Stanford Football: Coach Taylor Weekly Press Conference | California

no hello all right good morning everybody we will go right into questions with Coach Taylor if you're new to our Zoom press conference please use the race hand feature and we'll take questions as they come in Gary morning coach um I'm sure everybody on the uh on the call this morning has his question in mind in one form or another um but you know for so many years your name um was synonymous with Cal football uh great player assistant coach radio analyst and and so you must be going through some some interesting emotions this week you know a lot of the things that uh were part of a big game are no longer around like the Guardsman luncheon and the bonfires but it's still the big game you know there's still the ax is still a very meaningful uh day for both teams what do you think it's going to feel like for you this Saturday when you're standing there on the opposite side of your field from your old school yeah I think it's going to be a little strange I think one you know once the game gets going it'll it'll feel pretty normal just you go into the kind of competition mode but yeah it'll it'll be a different experience for sure just uh you know being being a part of Cal for so long and having such a a love for the University and what it's given me in terms of you know my past and my my future and present all those things really a lot of it went through Cal so always um has a lot of gratitude for the University and um the program there and always will root for cow and love cow now being on the other side of it obviously this is this is my family you know Stanford Cardinal and um excited to be able toh go into a battle uh was and it's you know it's a great rivalry everybody in the Bay Area really um comes alive and pays attention to it um and there's you know history that's made and names that be that are remembered forever because of it so uh really excited and uh this week just trying to really keep our focus on our preparation process and um but excited to be a part of it thank you g Troy hey coach two quick Personnel things if I can one uh four guys uh Casey filkins Ashton AK and Edwards any initial update on those guys as we begin the week okay yeah let's go one at a time what go the first person uh Ashton uh dayto day we day today filkin Casey um yeah he he will not play okay uh AK Gilman AK we'll see okay and uh Scotty Edwards was in that a little bit day to day yeah day okay uh second um how close did Ari Patu come to potentially getting quarterback snaps he came in for that one play and lined up uh ended up lining up as a tight end on a trick play as it turned out but how close did the already uh how close did he come to getting potential game s says at quarterback last week um yeah I mean I I it's not one of those things I spent a lot of time you know thinking about we were going with Justin and obviously he would be the next guy up so uh we have confidence in Ari but uh you know Justin was our our second quarterback thank you Troy John coach um back to the back to the big game history card just kind of your your history with it I know that 8 six you had the broken jaw but a lot of emotion in that game and and then in 88 you had it w and then there was a block kick and then ' 89 I think he threw like 55 passes or something where I'm going with this is it was it a different game in your college experience or was it just another game you mentioned as as as a coach it's going to You'll settle in and I Mak sense to me but as a player was it different than the others yeah I think so I mean you know there's it's important to so many people um in the Bay Area in ac across the country that are C Stanford people so I think you feed off of that and you feel that energy um and the importance of it so I I do think as a player you sense that um and you realize that this this game's important and how important it is to people um so I think I think for sure you feel that you know as a competitor you know obviously every game's really important but um there's a different energy around the bay bay area and uh you know people are a little bit more interested in this game it's been going on for a really long time a great history two incredible universities with u a history of not only great academics but great players great coaches and so it's Unique there's no other rivalry like Cal Stanford where I think the universities have so much respect for each other um what they stand for and being obviously so close in proximity and then we've had Wild games that have taken place here that um you know people on the national stage still remember um and obviously the play and all that is one that stands out but as you guys know there were some pretty other some incredible end of the game stuff and and a number of other games so um it's excited to exciting to to be a part of it Ben hi hi Troy um a lot of people don't realize uh that this is uh El ior's first season playing college football due to the significant knee injury he suffered last year which makes it all the more extraordinary he's on the Virgin historic 10,00 yard season um if you had a chance to give your pitch on why he should be considered for the big honors like all American freshman of the year on the like uh what would you say say you know for us he's you know there's nobody more important I think in in our offense and uh he's been incredible I mean the guy started out playing in a a knee brace um recovering hasn't played a lot of football in his life really um and as you as you mentioned early first year in college football and you've seen just kind of a taste of his his potential and what this guy will look like in a year from now could be pretty scary in terms of confidence uh feel for the game and obviously he's going to improve so um yeah outstanding player for us um and uh we're sure glad that at the beginning of his career Ron hi Troy Ron C