Sherrone Moore, James Franklin, Luke Fickell & More | Week 1 Coaches Press Conferences |B1G Football

Michigan's Sherrone Moore uh we're close we'll figure that out soon though we're in a good place and based on being a good place what would make that final determination and will we also see a potential rotation of qb1 and two yeah we'll just see who practices better these next whatever it takes to win I don't think there's really a yes or no or what's better what's not you go back to the years of Tim tibo and Chris Le worked out pretty well for them but there's teams that have done it and haven't worked that well so we'll just figure out what's our best formula to win is there a momentum type thing that you you consider that can you at least talk about that a little bit to the Michigan fans they're all wondering about I think momentum is just something that's going to happen throughout a game I don't think it's going to change with the quarterback it's going to change with the whole team so it's something that whether you get a stop whether you don't get a stop whether you score whether you don't those are things that really create the momentum so for us it's going to be just going to be a decision on who we feel is going to help us win Aon has Alex been taking majority of the snaps the first te uh it's been pretty even so they've done a really good job of it's been even snaps throughout you know maybe it's one with him one with next guy so it's been an even distribution and those those guys done an outstanding job and obviously made it very hard for us to make a decision right now who is that next guy uh Davis war on the left Isaiah with Jeff headford stepping down in the summer what are the challenges when it comes to trying to prepare for a team and you don't know if there's going to be anything that's drastically different or and also what do you see from president yeah I think first of all whenever you have a new coach um obviously being a new coach but when you have a new coach you know you just there's the unknown there's the there's the not really sure I know coach Skipper has been in the system he's been there he's been with them so he's evolved in the culture and it's something that's been very successful so you don't see him diverging too much from what they've done uh I know he was the defensive so I don't know how much involved he will be with the defense or not um but I can see that there's definitely going to be some wrinkles and things that we got to be be prepared for but they're a good football team you know went nine and four last year uh they're tough they're blue collar they play extremely hard so it's going to be a challenge for us to make sure we do the same thing yeah what does do about Fresno St offens they got a couple key returners on that side of the ball yeah I think starts number one with their quarterback uh Mikey keing he's I mean he's he's not as big as as a lot of quarterbacks but he gets the ball out quick he's mobile um the offense all goes through him so for us to you know be successful against him it's about how we stop him how we contain him um he's going to make his throws he's going to do some really good things he's going to be able to scramble outside the pocket so we got to keep him contained and and confuse him a little bit with coverages and things we do and uh make it messy for him because it really goes through him and when he's healthy for them he does a really good job of of ball control and control the off offense and you can see that the offense has a lot more confidence with him in the game yeah then how do you keep the team focused on Fresno State With You Know The Showdown against Texas I mean our guys are we got a really mature culture and uh you know obviously the past three years we've done what we've done but I think it's all about really today like you can't be worried about two or three days from now cuz then you're going to lose today so you you've got to get the advantage today on what you can do to get better and we know they're a good football team uh last year they went Purdue the first game of the year and beat them at their place so there's no uh cakewalks anymore in college football so whoever you play you gotta be ready to go on the left Jennifer so how does it feel just that it's game we now is there an excitement building the mentality of the team and how excited are you to see them finally line up against somebody else yeah I think the the biggest excitement is that they don't have to bash each other's head in against each other for the next whatever week so that's awesome to see but it's also awesome to Game Plan plan and get into that part of preparing for another opponent and the competitive part of it and and then playing in the stadium with all the fans uh we're super excited about that U but for me it's been awesome uh Camp's been phenomenal just to be out there with the guys and and grinding and and and really building the callous of our team and who we are and what we're going to be and it's been fun to do that so ready to take the next step in preparing for this res of te obviously you've done this before in a fill-in position but are there a little bit bit of nerves is there a little different feel like this is your team this is your time yeah not really nerves uh kind of sto getting nervous anymore the emotion if you can of what it anxious ready just ready just ready to go you know ready to practice ready for meetings I'm ready you know today's the first day of school for the boys so you know we made sure we talked about going to class being on time sitting in the front doing everything right you know talking to a couple younger guys hey make sure you introduce yourself to the teacher shake their hand say hello cuz they're like what what Inu yes do that it's going to help you in the long run so but watching them as they come back from class and then go to meetings that's going to be a cool thing to like see them oh you guys had school today now we're back into to football and then you get this routine of a game week so that's the that's been the fun part for me on the left Tony yeah sure back to to the quarterback when we spoke with Kurt Campbell earlier in Camp was talking about no matter who wins the job Michigan's offense is going to be base offense but these guys do different skill sets right and so there will be packages and Things based around them is there not sort of a sense of urgency for the team to know sort of which which way they're going or maybe do you guys know and it's just no there's no I mean there's always a sense of urgency in everything we do so regardless of who's in the game we're going to be have a plan for them to be successful so for us it's not the players are just they just go out there and perform you know whatever the play is called uh they're excited and they're ready to go so there's not really a you know push to make sure we get it done by this time or dead did you know day we know we play Saturday we'll have somebody ready to take the first snap and on the outside I guess maybe some might have properly improperly assumed Alex sort of entered as the leader were you were you all anticipating Davis pushing this hard and this oh yeah I mean I know Davis Warren if you know him on a personal level and what he's been through that kid's a fighter so you knew it was not just going to be given to anybody so they had to go earn it and he's earned the opportunity to you know compete for it and that's what he's been doing on the left Ryan a top 10 team has has already lost this season was there any messages or or any Lessons Learned From that that you Shar with your team after watching Florida State go down yeah that's why I said you got to just prepare every week you got to prepare like you're playing the top the top the number one team in the country you know for us it's not about the number or the ranking or anything like that we just we have to go prepare to win that game and whoever you're playing that's to face this opponent you got to make sure you're prepared every day to go win that game so for us to the message is pretty simple they saw it so there's not much we have to say about it on the left Brad how do your place over almost a dozen and a half starters on a roster where a lot of people say that do teams like Oregon joining the conference or have stay load up the way they have you're trying to compete in a conference that's going to be just as competitive not more competitive than it was last year yeah I mean I think the number one thing we've done here and we will continue to do is develop so you're going to have a lot of depth you know those guys a lot of those guys that are going to be starters on Saturday have played whether they played here they played at other places they've all played in college football so it's not like we lack that much experience it's just they have to play together and uh they've done that in training camp and we we start to build that Synergy on offense and on defense and you can start to see that take shape so excited to see them on Saturday Chris coach what kind of Camp has Jimmy rer had and what have you seen from the backup linebackers yeah I mean he's had he's had a great Camp uh we were just talking about him the other day he's just he's healthy he feels good and he's playing to that potential you look back in 2022 he started the Ohio State game so that's a guy that has all the talent in the world to be a top linebacker in the country and he's really really had a really good camp and what's a safety rotation looking like right now uh right now obviously M's been phenomenal uh Quinton Johnson's been great but you got Zeke Barry in there you got uh Wes Walker in there you got Jaden Mangum uh you got Brandon hman who's really really taking his level of play to the next level uh cuz he's got some Elite traits and ability that that people haven't seen yet and we're super excited it's finally getting there for him but him and a guy like Zeke Barry who's really all he needed was the confidence and you know it it'd be funny cuz i' talking to Rod talk to Wills like who's the guy like in the back end and this was in the spring like who you guys more most excited about this is Zeke Zeke and to watch his Evolution as a player he made some he's made some plays in Camp just wild plays and they're like yeah that's routine of his skill set so he's really stepped it up so that room is super deepen and ready for it on the right Angelique sh when you have two quarterback options who haven't started how much does that limit what you can do on offense at least initially do you slow it down for I mean what what do you do with two guys who haven't been in there yeah I think you just have to figure out what their strengths are which we've done in Camp so there's a menu of stuff that we can do with each guy and it's not like both of them can't throw and both of them can't run so we just do it differently with different guys in the game so I feel like we have a really good menu playes and both of them to execute the offense fully so it's just going to figure out who's going to do that consistently over these next couple days and how different does the offense look with Alexon and and then with Davis uh not crazy different there's just things you can do with each guy that you that you'll change and manipulate but it's not super different so we're still going to be who we are and and play our football on the left Austin I have another question but are you planning to watch the Netflix documentary comes out tomorrow I'll be watching film so I'll watch film first and wide receiver have you seen anybody um take hold of that number three wide receiver spot or do you expect that to be more by committ yeah I think there's going to be a a competition as we continue through this Camp um but guys like Kendrick Bell guys like CJ Charleston who's coming amaran Walker um Fred Moore it's going to be all those guys that continue to compete as we go through the season as we go through these this camp and prepare for the rest for this first game and we go to the next game so uh we'll see you know we'll see who's gonna really take that solidify it um but right now we feel like we got great options at all of them right here Charlie sh you're obviously focused on your team and your players but have you taken a moment of personal reflection on what this moment and what Saturday is going to mean for you no I haven't it's been like literally I've been asked that before it's like all I care about is the players like I don't I don't think about myself I don't want to you know Dave ask me to do stuff all the time I'm just like I don't why do I have to talk about myself um all I care about is the Players that's that's it that's all I care about so uh I haven't looked at it in my perspective I just want them to go out there be successful and have the time with alive right C right tackle can you just speak to the guys like buy for the job and J yeah I think right now uh at Center you know we've got a couple guys we got Dom GIS we got Greg krippin and we got Raheem Anderson and you know right now it's still a competition you know we'll see who who does it uh I think krippin and Dom have been the top two in Camp so far so we'll see how they you know compete this week and then a right tackle um Andrew Gentry Evan link have been the top two candidates there uh so we'll see what happens this week but for like we got a good we'll have more of a insight and cement as we go through the rest of the week could you speak to D and just what they've done to show you that they got Mi yeah I mean I think just one from a knowledge of the Playbook standpoint and knowing what to do and how to do it both have the talent um both have the ability but the toughness and the mental toughness to withstand all the strain and as you go through camp and different things happen and be able to be flexible play right play left play center play guard and uh be one of the best five you know because that's all we're going to do is try to find the best five that's how we've built the line and that's what we're going to continue to do on the right now yeah you talked about the safeties a little bit but at cornerback who do you see lining up opposite will Johnson yeah right now it be Jer jer's really taken a hold of that position and done a really good job Suge he's been phenomenal tough just gritty dude uh one to KI finest and uh he's he's been great so uh I think it'll be him on Saturday they'll line up across from from uh will Johnson next question on the left rer you talked about turning the page but how hard is it when you have stuff like this documentary coming out and also the draft or I mean the NOA um you know being delivered I mean it's back in the headlines I guess the remnants of last season how hard is it just to turn the page I guess towards the season not hard not when you're here with the players and uh you're getting ready to the game so you can write about that you guys can write about that you want but we're just worried about playing got time for a few more questions if you guys have't startor left Chris Arlin Klein had a good spring how's he done this fall he's been great yeah he's he's really cemented himself as that third guy with Coulson and Max he's been he's had an outstanding Camp so ready to put his his talents on display for sure uh always I want to thank you guys for coming out and covering Penn State football we appreciate you guys being here um feel like you blink and we're back it's it's it's gone quickly um I think you know when you talk about winter workouts Spring ball summer training uh training camp just hope they're proud of the product that they see on I think we have maximized it as rule changes I think we've done a really good job preparing do everything we've done some of the technology changes as well as some of the rule changes that have allowed us to to uh make adjustments and make adjustments quickly I think the new rule changes in terms of what you're able to do with the players and what you're able to do with the staff over the last couple of years I think has really helped if you're in a position to hire position coach get a lot of work done in that period of time so all those things have been valuable uh but training camp was good it was competitive it was physical um it was tough like like it was designed to be and um you know now we're in a position I think over the last week and a half we've cut back to make sure that the guys feel good that their bodies feel good and that their legs are back um and now getting into a traditional game week we did as you guys Penn State's James Franklin know that have covered us for a while we do have like the bonus West Virginia practices at the end the training camp but you now now we're obviously in a traditional game week so looking forward to it excited about it uh and and look forward to answering you guys' questions we'll start with uh rich carcella with the running eagle and Frank bodan you're on Deck good afternoon James how are you hi Rich how are you buddy I'm good thanks James with the news this morning I was wondering what your reaction was to Pat's contract extension and what does that what does his presence mean to you and the program going forward well I I think first of all um I think stability in college athletics and college football has a chance to be a differentiator like like probably never before I think it's always been a differentiator if you look at certain programs across the country but um now um I think it's magnified even more with the amount of turnover that you see so I think that's really important uh he knows Penn State um he understands um you know College athletics obviously and the changes that that we're under right now um and that stability at the lead position in our athletic department is is critical so um I think it's was strategically the right thing to do and um you know we had a a department uh meeting this morning and he announced it there um and I know a lot of coaches and and people are very very happy about it I think the biggest thing is we got a man leading the department that is a competitor and I'm talking about a fierce competitor in everything he does and and that's important you know you guys have heard me say before about the importance of having uh people in I don't I hate using this expression but um you know having somebody in the Foxhole with you and whether that is women's soccer whether that is fencing or whether that is college football um and wrestling um you know that's that's important to have somebody that can relate that understands the challenges that wants to come up with Solutions one of the things that I think has been that stood out to me uh is Pat and Vinnie's ability to find solutions for problems that we've had or challenges that we've had for for a number of years um and then I think the other thing is even bringing some ideas to to the coaches in the department without the coaches having to come up with with those ideas