On Tuesday, Stanford head coach Troy Taylor along with redshirt freshman wide receiver Ismael Cisse and junior safety Jay Green spoke to the media in advance of Saturday’s game against Cal Poly.
VIDEO: Stanford Football Weekly Press Conference | Cal Poly
To lead things off, Troy Taylor said in terms of evaluating your team, it’s a different experience after you’ve played a game. You find out a lot about your team. He liked how resilient his guys were and how they fought until the end against TCU. Taylor said his guys have to do better on first and second down on both offense and defense, being more physical in their run game, and execution. But overall, he liked how his team looked. A lot of positives that he can take from the game. There were some good drives from the offense, etc. He wishes his guys could have finished it out, but there were some good things to take from this game for sure.
On the offensive line, Taylor was pretty candid that they have to improve in all areas in that department. Run blocking, pass blocking, etc. All areas of the offensive line he admitted needs a lot of improvement. It’ll be interesting to see how that unit does this week against Cal Poly.
Taylor said he doesn’t think his players will be overconfident at all against Cal Poly. They know facing an FCS team will give them an opportunity to pick up a win, but they’re going to have to earn it. They cannot take any opponent lightly. There is no overconfidence in them after losing to Sacramento State last year. They’re just eager to play well.
Taylor played against a bunch of the guys on the Cal Poly staff when he was in college. He knows their coaches are familiar with each other. He said they don’t use as many tight end sets as last year. They spread it out a lot last week against San Diego and did a little bit of run but mostly threw the ball. He said they’ll see what that means for this week, but he is prepared for them to spread it out and give them a challenge in the run game.
On the receivers gaining more separation, Taylor said that’s a big thing to work on. He said they didn’t create much separation and they have to do that. He said they are going to challenge the wide receivers to do a better job of that this week against Cal Poly and play better against man coverage. Coming off the ball hard, understanding your route, and being willing to be physical and fight through physicality is something he’s hoping they can learn how to do better.
On the schedule, Taylor said right now, they’re playing who is on the schedule. These are games that have been on the schedule for a while. He sees this week against Cal Poly as a real growth week and a chance to be better. He’s excited to see how much growth his team can have on Saturday. That’s the main focus.
On the defense, Taylor said he thought they made huge strides. The turnovers they forced were huge and a sign of improvement. He recognizes they have to force turnovers to win games and he’s hopeful that as they are more aggressive and put more pressure on the quarterback, they’ll force more turnovers in the future.
On the quarterback usage for the game, Taylor said Ashton Daniels will start while Justin Lamson will play as he always does. And then he also wants to see what Elijah Brown can do. He said Ashton will start and then they’ll just kinda go from there. As for how Daniels and Lamson played against TCU, Taylor said Daniels made some incredible plays with his feet and improvised well. Created a lot of plays with his feet and handled the pressure about as well as he could be expected to do. They gotta get him better protection. That’s a key thing they have to do. Receivers and running backs need to do their jobs, too. As for Lamson, Taylor was extremely pleased with what he did with the snaps that he got. Taylor said “he played lights out.”
On outside linebacker David Bailey, Taylor likes how hard he played. He knows how talented Bailey is. It’s just a matter of him playing with a high motor and being disruptive. They’re hoping he has a “breakout year” this season.
On Cal Poly, Taylor said they’re going to spread it and throw it. So getting pressure on the quarterback will be key. On defense, they play a lot of zone and are fundamentally sound. Some good edge guys. They keep the ball in front of them and limit big plays. He was impressed with how they played against San Diego and knows they’ll pose some challenges that they’ll have to take seriously.
Taylor praised the quality of football of FCS teams. He said they have a lot to prove against them. They have to play a great football game. He knows how hungry FCS teams are when they play FBS teams. Every week he knows you have to be ready to play. You can’t take any week off.
On his receivers, Taylor said he’s familiar with what Elic Ayomanor and Tiger Bachmeier can do. But with the younger guys, you need to get more of a feel for them by coaching in a real game and seeing what guys can do once they get in a game. All about adjusting to the speed of the game. The young receivers have to play much better and do a better job of adjusting to the speed of the game.
On David Kasemervisz being second on the kick return depth chart, Taylor said he’s a guy who has done a great job of providing effort on special teams. He’ll likely do a lot of blocking, but it is possible he could return if needed. He is impressed with David’s preparation and trusts that he’s a guy who they can get a lot out of.
Taylor said Simione Pale and Jake Maikkula are two young guards who did a good job. Guys who have a lot of potential and will continue to grow. Guys who are big part of what they are looking to do. As for wide receiver, Taylor said it’s a wide open position group. Freshman tight end Benjamin Blackburn has done well. Same with the running backs. Freshman Micah Ford a guy who has a lot of potential and growth to undergo. He knows they are a young team and expects that as guys settle in, they’ll play better as the season goes on.
