UAB Football vs Alcorn State | Postgame Press Conference

um one and0 that's that's the goal um we took a you know very matter of fact approach to this one try not to let our emotions get the best of us right um and was super pleased with the defense and special teams um especially after last year those being you know areas that weren't real productive for us so they played at a very high level offensively getting the ball in his hands was a big deal uh made a lot of plays um but disappointed overall with the consistency of offense we have a we have a very high standard his he'll tell you this I don't have to say we have an incredibly high standard offensively and tonight we're even close to that um but we're carried by great special teams and great defense defensively what in particular did you like I mean what you know kind of go through what you like def great communication would you agree um you know guys playing together understanding what was coming at them playing fast getting off blocks not letting adversity you know we fumble the ball put him in a bad field position spot we've talked about it hey hold him to three they hold him to three um you know winning the Downs you should win you know getting them in third and tough to manage and and winning those Downs run into the football you know you saw a lot of green helmets around the ball um attacking the ball ball Excellence you know something we talk a lot about so um really kind of it unfolded as we've seen happen in Camp we we knew we were better um and we still need to get better but the things we saw in Camp you know showed up tonight um what's the message in the locker room after 38o win but if you cut out some of those mistakes it honestly felt like it could have been 20 30 more yeah that's how I felt um the message was congratulations I mean listen when you go on a mission which we did and you accomplish the mission you should be congratulated on it you know they work really hard I've said it all offseason it I wish you could understand how hard these young men work they they're student athletes we grind them in the football facility we ask them to be great humans off the field um so they work really hard so I I hope game night is an expression of all that hard work so you want to congratulate them when they pull it off but you also want them to recognize that look how good we could be you know you want to have that carrot dangling out there and the good thing is we're recruiting kids that feel the same way you know it's not like I have to convince these two or a lot of other ones um that greatness is out there if you chase it hard enough so um but the message was matter of fact we congratulate the defense special teams and said there's a lot of things we need to get better at and they're like yeah let's go get better you know so I think we'll take a really hard look at this film it wouldn't surprise me if if we come out with some you know guys are saying man I could have played better I got a grade out better there I got to handle that better I got to be in better shape you know that they will look at it and see that there's a lot of growth left and they'll want to attack that growth they're excited they get a day off on Saturday which they deserve they haven't had one in a while so nobody wants to get away from you guys more than me trust me so um it'll be nice to get away and then Sunday mission number two will start and and we'll take the same approach that uh we took this week coach early and fall Camp you talked about having players that are coaching the players did you see that on the field today when you started to have some adversity on offense I did especially defensively um you saw guys one there just no Flinch you know they just rolled out there okay we got a job to do let's do it um you did see guys lining guys up you know um making Corrections communicating uh on the sideline there's great communication I thought our sideline operation you know with the iPads you know it's a there's a risk with the iPads that you go to the sideline you just do too much fixing and not looking forward and our th guys did a good job of of fixing stuff that need to be fixed and move on to the next series and anticipate what you could be seeing so um I enjoyed all that Chris as a defense when when you start a season especially when you're coming off a tough season when you start a season playing a game where you don't give up a touchdown kind of what does that do confidence-wise moving forward uh it boost our confidence a lot um but we know like coming into the game communication uh like celebrating each other on each play we made that was going to be a big thing coming into this and uh we happy we came with uh not allowed a touchdown but we got to do that week every week after week uh cam after full offseason of hype you got your assistant coaches hyping you up you come out I think you had 73 yards and then our first punt return touchdown since 2013 how does that feel for you it feel pretty good it's something I work for it feel pretty good it's something I work for this whole offseason and just I just trusted the process and trusted my blockers and it just went off from there coach open this is for the players talking about this matter of fact approach you all had coming in this game and it really seems like this whole team is taking that on the players where does that approach that leadership that mindset come from and what feels different about this group you have this year I think they're more mature um you know I think a lot of them are very internally motivated they don't need a lot of um hype and inspiration I think we started just kind of we all just accepted we all looked ourselves in the mirror after last year those of us that are back and like we don't ever want to feel that way again you know so let's start with the man in the mirror first and start with me and I think they all took that approach and and I I do believe that you know we've kept the messaging pretty tight right like we've talked about Brotherhood we've talked about our standard and we really don't talk about a lot other noise you know we package that a bunch of different ways but um really we just want to lock arms and and do it for one another do it for the the city of Birmingham um and then make sure that what we do every 8 seconds is is reach our standard and if you do that again and again and again good things happen and you don't get caught up in all the other stuff that distracts you know a football coach or student athlete you just stay you know the thing becomes the thing J with with with Cam I I remember you talking in the past about that you know probably could have played him last year but you you know decided to red shirt him and um I mean did you see this kind of perform performance from him even last year see him the capability of it oh yeah we all saw it it was hard right like you know we had a lot of conversations me and him on the in practice like hey man you know I don't want to waste this year for you but you know it was also we had a lot of it people his position and it was they they needed to play and I don't know I I don't know what it was hard not to play him last year after the four games but he's a great kid to coach he worked hard every day in practice he embraced it and and we were on the same page you know I made a promise to him when I recruited him because you know we were able to steal him from other people and and I think what you you tell me if I'm wrong here but I had a vision for what you could be and we're we've done everything that we said we would do with him in terms of helping him um reach his potential and and build things around him I think you were told you were too small and this this and that and all we see is one of the best Playmakers in in our conference and um you know so with him and Mari and the other talented receivers we have on our backs um this was the year we felt would best highlight his abilities and for you Cam on that note I mean for you how frustrating was it and and hindsight how much you think you grew during that whole experience last year uh last year I felt like I kind of wasn't ready but I was ready but I took this off season to get better and make sure I was ready to play so I just took a big step this offseason yeah that let me speak on that real quick you know we kept scor and everything I told him day one of offseason train like everything has a scoreboard so like every lift every Wednesday every Everything classroom stuff attendance mentoring I mean everything was tallied and we have this really unique thing um called the Blazer rating and it has their trustable score which is their off field score along with all their football metrics and then their um their grades from practice and you're looking at two guys that graded out as high as anybody you know what I mean like all off season he just tallied wins in whatever these guys were winning everything so it's not a surprise when you got have guys that take the off season as serious as they did and try to win everything they do that they end up winning in the football game shocking how that happens um Chris so last season you end up playing games as a true freshman did a pretty good job and then in the offseason they bring in more experienced players that make you feel any sort of way did that motivate you and then you come out not only push through that group and start but lead the team in tackling no it definitely motivates me man um I'm I last year I feel like I got to helped the team out more and then just coming into the next offseason I just knew I had to prepare like no other man and build my confident up prepare prepare my body prepare my mind for for this season I just took that took that to the next level this off season anything else all right appreciate you guys thank you