Navy Football Interview: Luke Pirris, Kyle Jacob, Ricky Brown (Bucknell Week)

you kind of were thrown into the fire last year and you actually excelled I mean you were up to the challenge I'm wondering the all the game experience you got how much did that help you grow as a player okay you were kind of learning on the fly a little bit weren't you yes sir absolutely I mean uh last year I came into the role off an injury and uh before that I was practicing like I was a starter but it's really you don't experience what a game is like until you're thrown into one and I felt like last year I just grew a a lot and it's going to really benefit me this year so what were some of the things you learned from that experience that you're able to apply moving forward to this season um I feel like I just got to understand the pace of game and how fast it really moves and how talented the people that we go against really are and um this off season I really I understood that and it allowed for me to really attack everything I was thrown into and just like the training this offseason get better for the season what position did you play in high school I played outside linebacker but the strong side okay so is it at all like what you're doing now at the Raider position um it was a little bit more dropping into coverage but I would say it's very similar in regards to your blitzing and your dropping in coverage good amount and also the Raider has to set the edge and the Navy defense has to be a run support um you know do you feel like you've gotten better in that regard yeah no absolutely uh coach Bron does a good job of really getting us physical early in practice so we're never just don't know what it feels like to hit somebody and strike somebody and uh it allows for us to just both play The Run game and pass last game so I remember talking to the coaches about you last year after you ended up you know taking over the starting position they all said you know wait till he puts some weight on how important was that of a a focus during the off season to get with coach kitzy and improve your strength add some weight that was everything for me uh that's what I wanted to benefit the most on is just gaining weight in rushian passer becoming better at rushian passer and I feel like I I've taken another step in that regard have have you how much more do you weigh from like maybe the end of last year till now how much weight did you gain I gained about 15 PBS in and you you're putting up a lot better lifting numbers as well AB improve strength ABS yep coach K's I give all the credit to him he does does a great job with us he's allowed me to take my game to the next level so I was talking to uh to Coach vulker and he's you know great competition that position Jordan Sanders has been a starter he's a good player uh then you know obviously uh spilios has shown up and done some good things currently too on the dep chart how how much are you all pushing each other at that position I would say that we're the deepest position on the team and Dylan spios is a great player so is Jordan Sanders and going with going against them and playing alongside them every day it's it's taking my game to a new level so I'm grateful for being in a position group that pushes me and um I think it only benefits all of us so it's it's really making the team better so you know I'm sure Coach Brown sat you down after the season said here in addition to getting bigger and stronger which is obvious these are other areas of the game you need to work on what are as you move into this season what do you what are you looking to try to do better than you did last year um he he told me that I got to get better in my pass rushing ability and I feel like that's been my main focus this offseason so I'm looking I'm looking forward to showcasing that and what I've done in P in the offseason okay Kyle um you know last year you played well against s Dame and turned out that was it uh how frustrating was that uh I'm not going to lie it was pretty frustrating you know just putting in all that work in the fall and then the offseason and everything and then you know again the opportunity to play on defense and then just like getting hurt first game but I mean you can't look at it like that like it happens to everyone you just got to keep going come back stronger and stronger and then you know now it's the new season we put that in the past and now we're ready to work for this season when were you cleared to resume working out uh when was I cleared I would say probably I started like so I didn't do spring after spring I started yeah I sat out spring Cam and then I did everything in the summer all the summer workouts yes sir so how did it take a while to get kind of back in G year so to speak I mean honestly like coach vulker just preaches on like if you're not there you're like not in like just get mental reps on the sideline and so like I would still watch a ton of film just keep getting mental reps and I did it so much that when I got out there then it was just like it felt like I was already playing because I was just like putting my eye where it's supposed to be and just playing fast so right so I mean I've heard from both coach Newberry and coach vulker and they're very pleased with where you are uh coach vulker see I can't wait to unleash Kyle Jacob he said what are you happy with where you're at right now and you know kind of talk about The Hunger you have to to Really come out and show what you're all about yeah I mean it's it's more of just like a a broader thing for me like