck Heater. And those are two legends in this state from the standpoint of recruiting ties, from coaching. So it was my first opportunity to get a big-picture feel of Division I football. And so when I interviewed and Doc offered me the job, it was a no- brainer for me, because with my opportunity to get in Division I football and an opportunity to be around two successful people, and I've always said in this profession the more you can surround yourself with success, and people that do it the right way, the more chance you're going to grow. And it's always about improvement. And

when I joined that program, obviously, we had a lot of success there, we turned that defense around quickly, they were really good on offense, and had a really good six years. We won five bowl games, played two conference championships, and developed a lot of good friendships, especially with Coach Holliday. And if one person that recruited the state of Florida well, it was Doc. So I learned a lot through him and developed a lot of relationships in this state and so I'll be forever grateful.

Q. What is your, being around football for so long, what is your impression when you hear the name Florida State? And to follow up on that, too, also big name around here, obviously, Mickey Andrews what does a guy like that mean to you as a defensive coach?

ADAM FULLER: Well, when I think of Florida State, I know I stand up here as the defensive coordinator at Florida State, that I think defense. I was probably, like most college football coaches growing up, I would play in my game and go home and turn the TV on. And at that age when I was growing up, Florida State was changing the game on defense, and they were having fun doing it. And so I can remember, I actually think back, I had a Florida State hat growing up, and shoot, I had never left, I grew up right outside of Boston, Massachusetts, and we didn't leave the state until I went to college. So when I think of Coach Andrews, it's great having, being here, and I haven't met him yet, but to walk in this building and see that statute of Coach [Bobby] Bowden and know that Coach Andrews at one point is going to walk through that door, I mean, it's inspirational. Because he not only did it so well, he did it so well here, he did it so well for such a long period of time. And to hear from former players, because I've spoken to a lot of former players, and you don't talk to them long before Coach Andrews' name comes up. And, again, it's not, Coach Andrews' scheme was this, it's none of that. And I'm sure the scheme was great, but who he was and Coach Bowden was as men, and what they inspired the players to do and how they did it, that's what wakes me up a little bit early every morning right now. So looking forward to meeting him. It will be a proud moment for me, and I'm sure I'll learn a lot.

Q. Rounding out the defensive staff in terms of the coaches, the assistants, are you sourcing candidates? Is that something that Mike [Norvell]'s helping you with? Are you laying on a network of coaches that you know? How is that coming along for you?

ADAM FULLER: Everybody we do will be with me and Mike and the rest of the coaching staff in mind. So we're the vetting people right now. We're talking to people. And we have got a great idea of the direction that we want to go to get the best defensive staff we can, the best entire staff here at Florida State. So that process is ongoing right now. I don't want to say it's taking a backseat to recruiting, but there's three prongs right now, there's recruiting, there's hiring a staff, and there's developing relationships with these current players. And that's really where all the focus has been on all of it.

Q. On that note, what's it been like getting to know Odell [Haggins]? And how much of your time is balanced, kind of, getting on the same page with him, but also allowing him to serve in his duties as interim head coach?

ADAM FULLER: I already told Odell whatever has to happen for us to beat Arizona State in the bowl game, needs to happen. I'll wait 10 more minutes, I'll wait an hour. Just show me the office to go into. And every minute that I'm not going to be around him or the current staff, I'm going to be around the players or I'm going to be on the phone. And that's pretty much how I've tried to prioritize it. But just, you know, I've met Odell in schools. I remember him more than he remembers me. But it's just, I feel so fortunate because we will be front- based up front, and to have a man like Odell lead that front is really special to me. So he's been great. From just the stories he tells, first time we were in that defensive staff room, I saw that basket of baseballs and I said, what in the world is that? Can we move that somewhere else? Like, that looks like it's in the way of where we need to work, like, there needs to be a dry erase board. He goes, we don't move that. That's for shutouts. That's been here by Coach [Mickey] Andrews. So just little things like that, you know, you're learning about the special things about this place daily, which is great, but just don't get caught up with it because it's about the work. And that's, you got to be able to enjoy it, listen to the stories, appreciate them, but again, these stories are only special because the work the people have put in before us. So now it's our turn.

