By Mike McCall
The spotlight will be on Chad Germany and Elvis Joseph this weekend after they were named co-offensive coordinators following Stump Mitchell‘s dismissal — especially Germany since he will be calling the plays.
Both were kind enough to take a few minutes out this week to chat, and their responses are below:
Quarterbacks coach Chad Germany
On what has to be done to fix Southern’s offense: “It’s just a matter of executing. I think the offense is a great offense. It’s one of the reasons I’m at Southern University is the West Coast offense.”
On how the offense brought him to SU (when he was coaching at Capitol High): “I said, ‘Wow, I have the West Coast offense five minutes away from where I am. ‘ I thought it would be great to ask coach Mitchell if I could come volunteer and learn some things about the offense. Next thing you know, [the previous quarterbacks coach] was leaving and coach Mitchell asked me if I would be interested. … The West Coast offense was really what drew me here.”
On how his role will change: “I think it’s always different when you call the plays. Calling plays, I think it’s an art. It’s challenging. I won’t say it’s the easiest thing to do, but you have to be excited about the opportunity to go and play against Jackson State, a great program. I think our staff together — not just me — I think all the coaches will work together and put our heads together, the same way we did when coach Mitchell was here, but now I have the opportunity to call the plays.”
On the assistants taking bigger leadership roles since Mitchell left: “I would say we are a little more vocal because we have to be. We lost our leader in coach Mitchell, and he poured everything he had into the program. Unfortunately he was dismissed, so I think it creates a sense of urgency for everyone. It’s all about Southern University and the kids who are here, and we owe it to them to step it up and give everything we have.”
On QB Dray Joseph: “I think Dray has improved a lot. He understands the offense, but I think we have to continue to improve all the guys around him. There is so much that goes into the quarterback playing well that sometimes we may overlook. The quarterback wears the wins and losses on his shoulders, but Dray is a great guy. He’s very attentive, he studies, he’s focused.”
On the past week at Southern: “I think the dismissal of coach Mitchell may have been a realization for everybody that we need to step it up a little bit, and that may be what you see.”
Running backs coach Elvis Joseph
On the last week at Southern: “Obviously it was tough to lose coach Mitchell. I was with him for three years, and that’s our leader. But we have to rally the troops and get ready to play football. Coach Mitchell wouldn’t want it any differently.”
The key to fixing the offense: “We have to clean up the small things that have been getting us beat, but we have a good football team. We’re just paying attention to detail and cleaning up the small things. … We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We’re still calling the same plays. We’re out there busting our butts and paying attention to detail to make sure we execute. We’re not changing anything.”
How this team will look different on Saturday: “You’re going to see a hard-working team. We still have the same players, but we just made a lot of mistakes and beat ourselves up a little bit. We watched film and we corrected it.”
Getting over the shock of the loss to Mississippi Valley State: “We didn’t expect that to happen last week, but it did. But we can’t worry about it. … One thing I can guarantee: you’re going to see a hard-working football team expecting to win a game.”
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Interesting to hear that Germany came to Southern based on a curiosity about the West Coast offense, and based on their comments, I’d say we’ll see largely the same scheme against Jackson State. After all, the play book isn’t going to change overnight.
But if they can run that offense more efficiently and call a great game, it will put the Jaguars in a much better position to win than they were in last week. Again, poor execution falls on the players, but it will be interesting to see whether Germany can jazz it up a bit against the Tigers.