from the San Francisco cicle U if I sort of follow up on that question about Alec um you look at his numbers this year obviously pretty solid the first five games but just off the charts the last five uh what sort of changed from Colorado on did you did you guys focus on him more did he did he do something different that has allowed him to sort of take this next step that's a great question I would say you know I do think coming out of the knee brace is allowed him to play a little bit more freely a little bit faster um and I think uh he's playing with a lot of confidence so um and you know talked about before how important it is to to play with the belief in in yourself and then the Comfort level of the offense and all the adjustments now he still has a lot of room for improvement which is exciting U but I think it's a combination of those things and then obviously when as a as a play call and as an offensive staff when a guy is productive um you'd be he wouldn't be very smart if he didn't find a way to involve him and put him at the point of attack on a number of different concepts so um I think that's been a factor as well if I can ask a quick followup um how much uh as you mentioned earlier he hasn't played much football how much did you know about his background do you see the small town in him at all I mean my understanding they grew up in a town of like 200 people yeah you know right when I got here I um you know you meet him and you could tell he's he's a different kid in terms of um his Focus how much he cares he's really sharp he uh picks up on things really quickly and you know but you don't at at the beginning you don't get a chance to really see him do much because he's you know rehabbing his his injury and trying to get healthy and so then you see Snippets of it when he comes back um and that first he was very reluctant you know from based on his injury um but you could see that occasionally you'd see opportunities where he wasn't thinking about his leg and that he was playing a little bit faster and I think he you know as the weeks have went on as you said you know week kind of five on um I think he's got more strength more confidence and um both in his his leg and in his ability to play at this level and I think once um once you know you can play and you have the kind of ability he has then the guys a limit thank you Troy yeah last year's big game Mitch lever played a played a key role but on offense this year of course he's back on defense and it seems like Mitch has been gaining a bit of momentum over the course of the last couple of weeks uh picked up the fumble a couple weeks going against Washington some big hits last week in Corvalis what have you seen from Mitch uh of late over the last few weeks yeah Mitch is just a kid that is you know he's willing to do whatever it takes he's very maintenance in terms of he's going to he's going toh be prepared um he every rep that he gets he's going to improve um I mean the guy came in and played running back for him last year and and did a good job that's that's really difficult to do and he didn't um he didn't bust one pass protection was my understanding which is pretty complex in the pass game so that just shows you kind of what he's got in terms of fortitude and focus um and he's done that on defense for us as well um you know obviously you know he can still improve and all those things but um he's been he's been solid for us John coach tell us what the absence of Casey filkins has meant to what your offense is trying to do I mean obviously must never fan is hurt for the kid not being able to play but just how that how that's limited you yeah it it has you know he is um is probably our most versatile back in terms of the ability to give a um you know big play ability um catch the ball protect you know all of those things and you know like all of our backs um but Casey obviously you know not having him um has has has impacted us for sure and you know just disappointed for him that he wasn't able to to finish the year um healthy and play he loves football so much and been such a big part of of this program U that's been disappointing but uh for me me just being to be around him for a year um and the impact that he's he's had even when he's not playing just his U his leadership and his attitude those things have have been far-reaching to our program Steve yeah Troy I'm old enough to remember a lot of things a lot of things I'm forgetting now but one thing I do remember is uh when you were a freshman you had two quarterbacks in front of you and you got your first start against Oregon State this season Mendoza had two quarterbacks in front of him got his first start against Oregon State I'm sure you're C's offense but what do you know about Mendoza and do you see any of Troy Taylor and Fernando Mendoza um I think I was the eighth quarterback when I got to k um I thought I was red shirting until Tuesday of the Oregon State game um so um I'm sure he's much more prepared than I was both mentally and emotionally um he's he's pretty special um I've been impressed the the times that I've seen him play just seems very composed he's got a great toughness um and the team is really rallied behind him me they've really taken a step forward once he kind of became their guy um they've really kind of taken off offensively he does a great job in the system um and a really talented guy and they've done a great job developing him Ben yeah um you guys play hard and not L is some competitive games this year but it's hard to succeed in college football without um older experienced players especially UPF front um obviously you you have been significally affected by all the contributors that transferred out but looking forward to Future years it seems like it could remain a challenge uh for you guys to have large numbers of guys stick around for fifth year so my question is just are there things you've been focused on changed