Q. I guess I was curious, I read a lot about Coach [Kenny] Dillingham and his energy and passion and it sounds like that's pretty common with the staff you guys are building. But what were your first impressions of Coach and when you met him and what your relationship has been like?

ADAM FULLER: Of Kenny? Well, it was, you know, I met Kenny this summer. We had a camp up at Memphis and it was a collective camp with coaches from all over the country. And working with Mike [Norvell] and some other people that were at Memphis that had worked with Kenny, I don't feel like I knew him, but I feel like I had a, there was a picture painted of who he was. And when I met him for the first time here a couple days ago, he hasn't let me down. I think he's part of the group of, whether it's going to be schematically, personality-wise or just the drive to improve when you look across the hall. Because that's what it's about. It's about putting together a group of men that can, number one, help each other, but that can inspire each other. Not only with words, but with actions, with how they treat people. And Kenny's cut from that mold, the same mold Mike is. And I don't want to say we're all the same person, but I think we have all the same aims and intentions. And so from that standpoint, it's been great. I really look forward to spending the next season here with Kenny, for sure.

Q. When we read the stories about you getting into coaching as a high school senior, I guess, what was that like and how did you go about coaching peers?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I mean, I think at the end of the day the relationship you build, whether, regardless of your age, is determined by how you act. Age is purely a number. My dad's 72, my older brother is 45. So I grew up in an environment where I was forced to be more mature than my peers. And then when I was blessed with the opportunity to start coaching at the age of 17, and I was coaching the JV team, kids that were 15, 16, and I'm 17, I learned a lot. I learned what the boundaries were to be similar in age to players. I mean, you're a year apart, guys are in the same class as me, so it taught me a lot in terms of what those boundaries are in coaching. I'm 29, so the older I get, I feel like I'm, like, ages away from these guys now compared to what I used to when I started.

Q. Generally speaking, how would you describe your philosophy and scheme on offense?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: Pro-style offense that plays fast. I mean that is our identity. We're a system built for playmakers. And when you look at the past and you look at this offense and what it's accomplished, I mean, Coach [Mike] Norvell and, this system is one of two systems over the last seven years to have a thousand-yard receiver every single season. Two years ago, my last year at Memphis with Coach Norvell, we had a back with two thousand yards, another back with a thousand yards, and a third back who accounted for total yards of over a thousand, right? It is a system our quarterbacks account. If you play quarterback here, you're going to account for 3,500 yards, whether it's rushing, whether it's receiving, at a minimum, and have roughly 35 touchdowns. That's been the standard since Arizona State and those numbers have fluctuated. But it's a system that's going to adapt, but it's a system built around playmakers and it's built for playmakers. And there's not a better place to attract, there's not a better brand that attracts playmakers than Florida State. So I'm excited to have this system at this university.

Q. You, obviously, worked with Coach [Mike] Norvell before, offense-minded guys. So how do you guys go about the interplay on offense, the game planning, just walk me through the game planning during the week. And then in game, what is your interaction with him in game play calling?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: We have a very, very unique relationship. Me and coach, we're on the same page 99 percent of the time. So the inner workings of how we operate is unique to probably anybody in college football. I mean, he could be in another room, I could be in my office, and we come together and share ideas and a game plan, and nine times out of ten we're bringing the same ideas to the table. Even if those ideas aren't even something we have run this year. But we just know how we think, we both know how we both want to attack. And I think that's why it's a unique dynamic between us. And that's why I'm super excited to be back with him and to be here is because you want to be around, like coach said, like-minded people, and to be around a guy like Coach Norvell, one of the best offensive minds in college football, it challenges me, it challenges our staff to put together the best plan. Because when you present it to Coach, when you do those things, the standard is excellence and you're going to have to have the answers. Every answer. Because that's the standard he sets. And not just on offense, but in all phases of the program.

