Frost: 'This is a fun team to coach'
Whatever expectations Scott Frost had for his first season at UCF, the team has already surpassed them. Following last Saturday's 24-16 win at UConn, the Knights are 4-3 and 2-1 within the American, just a couple plays away from a 6-1 record.
"It's tough to get players, as hard as we ask them to work, if they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel," Frost said at his Monday press conference. "I didn't honestly know going into the year how quickly we'd be able to accomplish some of our goals and make that work and that improvement turn into wins. We've made a lot more progress than maybe I even thought, to the point our record is really good for I think what our expectations were going into the year. Could be even better if we had won a couple close games. This team is a lot of fun to coach because they do everything we ask them to do. They play their tails off. They're playing for each other. They literally have gotten better every time we've taken the field. That's an exciting group to coach."
Here's everything else Frost had to say on Monday:
On UCF not accepting the ConFLiCT trophy:
"That's the first question? Our focus on this team is every game is the same. We're going to approach every game the same and we're going to treat every game the same. Every game is a rivalry to us. I really believe in college football traditions and rivalries. I think they're great. To be honest with you, we were so locked into winning that game that a trophy was the last thing on our minds at the end of that game."
On holding walk-on try-outs last week:
"We just always want to have an eye out for talent on campus that might be able to come out and help us, even if it's just as a scout team player. The thing we definitely need is character guys and good students as well as good athletes. As the season has worn along and we've had some minor injuries, I'm looking for a litle more depth here and there. We're not in need of it, but if there's somebody out there who can help us we want to make sure we know who they are."
On how many walk-ons he'd like to have on the team:
"There's not a specific number. Again, it's just we don't want to overlook anybody that can help us be a better team."
On whether they found any players:
"We haven't made any decisions yet. We wanted to be aware of who was out there. Maybe we'll make some decisions on that this week."
On UCF not having a lot of success rushing the ball in the past two games:
"I think it's playing two good defenses. If you look at UConn's rush defense all year, it was kind of frustrating for me going into that game because I watched big runs against them. We have a clip of all the 10-plus yard runs on the season. They only had 13 on the year where they gave up 10 yards on a rush and 11 of them were from quarterbacks. They do an exception job of taking away the run between the tackles. I think we knew we were going to have to throw it well to win that game. Weather cooperated and our players stepped up."
On what made him the most proud from the UConn game:
"Just the character of this team continues to impress me. Last week was hard. It was hard on me. To be that close to winning that game against a really good Temple team and having it taken away right at the end. Our team responded all week in practice and then going into the game I knew it was going to be a battle. For us to get down the way we did and claw back was great to see for the character of our team. And then to be in another situation that was almost identical to two others we were in and we had to stop somebody at the end of a game, I felt like our guys played to win the game instead of playing not to lose it on Saturday. This team just continues to impress me with its character."
On what he expects from Houston:
"I've said it for about three weeks in a row now that this league is really even. I'm watching a lot of tape every week, other teams, other games. It seems any week that any team in this league can beat the other if the other team doesn't play well. There's close games all across the league. There's upsets all across the league. I think it's a really good football league and really balanced. Last Saturday it was SMU's day. We expect to have a focused, upset Houston team when we go down there Saturday. They're still a really, really talented team. We're going to have our hands full."
On what UCF can learn from Navy and SMU's victories against Houston:
"It's hard to relate yourself to Navy. Their offense is just so much different than everyone else's. They're really good at what they do. In a lot of cases it's not that similar. I thought SMU did a really good job schematically. They didn't do anything crazy. I think their players just made more plays. That's how football goes on any given night. Football is shaped funny and it bounces in a different direction every time. SMU played a whale of a game. I thought their players made good plays. They caught a couple breaks and beat them pretty handily. That's not typical of a Houston team. We know we're going to get their best shot at their place."
On the defensive line's performance without Pittman and a banged up Trysten Hill and Joey Connors:
"I'm just proud of that group. Coach Dawson has done an unbelievable job with that group. Going into this job, that was one of the places that people told us we needed help. Coach Dawson got a lot of players ready to play. We got contributions from Jock Petree, Joey Connors, Hayes, Wooten and Aaron Cochran who was a tight end when we first got here. A lot of those guys contributed. That group right there I'm really proud of for the way they fight."
On why UCF has played so well on the road:
"I think it's just kind of how it's happened. We have been really focused when we go to play on the road, which is a good sign. We've played really well at times at home. We just were unable to finish a couple games. This team has showed up to play every week since I've been here. Perfect example of it is we're trying to ease back on the players a little bit at this point of the season. We're going to take the pads off about halfway through practice and finish practice with no pads. The leaders on the defense wouldn't let the defensive guys take their pads off. Those are the kinds of kids we have leading this team. I'm really happy for them and the success they've had this year."
