Brian Kelly Updates Jayden Daniels' Status, Talks Passing Game Issues & How To Fix It

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Q. How was Daniels physically; and, two, after five games, are you where you thought you would kind of be as a team?

BRIAN KELLY: Daniels is fine. He had a bursa sac, which I don't know the exact medical deal with that. I wish I could be a little bit more precise and articulate, but it's not structural at all, but it's painful. So, he was in pain.

He just felt like he was hurting the team being out there, but he felt good yesterday. The exam was clean. We did an MRI just to make sure, and that came back clean. He is now in a pretty good position where he feels like he is 100%.

I never really looked at it relative to the wins and losses piece. What I've looked at is will we continue to get better each and every week as we go through the season, and can we develop an identity as a football team?

I think that early on we've been able to identify that this football team will fight. It's got grit. Those are traits that sometimes don't ever show themselves during the season.

So, yeah, I think we're ahead of it because to go on the road and be down 17-0 and come back and win, that means that your program is establishing character within the ranks, and that to me puts you on the right path.

Q. Sort of building off the passing game, I guess, discussion, there hasn't been much of a down field vertical threat, I guess, this year. Is there a solution that you have in mind for that, or are you going to kind of have to live with the quick passing game and just try to make that more effective than it was against Auburn?

BRIAN KELLY: I could give you a video clip of all the throws down field. We've had a number of deep ball throws. They weren't this week.

Last week against New Mexico that was a cover 8. That was short passing game, catch it, run after the catch. Threw for over 300 yards.

This past weekend was not good enough. That's not going to get you a sustainable offense that can win games at the highest level in the SEC, but that's coaching and that's playing.

What I mean by coaching and playing is we have to prepare better. Our fundamentals have to be better. We have to look at the passing game. Are we doing too much? Are we doing the things that highlight our players?

Then, in turn, our players have to look at themselves. Are they preparing the right way? Is there attention to the details necessary?

This is an all of us together that we need to get better, and the recognition and the awareness that 85 yards is not going to get it done, but it's a new week. The one thing that doesn't carry over very well in college football is the last week. So we expect to be much better.

Q. When you take a look at the video from the Auburn game, you take a look at not only wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, passes that hit them on the hands, whether it's a little bit off of the mark or not and catchable balls that aren't caught. How would you reflect on that? And not only Kayshon, but before the year everybody thought your wide receivers were the strength of the team. What can you do to get those guys more involved?

BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think I would continue to answer the question, and I'm going to be honest with you. Everybody should be asking the same questions, but I will tell you that it starts with putting together a comprehensive plan that can be repeated in the game.

The guy that has his hands on the ball is the quarterback, and he is going to get most of the notoriety when we do well, and he is going to get a lot of the blame when it doesn't go well. So, the quarterback is part of this.

The wide receivers have got to be better at attention to detail. Their routes have to be better. We've got to throw it better and catch it better.

There were probably five or six -- and you probably can all remember them -- where there needed to be a little bit better of a throw and a little bit better of a catch. So, that also goes to play-calling. We've got to be able to look at, are these the plays that we can repeat and are we doing too much?

I think we're looking at it in all of those areas because this is not going to work. We can't throw for 85 yards with the talent that we have and expect to beat the top 10 teams in the country.

Q. The Florida State game you mentioned you maybe were a little slow to notice the front Florida State was running. Last week you said it was a little of the double zone. Do you think that's week-to-week what it's going to be a little bit of, you know, working on noticing what's going on with the defense and Jayden Daniels just kind of recognizing that?

BRIAN KELLY: No, I don't think that can be the case. I think we have to improve. We've got to be better at recognition.

Look, there's a difference between being on the edge aggressively and being reckless. We're way too conservative right now, and so I don't want to throw interceptions. That's not what I want to do.

I don't want to turn the ball over. We haven't thrown any. That's not necessarily a bad thing in one respect, but if you are looking to be aggressive, you're going to throw an interception or two because somebody made a great play, because you trust that you're going to throw it in there.

We've got to get Jayden to be a little bit more on that edge and be a little bit more aggressive, and we will. We'll get there with him because that's the nature of this position. This position has to be with the skill players that we have, we've got to get that ball down the field, and we've got to get it into some tight windows sometimes. They're not always going to be wide open, but those guys can make plays, and we have to get them the ball.

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