so um I think it's really good for the University I think it's really good for the athletic department um um and I think it's the right thing to do strategically for Penn State moving forward so I'm I'm very very happy about it Frank bodan and then Mike Rose you're on Deck hey good afternoon James how are you hey Frank I like to new names that we got going on up here that's you didn't tell me about that Greg and Chris very helpful very helpful well I know who you are Frank obviously but still still nice to have it up there thank you um so looking at your offense from the end of spring to now what position group do you think you've seen the most Improvement the most development how does that look for you especially going into your opener here yeah um you know i' I'd probably say um wide receiver and um but but I would also say like you know was a little bit at other positions that you could make the same argument but I'd say wide receiver I would say a quarterback um I would say offensive line specifically obviously with the offensive lineman that we lost to the NFL last year um I'd say those three positions I think everybody had you know pretty good idea who we were at tight end and who we were at running back so I would say I would say those three positions and and really the three positions we needed to right so um there's been a lot of energy um poured into those positions um uh a lot of strategy about how do we position those those those uh those areas to be the most successful um and so far I think you know what we've seen in training camp not just for myself but really uh coaches on both sides of the ball we all feel that way let's go to Mike Gross and then Mark Wen Rich you're on Deck good afternoon James how are you hey Mike good how are you good thanks um about the uh on the in the inh helmet communication thing I've heard you talk about what you think of that rule change a couple times but maybe I missed it I have not heard you say a whole lot about how how implementing it is going uh what defensive player for example is going to have the helmet what special teams player is going to have the helmet how you're finding are there problems with it do you feel like it's working well just run down how it's how it's going yes so I think you know we're probably like most people you're going to have the quarterback to Mike linebacker you know wearing those positions I think that's how most NFL you know teams are run um that's how um I think most colleges are going to use it um we started early which I think has been helpful um you know DV Sports been really good kind of working with us we've had them at our last couple scrimmages actually running it for us uh very similar to how it will be on game day so I think that's been valuable doing it with crowd noise has been valuable um deciding how much are you going to continue to Signal um because that that's still an issue right are you going to huddle um on offense if you're going to huddle then the quarterback can communicate with everybody if you're not going to huddle how do you still get that communication between 53 yards you know from one receiver to the other essentially uh and the same thing with the corner so having a lot of conversation with NFL teams some trial and error ourselves uh incorporating noise um you know for our offense when we're on the road and then our defense for when we're at home uh all those things but I think I think it's been good um I think it's one of these things the more times we do it the better we're at it we've been doing it at practice even without the DV sport people here um and that's been good it's not the same as obviously when DV Sports here and they're cutting the the mics off after you know 15 seconds left on the clock those types of things so there's there's things that you got to get worked through it's it's it's one-way communication as you guys know so sometimes you've made the call and how how does the Mike linebacker let the coach know that he's gotten the call um you think he's gotten the call and he hasn't gotten the call those things um CU as we all know the these things aren't going to go perfect so then also do you have backup plans in terms of signaling or in terms of wristband um you know all those types of things are you okay okay yes since since covid it kind of makes everybody uneasy yeah so um Mike does that answer your question awesome thank you let's go to Mark wogan rich and then Johnny mcgonagal you're on deck at least it makes me how you make makes me uneasy do make you guys uneasy yeah Mark how are you good buddy how are you besides uneasy good thanks yeah we got we got somebody like coughing over and over and over in here that brings up a funny story Mark I got a second so me me and U Manny and Frank Leonard I think you guys know is we went and visited the Patriots and we we were there for two days and we're in meetings with their coaches watching film and Frank Leonard got got sick and he is coughing and coughing and coughing and coughing and their coaches are looking at him like hey buddy you know you want to get out of here and then uh I'm uncomfortable and I'm trying to kind of make eye contact with Frank like get out of here like I mean this is Bill bich I mean the whole staff right uh and and and finally Frank's like hey if you guys don't mind I'm gonna I'm gonna go back to the hotel and every was like do we mind we like want you to go back to the hotel so you just reminded me of uh of Frank Leonard and the the Patriot story sorry Mark go ahead I hope they invite you back after that yeah we've never got an invitation since you mentioned a couple times including today how tough Camp was how did the team emerge physically from training camp and then where do you stand in terms of injuries that you would classify as season ending yeah we got some some bumps and and bruises um like you always do I would say you know really kind of no different um you know it's funny you have the meeting every year with the Leadership Council and they get to a point where they've had enough and I think they forget we've had this meeting every year they're like coach I think we're at a point and I'm like yeah I hear we hear this every year so um it's good feedback to hear for myself and and Chuck Losi and for Andrew Nelson as well is's running our Sports Science Department uh that feedback is really important for me to hear from the players um but we're we're back in a good place like we have been um you're always going to have a few things that are lingering that we're still waiting to determine uh but overall good and then you know when it comes to injuries the the guys that you guys have asked me specifically about that you haven't seen it practice I I'll answer those questions but in terms of um you know big pitchure uh I've I've told players and their parents like always I don't make announcements unless I'm asked a specific question and then I I talk to them and their families first to make sure that they're com comfortable with it but I don't think in 11 years I've just come out and and and uh made a blanket statement on on who's out and the other thing is it's hard to say anybody has a season ending injury I I usually term them as long-term because even the guys that do have injuries that's going to keep him out for a while we think a lot of those guys we should have back um you know for the playoffs or late in the season too last question from Zoom is Johnny mcgonagal and then we'll go to Mark Bren James how are you good Johnny how are you good good uh you mentioned the offensive line earlier in terms of uh you know groups that improved and specifically to right tackle uh how would you describe how the competition during Camp went there and you come out of Camp going into week one uh with a guy who you feel comfortable starting or naming a starter yeah um we feel like you know the right tackle battle has been healthy and and positive in terms of the amount of work that those two have gotten in and as you know that's Dona and that is Ruchi um you know we feel like both of those guys that that we can play with and win with and think both of those guys will play um I know a lot of times you guys are asking for specific answers at this point but we haven't even told the players at this point um you know what the rotation is going to be like that's usually a conversation for Johnny like yourself and a lot of people that covered us for a while you know we usually have that conversation as a staff on Thursday and then have another conversation at the hotel um and obviously the players at that point would be aware of it as well but at this at this point um you know we're still you know practicing and and making evaluations uh to determine to determine uh rotation typically starters we're in a pretty good place where we're at um but in terms of the rotation of how much guys you're going to play that's that's really to be determined based on how they practice this week but I would expect to see uh a lot of both Anthony and and Ruchi over on the right Mark how's it going James good Mark how are you I'm doing great you talked about the importance of stability when when discussing uh Pat this is your 11th year it's kind of the exception anymore for head coaches where do you think the program has made the most progress during your tenure yeah you know I'm I'm proud of you know really a ton of areas um a ton of areas you know in terms of our staff our coaching staff we're able to hire and retain uh our staff uh like we weren't able to before um you know you don't really see us losing guys for lateral moves anymore um and that used to happen in the past that that's problematic you know for the type of program that we want to have um as you guys know you know this was stated early on facility wise I didn't think you know we were in a we're in a great place there was some resistance to that early on um but we've been able to get all that done and thank God because if you didn't get it done before now you're not going to do it moving forward um the other thing I would say that's kind of more recent um is our training table that we have this year our football specific training table that we have I think we're probably the only top 10 program maybe in the country um that did not have a football training table um this is our first year for for having it um you know one that's in the facility and and part of the football building uh I think that's been a huge win for us um so you know there's a ton of areas um academically athletically um I could I could go on and on the list the list I think is is significant um but as everybody knows all that matters now at this point of of the season and and of the year is is how we play so our Focus now is is directly on West Virginia and making sure that we're in the best position to go win uh at a place that I got a ton of respect for I think Neil Brown's done a great job um I think it's a very very challenging in place to play I think you know for opener that's that's going to create some some challenges and issues for us uh and a team that I think is feeling really really good about themselves and has a ton of confidence you know they they won nine games they really should have won 10 games that Houston game uh was was you know was a very very tough loss um you know in my mind they played well enough to win 10 games they end the season I think winning five out of their last six games in including the bowl game so they a lot of positive momentum the quarterback played really well so our focus is is totally on that right now but um you know things that will impact this season uh I think the the training table is a significant win um keeping our guys big and strong throughout a challenging season through a long season and a longer season um uh and more competitive season with our schedule than maybe Penn State's ever had um that is as big of a win that I've been fighting for for 10 years and and we're finally able to get done with Pat and Vinnie Audrey hi James hey Audrey um you guys have mentioned Liam Clifford A lot of times this preseason is somebody who's kind of turned that corner um what has he kind of done and then along kind of that same position group Kaden Saunders what kind of Camp did he have yeah so um Liam and I know I I know you guys hate when I I answer things this way but it it's really not one specific area it's just kind of overall I think he's more confident I think he's more comfortable um um he's much more consistent which is what it's all about for all these guys at this level I look at his college career in a lot of ways like his like his high school career he just kept getting better every single year and really had a dominant senior year uh had a really good junior year um and I think his college career is going about the same way um you know he's faster than I think people give him credit for uh he's got a big catch radius um and I think he's got a chance to to be a playmaker for us this year he's shown some flashes of that in the past uh he comes from a football family as you guys know very very well it's funny his parent parents were at the parent meeting the other day and you know one of the things we try to do is get all the parents to come to the parent meeting and some of the parents were like well I came last year so I'm not coming this year and they the the the Cliffords have been to eight straight parent meetings which is crazy I almost had them get up and run the meeting but he just he just is really matured um I think maturity in college football has a chance to win you games probably in a similar way that it's impacted college basketball when you could have a older veteran team or an older veteran position uh and I think a lot of those things you know show up with Liam but it it would not surprise me at all and we are anticipating on him having having a really good year for us Kaden I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah Kaden's got some bumps and bruises that he's missed some time so we're working through that right now now and uh you know obviously we're hopeful that he'll be able to go this week and be full go and and you know be able to factor back in for us John hey James hey John how staying with the wide receivers how many wide receivers do you think you have that are ready to play on Saturday and how close is that to where you want it to be wanted it to be coming into this season yeah I think you know at every position I think you guys have heard me mention before you really would like a two and a half deep you know at at every position so if you're talking D tackles you would like five um and then I think at at wide receiver when you talk about being an 11 personnel set you know having you know you're talking about two deep um at two of the positions and then a swing guy in some ways and I think we're close to that I think if you look at kind of across the board um you know guy like Makai flowers I think is really stepped up for us I think Tyler Johnson has really stepped up for us I think Anthony Ivy has really stepped up for us and that is a critical group for us right um you know and I'd like it to be for game one but the reality is even if it could be for some of those guys in game three and game four and game five and that's a big discussion we had this morning as a staff meeting we got to identify guys that we say okay they're made they may be not like ready whatever for whatever reason physically mentally or emotionally today but these guys we need them to be ready by game five of the season so okay it's obvious you know that to pinpoint and be able to single out the guys that are ready right now who are the guys that we need to make sure that we continue to pour into them and continue to develop them that they will be ready you know come game five of the Season or some around there so those are guys that I think really are going to need to step up for us but have shown enough you know that you're excited about what they're going to be I and I would say tyer Denmark as a new player is is in that is in that conversation as well back left Andrew hey Andrew hey coach Pat McAfee obviously a former WVU player he has a very large platform and he spent a lot of time last week talking about this game and and talking about Penn State I I was curious if you use um any of his remarks or anything like that in a locker room setting or with players or how you deal with kind of outside noises from platforms like that who command such an audience well first of all I love Pat mcavey and his energy and enthusiasm for sports and specifically college football I think he's been I think he's been good for for College athletics and Sports in general I think he's fun right you know um you know I think his ability to speak freely uh is is unique uh and and fun in a lot of ways um for us it's a fine line right you know I think it's very similar to the old billboard material I want to make sure that our guys don't say anything and our staff doesn't say anything that creates billboard material because for some people that motivates them right um and I want to make sure that I'm not talking out of both sides of my mouth with our with our staff and our players because I also strongly recommend our players getting off of social media especially in season which is easier said than done it's amazing how many of them say it oh well I'm good with it and then a year later like yeah I'm probably going to get off social media this year you know um I I'd like for more of them to take the advice on the front end before it no different than kind of me handing my my phone over to to Destiny you know during the season and let her manage those types of things uh I think is the healthy way to go but it's funny KJ Winston came up to me yesterday at practice and said coach you got a couple things up on the monitors you're telling us to get off social media but you got a couple things up on the monitors for us to see and I said but here's the difference when you guys are on social media you're reading whatever comes in there's no filter and what we can do is I can have Destiny or Greg concate or Chris Peterson pull things out to show to me and strategically say we want to use these things so there's a filter there and when I said that KJ goes that makes sense that makes sense so uh we do a little bit of it but not a lot of it um um for those very reasons I want to make sure that what we're saying is consistent but I kind of look at it like old bulletin board material um you know now we're a true bulletin board material team in terms of we like just cut out what's in the newspaper where there's some staffs and coaches like get on get on their computer and create stories that never existed to try to motivate their team we're not going to do that um there's enough out there that you can find it on your own Neil thanks for the newspaper plug that's cool yeah yes sir um just curious on when Julian committed that created a stir how he's done what you expect and have you picked a place kicker yeah