Head coach Nick Hill spring ball transcript

March 21, 2016

Southern Illinois held its first spring practice on Monday morning at Saluki Stadium. After practice, head coach Nick Hill met with media to discuss the practice and what lies ahead for the program. SIU will practice at Du Quoin High School on April 1. The program will also host a Friday Night Lights scrimmage at 6 p.m. on April 8 at Saluki Stadium. The Spring Game is set for April 23.

Was it exciting to get out on the field?
Yeah, and all the coaches shared the same excitement. I know I couldn't sleep last night. We were in here at 4:15 this morning ready for it to get started. The day went as well as a first day can go. I told them last night in our team meeting, we are going to grade them on their effort and enthusiasm. They came out and had great effort and a ton of enthusiasm. If you watch practice, there's not a ton of people standing around. Between drills, we're going from one thing to the next. There's not a lot of time to complain or sit around. Everybody is involved; everybody is getting reps; everybody is flying around. That's something I believe in: We're going to get as many reps as we can in a short amount of time. We're not going to be out here very long, and we're going to coach it off the film because the film doesn't lie. As coaches, we'll coach them up quickly on the field, but it's on to the next play. Let's get those reps. Let's get it on film and correct it tonight.

How do you feel like the players are adjusting to the changes you're making?
As long as their attitude and effort is there, we're going to get out of (players) what we want. We have to do a good job as coaches of not putting too much on their plate. Defensively, it's a brand new scheme. All the terminology and checks are new to those guys. We want to be able to let them line up and play fast. They did a good job of that for the first day. We go fast on offense. If you saw those team periods, we're flying around. That's going to teach them to learn the defense quickly. Then, whenever you play a team that slows it down, you've seen it a lot faster. It makes them feel comfortable. Fast pace makes you better on both sides of the ball, I feel.

How have you developed a connection so quickly with the players?
It's not just me. It's all nine assistants. That's what I told the assistants in the staff room last night: You have to bring the energy. Sometimes it will be 6 o'clock in the morning and you have a guy dragging. You have to see that and be the energy behind your group. You have to make sure when they're on the sideline that they're getting mental reps. It's a great coaching staff that shares a lot of energy. They wouldn't be here if they didn't. They're all great people; they have a lot of energy; they love it; and they're excited about being here.

You don't have a big rulebook, but all the guys talk about the discipline out here. Tell me about your approach to that.
We definitely have rules. All the rules apply to us; it's common sense more than anything. It's making good decisions and acting right. What is being asked of you as a student-athlete? That's being on time, being where you're supposed to be. If they're not, there's consequences. We recruited them for a reason. That's part of recruiting: You have to know what kind of kid you're bringing into your program. They're bought in. They want to be here to play football, and this is part of being on this football team. Then, we can really get good (on the field) because we're not wasting our time on little things off the field. They've all had good attitudes. We're not all going to be perfect; there's 100 guys on our team. It's on us as coaches. We need to have answers: How are we going to fix this? What's the plan to get better?

What else is the focus of the first week of spring ball?
Each practice you have to see them getting better on the schemes. Offensively, it might not be as sharp and completing all the passes. The sign of a good player is if you make a mistake today, don't make the same one on Wednesday. We'll continue to clean it up. Football isn't played like it was today, with helmets and no pads on. Up front, sometimes an offensive lineman doesn't know how hard he should go. He doesn't have pads on. A lot of times it looks sloppy up front; that's anywhere the first couple days because there's no pads. Friday will be a good indication. We need to look cleaner on Friday. I liked today. Everybody got reps. Everybody got on film. Now, we can go back and look at that as coaches and get better from the film.

Are position battles wide open across the board?
Yeah, definitely. It's all new coaches. Whatever your idea was of where you were at on the depth chart, you have a new position coach to impress. If you were a starter, you better prove why you were a starter. There's obviously guys that are going to be starters on our team, that have proved it and continued to prove it in the offseason. They continued to be leaders on our team, but they have to keep coming out there and doing it every day. The best players in the world in the NFL, they look like the best players in practice, too. Our best players should stand out in practice No. 1. I think they did. You can tell. A lot of guys redshirted last year, and this is their first time. We have to see them get better as they days go on, as they get live reps and get put in there with other starters. Who's going to play as a redshirt freshman?

