#FAU Football 2024 Fall Camp Interviews Day 6: Coach Tom Herman

coach for staying pads exciting um happy to be out there and you see a lot of good energy from the players yeah it it was um it's very refreshing you know I got asked coming off the field um by Chris Jones one of our our team leaders and he said how do you feel coach or maybe I said what do you think or how you feel but I could tell he was talking about hey after practice six what do you think of us right and uh I said weird like it's just um and I rephrase that to to mean more of what I meant um just I'm cautiously uh Happy this is kind of how I left it you know I'm really happy with where we're at I'm happy for the most part with the way that the the guys are conducting themselves and attack practice every day and um you know we we've been throwing some curveballs here pretty early you know having to dance around the weather um Sunday and Monday uh you know was interesting and our our guys uh responded you know we're not going to let uh anything that inhibits uh our way of training get in our way or or make an excuse out of it you know we're going to find every way to to get our work in this this team is um I'm I'm happy but on edge how's that um very happy with where we're at we often speak poorly when we're talking about the portal um but one of the things is it can bring in leadership and it can bring in the culture of not to use culture over but um of a player-led team have you seen that with this team oh yeah and I don't I don't want to discredit uh some of our guys that were here that have bled for the I mean fto Rico Ming has maybe one of you know one of the top two or three leaders I've ever coached and he's been here a long time but the question was in specific about the transfers yeah I mean CJ Campbell I'd be shocked if he's not a captain you know Jackson Ambush was a transfer I'll be at a two-year transfer uh Milan Tucker is on our Leadership Council you you look at our Leadership Council there's of the 11 positions that are represented I'd say five of them are by by transfers you know and so um we do have some leadership and I think some that comes with experience you know those guys have played football and uh they got pelts on the wall they they've got a resume so to speak and I think you don't get you know a lot of those guys have have played meaningful snaps where they were at prior and you don't get to do that oh I don't you know half ass in practice you know and and so it's great to see these transfers that our guys know are good players have proven themselves on Saturdays college football and then they watch how they work and oh coach Herman wasn't wasn't messing around last year he was telling the truth like in order to play like this guy plays and then I got to work like this guy works so it's it's been great from a lot of fronts obviously the upgrading uh of talent but um certainly from a leadership and culture standpoint too we we've upgraded that one more question for me and I'll turn it over to these guys for the first time you're going to have your coordinators be able to talk quarterback on the field how does that change during a game when you get to that Mark of okay now the headsets are off and they got to go or do you yeah I you know haven't haven't spent a year in the NFL um where this has been common place for 30 years or whatever the case may be um I I don't it's only going to be positive you know the 15c thing means we get 20 more seconds than we ever had you know and so uh you can already tell using it in practice you know fry talks to the quarterback real quickly you know gives them some some bullets maybe it's about the previous play Maybe It's the play coming up maybe it's the tempo that we're in maybe it's hey Your Right Guard just whiff go Pat him on the butt we need him next play you know real quick coaching points it's I don't know if I'll ever be a quarterback coach again but it it would be a a dream come true to to be able to to have one of those and be able to talk to your guys for 25 seconds so there is a little bit getting used to it but we're never going to stop teaching our guys our quarterbacks how to get us out of bad plays and into good plays and I would imagine you know defenses if the clock runs under 15 they're probably going to have some so so as if he doesn't uh is not going to have that but when you do have it it is um it's an awesome piece of of coaching equipment and I would imagine F's experience in the NFL yeah I mean he he did that for a whole season with two us so um he's pretty I mean it's like what are they duck to water water off a duck's back or how however heard that I don't know duck to yeah duck to water yeah something Liam besser say it again Liam besser what do you uh thoughts on him tight in from Temple just got you he made a really nice catch today that's the only reason we asking yeah i' I've known him for seven days so I jury's out how's that uh can we can we share why he was brought in uh I believe uh what do they call it now a walk- on but uh oh is he pwo yeah he's in grad school here yeah he's he came to grad school so he's a walk- on he's not yeah wanted to get