Nice to learn more about his process/system. The 2nd ? and answer on his halftime process is extremely insightful. A lot to get done in that short time. It's all business!
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State football offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead took time to talk with members of the media Thursday afternoon during Iowa week. The Nittany Lions and the Hawkeyes are set to meet Saturday at 7:30 p.m. under the lights at Beaver Stadium on Military Appreciation Day.
Check out updates from the Q&A session below.
I'm curious if you could evaluate the offense so far and how things have gone for you during your first season at Penn State.
Moorhead: Through our first eight games I'd say I'm pleased but not satisfied. I think we've certainly come close to meeting our expectations in some categories and fell short a little bit in others. Ultimately, we kind of identified the spots we need to be successful to give ourselves a chance to win - scoring offense, explosive plays, turnover margin, and I think we've been pretty good there and obviously some others that we need to improve on too.
Can you take us through your process at halftime, how you go about getting guys in different position groups and making the changes you need to make?
Moorhead: When the half ends we go in as an entire coaching staff and Coach Franklin sits in with us. We go over each formation and diagnosis the information, see what coverages they're playing, the fronts, the pressures, and we match that up with what our game plan is, and kind of see what we have that was working, what we have that fits, what we have in the game plan that maybe we haven't called and would work better in the second half. Then we keep a menu of kind of our entire system in there and say, 'alright, we didn't have this during the week, we're seeing this look, this may work' and we break off and the coaches get with their players individually and then I kind of bring everybody up at the end and talk to them one last time before we head out.
You had mentioned that there are some areas that you could improve, could you put a percentage on kind of where you are in this process and is that kind of part of the process when you're installing a new offense at a place like this?
Moorhead: I think the areas that I mentioned earlier are the ones that I really addressed with the offense and the team. I didn't give them a goal on points per game, but did a little bit of research and saw that Penn State offenses who averaged at least 30 points a game, have had a pretty successful record. So we kind of talked about that as a general number that we wanted to approach, so certainly scoring offense, explosive plays and I think we've done a very good job with that. The run game and the pass game, being able to push the ball down the field particularly with teams crowding the box and attempting to stop Saquon [Barkley] and the skill we have on the edge. Then turnover margin obviously, we didn't do a great job with that at the beginning of the year, but I think we've got that under control and have done a good job protecting the football and playing a great complimentary game with the defense and special teams getting us field position and things like that.
Certainly on the other end, some of the ancillary categories that we're not so proficient at right now, obviously third down conversion percentage, which is not good at all and quarterback completion percentage and like I said, those are things that we need to improve on and certainly can help the bigger picture in terms of scoring offense, explosive plays and things like that. Those are ones we need to improve on to help the more major categories get better.
You mentioned completion percentage, so I'll ask about Trace [McSorley]. Where is he, eight games into his first year in your new system in regards to decision making, ball security and then of course, accuracy?
Moorhead: I think the decision making has been pretty good. There are rarely times when times when we come in and look at the film and say he misdiagnosed the coverage or misread a read and threw it to the wrong person. So from that standpoint, he understands where he is going with the ball and why. From that, you talk about completion percentage. The goal or stand that I've kind of had over the years and what reached at Fordham was 65 percent as the number we're looking for. A lot things go into that, certainly its not an excuse, it's a reality, where we are, the number of balls that we throw down the field, the number of times we see tightly contested man coverage on third and medium-plus. The protection, running the routes and separating and him throwing accurate balls and a lot of that, I think part of avoiding the sacks is Trace making great decisions when nothing's there to throw the ball away. So I don't want to penalize him for that. Certainly 50-55 percent is not where we'd like him to be at, he'd like to be at 65 percent or higher, but I think he is trending in the right direction. I know not the past four games in terms of what the percentage is, but overall throughout the season, I think he's getting toward what we want him to be.
If I can follow up about ball security and why is he able to protect the ball so well the last four games?
Moorhead: I think a few things. I think Coach Franklin does an awesome job - we work on ball security here more than any place I've ever been, including my time as a head coach. Coach Franklin's emphasis on it, working on it on a daily basis - ball high and tight, all the things we do in our ball security circuit and then really emphasizing the quarterback's decision making as part of the ball security process. Not just fumbling the ball and putting it on the ground, but not turning it over through the air. I think Coach Franklin's emphasis on it, how much we drill it in practice and then really from that point, after the first few games where a greater enhancement on two hands on the ball in the pocket and stepping up when you're not throwing it off your first hitch and taking off and running when things aren't there and not just hanging out in the pocket and waiting for things to open up.
