Duquesne FB Redshirt Jr RB Taj Butts 8/27/24

Pittsburgh sports now Zach Weiss here at a sunny Rooney field with Taj butts obviously Taj football season's officially underway Thursday at Toledo just what are The Vibes how do you feel the team's feeling right now um All Good Vibes the team is pretty excit excited about this year uh plan a power five opponent in the first game uh well Mac opponent in the first game uh it's pretty excited cuz we're confident what we can do and this also allows us to show what we can do on the stage like TV on a Thursday there's not many college games so we're going to have a lot of hit is watching us and we're just excited to show the world and uh the other you know other teams in the in the conference what we can do it's kind of interesting the school year starting a little bit later this year so you guys get extra chance to practice without worrying about the books just how did you guys take advantage of that time and use that as a strength as you prepare for Thursday um we we took a a good advantage of it um especially with conditioning them we condition on those extra days uh we made sure that we got used to the Heat and being out here since it's been so long uh uh we took a couple extra days to work on things that we felt like you know we need to work on uh but overall we we did a good job as a team to to do some uh some uh some good on good and make ourselves better obviously as a returning player you understand the standard of this team and what the principles are how has that been like teaching these new guys just how to get up to that standard um it's been fun um I like coaching new guys uh the new freshman came in ready to learn ready to uh get on the field and work and we like like that and as older guys um this my first time being in the position the coach a younger guy um it's excited to me because when somebody's ready to learn and um I feel like I have the confidence to teaching them it makes us help it helps us uh grow together and I know for sure that uh that the young guys are going to be on the same path that I'm on uh exceling on the field how much has exper your experiences through highs and lows trials and tribulations helped you in finding that voice um it's helped me a lot um as people always hear uh uh everyone goes through adversity but uh me personally uh adversity has helped me uh especially beginning of my career I never fought it as much as I am now uh and I feel like it's helping become a better player on the field but also a better leader off the field in terms of returning guys obviously coach mentioned DP stepping up a little bit more vocally which has definitely been in extra strength but just who else besides yourself and him really do you think have just stood up and taken up that task um uh John Herby we had a new wide receiver come in um even though he's new he came in vocal um vocal about what he wanted the goals for the team and how much he shows how much he cares for the team and how much he wants us to win that helps a lot uh coming from another a wide receiver uh somebody in a different position it allows from you know different position groups to to lead the team from a defensive standpoint obviously a promotion in terms of coordinator obviously not going to ask you to give anything away I wasn't born yesterday but I will ask you just how it's been just seeing his Evolution and just seeing the team respond to these new ideas um it's been good um it's been great actually uh seeing coach Mickey get in there uh do his thing and all the guys on the defense trust coach Mickey so they follow right behind him um and we love coach Mickey he's showed with the defense he's put in and how he coached the guys that it's going to be a great year and he's had he got them headed down the right path you're famili with facing D1 programs obviously West Virginia last year among others Coastal Carolina if my memory is correct just what's it like having these opportunities obviously every game is its own entity and you can learn from every game but just having these opportunities to show out um it's it's it feels really good it's always great um for me and for all the other guys on the team to play these guys um and to play them over again and um to be in those atmospheres with in those stadiums um being the underdog that all feels good because it gives us a chance to every play to show us and to prove somebody wrong for yourself obviously you're part of a three-headed monster and two of the three heads come back this year yourself of course in J Mario just how have you guys really just honed in on the game plan and become better versions of yourselves um we we just listen to coach uh coach D which is our offensive coordinator who plans everything uh which we know we have trust in him that he's going to be able to give both of us the ball have both of us satisfied and allow both of us to get on the field and show our talents at the same time and at different times and we also feed off each other's energy cuz we know we bring different uh different games like different style games on the field and we know they can be difficult in defenses how locked in do you feel this group is now and if they stay that way I don't I know he that uh coach Smitt doesn't want you to look too far away but how much can that show just how special this could be if things continue to stay locked in um yeah uh the guys are extremely locked in even though we won a ring last year we completely forgot about that we were thinking about this year we know that we we have a team we're excited about it but we also know we got to go game by game and it's going to take uh one game at a time to get to that goal and uh as long as everybody know that and is on that same Mission uh we're all headed the same direction it's going to be good