Terry Malone hasn't called a game since 2005, his last season as Michigan's offensive coordinator.
But he's ready to go now. He'll get his first chance as Purdue's OC on Saturday, when the Boilermakers host the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky. Following is a Q&A after Tuesday practice:
GoldandBlack.com: What are your thoughts a few days before the opener?
Malone: “Guys are anxious to play. They’re biting at the bullet to get out there and compete against somebody else, which is a really good thing. We’ve had plenty of practice against our own defense and now it’s time to go see what our labors have brought us.”
GoldandBlack.com: Do you have any overriding concerns at this point?
Malone: “No, I don’t. I think the guys have worked very hard. Our coaches have pushed them hard and are demanding better performances every practice we’re out there, and so it’s time to go out and see what we can do.”
GoldandBlack.com: How do you feel like your tackles have progressed from Day 1 of camp to now?
Malone: “I really think Matt (McCann) has come on. For a young guy, he’s very levelheaded. He doesn’t get too high or too low. He’s a strong player. I think in the end, he’s really going to be a good player for us. Right now, I think he’s a very good player and I’m sure there will be some growing pains with a freshman playing there, but I couldn’t be any happier with him.
“And Martesse (Patterson), he had the little hiccup with the injury that briefly sat him for a couple days, but other than that, he’s been our best tackle by a long shot.”
GoldandBlack.com: Will McCann’s growing pains come in pass protection, considering he came from a run-oriented scheme at Chatard?
Malone: “Yeah, that’s where a tackle gets exposed in the worst of ways and so we have a plan to be able to help him out if he has some struggles. But I really like him. I don’t see it out there against our defense, where there’s glaring mistakes and where he gets beat off the line of scrimmage. He’s in there battling every play. I feel pretty good about him.”
GoldandBlack.com: The other spot there’s been a battle is the No. 2 running back. How has that shaken out?
Malone: “Well, Tario (Fuller) has had a very good camp. He is a strong player who has great balance and has some really good skills. And him with Brian (Lankford-Johnson), those are guys who have added some depth that we really needed once D.J. (Knox) got hurt and we saw a little bit of a hole there. I’m excited to see what they can do, and you don’t really ever know with running backs until you get out there and give them the ball and see what they can do. Because none of this is live and it will be on Saturday.”
GoldandBlack.com: Do they pass protect well enough?
Malone: “You know what, I really like Tario, he’s a very good pass protector. He’s tough. He is strong, has really strong hands.
"They will not be in there if they don’t know what to do in pass protection. They might struggle a little bit technique-wise, but if they don’t know who to pass protect against them, they will not play.”
GoldandBlack.com: Do you script plays? Is that a pretty common strategy for an offensive coordinator to use that as a baseline for what you do?
Malone: “Yes, that is pretty standard. It’s kind of two-fold: No. 1, it allows your players to be able to focus in on some things that should be called, and it may not be called in exactly the order you script them, you may have to get off for a third down or a sudden-change-type of situation. But it gives our guys a little bit of comfort knowing pretty much what the order is going to be.
“And then also it allows our coaches to be able to focus in on what they see during those scripts. I’ve been part of some teams that the script went so well that we went back and did it again. That doesn’t happen very often but sometimes luck is with you and you can do it twice.”
GoldandBlack.com: How many plays do you script?
Malone: “It varies team-to-team. Depending on how balanced we want to be, the number goes down. If we want to come out and do nothing but run the ball or throw the ball, there will be more. But if we want to be balanced, probably around 10 to 12.”
GoldandBlack.com: During camp you put a lot of offense in, then start to pare it down. Where are you at with that process?
Malone: “Here’s what we did, we put it all in in the first 10 days of camp. We had two days of practice on each install and then once it was all in, we kind of held on to that big install in practice for about another week, with all of it, and then starting last Thursday, we cut it down to a game-plan size, which is about one-quarter of what we have in our offense that we’ll go into a game with.”
GoldandBlack.com: Are you looking forward to calling plays? It’s a been a couple years.
Malone: “Yeah, it’s been a couple years. I know I’ve been really good watching TV calling plays.”
GoldandBlack.com: Well, everybody is (smile).
Malone: “So we’ll see if I can do it live (laughing). That is a really fun part of it. The good news it’s not just me, I’ve got a great group of guys I work with and they will be very helpful.”
GoldandBlack.com: Do you enjoy the strategy?
Malone: “I do. I do. I like when you have to coach and look at it live and make a determination of what just happened and I think it is a fun part of coaching. I don’t necessarily agree with watching videotape on a sideline, watching videotape in the locker room during a game. I think part of coaching should be able to decipher what has happened live and make adjustments accordingly.”
Q. When was the last time?
Malone: “It was Michigan, 2005. So it’s been a while. I’ve called a few plays the last six months, though, so I think I’m ready to go.”
Q. Is it like riding a bike?
Malone: “We’ll see, I don’t know. I think in some ways it’s a little harder to call plays in a scrimmage because you never get a break to talk about what just happened and get an idea of where you want to go with the next series, because (a scrimmage) is constant calling plays. We called 140 plays in the last scrimmage and never slowed down. That was good exercise, but it really isn’t realistic because (in a game) you have some time between series to talk it over and come up with a plan for the next round of plays.”
Q. Is there anything in particular with Eastern Kentucky that concerns you, or that you have to look out for?
Malone: “Well, certainly the first game of the season always concerns you. The fact that it’s a brand-new staff. They have outstanding coaches on that staff — several of them are great coaches — I know they’ll have their guys prepared. The personnel is a bit of an unknown as well. They have 45-some new players on their roster since last season, so the unknown is always something that keeps you up at night. So what we’ve done this week is tried to focus in on our offense and the way we perform and let them play defense against us.”
GoldandBlack.com: One of those outstanding coaches on the other side is your nephew, (assistant head coach and offensive line coach Terry Heffernan), what will it be like coaching against him?
Malone: “Well, it won’t be the first time and he reminded me that he’s 1-0 vs. me. But it’s my Godchild, my nephew, my sister’s oldest child and a terrific guy. I’m very proud of him. I know they’re going to do a great job at Eastern. He really enjoys it there.
“I’m not sure his total focus is going to be here, because his baby is due right around next week, so I think he should just stay home and take care of the baby (laughing) but I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
Q. What was the other time?
Malone: “I had forgotten all about it, but the (Lions beat the Saints) in a controversial ending up there in Detroit. But I had completely forgotten about that one.”
Q. What was controversial?
Malone: “That we lost (laughter).”
GoldandBlack.com: How do you go about scouting a team with new coordinators, new head coach, new personnel, for a first game, etc.?
Malone: “You can go as far as you want, investigate as far as you want, try to investigate where guys have been, what they did at other places, who their mentors are, when they were coordinators at other spots, what they were doing. So we’ve watched tape from a lot of different places, and hey, in the end they’re going to have to line up and play and we’re going to have to line up and play. Shortly into this game, we’ll know what the plan is.”
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