#FAU Football Coach Tom Herman Jayden Williams Cam Fancher Presser #MichiganState #AAC #NCAAFootball

we is is here it's upon us a little bit sooner for us uh yesterday was like a normal Monday uh for our team we took Saturday off had had Friday like a a normal what we call family Fridays where uh we went through where we play games and um have a walk through offense defense special teams walk through substitution call outs uh and then we broke and our guys had about a day and a half off uh uh all day the rest of that day Friday and then Saturday and we came back first thing Sunday morning 7:00 a.m. uh out on the field like a normal Monday and then today was like a normal Tuesday uh a little bit shorter obviously it's kind of um round two if you will of of game plan week we practiced against Michigan State last week and uh we did again this week but it'll be a lot shorter a lot crisper um no tackling this week really trying to get their bodies back as best we can uh but also get the amount of work in that that we need to to be competitive in this game so uh again really excited cuz I haven't seen half this team playing a game live you know half this team uh did not play football for for FAU so they were either in high school or playing for another school so uh all I got to do was was watch them on film so it'll be fun to take this team into a hostile environment certainly respect the heck out of uh Michigan State and their tradition their fan base it's it's going to be a really really difficult place to play uh I know coach Smith does a phenomenal job and and will'll have those guys certainly ready uh but again it poses unique challenges too uh in week one to have a a brand new staff you know very little of of our film study has been on Michigan State uh we watched them early to kind of study Personnel matchups but beyond that you know we're watching Oregon State we're watching uh Minnesota video so uh it'll be interesting to see what new wrinkles uh each side of the ball has knowing that the the Personnel is a bit different for them as well uh facing off against dual threat quarterback in Aiden Charles kind of what are your overlying thoughts on him and has it helped the defense overall with Cam faner being mobile as well oh I think so yeah a lot of there's some misconception about guys like that where you know they make all their their hay outside the pocket and obviously Cam's not live you know we're not tackling him but I I think where you get a feel is for those athletic guys in the pocket too you know some of those hey you reach out and you grab a guy normal guys go down or you know some of these guys in the pocket if you reach out and you're grabbing air you know so I think just his elusiveness in the pocket has definitely helped and then when he does extend plays it's certainly different than when other guys do it with his uh with his speed and and everything that he brings to the table do you kind of look to send a a blitz to kind of speed him up a little bit or do you look to kind of try to contain him in the pocket uh I think there there's two schools of thought right and I I think it depends on on the guy and and how well he's coached the amount of reps he has I think with those guys yeah if you you overload him and it confuses him that's certainly the way to go uh a confused quarterback is a slow quarterback is a nonfunctional quarterback um but if he in our offense we you know we see Blitz as opportunity you you know and if he's coached well and executes well and can kind of pick that Blitz apart so to so to speak uh definitely more high risk and so you'll see a lot of guys on on passing Downs maybe drop eight into coverage too and kind of spy him or maybe just keep everything underneath keep everything inside so uh having coach guys like him you do you got to make sure when you're studying the defensive coordinator you're studying teams with like quarterbacks because their philosophy especially on third down changes quite a bit because depending on the type of quarterback you're playing because you know third and six you you play Man coverage and turn your back to you know these guys that can make you pay that's that's a scary thought you know that that guy all he's got to do is tuck it and get seven yards so um we'll see but they'll definitely have a a philosophy and uh we'll see if we can execute against it coach any updates on uh the injury front I know there were a couple guys that were banged up and I believe you said scarly would probably have to set this one out but anything you develop or anything positive that was slated for later that is now going to be an earlier no uh I I think you guys are pretty caught up logic hudgin uh had surgery on his ACL will will not play this season uh BJ Alexander had surgery on his Patell tendon uh good news did not tear his ACL so uh we'll only need one surgery um I'm trying to think uh Elijah Brown is still coming off of a concussion so if everything goes according to plan he'll be back for the game though um Caden Shields Dutton uh we should have in a week or two I said scarly hopefully Army you know um but it's kind of a weak to we thing other than that I think you guys are pretty caught up just BJ potentially coming next year but I believe we that's a long shot I yeah he would need a seventh year uh he's certainly eligible for it so I I haven't had that discussion with him yet I I think we're kind of we wanted to see first you know they were going to go in and and do the surgery on the the Patell tendon and decide whether they needed to to then go back in in a couple months for the ACL the answer is no so I think now that he has a more informed prognosis uh we'll talk about that I'm I'm sure but that's way down the road yeah okay how do you uh how do you balanced keeping uh the game plan sort of simple since there's been so much turnover and it's game one versus like you know strategizing against the opponent and trying to get a little cute well I think them being new helps I think couple things help one you always trying to be simple in in game one because as tempting as it is to surprise them with all this new stuff if it's not you you're probably not going to be