Kansas State Football | Damian Ilalio Press Conference | Aug 31; UT-Martin

how awesome was it playing in front of the crowd tonight oh the crowd is always electric uh we're we're very thankful to have the best fans in college football so I mean um you know anytime we get to play out in front of soldout crowd you know we got to show out and uh defense did their thing today so it it was awesome it was exciting I know you've seen the field before but just just getting out there um new year new youve been able to really really grow here me back and what has that been like man you know starts from the beginning our culture is uh is just amazing here uh you know older guys uh tutoring the the young players and U making sure they're ready to play in the future I got the privilege to be tuted by a lot of really good um older guys Eli Huggins Timmy Horn uh de hence you know so um to not use that knowledge would be a disgrace to them and you know uh they they really did well with all of us and you know me and Uso were just trying to uh keep that tradition going you know what I mean so um Asher Malcolm uh Titus Holden all of them uh we try to you know teach them the game the ins and outs and it helps us uh you know critique ourselves and critique the game a little bit better too what did it mean to you to to win the starting job uh you know I I don't really you know I look back to my freshman year when Timmy horn was a captain and he was also second string you know Eli Huggins was a guy um um Timmy didn't didn't care about um about a label about starting about anything like that he he just went out there and played to the best of his ability because uh he believed in the team he believed him uh in himself and I think the same thing is uh there for Uso you know whether it's me out there on the field or us on the field um we both uh bring a lot to the table you know and um as long as somebody's making a play uh I I wouldn't be offended or I I wouldn't care too much if he he got the starting job and you know I I just want us to play our best so how' you feel like your unit played first game of the year I think we did good uh I think there's there's a lot uh to improve obviously UT Martin has a really good offense they're very experienced up front um you know three-time division Champions uh a lot of credit to them you know three uh veteran inside uh players on the old line so we had a good test and I think we uh did pretty good is there a specialness doing this here on man oh yeah um you know when I moved here uh my dad was military when we got uh stationed here at Fort Riley uh the the community welcomed me in in a time where I moved away from all my family you know uh back home in Washington and um to be able to give back to the community uh it's just been amazing for me uh I love Manhattan I love this place I love playing in front of um our fans and uh I couldn't ask for more did you envision playing here yeah yeah I mean I I always thought of myself as a good football player uh in high school and middle school you know peeee and all that stuff so um I I dreamt of you know giving back and being able to uh you know have have the people of Manhattan excited to come on Saturdays how much does it help you guys as defensive tackles to have the pass rushers that you guys have alongside of you uh you know and you guys have the ability to go 560 at that position yeah I mean our our DN room has a lot of depth and um they're all amazing players we we have to find a way to get all of them on the field and you know uh for us nose guards it it's so it's so much easier when you have people screaming off the edge the guards go uh go out to help the the uh tackles and and then you kind of have a one-on-one one on the center and we have to be better about making the most of that opportunity but um it it's such a privilege to be around great Edge rushers like brenon M and Toby And even all the way down to uh Travis bats and Jordan and Ryan Davis you know all of them are great rushers so what makes Toby such a gifted pass rusher man he's he's just an athlete he uh he is has been an athlete since he got here um he works hard uh and he's very competitive you know he he doesn't like to lose uh and he he will find a way to win every time and so I had no doubts him moving uh down on the line you know uh I thought he was going to be more productive cuz he was closer to the ball you know what I mean so um it was really cool for him Tak a lot of personnel throughout the game how challenging is that and what does it to say about your team that you were able to be dominant throughout you know we we in our walkthroughs we have a lot of communication uh we challenge each other to communicate as much as we can you know um be loud be present uh with everybody on the defense so that we're we're all on the same page um and and it's been a a challenge you know uh getting used to the system uh you know all of our checks and all of our personnels but I think we've done a really good job in Camp um all the way back to Spring ball you know we we've uh recognized the challenge that it is and we've attacked it really well how do you feel like you've improved much um I think I think the game uh has really slowed down for me a little bit you know um I feel like I recognize things a little bit better uh I still have to find a way to um you know have my process be quick so that I can know my job see the play see the formation know what they're going to do and see how effective I can be with you know all that information and I think uh I'm just slowly getting a lot better and better at that what have you learned from Uso uh that that you sort of can take to your game yeah um so I mean Uso we we watch film together a lot um you know we'll come up and watch film uh early whenever the D tackles have like a meeting uh we'll try to be at least 30 minutes early so that we can you know uh just just analyze the opponent and he has a really good uh feel naturally you know um I think I might have a little bit of an edge when it comes to maybe the ins and outs of football because I mean he's only been playing since senior year high school so I I've I've been playing for a lot longer and I you know was uh taught under Eli Huggins for a little bit longer so I feel like I have that but he has a really good natural feel to where he should be and where a play is and uh where the ball is going to be so I mean when we watch film we we talk a lot about you know little tiny tails that uh you know maybe people don't focus on all the time what do it feel like you guys did best tonight um you know going back to the the Personnel thing there was a lot of things that in a first game you know you never know what you're going to get you game plan for a team based on what they did last year and you know uh coach claner kept telling us like all week you know they could come out and a triple option and you know all of our game plan would just you know go whatever but uh we work the game uh probably the best in the country and um you know we we uh adjust to what we need to do and our communication was great tonight our communication was awesome with all of our personnels and all of our checks and really just you know uh falling back on our training when when uh things were muddy you know what I mean and we all got on the same page and just played fast because we were all in the same page coach kimman mentioned that he didn't really want this game to be 6 53 and you know he wanted you guys to face a little bit of adversity how much does it help you guys heading into late in the season knowing that you know every game is likely going to be a battle oh yeah I mean the big 12 is a great conference uh very tough conference every team um every team is really good uh and you know anything can happen every week so you always have to be prepared um to go give it your all you can't Overlook anybody and you can't underestimate anybody uh in this league so it's really important that we have these kind of challenges a good FCS team and um you know so that we don't we don't just push them to the side and uh you know so there