One of the biggest questions heading into Saturday is whether Miami will be able to disrupt Graham Mertz and his efficient short-passing game. Guidry met with reporters to discuss Mertz, Napier and more.
On his familiarity with Billy Napier: You can see some similarities from when he was at UL Lafayette. Played them in the bowl game. He was gone already (after accepting the UF job). But you can see a lot of similarities in the offenses, and he's got better players, of course, at Florida. It’s going to be a challenge for us.
On the new in-helmet communication: We'll have linebackers in it. We’re a safety-driven defense, but you have to get the calls to the defensive linemen. You can't give the calls to just the secondary guy, and he'd be able to relate it. So it'll go through backers. We'll still have communications other ways.
We’ve worked on it every day, getting used to getting the call. I think it does help with tempo offenses. You’re able to line up your front, and they don't have to cut their eyes to the sideline. Hopefully, they don't go out. Everybody says they tend to go out in games.
On whether the new personnel will impact his play calling: The first thing you notice is that we have some depth at defensive line. We have some guys that are combo guys, guys that can play inside, can play outside. So we feel like we can have our best four on the field at all times.
Last year, we ran into some depth problems and we had to jump into some 3-3 stack stuff. We’re not gonna have to do that this year. We have enough guys up front and feel good about our linebackers as well. We have depth at those two spots. The secondary is a little bit thinner than the rest of the defense, but I definitely think the strength is up front for us.
You look at offenses and you look at what they do, and then you look at what you have in your package. You try to create one-on-ones with your defensive linemen, if that's your strength. I've always been a four-down guy. We’ve got more combo guys here than I've had in other places. I think we'll be able to do more things. But it's all about what you see when you turn on the film. The matchups, how much secondary help do you need to stop the run, can your front four apply pressure and stop run gap stuff.
On Eugene Wilson: They put him in a lot of different spots. He's a wide receiver that doesn't motion. He's a wide receiver that does motion. He goes into the backfield some. Depending on what their situation is at running back, I'm expecting to see him line up in the backfield with some plays, and that changes things. Will they do it with all wide receivers and a tight end, or will they do it with the running back in the game with them back there as well? So that's a whole different personnel grouping.
We're working on some of those plays, to try to give as many looks as possible. But game one, you don't really know what you're gonna get. You’ve got a whole season that you looked at. Sometimes you look at it too much, and on Game 1, you don't see anything that you saw. But there'll be some things that come up from the past, but I'm sure they have some new wrinkles going into the first game.
On Kiko Mauigoa: He'll be the calm in the storm. He'll play extremely fast. He's played a lot of football, communicates well, knows defense backward and forward. He can play the WILL or the MIKE, so he's definitely a good one to have in your defense, with experience and being the playmaker that he is.
On what stands out about OJ Frederique: His competitive nature. I remember one of the first days that he was here in fall camp, he went up against an older wide receiver and he covered him and he didn't back down. From there, your eyes started opening. Just the ability to play the ball down the field and not panic, looking back for the ball and not playing scared. He's got a knack to him. He's big, he's more physical than you think. So as a freshman to come in, and not blink like that, it's not common. We’re really excited about him. I think he's got a great future here at Miami.
On Graham Mertz: He processes things really well. What he sees on film, he's going to know what to do. You're going to have to disguise a little bit against him. He's going to know where to go with the football. He'll take the check down. He won't always throw it down field, so he's smart. And then he can run. He can buy time. And when he gets out on the perimeter, he'll try to get you off your feet by pumping the ball and things like that. So, he's a gamer.
Played guys like him last year who were similar. The guy from Texas A&M (Conner Weigman). Guy from Georgia Tech (Haynes King) was like that. We faced some good quarterbacks last year. He's definitely in that same world as them, and you can tell the offense goes through him. He's experienced, and Coach Napier feels good about him, you can tell.
On Akheem Mesidor: He’s a twitchy, twitchy guy that can play inside. He can also come off the edge. He'll be used in a lot of different ways. I'm excited that he's healthy. Two years now, he hasn't been able to play. This is his third year here, and I think he'll have a good season.
On Jaden Harris: Getting better and better. He can make a lot of checks back there, whereas last year he couldn't. He knows the defense a lot better now. He's playing faster. He's one of the faster safeties we have, one of the faster DBs. When he prepares for somebody, he's getting all the reps this year, whereas last year he was just kind of spotty at practice. He really wasn't ready for the games. But I'm expecting him to have a good year, and he needs to get off to a fast start.
