The name of the game for Leopards' Garrett: Details

Details matter. If there’s a phrase that I believe defines the first season of the John Garrett regime at Lafayette, that’s it. He uses it freely.

Tbe Leopards’ head football coach often seems pretty secretive and somewhat evasive, and I took some of that as being wary of the media. But on Tuesday, in the aftermath of his first victory as a collegiate head coach, he really opened up at the weekly media luncheon.

For example, while most of the talk centered around Jeffrey Kordenbrock, who booted the game-winning field goal at Holy Cross, or the defense, which callowed just seven points and 319 total yards, or even the screen pass play that accounted for Lafayette’s only touchdown, Garrett really broke out when asked about the play of freshman quarterback Sean O’Malley, who threw three interceptions, lost a fumble and yet directed the Leopards to the win.

“Sean is a fantastic competitor, extremely smart,” Garrett said. “There were a couple plays where he wished he had thrown to other guy and it would have been good play. These are great opportunities to learn from. He battles all game, he’s under duress, he makes good decisions – other than a couple. For him, it was a great example of how the games are meant to be played. It’s not always perfect. You have to block out that last play. He grinded it out. We talked (here) about Rocco (Palumbo’s touchdown against Holy Cross), about the run (after the catch), about the type of play it was, about the three linemen (who blocked it). No one talked about the throw (O’Malley) made around a blitzing corner and put the ball on his front shoulder, a key to getting the plav started. It’s a tribute to him to execute the way he practiced it. I have no concerns over Sean O’Malley. He’s the leader of our team.”

Coach Garrett said his main mesasage in his first meeting with the Leopards was that he wanted them to be “hard to beat.” Here’s how he describes that phrase.

Details.

“That is no penalties, no missed assignments and don’t turn the ball over. So, these guys have heard that message over and over and over and over and over again in a variety of different ways with video, stories, in the game plan. Hopefully – and it is the coaches’ wish – those messages are ingrained. We constantly remind them in the huddle.”

Then came more details. He gave a couple of examples of instructions he might give to an offensive huddle.

“This is a 4-minute situation, Stay in bounds, secure the ball, no penalties. Here’s the play.

“Or, this is a 2-minute situation, These are the timeouts we have. Secure the ball. Don’t fight for extra yards. If you can get out of bounds, do it; if not, go down. Don’t struggle for extra yards, because (the opposing players) will hold you up and hit the ball out.

“Every situation we introduce to the team, there are instructions on how to play the situation. They hear it, we do it in practices to re-enforce it.”

He was asked what he says to a struggling offense while the Leopard defense is doing everything asked of it to keep the team in the game.

Details.

“It’s really pretty simple. See how close we were to making some of those plays? You encourage and challenge them to keep going, concentrate, execute it the way they were taught. Also, the success of the defense motivates the offense because we’re getting the ball back.”

Holy Cross Coach Tim Gilmore tried six times in the game to convert fourth-down plays, seemingly assuming the Leopard defense wouldn’t be able to stop the Crusaders. Garrett was asked whether he was aware of all that disrespect.

Details.

“We don’t concern ourselves with what they do or decide; we concern ourselves with being prepared for every situation -- to transition to offense if we hold them … to punt return if they punt … to be ready for a fake … and also don’t go offsides in those fourth-and-short plays. There is way too much to prepare your team for to be concerned about what the other team decides to do.”

He was asked about how he handled the dual role of head coach and play-calling offensive coordinator in a game in which he had to make all the big decisions.

Details.

“It’s been a lot of fun. As long as you’re concentrating on the game. It’s pretty easy to go with the flow with it. You have to pay attention to all the situations and anticipate some and then, particularly with penalties when defense is in the field, you have to be cognizant of all that to make decisions. The only real difference is you don’t get as much time as the offensive coordinator to speak to your team when they’re on the bench and the defense is on the field. So, you notice I gather them very quickly (as they come off the field). I also use the staff extremely, which is confident, to relay messages that it needs to, but it’s been fun and almost easy to stay in the flow of the game.”

I think I’ll pay a little more attention to some of those details when Lafayette tries to win a second straight league game and establish itself as a true championship contender Saturday against Fordham.