CFTV: :Matt Campbell press conference following win over North Dakota

who wants to get a start I met um first of all an update on Caleb's injury and why you know Dal wasn't able to go Jaylen anybody else maybe boy we have a long laundry list to be quite honest with you right now um yeah we don't know a lot about Caleb right now um you know certainly wasn't back in a position to get back into the game I think we'll know a lot more tomorrow um obviously we're hoping it's not significant I I don't know that it is or is not right now but um hopefully from that standpoint you know we we've got a laundry list of guys coming out of camp that just had bump bruises dinged up I think a lot of those guys are day Lin and a lot of those guys are dayto day you know Ben bramer limited today um man our linebacking core limited today and so we'll just kind of play it by ear you know but I think probably what I'm most excited about is the amount of guys that stepped up and I thought played pretty good football now it's going to be interesting to watch the video and kind of be able to evaluate a lot of guys but we played a lot of guys today on both sides of the ball so I'm I'm excited for that um but uh yeah we'll just have to take it one day at a time right now he does for sure he does absolutely you know and and um you know got dinged up this past week a little bit but I think he'll be he'll definitely be a guy that's going to be available for next week so it'll be good to kind of get some some some bodies back in that linebacker room for sure too yeah you know just a weird game honestly you know I think some of that in terms of defensive football was um just the amount of times that they were able to convert on third down on on really both of those long drives um you know credit to them you know I think they got themselves into some good third and short situations and you know put them into really manageable situation to have success but we didn't get off the field and you know I I I until you watch the video you can't say man what went well or what didn't go well I thought what did go well was In the Heat of the Moment when it came to the critical moment we were able to win those battles when it mattered most um but you know we definitely need to be better on the in third down defense and you know at times we got to be better on first down in the Run game to kind of help that third down defense as well would you miss not having Caleb and then what you think about how people stepped up filled in for yeah like I said I thought Jack Sadowski you know Zack love it both those guys who played a lot of football both I thought stepped in how well did they play what's that look like um but I thought both those guys made some plays that were were really positive I thought John closterman stepped in um you know played great football for us at Sam linebacker and John's a veteran football player and had the big hit that caused the bow interception so um yeah I thought a lot of guys that just shows I think a little bit of the depth of this team is man A lot of guys had to step in and play and and I thought played pretty good football for us coach can you take us through that first drive obviously with the big pass to jayen Mo right away and then the second pass from Beck finding Higgins for that quick touch on can you guys take us through what your plan was for to open up the game like that yeah I I just think the reality of it is is trying to find the best matchups in the football game you know and credit Rocko I mean those are those are two great throws and obviously you got two great players to be able to make plays on those balls but um you know I think those guys have really had a great fall camp together there's great chemistry and um you know trying to put the ball in our Playmakers hands I think when you look at this and this was a team that was you know I think one of the lessons we learned last year is sometimes people are going to put everybody in the box and try to stop the run game and you got to you got to prove that you can throw the football and you got try to attack and I thought you know we did some really good things in that realm today I thought that was really impressive really not only that drive but really throughout most of the football game that same thing how do you evaluate Taylor's debut as a play caller yeah I thought he did a great job honestly I thought there was great balance to what we wanted to do um you know I think I thought we drove the ball with great consistency we're five of 10 on third down and um I I really thought he had a great game so again and we've talked about this man that whole collection of of staff I think that's one of the great benefits there was great communication you know throughout the game on that side and I I thought those guys even made some good adjustments within the game so it was impressive talked about how many linebackers you played but it seemed like the offensive line played a lot of guys too is that a function of the injuries or just want to see guys yeah I think probably on that side a little bit more of man there's some tight races and you know I think we needed to use today as an evaluation tool and probably you know throughout you know the early part of the season of what is actually our best five guys playing and and you know we still got dalen hazer you you know that didn't didn't play yet and coming back from injury and he's another guy that's certainly right in the thick of that and you know obviously you know Jaylen Travis is a guy that's coming back off injury and you know he's in the thick of that so I think that again I I thought that offensive line played pretty good today and I I'll be anxious to watch it but I think again tribute to it's nice to finally have some depth where you know when you got some injuries some guys step in but it's also a group right now that I still think there's some undecided exactly who is the starter um until we get through the early part of the football season what are your thoughts on how you guys ran the ball yeah I thought really good I mean I I you know we didn't run it very much because we didn't have to you know I mean the reality of it is you know when we ran it I thought there was a lead efficiency you know you're you know averaged almost you know five yards a carry and and I thought we did a really good job in the running game and when we needed to run the ball early or throughout the game I thought we did a really good job coach what do you take away from Eli green his first game as a cyclone well the first thing you better do is you better tuck that ball a little bit better so you're not GNA get the ball much more but um you know I thought he'd made some really nice plays um got to have great ball security you know and I don't feel like he'd had great ball Security today but was nice to see him make some great plays Eli's a great player we're we're really excited about him but um again