he's done from one extreme to the other huh he's done uh he's done really well and I think as much as anything back to that veteran presence that I've talked about um he has brought that to our team is another veteran guy uh that knows college football that knows our conference uh and as we as you guys know knows Penn State very well and we know him very well um so I think that's been a real POS telling him yesterday I was walking um across campus and some woman came running out to me she was checking her uh son into the dorm as a freshman uh and she's best friends with Julian Fleming's mom and and came up we had a nice conversation and took pitcher so it's it's really cool for him to be back home and and playing for Penn State I think that's a real positive uh for a lot of for a lot of reasons um but I think you see the same thing in his play you know um he understands football he's got a tremendous football IQ he's a big strong physical tough guy who we think is going to make the tough catches for us um is has been throughout his career very physical blocker also a very good special teams player and I just think he's one of these guys again as a veteran older player he's very intentional about what he has to do to be successful and how he practic and how he approached his offseason on the jugs machine and all those things so I think he's been really good for our receiver room I think he's been really good for our team and and we're happy he's here uh at Place kicker again you know um kind of very similar to my response about other positions we got a pretty good idea we think we got three guys that we can win with um but we we have not you know made any announcements and this week we'll we'll factor into that I don't want to say something to you you guys that we haven't announced to the team or or told the kickers yet um I will say this all three of them come come within two percentage points on kicks I'm talking it's like I want to say it's like 85 84 and 83% in practice in in kicks um so it's not like it's a slam dunk you know even even my answer to you right now so um you know we'll we'll still evaluate that this week and then you know make some decisions um obviously a lot to be excited about uh let's just you know we could start uh you obviously two it Tes Monday night but tomorrow night we open up volleyball got top 10 matchup with volleyball so wishing them luck against Louisville um that would be tomorrow night and a lot of other things within the athletic department that are really exciting too right I mean obviously season tickets um you know are our you know fundraising for our indoor so there's a lot of internal excitement for uh for the start of what we call our season um so I'll get that out of the way quick just to make sure that everybody kind of understands there's a lot more going on than just uh what's going to happen on the 30th um but for us I think that uh this is the longest week of the year within your entire season so within the entire program right I mean every whether it's offseason whether it's Spring football that week one buildup is the longest week of the year and I think our kids would probably say the same thing right you go through fall camp then you kind of switch gears a little bit as we came back to campus and you're not still not into game mode and then you all of a sudden go into game mode and you do it a few days early just trying to make a break between fall camp and things like that um and then this week becomes incredibly incredibly long today's a Monday which we'll have a Wednesday practice so try to figure all that stuff out um as you try to build your routine School hasn't begun so that's what I mean by for our kids you know for our coaches it's always week one as long week when school's not in it's even a Wisconsin's Luke Fickell longer week um so Friday can't get here fast enough but there's still a lot of work to be done and I think for us that's kind of the the key right is is week one in college football is different than any other sport I think out there why because we have no real preseason game we have no scrimmage right it's probably the only sport out there the high level sport that you don't have some idea some type of scrimmage some type of competition with another group that you can you know get a little bit of a better idea of where you are and how you do things and how you handle things so you know this is the my I think my 24th year somewhere right around there in college coaching and and I don't know that it's going to change and it hasn't changeed so you'd think that well coach you ought to be used to this by now you know but I don't know that you do get used to that each and every year week one is so unique as we saw even in week zero last week there's a lot of unknowns um not just because they're college football kids because they're 18 to 22 year olds but also because of those other things we talked about no no opportunity to scrimmage whether it's in the spring in Fall you know as many turnovers and and and uh you know transfers and things like that that a lot of programs have so um that week one is there's a lot of buildup to it and uh you know we're getting close uh we're excited about that but you know we we've still got some work to do before we get to the 30th I had never really thought about this before the scrimmage thing um you have a voice in this in this sport did have you made a passionate player what what are the cons against it I I don't know I think that obviously there's a lot of change in in college football there's a lot of change coming in our landscape so I think that it could bring about some some different opportunities right and and like I said it's been 24 years you think you'd get used to that but that's what makes week one so uniquely different right there's nothing in the spring uh there's nothing in the fall um and then you get thrown into and now you know they may look at it and say well you know now that there's a 12 team playoff not that every game doesn't matter but there's a little bit of a difference you know to even your first few weeks but I would Envision as we move forward in in this landscape that uh hopefully we can find a way whether it's something in the spring or something in the in Fall Camp to you know simulate maybe what they do at at the next level but again it's really hard to spend a whole lot of time and voice a whole lot of opinions on things like that when you know we've got a lot of work to do ourselves so I try to stay off of rules committees I try to stay off of some of those other committees just from the nature of you know dealing with 120 guys here um that's the most important thing talking about changes your coach the addition of the tablets and the intercom and the headph or in the helmet how does that impact things for you guys and if I'm not mistaken you guys can take it a little bit farther with the tablets than they can at the professional level yeah I think the professional level they have is still pictures now I don't know how how far deep that gets to is there's 100 still pictures on each play maybe they can kind of make it look like it's a it's an actual play um we had it in the bowl game so we got an opportunity to kind of see what that uh was like a little bit in the bowl game um recognize some things we got to do better from from spending a game with that and then haven't had a whole lot of time we had one kind of mock game where we had the opportunity to to bring in all the technology um in one setting so it's definitely different I think that uh you've got to have a plan for it whether it's the headset whether it's the technology but I also think that it can it can be overwhelming too so we got to try to figure out what that balance is each kid can handle some things a little bit different right do you need to watch every single play do you need to be you know evaluating yourself on every single snap I think that's probably not going to be the best thing for everybody but it does give us an opportunity to make sure we're using it in the best way how can it be Advantage for us and our program and our kids um in particular on game day and I think we you know obviously we feel really good about the plan of where we are and how we're going to use it um but there'll obviously be some things that can adapt and adjust um as we get rolling coach um do you have an update on on James Thompson and you know how long he might be out with the status no it it doesn't look like James is probably going to make it um I don't know that we'll have him for the year um so you know there's a lot of things that are still we got to wait and see right I mean um I don't know if it's a four to five month thing um he had surgery I think last week uh you we really haven't really talked about it but um you know it's it's a it's a big loss it's tough you know a guy in his senior year that has been through so many things and has meant so much to us I mean obviously over his time here but even in this offseason you know and our ability to continue to grow and do the things we want to do and you know kind of really you know put guys in leadership roles and he's done an unbelievable job and fired up and ready to go and uh you know the unfortunate thing happens and uh now he'll be in a little bit of a different role for us this year I don't know that we'll have a chance to get him back Luke you mentioned that the 12 team playoff and the way things are changing this year I know you have experienced in a four team field you know how hard that is in what ways do you think a 12 team field changes things for a program like Wisconsin as you go into a season in this new era I don't know that you look at it any different um you know if you you go you're guaranteed to be in if you put yourself in that four four team selection uh but I do think that in the long run what it's going to do it's going to make you know the season the length of the season the the later games in the year become you know I not say that they're not important but more important in the eyes of everybody around college football and I think that's what will create a greater excitement even about where college football is right I mean sometimes late in the year they're all looking for what's well we only have so many matchups this week and well there's so many more games that are going to have an impact on what those 12 teams look like that I think it's a great thing for college football I think it's a great thing for the programs you know because if something does happen early in the year you're not out of things and uh again in year one we'll all see how that all works you know how does it really balance out as we move forward where to you know where do those championship teams go or how do the the aqs Go I mean there's a lot of things that need to be you know probably ironed out and and will be ironed out in the next probably year or two with with all of that but I think what it does is a whole it makes college football better it gives you opportunities to play play games like we got on week three where you're not overly worried about hey this is the whole season because you're playing a a week three game against a top five opponent you know and all that puts us on the outside because you know if you're not undefeated then you're not going to have a chance and so I think in the long run it does a lot more for college football I think it does a lot more in just the landscape of keeping kids involved and maybe not opting out and things like that because they all want an opportunity to not only play in the playoffs but play for championships and you know as we gotten smaller and Tighter in college football you know not saying the bows have gone away cuz they haven't but the you know the importance sometimes of the bowls and what has made college football I think so great um you know to have successes at the end of the year and to have those opportunities I think we're we're opening up a new Avenue where uh we're going to give a lot more opportunities for for a lot of different teams and and uh it'll be better for college football in the long run just wondering what you've seen from chz during this preseason offseason just what what it says for him to come back after all the injuries he's kind of dealt with over the years yeah that's the thing I mean injuries are injuries and and how people deal with him are are really key and critical and chz has had his right he's had his ups and he's had his downs and um he's had these really tough moments and you know for us more than anything obviously we love chz and we want him to have an incredible season we want him to have you know all the things that he expected and expects the thing about it is building that confidence from coming back back from a lot of those injuries and I can say this that he's in a much different place from what I've known even from last year and I mean that because in Spring football we went live with chz and it wasn't something that maybe we thought we were going to do and I think it started to build his confidence when all of a sudden he was able to go live and get that feel back and then in Fall camp we want live with him again in there and have the true ability to you know kind of test yourself and see where you are and I really do believe I've seen you know he's had a great attitude he's worked his tail off and everything that we've done but that confidence level of truly carrying the football truly making plays truly taking care of it um when you do some of those things we did in Fall camp and let him go in live situations I think it's really kind of helped build his confidence you know not just in his leg but in in all things that uh that tends to get taken away sometimes when when you go through as many tough injuries as he has so I'm excited to see him play I'm excited for him to you know kind of let loose again and uh I really do think that his confidence level and stuff is in a really good place chman you've said previously what you look for in a quarterback leader and winner I'm curious how you evaluate beyond the scoreboard and Beyond the leadership stuff are there metrics you look at in terms of what makes a quarterback what means he had a good day or a good season well it's hard good days can be up and down and then that's all a part of it I think the the day after sometimes not good days is really a great evaluating stick um evaluation you know kind of meter to see hey how do they handle those things cuz it's going to happen whether it's in in a series or in a game um and the consistency to me is what has to be in your quarterback position and whatever that means whatever that looks like I think that's why it was a little bit more critical for us to so to speak name not not name publicly always the the starting quarterback early on but I think it was really important for us to kind of put those guys in the situation that we thought it was going to be earlier on um to see how they were going to be able to handle see how their leadership's abilities were were grow see how that relationship amongst you know Tyler and and Braden how that flourishes too once all of a sudden some things are you know kind of labeled right whether it's a one and a two or a 1 a and a 1B um so that part of that position is so critical and like I said where we are right now is a really good spot I think both those guys have done an unbelievable job you have seen a difference in Tyler um since that time and I mean that even not as ups and down not as even as emotional but truly being a little bit more vocal standing in front of that group a little bit more um and then you've seen brayen Braden kind of flourish a little bit too you know obviously disappointed you know when all of a sudden you kind of name Tyler as a starter but not at a point where he didn't still become a really healthy competition within that room and a relationship where they can help each other out so um I think on both sides of it you kind of look at to say okay what does this look like right this position is so special and so unique that no matter what you do you've got to have a guy in leadership positions at that spot and uh I think they've done a really good job now obviously come Friday night it starts to be the the the other test and the ultimate test to what they do um but they do understand that there's a lot of other people around them and and I do feel like they they understand and know that you know it's not just on them Luke what would you say are the biggest differences from where Joe Brunner is at in H his game from start of last season to now well it was hard cuz last season Joe didn't get a whole lot of opportunities you know he was a guy that you definitely noticed whether he was a starter or not last year um in my mind always had the makeup of what you were looking for as an offensive lineman and the you know in the in the toughness department and the the physicality department and the way he played the game and the energy and the emotion he played with it was just unfortunate that he didn't get a whole lot of opportunities right not many years you could ever say that you're starting five play the entire season without you know having an injury until obviously Jack rolled his ankle in the bowl game um but I've I was impressed I was impressed that you know even the difficult times he had to go through when he wasn't getting the opportunity to play that you still saw the the things that you want to see from a from an offensive lineman right and his grit and his toughness um and then obviously with the opportunity starting in the spring um and all way through fall Camp I think he he's you know he's a guy that went on the play hard board and that's not a that's not an easy thing right because at that position in particular you're going to be on some ISO cams and we're going to evaluate every single step of uh of what it is that you do on on a daily basis and um so I think he he brings a little something different to the rest of that crew and I don't mean just the youth behind him um but a little bit of an edge as well hey everybody uh great to see so many familiar faces uh thanks for coming out just got off the practice field so uh a little casual but uh we can make make do of this uh great to see all your faces football season's right around the corner 10 days away from kickoff really excited uh really like this football team I'm sure you have a lot of questions so you know I I did enough of my opening pressor at the Big 10 media day uh what was the time 10:40 1050 not bad some of the false reports out there is 1450 is inacurate it was 1040 I think uh not to say anybody in here did that just saying heard some rumors so we'll get to questions how's that good to see everybody on Tuesday you talked about Thursday maybe being a scrimmage for some evaluation how did that go what you what did you see yeah it went great you know I mean we've done a few things we've had another scrimmage we've had a mock game um where we go through all special teams