good at it um and so the flip side let let's be us let's be the best version of ourselves you know we've had four weeks to basically kind of fine-tune now that's not saying we were going against Michigan State and worrying about that game plan for four weeks we weren't but other than the bowl game this will be the longest you have you know we we've spent a good when it's all said done week and a half you know 12 days on Michigan State so uh we should have a good idea but I think the the importance is let's do what we do and do it really well and do it at a level higher than them you know because we're going to have enough to think about with the adjustments of what they're doing differently uh to to worry about a whole lot of things um that we do differently so again new staff then also with the the fear of the unknown you don't want to go in and and have so many gadgets or surprises that are geared towards Minnesota's defense or Oregon State's offense when you know these are good coaches they're I'm sure they showed up and said hey we we could do this at Minnesota we probably can't do this here at Michigan State hey we always wanted to do this but couldn't at Minnesota but now we got the right players we can do this so I there's going to be some differences just from it being a new staff and I think us being as much as Consolidated as we can be will help us adjust to those and your time at Ohio State what stood out to you playing at Michigan City no I I don't have vivid memories a lot like these guys a lot of guys I work with they remember what the visiting locker rooms were like and the the visiting hotels and all I don't remember hardly any any of that um but I remember this this fan base and I I remember going there uh one night I guess it was in 14 when we won the national championship and we scored a lot of points that night but they did too and it it was a hell of a game Mike Thomas had a had a heck of a game if I remember I just remember this is no offense to their brothers in in Ann Arbor but you know that stadium in an arbor holds 40,000 more people and I thought the one in E Lancing was significantly louder and and more disruptive for an offense so um it we're going to have our hands full when it comes to to playing in that environment week one Friday Night Big 10 Network but uh the good thing about having a lot of transfers is a lot of these guys have played in environments like that too uh well since he brought up Ohio State I'm just kind of curious do you if any what what kind of similarities do you maybe see between cam fer and Braxton Miller uh a lot they they're from the same High School uh Cam's dad and and Braxton grew up together so you know the the closeness there gets you going down that road but then you you watch their game and it's very similar I I still and this is no offense to cam but Braton Miller is the best over six foot athlete I've ever seen live and in person he could do things that I've never seen done and so um I don't know that Cameron quite has that kind of athletic ability but he's close he's close and just their demeanor their Persona very very um calm and reserved and quiet uh nothing nothing gets to him very stone-faced but very very very much that way when things are going great too you're not going to get a whole lot of Rah out of either one of those guys either but um when it's go time they they know how to to lock braxon Miller was a dog he was a dog and I would want him in my Foxhole any day of the week and um I'm pretty certain I I I would say the same about cam we're going to uh seal that package up Friday night hopefully and and make sure that um he's worthy enough of getting in that Foxhole with Braxton do you think Cam's calmer demeanor like can kind of uh play into the hands of you know Michigan State and kind of help him uh stay composed and such a tough yeah I I mean he played in Notre Dame Stadium I think that's what they call it um you know he's been in some big games he's he's played in some big stadiums and his demeanor as you said it it's like built for that right I mean this is a guy that even though you may not see a whole lot of Rah you're also in the Eds and flows of a game there's going to be adversity and he is he's steady Edy uh when it comes to that and you can see that that rub off on our team and the impact he's had too you mentioned the the crowd is one of the better ways to overcome that being able to run the ball because it would seem like it's simpler and if you're beating another team physically that kind of takes them out of the game and you don't want to put everything on cam in game one yeah and it's boring for the fans right take them out of the game by Ling them to sleep I think but no we we want to run the football I think I not I think I mean we're going to be better uh in that facet this year compared to last year uh how much better I don't know this is going to be as good a front seven you know that we'll play all year and but I think we've got we're we're very simple in our Run game plan I I think the offensive line and tight ends and backs feel really really comfortable you know we haven't installed a new run uh in weeks you know so they've been doing the same thing over and over and over again and so um we're going to always want want to run the football you're right to to take you don't want to sit there and drop back we're not built to drop back 50 times a game um you know so when we throw the ball on first and second down a lot of it's going to be off the Run action and you you better be able to run the ball for for it to matter is there anyone in particular that's going to be a focal point in the passing game obviously the wide receiver room is has you know suffered the loss of Vante Wester he's gone but is there anyone knew that it would be a football point the open uh no I I they've had a really good camp that that's to not there's just nobody that that's merited that and that's a compliment right cuz they're all playing at a very high level are any of them leonte Wester probably not um but as I've said before he has lante is gone but it's what did you have 110 catches probably 150 targets it's not like we're going to throw the ball 150 