Arizona HC Brent Brennan post-practice interview (Day 14)

On kicker Tyler Loop uh usually kickers don't usually get a lot of love but just you know what are your impressions of Tyler Loop what has he shown you so far Tyler Loop's a big time player um he's an awesome awesome leader on our team um I'm just been really impressed with how he goes about his work and how dedicated he is and you know I think uh I think we can all expect really big things from him do you feel like his uh leg strength has gotten better you feel like he's starting to extend his range a little bit that's hard for me to say CU I wasn't here you know since I've been here it's been outstanding you know I I don't have the point of reference of being here for when he's a freshman and seeing that development but obviously he's really really really strong now Brian and then Michael how's it been going so far with using the tablets and and figuring all that out it looked like maybe you guys were like checking them out after each set this time is that just to get familiar with them exactly yeah just you know it's new for us too and and so you know how do we get reps doing that and so we just built it into the practice plan I thought I thought it was good D said the other day that the tablets can make an average coach really good because now they have this information is that like there's some games and ship that maybe you have to it's you have to adjust to the adjustments because you're everyone is able to look at this stuff right away yeah I think it's I think you know it has a chance for some of those adjustments to happen maybe a little bit faster because you have an exact picture of what you think you saw you know sometimes that you know the game happens pretty fast and you're like no this is what happened um and then you look at the film you're like it wasn't exactly what I thought it was um now you have a chance to evaluate that you know the you know the next series and so I think there is value in that and I think uh you know and especially with you know the communication from the coaches that are upstairs and what they see and so I think it's gonna be good Michael and David tra Smith was really given off a strong leadership by the other day when he was up here what can you say to about On Trey Smith his his character his makeup and his like presence in the Trey Smith is just an really really special you know person we've obviously known him for a long time because he you know he played for us at San Jose um he was one of the guys at San Jose State where I could literally set my watch with the time he walked in the building every day um my last the last three years at San Jose he's one of those players that you saw in the building every single day of the year no matter what um just like that was how committed he is um and how you know how much it means to him and so he's been a great addition to the team and the guys on the on the team here have done a great job of welcoming welcoming him into the family it's been really good what enabled him to kind of take off as a player last year well he would have taken off the year before he just got injured David and then Jason BR what would you say in the first three weeks of Campus the most pleasant surprise Most pleasant surprise for that's a good question um the most pleasant surprise should I don't I don't know I don't know you know I think it's different because most of the players that joined us that were new joined us like we're already here when I got hired you know so any sometimes that happens with like freshman right you're like wow this freshman's really playing great um but like those players were here for spring practice most of them so you saw that part of it um you know I think I I do really think this team really this is it's really important to them and I I wouldn't say that's a surprise to me but it's nice to have that confirmed with how they go about their business day-to- day uh you know the energy they bring to the meeting room the wait room the practice facil you know the practice environment I think that part of has been really Biggest challenge really great and on the Flip Flip Side what would you say has been the biggest challenge um you know I don't know I think like the challenges of football are kind of a change year to year team to team I don't know that there's an exact uh situation that we've been dealing with it's been specifically challenging um shoot I that's a good question I don't know that I have a great answer answer for that I'm sorry Jason and Troy uh the last time we talked you mentioned narrowing down to the death chart specifically at quarterback behind Noah where are you in that that'll start this week so this is technically like the break of camp for us even though we're not starting school next week which is different for me because I think most semester schools start on Monday or start this week sometime um but this is kind of the break of training camp um the players will be off tomorrow um and they give us you know is a chance to you know start to ramp up Marcus KW some of the conversation and the planning for New Mexico so it's kind of where we're at Troy and then Justin we had a chance to talk to Marcus G KW you just you know share how he's developed throughout train camp in screen since he's been there and what he's brought to the table and also I believe he can be walk on is that still the case right now is there a scholarship player now so he's a scholarship player um I think we're all really excited about him just his the acceleration of his development um that's been that's been really exciting Justin Mich