situations do it under the lights uh we were going to have one in the stadium on Thursday but weather uh made us come inside but we did the same type of thing uh I love this football team I love the depth of this football team I love the competition of this football team uh we have more competition this year in in 2024 than we've had since I've been the head coach here at Minnesota and that's a credit to our staff our recruiting the players the way they've kind of Taken on this whole year um so hopefully I answer your question we got a lot of questions answered but it's not about just answering questions okay you're number one we have a lot of different starters uh we do uh we have a lot of guys that are going to be splitting time so they're both starters and so I I think Minnesota's P.J. Fleck that's what's really healthy about this football team as we keep going forward what positions could you see splitting time as a possibility well I think any when you look at defensive line I think there's going to be rotations that continue to happen just like that normally is we just have more people that are going to be rotating which is good for our D line offensive line you can see at some positions we're going to be doing that as well wide receiver we're going to be rolling some people in tight end you're going to be rolling some people in um you know you want to be able to do it we have so many different packages on defense too so it's hard to sit there and go hey here's the 11 guys I mean from our nickel package to our dime package to all these other packages that we have as we talked earlier about the Personnel that our defense has I think that helps as we continue to go into game one uh now I'm not going to tell you all those different packages but it it's really fun to be able to to Plug and Play based on what these guys can do and put different combinations on the field whether it's first or second down or third down type of development have you noticed from The Corner Room throughout Camp yeah tremendous growth um you know we I was just having a discussion with one of our coaches about that um you know you have Wally and you have Ethan both those guys played a ton of football but when you start to look at like zaquan Bryan development uh you're really pleased with what he's been able to do especially for such a young kid he got a chance to play in the bowl game uh but that that has helped him exponentially get to where he is right now we've got a lot of other guys in that mix at that corner position ran Kelly's had a really good camp uh you know he's big long strong he's gained a bunch of weight um you know and then we've got a bunch of guys that can play a lot of different positions whether they slide down inside stay outside um that's a pretty deep room um and they're aggressive like they they've done a really good job of getting better I think Coachman Row's done a great job coaching them um got to keep getting better but I I like where we are there and and you mix that with the safeties and then the Nickels you start to look at there's more guys that are going to be playing in the secondary than we've had in the past PJ U new year of college football with transfer portal yeah uh name image likeness Revenue sharing looks like coming down the pike expansion of the salary cap yeah expansion of the Big 10 expansion of the college football playoff what do you think is the the what's the ceiling as you look at it for this program now and this new era a lot of change Dave I love the question um I think it's a little bit uh we're 10 days from game day I think that's a little more for a few weeks ago and maybe the offseason but I do think the changes of college football uh are really healthy for where we're going it's really positive for the student athlete it's positive for the universities as you can see financially uh but when you start to look at what it's going to do for the change of college football we don't necessarily know what that's going to look like um we're not there yet um nobody's there yet that's the future I think with the new college football expansion I think that makes people really excited especially with the University of Minnesota as I said at Big 10 media day I think when you had four teams in the college football playoff you could probably name two or three that were going to make it from the start of the Season then they were probably in there at the end and maybe there was one or two that maybe some people had On The Fringe or maybe there was one shock I think as you go through this and if it's 12 game or 12 teams which it is in the college football playoff that leaves the window open for a lot of teams uh to get in there from different conferences and I think that's exciting for the fans it's exciting for college football and the and the growth of our Sport and the health of our sport as we keep moving and moving forward one thing I've always loved about college football is it constantly changes there's one thing that changes is it always changes and I think that's what makes it really exciting not just rules but how it's all done not just like on the field to you know this this year we're going to talk about you know the uh the drop tackle and that's fine those are those are all good changes um but I'm talking about huge changes that change the Dynamics of what college football looked like in the future based on what was in the past words like scholarship walk-on whatever our definitions were prior to that of that and our vision of that was those are all changing of what that word actually means it has a lot of different meanings now Von has a lot of different meanings now 105 puts a lot of different puts people on this this this parody uh not equal play field because with nil still being in play but when you start talking salary cap and you start talking those types of things it it definitely creates a little bit I think more parody where I think every fan base is going to sit there and go okay Hey listen we got a great opportunity here if we invest in X Y and Z uh we have just as good a shot as as a lot of other teams so that's what's really exciting as we go forward and I think I've said that publicly at Big 10 media day that I think it's really healthy especially for Minnesota um with the changes of college football PJ when you went looking for a quarterback and you got Max how involved did you think FCS level would be in that in that search um I'm sorry Randy you mean getting somebody from the FCF level was that something you were looking at all along or yeah no it wasn't it wasn't necessarily we needed somebody just from FCS I mean it wasn't FCS or Bust it was the best available player and we we needed somebody to come in here that understood the situation there was pressure of the situation right from the start we had to find the right fit for what we were looking for and if you think back to it Randy we weren't we didn't bring in four quarterbacks with all this nil money and and stuff like that and say okay you guys all compete and let's go we had to bring in somebody who was going to be able to lead the team the minute they got here was going to be able to do okay without maybe the most wi W without the most competition threatening them was going to have to do okay with maybe not competition threatening them knowing that they're the guy to handle that responsibility in a very mature way and in a leadership way um and go out there and perform at the highest level um because the option after that for us was okay a true freshman and bringing in another guy that we're going to develop so when you're looking at it you had to be right so I mean every decision you make you want to be right and you're feeling you have to be right but this one we had to get right and Max has just exceeded all of our expectations he's got to go out there and prove it and play on game day and and do what he does every single day the only thing Max brosmer has to do is be the best version of Max brosmer every day and that's what he that's what he's capable of doing and that's what he'll do and we have the most confidence in him he's had a great six months um he's an amazing human being and uh he's made this program better he's made the people around him better he's made our culture better he's made University of Minnesota better and uh I'm really proud of him for that and it's going to be fun to be able to watch him here in 10 days how do you uh or how's Darius Taylor doing right now and how do you feel about the running back that yeah he's doing great you know we brought a ton of players for that reason in in general if anybody ever gets banged up we got a few bumps and bruises but you know I'm going to use the same line as we get in 10 days before game day I mean the injury report will come out you know two hours before kickoff but this is a very healthy football team and uh I love how they've gone about uh their business throughout training camp I thought we structured it uh to benefit them which we always do but you learn from your past to create your future on certain things we listen to a lot of the science and data and applied our whole training camp schedule accordingly but I really like the depth of the room from the top with Darius all the way down and we brought in a lot of guys for that position a lot of guys who have played big-time college football uh and then some other guys that have been Young have really come on strong uh so it's going to be fun to see how that all plays out and as the guys continue to compete uh within the season but feel really good about where we're at 10 days out what do you think you know about North Carolina in 2024 yeah I mean we just started them yesterday with game planning and looking at them and starting to work with our coaching staff and dedicating a lot of hours towards that in between our players and training camp first of all I got a lot of respect for ma Brown a lot of you I think it's well documented the relationship him and I have and he's always been really really good to me I mean he's he he's been a a sneaky Mentor because I I get him at the most opportune times and uh he's always been really really good to me um they're really talented I mean they got eight returning starters on defense and they added a bunch of transfers that do start other places in the ACC or other places they're deep um I think it's well documented I think the AP All-American team came out and uh you know one of their running backs Hampton I mean he's he's really really good and we played against him last year uh they've got a stable running backs they always do they've got really good receivers I think everybody's talking about well Drake May's not there but they reloaded they didn't rebuild they reloaded uh with the guys that they have now I know they're not NAB and a starter and and uh we just we expect to see two or three of them and we'll prepare that way but they all can run they all can throw um you know they've all played college football at a high level so but they're talented I mean they're a North Carolina team ACC team and Ma brown Coach team and all right uh excited to be here for game week excited to see the students start classes on campus before I get start I want to wish all the local high schools all throughout the state uh good luck as they enter their Seasons uh um we're obviously excited about the the opportunity we've worked very hard excited to play a home game excited to play UTEP coach uh Walden is a winner I've known him since all the way all the way back at East Texas Baptist and uh he'll bring Elite energy he'll bring bring a dynamic offense and an aggressive defense they've got excellent players um and so it's going to be quite a challenge so we're excited about it excited about our team and uh look forward to seeing everyone there uh starting starting with the Legacy walk and all the way through the end of the game we hope it's a great day because we've worked very hard to get to this day so with that I'll take your questions is even I think we're going to play them all yeah we're going to play them all so um you know we uh kind of have different roles for all of them and um you know Big 10 plays four weeks away so I feel like uh I was hoping we'd be a little bit more dialed in on where they are but um I feel like they've all competed enough that um we're going to give them all a chance and uh make some decisions probably three three weeks down the line um might illuminate itself obviously earlier but um they're all doing really good things and so um yeah that's one the one position we're probably not quite you know we're still quite unsettled on that and Nebraska's Matt Rhule kicker J boner his rise is obviously notable just to get that number one spot a year ago what wasn't really in this position what has he done to to get to this spot where he's number one going into your open I I think anytime you have a guy that you can say um is your starting slot receiver who was willing to be your starting fullback um there's something special about that type of guy their brain he was an excellent High School receiver you know had an injury um as we tried to find roles for him because we like just the way he plays football um it started to emerge and then just was unable to keep that 225 228 weight and so as he got he kept staying around like 218 I you know we just said hey let's put let put him in the slot and see how physical he can be you know trying to win third down with you know big people like that and he's just done excellent so you know we can be an 11 personnel and all a sudden get under Center and have him be the fullback still um there's lots of things you can do with a guy like janiran but um at the end of the day he's just a winner he's tough really tough he kind of kind of um emblematic of the type of guys I love to coach and um again as we talk about position lless football I think throughout the course of the Year you'll see him do a lot of things the versatility that he brings what you how do you feel about the Run game coming out of Camp well um I feel good about it but you know we're running against ourselves every day so you know after a while you know you start to uh you know you come out and you got the defense is yelling the play and the offense is you know knowing what the defense is going to do so it'll be really interesting to see when we Face somebody else obviously you know handling handling you know handling different fronts now um coach Clark defense you know is uh is uh is very similar to ours in that it's three down four down 335 hybrid all the same things that they do as what we do and so you have to be able to handle their pressure packages and the way that they attack you um you know they held opponents to right around four yards to carry last year so um you know it'll be a challenge but I feel good about where we are I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't put ores on the running backs if I didn't feel like we had guys who could make plays how uh what your expectations for Dylan and and how how do you communicate that he doesn't have to do too much and no no we're not thinking that way at all no no uh I'd rather I'd rather lose the first game than the last game so we're not going to ease into it we're going to play we're going to play specifically strategy but mindset wise yeah Dylan's going to play he's going to play the plays right he's going to when we call drop back he's going to go back there take his drop go through his progression just how we want him to play when he's a junior we're going to start day one that way we're not easing into anything there is that because of like what Dylan has showed you would you do that with anybody I it's a great question so I don't mean to to mean it I but just this is how this is where I'm at right now this is just where I'm at I mean I I don't know if I'd be like this with anybody else I don't know but um this is just where I'm at this is how I feel it's a good thing why Hill um on that dep chart is he available to play are you expecting to let him play in this opener yeah so gly Hill um came back from the knee and was doing really well and then just you know sometimes you come back from an injury and it leads to another injury so he's got some soreness in his hamstrings so he's available um but I don't know how much he'll you'll have to see how this week goes so that was kind of an unfortunate uh remnant of this past week you know just uh just uh some tightness in his hamst nothing like nothing serious but um he's available but you know I don't know how much he actually will play so you're looking at you know sier right you know you're looking at uh uh all those guys Amari Sanders Jeremiah Charles Larry Tarver all those guys will be ready to go Henry vski he missed some time this Camp what's his status right now uh he'll he's back in the mix um I think he'd be available kind of like Blye on an emergency basis um probably trending more towards sometime next week being truly able to go play a full game is there anybody else deci that um I'm not very good at that I don't mean that I'm sorry I'm trying to think if there's anybody else gunar Gula uh is is injured right now so Gunner's got a hand an ankle excuse me has an ankle so he's trending towards being able to play you know Brody tagaloa U so I'd say gunner probably next week I'd say Brody tagaloa uh hopefully two weeks from now is there anyone else that you guys have injury wise I know it's been like three days but enough they don't trust him yeah trust I mean Tristan's kicking you know he's in the mix so uh we'll make a decision probably Thursday or Friday who that who's going to kick malach is uh is good yeah Malachi's healthy yeah Malachi's healthy he's just uh you know he had a he had a groin so he's just um you know a little bit you know further down on the depth chart right now you mentioned um you mentioned Baylor 2019 um and how some of the things leading up to this season or you chosen to do in a similar way that you handled with that team like with the longer camp and um are there other similarities those 11- win team I think there are there other similarities um I sure hope so do you see some of those things like the maturation processes their accountability things like that that you look for yeah you know the hard thing is that was year three and you know the team in year two figured out how to win they got to a bowl game and they won the bowl game so you know that's really we haven't made that step we haven't gotten to a bowl game and won a bowl game so year three for me you know um there were a lot you know it's funny there were a lot of people thought I you know there actually was like they were reporting on the news that I was leaving going taking the job the Jets job and I was like I'm not leaving here like I knew we were going to be good like I knew like those guys were they were dialed in so I think we have the same level from our older guys of accountability it's just you know learning how to win I mean you know it