Eric Studesville – November 5, 2019
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville
(In light of recent developments, one would assume RB Kalen Ballage is in for a bigger role moving forward. What have you seen? He was so outstanding in the summer. I think most people were expecting a lot of big things and it has not happened yet. What have you seen in terms of his development?) – “I think Kalen continues to work every day. That’s one thing you love about him. The guy is passionate about the game and how he does for a young guy, and the professionalism that he brings to everything. It’s just a matter of opportunities. Now, this is going to be an opportunity for him. He’s going to take full advantage of it, that’s my confidence and we’ll just wait to see what happens. But he’s prepared for this opportunity and he’s ready for it. I think he’ll capitalize on it.”
(Do you think RB Kalen Ballage’s skillset is best suited for being a guy like a bigger workload than maybe he’s been getting?) – “His skillset is that he can do everything. We’ve had other people in there during the course of this year, so the big thing for us is to utilize his skillset to give us the best chance to win. That might be different things. It might be different people in there. We don’t know yet as far as we’re game planning and looking at this stuff. The biggest thing we’ve got to do though is make sure that he’s ready to go, which he will be, and that we put him in a position to take advantage of the things he can do.”
(RB Patrick Laird is another guy who looked really good in the summer. Because of the logjam he hasn’t had as much of a shot a running back so far. What do you think he can bring to the offense?) – “I think the same thing, it’s going to be maximizing the opportunity. We’re not going to change plays. We’ve got to set up the offense to attack what we think Indianapolis is going to give us, so those players have to be able to take on those roles and do those things. We’ll see as we go through practice, we’ll see as we go through the game planning part of this how everybody fits into this. But Patrick will be ready. He’s got a tremendous work ethic. I know he’s chomping at the bit to get in there and play some on offense, which is a good thing. I think when he gets in there, again, he’ll perform really well.”
(RB Patrick Laird seemed like a guy impressed me in the summer with how quickly he saw the holes and all that. Is that a fair assessment?) – “I think so. I think all the guys are continuing to develop all the time. That’s one thing you love about this group of guys, this group in the running back room works hard. They’re in there, we’re talking about – they listen to the concepts that we’re talking about, what we’re trying to get done, take the coaching points and they’re trying to take all those little things to the field. I think it does pay off, not always in the reps that everybody sees, but on the practice field we see the development. Myles Gaskin has worked really hard and he’s going to be somebody that at some point in time we’re going to count on, too. I have great confidence in everybody in the room.”
(RB Patrick Laird is a guy that came in as a rookie free agent. Was he somebody where you could see very quickly, “There’s something there?”) – “I think he earned that. I think how he came and performed and prepared and when he got his opportunities and things he did with it, I think he made us more believers. The whole thing is opportunity. What do you do with those chances when you get them? I think he maximized those early on in the year. I see no reason why he wouldn’t with any opportunity going forward.”
(Obviously now a chance potentially for RB Patrick Laird and maybe for RB Myles Gaskin. Are you excited at all to see Patrick based on what you’ve seen in practice? In preseason he obviously was productive.) – “I’m excited to see all of them all the time because they work hard and they prepare and they’re preparing themselves for the opportunities. I think Patrick is going to take the most of whatever opportunity is given him as with Myles when he goes in there. But we’ve got to see how the whole thing goes, what’s going to happen. Kalen (Ballage) is ready for what he’s got to do. I have great confidence in all three of those guys going into Indianapolis.”
(With RB Patrick Laird, what’s the skill that left you all intrigued by him that you saw this summer?) – “I don’t think it is one thing and I don’t think it’s necessarily a skill. I think it’s how he’s approached everything since he’s come here. He worked hard to learn, the preparation that he still exhibits, how he’s embraced his special teams role early on. That’s his thing, yet he still prepared for the offense knowing his assignments and things that have to go in there. I think it’s just a matter of opportunity. I don’t think it is one skill necessarily that you’d say. I think it’s the whole package of what he’s brought. This is a guy that he’s giving us confidence in him and we’re looking forward to his opportunity.”
