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00:00 Next up we have tight end Treland Davis.
00:03 Questions for Treland.
00:04 Treland, start with, I mean, four years for you here now.
00:08 So how have you changed?
00:10 How have you improved?
00:11 How's it, you know, how are you different
00:14 than when you first arrived?
00:15 When I first got here, I was very raw, very young.
00:19 You know, footwork lacked heavily.
00:23 Learning the actual game of football.
00:25 You know, I've always played physical.
00:27 I've always played kind of rough.
00:29 And I've been able to fine tune that
00:31 along the last four years here.
00:32 Changed my body, my speed, agility, endurance,
00:37 especially with coach Mike Joseph.
00:39 And that's been the best attribute
00:42 from being here for the last four years.
00:44 You've been known as a blocking tight end.
00:46 Do you take offense to that?
00:48 Or do you relish that?
00:51 How do people describe you that way?
00:54 What goes through your mind?
00:55 I mean, I really don't, I don't mind, honestly.
00:59 I like to do as much as I can
01:01 for whatever they need me to do.
01:03 You know, if coach Brown sends me in a block,
01:06 or coach Stewart sends me in a block, I'll go block.
01:08 If I need to go catch a flat route, I will.
01:10 I mean, it doesn't matter to me.
01:11 It's whatever I can do to help.
01:13 How has actually coach Stewart been, or at all,
01:17 has he been different this year versus last year?
01:20 More time as the leader of the actual room for him?
01:25 I think he's grown so much, confidence-wise, especially.
01:29 I know he's, last year he brought it up a few times.
01:32 You know, he was his first time being a leader
01:33 of an actual position, like a unit.
01:35 And he was super excited for opportunity.
01:37 And this year, I mean, it's showing.
01:39 He's enjoying it every day.
01:41 It's awesome.
01:42 We have the same group of guys coming back with him.
01:44 You know, we've all built a really close bond.
01:47 It's been great.
01:49 He seems more even in control.
01:51 Not that it wasn't last year, but even more so now.
01:52 Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
01:54 He's earned a lot of our respect.
01:56 Thoughts on Garrett.
01:58 Where is he at right now,
01:59 and how has he improved from last year?
02:01 And is he mastering and getting command
02:04 of the offense, you think?
02:05 Yeah, absolutely.
02:06 I mean, I couldn't speak higher of Garrett.
02:10 I think, seriously, every single year I've been here,
02:12 he's done nothing but get better in each area of his game.
02:17 I mean, he's taken off and running
02:18 all over the defense this year.
02:20 I mean, and he's seriously calm in the pocket,
02:24 stepping up, making big-time throws
02:26 to guys like Jaden Bray, Hudson.
02:29 I mean, guys are just making plays,
02:30 and he's being confident, taking that leadership role.
02:34 You think it's a product of, okay, being established,
02:38 having a year, okay, not a competition where,
02:41 okay, this is my team.
02:43 Do you sense that? Do you see that out there?
02:45 Yeah, absolutely.
02:46 I mean, seriously, he is a field general right now,
02:49 and I love seeing him grow.
02:51 He brings everybody up with him,
02:52 and he just continues to get better.
02:55 Jalen, if you look at the offense now,
02:57 in terms of how long guys have been here,
03:00 it's like Garrett, a couple of alignment, and you.
03:03 Does it feel like you're the oldest guy?
03:07 It doesn't. It went so fast.
03:10 It feels like I just got here,
03:11 and going on season four, it's crazy,
03:15 and looking around with the guys I came in with,
03:17 we've all developed roles in the offense and stuff now,
03:20 and a bunch of bonds we'll never forget.
03:23 It's crazy being the old guy in the room.
03:26 But to his point,
03:27 you've got a ton of experience on that offense,
03:30 a lot of guys that have played either a year
03:32 or multiple years now.
03:34 How has your offense grown?
03:37 How have you seen that come together?
03:40 It allows for so much more versatility now.
03:43 We can ask guys all over to do certain things,
03:46 even guys on the O-line.
03:48 I mean, Wyatt's even gotten snaps at center.
03:51 All guys have so much experience
03:53 in different areas of what they do well.