was a 53 y by a walk-on kicker to send the game into overtime against TCU we had the ball second and 19 with a minute left on our own one yard line and Charlie Brewer took us 99 yards we dropped the touchdown so like we we won four games in overtime were on the last possession that's the that's the secret sauce of where we have to get to with this team right but um um so that's why I'm not easing into it you know I'm not going to just sit there and say hey Dylan hand the ball off 42 times don't throw it oh hey go win the game for us I just I'd rather coach the mistakes now and um if there are mistakes coach the mistakes and then when the time comes you know as excited as everyone is to play how good has this team been at trying to kind of stay in the moment not get ahead of itself through fall Camp to this point yeah they've been they they've been um you know they they live they they have their own saying that's not mine they say one better and I think they've done that you know they try to get one better every day I think Cory or someone did that and they they stick to it um you know not everything's perfect you know but um uh and again there's just a core group of Veteran guys that just kind of they just kind of make the thing go so um you know I think you're going to have what all everyone who starts on defense but maybe one guy is a senior is that right correct you know or could be a senior you know still still come some Co years out there and some inj but pretty much much everyone's a senior right so when everyone asked last year why is the defense so much further ahead of the off there A lot of guys on defense that played a ton well now what you're seeing on offense is you're starting to see the guys who've weathered the storm they're getting a little bit older now so hopefully um so there's there's that mix so I think they've they've done a good job how how might the offens has grow open up sat's Play sheet a little bit after he was pretty limited last season yeah I mean at the end of the day uh to me offensive football is about getting the ball in the hands of guys who can make plays and letting them make plays and um really I'll just go back to the running backs it's really about when we block it for four we can't just get four anymore like we we need we four needs to become 12 block it for four needs to go be 80 right and so that's that's the that's the step that we have to see um we have big receivers you know so we're going to face a really aggressive defense um you they'll play man on us and so there's going have to be a lot of big body catches and instead of trying to scheme up the perfect play like we're just going to call plays and let the fellas go in and so when you have guys you believe in you got to let them go in and um so yeah I mean sat's got it all his he got it all at his fingertips and the offense has worked really hard since you know the first week of June on these plays like we're not going to go out there and reinvent the wheel we're not tricking anybody like we we know what we're doing we're going to go out there and do it and see what happens on Jamal Banks I mean has he just been everything you were hoping he would be as a leader and a person given that he got a single digit Jersey and and he's kind of one of the top receivers you know when he came in when he came in on his visit both he miss chrisy his mother you know a lot of times guys will sit there and they'll tell you their goals and you know he was talking about you know nonprofit work and the things he wanted to do someday and you know I hear that a lot right you know and um he's one of the first guys I've ever seen like some guys do it but to the level he I mean he's here to help affect other people like there's not a day that I'm not blown away by his impact on other people people he's just Liv such a life of gratitude and I mean he is an amazing amazing person and um so I think he's had a really good effect you know on those guys and then his professionalism you know you him and neor have brought a tremendous sense of professionalism to an already really good group and so you know it's going to be kind of funny out there you're going to have you're going to have neor you know playing at his third school you know fourth or fifth year senior in one play and then you're going to have jakori playing his first college game probably the next rep so it's kind of a it's a fun time to be to be at Nebraska with these guys but Jamal's Jamal really is he and you know what's great about Jamal's voting the guys on defense voted for him the O lion voted for him um you know he he got he he's respected by everybody back to the nonprofit stuff that you talked about what's an example H you probably should talk more to him I mean I he led our team for us though I mean in terms of what he's doing outside but like for us like he led our team in community service hours he led our team in um you know we do offseason points I mean he literally shattered what anyone else had ever done I'm talking about it three schools like just the amount of stuff that he did in the off season and he does shattered anything anyone's ever done and so uh and he and Elliot Brown and Elliot was right there with him and um so it's just um I just hadn't seen somebody do that right normally you come in and you're like I'm a one-year guy yeah I'm a buy to the culture but I want to I want to put some good stuff on tape and get drafted he came here to try to help change our culture improve it right and um because every year you change your culture and every year you redo your culture and improve it and Jamal was like just the most amazing addition to that and um it's good when other transfer guys come in and maybe they're struggling with the things we ask of you and they see him buying into it and having success he's having and say you know what maybe I should try this and so the impact of Jamal banks will will be here for a while in the eight months you've kind of been able to be around Dylan how have you seen him just navigate the attention and kind of the Fishbowl that kind of comes with being him coming here um you know um well I think like anybody else I mean there's probably parts of it he likes right like there's part you know you like you like when kids have your jersey and you like when people come up to you and you you like all that stuff at the same time you know I I I think he's done a good job so far of you know um always always humbly working you know to me you know like he he he he texted me every night last week May I please be late to curfew and he'd sent a p he's he's still he's still in the building right and so he's you know I come in this morning to get my little old man workout in and I go on there's music in the cardio room I'm like who's in here and he's in there riding the bike this morning at 6:00 a.m. so um he understands that you know to get all that you have to have work and um um you know and I I remind them like this position when you're the when you're the quarterback at the University of Nebraska you you better be ready to ride the highs and lows and your life better not be about what other people think about you you know what I mean it better not be that and I think uh you know he and his family have have have instilled that in him so and he's a good teammate you know does what he can with the fellas to to to help get them ready as well well it's always an exciting time of year uh getting closer to kicking off Friday night and I know our guys are excited uh about 7:00 and there's been a lot of work put in U not just this last month you look at the months ahead all the way back to January uh really proud of these guys for the work they' put in uh we got a few more days to take advantage of it just walked off the practice field today um but guys are um looking forward to playing in front of a packed house and the fans and the students welcomeing them back to campus here started today um and so it's it's something that we've been working really hard and getting there I was pleased with how kind of fall Camp went I thought there was some competition in it throughout these guys have been working um against each other and now I know they're excited to get someone else on the other side of the line of scrimmage that team that's coming in coach Herman got a bunch of respect for him done it at a high level multiple places he's in year two at Florida Atlantic I know they'll bring bringing in a challenge for us that we're going to have to be ready for uh also proud of kind of the captains we uh we announced the other day those five guys I think will represent us well they've been a a huge part of as we're trying to build this culture and doing it together those five guys that stood out with a a vote that was from their teammates and uh and Five Guys that we're proud of with MAV Tanner Jordan Aiden and Nate um so with that again on Echo looking forward to Friday night Michigan State's Jonathan Smith obviously my first experience but counting on a a crowd and fans and students that can really help us throughout the game with that I'll take some questions Jonathan I want to expound on that this is your first experience here on a game week students came in late last week you can feel the buzz I saw you at the band thing the other day and you said you watch them outside your window what is what does the buzz feel like now that students are here can you feel it you definitely can feel it definitely a little bit more traffic it's a little bit slower getting around or there's so many more cars and and it's fun that's what you know College athletics college football but college life in general when you you get back to school and see some f your faces and just the energy on the sidewalks people going to classes the event with the band and their energy and they have been working I mean early morning till late night outside my office and counting on them to to help us out in this game hey coach um you mentioned going back as far as January I'm just curious with just a few days left until kickoff is there still a sense of urgency to get some things done or is it like Hey we're at this point where we got to get ready to just play oh yeah well there's still the Hay's not in the barn there's a sense of urgency you think about Games first games right the mechanics uh call it substitutions communication um you know we got some new new pieces this year in college football with the tablets and the communication through the helmet and so we're just always looking at that um I do feel like our work has gotten us to a good point that yes we got to go out and play and then we got to learn kind of where we're at and this thing is not a game of perfect U but we want to be prepared and put them through as many situations that we think could arise on a Friday night you talk so much about your team obviously that is your priority but from a personal standpoint how are you feeling finally getting to game one um just from when you were announced to getting your family acclimated yourself acclimated are you feeling more excited or nervous yeah you know I think it definitely excited uh I can have moments where my mind starts turning and you start oh did we cover this are we ready for that uh on the on the on the football side but again we got to get to Friday night and let it let it rip on the personal side I feel like each month the transition we've gotten more and more comfortable again I go back I've been saying a lot but feeling the welcoming uh with the you know the kids in school getting adjusted making some friends uh playing sports um the neighborhood we're in all of that has been has been great joh one you you mentioned about the competition how many spots do you feel right now solid with with the 22 starters and you'd mentioned previously about monori are there any injuries that getting going in that might be an issue you know we do not have a uh one that'll be issue season ending we've got a few guys that yeah you know there's some bumps and bruises through the week we're hopeful that we'll we'll be pretty healthy come come Friday it's been uh competitive we talk about 22 starters which yeah we'll we'll throw 22 guys out there I feel good that we're going to play multiple guys at some positions think about the defensive line we're going to rotate through that we' got guys that we can feel we feel 5 six guys could rotate in the interior of the dline linebacker same way well yeah two guys will start that but you'll see more than just two in playing in the game receiver wise we will play more than two or three guys um even in the tight end spot you know with with Ving perich coming along here molas had a great Camp Mike you know you're going to see multiple guys there I mean shoot you might even see more than just five throughout the game at all line of a spot or two with you know what what that's competition's gone so yeah we we're getting close to feeling like yeah these are the 22 to start the game but it might be the second series in the first quarter you going to see some other guys John I was wondering is there anything you're most curious to see how it plays out on Friday night like the biggest uncertainty whatever the case may be and just going forward in live action yeah you know definitely you know game live action the mechanics of that talk about the communication and the Personnel we need to settle in and and be great on that um curious to find out the response uh from this team and I talk about think being you know it's 14 nothing whether you're up or down kind of how we respond and do that I want to be a team that finishes games and plays plays well in the end of end of the fourth quarter and so this will be our first opportunity in live action to kind of see that Jonathan obviously Tommy has a lot more experience than Aiden did last year but you would you ever consider putting him in for a designated series to see what could do currently we we haven't we got a ton of confidence in Tommy but we have not had that thought or conversation to have a a set series for him we do feel confident if he gets in this game he can operate when it comes this is going to be obviously Aiden Child's first time ever starting at the college level um and he's mentioned that he's just excited for the learning process of this season how as a coach um how do you feel that he's ready for this moment and um how do you plan to just kind of manage his confidence you know when he does face adversity inevitably at some point yeah we talk about it I think he's definitely ready for this um you know he's a competitive uh player and true competitors understand it's not going to go perfect every snap and things are going to take place there's going to be some really good plays too um but there's nothing like experience and the guy's been out on on the field playing BigTime football before just hasn't been on the first snap and so we'll we'll be there for him to get them get them adjusted and we're confident that um you you know in his preparation in his instincts and how competitive he is that he'll give us a chance to score some points coach obviously with the 12 team playoff that means more opportunity for the team teams can get in with two three maybe even four losses I know it's only year one but do you feel any more pressure to deliver in year one considering there's so much more opportunity to compete for a national title you know I I think it's a good thing that there's more opportunity for for teams 12 of them to to get in I think there's always you know pressure in this this job this business this is what you know Big Time college football is and so you sign up for that um and you you want to do that you want to be playing in big games You Want To Make It Count when you're playing you want people to have passion behind you know their school University and the product that's out there and and that's what I've signed up for and this staff and this team uh we're looking forward to that challenge established your reputation in a different conference on a different end of the country what kind of a challenge is this for you to put your Footprints in the Sand here in the Midwest and in the Big 10 and will you be more nervous Friday night than you've been in a while um you know I I when the game kicks off I'm not thinking a lot about establishing this and that uh I think it generally go through the scen and we want to establish identity in all three phases think about that a lot and we're going to recruit to that identity want to recruit heavily in this Midwest and you know we've talked about it inside out I think we've made some real gains on that and we've got momentum U but it's a day-to-day constant process to to do do it we want to you know establish again a team that's going to play really hard for 60 minutes if not more and compete snap in and snap out how about the again I I I'm going to be excited about it I got some confidence and again our preparation these coaches and things um those guys got to go out and make plays um I'm going to absorb it early pregame and then then definitely try to get locked in coach three of your five captains uh were transfers do you think that says even more about the faith that their teammates have in them you know I think it it does the impression those guys have made in a short period of time um and again I just think we've got a lot of influence throughout and you could almost cut this roster in half of you know first year players here at Michigan State and then other guys that have been here a while um and there's respect on really both sides coming together uh this Camp has been huge I think for for establishing the this is the Ultimate Team game we've got to do it together we're going to need all 11 on every snap um and not just those three all five captains really represent that uh Jonathan what when you look at FAU what's maybe what something or a couple things on each side of the ball that stands out to you that they do really well and and I don't know if this is a separate point but is game one of a new job sort of a unique game plan thing when you guys have been going against each other and that's really your only barometer you just don't know maybe like what will be good on a game day against a different opponent is that a different wrinkle for the it's it's a little bit new and you know similar to every season right you think think something's going to be good or we've had some success but it's definitely new the uniqueness of you know year one for us yeah they're in second their second year and they've got some things established they've got some returning players at the line of scrimmage I think on both sides that are pretty good but they've got a bunch of new players as well quarterback you know we've got some tape at a previous University uh that's a that's a threat he is athletic competitive he can make plays so that's some that's got our attention the quarterback's ability um and then you know you look at their front seven they got a veteran group there with guys