Q. What was your first impression of Mike Norvell and when did you meet Coach?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: So I was a 20-year-old, 21-year-old, somewhere in there, and I graduated from high school, became the offensive coordinator at Chaparral, which is 15 minutes away. And I went to practice and I was nervous and I walked over to him and I said, hi, I'm Kenny. I coach at Chaparral High School. And then I kind of, that was it. I thought that was it. Just wanted to meet him. He was the top mind in college football. He was a 31-year-old offensive coordinator. The RPO game had barely started. He was one of the innovators of it. And he goes, hey, nice to meet you. If there's anything I can ever do for you, anything, you want to come up to my office and watch film and sit in quarterback meetings, you can. Well, little did he know that I was going to sit in every single meeting the rest of spring and be the dude in the corner.

So I, from right then I knew this was a special guy. Because I'm a guy who has zero -- I add zero value to his life and he extended an olive branch, receiving nothing in return, to let me come up there and sit in those meetings. And right there I knew that this was a guy that I wanted to attach myself with, this is a guy I wanted to learn from, and this is a guy I wanted to model after.

Q. Kind of on that note, when you had the opportunity to go to Auburn, are you thinking, maybe, one day down the road hoping that your paths could cross again, and then when you saw he had the opportunity at Florida State, does the mind, maybe, start working that you could one day be together again maybe soon?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I mean, I always felt like me and Coach, regardless whether I was going to have a relationship -- we had a relationship throughout the entire season. We would talk all year. We would talk scheme all year with each other via text message. I would send him videos of things the defense was doing. He would do the same back. And we would discuss it. So to say it was, was I wishing, hoping, no. To say that I knew we have a really strong -- I know we have a really strong relationship and I know how well we work together. The last two years at Memphis we were together, we were the No. 2 offense and No. 4 offense in the country attacking two completely different ways with a 4,500-yard receiver, and then 4,000 yards via running backs with a new quarterback change. To answer your question, I would say he's always a guy I want to work for. And he's the guy I want to work for.

Q. Looking at the offensive roster, what have you learned in a week about them? And second, when you guys, you and Coach [Mike] Norvell, are evaluating quarterbacks, what are you kind of looking for from a quarterback? Is there a makeup that you're looking for or is it just talented guys and you'll fit system around them with playmakers?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I haven't had a lot of time to really evaluate each player on our roster. Like Coach [Adam] Fuller said, we're more evaluating the numbers and the guys that we need to recruit to fill the numbers in certain spots. From a quarterback standpoint, the number one thing is we're always going to recruit a quarterback who has the physical ability. We don't care if you're an elite passer and you can't run, we don't care if you're an elite runner and you can throw the ball a little bit. We care that you win games. We care that you're smart. And the physical tools, if you're talented enough, you fit our system, because we're going to adapt it. It's not a cookie cutter system that you can't have a guy who runs, you can't have a guy who passes. At Arizona State, Coach Norvell coached a kid named Taylor Kelly. He threw it for 3,400, ran for 700, right? The same at Memphis. We had a quarterback who threw it for 4,400 and ran for 83, right? So it is a system built around each individual player. So the quarterback position, we're looking for the intelligence, how he carries himself. We're looking for the intangibles. Because there's a bunch of great players all over the country that can put a highlight tape together. We're looking for the guys that have that special something sauce, that special something, that X factor.