03:56 And so now I can go back and forth
03:58 between being the H-back and the wide-tight end.
04:02 Same thing with Cole, Will Dixon now.
04:04 This is his third year, I think, coming up.
04:07 And we've got a lot of guys
04:08 that can do a lot of different things now,
04:10 just from simply being in the meetings,
04:12 taking the reps, and getting a lot of time reps
04:15 under their belt.
04:16 A lot of team, I think, what,
04:18 you had like 17 periods on Wednesday?
04:21 And obviously today, I mean,
04:23 just a lot of 11-on-11 football.
04:25 I guess that's because you've got
04:27 a lot of experienced guys, right?
04:28 Yeah, and it's great, 'cause our defense, too.
04:31 I mean, we've got Tyron Bradley over there
04:33 that's played a lot of football, Sean Martin.
04:35 All these guys, especially for the tight end room,
04:37 they're giving us such good pointers, learning tips.
04:40 We've got a super solid linebacker core right now, too,
04:43 we're dealing with every day.
04:45 And those guys are going to be a headache
04:46 for other offenses.
04:47 It's just, it's awesome seeing
04:49 how we're all coming together.
04:50 - Who was, when you got here,
04:54 who was like the old guy that showed you the ropes?
04:57 - I would say it was, well, Mike O'Loughlin
04:59 when I first got here, and then Brian Palinde, especially.
05:03 I mean, that guy was a six-year college football player.
05:07 And I mean, he'd done it for a long time,
05:09 been through injury,
05:10 been through multiple different coaches,
05:12 been on two different teams, three different teams.
05:14 He played on Miami, Colorado State, and then here.
05:17 And he really took me under his wing a lot,
05:20 showed me the ropes,
05:21 and I can't appreciate him enough for that.
05:24 - Do you find yourself subconsciously
05:26 or consciously doing that for the young guys now?
05:29 - Yeah, absolutely.
05:30 Yeah, as much as I can.
05:32 Anything they need, they know.
05:33 They can come, if it's middle of practice,
05:35 they can come up and talk to me, ask me whatever.
05:36 But if it's outside of here, I'll show up, too,
05:39 you know, whatever they need.
05:41 - Seems like you're making even more plays after the catch
05:45 and extending things in practice this year than last year.
05:49 How do you feel you've grown as a player?
05:52 What's maybe causing that in comparison to before?
05:56 Seems like you've taken a step before you even play games.
05:58 - Yeah, honestly, I think it's just experience.
06:02 This is going on year four.
06:03 I think doing it over and over again,
06:06 I've grown into, I'm willing to expand my role now
06:10 however I can.
06:11 I can make plays with the ball in my hand or without,
06:14 and that's just --
06:16 I just want to be a good football player as a whole.
06:19 - Give me a name or two of a guy
06:21 that maybe the fans don't know about
06:22 that maybe they should know next year,
06:24 offense or defense, that you've seen so far
06:26 through the spring practice.
06:28 - I think Josiah Trotter is going to be an absolute headache
06:33 for offenses to deal with.
06:36 I think, on the defensive side of the ball,
06:41 shoot, Sean Martin, of course.
06:43 I mean, everyone knows his name,
06:44 but he's absolutely leveled up since even last year.
06:48 - What's Trotter bring to the table
06:50 that impresses you?
06:51 - He's physical. He's smart.
06:53 He spends so much time on the game.
06:55 He loves the game.
06:57 That's one thing you can't --
06:58 It just reeks off of him. He loves it.
07:00 So, film, Coach Mike in the weight room, everything.
07:04 He takes it all every day.
07:06 He plays gritty. He plays fast.
07:07 Like, his read keys are fast.
07:09 He's there. He knows what's going on.
07:11 He's so alert for such a young guy.
07:13 It's impressive.
07:14 - He helps that he's got nice size.
07:15 - Yeah, he's a big dude, too, so.
07:18 - You said you grew up when you got here.
07:21 How rural were you, and do you kind of amaze yourself
07:24 when you walk by the mirror now
07:26 and think that where you were and where you are now?
07:29 - Yeah, I think it's definitely just such a compliment
07:33 to the guys in the strength staff
07:34 and the coaches here, our nutritionists,
07:36 everybody along the lines.