in recruiting or in the culture you're building so that you guys can have more experienced guys on the offensive line going forward like so many of your opponents do yeah th so you know this was a very unique year for Stanford football so um you know you had uh they were very affected by coid in a lot of ways um probably the the the most um the way that affected us this year the most was the fact that those guys that that transferred when to transfer portal um all of them but one had graduated so um you know we wanted him to come back but obviously they had their degree and um you know they had lost their the coach that recruited him David Shaw who's an incredible man and a great coach um and so we weren't able to retain a lot of those guys six of them were offensive linemen right they I believe are starting at other FBS programs so um you're just simply at a place like Stanford where we're not going to bring in a lot of uh transfers um you're not going to be able to replenish that there's there's just no quick fix here when you lose a number of players now that being said um we knew coming in that that was going to be a challenge um playing young players that hadn't played a lot um but moving forward I really do think we're going to have our players for four to five years um we're gonna play them when they come in uh they're their freshman year most of them and then we're g to have them here I mean if you're smart enough to choose Stanford as your school choice you're smart enough to stick around until you get your degree so I feel like even even though this year it was a challenge in terms of that those numbers and the things that are happening in the future I really think we're the outlier we're going to be the the football program that has our players for four to five years that are going to stick around and I think our culture is has shown that it's already very strong and how our guys compete um and they like playing they like being here and so on the long term I'm incredibly optimistic on where this is headed uh we're having uh great success recruiting wise and then uh we're going to be able to develop these guys um Over a four-year period and super excited and love the guys that that we have now and how hard they're competing um but uh we will continue to improve and get better Troy what are some things that stick out when you watch the Bears defense and who are some guys that pop out uh when you watch them as well yeah i' I'd say you know very familiar with with c and Justin Willcox and Coach Surman and what they do defensively they've always been you know one of the better defenses in the in the pack and in across the country really very sound um they're they're going to be um typically they don't bust coverages um they love base defense and they're very good at it now they've had some injuries and you know they obviously played a really tough schedule uh Pack 12 this year and the offenses are are amazing they played some of the tougher defenses in uh in the country and so um you know we got our challenges obviously um they play hard um they they understand their system um and their coaches do a great job so um I think they're you know I think they're it'll be a good task for us and and obviously they're really good on offense so they play well off each other um and they defensively I think when they get a lead and they've they've scored some points on offense um you know people sometimes can press on offense and we got to make sure we don't do that Ron I could ask one last ell question how do you sort of reflect on that Colorado game I mean you look back in 13 catches 294 three touchdowns I mean that's not the kind of game you you rarely see that from a wide receiver how how how good was that where does that rank him you've been around football a long time how many how many games like that have you ever seen yeah I don't know that I've trying to think back not at this level for a wide receiver um you know the the thing that I remember um is it you know it started off kind of rough for him he had a he had a take Route um that he misplayed the ball and a lot of people would go into the tank because it really it was a pretty clear touchdown that was at a pivotal Point um and would have closed the game to within seven and I remember seeing him on the sidelines and just seeing how he was doing and looking in his eyes and I'm like all right you know you got to move on and he was fine and um then he made a play and then all of a sudden you go from a guy that you know misplayed a ball to dominating a game where they just couldn't cover him and uh so to me that's kind of what I remember about that game um just how focused he was and and it and it was maybe the um the birth of a great player where you saw a guy really understand that um he was capable of being an elite wide receiver um and it's one thing to kind of think you can do it but it's another thing to do it in front of a lot of people live um and it happened on a national stage um and that that builds your confidence against some really good players I mean that the corners he was going against those guys are are good one of them you know a lot of people think he's one of the better players in the country so um yeah that's kind of what what I remember and um and the great thing is he still has a lot of growth uh with within his game so he hasn't peaked at all I really think he's on the the early stages and because of his disposition the way he looks at the game how important it is and how smart he is um a lot of the great players have just an aptitude and intelligence for the game and understanding that kind of goes unnoticed um but he's one of those guys is really sharp um and both on and off the field so I think he's uh his future is is braak thanks John coach the league is full of a lot of great backs Bucky Irving Carson steel Daman Martinez last week how is Jaden a different than those or similar