(What does RB Myles Gaskin do well as a runner?) – “I think Myles as a runner is shifty. He’s got a little change of direction, quick-footed at the line, he’s a little hard to hit. He’s got great eyes, I think. I think he can find run lanes and where open spaces are.”
(At the end of last year, there were clear signs that RB Kalen Ballage could be a good NFL player. Did anything that’s happened the first couple weeks, which obviously were a struggle for him, did it shake that belief where you just need to see him?) – “It hasn’t shaken my belief in Kalen. I still have tremendous confidence in him based on a lot of what I see every day from him, which is how he comes in the building, how he prepares, his football intelligence, his knowledge of what we’re trying to do and what those things are. The biggest challenge that we’re doing now is seeing him more and him performing with those opportunities and I have great confidence he’s going to do that.”
(RB Kalen Ballage runs his best how in terms of when he gets the ball and goes hard? Obviously, he’s a physical back. When is he at his best?) – “When the ball is in his hands.”
(And not thinking or…?) – “No, because I think you have to think all the time. It is a reaction positon, but there is a lot of thinking that goes into it as far as how the blocking schemes are set up what the angles of the blocks are, where they think. We talk about being a proactive group in things that we see. There’s a lot of thinking that goes into it. Now once they’ve got the ball in their hands, then they’ve got to just react to things. But he’s a very intelligent guy. He knows exactly what we’re trying to get done. I’m looking forward to him, seeing him in this opportunity. I really am.”
(I know FB Chandler Cox is a lot with Tight Ends Coach George Godsey, but 12 plays last week were his high on offense. The running plays that he was in on, how did he do?) – “I thought he did well. The one thing about Chandler, Chandler will go and attack. That’s part of the job description of that positon which is why there’s not very many guys that like that job description. I think it’s the same thing, guys aren’t always finished products. Depending on from week to week what we’re doing game plan-wise, Chandler has been ready to go every week. He’s prepared, he’s excited, he brings a great energy to it and he’s going to go in and do to the best of his ability everything that we’re asking him to do. That’s all we’re asking of any of these guys. Now we’ve got to get this whole thing to mesh together where everybody is doing that at the same time.”
(What do you like most about RB Patrick Laird as a runner?) – “I think Patrick is really disciplined and decisive on what he sees. He’s really taking that we say, ‘Get to here, get to this point and then make a decision,’ and he knows that that’s his advantage. I think he does that really well.”
(We haven’t really seen much of RB Myles Gaskin this season. We did see him a little bit in preseason. What are some things that he needs to continue to work on to see some playing time?) – “I think Myles has continued to work. Even though you all haven’t see him, we see him every day and I think there has been a growth in him in his first eight weeks in his role that he’s been here in this organization. I’ve seen him get better, I’ve seen his skillset improve, I’ve seen his confidence improve. I just think it’s a matter of time before we’re going to see him in a game. I think he’s going to perform really well. He’s got tremendous work ethic. Every day he hits his bill. He’s working. He wants to be good. He wants to contribute. His time is going to come and when it does, he’ll maximize it.”
(In college, RB Myles Gaskin carried the ball plenty, got a lot of opportunities to catch passes out of the backfield. Are some of those things translating with time and with your coaching in the last couple weeks that you’ve seen?) – “I don’t know that we coach it off of what he did in college. We’re setting up our offense to attack whatever our opponent is doing.”
(Some things that RB Myles Gaskin is doing better, he’s good at doing, are you seeing some of those things?) – “That’s what we’re always going to do. We’re always going to evaluate what we want to do to attack an opponent and then what those qualities, skillsets that those players have and then try to put them in position. And he has – he can do a lot of things. He’s catching the ball better, he obviously has run the ball effectively in his past. It’s been that he’s behind three guys right now on the active roster. That’s been an issue but now maybe not. Again, that all goes into the game planning thing of trying to put guys in positon of what we want to do.”
