Florida defensive line coach Chris Rumph met with the media on Wednesday and delivered an insightful interview covering a range of topics:
On the defensive line’s performance against UMass…
“We've definitely got some things to work on from Saturday. It was a good outing, but you know probably wasn't up to our standard. I know we did some great things if you look at the stats defensively. What we were able to do, that was really good but some of the foolish penalties that happened on Saturday, against a really, really good team, nothing against UMass, but against, in this conference, you can't afford to, at one point, on that one particular drive, we had more penalty yards than they had total yards and touchdowns. You can't do that.
“It’s one of the things we talk about. We want to play fast, we want to play clean. And clean is not putting ourselves in holes, giving up penalties, foolish penalties, jumping offsides, personal fouls. Whether it’s a bad call or a good call it does not matter. The flag dropped, they marked us off. Those sort of things can come back and get you, when you’re playing a really good team in a bind.”
On redshirt junior defensive end Jordan Sherit…
“I tell all the younger guys, all the defensive ends, I say, ‘If you want to see how it’s done, if want to become really good, then study Jordan Sherit.’ He’s that guy. You look at him, he’s nothing flashy. His name doesn’t come up when you talk about the guys, the cover of the magazines, the cover out here. This guy just continues to make plays and just go about it, go to work. He’s a typical blue-collar guy and I love him to death. He’s healthy, like you said, which is important. He’s been around, he’s played a lot of snaps. He understands the game. He gets it."
On sophomore defensive end Keivonnis Davis…
"Keivonnis just needs to play, and sometimes he puts the cart before the horse. He wants it so bad, which is good. But talking about it and saying what you are sometimes doesn't match with the production you're putting on the field. So I think one of the things that he's doing this year is he's just shutting up and he's working, and it's showing and he's playing faster. So I think you'll see more of him and you'll see him make more plays as the season goes along the more comfortable that he gets."
On sophomore defensive tackle CeCe Jefferson…
"He looks like me - lean. As they say, thin in the waist cute in the face. … We look at some things as far as we have some ends. He was really good, but we wanted some guys on the edge with length, and it jumped in our head once we started fooling with the Bullard deal. You look at Bullard when he was out on the edge. He just looked like a guy. He just got all the hype because of his name. But when he went inside, it created some problems and now he was able to do some things he did the past year. So just looking at him, sometimes you just want to get some guys in there. And the thing about CeCe is this joker is cock strong. He's country strong. He is country strong. He looks like a smaller guy, but he is strong. He's strong. So we just wanted to get us a change-up inside. We had some big guys, you know Caleb (Brantley), you got Taven Bryan, Joey (Ivie) and those guys. But wanted just a little change-up. Sometimes you come with the fastball, fastball. You know what I mean?”
On redshirt freshman defensive end Jabari Zuniga, who recorded two sacks against UMass…
"I'm proud of this guy. He showed some flashes in the spring, wanted to see him show some flashes in camp. So wanted to see if he can consistently be that guy and see if it was just a flash. One of the things going into the season, you look at the roster and we really don't have an elite rusher off the edge like we had last year with Alex in the games he was in. So we're worried, how are we going to get the edge pressure? We had some inside guys that can push pocket and do a good job of rushing the passer from the inside, but where was the juice coming from off the edge? So we're going to need that from him all this year and some other guys will have to step up as well.
"You know, I think this guy was really mature for a freshman. He went back, he's up to 250 pounds, but if you go back to the spring, he got all the way down to 230 pounds. I actually said, 'Man, you're losing weight. You've got to get this weight on.' He said 'Coach, I want to take the fat off and I want to build my body up.' But if you've ever seen this guy with his shirt off, I have a rule: He can not take his shirt off in front of my wife. I mean this guy is yoked up. My wife's around, his shirt is on."
On redshirt sophomore nose tackle Khairi Clark...
"He played really, really well. He plays one of those positions that don't always show up on the stat line, but he does a lot of the grimy stuff. He's down on the front line, he's taking on two blockers and holding gaps and allowing other people to make plays. He's bought into that role and he's doing a good job of it. He's lost weight. He's changed his body. Lost about 15 pounds. Lost some body fat. He's gotten stronger and he's also gotten quicker. Happy for him. He works hard and it's important to him. He does a good job for the defense, and a lot of times it doesn't show up on the stats because it's not sexy, but he does a great job. In order for the defense to continue to grow, he’s going to have to continue what he’s been doing.”
On freshman defensive end Antonneous Clayton, who didn't play Saturday…
"I just tell him to keep working. You never know, you never know. It's a long season. It's a long season. In the SEC, now, guys go down, so don't know. He's going to determine that. We don't determine who redshirts and who plays. They determine that Monday through Thursday."
On his ideal number of contributors in the defensive line rotation…
"You know, if we could play 10 guys, I think we've got about 10 guys I think we can rotate. You know, I'm not out there closing my eyes and hoping and wishing, but if we can get 10 guys and roll them pretty good and keep them fresh, I think I said it before, those guys have got one tank. There ain't no second wind with those guys. There's one tank. Once it's empty, it's empty. So my job as a defensive line coach on Saturday is to make sure that by the fourth quarter, they still have something in the tank to go. The more guys we can get to rotate and play - and not just rotate to rotate, but guys to go in and give us quality reps - the better off the team will be."
On what he’s looking for when recruiting defensive linemen moving forward…
“There’s some critical factors that you look for as if this guys hustling. You don’t want a lazy guy. I don’t want a … it’s hard enough. I don’t want to be chasing a guy or fussing at him about effort. I want to know does he have some natural pass rush ability, does he strike, does he play with some toughness. Those kinds of things. Sometime you’re wrong, sometimes you’re right. It’s a crapshoot. I’ve gotten some guys that I in the past that I said, coach I don’t want this guy, this guy can’t play, then boom this is guy’s the guy. Then I’ve had some guys, I was at the other place I had a guy that never started a game and now he’s dog gone starting for the San Francisco 49ers and the guy who was starting in front of him is, you know, 9-5. So, it just happens. It’s a crapshoot. I know you guys try to get it right. I try to get it right, the rating, ranking these guys and stuff like that. We make mistakes. We got a system that we go by and we believe in it. We’ve had more right than we’ve had wrong, but at times we’re going to get some wrong.
“We got to get bigger. We got definitely to get bigger. Sometimes when you get bigger you give up some of your athleticism, athletic ability, but I still want both of them. I always said my goal is to come to work in flip flops and sipping on lemonade. Until I get those guys where I can come to work in flip flops and show up, practice is at 3, show up at 3:30 when it’s time for team room I’ll be good. I need those players in order to be able to do that. I’m trying to change the room. I’m trying to change the room. I want bigger, athletic guys. We’re trying to build this team. I want to build my room not only for the SEC, but I want to build it for the national championship is what I want. I can’t say I want to build it for the East. I want to build it for the championship.”