When choosing between dropping back and quick passes, Taylor said it was good for them, but if you are only doing that, then the field becomes really small. So you have to be able to take shots and hit some of those. He’s always been a guy who likes to make sure they are taking shots down the field. Mixing in the quick game is good and important, but it has to be part of a well-rounded offensive attack. They can’t rely too much on the short game. Has to be some quality midfield and deep ball plays.
On Ismael Cisse, Taylor praised his growth with respect to knowledge of the system. A guy who understands the offense well. A very competitive guy who is not afraid of the big stage. He is confident that Cisse will continue to grow with his route running and overall feel for the game.
Moving on to Jay Green, he said with the fumble he recovered against TCU, all credit to his teammates. They were just running to the ball which they’ve been trained to do. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time. As for the forced fumble, they were just running to the ball and happened to make a play. He gave all credit to his teammates and coaches.
On adjusting to life at Stanford, Green said the adjustment has been a little different playing safety. Aside from that, it hasn’t been too hard for him to learn the playbook and things of that nature. It’s been pretty smooth.
On their coverage breakdowns against TCU, he felt like they have to be more competitive when the ball is in the air. He feels like it wasn’t so much of a coverage breakdown issue as it was just them not going hard enough on certain plays. He feels like if they play harder, they’ll be fine.
On forcing turnovers, Green said it was a big focus in practice during the fall and spring. They’ve been really preaching the importance of forcing turnovers and that showed up against TCU.
On Cal Poly, Green said they run a spread offense and have a lot of backs that they use and a lot of good receivers. They like to do a lot of dink and dunk and then catch you by surprise with the deep ball. He feels like the key is to be prepared.
On how he came to Stanford, Green said he knew a couple guys on the team and they had good things to say about the program. He wanted the best in academics and athletics, making Stanford a good fit for him.
On corner back Collin Wright, Green praised his work ethic and how hard he plays. How well he prepares. A guy who doesn’t miss tackles often and is a guy who he has a lot of trust in.
Green said he didn’t know what kind of relationship the guys had outside of football before he came to Stanford. He feels like the guys at Stanford care about the football and academics equally. That’s something that stood out to him.
Green said Collin Wright was one of the guys on the team who he knew. They grew up together. He felt like playing Stanford last year at Washington gave him more faith in the program. He was impressed with how hard they played and saw the way the program was heading in the right direction under Troy Taylor.
Ending with Ismael Cisse, he said the touchdown he scored against TCU was due to a good play call from Troy Taylor. He ran a good route and Justin Lamson threw a good ball. Simple as that.
On the fumble he recovered, Cisse said Ashton Daniels had a great run. He and Tiger Bachmeier had good awareness of what was going on and were there to recover the ball.
As for how the receivers did against TCU, he felt like they did ok. They want to be the best they can be. All about doing all they can to help the offense move. They want to be better in that department. Making an emphasis on going in aggression and blocking hard on run plays as well as running their routes well. Just being well rounded.
On getting more separation, Cisse feels like the biggest thing is being confident. Doing what they were doing in fall camp. Getting over the first game jitters and do what they do best.
On Cal Poly, Cisse said they play a lot of zone on defense. All about doing different concepts that they know will be successful. Just making sure they are converting to get first downs and touchdowns. Paying attention to their details.
On what it means to win the route, Cisse said it’s about winning the rep. Just get the ball. Don’t complain. Just do what you need to do to get the ball. Going in with the confidence that when the ball is coming his way he has the confidence to make the play.
On his experience at Cherry Creek High School in the Denver area, he said he loved the competitive aspect that he learned from playing there. Knowing what it takes to go through a whole season and win a championship. All about being the best you can be and not playing down to anybody’s level.
Cisse feels like guys on the team who came from winning programs in high school do help build a positive team culture. He is confident that they are an improved team and that they’ll definitely "wake people up."
On fellow wide receiver Jackson Harris, Cisse likes how he has grown and is more confident in the playbook and being a deep threat. A guy who they all trust. He likes what he’s seen from him.
As for wide receivers Tiger Bachmeier and Elic Ayomanor, Cisse said having those guys makes it easier because they command the best guys on the opposing team’s defense. That opens things up for the other guys in the receiver room. He doesn’t think there are any defenses that can do it all and cover four really good receivers. It’s all about not relying on one person to make plays, but trusting their depth and that collectively they can get things done.
Overall, Stanford feels like there’s a lot to take from the TCU game. There were things they did well and things they can improve on. There does seem to be an attitude of last week being a function of first game jitters and them being a young team that just needs to settle in more. At the same time, they also know they need to play better in multiple areas and that it isn’t just about settling in. That’s only part of the equation. It’ll be interesting to see how things go against Cal Poly and whether or not they can use this week as a springboard to future success.
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