by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
OPENING STATEMENT:
-"I'm honored to be apart of this program w/ such rich tradition. I'm thankful to Coach O, the athletic department, the administration, especially to the family of LSU. I'm happy to be back in the state of Louisiana, my 2nd home..."
-"What attracted you to the job most? Question from
JONES: "First of all..." looks directly into camera, "The Prestige Of LSU."
-"Players FIRST, Scheme SECOND: minimize errors, make sure we're over-communicating, have an attacking style defense where we can dictate the terms & play fast..."
Jones on his def. philosophy.
-"We're going to give em some new techniques & fundamentals & harp on that, be very detailed in that. Coach O has probably already talked to you guys about us being based out of a 4-3 because you have some studs on the outside, Gaye, Anthony, guys like that. We have to utilize their talents."
-"The biggest thing we want to do...is do everything as violent as possible..."
- "That what I want to bring in & keep stressing, (looks directly at camera) the ability to over-communicate across the board on defense. Cause when you're over-communicating you minimize mental errors. And so that's the first thing we want to focus on, minimizing mistakes, minimizing any mental errors, everyone's on the same page. When everyone's on the same page, you're not thinking as much and you can play fast and let your athleticism show. Because when you prepare...that breeds confidence."
- "Miscommunication, When you don't know how to break your opponent's film down, when you're not prepared...that's stress. We want more confidence and less stress on the football field."
Fox's Garland Gillen asks a question about coming from the NFL to LSU and the talent on the Tigers' defense:
"There's so many 4 & 5 star athletes on this roster and in the NFL that's not always the case. There's talent but...you could argue there's more 1st & 2nd round draft picks on this ball club than any NFL team....they just have to be developed, right? But the talent is there. Look at the championship team, I don't know too many NFL teams who have 7 or 8 1st Rounders on their team...so the talent is here..."
-"The SEC West is like another NFL division."
-When asked about his ability to relate to young black players as a black man himself:
"My best answer to that is to continue to be myself. One of my biggest goals everywhere I've gone is building genuine relationships. We are in a relationship business. What we do as coaches is build that trust factor. For a player to go out and lay it all on the line for you, he's gotta 1. be able to trust you, and do you have his best interests at heart? Can you relate to the person and not just the player? I want them to know "hey man I care about you, I care about your future, I care about life after football for you, I wanna help you prepare to be the best teammate you can be, but also the best man you can be, so you can develop into the community and be the best father that you can be, right? So, when that happens, when you can help mould young men into becoming men, into becoming better men in society, I think it helps the overall compass of our culture and the issues we're dealing with in society. And so, I've always believed in that, wherever I coached, building those genuine relationships with those guys, establishing that trust and then having some accountability with that as well, right, holding them accountable for their actions on and off the field and how we're all interconnected. You may feel, "hey coach this is my personal time"...Nuh, uh uh that affects not only your team, it affects your family and we have to learn and mature from that way. So just continuing to instill life lessons and helping build these relationships, that's the best way I know how to do it. As an African-American male, regardless of the ethnicity of the player I'm coaching, my goal is to help them become a better man...regardless."
-WAFB's @JacquesDoucet asks Daronte what he learned in LA HS football: "I learned a lot just in terms of dealing w/ the players. Louisiana is important to me because it's where I grew into my coaching personality. The mentors I was around, Coach Zeb Simon, Jay Thomas, they gave me the confidence to be who I am."
- He's known LSU's DBs Coach Corey Raymond for years now, dating back to Daronte's time coaching high school football in Louisiana. They coached clinics together, the two share a lot of the same philosophies and so this is a fortified slam dunk hire.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc LLC
SHOUTOUTS: WELCOME DARONTE! LOVE WHAT YOU SAID!