uh what has it been like having NFL Scouts and coaches come by faity and check out your team well you know I think the cool thing is that um I've had so many of those guys say to me how much they've enjoyed their visit here where they felt like the information they were getting from the you know from Gea or from the trainers Best visit or the you know strength staff coach Carol and his staff or from our coaches just the communication the access you know like everything we're trying to do is give our players the best chance to play on the next level you know so I think it's important when those guys come here that it's a good experience for them and I think everybody I just mentioned is doing a great job of that it's really good really good two of them tell me it's the best visit they've had so I was like let's go you know Michael and David um how how come you guys aren't having like a showcase scrimmage for students or fans or whatnot before I think you've seen more and more of that go away um over time um you know our students aren't here yet so that doesn't you know it's not as big of a deal but um you know um you know when they that first bck of school we have a game so they'll get to see the real thing um I think you know when you get into those situations you're always the Live work closer you get to the start of the season the more you hesitate to play live football I know lots of schools don't do anything live in in the month of August um we've been able to get some really good live work and some really good situational football which is kind of what we did tonight so I feel good about where we're at that way it's a fine line because you're always you know are we getting enough tackling right are we getting enough of that kind of physical but then you're also like well you're also saying to yourself well you know we have a couple really special players um do we want to play the season without them you know so it's a really fine line in terms of getting them game ready and then also putting them at risk right what about just in terms of having an open practice for for fans well we you know we've done that you know our first few months here you know what I mean and then as it goes you know I think for me I'm always to Fig trying to figure out what's you know one of our major um you know kind of standards for Message from Coach Peterson the team is protect the program and so if if those if when we do that if there's a lot of information getting out there about what's happening in the practice environment that I think is not going to serve us then I have to make determinations on how to Corral that and so that would be what that would be why but um you know I think you know we had you've had you know a big group of donors at every every practice so far this training camp and that's been real positive and um you know early on in Camp we had a lot of fans and so I think people have had of access to our program I feel good about that David and then our last question Jason you Coach Peterson here last week what did you take away most from in life about the message you delivered to your guys well I mean Coach Peterson is one of the best coaches in the history of college football and so anytime you can have somebody like that around your program I think we're you know you're really fortunate and um I'm really grateful for the friendship that he he and I have had over the years and uh he Coaching resources you know and I think there's been lots of head coaches that have helped me on my journey as a head coach guys that I can call when something comes up or you know how how have you handled this or how did you guys practice this or you know what was your coaching points on you know whatever it is and so having resources like that you know for me over the years it's been lots of people it's been David Shaw or dick Tomy or Chip Kelly or you know I think that's one cool thing about football is that like coaches actually try to help each other it's not like you know there's like no proprietary um you know secrets that you're like like that actually they share and I think that's really good and uh I really really value um my friendship with Coach Peterson last question to Jason this point you can't only a certain amount of days away from is this team where you wanted them to be where you expected them to be in terms of what they look like in I think we're in a great spot I really do I I think we have work work to do I'm glad we have two weeks of practice left you know I mean that part of it um this this stretch right here was a tough stretch I think we had six practices in seven days so like that's a that's that's kind of the grinder one of the grinder kind of parts of camp and I thought our players did a great job I thought they they showed up for camp and they're in good condition and in good shape I thought coach Carol and his staff did a great job of preparing them for that and then you know our coaches are you know coaching the heck out of them and you know spending every hour of the day you know trying to do everything we can to improve our football team and tonight we did a bunch bunch of stuff it's uh you know stuff the mechanics of the football and and trying to put us in some situations a two-minute or you know third down or you know moving the ball and just like that kind of stuff get our players used to substituting special team substitutions and like those things that are you know um it's hard to simulate simulate what those things feel like on game day and so trying to get us in the flow of that and we're going to do a little bit more of that as we get closer to New Mexico