Going back to being an offensive coordinator, what do you miss about that about having that as strictly the sole focus of what's on your plate and maybe now what are some of the things you look back and think, I kind of miss that about being a head coach?
Moorhead: I never really got to step away from the OC part because I did call all the plays at Fordham, so I think it's probably more in line with the second part of your question. Coming back to being an offensive coordinator and not having to worry about the head coaching responsibilities has really allowed me to narrow my focus and concentrate specifically on, with the other assistant coaches, designing a game plan that's going to put our kids in the positon to be successful. Creating a culture on the offensive side of the ball, discipline, work ethic, accountability, attention to detail, because I think those things are just as important as the x's and o's part. As it pertains to recruiting, concentrating on a specific area in a specific position with offensive guys. So not as much of a global approach like when you're a head coach you have to worry about everything, but a more specific, detailed approach. I think that's been a very interesting re-transition.
After the Purdue game when Saquon Barkley was jogging off the field there were a few fans chanting 'Barkley for Heisman,' do you think Saquon has the talent to be in that conversation, whether it's by the end of the season or next season?
Moorhead: Absolutely. You look at some of the things he does on the field, either running the ball or catching it. He does things that are special. Obviously the past few game his production has ramped up and hopefully he continues on that trend. Saquon is a unique talent, a special football player who has those kind of tools. His ceiling is extremely high. The best thing about that is his work ethic and his character match his playing ability so when you combine all of those things, tremendous athlete, great football player, great person, great work ethic, I think the sky's the limit for him.
In your list four games, the offensive is averaging more than 100 yards and nine points better than in the first four games. Why the big jump in those numbers and what do you think has been the biggest factor?
Moorhead: I think it's the kids settling in and understanding what we're doing and why it pertains to doing it in a game. Toward game four we made a little bit more of a conscious decision, where Coach Franklin and I had this discussion of getting Trace more involved in the run game. There are sometimes when you go through spring ball and through fall camp and you've been in another place and things have worked there and you have an idea that it might fit and work in your system. There were some things we were doing in the run game in the first four games that we we were getting production out of but not necessarily what we had anticipated. There are things within our offensive system that we didn't quit doing, but we emphasized other things. Once we made Trace more of a threat in the run game I think that opened things up for Saquon and I don't think we really made many changes in the pass game and taking quick game of play action shots down the field. The biggest transition to me was getting Trace more involved in the run game and I think that has helped open things up for everybody.
Your relationship with Coach Limegrover, both of you went to the same high school. How much of that familiarity with each other and trust has paid off with the line do you think?
Moorhead: It was actually the same grammar school too, we both went to St. Bart's in Penn Hills and grew up, really, five or 10 minutes from each other. Matt was not a lot older than me, but a few years older than me so we were never really on the same teams and we weren't in the same grade. My dad coached him, I knew he was a St. Bart's kid, a central kid and through my older brother and sister who had known the Limegrover family and that they're just tremendous people and had respected Matt. Before he got into coaching I knew him as a person and as a football player and obviously what he has done throughout his career with Coach [Jerry] Kill, at Northern, and Minnesota and Southern Illinois, I think we just have a good working relationship, a good personal relationship because we know a lot about each other and kind of grew up in the same mold, so to speak.
What kind of development have you seen from Jake Zembiec and Tommy Stevens?
Moorhead: Both of those guys are coming along nicely. Tommy has had an opportunity to get in a couple of games and he has definitely a very good athlete with a strong arm, great skill set and he gets all the reps with the two's and does a good job staying locked in mentally and prepared. As you can tell all of the guys on offense, you're one play away and it's the next man in philosophy so I have the utmost confidence in Tommy to go in the game and perform well. Jake works mostly down with the scout team. I get him mostly during the individual periods. I've had him up a little bit. One week he got a few reps with the non-scout team and both of those guys bring a lot to the table. I've worked a lot more with Tommy because he's up with the ones and the two's, but both of those guys have done a good job this season, especially with the mental part of it.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State football offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead took time to talk with members of the media Thursday afternoon during Iowa week. The Nittany Lions and the Hawkeyes are set to meet Saturday at 7:30 p.m. under the lights at Beaver Stadium on Military Appreciation Day.