On his familiarity with Billy Napier: You can see some similarities from when he was at UL Lafayette. Played them in the bowl game. He was gone already (after accepting the UF job). But you can see a lot of similarities in the offenses, and he's got better players, of course, at Florida. It’s going to be a challenge for us.
On the new in-helmet communication: We'll have linebackers in it. We’re a safety-driven defense, but you have to get the calls to the defensive linemen. You can't give the calls to just the secondary guy, and he'd be able to relate it. So it'll go through backers. We'll still have communications other ways.
We’ve worked on it every day, getting used to getting the call. I think it does help with tempo offenses. You’re able to line up your front, and they don't have to cut their eyes to the sideline. Hopefully, they don't go out. Everybody says they tend to go out in games.
On whether the new personnel will impact his play calling: The first thing you notice is that we have some depth at defensive line. We have some guys that are combo guys, guys that can play inside, can play outside. So we feel like we can have our best four on the field at all times.
Last year, we ran into some depth problems and we had to jump into some 3-3 stack stuff. We’re not gonna have to do that this year. We have enough guys up front and feel good about our linebackers as well. We have depth at those two spots. The secondary is a little bit thinner than the rest of the defense, but I definitely think the strength is up front for us.
You look at offenses and you look at what they do, and then you look at what you have in your package. You try to create one-on-ones with your defensive linemen, if that's your strength. I've always been a four-down guy. We’ve got more combo guys here than I've had in other places. I think we'll be able to do more things. But it's all about what you see when you turn on the film. The matchups, how much secondary help do you need to stop the run, can your front four apply pressure and stop run gap stuff.
On Eugene Wilson: They put him in a lot of different spots. He's a wide receiver that doesn't motion. He's a wide receiver that does motion. He goes into the backfield some. Depending on what their situation is at running back, I'm expecting to see him line up in the backfield with some plays, and that changes things. Will they do it with all wide receivers and a tight end, or will they do it with the running back in the game with them back there as well? So that's a whole different personnel grouping.
We're working on some of those plays, to try to give as many looks as possible. But game one, you don't really know what you're gonna get. You’ve got a whole season that you looked at. Sometimes you look at it too much, and on Game 1, you don't see anything that you saw. But there'll be some things that come up from the past, but I'm sure they have some new wrinkles going into the first game.
On Kiko Mauigoa: He'll be the calm in the storm. He'll play extremely fast. He's played a lot of football, communicates well, knows defense backward and forward. He can play the WILL or the MIKE, so he's definitely a good one to have in your defense, with experience and being the playmaker that he is.
On what stands out about OJ Frederique: His competitive nature. I remember one of the first days that he was here in fall camp, he went up against an older wide receiver and he covered him and he didn't back down. From there, your eyes started opening. Just the ability to play the ball down the field and not panic, looking back for the ball and not playing scared. He's got a knack to him. He's big, he's more physical than you think. So as a freshman to come in, and not blink like that, it's not common. We’re really excited about him. I think he's got a great future here at Miami.
On Graham Mertz: He processes things really well. What he sees on film, he's going to know what to do. You're going to have to disguise a little bit against him. He's going to know where to go with the football. He'll take the check down. He won't always throw it down field, so he's smart. And then he can run. He can buy time. And when he gets out on the perimeter, he'll try to get you off your feet by pumping the ball and things like that. So, he's a gamer.
Played guys like him last year who were similar. The guy from Texas A&M (Conner Weigman). Guy from Georgia Tech (Haynes King) was like that. We faced some good quarterbacks last year. He's definitely in that same world as them, and you can tell the offense goes through him. He's experienced, and Coach Napier feels good about him, you can tell.
On Akheem Mesidor: He’s a twitchy, twitchy guy that can play inside. He can also come off the edge. He'll be used in a lot of different ways. I'm excited that he's healthy. Two years now, he hasn't been able to play. This is his third year here, and I think he'll have a good season.
On Jaden Harris: Getting better and better. He can make a lot of checks back there, whereas last year he couldn't. He knows the defense a lot better now. He's playing faster. He's one of the faster safeties we have, one of the faster DBs. When he prepares for somebody, he's getting all the reps this year, whereas last year he was just kind of spotty at practice. He really wasn't ready for the games. But I'm expecting him to have a good year, and he needs to get off to a fast start.