to those yeah I would say what makes him unique is um you know he's he's he's got it all I mean he's he's a physical Runner he's very Elusive and then he has Breakaway speed which is hard to to have those things so um you know a lot of times you'll have a guy that's very elucid but can't take it to the house not a home run hitter and he is um really consistent um extremely talented tough um I really admire his game and he is he is one of the top players not just backs but one of the top players in the in the Pack 12 Harold I think this team's still looking to win its first home game is that just a coincidence that some of your best performances have been on the road or you know how how important you think that is to get one I think it's really important um you know we played some really good teams obviously and uh didn't play well enough to win so um now that correlates to the the road or at home I don't know I know we're really hungry uh to get a ro a home win and um and really hungry to play cow so hopefully this will this will be our first uh home win of the Season Ben yeah um uh just kind of wondering have we seen have we seen the offensive scheme you you hope to install at sber for the long run or does this season reflects some kind of concession to talent and if the lad what would be the main kind of differences you hope are put in place next season or in some future year no there's been a adaptations for sure and um I mean you could see that from if you just look at my offenses in the past and what we've done uh so you got to adjust and um you know we're we're very inex experienced young team and so um as a coach you just got to adapt and make sure you're putting your guys in a in a situation to to be successful and not ask him to do things that are that are maybe not within talent-wise best for the team so um no I wouldn't say it's the offense that that you will see in the future uh we just uh you've seen parts of it but um as we grow and and and continue to to bring in more and more players and develop uh it'll look it'll look quite a bit different John coach as you mentioned the Run game is has had to adapt so when Stanford fans think about converting on third down obviously El has been a weapon in the slant and the the Deep ball and and tiger tiger bm's really coming on where is Sam Rous in that Continuum and and how are you as you scheme up games going forward your confidence in Sam is sort of third down you know move the chains on a reception yeah I know good question you know Sam's one of those guys that I'm gaining more and more confidence in and uh and he's in himself as well so you know Sam is another guy that hasn't played offense a lot and you can see him growing getting better now he certainly has a lot of natural ability and you've seen him adjust to the ball and make plays um they're pretty good for a guy that hasn't spent a lot of time on the offensive side so we feel great about Sam I have a lot of confidence uh when the balls come his way he has made plays and so uh you gain confidence in players um just just like you would think if they make plays and Sam has has made plays again young and has has room for improvement but how he competes in the Run game and how he has improved uh his feel for the past game has has been really impressive Ben having played in this game as a player um just talk about does that help you as a coach kind of prepare your own players for the game having having experienc it in that realm or yeah question that's a good question um I think once you know I think uh what we talked about is just en enjoy you know enjoy the week enjoy the energy um it will feel a little bit differently and feed off of that that's good um but once you know once the game starts what I have found as a as a player and Coach it you kind of go it goes into to like any other game you know execution Focus your preparation and all of those things now around you it might be a little bit different but you're pretty focused once you get on the maybe jogging out in the field and those things you you sense that you feel that um but once a game starts after two or three plays typically you kind of go into your comfort zone and calling a game if you're a coach or or as a player we'll wrap it up with Troy yeah coach this will Mark Mark the 35th anniversary of maybe one of the more bizarre finish es in the history of a big game uh 1988 which ended with that time what do you remember from that game that day and your feelings about that outcome I remember um so we we had the ball and we're driving and um we were going to set up for a field goal and we were we were moving the ball pretty well you the hash marks were a little wider back then uh two yards wider than they are now and so uh the angle of field goals when you're in a hash was was pretty severe and so um we did not Center the ball we were on the left hash um made a really good kicker and uh Twan van Lee came off the edge made an unbelievable play and blocked it and then I remember um you know no neither team really knew what to do because you know typically your memories the big game like my freshman years Joe capap got carried off the field it was his last game as a cal coach uh it was a huge upset and everybody's on the field and just celebrating you run around with the the you know the axe and it's just a great energy and then if you lose the game you you know you saunter off and you're not really that excited so once that we all you know realized it was a tie and there was going to be no celebration for either team we just kind of walked up shook hands and left it was very it was very strange it's also the game that I remember oy in the tree getting in fight uh in the South End Zone and it was a legitimate fight they were trying to hurt each other and I think it was a in between a series and I remember them oy trying to tear the tree apart and get pulled apart I remember oy pointed his