\t\t\tShannon Dawson met with reporters for the National Championship Media Day. A full transcript is below:<\/p>\n
Question: What type of impact does a player like D’Angelo Ponds have on your offense Monday night?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: He\u2019s always around the ball. The kid is very seldom out of place. He\u2019s a really good football player and he\u2019s one of a lot that play for them. The structure of their defense allows him to get his eyes on the quarterback and trigger on the ball, and he does a really good job within his scheme, but he\u2019s also very instinctive. When the ball comes his way, he can leave and trigger as well as I\u2019ve seen.<\/p>\n
Question: Coach, going back to the Texas A&M game, you leaned heavily on the run. How do you balance patience with adapting in a win-or-go-home game?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: It\u2019s an internal struggle at times. Inherently I want to be aggressive, but ultimately I want to win the game. I have to be in tune with the flow of the game and what\u2019s working. We communicate between every drive, we watch the iPads, and we try to pinpoint what\u2019s working. The flow of the game matters. In that game there were some tough circumstances that dictated things, but we want to be aggressive \u2014 I call it cautiously aggressive. We lean on the run game because we\u2019ve done it all year, but we also have to push the ball down the field at times. It\u2019s just a back-and-forth with when to take those chances.<\/p>\n
Question: When you evaluated Carson Beck out of the portal, what concerns did you have about his health, and how did that relationship form?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: It was a completely different journey because he didn\u2019t go through spring. We had some concerns early about the surgery, but we talked to a lot of doctors. I had Nick Mullens in the past with a similar surgery, worse than Carson\u2019s, and he came back confident the next year. So we had a lot of conversations to get over that hump. The relationship started at an awkward time \u2014 it\u2019s more like an NFL approach now \u2014 but our personalities mesh very well. He\u2019s low-key, very easy to coach, very cerebral, very coachable. That helped the process.<\/p>\n
Question: Beyond production, what has Marty Brown brought to this team?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Consistency. His character is off the charts. He\u2019s a guy a lot of kids should look at for perseverance and attitude. Things didn\u2019t always go his way this year, but he stayed constant and positive. When his number was called, he did his job. In today\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ve got to get mine\u201d mentality, he\u2019s a great example of staying the course, blocking out the noise, and taking advantage of his opportunity. I love the kid \u2014 his attitude and character pushed him through.<\/p>\n
Question: With one-year transfer quarterbacks, how much do you really know what you\u2019re getting?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Other than watching film and doing background research, things happen quickly. With Carson, I was fortunate to talk to Todd Monken and Buster Faulkner, who knew him well and gave me real insight into his personality. That cut through a lot of the narratives out there. On tape, the talent was obvious \u2014 that part was easy \u2014 but those conversations made the decision really easy.<\/p>\n
Question: Is it inevitable that you\u2019ll eventually get a portal quarterback who doesn\u2019t work out?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Nothing\u2019s 100 percent in life. I\u2019m an old-school soul \u2014 I like developing kids, and reps in a system matter. At some point that\u2019s going to mean more again.<\/p>\n
Question: What stood out most about Carson when you first evaluated him?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: He had played in a lot of big games. We felt like we were a really good team and we needed someone who had been there before. Experience was huge. Beyond that, I care most about accuracy from the pocket. If you can\u2019t throw accurately from the pocket, I\u2019m not that good of a coach. On film he was a progression quarterback \u2014 sitting in the pocket, finding lanes, triggering with accuracy. He was very cerebral. I also think he\u2019s more athletic than people give him credit for, and we\u2019ve encouraged him to use his legs more recently.<\/p>\n
Question: What did you see from Malachi Toney when he first arrived on campus?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Not much until we started practicing. His ball skills were elite, but once we started practice he made plays every day \u2014 sometimes plays that made you scratch your head. He was just made to play slot receiver in our offense, and he does a **** good job at it.<\/p>\n
Question: How have the last two weeks been balancing portal work for next year with preparing for a championship game?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: For me, I focus on the game. I don\u2019t really get involved in that right now.<\/p>\n
Question: Is experience at quarterback more important than taking a talented redshirt freshman out of the portal?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Experience matters at every position. Older kids typically play better than younger kids. If you\u2019re going to roll the dice, that\u2019s usually the better bet. I do think we have the best quarterback room in the nation.<\/p>\n
Question: How have you seen Carson settle into Miami after a hectic start?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: He\u2019s very resilient. None of that early stuff bothered him. Even after losses, he moved on quickly. He has short-term memory, doesn\u2019t get too high or too low, and stays even-keeled. He\u2019s hard on himself \u2014 a perfectionist \u2014 but that\u2019s better than pointing fingers. That\u2019s why he handles adversity the way he does.<\/p>\n
Question: How challenging is Indiana\u2019s gap-sound, attacking defense?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Very challenging. They\u2019re elite at gap integrity. Their run fits with the D-line, linebackers, and safeties are rarely out of position. They dissect things as quickly as any defense I\u2019ve seen. If you give them a tell, their linebacker No. 4 will be at the point of attack before you are. At this point in the season, everyone knows who everyone is \u2014 it\u2019s about execution. They\u2019re extremely well coached, elite, and hard-playing.<\/p>\n
Question: Their \u201cillusion\u201d defense can look different pre-snap than post-snap \u2014 how do you prepare for that?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: They force you to play quarterback after the snap. We\u2019re built for that because we\u2019re a reactive, progression-based offense. Nothing is predetermined for us. Our quarterback is trained to read space post-snap. Their coverages are elite \u2014 subtle changes, great eye discipline, and they occupy space extremely well. In a way, they play coverage like an option defense \u2014 you don\u2019t see it often, so it feels different.<\/p>\n
Question: Why did you target C.J. Daniels in the portal?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: He had a lot of film playing good football. We needed an older, experienced receiver. We knew the player we were getting, but we didn\u2019t fully know the person \u2014 and we knocked that part out of the park. His leadership and character are elite. He blocks, does the dirty work, and keeps the room pointed in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Question: What has impressed you most about Mario Cristobal\u2019s leadership over three years?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: His talent evaluation, especially up front, and how he builds teams from the O-line and D-line out. Also, how he handled our losses this year \u2014 no overreaction, just \u201cget back to the process.\u201d That demeanor helped our staff and our players.<\/p>\n
Question: Was that different from your first two years?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: No, it\u2019s been consistent. We stay even-keeled through adversity, which is necessary to coach productively and manage games.<\/p>\n
Question: How would you describe Indiana\u2019s defensive identity?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Very hard to run on, extremely gap-sound, and they strain better than almost anyone. Their zone coverage is elite \u2014 mostly zone, mixed in smart ways. They don\u2019t get predictable; it\u2019s like they pull coverages out of a hat. Their eyes are always on the quarterback, they get their hands on the ball, and they tip a lot of passes. It\u2019s a very savvy unit.<\/p>\n
Question: How does practicing against your own defense help you prepare for Indiana?<\/p>\n
Shannon Dawson: Our defenses are similar philosophically, so those weekly reps help. More importantly, our pass game isn\u2019t dictated by pre-snap looks \u2014 we\u2019re progression-based. We ask our quarterback to see space and work through reads. I feel like we\u2019re equipped, but not many teams have had success against them, so we\u2019ll see how it goes.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shannon Dawson met with reporters for the National Championship Media Day. A full transcript is below: Question: What…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-414899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}