Q. You guys, obviously, have talked a lot about featuring playmakers, and if you look at your statistics, Coach's statistics specifically at Memphis, there will be a few guys that get the ball a lot of different ways. When the defense kind of knows who the playmakers are, how do you still get them the ball even though people know where you're probably going to be going with it?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I think that probably goes back to varying tempo and formation versatility. You can ask Coach [Adam] Fuller, like Coach Fuller answered, he sees everything that he wants to see in spring ball and is aware of what he needs to defend as a defense. And that goes back to the system being extremely multiple. We can put wideouts in the H back set, we can put wideouts at a tight end, wideouts at running back. We can put tight ends at wideout. The system allows so much flexibility that when we can move guys around to create matchups, to create one-on-ones, and we do that quickly, and we do that through a variation of formations, it makes it extremely difficult for a team to match up player-versus-player. And it allows us to create those matchups and create those one-on-ones because at the end of the day offense is about creating your one-on-one, quarterback is about finding your one-on-one, and then the playmakers got to win their one-on-one. And that's why for us that's how everything kind of goes together, is we're looking for guys and our guys on this football team are going to have one-on-one opportunities, and we're going to put you in the best situation to win your one-on-one. And at the end of the day, they are going to go win it.

Q. Your brief experience at Auburn working with Coach [Gus] Malzahn, how valuable is the experience learning how to really recruit and just see how recruiting works at the highest levels of Power 5?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: Yeah, I think it was a good experience, but at the end of the day everything goes back to relationships. Every kid that we recruit, it goes back to relationships. And there's really nothing more to it. You got to build relationships, and you got to build genuine relationships. And kids are smarter than people give them credit for. Kids can see through it. Kids can see through people who are not genuine. And the biggest testimony for myself, for Coach [Mike] Norvell, for any coach who is genuine is reach out to former players. Call former players that we have coached. Call the Riley Fergusons, call the Brady Whites, call those guys. Ask them about me. Ask them about Coach. Because that is, if you're a player, what you want. You want to know what your experience, is it going to be the same experience those players had. And I can say that the relationships I built in this profession are 100 percent genuine and will last a lifetime.

Q. Kind of on that note, how do you go about, especially when you have a short timeline like you do with the early signing period starting next week, how do you go about selling yourself and expressing to recruits and their families who you are and what you're about?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: Just be me. There's no sales pitch. There's nothing. Just I'm an energetic dude. I bounce around. I believe in it. I believe energy is, you know, it feeds, energy just continues to feed off one another. Positive energy feeds off one another. And I think just me being me. There's no special position, there's no magic wand I wave like Harry Potter. You know, it's literally just me being me. Showing up every day with the energy I have, and being as genuine as I can be and being as honest as I can be.

Q. I know you mention that you're not looking at the roster, per se, or looking at the numbers, but being the quarterback is such an important position and that's kind of your forte and specialty, what do you think of some of the quarterbacks on the roster, namely James Blackman and Jordan Travis, looking at them off the hoof?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I haven't watched them physically. I met with them and I think they're both phenomenal young men. They're both driven young men. And like I mentioned earlier, that's the most important thing for us, is to have guys that are driven, that are intelligent, and that want to be great. And after meeting them briefly, 15 minutes, those are the type of guys they are. So I'm excited to get to work with them, I'm excited to build a relationship with them, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Q. Two quick questions: One, is it Red Bull, coffee, soda? Where do you get the energy?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I drink a lot of coffee, but -- I drink black coffee, it's more for the taste, it's not really for the energy. I wake up fired up, bushy tailed back hand spring out of bed, so...

Q. The other thing was, did you get a chance to watch much of Memphis this past season and what did you think?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I watched them every week and I used to text Coach [Adam] Fuller - he didn't respond the first six weeks, he's like, who is this guy I never worked with keeps texting me -- no, he did respond to me. I texted him all the time. I was extremely, extremely impressed with the change that they made, they went from a, they went to a team who didn't bust. We had a lot of busts with young players in those first two years, and injuries were a cause of it as well but Coach Fuller got in there and he had that extremely aggressive mindset. But when you watch them play, there were no free runners. There were no gifts. They played and they kept the offense in front them. And it's a, it's very difficult from a defensive perspective to be able to play aggressive and be aggressive, but at the same time limit big plays. And I think that's the making of an elite defense and that those are the defenses that you game plan for that scare you are the ones that can create the explosive plays defensively, through TFL's, through interceptions, they get takeaways, but limit those explosive plays offensively. And when you watch Coach Fuller's defenses you can see they play with passion, you can see they play with energy, and they don't give up the big play, but they create them.