Check out updates from the Q&A session below.
I'm curious if you could evaluate the offense so far and how things have gone for you during your first season at Penn State.
Moorhead: Through our first eight games I'd say I'm pleased but not satisfied. I think we've certainly come close to meeting our expectations in some categories and fell short a little bit in others. Ultimately, we kind of identified the spots we need to be successful to give ourselves a chance to win - scoring offense, explosive plays, turnover margin, and I think we've been pretty good there and obviously some others that we need to improve on too.
Can you take us through your process at halftime, how you go about getting guys in different position groups and making the changes you need to make?
Moorhead: When the half ends we go in as an entire coaching staff and Coach Franklin sits in with us. We go over each formation and diagnosis the information, see what coverages they're playing, the fronts, the pressures, and we match that up with what our game plan is, and kind of see what we have that was working, what we have that fits, what we have in the game plan that maybe we haven't called and would work better in the second half. Then we keep a menu of kind of our entire system in there and say, 'alright, we didn't have this during the week, we're seeing this look, this may work' and we break off and the coaches get with their players individually and then I kind of bring everybody up at the end and talk to them one last time before we head out.
You had mentioned that there are some areas that you could improve, could you put a percentage on kind of where you are in this process and is that kind of part of the process when you're installing a new offense at a place like this?
Moorhead: I think the areas that I mentioned earlier are the ones that I really addressed with the offense and the team. I didn't give them a goal on points per game, but did a little bit of research and saw that Penn State offenses who averaged at least 30 points a game, have had a pretty successful record. So we kind of talked about that as a general number that we wanted to approach, so certainly scoring offense, explosive plays and I think we've done a very good job with that. The run game and the pass game, being able to push the ball down the field particularly with teams crowding the box and attempting to stop Saquon [Barkley] and the skill we have on the edge. Then turnover margin obviously, we didn't do a great job with that at the beginning of the year, but I think we've got that under control and have done a good job protecting the football and playing a great complimentary game with the defense and special teams getting us field position and things like that.
Certainly on the other end, some of the ancillary categories that we're not so proficient at right now, obviously third down conversion percentage, which is not good at all and quarterback completion percentage and like I said, those are things that we need to improve on and certainly can help the bigger picture in terms of scoring offense, explosive plays and things like that. Those are ones we need to improve on to help the more major categories get better.
You mentioned completion percentage, so I'll ask about Trace [McSorley]. Where is he, eight games into his first year in your new system in regards to decision making, ball security and then of course, accuracy?
Moorhead: I think the decision making has been pretty good. There are rarely times when times when we come in and look at the film and say he misdiagnosed the coverage or misread a read and threw it to the wrong person. So from that standpoint, he understands where he is going with the ball and why. From that, you talk about completion percentage. The goal or stand that I've kind of had over the years and what reached at Fordham was 65 percent as the number we're looking for. A lot things go into that, certainly its not an excuse, it's a reality, where we are, the number of balls that we throw down the field, the number of times we see tightly contested man coverage on third and medium-plus. The protection, running the routes and separating and him throwing accurate balls and a lot of that, I think part of avoiding the sacks is Trace making great decisions when nothing's there to throw the ball away. So I don't want to penalize him for that. Certainly 50-55 percent is not where we'd like him to be at, he'd like to be at 65 percent or higher, but I think he is trending in the right direction. I know not the past four games in terms of what the percentage is, but overall throughout the season, I think he's getting toward what we want him to be.
If I can follow up about ball security and why is he able to protect the ball so well the last four games?
Moorhead: I think a few things. I think Coach Franklin does an awesome job - we work on ball security here more than any place I've ever been, including my time as a head coach. Coach Franklin's emphasis on it, working on it on a daily basis - ball high and tight, all the things we do in our ball security circuit and then really emphasizing the quarterback's decision making as part of the ball security process. Not just fumbling the ball and putting it on the ground, but not turning it over through the air. I think Coach Franklin's emphasis on it, how much we drill it in practice and then really from that point, after the first few games where a greater enhancement on two hands on the ball in the pocket and stepping up when you're not throwing it off your first hitch and taking off and running when things aren't there and not just hanging out in the pocket and waiting for things to open up.