07:38 You know, they take you in.
07:39 You come out a completely different human,
07:41 but you come out a grown man, you know?
07:43 You come here a kid. You come out a man.
07:45 So, I think what I meant by being raw is football-wise,
07:50 technicality-wise, footwork,
07:54 learning how to watch film, what to look for,
07:56 all just different areas of the game
07:58 that, you know, growing up and coming through high school,
08:00 I never paid all that much attention to.
08:02 - The more you can do is hit people, I think.
08:04 - Yeah. Yeah, pretty much.
08:07 - We've heard a lot about culture.
08:09 A lot of guys have talked about that.
08:11 Coaches have talked about that.
08:13 Why is that important?
08:14 I mean, to people that don't play football
08:16 or are not in a locker room
08:17 or not around a bunch of different people,
08:20 why is that so important to have a good locker room
08:22 and a good culture?
08:23 - I think it's important because your standard is set
08:25 amongst yourself and the guys
08:27 that you're chasing the same goal with.
08:30 You know, like, you're all chasing the same thing,
08:32 and you hold each other to that.
08:34 So if you have that core culture within the building,
08:38 it doesn't matter what's going on
08:39 or what people are saying outside the building.
08:41 I mean, if people are saying we're going to go,
08:43 we're going to lose every game next year,
08:45 we're winning every game next year,
08:46 it doesn't really matter to us
08:48 if we have that core culture around us.
08:51 So, I mean, we know what we expect out of one another
08:55 and what we expect out of this next season.
08:57 And I think that's really what's important.
08:59 - Is it tough to be on a team
09:00 that has a locker room of complainers and guys like that,
09:02 or bitching or whatever?
09:05 - Yeah, I mean, from past experiences, yeah, absolutely.
09:08 Yeah, it can be just,
09:09 you learn to just ignore it and not tolerate it.
09:13 So.
09:14 - But this team seems to not have that.
09:16 - Oh, yeah, zero, yeah.
09:18 I mean, level-headed, everybody's there for one another,
09:21 picking each other up rather than tearing people down,
09:23 'cause we know we're here to try to,
09:25 we want to win this championship this year.
09:27 So, I mean, we're not going to settle for anything less.
09:30 - You mentioned Will Dixon.
09:33 Give me a look at him
09:34 and some of the other young tight ends
09:36 that are behind you.
09:37 - Yeah, Will, Jack, Noah,
09:40 they've made such big strides,
09:43 even in just a year since they first got in here.
09:46 Noah, this is going on,
09:48 he hasn't even been here a full year yet, you know?
09:51 Noah is coming in, taking meaningful reps.
09:53 Jackson Marco has impressed me a ton.
09:55 As a young guy, he's a big body.
09:57 He comes in, I think he's about 6'6", 240s, 245.
10:01 I mean, he's a bigger kid.
10:02 And he's out there taking reps today with me,
10:06 with the ones, you know,
10:09 just blocking big guys like Sean, Martin, Tyron Bradley,
10:12 you know, Ty Ferguson.
10:14 He's another name, actually, earlier.
10:16 I think he's going to be phenomenal.
10:18 But Will Dixon stepped up.
10:20 He can be a dual threat guy.
10:22 You know, we can throw a ball to him deep downfield.
10:23 I think he runs right at 20 mile an hour at 245.
10:28 I mean, that's impressive.
10:29 And Noah's a physical kid.
10:31 He reminds me a lot of me from when I first got here.
10:34 It's where his path is going.
10:37 So I'm super excited for those guys.
10:38 I'm proud to have them.
10:40 The biggest thing for a young tight end,
10:44 for them to take that step to raw,
10:47 to actually being able to play?
10:49 I think really just embracing what you're good at,
10:53 get even better at it,
10:54 and then really improving what you aren't good at.
10:57 I mean, tight end, when I think tight end,
10:59 I think a little bit of everything, you know?
11:02 Run, block, catch, pass pro, everything.
11:06 So if you can get really good at what you're already good at
11:10 and try to improve at what you're bad at,
11:12 then just become as versatile as you can, really.