that have played and then you throw in some additions of transfers so um we've got an idea what it kind of looks like but you're never totally certain till Friday again when it's week one you know you haven't seen these teams you know haven't seen FAU play just yet how how big of a challenge is it when you don't really have a whole lot of film to go off of this year yeah you you don't try to chase ghosts because you don't have as much film as maybe you'd like uh you got to be you know great in your foundation and knowing your rules playing uh within the scheme and being able to adjust same thing offense defense right defense you don't know how they're going to line up offensively you don't know how they're going to line up and think about the communication again up front to get on the same page trust your rules and go out and play Fast there's going to be a good amount of recruits and attendance at this game what are you looking to Showcase with this this ver well obviously a a team that plays well and well together uh you know on the recruiting side whatever particular position we're talking about putting those in those guys in the best positions possible try to show recruit a big time fan base and student section and energy in the place and uh something that that would draw them to say you know what I want to be playing ball here hey Jonathan I was wondering with was there any kind of different vibe at practice today you know just being that it's now game week and and what's the sense you get from the just the guys that were here last year and maybe the fan base as far as what they're looking for this season with all the buildup and you know coming off a couple years they' probably like to foret yeah I think just on the practice end these guys know it's coming and we recreated a little bit last week a game we practice plan would be like and so now we're doing it for the second time uh the attention the focus is there we're repeating some calls cuz this plan has been you know kind of solidified for a while um I think the energy the focus uh and the excitement as we're getting so much closer you could feel that at practice wondering about the other side of the you mentioned about the ghosts of of not chasing without having to film what are the benefits maybe for you and your staff and program to not have anything really on display here yeah I think there's probably some benefit obviously both our coordinators o d have a background of what that thing looks like um but I think every year I said it to the team this morning I think you know good coaching staffs always are adjusting to the talent that's on their on the current roster and so year in and year out you know you do some self scouting and adjust and throw in some new wrinkles and and we're counting on seeing that from them and then obviously ourselves with the helmet communication on the defensive side of the ball as time goes on is it going to be more of a a position based decision or a player based decision yeah we try to do it in the inside of the defense so inside linebacker um and then you know that them be able to make calls for us so that'll be position and then you know one or two guys will be be ready to have it um I think about the logistics special teams wise right you got linebackers often times play special teams so you want to stay away from the two green dots on the on the field but linebacker for us inside of the inside of the defense coach Friday when it's a late Friday night when we're super excited to get into game week um you know we''ve uh uh this will be practice number 21 tonight Under The Lights it'll be our last one um under the lights uh before we play next Thursday and just uh you know a lot of thought goes into that our first seven practices were at night for a reason um three of our first five games are at night so a lot of different things that we did over the last 20 practices to get us ready for this game week um I told our guys we needed to have a great fall camp for two reasons obviously the work is in front of us but uh what people don't realize and I shared this with them after they're done you know so week one we got in about 80 hours of film and and and practice and walk through and meeting times 80 hours in the first week 80 hours in the second week and 80 hours in the third week which is for the non-math majors 240 hours right and and if you got a 12 game season that lies in front of us obviously would love to play uh in the postseason but uh you can only do 20 hours of work week with them during the college football uh uh um once classes start which obviously start on Monday so that's 240 hours in the season so it's kind of amazing you get just as much work in in 3 weeks of of Camp as you do during the course of the Fall so uh there was critical work that got done really excited about that I'm excited about my staff uh support staff uh everything from uh the way our guys are equipped to the way that they're nutritionally taken care of the way they're medically taken care of um Josh's afforded us the opportunities of that the world that we're in right now with um the ability for analysts and and Illinois' Bret Bielema quality control coaches to be on the field with us I think that has really improved the quality of practice um and the look team and the the way we can basically function uh also a byproduct of that is you know kids are just much more accessible to uh our coaches just because of pure pure numbers right they go by and uh see some of our assistant coaches you know the G and and quality control coach those are having some meetings with our guys right that they can kind of have one-offs and and better equipped to to learn specifically special new guys we have 45 guys that have never been through a fall game with us right have never been through a University of Illinois football game the good news is we have a lot of guys in our building uh guys like JC Davis guys uh um Melvin Priestley zakari Franklin uh on the defensive side of the ball Briggs uh uh um Terence Brooks guys that have played a lot of really good football at colleges other than here but they've been in multi-game start so I think that part has been exciting to see their breath right um also here at the end I've opened it up for some of our guys to stand up and talk in front of the team and to hear the the character the demeanor the personalities that we have in that room the journeys they've had is really cool so uh to jump into Eastern Illinois uh uh have great respect for Chris and and and I know Barry show shared his story when this uh uh came up you know that they were going to be on our our our schedule Barry expressed to me and then the history they've shared so um a lot of respect for what he's done first year obviously was some bumps on the road and then last year to be an 8 and3 team that you know in realistic I don't know never been in FCS but should have been a a playoff team uh a very very capable uh offense defense special teams they have multiple players back their whole roster is uh when you look at their too deep or projected too deep on offense defense and even in the kicking game it's it's all Juniors and seniors U guys that have been Junior and seniors in their program but also guys that have transferred in so a tall task for us to have um but excited to get out here in memoral stadium and uh be a part of it so with that I'll I'll open up questions coach uh you you mention FCS cheer guys do do they talk about that all or not we do just because uh of you know this would be their on their schedule the Marquee game of the year right I think you're always going to get a a uh uh opponent's best every week I think it just go but I think especially uh for them Eastern Illinois a lot of kids on their roster from Illinois um they have a kid on their roster that his dad and I were friends since high school right so there's like a lot of these stories there'll be guys on this team that have have people they played with in high school I think that proximity is good but uh we kind of always say respect all fear none right and and the message from me as a head coach is the same as we're playing Eastern Illinois and it will be the same against Kansas right um You got to learn to play your opponent but who is your opponent right so we're going to look specifically at yeah we're playing Eastern Illinois we're against Eastern Illinois's offense but who is the Right Guard who is the left guard um you know that that that doesn't change really matter independent of who we play any update on what's up where you guys at from an injury standpoint injury standpoint um as of right now James Cruz got cleared uh two days ago so I think he was ready to burn his green jersey um uh to have two crw brothers Limited in practice is not healthy for anybody uh um but uh both James and Josh are back cleared 100% to go uh Josh um had limited practice last week but he he's full goal for this afternoon or this evening's practice I know he's excited about that um on the offensive line everybody's back on the wide receiver there isn't any issues uh uh nobody will be limited from contact um or from the scrimmage participation um really the only the only guys projected to be out that would have played in the game right would be the two guys with acl's Cole Rusk and and Mason Moraga but other than that yeah we we're we're 100% BR is get three four weeks with these guys it's kind of an open-ended question you can take anywhere but what did you learn about your team that you didn't know about him before yeah that's a really good question I think in Camp you you learn a lot right and and uh first off voices right when I'm out at practice uh I usually script on my sheet where I want to go for practice and a lot of that is obviously I want to watch things but a lot of times I want to hear things right so um uh I think that's it's a very important point I think a head coach you probably recognize it more than others but if a team that talks well and communicates before the snap and after the snap usually plays very well um so that's communication on the field but then you know we've had all six captains got up and address the team in a in a in an informal team environment they stand up in front gave him the podium just like this and uh Josh crud started off with a message that is Josh cruts right and for them to hear that um in the in the epitome of what that is he was followed after that by my Scott who uh for those in the room didn't know his story he talked about coming in as a walk-on playing on offense transitioning to defense uh and and the story that told right and then I uh transitioned uh over and uh Pat Bryan talked uh you know and and he talked about coming in and um you know we had actually signed him without me being the head coach right and he told that journey of earning the coaches expect in that first year until where he is today and it just keeps going on and on and then the last guy I talked last night with Josh gy uh I had two or three guys that had wanted to talk but after he got done talking the play stood up and went crazy so I just said hey we're going to walk out on this one it's a walk-off home run so uh you know I think the the voices that we have now in the locker room our kids made reference to things that that uh as coaches we've said but also as as as CO as players to hear for instance T when he spoke he talked about a conversation that day he had with Luke Alm I think anytime your starting nose just talking your starting quarterback I think that's a really big deal right so if you want me to say it I just said it he's our starting quarterback I know some of you guys need that formality um but but I think that's a really really big part and I think you know after all these years as a head coach I think that's something that really jumps out is how does this team talk coach are there going to be some key indicators coming out of this game that are going to give you an idea of what kind of team you have what some strengths and weaknesses and that kind of stuff well I think anytime your uh uh game plan matches results that's a good thing right so um we won't know that till after we're done right I think going into this game uh to have uh as many guys as we have as I mentioned earlier that have played some good football for us but key positions that we got new faces is going to be critical how they play and how they fit into our scheme um I think of of positions of of kids that touch the ball so obviously you know all three running backs have played U but uh actually I should say five you know Jordan Anderson who's had as good a camp as anybody you know he he's a guy that um you know I'm excited he's never touched the ball in live sit wishing khil Valentine um you know uh Tanner Arin and uh uh uh Henry Bo both those guys I think factor into us now we have a young man um Carson Goa who has been very impressive in Fall Camp you know a wide receiver obviously we lost two players that touch the ball a lot and Isaiah and Casey but Pat Bryant zakari uh Malik El has had an incredible Camp uh um you know Capa Jones um there's probably six to seven wide receivers that you know haven't been involved in a heavy game plan to see kind of how they function and defensively uh to see the new faces up front I think um uh and then you know kind of sprinkle in these other guys you know to to see how they play is going to be a key part what kind of growth have you seen from Luke this offseason Luke WM yep um well you know first from the offseason uh you know we encouraged empowered and and and tried to create as much as we could for our quarterbacks in general to talk um I think not just Luke but uh Donovan Kirk Mesa Trey pedy was in in January so I think that position overall in general has grown in that regard and then Luke uh Luke is very talented you know he he uh I always say this right he kind of looks like a guy that's in a pickup game down at the rec league right like uh but he can really really uh athletically do some things with his feet that are pretty impressive um I think his arm strength is better than it's ever been his overall strength his presence his awareness I think in year two with Barry he just has a better understanding of our offense and and vice versa I think Barry probably understands him better uh so that happens and just just to be completely honest the people around him I think are much more comfortable to see our kids react to his his speech or his talk to see them react to him during the course of a game I think is pretty impress impressive who who or what in your career influenced you the most about paying such a v detail to situational football and you know ingame kind of situation when it comes to a practice you know I I've been very blessed right so my head coaching resume um as an assistant under was first Hayden fry to Bill Snider I'm sorry Hayden fry to Kirk fence to Bill Snider to Barry Alvarez to bill bjack right um and and those guys are all coaching and I'd say i' take a little bit of that from everything coach fry was uh was was more of a the you know that's where I learned how to do player talks that's why every time I go out on the field when a player's injured because of cod fry he did it um uh Kirk was a probably a guy that really you know taught me the the the the the stuff that we kind of I would say endlessly go over situational football but because of his NFL background and then I think it really came to light for me when I went to work with Bill U cuz Kirk had been under Bill right that's how we actually cross pass and met so I think the combo platter of those two guys were were a huge influence in that regards but Bill Snyder was for anybody that's ever been around or uh seen him like his attention to detail his theory was to leave no stone on turn and then go back and turn it over again right like he just we would do four scouting reports on our first opponent we do one in in the winter one in the spring one in the summer and one in the fall right and that's just kind of an un unwavering process he taught me and it's it's been very very heavy heavy spent since it here we are game week how can uh I guess this is supposed to be a game press conference so I'll give a few opening comments the guys worked really hard in Camp we transitioned to game preparation last week and we're kind of repeating that this week and so today is a Wednesday actually of game prep so now we're coming on the back half of the week and uh it's been hot so it's been a challenge these last two practics have been hard for the guys uh we're a little beat up you know I told you I'm not going to get into all the the specifics but uh you'll see some young faces out there that you haven't seen play before and um you know obviously MO is a season ending injury right now there's no other season ending injuries but there's some that are single or multiple game injuries so we're just going to have to work our way through it like you've been around a lot of these uh I'm sorry you've been around a lot of these season openers at this point I'm just curious do some season openers feel different than others and is this one of them for you not really for me you know like we haven't played the game yet as this team the 24 team so uh I only know one way and that's full speed you know run scared as uh my mentor taught you run scared you get ready to go not scared of your opponent not scared of the situation just check under every Rock make sure everybody you've gone through everything over and over again situations that you know you haven't played a game in a long time so just Rutgers' Greg Schiano make sure you keep doing it over and over again so the guys are ready and comfortable as an old saying you don't rise to the occasion you sink to the level your training and uh we got to make sure that we're trained in everything we're doing and then we're ready to play whoever's healthy we got to go out and play Greg Kirk previously talked about year one year two making a step up at his previous stops have you seen enough where you're confident that that that Trend could continue with the offense this season under his Direction yeah I'm hopeful yeah I think uh we're more cohesive we understand it better but again you got to go do it right I mean practice is everything to us we believe that but then you have those 12 games that you got to go do it otherwise you know it's just a thought so now they're coming right we've been preparing long enough um you know since January preparing for this so looking forward to getting out and playing a game what does Athan have to do in your mind for you to think his debut was a a success just do his job Y no different than any other position although it's much different because he touches the ball every play but within his Realm of the big job he has he has to just you know we say chop your job he's got to chop his job one play at a time doesn't need to do anything special just needs to do what he's coached to do or trained to do just the last couple years for Sam