his his graduate degree at at FAU and had some eligibility left contacted us I believe and we said yeah he was already enrolled in school right nothing to add nothing to add on him right now okay got it we we didn't recruit him yeah okay Coach staying on the topic of tight ends how do you see the tight end group contributing to the overall success well I hope you know uh one thing I haven't done is give an injury update I probably can do that tomorrow um because I don't have it with me but off the top of my head khil brantley's been been dealing with some internal medical stuff that we're we're trying to get figured out so he has not practiced um long story short the tight ends that they had a great spring even better summer and I know we're not playing a whole lot of football but they made unbelievable strides in so many different areas um and when khil was healthy and and going you know I think coach Ryan myself you know we we felt like we had four capable tight ends in in um Zeke Wyatt EB and and khil um that we could you know maybe play 10 15 20% of the game in in 12 personnel and um with khil going down that's slow that um progression just a little bit you know instead of four we got three you know and uh but when you do play with two tight ends in the same grouping over and over and over again those guys get worn out so um hopefully we'll get khil back in some form uh next week and you asked about the position as a whole I'm super excited you know we went from this is no knock on Zeke but basically having to play a true freshman cuz he was our our you know he was the he was the prettiest girl at 2 a.m. you know at that point um I I was trying not to offend anybody in all my different um Expressions I had rolling through my head there I apologize uh but so we had to play him and and he's he proved that that he can you know we can play winning offense with him but to see those other three guys in their development over the past year has really made that room in my opinion a strength of the offense you know going from having to play a true freshman to now having four guys that you think you can win with I mean that that's a a pretty major shift coach like you said you have four guys that are capable of being tight end one obviously they all have different play Styles whether one's a better physical threat want's a better blocker how have you and Coach fry really been able to get the most out of everybody every day I I think probably from his NFL days um coach fry is really good at Personnel you know he's hey this tight end if we're going to be an 11 personnel this tight end is going to be on this this this play this tight end is going to be on this this this play you know not to say that the others can't do it but um kind of identifying that best guy and then in 12 personnel you'll see us you know um eie Elijah Brown and Wyatt Sullivan would be more of your hand on the hand on the ground line up next to a tackle uh you know true inline tight end I think is the the buzz phrase um and then Zeke and khil would be the more move um HB if you will so um I think that's probably you as I think they all do certain things well and in 12 Personnel you that's by putting one's hand on the ground and one being the move guy we've already kind of told them a little bit about what kind of jobs to expect doing that and then when we are in 11 personnel when only one of them plays I think coach fry does a really good job of getting the right guy in on the right play and then runningbacks had a very good day today we opened up uh 11 on 11 with a nice little 50 y from CJ Campbell Zoo had a nice day and Xavier Terrell had nice days how do you how have you liked how our Run game has really evolved since last season there's um quite a bit of dynamism now in the back field um Larry and Kobe I mean I think Kobe still in an NFL Camp right now I mean really good players just much different you know that they're bruisers they're um one cut if you will uh where CJ and Zoo have a little bit more elusiveness but still strong enough to to get you fourth and one for sure but uh maybe a little bit more juice in the open field so it's been interesting to see too because running backs you know they they they Thrive certain running backs like certain runs better you know they they just they they feel it better they know it better whatever the case may be and so to kind of see the evolution of the Run game a little bit as it plays to these guys strengths have been been fun to watch too you spoke about Pro owls with Kobe being in Camp but it came out yesterday that jaquin Burton made Miami's first preseason roster how how how does that make you feel as a coach even though you only had him for a year seeing one of your guys that you poured into make an NFL yeah it's great uh Jin's got a tremendous talent I mean there there's a reason to the Dolphins invited him uh to training camp and you know they're not I don't know that they'll have a guy with his measurables you know running around and so I think uh you know if he gets an opportunity to to prove to the people in that League what what he can do I think he'll turn some heads thank you thank you co