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Princeton University Athletics
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Football Coach Breaks Down 2006 Success, 2007 Defense In Part 1 Of Annual Spring Chat
April 25, 2007 | Football
Following the completion of the 2007 spring session, Princeton head football coach Roger Hughes sat down with GoPrincetonTigers.com for his annual spring chat. In part one, Hughes talked about the magical 2006 championship season and talks specifically about the 2007 defense, which returns significant experience but must also replace a handful of All-Ivy standouts.
Let's start with a recap of last year. Was there a point during the season, or before the season, when you realized just how special this team could be?
I knew for sure right after the Dartmouth game ran out. Honestly, though, I got a sense of just how close the team was in a meeting prior to our spring game last year. The two things that came out of that meeting were that they were very close and they were very hungry. This senior class made it known that they remembered coming in at 2-8, and they were not walking out without a ring. That was my first inkling, but I also knew what we were facing within the league. We had a very young offensive line, but I felt we had a good defense. I thought if our defense could hold us in games and there wouldn't be a requirement for us to score a lot of points early in the season, that we could develop some linemen and be stronger as the season wore on. I was impressed early by the attitude and the will to win on this team. The quote from the 1922 Team of Destiny was ?the team that won't be beat, can't be beat.' That fit the personality of this team. When we beat Lehigh and Lafayette, I thought, ?whoa, this could really be something.' Then we beat Colgate up there, we beat Harvard and I'm starting to think that this really could be special. Then you're always awakened to reality at Cornell, but we arose to the occasion after that. We go to Yale, who was undefeated in the league, and we come back to win that one. That game demonstrated just how special this team really was.
Was that will to win you talked about the biggest difference between winning all the close games over the last two seasons that the team was often losing before that?
I think it's one of those elusive things that coaches always look for. If there was a recipe to acquire that trait, every team would win. I think the way that we lost a lot of those close games, including on the last play six different times, means that you're right there, but for whatever reason it's not going your way or you're not making the big play. I think part of it was that we got some of the breaks last season that we didn't get before. That has something to do with it. But we made some of those breaks because we had a strong, disciplined team. We had great team chemistry, and we were very close. The energy they drew from each other and the way they held each other accountable actually made them play at a higher level.
After going over the film from last season, were there a few players who impressed you more than you might have even realized during the season?
Defensively, I knew JJ Artis and Tim Strickland were terrific defenders, and Tim knocked down so many balls in that Yale game that he preserved our opportunity to come back and win that game. They really made plays all season and will be difficult to replace. The other guy that impressed me was Jake Marshall. We were a different defense when he was in there, because he was wreaking havoc with all the centers. He made a huge difference with our run-stopping ability. Another surprise to me was Doori Song. That kid made so many big stops on third- and fourth-and-short. They were momentum-changing effects. Offensively, I had a sense Jeff Terrell was a good quarterback, but I didn't realize just how good he was, and I don't think he did either. He's so humble and unassuming, but he and Brendan Circle played really well last year. The other offensive player that might have gotten overlooked was Kyle Vellutato. He really held the line together and was a great help to Mark Paski, the freshman right next to him. Another unsung hero might have been Colin McDonough, who I have to live without now. His ability to be a weapon, you can't estimate the value he's been to our program. He was a great counselor to our kickers, and his ability to instill confidence in them was invaluable.
After last year, and the talk of avenging that Yale game, it was clear that the '06 team was motivated. It's obviously different now, so do you feel that the team needs a specific rallying cry, or did you just need to guard against an emotional letdown in the spring?
I think it's a little of both. I think you have to articulate your vision, and once you achieve a major goal you set out for, it has the potential to lose a bit of its luster. Maybe now it seems more easily attainable, and that's where you have to guard against a letdown. I looked for it, and I tried to catch our team not working up to its potential, and I honestly didn't see it during the offseason or spring. My hope is that we've established a culture here where there is just a certain expectation of work ethic and commitment if you want to be as successful as we were last year.
Only one team has repeated as Ivy League champs in the last decade. Why do you think that is, and do you use the term ?repeat' with the team?
