HOUSTON -- Saturday was media day for the two national championship contenders, Washington and Michigan at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.
Each team spent an hour spread around a vast area talking with media.
That meant Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer covered a lot of ground over 60 minutes of taking questions -- from the latest on injured running back Dillon Johnson's status to a whole lot of Michael Penix Jr. talk and much more.
Here's the full transcript of his comments:
Q. To bring up the contract thing again, would you have liked to have gotten that out of the way? Has that been at all something that you would have liked to have gotten out of the way as opposed to it hanging over a national championship?
KALEN DEBOER: No, I'm good. Just because I just got a new contract a year ago. And I think a lot of it, I just don't want the distraction. Don't want the distraction during this time of year. I think before the season, after the season is when you really like to iron out details. I'm really appreciative of Troy Dannen and a lot of it with him coming in as the new athletic director. He wants to make sure I understand I'm a priority, and I certainly feel like I'm a priority based on conversations getting started and a lot of the talk with the contract being a big piece of that. I feel like I'm in a great place, and obviously we're focused on everything that's been happening here in December -- Pac-12 Championship, Sugar Bowl and national championship.
Q. Your daughter is about to start at Washington, or like next year?
KALEN DEBOER: Yeah, she's a senior in high school right now. So next summer, fall she'll report there.
Q. Describe how you came to be such an aggressive play caller, coach. You make a lot of fourth-down decisions that maybe some people wouldn't make. Just curious how you develop that and where it came from and where the affirmation in your mind is when you make those calls?
KALEN DEBOER: I think there's a lot of people that are much more aggressive than I am. But I think it's just picking and choosing the right times. A lot of it you understand the percentages and the chances, and of course there's a million different ways to look at the analytics of everything and what you should do. For me, there's a piece of that, but it's also where we are at in the game and your gut instinct. Obviously, you're trusting in the game plan and you're trusting in the calls that your coaches are going to make. And, of course, most importantly, you're trusting the execution of your guys. We talk about it all offseason, even in spring ball, just being ready to play four downs on defense, being ready to make an opportunity happen on fourth down offensively. So we practice it a lot in every scrimmage we have -- spring, fall camp. And obviously the game situations, we're working on that a lot of the times, to be confident in those moments.
Q. Is that something that you do based on who you have on the team, like, obviously it's different to call some of those plays when Michael Penix is your quarterback versus other guys? Or is it this is my philosophy, this is what I want to do?
KALEN DEBOER: There's no question. Your ability to make those plays because of the trust have you in your players, but also just kind of, if you don't execute and you don't convert, you're putting your defense in a spot that is pretty tough sometimes. And so I think having a trust in them that this tough spot they're going to be in, if it doesn't go the way it's supposed to, isn't going to break them, that they're just going to go out and take the field and do everything they can to ease the pain if that's the way it goes, and go make the next play. And if it's in our own territory, make sure it's nothing more than a field goal. And if it's happening on the other end of the field, just let's get a three-and-out and let's get the ball back to the offense, that there's no harm, no foul. Just I think a lot of it has to do with the trust of your players. And, again, we have a very mature crew, both offensively and defensively, that can handle it and be in those moments and be able to not be overwhelmed by the situation, just go out and execute.
Q. What is Dillon Johnson's status for Monday night?
KALEN DEBOER: We're expecting him to play. So we're expecting him to play. He's been through this over the last couple of months, and he hasn't missed any time there. He's had a good week getting back healthy.
Q. No one is 100 percent this time of year, is that --
KALEN DEBOER: I think that's how it is for a lot of our guys. I'm sure Michigan has the same thing. A lot of guys that aren't 100 percent. But he's headed in a good direction here this week as we get ready for kickoff.
Q. Obviously you had an incredible run at Sioux Falls, and 10 years later you're a Power Five head coach. What's been most transferable going from NIAA to the Power Five level?
KALEN DEBOER: Transferrable?
Q. Yes.
KALEN DEBOER: I'd say just working with people. Football is football. I think there's just the number of people that help you with the details and from the breaking down of film to the game planning. But when it comes down to it, football is football. And working with people has also just been a transferrable piece of it where you want to empower your staff. You want to empower your team to be able to go out there and have a great atmosphere that facilitates an environment they want to be a part of. That's a lot of the pieces, just making the time that they have together enjoyable, trying to pull out the best in each of them, tap into each other's strengths. To me it's just a lot of how you build confidence going throughout the year, going throughout the week, leading up to a game that gives you the opportunity to go out and be successful on game day.