finger one of his whatever four fingers he has at the tree like this isn't over you know this going to continue at some point and I'm like this is bizarre living in a cartoon world or something um so those are kind those are the kind of the memories that that I remember uh from that game thank you so much coach Taylor we will come back with players awesome thanks go card what's up man hey guys how y'all doing all right we are here with G and bernardel we will take questions same way we took them for Coach Taylor then hi Gan uh just uh talk about just C emotions of the team right now heading into big game week know going to the big game week you know our coaches really talked about you know being able to flush last week down the drain and being able to look forward it's big game week man everyone is excited everyone around campus is is hyped up ready to go so we're going to get a half through today in practice and be be ready to go the team's really hungry we exided for this week thank you Ben John guys tell us what it's like when you know you have a challenge of a of a feature back that you're playing there have been a few of them that you've played Oregon had Bucky Irving last week it was Martinez who had a really good game Callas Jaden not you you relish that more or is he just just a number on the film and and you think number tell kind of your approach when you you know they got the opponent has a uh a lead guy that's pretty good well you know like C AR likes to say they're all nameless and faceless you know what I mean yeah we know you know there's a lot of pretty good players in this in this league but and it we have to we have to do what we got to do and it doesn't really matter what your name is or who you are we're still going to come at you Troy yeah guy found any similarities and differences between the cow the cow running attack and how it runs things and the Oregon State running attack in its gamee yeah Oregon State they they they have like more of an NFL style offense in terms of getting 12 13 personnel and just running the ball down your throat the whole game but but Cal they give you a little bit of everything you know they have a lot they have a lot of exotic looks and a lot of delay runs a lot of pin pool fast reads they have it all so we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna emphasize that a lot during this week and we're gonna be ready for everything John Gan I I I've been I was impressed and continue to be impressed by your your tackle numbers it just you're around the football can you explain to us why you you you have those High numbers in tackles when people with the same physical profile as you don't have as many is it is it instinct is it quickness is it just I love to tackle I mean why are your tackling numbers so high so high not just this year but throughout your college career just run to the football being able to get to the football you know when I when I was when I was younger one of my coaches told me uh the best guys are always run the ball when the play is over and Coach D always says um your commitment to this team your commitment to this teammates is where you are when the when the ball is spotted where you are when the at the end of the play so I always try to get to the football no matter if it's 80 yards down the field if it's on the opposite side of the field I try always try to get to the football and and make the play you know what I mean we all we work on tackling every week that's a big thing we work on every single week so at the point of attack gotta be able to wrap up take him to the ground so just just just being able to be around the football every play Troy yeah Stanford Cal a pretty big deal here around the Bay Area I'm not sure exactly how much it resonated back in South Florida however uh what what what do you know now about the big game and this rivalry and it's early in the week obviously but what do you know about this rivalry now that you might not have necessarily known you know coming into you know coming into the season yeah so being a down being from down south being a guy from Miami you know you know you don't really you don't really hear about the West Coast rivalries you know down there is more of the Miami and Florida State but i' I've come out here and is it's pretty much the same thing it's pretty much the same type of rivalry we know what type of we know what type of week it is we know what type we know what type of game it's going to be and we know we got to bring our hard hat so I'm excited for this game it's rivalry it's rivalry week man honestly man Nothing Else Matters this this this is the one that matters you know we have to bring that a back to patoo Ben yeah you guys uh you guys have had tremendous success away from the farm um but for whatever reason you guys haven't yet gotten a home game here uh just how how sweet would it be to to you know first of all a win in front of your home fans and then B have it be uh with uh the ax in hand it would be big you know what I mean you know obviously we struggle we struggle at home and we we play pretty good on the road but we don't we don't want to get into that oh we don't play good at home we play better on the road we don't really look into that we don't really get into all of that we just we get this this one at home and and and and going against Cal be big not only for us but for the entire standord organization the whole school alumni this would be a big one troy yeah when inside linebackers have high tackle numbers a lot of times that can speak to what the guys up front in front of the inside linebackers um are doing uh you've got a pretty good front row seat to the defensive line how would you assess how those guys have been doing which guys upfront defensively have stood out to you uh yeah those are my guys man we like to call uh as as a linebacker we like to call those guys our little cousins because you know we you know