Laster breaks down the receivers
New Pitt receivers coach JJ Laster met the media after the Panthers' first spring camp practice on Monday, and he talked about joining Pitt's staff, what he's seen from the receivers and a lot more.
Here's video and a full rundown of his remarks.
What is your relationship like with Kade Bell and what does it mean to have that relationship coming in with the new offense and installing it? How important is that?
Laster: Well, me and Coach Kade go way back. We played together back at JU; also, I was there before him when his dad was the head coach and he was in high school and he used to come around all the time. So me and Coach Kade go way back. We worked together at Western as well, so we have a great relationship. I’m just here to help him out. We have a standard here and I want to help him out and make sure we get to that standard. That’s why I’m here.
What are the keys from a receiving standpoint with the speed of this offense?
Laster: You’ve got to be in shape, obviously, with the tempo and everything that we do. But also, you have to be able to understand the attention to detail. Coach Bell does a great job with his system understanding spacing and alignment, different things like that. So it’s very important for those receiver sot understand the spacing, the timing, as everything goes together. It can’t be too close to the hash, got to be outside the hash, little things like that. The attention to detail. Understanding getting your depth in routes, because it’s timing and everything like that. So that is huge. The attention to detail, understanding spacing and different things like that in this offense.
How do you see your guys reacting to the new offense, the fast-paced offense?
Laster: I’m excited for them. Those guys, they’re attacking the task at hand, understanding the system, the playbook and everything like that. You see a lot of times when guys are coming in on their own to the meeting room, going over plays on their own, writing plays on the board. So these guys are doing a great job adapting to the offense, adapting to the new play-calling and everything like that, so I’m excited to see what’s in store for us.
What does Konata’s ability to get open do for your offense?
Laster: Well, the good thing about him, he runs great routes. He can get in and out of his breaks well. So just today being able to see him in live action, I was very impressed. I’m very happy to see him, I’m glad to have him on our team and he does a great job. For me to be able to help him to explain why we run certain routes, why we have to understand spacing together, it’s going to help him take his game to the next level. So I’m excited for what’s in store for him and I can’t wait to finish out these 15 days.
What about Kenny Johnson, a guy who was a freshman last year; where do you see him needing to make the most growth?
Laster: The biggest thing with him, just understand the assignments, understand the alignments. You’ll hear me say that a lot: double-A - alignment, assignment. I believe that Kenny, he’s so talented as a young man, he’s so talented, but if he understands ‘Why I have to cut my split’ or ‘Why I have to line up on top of the numbers,’ that’s going to help take his game to the next level. Because athletic ability, he has it. But understanding the route-running and different things like that, I think that will help him out as much as possible. I’m excited for Kenny. Very athletic guy, very talented. Just excited to see what’s next for him.
Pretty much everyone has noted the pace of practice. What do you like about that style of play that Kade Bell brings and what did you note about practice?
Laster: The biggest thing, we don’t care if they mess up right now. It’s early. We’re going to worry about tempo. We’ll correct that in the meeting room. That’s when we slow it down and be teachers and teach them. On the field, we’re trying to get a lot of reps, so it’s nice to see them understand lining up fast and going out there trying to win the one-on-one battle, whatever that one-on-one battle might be. It might be blocking at that time in the run game. It could be running your route at that time. So yes, we’ll go fast and it helps us out because we’re going to catch the defense off-guard and get the easy plays, easy steals, different things like that. But then when we get into the classroom, the meeting setting, that’s when we can slow it down and teach them about why we want spacing, why we want to make sure we get our depth and different things like that. So I love the tempo part - easy shots, easy plays - but also we slow it down when we’re in the meeting room to help make sure those guys learn the plays.
You have a couple guys who played in this offense before. Have you seen them sharing tips, helping some of the returning guys to understand some of those finer details?
Laster: Yes, I’ll tell you what, those guys are doing a great job of helping out. That’s what I love about that group: they’re working together. Some of the guys that have been in the offense helping out the other guys that’s been here that are new to the system and everything - they’re helping them out, explaining them the plays, explaining them why we have to get out there and different things like that. That’s what you want with a team. You want player-led. You want guys to be leaders out there on the field whenever I’m not around to be able to teach, to help these guys grow. Because it’s a partnership. We have to work together. That’s the only way we’re going to be successful is if we work together and everybody is on the same common goal working together. I love that those guys are taking ownership and helping each other out.
How would you describe yourself as a coach?
Laster: For me, I’m a hard, demanding coach. I’m very firm, quick and precise on what I want to get accomplished. Attention to detail - I’ll be hard on those guys because life is hard. We’re all going to go through tough times. But it’s always good to be around great people when you go through those tough times. So I’ll be hard on them, just so when they get out there in the real world, they can understand that, ‘Hey, I’ve been through the tough times and I know how to get through that.’ So that’s my job. I’m going to be hard on them. You’re going to hear me all the time preaching that I’m going to be hard on them. Because there’s only a certain percentage that’s guys that go to the league; everybody else is going to get into that workforce, whether it’s going to be getting up, working a 9-5, going to work every day and having bills, having to take care of family. Some of those guys are going to be fathers, so they have to understand, it’s going to be tough. Life is tough. So I’ll be tough on those guys, but I also give them tough love. I also tell them - after we break down every day, I tell them, ‘All love.’ When I get on them, I’m getting on them for a reason, because I want them to reach their expectations. The standard’s up here, and I want to push them to be successful in everything that they do, whether it’s in life, whether it’s in football, whatever it is, I’m pushing them to be the best at everything. That’s why I’m hard on those guys. Once they graduate, once they leave, they’ll come back and realize I’m being hard on them for a reason - because life is hard. So that’s why the way I coach.
You have a lot of young receivers in the room that come with a lot of talent. How do you balance them when you also have guys at the top of the receiver list that have been here, like Daejon and Konata and Kenny and the new guys that you guys brought in - how do you balance all of those different guys in the same room?
Laster: I just be myself and be consistent every day. Don’t change. Be who you are. These guys, they can pick up on if you’re trying to be somebody who you’re not. I’m going to be me and we have a standard in that room and we’re going to continue that standard and we’re going to keep that standard high. So those younger guys, they’re going to have to rise to that standard, and those older guys, they’re going to have to help pick those younger guys up to keep them to that standard. So the standard is the standard. I’m going to keep the standard, but I’m just being consistent on any little thing, whether it’s depth, whether it’s showing up to practice on time, whether it’s showing up to meeting on time or in the classroom. So being consistent.
Last year, they called themselves the Waffle House gang - they were open 24/7. Are they still calling themselves that?
Laster: That was last year. This year, we’re going to come up with something else. I give those guys free reign of whatever they want to call themselves, they can call themselves. But we have to create our identity this spring with these 15 practices, and that can tell what our name is going to be going into the fall. So right now, we haven’t come up with a word yet for our name for our wide receiver group, but that was last year’s wide receiver group. This year, we’re going to come up with something different. But we have to create our identity this spring, and after those 15 practices, we’ll figure out who we are as a wide receiver group.