Brown obviously a little choppy because of the injuries I guess what are your expectations for him this year well um Sam I think is in a in a good place he did get bumped earlier in Camp so he missed some time uh so he's not he's not all the way back by any means um but my expectation is he's really looked good both before he was bumped and then since he's been back um yeah so we have we have some depth in the running back room and we need to make sure we utilize that what are you expecting to see from Howard on Thursday they're they're a really well- coached team I know their coach well go back a long time he was at South Florida I coach his little brother at um University of Miami I guess it's his little brother little or older I I know what it is but I coached one of his family members at Miami and I followed his career he was at South Florida for all our great games over the years and then he was at Miami and then at Tennessee so he he's coached and a lot of his coaches on his staff you know I know them they're they're experienced coaches so it's a very well coached team they really challenge you schematically and they have some really good players you know they have some guys on the on the Senior Bowl watch list uh their safety number zero is you know I think you play anywhere really really fine player um you know both their running backs are really good players two and five one of them I know his dad Edan James from Miami so um you know look this is uh it's going to be a challenge we got to get our guys ready to go we're we're a little bit short-handed that's a fact and uh we got to figure out a way to go score one more uh seven and six last year poll Victory you said after that you guys uh reached a significant mile marker and you you use that the part way Turnpike reference this year what uh what's the next step for this program and if you want to use your mile marker again uh what would that be yeah it's so hard to say right like you'd like to say well seven and six so let's make it nine and four whatever you know everybody likes to do that you never know what's going to unfold it's just that's the way it is I didn't expect not to have motter well you wake up one morning and you don't have motter anymore so I don't ever get into that game that's fun for media and fans and and I I understand why you do it what what else you going to do all week while you're waiting well I got a job to do all week that pertains to that score that win that you're talking about so I don't really get caught up in that I get caught up in the process I try to get our team to get caught up in the process certainly with people talking about it I need to sometimes bring our guys hey guys listen now the only thing that matters is right here and now right and and we believe practice is everything it's just something that's been as long as we've been together practice is everything and you win the game on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and then you go out and claim it on Saturday so that's that's what we're in the midst of right now and it's been tough week but you know we're not you know we have some injuries the easy thing to do is oh we better better lighten up on them we can't do that this is a long season and we're preparing this team for the opening game but we're also preparing the team all during training camp for the season uh real real quick just on uh special teams specific go big picture small picture uh return game last year what was your impression of the return game and what's your plan uh this season our return game very selective yeah very very selective we return Kicks When we think it benefits us so we had the number one kick off return team in America last year and we returned five total kicks so what does that tell you about stats they can be very misleading right we're gonna we're going to do a very good job in my opinion of managing risk managing opportunity that's that's the business we're in in the kicking game but where there's an opportunity we really try to take advantage of it and where there's risk we try to kind of lay low and um that's always been our our philosophy but probably more so now than ever but uh I don't know maybe it's I don't know why follow up to Pat's question do you do you understand though why there's so much optimism around this team from the outside I do I mean we made progress we have experienced players but then I also know what happened right one of the best players not one of them maybe the best player on our team we lost for the season you wake up one morning and he's not on your he's not able to play anymore so I understand how fragile it is and if I or anybody in this organ organization starts to think the way that you guys are talking you know it's it's been said many times it's like poison if it sits on the table it doesn't do anything to anybody the minute you put it in your drink it now it's big problem you got and we have to stay focused on the job at hand there's pieces are always changing the the the narrative is always changing you always have to be ready to Pivot and that's a big job just getting a team ready mentally physically and emotionally to go play is a big job every week so you can't at least I don't have the capacity to do more than that maybe some guys do GRE when you mentioned Mo's injury uh for the first time you mentioned abam wri as well what kind of role do you expect him to play this year Well Abe you saw him kind of come onto the seam a little last year right on teams and also on third down Abe has had a good camp Abe is a is a very able linebacker now um no pun intended but um he he he's he's seeing it better he's really athletic can run hit he'll do all those things so I think he's got a bright future we're going to keep shoving him out there in different roles um and I think you know with with uh Choppa or DJ and um and um Moses Walker I think those guys are are feeling it and we'll see what what we do with tym that'll be kind of a a late decision and we'll make a decision here and not haven't made it yet we go don Brian chis a little more broadly on the linebacker room how have they responded in the last week or two since Mo's injury well I think it's bigger than the linebacker room I think it's the team you know you not only lose a really fine player you lose kind of the I don't know what the word is the alpha on the team that's what that's what that's what mo mo is and mo was so now is there one guy who steps up and fills that no it'll be a combination of guys right and that's what I when I was talking with Steve and that's where when things change it takes so much to get it all patched up again right and to get it because you still got to no one wants to hear that you lost this guy you lost that that's that's nobody's problem but ours you got to figure out how to your problem Sovereign you got to figure out how you're going to fix that up so you can go out and win football games and that that takes an incredible amount of time and effort and and mo was was a lot of things to this team including being a really fine linebacker all right well it's game week finally here so a lot of work to be done obviously before we kick off got to have have a great week of preparation starting with today uh to put ourselves in the best position uh you know to be successful to play our best uh FIU um coach McIntyre does a great job has throughout his entire career extremely dangerous quarterback dual threat kind of guy that uh throws the ball well extends plays um can run and we'll have to do a great great job on him uh they've got a deep stable receivers returning two or three receivers and adding uh more guys from the transfer portal impressed with the running backs uh the guys all return that they played last season experienced in the secondary at safety and Corner uh a leading tackler returns at linebacker Specialists are good kicker Long Snapper punter turn people so you know it'll be a challenge and uh we'll have to play well and uh you want to see us play fast and physical and cut out some of the you know mistakes we made in the first two scrimmages penalties misassignments things of that nature but also play smart disciplined and Indiana's Curt Cignetti poised um so there's fine line there uh but we do want to attack uh be that kind of team and we'll have to play well JMU any of the ones you guys have there and how is he kind of developed um as a leader um Tyson lton was telling us he kind of brought the group together after the first scrimmage um and and really you know kind of lit a fire under them how what have you seen from him in the locker room kind of getting the guys together yeah he probably reminds me of Cole Johnson who we had for two seasons his uh his last year with us he had tremendous year had about 41 touchdown passes four interceptions threw for over 4,000 yards um they're both uh more pocket guys but still can uh gain positive yards with their legs really smart heady he's played a lot of football uh respected by his teammates um he's not a real raw raw guy on the field which is fine uh you know you lead kind of by example and you do on the field but uh he's got the respect of all his teammates Kurt I guess um just your philosophy as much as anything else on how you handle freshman that you might want to see get some snaps where you maybe set the bar for guys that you don't worry about the red shirt where you maybe set the bar for guys where you think Le let's give them a couple games and kind of see where he gets to just how you kind of handle basically the question of whether a guy's going to red shirt whether he's going to play and retain it or whether you just sort of throw it off well the best guys play really um and we're we're a veteran team even though we got a lot of new guys we got a lot of seniors on this football team so I wouldn't anticipate seeing many freshman out there uh it doesn't mean you might not see one or two but it's all based on uh you know who can help us be successful who's ready to play winning football so um and things change every week so right now going into the first game I don't see many freshman have a very significant role in this game hey coach um obviously after Nick kid went down you guys have had a competition there at o line not just because of him but overall just kind of with you know not even names but just where you guys at with that competition how do you feel about the Five Guys right now that look like they may be the starters I feel good and like I said uh previous uh right now you're looking at Drew Evans Bray Lynch and Tyler Stevens uh you know three guys for two spots and they all can snap also so uh and you know we'll see who we chart out there uh for the first series Kurt uh you mentioned fiu's quarterback Keon Jenkins uh what do you feel like what do you feel like is the biggest thing that causes trouble and what is the biggest thing that you can cause trouble for for him on Saturday yeah well you know he's an extremely capable passer but when he gets out of the pocket he does a really nice job of extending plays and even though he's a really good athlete that can tuck it and run and gain a lot of yards you know he's going to look to throw first and does a nice job of finding people when he extends plays and you know we got to win up front you know our defensive line and we got to put pressure on him and keep him in the quarter keep him in the pocket and uh not give him much time to throw we got we got to get to him you know and uh we need a game from our D line yeah Kurt how with with this first game of the season how much do you kind of see this as an opportunity to set the tone for what this era of Indiana football will look like I don't look at it that way uh this is the opponent I'm spending every second of my day uh with a sense of urgency trying to help put us in the best position to be as good as we can be and that's how we look at things as coaches I think across the country coach we know that you're a process oriented guy I'm curious what the process looks like now that it's a game week you're away from Fall Camp how do the meetings go when does Preparation start for next week's opponent all all things like that yeah well you know all eyes are on this opponent and today and you know typical in season I was up at 4 am in in the office before 5: and uh you know we we'll have a light practice tonight and then tomorrow is uh first and second down and Punt and punt return and then Wednesday's third down and Thursday's red area and go line two minute and uh you know we the mornings and afternoons are spent preparing for those situations and we put it all together grab in the back yeah hey coach yeah uh Omar Cooper been mentioned as a guy potential breakout guy to use the generic phrase um those of us saw him a lot in high school saw the potential that was there what are things he needs to do this season to go from potential to make a few plays here and there to be maybe the breakout guy who really can be consistently an impact guy for you guys I think he just has to take what he's done on the practice field take it onto the game field which I'm confident he will and can yeah I I want to say was I think we had Shanahan in here a few weeks ago we had Walker we had Len who each mentioned this winning mindset that you have what kind of shaped you know your specific mindset and you know again for a team that's one I want to say nine games the last three years how have you maybe approached trying to um you know add that here in the culture here well I think that's well documented at this point but you know we came in and change the roster uh and then you got to change the way people think uh the mindset the culture the identity of your football team and I think we've made progress but you really can't measure till you play and then uh every week uh you know um chapter one of a 133-page book so um I'm excited to see this play we do have a lot of work to do uh before we kick it off and um I'm confident in this team uh you guys have a few cornerbacks down um do do you feel like you have a a good grasp of the kind of rotation going into the season opener we really don't have a few down um we've got we had one miss some practice time in Fall camp and he's mending very quickly so we anticipate being close to full strength you've been a part of multiple rebuilds and reboots going into this week I know you're know a lot more after you play but how do you feel about your offense now as comparative to other places where you've g into that first game I I feel good about our offense uh we have a lot of veteran players we have a veteran quarterback and um you I think we have a chance to be good offense and defense and special teams and you know but as a coach you you've always got concerns too I've never had a team I didn't have concerns about something um so um but my focus right now is on preparing these guys and help them uh be as successful as possible Saturday and you know feel good about the pieces we have in place talked before about how small the margin of error is once the season starts what aspects through fall Camp have you seen Less in that margin and what parts you think this week really need some work well I think we were more consistent in practice as Camp went on um you know we weren't an up and down team um we still have to more consistently get everybody doing what they're supposed to do uh assignment wise technique wise but part of that is the challenge of Camp too because you install everything so the plate is very heavy now uh you get into the first game and that plate will lighten up a little bit and you want to free free them up from thinking too much so they can play fast and let their ability take over yeah coach um you know kind kind of tell us how this year is different from last year may maybe how you've grown as a coach and also how the team's uh different from last year this time yeah I think um you know it's entirely different um you know one we've got a new locker room even the the guys that have been here that are returning they you know they're older they're more mature their their bodies are different their understanding of what we're doing uh from a program picture and a schematic picture is is higher um as a staff you know we've we've grown you know it's uh it's no secret like last year was that was my first rodeo you know what I mean um so you you find ways to improve the program you you you take the things that worked and enhance them and um the things that you need to get stronger in you you dive into them and and embrace that uh that feeling of being uncomfortable and I think for me personally um just understanding how best to use my time in order to help the program um from a football standpoint um you know I think a year ago there was a lot of things that we were tweaking and changing um just you know on the this the stuff on the periphery the the the ins and outs of the program that had nothing to do with the playing field and so now that everybody's been here for a year they understand how we how we want to operate um you know there's no need Purdue's Ryan Walters to micromanage and and now you can dive into football a little more and um you know I just think it's much we're in a much better place you know I look back to this time a year ago knowing what I know now and and seeing what what what we're seeing in front of us now and it's like yeah it's it's not it's not close right uh Corey uh is list Cory Stewart listed as a starter at left tackle there's some other guys who you had said before weren't going to be able to play and they're not listed here so I'm just clarifying does that mean he's definitely able to play on no I would say he's he's questionable right now we'll see how kind of this week goes um not out of the not out of the question but um you know still a possibility did you get to the end of camp with an idea of who you think your five best offensive lineman are or is that still a very fluid situation just because Cory hasn't been able to practice um you I mean Cory is in the top five like there there there was no question about that um and then you know past past that there are a few guys uh that missed a little bit of time in Camp that we still want to see a little more from um you know obviously the guys that have have been there uh we know what we're getting from that stpoint and and you know we're happy with the depth uh that we've created at that position where does FCS opponents fit into your scheduling philosophy going forward as a head coach um you know you play nine conference games and so if you could have three of them uh that that would be great no but um you know it's it's a I think it's a good opportunity for the FCS opponents to to play and in a power four big 10 type atmosphere and and against those type of opponents um you know I know as a a coach like you like to go up against you know the best of the best and and kind of see where where you stack and um for us like it's a it's a good chance to really dive into the process and and