we take care of them we have to set the front we got to give them which call we got to give them the call for the defense but um guys that really stick out are guys like Jackson Mo to uh my guy my guy Tobin uh a young guy that's coming up Zack Ral you know those are a couple guys that stick out and you know I can't forget uh uh I can't forget about big Frank I call him Frank the Tank you know what I mean so can't forget those guys they really try to eat up blocks for us so I mean uh so we could just run that's really that's really name of the game eat up the blocks and we we gon to fill the gas where we need to fill John ithan this may be the first big game where a feature guy on defense and a feature guy on the Cal offense are both Miami guys Fernando Mendoza do you have any intel from your your your guys back in Miami about this QB and and what have you heard I actually had no idea who was from Miami this is the first time I'm actually hearing about this he's he's a number on he's a number on film like like you said yeah just nameless and Fa nameless and faceless man you know what I mean so I'm actually fired up now I had no ideas on film so you know you know it's g i mean I don't really I don't really know him but you know I I probably chop it up with him after the game and you know we'll talk but other than that you just got me fired up I had no idea he was from Miami any other questions for Gan Ben yeah just kind of as is a Miami guy um I'm guessing you're a dolphins fan is that your team or who do you who's your NFL team yeah SPS up 's up man for till I was since I was born I stayed like 10 minutes from the stadium so go I grow up going to the Miami games going to the Dolphins games so I seen that Stadium change a lot so it's it's pretty so Fins Up all day yeah and then also too I mean just kind of what has been uh Bobby April's kind of message to you guys specifically about Cal and you know what are the kind of key points emphasis that you guys need to do that are maybe kind of specific to uh the Bears yeah so coach April really uh one of the first things he talked about was one of the first 48 been able to get out because you the game is won during the week you know what I mean we we get the game plan we execute the game plan during the week and just being able to go out there on Saturday and bring all to fruition so because APR done a great job and the whole entire defensive staff has done a great job of like making sure we win the first 48 and making sure like this game is not a game to play with you know what I mean so yeah we haven't had a season that we want to have but we we still have the opportunity to finish off strong TR it it seems like when this defense has been at its best throughout the season it's when pressure has come from all levels not just the front not just the linebackers but also from the secondary as well uh is that an accurate a fair assessment of things what when when when this defense is at its best what does it look like this defense is at its best when everyone when everyone is Runing football you know what I mean and ESP and the D linan as well when the ball's when the ball's 80 yards down the field and you see D linan hustling to the football that's when his defense is at his best the defense is at his best when everyone's tackling being able to tackle in the perimeter being able to when you're deep you're deep being able to stay consistent in our wrestling and just being able to bring reek Havoc um to the quarterback so that's this defense is the best all right thank you so much guys then thank you guys have a good day okay all right we are here with offensive lineman Conor mclin we will take questions and John made it to the front of the line all you for a change Conor we we had other people that we've talked to here in the last four minutes we've talked a lot of football a lot of big game history and stuff but I want to take this one away from football um I think it's really cool I see on my Twitter timeline every now and again or whatever that you guys go to the the Stanford Cancer Center um and I believe you guys did so this week can you tell us about that visit and and what what the background of it was and what it meant to you right yeah so we had a really nice volunteering opportunity to uh kind of make like a surprise for one of our um fellow offensive linemen um I'm not going to name which just because I'm not sure if that's private or not but uh one of his family members was diagnosed with cancer and was getting treatment at the center so we had a really nice uh event where we surprised him at the center and like wrote some cards and just kind of tried to give like holiday cheer and like a special boost to all the patients there and uh it was really well received and um everyone seemed really happy to have us and I'm really grateful that we were able to have that opportunity Steve yeah kind of kind of tough to follow up that uh more power to to you and your teammates I will go back to something for football um friend of mine is doing a story on El aom Manor if I'm pronouncing him correctly um what have you seen differently maybe in his demeanor and his attitude from the beginning of the season to maybe the Colorado game to now uh Alex's always been a really confident guy I mean even last year when he was hurt uh he was walking around like uh he was a senior when he was a freshman I was like who's this guy but uh he's obviously a tremendous player and I think he's gained a lot of confidence confidence obviously from having some more time on the field but um yeah he's a great guy to be around um obviously really good for the offense because like I said he inspires confidence but uh I mean he's a guy you look out there and he's lined up and he knows he's gonna go get the ball and take it off someone's head if he has to so uh I've seen him obviously mature a lot and obviously play more confident he's a great leader