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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 27, Digital 6

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 6 20 tions, they'll provide competition and hopefully they can be weapons. But if they're not quite where we want them to be, then we've got to find some ball-control methods in order to get them the ball where they're not having to just run one-on-one routes up the field and try to beat a guy one-on-one all the time." Gold and Black: What can be this team's strength? Brohm: "I think defensively, I think we can be better than people think we will be. I could be wrong. But I think our linebacking corps is good. I think our defensive front, even though it may not have the depth we want, there are certain guys who if they buy in and are ready to go, they can be effective. Our secondary, while there may not be one standout guy, there are multiple guys who can be ef- fective for us, in my opinion. So I'm hopeful that we play good defensive football. "Special teams has to be an advantage for us. I think it has been. I think we have the system in place that we can try to gain an edge there. We have a couple decent kickers coming back who have experience, a good long snapper. We have to develop a returner, which is a concern, to get some big plays, but I think that can be an advantage. "Really, to be honest, offense is my main concern be- cause, as of this day, we've got to improve even moreso than the others. So that's where a lot of improvement has to come." Gold and Black: On defense, the depth isn't there. So how do you work it in terms of playing the best players throughout or giving them series or two off when maybe you're putting in guys who aren't as good? Brohm: "I do feel like the area you need the most depth at on defense is the defensive line. That is a little bit concerning, but we have some guys there that we have to get better and that I think will get better. We had some guys out in the spring who we'll get back healthy who will help us. So we have to just make sure all those guys are healthy and ready to go. I think that will be a tre- mendous help. At linebacker and in the secondary, you don't have to rotate as much. I don't feel like that should be a problem unless we have a lot of injuries. Really it's just up front, making sure your second unit is at least comparable — doesn't have to be quite as good — but not too far behind and plays hard and they're smart. I'm optimistic we can do that. But time will tell." Gold and Black: I don't know if people will see your ideal offense this year, like you'd mentioned. But what makes your offense different? David Blough has talked a lot about pass concepts and route combinations. Brohm: "I think we're very multiple, so that helps. We can adapt to what we have a little bit better than some others because we can do a lot of different things. That's what we want to do. I think we want to be aggres- sive on offense. We want to be attacking. That doesn't mean we have to throw it every play, but if someone just wants to take your run all the time, you have to be effec- tive throwing the ball and you've got to push it up the field, which we have in the past. So if we can get one or two guys who can run deep, we can protect and move the pocket or find a way to max protect and throw it deep. I think if teams are going to play the pass, you have to find a way to run the ball. I think the amount of stuff we are capable of doing and the ability to adjust to who we have and maybe who we're playing allows us to continue to be aggressive scoring points. It's all about moving the ball, scoring the points, taking care of the ball. "In a perfect world, we'd like to play a lot of guys on offense. We want them to all feel part of it. It's not that the defense knows we're just going to throw to this guy and he's going to get it every time. No. We've got more than a couple guys to do things for us. I do think on this team we have more than a couple guys. It may be at some different positions than we've normally had. But we have to make sure they all feel part of it when you're multiple and they never know which game someone is going to get more touches than the other, but they're always ready and they're team guys who are willing to rotate them- selves occasionally when they get tired and not feel like they have to be in there every play. That, I think, we can do. On the offensive line, they don't get as much credit as they should when things are going well, and they proba- bly take a little more blame when things aren't going as good. I think with the addition of a couple people we've added, we'll have a little more depth, which will provide a little more competition. I think we can get them to where they're effective and can be good players." Gold and Black: How many backs will you play? Does it depend on who emerges in camp? Brohm: "I felt confident in the three guys who were

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