(I know RB Kenyan Drake isn’t here anymore, but you spent a lot of years with him here with this team. What were some things that maybe didn’t go his way for him here?) – “You’d have to talk to him about that. I don’t know. I’ve liked being around Kenyan. I loved being around him. I liked coaching him. I thought it was a positive relationship coaching him. After he left, I wished him well. I’m still cheering for him. I watch the game the other night and I was excited for his performance. There’s no ill-will on anything on my end.”
(We’ve seen guys like RB Mark Walton come in and RB Kalen Ballage this year and last year was RB Frank Gore and before that RB Damien Williams. Was RB Kenyan Drake maybe – was he not getting the opportunity that maybe he could’ve had if other players weren’t there or many if more carries could’ve translated to more success on the field for him?) – “That’s a big if. Second-guessing things and going back, I don’t think there’s ever a point in time that we don’t think we’re trying to do what’s best for the organization and give us the best chance to win. We don’t think like that. We don’t operate like that. Could you have done things differently? I don’t worry about that stuff. I know that every day that we come in here is to give ourselves the best chance to win and that’s what we believe we’re doing every day in everything that we do.”
(With RB Kalen Ballage it’s been a low per carry average so far. How much of that is on him, how much of that is on blocking on his carries hasn’t been good enough?) – “I think some of them are situational things, because he’s 4-for-4 on third-and-1 which is one of the tops in the league this year. He’s also our goal-line back, so when you put him in at the 1-yard line, you know a 1-yard carry is a productive carry, but it’s not big on your stat average. I think some of those are situational conversations. But you look at him the other day, he had more carries than he’s had in the past few weeks the other day, and he had some good runs, too. I think a lot of that is a function of what we’ve asked him to do in some of the things.”
(We’ve seen RB Kalen Ballage break off that run against the Vikings and even in Tampa he had a huge run during the joint practices. With this opportunity now with RB Mark Walton being out, what do you think Kalen can do here to prove himself?) – “I think it’s the same thing that all of them have to do is just maximize the opportunity that’s presented to them. That’s what it is. He has an opportunity and what he does with it now is up to him.”
(What do you guys like about RB Kalen Ballage’s game?) – “I think that his preparation and how he comes in here, he knows what to do, he’s a confident player. I think he’s a big, physical presence. He’s smart in protection. He can do everything we need him to do. It’s just maximizing those opportunities when we get in the game.”
(You guys found a diamond in the rough in RB Mark Walton. I know he was drafted and everything, but is there another such guy in that running backs room?) – “I hope so. I hope there’s a whole room full of them that are diamonds in the rough. I think our personnel department does a great job of identifying players. Once they get here, my job is to hopefully help them improve and become better so that they do develop and blossom. That’s my goal for every one of my players. I want every one of them to get in there and play, it’s just not possible for all of them to do that. They all work hard, they all come in, they’re great guys, they have a passion for the game. I think if that’s a diamond in the rough, then I think I got a bunch of them.”
(RB Patrick Laird and RB Myles Gaskin have not played from scrimmage so far. I know you guys have people, but are they prepared to do that?) – “Absolutely. Otherwise they can’t be in there. These guys do work hard. They come in, they prepare themselves every week whether they’re playing or not. Patrick and Myles, even though he’s been inactive, they’re in the meetings, they’re attentive in the meetings, they’re a part of the meetings. It’s just a matter of time. The season gets long in the NFL. At some point in time you’re going to need those other guys. They have been preparing themselves every week as though they’re going to play and I have great confidence when that opportunity comes, they’re going to perform well.”
(It seems like one of the things that’s going on with this team recently is the players are understanding what you guys have been teaching them. Has that been going on with you? Are the players executing what you guys have been teaching them? For instance, you guys have had the halftime lead the last three games. You got a win last week. In your room, why has there been improvement? Why was RB Mark Walton improving? Why was the running game improving?) – “Hopefully it’s because we’re all getting on the same page. I think my room, and that’s the only room I can speak for, which is it’s a passionate group. They come to work. They love playing football. Hopefully they’re learning things sitting in there with me that’s putting them in position to get better and they’re gaining more confidence that what I’m asking them to do is the right thing and that they’re having success doing it.”