Going back to being an offensive coordinator, what do you miss about that about having that as strictly the sole focus of what's on your plate and maybe now what are some of the things you look back and think, I kind of miss that about being a head coach?
Moorhead: I never really got to step away from the OC part because I did call all the plays at Fordham, so I think it's probably more in line with the second part of your question. Coming back to being an offensive coordinator and not having to worry about the head coaching responsibilities has really allowed me to narrow my focus and concentrate specifically on, with the other assistant coaches, designing a game plan that's going to put our kids in the positon to be successful. Creating a culture on the offensive side of the ball, discipline, work ethic, accountability, attention to detail, because I think those things are just as important as the x's and o's part. As it pertains to recruiting, concentrating on a specific area in a specific position with offensive guys. So not as much of a global approach like when you're a head coach you have to worry about everything, but a more specific, detailed approach. I think that's been a very interesting re-transition.
After the Purdue game when Saquon Barkley was jogging off the field there were a few fans chanting 'Barkley for Heisman,' do you think Saquon has the talent to be in that conversation, whether it's by the end of the season or next season?
Moorhead: Absolutely. You look at some of the things he does on the field, either running the ball or catching it. He does things that are special. Obviously the past few game his production has ramped up and hopefully he continues on that trend. Saquon is a unique talent, a special football player who has those kind of tools. His ceiling is extremely high. The best thing about that is his work ethic and his character match his playing ability so when you combine all of those things, tremendous athlete, great football player, great person, great work ethic, I think the sky's the limit for him.
In your list four games, the offensive is averaging more than 100 yards and nine points better than in the first four games. Why the big jump in those numbers and what do you think has been the biggest factor?
Moorhead: I think it's the kids settling in and understanding what we're doing and why it pertains to doing it in a game. Toward game four we made a little bit more of a conscious decision, where Coach Franklin and I had this discussion of getting Trace more involved in the run game. There are sometimes when you go through spring ball and through fall camp and you've been in another place and things have worked there and you have an idea that it might fit and work in your system. There were some things we were doing in the run game in the first four games that we we were getting production out of but not necessarily what we had anticipated. There are things within our offensive system that we didn't quit doing, but we emphasized other things. Once we made Trace more of a threat in the run game I think that opened things up for Saquon and I don't think we really made many changes in the pass game and taking quick game of play action shots down the field. The biggest transition to me was getting Trace more involved in the run game and I think that has helped open things up for everybody.
Your relationship with Coach Limegrover, both of you went to the same high school. How much of that familiarity with each other and trust has paid off with the line do you think?
Moorhead: It was actually the same grammar school too, we both went to St. Bart's in Penn Hills and grew up, really, five or 10 minutes from each other. Matt was not a lot older than me, but a few years older than me so we were never really on the same teams and we weren't in the same grade. My dad coached him, I knew he was a St. Bart's kid, a central kid and through my older brother and sister who had known the Limegrover family and that they're just tremendous people and had respected Matt. Before he got into coaching I knew him as a person and as a football player and obviously what he has done throughout his career with Coach [Jerry] Kill, at Northern, and Minnesota and Southern Illinois, I think we just have a good working relationship, a good personal relationship because we know a lot about each other and kind of grew up in the same mold, so to speak.
What kind of development have you seen from Jake Zembiec and Tommy Stevens?
Moorhead: Both of those guys are coming along nicely. Tommy has had an opportunity to get in a couple of games and he has definitely a very good athlete with a strong arm, great skill set and he gets all the reps with the two's and does a good job staying locked in mentally and prepared. As you can tell all of the guys on offense, you're one play away and it's the next man in philosophy so I have the utmost confidence in Tommy to go in the game and perform well. Jake works mostly down with the scout team. I get him mostly during the individual periods. I've had him up a little bit. One week he got a few reps with the non-scout team and both of those guys bring a lot to the table. I've worked a lot more with Tommy because he's up with the ones and the two's, but both of those guys have done a good job this season, especially with the mental part of it.