too and um I don't know if that gets stated as much but he's a tremendous leader especially for a young guy great thank you Ben this is probably kind of a dumb question but I'll ask it anyway um do you when you play in in big game do do you do you sense an extra chip on in in in this one from both sides yeah definitely I mean obviously he's a senior um it's kind of like selfishly a little bit like my year this is like what they remember the senior class by um so obviously I'm very excited because I'm obviously playing in a little bit of a capacity too um and I didn't have the opportunity in former years to do that as much but uh yeah I'm I'm really excited for this and uh there's definitely obviously a huge rivalry between Cal and Stanford um not gonna say we like each other very much and uh yeah I won't go into specifics but I'm really excited for this game Troy yeah last few weeks we have seen uh Luke Bueno a freshman on the opposite side of you over at left tackle uh what have you been able to see from him and how he's come along the last few weeks yeah absolutely really high praise for Luke um playing tackle and really offensive line any capacity as a freshman is kind of like uh drinking from a fire hose uh you got everything coming at you and it's really hard as a young guy to they have the strength and uh athleticism to keep up with the game but also to like kind of compartmentalize and visualize everything that's happening at once so um tremendous job by him so far I'm really proud of him um he's worked really hard um he's obviously a really smart football player too so he's GNA keep improving but really happy with the way he's been able to step up and uh that's no that's no easy task for a freshman Steve Conor um in this day of nil and the transfer portal guys transfering is really no big deal transfer from Stanford to Cal that's probably a little bigger deal than normal H how close have you stayed with Barrett and uh what do you think the mood between you guys will be not not just yourself but the rest of the team will be on Saturday oh yeah I knew I was gonna get this question yeah I love he's a great guy um love bear um definitely talk to him after this week just 51 weeks out of the year he's a great guy this is the wrong week um he's a great guy really good offensive lineman really good Mentor for me when he was here but unfortunately he's on the wrong side of the ball this week so fair enough John Conor I know there's been some shuffling on the offensive line I know you started the first game I believe at left tackle but you've been at right tackle since uh but to your neighbor at Right Guard that there's been some change there due to injury simy he's been there for much of the time he's been out in Jake now next to you is that presented any sort of um you know not learning curve but you know adjustment for you I mean it doesn't is everyone so well trained that the Right Guard kind of does what the right guard's supposed to do or do you have you had to adjust each of you to the other when you had a new uh New Right Guard uh Jake's done a great job so far um I mean I haven't been playing as up to my ability as I should have in the past couple weeks but Jake's done a great job stepping in super confident he's a guy that you have next to you you make a call you know what you're gonna do because he's super confident when he says it and same thing with seei so uh really hasn't been much of a change and uh feel really confident being next to both those guys Troy yeah Bears defensive defensive front played pretty well against the cougs uh for the most part seven in particular Reese uh had a couple of big impact plays along the way oh what's the task ahead for the Stanford offensive line against the Cal uh front seven yeah absolutely we gota be able to run the ball um they've got some Stout guys in the middle so gotta be able to run it on them um they they're a good defense for sure um they've got some good players Seven's got some juice 33 toes two they got some Motors 44s probably my height uh which you don't see very much at the defensive end so uh yeah they've got some really good players we got be able to run the ball to open up the passing game but be able to lean on that running game throughout the game John kind of typically more noise ambient noise in a big game or at least a big game that's a home game um Oregon state was tough because it's loud you've been in some loud venues just describe for us from your position how you deal with noise when you you know maybe can't hear the quarterback or whatever kind of walk us through what that's like and how you are able to execute yeah absolutely um you know coming off some loud games I think it's really important to be able to like key into certain voices um you know if you can really key into what the center's voice sounds like in the Cadence of his voice it makes it a lot easier to hear in a way um I don't know if that makes sense at all but that's kind of like I'll listen to Ashton's voice and really try and pick up on his rhythm or Levis obviously and uh makes it a little easier to communicate when you're really like pinpointing one specific uh bo Ben yeah just kind of talk about what it's like being a student athlete football player during big game week just the Traditions that happened during the week and just kind of the atmosphere on campus uh this entire week yeah no obviously there's a lot of energy um you you love that for a football game um I mean big game week is awesome there's so much stuff going on um probably the most energy I've seen surrounded around a game for during our Seasons while I've been here and uh I mean it can be a little distracting at times I'm sure but you just got to keep the main thing the main thing and ultimately is about the game so we just got to stay locked in any other questions for Connor all right thank you so much Connor that will end today's press conference