• 11 months ago
Kalen DeBoer drew comparisons between Michael Penix Jr. and Will Rogers.
Transcript
00:00 You said Austin Mack was to be in the mix, obviously,
00:03 but what are the differences-- since we don't know Will
00:05 Rogers as well-- what are the differences between him
00:08 and Michael Penix, and what are the similarities?
00:10 Between Will and-- or Austin.
00:12 Michael, yeah.
00:13 Between Will and Michael?
00:15 Well, they've both played a lot of football,
00:17 so that's a similarity right there.
00:19 And I think that's what Michael had coming in is just--
00:22 and I'd seen it firsthand, so that was helpful.
00:26 But they've got a lot of experience, a lot of yards,
00:29 a lot of checks that they've made, a lot of big moments
00:33 that they've been--
00:34 so there's a lot of--
00:34 I think there's probably more similarities
00:36 than there are differences.
00:38 I think the similarities also of being a very accurate passer.
00:41 Until you're really with someone,
00:46 I think it's hard to know exactly.
00:48 But it ain't just about looking at the stats
00:50 and seeing that a kid's 69% in a year or whatever,
00:57 and knowing, oh, he's an accurate passer.
00:59 It depends on what those throws are and things like that.
01:01 But we feel that he is accurate.
01:04 And I feel like much like Michael--
01:09 and we've seen Michael get out and run around.
01:10 I think that distributing the ball and as a passer first,
01:15 I think is kind of what they both are.
01:18 Very heady, both guys that are leaders,
01:22 not afraid to be out in front of the team.
01:24 Probably more similarities than--
01:26 I mean, Michael's elite as far as just being able to throw
01:29 the ball down the field.
01:32 To me, I put him up there until someone else knocks him off
01:35 is one of the best in the country, if not the best.
01:39 And he's who we have right now.
01:41 So of course, I'm feeling pretty strong about talking
01:44 about who he is and what he's done.
01:46 And you guys have all seen it.
01:47 But I think Will certainly has those capabilities
01:50 to throw the ball down the field.
01:51 I think it's just a matter of the style of offense
01:54 that you're a part of.
01:55 And it will be different than what he was a part of.
01:57 And I don't know if there's really adjustment.
02:00 I think you just learn the offense when you're a quarterback.
02:03 And we teach the progressions.
02:05 I think the verbiage is probably the biggest thing to learn.
02:09 And then the nuances of working with your skill
02:13 and knowing how they run routes and just spending
02:15 a lot of time throwing in the spring and the summer.
02:20 And that's what those guys did with Michael.
02:23 The receiving corps just spent a lot of time.
02:25 And he can envision and knows when a guy came out
02:28 of his break different in practice
02:30 than when he normally does it in a game.
02:31 And just talk that through.
02:34 So I think there's probably more similarities
02:36 than there are differences.
02:38 But each guy is his own guy.
02:41 And there will be certainly things that we work with Will.
02:45 And as we figure him out when he's on the field,
02:48 we'll tailor around him.
02:50 I think when we were going through this last year,
02:53 a couple of years ago, trying to figure out
02:55 between multiple quarterbacks, does the offense
02:57 change with different guys?
02:59 The offense doesn't really change.
03:00 But I think the ball ends up sometimes in different spots
03:03 because of who the quarterback is.
03:06 Even though the progressions, the reads,
03:08 really should be the same.
03:10 Sometimes the alert throw, a guy takes it versus another guy
03:13 not taking it.
03:14 And maybe a little peek at a deep ball
03:17 versus another guy doing it.
03:20 So maybe a little more risk versus a guy
03:24 who doesn't take as many risks.
03:26 We'll see as we go through.
03:27 And that's the exciting thing about coaching
03:29 is we get to the next challenge of figuring out
03:33 how to tailor our offense around a new quarterback.
03:36 Michael will be moving on.
03:38 But we're going to enjoy these last moments with Michael
03:41 here while we have him.