Bates on the defense, leaders and more

What do you think is different about this defense than the first one you had here?
Bates: I think it’s really early to tell because it’s just being born. The kids that are the leaders, who you all would expect, are really stepping up. But for us to be successful, some of the younger guys who maybe were on the fringes need to step up, and I think some of them are doing. But only after two days, it’s awful early to tell. But I’m really pleased with where the kids are. They’re all working hard. They’re all keeping each other accountable and that’s what’s going to make us a good defense.

How important is Rashad Weaver to the defense this year?
Bates: Well, where he’s most important is - leadership is outstanding, but where he’s most important is how he can teach everybody off the field how to be a better football player. Normally you win the games before you play them by knowing what’s coming, and the kids are really embracing the idea of going farther than we did last year, learning how to be more of a professional football player. What I mean by that is, they come in and study tape more, they understand what they’re studying, and a guy like Weaver gives you that opportunity to go in, in times when we as coaches aren’t allowed to be with them, and actually have them learn how to watch tape. It’s one thing to watch two hours of tape, but if you get nothing out of it, you’re just wasting your time. So those older guys who’ve got the experience off the field and have learned how to be a professional off the field, that’s what we hope the whole team can become.

Last season, you guys had games like Virginia or Wake Forest when you played pretty well, but then you had Central Florida or Duke - what do you think led to some of the inconsistency week-to-week? Obviously there are different opponents, but what do you put some of that inconsistency on?
Bates: I would just put it mostly on the idea that there was a lot of different guys playing at different levels at different times. What we are trying to stress is consistency. If you look at the body of work, however, in the second half of the season, you see that on defense: the consistent level. That’s what we are trying to do.

And obviously we had three new coaches; took a little bit of time for those guys to get to know us. I think now if you ask any of the defensive players, they probably would know what I was going to say before I say it. And what I mean by that is, now that I don’t have to say it, I have one of the leaders on defense, one of the players, coaching the other players. When we get to the point where we’re doing that, we’ll be a great defense.

Obviously, there’s turnover every year; do you feel like guys are naturally stepping into leadership positions and are you pleased with that so far?
Bates: Very much. Really, I think our kids have embraced the idea. We’ve put a lot of pressure on our kids to be leaders and I’m not talking anybody specifically but everybody. You don’t have to be the best player on the team to be a leader. So we’re really pushing the guys to be leaders in their own way. You can only be yourself, but you can lead by example, you can lead by talking, you can lead by what you do in the classroom. However it is, I ask those kids all the time - how are you a leader and how are you bringing this team up?

You’re going to be able to play a lot of guys this year who have played before; this isn’t necessarily a young defense.
Bates: It is not, and even though we lose some tremendous players - actually, we probably lose, what, six starters - in our mind, we’ve developed a great deal of depth, which I know I’ve talked to you guys about before, playing a lot of guys. Now it becomes competition. When you have competition and you’re afraid the guy behind you is going to beat you out, you practice harder. And I think that’s what we have right now.

How does Campbell look at the Star position?
Bates: Phil is doing very well. You know, he’s learning. It’s only the second day and things come at you fast. And Coach Whipple is messing with him with all of his new, funky stuff, which is outstanding. But honestly, Phil has embraced it, doing a great job and you want to talk about a guy who’s really spending a lot of time off the field in the classroom watching tape, learning his position, he’s one of those guys.

Coming from the secondary, does he have to gain weight?
Bates: No, I think he’s okay. And I think having been in the secondary, it’s a natural move forward. He’s farther along than you might think.

What do you do in the spring with guys that are returning starters, guys that have had a lot of success, guys like Hamlin, Jackson, Weaver - how do you challenge them this spring to be even better than they’ve been, even though they’ve been really good?
Bates: Well, we’re not trying to be better than somebody else on the team; we’re trying to be better than we were the day before. So we challenge them to be the best they can be, not the best at their position, not the best in the secondary, but as good as they can be. To be as good as you can be, sometimes, that’s an elite level. A Rashad Weaver, like you said, those kids - Hamlin - those guys have to play at an even different level, so expectations at practice are far different, so we coach them and teach them at a different level.

Weaver talked about how he was angry after the bowl game; did you see that from some of your guys when the season ended?
Bates: I would hope so. I think the way we’ve finished - we’ve talked a lot, long and hard, about finishing, and it starts with every day, every play. When you make a play, do you finish that play? Then it goes all the way to winning the ACC championship, playing in a bowl game, winning the national championship - you have to finish. To go to the national championship, somebody still loses, right? So you’ve got to finish all the way through. Really, that’s the name of the game.

Is that motivation for this season?
Bates: Absolutely.

It seems like cornerback is one of the stronger positions; what are your expectations for those guys this season?
Bates: Well, we’re going to make them - I think we have three starters right now, so we’re going to make those guys compete and the best guy’s going to win. And if they all compete, we’ll have three great players and we’ll be able to do some different things with the third guy if he’s the next best guy.

One of them could play nickel, right?
Bates: There’s no doubt.

With Paris last year at this time, it was, ‘He’s making a lot of plays; sometimes he’s not in the right spot but he’s still making plays because of his athleticism.’ Is this spring more about him being fundamentally sound and getting up to speed with the playbook to make sure that he’s not out of position?
Bates: It’s very similar to Phil Campbell. Same thing with Paris. Paris is now embracing the idea that you have to do more than just come and play. You have to study. You have to understand your calls. That’s where I think he’s made the biggest strides since I’ve known him. He’s gone from the point where, you know, you come every day and you do your best. But now, to be the best you can be, you have to do more. I think that’s what he realizes and that’s what he’s doing, and I think, for the most part, in the last two days, for being in that position, which he hasn’t done, he’s doing a great job. I’ve been very pleased.