times less so those targets are going to go somewhere those catches are going to go somewhere those those touchdowns are going to go somewhere it's just probably going to be spread across five six guys uh it's really an honor just to know that my gu's believ in me that much to um allow me to be a captain on the team I think everyone who voted me I really appreciate and I really take pride in being a captain of this team and how has um Camp gone especially for the defensive side of the ball I think Camp went great I think it went great I think we we're big on tightening the screws and I think we tighten a lot of screws this uh camp we built bonds we built connections and I think that's what it's going to take to take us where we want to go and which is winning the championship facing off against a freshman quarterback with or he's technically a freshman but anyway uh he he he's got that dual threat ability to him and and with all the talent you guys have in the secondary uh do you guys feel like a chance to kind of Disguise some coverages get in his head a little bit back there yeah that's what we uh our secondary coach is really harp on that holding our our shells mixing um different like disguises to confuse them cuz that's what it's going to take to with any quarterback not just him with any quarterback disguising and just showing different looks to so we can make plays back there how much you guys itching uh to play an actual game after what seemed like a Long training camp Oh man the guy is ready I I really feel the energy and I really we talk about it every day how ready we is to go against somebody other than our teammates so it's really going to be fun for us to go out there and just let it Loose I'm curious if anyone in the locker room heard the Aiden K's comments I believe he said if you're going to bet on this game bet the over not too sure exactly what that means but I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts on that uh no um we don't really get into to all that uh we felt the same way we've been feeling before he said before we even heard the comments so so we just ready to go out there and show what we can do we uh we practice and we train so hard for this moment so we're not going to let a little comment or a little remark get us out of our our game mode so we just ready going into a hostile environment as a competitor do you like those top Road games yes sir I do uh the atmosphere is amazing like it's it's thing that we all dreamed of as kids playing in those environments so we're really going to take it not take for a granted and really embrace the moment and just have fun I think it's just you know a blessing just to have the opportunity to go play uh a game of football and do the thing that we love so you know the offense and the team's excited to go and have opportunity to not beat up on our guys but maybe go beat up on some uh on the the opponent now you got a pretty good pretty big contingent up there we're hearing that are going to be on hand say that again you got a pretty big following a pretty big contingent of family friends that are going to be up there it's not too far from home so a lot right we're going to try and have a bunch of the family and friends and supporters get out there yeah is there anything about the environment at a place like Michigan state that that makes it personally harder for you and and how do you go about kind of overcoming that I think it's just um you know just knowing your responsibility and your job play play out and blocking everything else out and just uh you know trying to do your job and since you've been named the starter I mean it's only been a week but have you kind of seen maybe the offense kind of come to as like a collective or is that just something that's been the whole summer uh I feel like you know there whoever's behind the center you know the offense has full uh trust and confidence that they're going to go out and and do the job whether it's me whether it's anybody in the room so whoever's out there I feel like the offense has full confidence to go out there and you know execute do you feel like you guys are game week ready after a few weeks of Camp uh definitely you know I feel like the offensive staff and the and Herm has has put together a great plan and um you know we just been trying to find some in the details and you know really just be fully as as prepared as we can going into the to Frid you mentioned the details you know what like you said it's it's game one you're going to have a lot of fans game one is always a lot of the unknown is it important to just kind of stay within yourselves and do what you your best to not try to you know everybody play Hero yeah I think it's just you know locking in on your job and your responsibility playing and play out and um you know there is a lot of unknown you know we we see what we see on film but it's it's a new year and it's it's week one so you always got to be ready to adjust um to anything that they show and then just rely on your rules that you've been coached up to coached up all all spring all fall you know all camp and um you know just rely on that rely on your preparation at the end of the day something I noticed in in watching a little bit of your film is that you're really aggressive with the way you run sometimes not sliding has that been has sliding been kind of a focal point at all for you since coming to FAU or is it is just aggressive running your nature for sure I feel like I always at the end of the day I got to protect myself and um if I'm using my legs um and I'm outnumbered I definitely got to protect myself and just live to see the next day or live to see another play so um you know whenever I can get down I am but if I can if I can extend and make a play then you know I'll try to do that what else is there anything in particular that um you guys have seen for Michigan State that you have prepared for and made a focal point you know we got to just be prepared for anything they can bring as as we said it's it's week one there's a lot of unknown so we just got to be able to uh adjust to anything anything that we haven't seen on film or whatever like that [Music] [Applause]