It's so difficult because of the parity within the league. The league is so close from a talent perspective that things like chemistry and confidence make a huge difference. If a team gets on an early roll and gets a couple breaks, they start to feel like they can't be beaten. Our game is an emotional one with momentum swings. We're like the NFL in a way that, because there isn't a huge gap in the talent level from one team to another, successful teams are the ones that have chemistry and gain momentum. I also think that, because you can't redshirt in the Ivy League, the teams that have the most seniors starting or making an impact are often the ones in the mix for the Ivy championship. Because that is the case, when the team that has all those productive seniors loses them to graduation, it can be a tough thing to overcome. It makes it tough to repeat.
Let's look at this year's team, starting with the defense. You have lost a pair of top-notch shutdown cornerbacks over the last two years. Does your defense need a player like that, and are there potential shutdown guys on this roster?
Any coach would love to have a shutdown corner. The defensive coordinator likes it because, if you know you can put your best guy on their best guy, it can take away a lot of the offense. When you take away a lot of their offense, you force them into doing things that maybe they don't want to do. More importantly, you can start to pressure them at a variety of angles and not worry about giving up the home run. That's been our luxury with Jay McCareins and JJ Artis. We have run a high-pressure defense that has given a lot of different looks and blitzes. We might have to play more zone now to make sure we don't give up that deep ball. We'll have to see how the corners progress, but I think we have a number of good players. I don't think Dan Kopolovich will be a shutdown corner, but I think he'll be a good one. I think Cart Kelly has that ability perhaps, and Barry Newell has shown signs of it. Tom Hurley played some last year and did well, but we'll have to see how his knee responds. I think we'll be sound in the secondary, but will he have guys that make those big knockdowns in key times? That's the question we'll have to answer.
Does Kevin Kelleher now have to assume many of the responsibilities that Tim Strickland has carried for the defense over the last two years, or do they get divided up among the backs?
I think Kevin has to assume that role, and I think he's ready to. He studies the game, he's in watching film all the time and he's definitely the quarterback of the defense. He did a very good job in the spring of being that quarterback. Where Tim had great closing speed, I don't think Kevin is quite as fast. He will need to make even better decisions than Tim did, because he can't just outrun his mistakes. I've been pleased with his work ethic and his leadership back there, making sure we're lined up right. Another young guy I wanted to mention among the cornerbacks is Carlos Roque, a freshman. He also had a very good spring.
Looking at the linebackers, you don't return any All-Ivy honorees, but you have experience with the likes of Tim Boardman, Jon Stem and Doori Song. Do you feel more confident with this group than you did at the same time last year?
I don't know if we're more confident as much as we just have a better sense of what their skills are. We're moving Stem from inside 'backer to outside, which he did a phenomenal job with this spring, and he'll take over for Luke Steckel there. Doori is in the middle, and Boardman can also play the middle, or a couple of other spots. The other kid who has played really well is Pat McGrath. We moved him from the defensive line to linebacker, and he's really grown into that position. The other nice thing is that we had a very good crop of young linebackers that will be sophomores next year. John Callahan played a lot and Scott Britton was playing a lot before he was injured. Jeff Jackson and Kenny Coggins are also going to be very good players, at minimum on special teams, and they could get into the linebacker mix as well. One of the best things our defensive staff did last year, while we didn't have any All-Ivy players returning, we had a lot of good players with different talents. We used different personnel groupings to try to get the best matchups that we could. I think we had nine different linebackers playing in games, and we may need to use a similar approach next year to maximize each kid's talents.
You have three rising juniors who played significant roles on the defensive line last year. Do you view that as the most stable area of your defense for next season?
I'm not sure, because I do think we're pretty stable at linebacker with three guys returning who played a lot of snaps last season. I think we have a lot of experience returning on the defensive line, and I think we have the chance to have one of the best defensive lines that we've had during our time here. We need to find the guy that can create havoc in there the way Jake did. I do think Pete Buchignani, Tom Methvin and Matt Koch could be as good as any other grouping that we've had here, but we do need to create more pressure with just a four-man rush, and that goes back to some of the players we've lost in the secondary. We need to create defensive pressure in other ways, and that could be an enhanced pass rush, especially from those three guys.