fully respect the preparation and your opponent and um you know and go compete and and get somebody's Best Shot you know what I mean and so I think anytime you you can do that especially early in the year is good for both both programs you talked about your preparation and how you're doing things differently this year but as a whole you know a lot of these guys have been through this with you now a lot of them haven't uh how's the team kind of come together as a whole and and realize you know it's real now we're rolling out the ball and and they're keeping score yeah um you know I would say that this is probably the the closest team I've been around um and that's not only as a head coach but as a assistant as well um I think we we a lot of things uh in the winter in the spring and the summer to provide opportunities for organic relationships to form uh I think the guys have done a really good job of of reaching out to you know guys in the locker room that they wouldn't normally hang out with to just to get to know each other um I think that showed up in the way we practice there wasn't a whole lot of a lot of fights out there there was there was guys that were competing at a high level but also taking care of each other um you know we like I said we did a lot of things where where you had an opportunity to be vulnerable and talk about things that weren't football related um to just to get to to dive deeper into the individual and you know everybody's going through different things and and different walks of life um and everybody's got their own problems and so you kind of get to know why people act the way they do and um you know why guys might communicate a certain way and and I think anytime you have that background and that understanding uh just allows for more efficient communication you said or coach patril said probably both you want the best guys uh with the ball returning kicks and I looked down obviously you got running backs but uh Elijah Jackson somebody you have on the kick return listed as a number one what do you like about him when the ball is in his hands I mean he's really really fast um you know he's a track guy in high school and that definitely translates to the grid iron um you know he's put on a lot of muscular weight uh since last year and so and he's a you know he's shorter in stature so it's it's hard to see him once he gets behind some blockers and uh when he gets in the open field it's pretty electric can you expound a little bit on some of those team building things you did for a lot of teams that's like bowling and stuff in the summer did you go deeper than that yeah we did we went a lot deeper than that um you know I think one of the first things we did you know we we created teams of you know 6 seven guys and we strategic about who were on those teams you know it was a a guy returning a guy um you know that that was incoming in in January you different position groups different backgrounds um and we took them to escape rooms uh in town and so that kind of forced people to communicate with each other um and you know got to see who who was able to get out of there the fastest and so you know you got to see leadership um you got to see problem solving um and you got to you know just see them interact and I thought that was a cool experience um you know we brought him back to the indoor one night and and you know again broke them up into different teams strategically um had a dodgeball tournament so now you saw got to see guys like compete that was the most competitive dodgeball I've ever seen um but got to see guys compete and have fun you know again nothing to do with football um we rented out uh the tap for one of the playoff games and and made guys sit with uh people that didn't know so you got to again just break bread have Fellowship watch some ball kind of an ice breaker there um and then in Fall camp we had um 40 minutes 45 minutes at the end of the every day before our final walkth through before they you know headed home to to get some rest we had uh breakout sessions where again it's you know four or five guys per group uh with a coach as a moderator um and again every every uh day it was a different you had a different team different you never with the same guy twice um just asked them life questions you know we had a you know first off was who who are you where you from what was your family Dynamic growing up um and then I would present a question or two for the group to ask just to generate um you know some thought and and um and dialogue and I felt like that really helped us get to know each other and find out you know what what people's motivations are you know what what people are afraid of um and what people are hopeful for and so I thought you know that that was a great way to get to know each other and and develop some real chemistry just sort of in the big picture what you're trying to do here at Purdue how do you define success this year you put a win total on it do you just think base it on the underlying Trends the interest in the program whatever it might be um I think I would be better suited to answer that question at the end of the season um you know right now you know success for us is scoring more points than Indiana State on Saturday um so yeah that's my answer to that question uh did you have any mentors that you leaned on in the offseason and kind of learned from uh you know that there's a a bunch of guys that that I've worked with that I I talk to frequently um you know I would say my biggest Mentor is my dad and that's probably who I talk to the most um you know he he has a a pretty levelhead and um kind of sees things for what they are face value and um is not afraid to shoot me straight U so I do a lot of leaning on him and then um just how complex are you looking to get for Saturday are you guys going to kind of hold back some things or are you trying to dive into it uh just I would just dive into it you know I've uh been a part of programs where you know you try to not to show things um ultimately you're trying to win a ball game and you know we all know how how difficult it is to win um and also I think you know the more you show especially early in the season the more your opponent has to work on um and so you know we'll we'll show what we need to show and um try to be strategic in that in that aspect more questions for coach all right yeah we're uh we're excited it's uh it's officially game week uh this team has had a great Camp uh you know entered into camp with 111 young men on our roster uh have been really really pleased with the development and growth that we've seen out of all 111 uh there there's areas of experience on this team areas where uh experience may be lacking a little bit areas of great depth uh areas where we we needed to develop depth uh but really excited about where this this group is as of today uh fun to shift our Focus uh to to Miami Ohio this week uh great opponent returning Mac Champions very well coached uh coach Martin does does an exceptional job uh I think this group fully understands uh the quality opponent that we have coming in here and uh you know we're able to kick things off uh today with a with a great Monday practice uh little different uh you know routine for us this week you know with it being week one uh really loaded things up on the front end and uh you know we'll scale back as the week goes but uh uh it's it's a it's off to a good start and we're excited about the opportunity on Northwestern's David Braun Saturday yeah nothing specific uh but you know feel feel like we're we're in a good spot overall um you know some of the guys that were were dealing with some of your typical nagging bumps and bruises throughout fall Camp it was it was good to see you know gave our guys um you know yesterday off and uh you know feel like we're as close to full strength right now as we can be David are you going to name a starting quarterback and is there any information on that position that you can share yeah um you know Mike Mike Wright and Jack L entered into fall Camp um you know competing for for that role uh been really impressed with the development of that room over the course of Camp um you know between Jack and Mike Ryan helinski uh has shown some really good things uh awfully excited about Ryan Bo a first year in our our program from bavia uh but in terms of publicly there there there probably won't be anything out there until until game day who who our starting quarterback will be when they run out on the field pretty much coach with Bryce Gallagher graduating last year seems like you've got a lot of competition in that linebacker room tell us a little bit about the depth it's very obvious out there yeah no uh Xander Mueller uh so excited about you know everything he's shown in the last 20 months that I've been here but he just continues continues to improve um you know he'll still be at that will linebacker position for us uh which is such a critical position within our defense and then you know macku line and uh and Bron bruss uh have really done some some exceptional things at the mik position uh you know Mack does such a great job of commanding the defense continues to improve and bruss is a young player that's still learning to see his growth and maturation through springing into fall Camp uh you know we're very confident that you're going to see both those guys playing a lot of football for us uh excited about you know the development of Kenny seers and and you know his ability not only at the Sam linebacker position but also utilized as a pass rusher and some third down packages um Jason Reynolds continues to improve the addition of Nigel Glover back to our roster has been a great addition uh you Tim mcaro does a great job with that room but but definitely excited about the depth and experience that exists within that room Grayson Mets coming back has played a lot of football for the cats uh would definitely say that's that's one of the strengths of of our entire football team right now yeah we're unsure on the on the timeline for or won't get in into any specifics but what what I will say about aie is um you know that that young man's growth uh over the course the last year has been so exciting um very confident with the way that ory just approaches everything in his day-to-day um that that he'll be back on on an expedited timeline and uh you know from what we're hearing uh it's it sounds like that's that that's a positive timeline so um hurting for Ori but also very excited that um he'll be back in a timely manner uh unsure out what that exactly looks like at this point in terms of the cornerback room you know theen Johnson as a returning starter uh you know Evan Smith uh my gosh has had an outstanding fa Camp Josh Fussell um you know entering in only his second year played a few special teams Reps for us last year but red shirted uh you know those two really excited about where their play is at uh Cole Shivers continues to improve so similar to last year I think you'll see some rotation at that position uh but you know Fen really leading that room with his experience and uh again uh you know Josh Fussell and Evan Smith really excited about where their where their game's at right now David close what position is if there one that's stood out from the beginning to now yeah you know I I I think you're asking for one position there's a lot that stand out um you know I would say overall collectively um what we've seen with the old line from Spring to Now is really really exciting you're starting to see that group gel um there there's going to be required development for every position spe but specifically that old line even as we get into the first half of the season to continue to find that continuity and consistency but really excited about where that group is at and you know everyone uh that talks about the wide receiver position wants to talk about you know Bryce Curts and AJ Henning as they should uh but really excited about the way that room coach Ben has gotten that group to a point where we feel really really good about multiple guys in that room CJ Johnson Ricky Amar Frank cvy just to just to name a few that have really stepped up their game here the last last couple months David even though you don't want to uh announce anything until s do you at least have Clarity right now at this point on who you're going with and and is the fact that both Mike and and um um ja have have dual threat talents imperative for this offense too you know I I think that is is something that um you know know Z Zach Luhan I've watched him from afar uh for a long time one thing I think Zach does a really good job of is tailoring uh the offense and the plays that are being run to the strengths of his personnel and Mike and Jack certainly have very similar skill sets in that regard the ability to extend plays uh be a threat when scrambling pick up first downs keep the chains moving can certainly be utilized in quarterback run game uh you know within within these walls and in this facility uh there's it on on what we're going with um but but at the end of the day um you know some of that information we just feel like is ours until we get to game day sure a quick follow if you will um you know expectations from afar uh from those who I guess make living micking projections and predictions uh don't seem to be very high is that something that you and the players welcome and embrace uh with with how it seemed to work if your advantage last year absolutely you know I I think there's two things to that I think that's right where the cats want to be um you know chip on our shoulder little bit of edge to us Underdog mentality in in the way that we move every single day and uh also coupling that with uh an understanding that the worst thing we can do is pay attention to um you know the outside noise you know any interference that could get in our way I I think this group when we're at our best we focus just on daily Improvement and what we can control today to make sure that we're where we want to be tomorrow um been really impressed with the way that our guys have handled that through Camp uh but now we're into game prep mode it can be much easier to start let letting your attention fade into other spaces we just need to continue to stay focused on understanding our opponents staying focused on us and understand that the best version of us shows up with the underdog mentality Underdog mentality with the chip on our shoulder might even if he doesn't how important is his intelligence just in terms of he has he said he right now he knows knows having that knowledge how important is that not just I think it's important for everybody you know uh at the end of the day Mike has played played a lot of football played a lot of football in the SEC um you know whether he's uh you know taking the first snap uh you know from Center or uh just utilize as an incredible resource to that rest of the room and in their their preparation it's absolutely invaluable at any position but specifically the quarterback position that that experience is and and you know I'll mention Ryan hinski as well Ryan hinski has played a lot of football you know his experience within that room uh you can't put a value on that you mentioned yeah uh we we we we do feel like we we're we're getting there um you know Jackson Marcelo and Jack Bailey have both been repping there uh but but feel like we've starting to build build some continuity I I think one of the reasons we've seen such great development specifically in the o line room and the quarterback room is is strictly the the competition that that that exists I mean we all know this when there's when there's competition in a room you know uh you you you have a tendency to see everyone improve and and that certainly has been the case through fall camp with the O linear next season more to work with you talk with Administration all about how many those football get and person you know there there's there's been a lot of conversations and there there's so many layers to it um you know th those conversations will be ongoing you know I think the thing that is really important to us is making sure that in this new landscape we we we stay true to our values but then also find the things that uh we we we can leverage best and and you know we had a conversation today as a team uh you know earlier in Camp we talked about program objectives today we talked about team goals and uh the number one goal of this program will will be to make sure that every every young man that comes into this program out of high school earns a Northwestern degree and that's something that we as we navigate those scholarships um you know you better be really buttoned up with your scouting you better make sure you're bringing in a young man that values a Northwestern degree but also understands what it looks like to to play on a championship level program in the Big 10 and Embraces that um I I I think with those scholarships now turning into equivalencies there's some really creative ways uh that that that we can look to to leverage earning a Northwestern degree um explore still the potential of having some Walk-Ons and maybe not fully utilizing all 105 and and allowing individuals to earn that opportunity while making sure they're earning a Northwestern degree uh but specifically those in our Administration um you know Jacob Schmidt with TR andu who's very aware of the landscape Luke valerious our general manager of roster development and retention um you know those are things that you know are are are being talked about daily and uh it's going to be quite a challenge moving forward but but with that challenge I think there's some really neat opportunities for us moving forward in next season uh coach Christian Smith his second year defensive line coach um came in here last year and really made a big difference in that defensive line in their production how was that U now floated over to this year in 2024 and the depth of that room from a year ago yeah it's uh I remember looking at over at his Indies that first spring and saying my gosh how are we going to be a four down front we we you we have seven guys practicing right now and the job that he's done not only on the field with that group's development but also within recruiting I mean you look over that dline room now it's like a small army over there the depth that they're playing with so excited where that group is at um we to we could talk about all the all the names in that room that everyone knows about but what I really get excited about is the development that's happening with you know a Jaden Cameron that hasn't played much football Force but continues to improve at defensive end uh I look at a Tyler Gant and in some of the development that you know he's shown jayen Pate who is coming off a knee injury last year that really started to catch his stride late in the season and how where he's gotten to to this point uh so impressed with the work that coach Smith has done and uh really excited about not only the the for