Q. Why was it important for you to leave Memphis last year to go to Auburn? Obviously you liked working with Coach [Mike] Norvell, but was it for a different opportunity, just to get outside of him a little bit, to do it on your own, why did you do that?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I think it's just the opportunity. That's an unbelievable institution and it was a unique opportunity that Coach and I talked about together. Coach Norvell and I talked about it together. Because he's not just a guy I work with, he's a guy I lean on, he's a mentor, and it was an opportunity that we decided was best for me and my career at that time and it was an extremely difficult one to make because of my relationship with him, but at the end everything happens for a reason and the experience that I learned there is going to add value here.

Q. I guess I'm really guilty of this, of looking at whoever is calling the offensive plays that's kind of the most important thing you can do and be on that part of the ball. But for you is your job to make Coach [Mike] Norvell's life as easy as possible or what is it, the true value that you would like to think that you bring to that side of the ball, even if you're not calling plays?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: I think the value is the structure, the passion, the energy, how our guys play, the schematics behind it. I mean, me and Coach Norvell, like I said, we have a unique dynamic when we work together. And it's a special dynamic and I don't know how to explain it, I don't know how to explain game day, I don't know how to explain game planning, you can't put it into a cookie cutter of how this profession tries to put situations in cookie cutters. And it's a very, very unique and special relationship we have offensively and as a program and I'm just blessed to be here.

Q. You haven't had a practice or a game yet here but when you're back with Coach [Mike] Norvell like does it just sort of feel like picking right where you left off in terms of that relationship?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: (Singing) Reunited and it feels so good. I mean pretty much. That's how it is. We never skipped a beat. Got right back -- we're rooming together right now and we just fell right into place like we never missed a beat.

Q. When you are talking to players in the state of Florida, are they aware now of what Memphis did offensively and what Coach's teams have done and how excited are they to kind of have the opportunity to maybe be in this offense?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: Well I think some guys are aware, some guys aren't, but I think that's the biggest part of this cycle late is we don't have to sell anything, we can show them. We don't have to go up there and tweak things to make it look like this offense is built for playmakers. We can put everybody in a room and we can say, if you play quarterback here, you're going to put up roughly over 3,500 yards and 35 touchdowns. You play wideout here, only one other person in seven years has had a thousand yard receiver every year, that's Lincoln Riley other than Coach Mike Norvell. We can say our running backs, two of them were drafted at Memphis. We had a 2,000-yard back, I left, he left, we had another 2,000-yard back in Kenny Gainwell who is a freshman. We can say our tight ends productivity is Top-5 in all of college football in the four years that we were there. So it sells itself. So I think combining this offense and the success it's had, with this brand, which this brand is one of the most iconic brands in not just college football but the United States. As an institution this brand, combined with this system, combined with Coach [Adam] Fuller's system, is something that I'm extremely excited about to see what we can do.

Q. Going back to the former or the current players, they have had four different offenses in the last four years, including Coach Norvell's. Just how did they react when you guys came in and just what's their response to you been?

KENNY DILLINGHAM: Excited. I think they're excited. I think they know they're going to be in a system for a longer period of time and I think that they understand it's a system that they can have extreme success in. But that goes back to the relationships. I don't expect them to trust me, I don't expect them to believe a word I say right now. I just expect them to give me a chance. That's it. I just want a chance to coach you, I want a chance for you to learn, and I want a chance to put you in this system and see what we can do.

----------------------------------------------------

Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council