I just I want to I want our team to win I want us to win this year and you know you just got to every show up every day like coach vulker says you go one and0 like you have a good play you have a bad play you wipe it and then next play you're just one and0 again you're trying to do the best in next play and everything I mean I'm just trying to come out here and just play as hard as I can for my my brothers out here and that's really it how much you learn from a guy like Colin Ros and the way he goes about his business yeah I mean he's awesome to play with and just just seeing how he plays and just asking him questions and stuff about what he's seen in games cuz he has a lot of experience obviously it's just awesome to have that and play play next to it so it's it's great so how you know the challenge to meet that standard for you you got to be an animal a beast out there to to match up with Ramos you don't want to have Ramos making all the tackles and you're running up behind him right I mean we're just going to we're just going to do what coach vuler tells us to do and just play fast and play hard and and that's it and just play all out talk a little bit about the Raider position just got done talking to Luke pis very deep group Jordan Sanders started games here in his good player dillian spelos has come on and is currently two on the depth chart and then Luke who really showed out last season when put into the fire he he's there so you got a great group of Raiders yes sir no the uh the guys are coming together we had a fantastic off season all right and then that led into Camp from there all right it's iron sharpens iron it's over versus D um o line tight ends are making us better we're making them better um really really healthy healthy healthy competition and um those guys are also encouraging each other so I'm I'm I'm I'm very lucky to be around those guys do you feel the three guys I just mentioned Pius spelos and Sanders bring different things to the table totally um you know uh I would say Dylan spilios may be prob like he's got he's got one of my votes for most improved from Spring ball to fall camp and um you feel really good about those guys being able to come into the game uh Jordan and Luke have both been sweaty in a game before on defense um Dylan has has uh has showed that he is he's ready to go be a member of our of our defense and um you just feel really good about the depth there and you feel really good about the uh the power of that unit right there what do you think Luke Pierce brings to the table um I love his attitude uh he's he's a little bit of a throwback player in that uh you know if someone is trying to uh set the tone on the other side he's trying to go set the tone on our side and um you obviously love that piece uh I think the kid has grown his game to be able to uh be in coverage and be um uh a great run Defender from the line of scrimmage as well as being able to rush the passer so becoming more multifaceted yes sir well and he you know last year we saw he's got the perfect bodybuild but you and coach vulker and Coach Newber all were like I can't wait to see what he looks like with a little more weight and strength which he really put a lot of work in the All Season with Coach gitzy to get there are you seeing the impacts of that that he's kind of getting some more weight and strength that he can now back up that absolutely uh Luke Luke's had a great off season with Coach kitzy Dylan spilios as well has kind of transformed his body and Jordan Sanders again he's I mean in terms of uh just body composition I mean all three of those guys are definitely going to look the part right so on the other side it's Striker Jackson was a guy that had two Springs ago he showed out did well he got a chance and then last B Camp he didn't you know it didn't happen for him and it turned out he didn't play very much he end up moving Evan given up there um Jackson didn't really play much with the defense he's a totally different player as you went into the offseason what did you feel like you Ricky Brown had to do to get dyl Jackson to where he you knew he had the ability how did you have to get him to the point where he could help this defense totally and you and you kind of look at it and you say to yourself some guys are ready to play as sophomore some guys are ready to play as freshman um you know we kind of kid around there's the old adage like your sophomore spring everything seems to click MH and um with what we do on defense and the fixation the detail that our guys got to play with having that full you know Second Spring cuz you're learning from one to two in everything you do freshman year to sophomore year sophomore or freshman spring to sophomore spring and um you really saw the light bulb start to go on for Jackson and then you started bringing in guys like Kenny McShan all right and he's he's like come so far in terms of being healthy and ready to roll um and you're just having again healthy competition but also healthy support mhm so it's been great and what do you I mean from all accounts jackon is playing very well do can do you feel good that he is going to be a playmaker for this defense this this season yeah you know he he knows he's got to go out there and just do his oneth of the defense all right um because uh you love it because it's a noisy defense all right we we stress communication with those guys and um you know it's it's a secondary that's very very accomplished with their communication so it's been a it's been a great Camp kind of watching that group come together