Blake Shapen Press Conference 8/2

well Blake welcome back to what you love what's it been like kind of being out there with your guys you know with a practice session rather than just a workout yeah it's been good um especially for us we've been doing workouts things like that so being able to get back on the grass and and be able to be around the guys on the field has been great what do you think on some um obviously some good offenses you know in your time here what have you kind of seen based in the last couple of days and getting acquainted with the guys that you know shows you that this offense can be really good this year exposive yeah I mean obviously our goals get better every single day uh right now we started off with Red Zone and things like that so obviously it's a little bit tougher on us but um for us to get better we got to do things like that so um ceiling's very high and we just got to get better every single day that's the goal for us you think about your receiver group like you spend some time with them I know kind of on your own but what's it been like kind of getting to know those guys and letting those guys know you yeah it's been awesome uh we brought in some transfers we have young guys um that have came in and and been a big impact for for our receiver course so um it's been great working with them very talented they want to get better every single day um that's our goal coach was talking about he like the retention from the spring have you seen the same thing yeah um for us in the spring it was just about learning the offense things like that um having a full spring under our belt together um and a new offense together new new players so um that was big for us coming into fall camp we just want to build on that um and get better every single day got a lot of transfers up front too on the offensive line how's that I know it's early but how's that group kind of jail spr yeah it's been awesome those guys those guys work hard they're up here just as much as anybody else and and be me seeing that um gives me a lot of confidence and so having guys like Ethan Miner um playing Center being able to call the shots and different things like that has been awesome Albert ree M Pounders guys like that um it's been great uh Mar Martinez all those guys so just being around them they're great people great dudes but they're even even better on the field so that's good yesterday after the practice ly essentially said the team is just going to Simply follow your lead I guess just how have you kind of taken the reign as you know being the leader on the team even though you're a transfer and yourself this off season yeah I think for me it's just being able to first lead by example do the right things um be in the building um learn the offense like the back of my hand show them that you know I'm very committed to what I'm doing um and also be vocal when I need to and uh we have good relationships all around the build so hasn't really been an issue um doing that being a leader so you know it's been good talk about using the tight end in this offense a like you had a lot of fun with it in the spring game let's talk about that moving forward yeah we have a very talented tight end room so we got depth there it's been good to to have guys like that very talented um hard workers also so you know all around I feel like we've built a really good Bond you know as an offense and things like that so you know it it's special watching those guys and being able to step up into a role where they're going to have to you had to Spring to learn the strengths of your wide receivers how are you taking that now to this preseason working off their strengths yeah um they're great like I said I mean right now you know trying to find the guys that you know I'm comfortable with which I'm comfortable with all of them really um we have good relationships and and I'm very comfortable throwing the ball to them so when you have so many good guys you know it's it's you know you're can't it's hard to single one out you know what I mean so you know for us to get better we got to collectively get better going off that I mean what do you think of bran Burnside so far and how much of an impact do you think he can make for this team on the field you know right away what kind of role play for this offense stong is a great player um works hard great dude um but he's a younger guy he's learning still he's start trying to get better every single day especially when you're a real young guy um first you got to master the offense and things like that but then also you got to focus on you know playing like yourself so um he's he's working towards that every single day and he's going to have impa we talked to Jordan he said their job as receivers is to help you and other quarterbacks get better and and vice versa it's your job to help them get better is that how yall are approaching it yeah for sure you know for for J Mo and those guys you know to do their thing I got to do mine um you know I got to know my job cold for for them to to be able to go out and do what they want to do and and do the you know whatever they want to do whatever their goals may be you know it's my job to be the best that I can be so I can help them Reach reach those goals we're about to talk to Ethan what's your relationship with him at Center there he's awesome I just got got done telling him you know he's one of my favorite centers that I've played with and and so it's been fun he's he's a great dude we've hung out off the field and got a good relationship and um he's a great guy what makes him one of your favorites just he's a great dude he's funny like sarcastic dude when we first got here he'd say things that that was very funny like just very humorous and he's got a lot of humor so it's he's a funny guy and I think he's really funny and also he's a great football player every coach is a little bit different has their own points what makes Jeff leby a little bit different what does he maybe preach to you that maybe some other coaches haven't you know I think consistency you know um there's an expectation level um and if you don't reach it you know obviously you need to figure out a way to reach it so you know I think that's the biggest thing that I haven't had in the past is is to be pushed like I'm being pushed right now on to a level that I need to get and you know I'm very blessed to have that that's what I need right now in my career we talked to Coach H second new Communication System he's going to be the first Bo talking coach Lees in the sideline talking to you how do you like this being able to communicate so directly with your coaches yeah I think it's a good thing you know obviously I think it cuts off at 17 seconds or something like that so for us it's a big deal um to give me clues and tips for Coach Le being the headset and you know help me out a little bit and you know if there's something that I'm not seeing and maybe that he can see you know he can communicate that in a way um whereas before you would have to wait till the drive was over to get on the sidelines I understand it so um it's been good having the communication you think that R go to when you tell the coach just shut up and let me go maybe I don't know we'll see though you mentioned uh obviously being one of the leaders of this team and and you know kind of rallying the troops and whatnot you know so when kind of outside noise comes in like the SEC you know media preseason poll that predicted youall to finish 15th in the conference I mean how do you kind of what do you think of that and how do you kind of address that kind of stuff you know to be honest like for us we don't obviously we don't sit there and look at that all day but we've all seen it um so I think for us we've used it as motivation um to prove a lot of people wrong whereas you know they got us sitting at 15 whatever the number may be um so down far down there that you know that's motivation for us and you know we can use that mov moving forward how much like you know using that bull board material I mean how much does that help when it comes to you know light and fire with these guys and helping that extra motivation yeah I mean like I said I don't I don't think we sit there and you know dwell on it you know we got a lot of other things that we got to f focus on things like that so we don't sit there and dwell on it but at the same time we know you know that's where we are and when we're going to use that as motivation I think everybody in the locker room understands up