Temple defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach D.J. Eliot spoke to reporters Tuesday morning following Temple's ninth spring practice of the season.
It was the first time Eliot spoke since he was hired in December after spending the 2021 season taking a break from coaching.
Eliot spoke about the team's recent scrimmages, how he's adapting to Philadelphia, his favorite cheesesteak place, and his relationship with head coach Stan Drayton.
Here are a few quotes and excerpts from his press conference.
Eliot on Tuesday's practice and scrimmage:
“We had a good practice today, a good scrimmage. The energy has been great. The players have played really hard. They’ve listened to what we’ve told them to do. They wanna get better. They wanna believe in what we’re doing. They wanna buy into the system. If you don’t have that, you don’t have anything, and we have that right now from the players. We’re making some mistakes, but every practice we get better. Progress is what we want to see. When have an ending goal, but we aren’t there yet. We see the progress, and I’m excited about that.”
Eliot on his relationship with head coach Stan Drayton before coming to Temple:
“I didn’t know Coach Drayton, but I knew people that knew him. Coach Drayton is a guy that is known for being a player's coach. He’s known as a guy who cares about his players on and off the field. He’s known for a guy that is a tremendous position coach. With that, he’s coached at a lot of places and won a lot of games. He’s won championships. He knows what it looks like. I knew following him as a head coach he was going to be able to do it because of his track record.”
Eliot on Saturday’s scrimmage:
“We came out physical on both sides of the ball. I think Coach Drayton would tell you that, too. We were pleased with how physical the scrimmage was. It was a very physical scrimmage. Not anybody in particular [stood out]. I think different people at different times did some different things pretty good, but not anybody in particular.”
Eliot on working with a lot of coaches he’s never worked with before:
“Some jobs are like that. Some jobs you might know a good group of guys. What you find is though is there are so few of us. There is only a thousand Division I college football coaches in the country. Even though we may not know each other, we know people that know each other, and we live the same lifestyle. Usually, there is a pretty quick comradery because of the lifestyle that we live and the friends that we have. That’s the way its been here. They are good guys, too.”
Eliot on how he’s transitioned to Temple:
“It’s been great. My whole family is here. I’ve got four kids, so I have my whole family here. Coaching staff has great guys. It’s a good group to work with. Philly is a great city. We’ve already enjoyed everything there is to enjoy about Philly. We’ve gone to Sixers games. We went to [March Madness]. I’ve tried about every cheesesteak in town, too.”
Eliot on his favorite cheesesteak so far:
“I’d say Larry’s. A lot of people say Dalessandro's. I haven’t gone to John’s Roast Pork. People are talking high about that one, but I’ve had about 10 different places and right now, I’m going with Larry’s.”
Eliot on coaching in the Northeast for the first time:
“I’ve officially coached everywhere now. I’ve coached in the South, the North, the West, and now I’ve coached in the Northeast. I would say what I enjoy about the Northeast is that the people are real. From what I’ve seen, everyone has a big personality, shoots you straight, and everyone has surprisingly been nice and friendly. I know that's not necessarily the reputation, but that’s not what I’ve seen, you know what I mean? I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve really enjoyed the personalities of the Northeast.”
Eliot on what he learned during his year off:
“I learned that my wife does more than I ever imagined. She’s working with four kids like crazy. I just tried to fill in and help there where I could. As far as football goes, I did two podcasts. I did Coaching Coordinator, and I did Home Visit. In Coaching Coordinator, I would study a different defense every week and I would talk about it on the podcast. That kept me engaged with football. It allowed me to learn different schemes and different techniques. It helped me grow as a coach. I took some visits to some other schools during training camps. I would say the biggest thing I learned in the offseason was the things that are important and keeping the main thing the main thing. Sometimes when you’re coaching you are so caught up in your to-do list. You never step back and look at things from a different angle. I think I’m a ten times better coach because of that.”
Eliot on how his defense will generally look:
“I would say we are multiple fronts and multiple pressures. We are gonna line up in a lot of different ways, and we are gonna run a lot of different pressures. With that, we are trying to create negative yard plays. We’re trying to create sacks and negative yard plays and put the offense behind the sticks. We run a 3-4 defense, but we get into a lot of multiple looks. We can get into 4-3. We can get into 3-4. We can get into a lot of different things.”
Eliot on the role of outside linebacker in his scheme:
“In the 3-4, you’ve got three down lineman and four linebackers. For us, in one of our packages, one of those outside linebackers is kind of a tweener guy. He’s like a safety or a [defensive back]. That’s that kind of position.”
Eliot on if any position group has stood out so far:
“They’ve all done a good job, honestly. I’ve been pleased with the effort and the buy-in from the whole defense. They are giving me everything they’ve got. Not just me, the entire coaching staff. I’m pleased with all of them right now.”
Eliot on the defensive line:
“They’ve had tremendous energy and effort, and I like them, too. Those guys are big, but they are energetic. They have a lot of energy. They bring a lot of enthusiasm to the practice. So does their coach (Antoine Smith), too.”
Eliot on defensive lineman Xach Gill:
“Xach is just so mature. Xach has been through the wringer. This is the second program he’s played at. He dealt with injury last season and didn’t play. I think his maturity has been such good guidance for the younger players.”
Eliot on the progress of the defense as a whole:
“We still have a lot that we have to improve on, but I am pleased with the progress that we’ve made. I’m pleased with where we are. We’re not sitting here going ‘we’re a long way away.’ Where we are is where I would hope to be.”
Eliot on the depth chart:
“We aren’t ready to set a depth chart yet. We are rotating guys at different groups. We are seeing how they perform and the main thing right now is us and concentrating on us and making sure that we know what we are doing and that we know how to play.”
Eliot on if he’s connected with any of the former Temple defenders that have spoken to the program recently:
“Everyone that comes by I say hello to. They all speak to the team. Coach Drayton has made a huge effort to get those people back here. They are a special group. You can see why they were so successful. Each of those guys have this edge about them, a winner's edge about them. I think that is what the single-digit mantra is. They come back and very rarely do they talk about themselves. They talk about how hard they worked, and they talk about how much the team wanted to win, and they talk about their teammates. Very rarely do they talk about how good they are. I think it is that unselfish, hardworking mentality that makes them who they are.”
Eliot on his impression of last year’s film:
I came up here before Christmas, that was on the 23rd and the 24th. I was the only one in the office. I watched every game from last year, and I watched every player that was on the defense. If they didn’t play in the game, I went back and watched practice video. What I saw is that we are talented in spots. We are talented in spots, so I was pleased with that. We still have a ways to go, but I’m not disappointed in that.
Eliot on he feels working on a rebuilding team:
“I kinda have the reputation as the basketball school rebuilder. That’s been my reputation in the business. When I was at Florida State, we were so good. We won almost every game, and if we lost a couple of games a year they were somebody really good, and it was down to the wire. That was a lot of fun, but there is a real joy in building something. I really enjoy that. I like building something. Where Temple was and where we are trying to get them to an era of winning multiple games and having multiple winning seasons, that is right up my alley. I really enjoy that.
Eliot on freshman linebacker Corey Yeoman:
“Corey is a great kid. He’s really positive, and he’s really energetic. He has some talent, too. I think he has a very bright future.”
Eliot on the cornerback room, specifically Keyshawn Paul and Cameron Ruiz:
“They’ve done a good job. Those two guys are seniors, so we have some veterans at that spot, which is good because that is not the case at every position. They are getting coached really good. I think Jules Montinar is a tremendous corner’s coach. They are buying into all the techniques that we play, and they are confident too. You can’t play corner if you are not confident, and they are confident people.”
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