there's a standard in how we protect the football and we got to be better hey coach I know you worked months and months and months for this game overall how would you say you guys played I mean happy with what happened out there today well I think you look at the stat sheet and you're like man you're pretty pretty solid of what what just occurred you know I thought we played really good football um there's some things in the first game you want to clean up you know we want to be a little bit better on third down on the defensive side of the football we had a couple penalties in the Red Zone um that maybe prohibited a chance to score but man I thought all in all you know with the amount of things that kind of were against us a little bit today with some of the injuries I thought some kids stepped up and played really good football so um to get a win and you know you watch North Dakota State you know play you know on Thursday night and that's a team that just beat North Dakota State 4914 last year so you know I think a really good football team and a team I got a lot of lot of respect for really physical football team so yeah I thought you know all in all win one number one and on on to game number two for sure um you were asked about the first drive but I wanted to ask a was that almost a you're gonna go to Jaylen probably and disaster strikes and B there's a photo out there both guys how in the they came down with that ball yeah your perspective well I I think that's where Rocco is trusting his team in now I I think if if we really look at that photo there might be uh Jaden Higgins coming underneath that might have been open and maybe a tailb back might have been open but we'll evaluate that photo in the video and see if it was the right call but uh you know jayen no I I I know I I've said this I don't know if I can talk more about a human what he has stood for in this program in my opinion he has from year one to year four been one of the most complete football players we've had in our program during my time here and he's got Elite competitive Excellence I think you saw last year it switched from man being a really good player to being a great player and today he looked like an elite player one of the best players players in the country at his position and we're really fortunate to have him and I I don't think Jaden's far off I thought he had a really good day as well so um and and again tip your hat to Rocco I thought Rocco had a really good football game and played really efficient football today so really proud of him as well what do you think were kind of like the the keys to the game going into it um yeah I think for us it doesn't really change you know I mean we want to take care of the football number one want to play really good on special teams um and we want to be really great in situational football and you know I think one and two we did a great job of you know I think situational football um you know those are things like coming out those are things like third down those are things like Red Zone um you you probably won more than you lost today but as dominant as we want to be we probably weren't exactly where we need to be and yet I don't expect to be either it's it's week one and um you know great opportunity to grow I think our greatest growth I've always felt this way is between week one and week two and uh we'll watch the video and we'll goow forward but let's remind everybody they they scored three points points on on against us and you know we kind of C off the dogs there in the fourth quarter and trying to trying to run up the score so um you know I think the reality of it is there was a lot of real positive from this football team today coach can you talk a little bit about Canard Snider obviously the transfer got his first sack today you kind of talk about what he's done throughout Camp to reach what he did today and get his first sack yeah boy I'm really excited about Canard you know I I feel like um and he was in the backfield a couple other times to make a couple plays you know you could tell it was almost first game Jitters for him a little bit and um but it was great for him to get his first first sack I thought you know what he's got is he's got great ability to come every day with purpose you see he's got great tools he's got great twitch he's got great takeoff um and he's really got a great ability to win the one-on-one pass rush so um yeah I think from my end I'm I'm really really high on what canard's got the ability to continue to grow into in this defense because he gives us some things maybe we were missing a year ago and you know the ability to to win the one-on-one pass rush with with high efficiency and I think he's got the ability to do that I saw you put out a guy like Jay Gilbert out there to pun instead of Perkins you know with him being the kicker two years ago what has it been like for him to try to kind of transition from being the main kicker to now being a bunner boy I I I again I I think one of the great stories for me at some point will be able to tell the Jace Gilbert story you know I mean um again we don't give up on people in our program and you know Jace um really kind of has come out and and has earned the right to be the punter and kickoff guy and you know rotated there as well today and I mean what that young man has done and and obviously what he overcome was hard as a freshman and he you know was excellent I mean that play that Daren Porter makes I mean we should also talk about his performance because it was Elite today um but the play he makes and obviously the the pooch punting and the ability to short field punt for us I think jaay has got a chance to be a real game changer in a lot of ways for us and really proud of him so he he he's a guy that if you remember he played quarterback he played Safety he punted he kicked he did it all and he's really found a niche on a way to help our football team be successful I think only grow forward for us JZ Williams had 11 tackles today he pray him Theon throughout the offseason what did you kind of see man and almost had a pick six you know what I mean he's like ticked um but yeah again jonz consistency work ethic since January if you asked every every part of the department that that affects our kids from academics to nutrition to strength and conditioning winter conditioning to practice to what you saw on Saturday he is an elite performer and I think the consistency that he comes to work every single day it allows him to have great confidence and I feel like that's how he played today um so yeah I'm really proud of jont TZ I thought he had a great game and I think he'll only continue to improve because I think you got to remember he's still young in terms of playing you know and you you got two other guys that are play have played a lot of football around them with Miles and certainly Daren but yeah jont TZ is a great player and I think he's only going to continue to get better