questions for TJ Finley TJ um I guess first off this is not the first time you've started against Alabama obviously two other times two different teams um just what's uh what was that experience like and how you approaching it third time around um it was good experience you know uh being a young buck in the SEC you know contest your Mentor a lot um I feel like just being a veteran on this on this group of men that we got on this team right here um you know mentally physically is going to make a big difference in this game you announced as the start quarterback officially yesterday um you know for you just how's that feel knowing like that you going do well on this team yeah it feel amazing you know um I I came here with one thing on my mind and that was to win win football games and you know K now had a great competition um you know coach heldon sat us down and talked to us and told us you know what it what it was going to be and you know you know God allowed me to win the job again and you know I'm looking forward to this season looking forward to the ride that we got coming on I love this team you know I love what we built um and we're going to go out there and show the world we can do I was being um on a twoa team other than being on team or um I mean Talent is Talent you know we we've pulled Talent from each and every division um we got guys from the SEC we got guys from the Pack 12 we got guys from you know every conference that you can name um so you know just being a Conference USA team I you know I like our shots to to play Down the Road in a maybe a championship game we talk to kayen in the spring kind of talked about you all kind of just got along right away kind of took you in and you know showed you around and you know you all developed that friendship you know what's it like between you two all you know going through the summer yeah it's it's nothing but love you know um and i' I've told K miss a million times you know I've been in multiple quarterback uh quarterback battles where the room became toxic um and and that's not what I wanted for this team that's not what I wanted for my last year at College um so whether it was him or whether it was me you know I wanted to make sure we both had each other's support cuz at the end of the day it's going to take both of us to win you know you know in Alabama when I come up to the sideline and he saw something that I didn't see maybe that might help me on the next drive so um you know shout out my boy DeMarco but now but it's been a great competition you know he he's a great guy great kid um and hopefully you know these upcoming years that he has um he he'll take something from my book and and run with it you know your past couple years with your last few teams you faced Alabama what do you think you can take from those matchups into this one um really you know every game is a new game you know and especially with them having a new coaching staff everything about this ball game is different the environment I've never played in Alabama um you know they've came they came to me in 2020 they came to me in 21 um in 22 I didn't travel to Alabama and then I was at Texas State in 23 so I've never played in the stadium but I've been there on an unofficial visit um you know but but like I like I tell the guys you know every game is each its own game and to us we're approaching it as as we're going out there and playing ourselves it's all about us we got to execute and and know the final details of the game plan and I think we we we got a shot to go in there and put up some points now you got round obviously a bit over the years in college with a lot of different offenses how does this one compareed to some other systems you run how how much more difficult or easier was it to pick up and how much uh do you like playing in this style yeah I I love it you know it's a it's a pass first offense um we we got Izzy in the back field that can that can run downhill and catch balls out the back field which is amazing for us which allows us to put him in different spots and and utilize him in different ways you know it's kind of similar to the Texas state offense with the Up Tempo the vertical shots and stuff like that um as you seen you know the past couple years as a quarterback Factory over here that's why that's why you know I ended up coming here is because they've putting they've put three and four quarterbacks in the league the past couple years um you know and I like my chance I like my chance to do it as well first time that we got to talk to you you know period you know what that transition like you know transfer from Texas State coming over here you know not even just as a player but just you know as a person coming from one part of the country to another yeah it was it was smooth you know I'm I'm a person of of easy change um I actually like change a little bit and and a change of scenery every every now and again is good for everybody um um it it was easy to adapt you know the whole team the whole city kind of welcomed me in with open arms stuff like that so it was pretty smooth I like it out here and you know maybe once when I get old I I'll move my family out here maybe one day have there been any receivers in practice that stuck out do you that you think would be difference makers say uh I plead the fifth we'll see on Saturday and just going back to that uh time you played him with auburn I mean that was a quadruple overtime game um probably a pretty tough loss to take how much do that stuck with you over the university oh it it it's definitely stuck with me um and that was the first game you know that I circled on our calendar when I realized that I was going to commit to WKU um just an opportunity to see that University again you know it's a dream come true and every time you get to play an SEC school like that um you have to capitalize on your opportunity and utilize that for for upcoming uh games and stuff like that so you know it it it'll be it'll be a fun one for sure