What have you liked from Connor Iwema?
He's been doing a good job. He's the kind of guy that we had to hold him back in the offseason just because he wasn't 100 percent. He got cleared over the weekend. He wanted to be out here no matter what. He hasn't missed a beat since he started running and the offseason. I'm excited about Connor. He's a kid that just gets it. He gets football. He just understands the game, which you like. Some young kids, you have to tell them every little thing. You don't have to do that with Connor. He's just a good football player. He's a kid that came here and walked on the first day of school. He wasn't even in training camp. He's bypassed a lot of people just because he's a good football player.

Conditioning-wise, do you feel like you're a step ahead?
We ramped it up in the offseason more than (the players) have ever been used to. I thought the first day, our conditioning was good. We went through a lot of plays in a short amount of time. That's why you don't see us conditioning after practice. Now, we might. When you see us out here after practice in the days to come, we track lack of efforts and mental efforts on film. We'll come out here and correct those after practice. But that's the only thing they're going to run for. If you've shown on film you're not playing hard, we need to correct that. Other than that, you get your conditioning in practice. You're running around. You're not standing around. If you go through that practice as a receiver, you just ran I don't know how many miles of routes.

When will you find out if Israel Lamprakes gets a sixth year of eligibility?
Hopefully soon, but it's in the NCAAs hands. He's doing a good job. He's out here practicing hard, so hopefully we hear something soon.

I didn't see Kenny James out here. Is he hurt?
Kenny has been suspended from the team. We have a standard: Be A Man. You're either going to buy into the program or you're not. Right now, Kenny has chosen not to do that, so he's not out here right now. We're going to move forward with the players who want to buy in and be out here, and we have plenty of those guys.

First time you've had your hole staff on the field with you. What did you think about that?
It's exciting. Those guys are excited. It's fun to watch them coach and get after it. As the head coach, you have to let your coaches coach. They have to feel the freedom to be themselves and coach how they want to coach. They all have different personalities, and that's fun to see. It's fun watching defensive individual and seeing those guys get after it. Most importantly, we have a bunch of good guys on this staff to treat the kids right. They're going to coach them up hard and be enthusiastic. At the end of the day, all of those guys have proven to their position room over the last couple months that they really care about the players off the field, so they can get on a kid. It's not like you're degrading a kid or putting him down. We're in this thing together. We have to get this thing right. You can coach kids as hard as you like as long as they know you have their back.

How do you approach practice differently as the head coach?
I'm learning on the fly. Even last night, we're breaking into position meetings, and I don't even have a position to go coach now. That's a little different. You'll find your way and you'll find your groove. It's fun being able to coach all the positions. Obviously, I've done that on offense, but I'm able to go around and make sure everything is going the way I want it to go. It definitely hasn't been natural to go celebrate with a defensive player. Usually, you're getting on somebody. As an offense, we can't turn it over, but we're also emphasizing on defense more takeaways. We didn't get as many as we should have last year. ShawnTrez (Spates) got a pick-six. That will win a game right there. As a head coach, I'm all for that. Hopefully on Saturdays, we're seeing a lot of that. That's the give-and-take of spring ball. We made an emphasis last night: We're not practicing against each other; we're practicing with each other. We're going to compete; we want to get after each other and win this drill, but we also have to be smart. This is my teammate. Especially when we put on pads, being able to practice smart together.

Practice seemed focused and more relaxed. Is that a reflection of your personality and the coaching staff?
I think so. We have music playing. Different players get to pick the theme of the music each day. Until they prove they can't practice with the music going on, then we'll change. I want them to have fun. I want them to be relaxed. That's the way I coached, and that's the way I played. Obviously, if I'm the head coach, it's going to be a reflection of that, as well. If I ever feel like we're not focused or getting the job done, it will change.

How does it feel to finally get out here?
This is why we do it. We have to have the offseason program; that's a big step in a football program, getting people stronger. As coaches, you come to coach football. As players, you come to play football. That's out here on the field, 11-on-11. There's so many rules in the offseason; well, this is the time that we get to be together and we get to actually do it. It was a lot of fun. I'm ready to get in there and watch the film and dive into it.

You've done a lot of community service. Has it been easy to get the guys to buy into that?
Definitely. It was always fun as a player. It's our job (as coaches) to give them opportunities to do it. We've never had players that didn't want to do it; we just have to guide them. As coaches, we have to go with them because we need to be there, too. It's fun going to an elementary school. All the kids love seeing you and want your autograph. Not only does it improve community support, but it's fun for our players and gives them confidence to see the support.