On whether this was McKenzie Milton's best game:
"McKenzie keeps getting better. He's done some really, really good things every game that he's been in. But he played pretty consistently Saturday. He was really good with his eyes, really good with his feet, got the ball off on time almost every time and made some big plays for us. It's a fun thing as a playcaller when you design something to work a certain way and the ball gets there right when it's supposed to get there and it works. That makes it fun to coach."
On whether Frost is calling most of the plays:
"I'm calling the plays, but it's really a collaborative effort. I've been telling those guys I want as much help and input as I can. Saturday I got a ton of help from Mario and especially Troy. Those guys are in the box. They can see everything. If they suggest a play I'm going to go with it. Those two guys are really smart and did a whale of a job on Saturday."
On whether Tristan Payton's suspension "enhanced" Dredrick Snelson's opportunity:
"We've got a lot of talented freshmen on this team. Dredrick is one. Q is another one. Both those guys, we've been waiting for them to break out. Honestly, the progression here is when you do it consistently and well in practice then you get your chance on the field. You do it in a game and everything takes off from there. Both those guys have enough talent to be exceptional players here. We've been waiting for it to be consistent enough in practice to trust them out there in a game. Both those guys had really good weeks of practice last week. Lo and behold it showed up in the game for Dredrick. I hope both those guys take that and really use it as a platform to spring forward."
On spreading the ball around to multiple receivers:
"I think any time we get the ball in Jordan Akins' hands, good things are going to happen for the team. He's made some really big plays for this team when we've needed them. He's an exceptionally-talented kid. Aside from that, we're going to design some things from time to time for a certain guy, whether it's Tre'Quan or Jordan Akins or whoever. Aside from that, our system takes care of it. The ball is supposed to go to the open guy. We trust all the guys out there on the field to do something with the ball once it comes to them. It was just kind of those guys' turn. On top of that, they did a good job getting open and catching the ball when it comes to them."
On the growth of the team overall:
"I told them after the game, and before the game, think about where they were in January and then think about where they were in March when we started spring ball and finished spring ball. It's a different team. I said all along the defense was kind of ahead the offense as we've been progressing here. The defense has really carried this team. Make no mistake about it. Coach Chinander and his boys and that whole staff and those guys on defense. If we were giving up a bunch of points, these games wouldn't have been where they were. I told the offense it's time that they start understanding how good they can be. At times our offense has been as explosive as anybody. We just haven't been consistent enough. Part of that is believing we can do it all the time. I thought we took a big step forward Saturday. Again, there's been improvement every week. Seeing the passing game click like that is a big part of what we need going forward. One of these games we're going to put it all together offensively. Running game, passing game, everything, and explode on somebody."
On decreasing full pad reps in practice:
"I think this point in the season we need to hit enough to stay sharp, but if somebody is not going to block or tackle at this point in the season, they probably aren't playing right now anyway. The guys are battle sharpened and battle ready. It kind of falls on us now to make sure that they're healthy and fresh for each game."
On the success increasing the players' belief:
"It's tough to get players as hard as we ask them to work if they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I didn't honestly know going into the year how quickly we'd be able to accomplish some of our goals and make that work and that improvement turn into wins. We've made a lot more progress than maybe I even thought, to the point our record is really good for I think what our expectations were going into the year. Could be even better if we had won a couple close games. This team is a lot of fun to coach because they do everything we ask them to do. They play their tails off. They're playing for each other. They literally have gotten better every time we've taken the field. That's an exciting group to coach."
On team leadership:
"I really saw a lot of player leadership on Saturday. Again, we're a veteran group on defense. I think those guys have been leading on defense for a while. We're really young on offense, but I saw Wyatt Miller step up and be a leader on Saturday. McKenzie. Tre'Quan has done a good job. The hardest part about being a leader is holding everybody else accountable to a standard. It's really easy to be a friend and not tell somebody else when they're not doing a good enough job. When you have a good team is when somebody steps out of that comfort zone and holds the guy next to them to the standard they expect. I'm starting to see that on both sides of the ball."
More on Milton as a leader:
"It's hard to be a leader as an 18 year old. There's a lot of grown men on this team that are 21, 22 years old and you come in as an 18 year old. It's hard to get on guys when they're not doing what you expect. That's going to be a progression. I can't give enough credit for Justin Holman for the job he's done in continuing to lead even though he hasn't been on the field for the past couple weeks. We're getting good leadership from our quarterback spot and starting to see it from other places as well."
On the highs and lows of the past two weeks:
"Coaching is funny. One of my staff told me it's so binary, win, lose, 0 or 1, but that's the game. And we all love the game. Being able to compete and measure yourself as a coach, as a player, as a team, every week. That makes it exciting. If you love competition, you wouldn't want anything else."
On whether he saw the Cubs clinch the NL:
"The Cubs got the last double play while we were on the runway about ready to take off. I knew the outcome right before we flew back to Orlando."