11:15 So once you find -- like you said,
11:17 there's a whole bunch of different things that go into it,
11:19 but once you find the one thing you're really good at,
11:21 that can kind of get you on the field first.
11:22 Yeah, absolutely.
11:23 Whether that's special teams
11:25 or even just different packages in the offense.
11:29 Now, we talked about your progression as a player,
11:32 but you also have had now a year with Cole Taylor.
11:36 What have you been able to take and learn from Cole
11:39 that's made you a better player?
11:40 He has absolutely helped me so much in the past game,
11:44 even just through watching, learning from his reps,
11:48 taking kind of what goes through his mind
11:50 when he's on the field,
11:52 whether it's a two-minute situation.
11:55 Just so much help in the pass game through him.
11:59 Steps, moves, get shed and catch man versus zone,
12:04 all this different stuff, he's helped me a ton.
12:07 He talked a lot last year about how he wants to recognize
12:09 this more than just a pass catcher
12:10 as a complete tight end in a block or two.
12:12 Yeah.
12:13 Have you maybe helped him in that regard a little bit as well?
12:17 I guess he felt he was maybe underrated in that.
12:19 Yeah, I really don't know.
12:21 That's something you just have to probably ask him,
12:23 but I seriously think he's just a complete,
12:28 really heck of a football player, heck of a tight end,
12:31 and he's a super great leader.
12:34 He's just a great guy to have in the room overall.
12:37 Trey, can you tell us about H-back
12:39 and why does it fit more of a tight end body than a full back?
12:42 It's kind of replaced the full back in cross football.
12:45 Yeah, honestly, I think the main thing with it is length,
12:49 just length and athleticism, really,
12:52 just to make those blocks on long guys
12:54 that are on the edges of defenses
12:56 and still kind of be a little bit more compact enough
12:59 to lead up inside on linebackers,
13:01 whether it's a counter play or whatever else.
13:03 I just think it's kind of the best of both worlds,
13:06 and you can still make more plays on the edge
13:08 rather than being stuck inside the box.
13:11 I know you're more than halfway through spring
13:13 and you're working on West Virginia,
13:15 but as a player, when do you start thinking about Penn State?
13:18 That's -- it never stops.
13:20 Yeah, it never stops.
13:22 We're every day in the weight room.
13:24 We freaking count down every day.
13:27 So many spring practices left,
13:28 and then the other one is Penn State.
13:31 Lurking in the backyard. Yeah, yeah.
13:33 And I think that goes for whoever we line up
13:35 against the first week, you know,
13:36 but it just so happens to be them,
13:38 so we're excited for that.
13:40 And to be here and all that's surrounding that.
13:43 So stoked. It's a big challenge.
13:44 Yeah, it's challenging, but I love it.
13:46 I mean, I wouldn't want week one to be anything else, you know.
13:50 Did you sign up for it when you came here?
13:51 Yeah, absolutely.
13:52 So when coaches tell us that they're telling you guys
13:55 not to worry about Penn State yet,
13:56 you can't get it out of your mind.
13:58 No, I wouldn't say we're worried about them.
13:59 It's just like we're so excited to get out there again,
14:02 you know, especially on our home turf.
14:03 Well, to play a team like that to begin the season
14:06 kind of helps your preparation, doesn't it?
14:08 Yeah, absolutely.
14:09 If you can grow off of that, then you got a good fight
14:12 and chance for the rest of the season.
14:14 (sniffles)
14:16 - Trey Lynn, at the beginning of the spring,
14:18 Neil said that you guys, we just did a lot of 10 personnel
14:21 because Cole was out.
14:22 And just the other day out there,
14:24 you guys ran a ton of 12 stuff,
14:26 which I don't know if that was the plan
14:27 or if you guys have just gotten better
14:28 and he feels like, let it roll, see what happens.
14:31 Have you seen, I don't know,
14:32 is that just me observing something
14:33 or has it kind of gone that way
14:34 and you guys have inserted yourself
14:36 into the plan a little bit?
14:38 - I'm super excited with how the involvement
14:40 of the tight ends been in the offense.
14:44 We've ran a couple things here and there with 10 personnel,
14:47 whether that's two minute, quick pass situations,
14:52 trying to get the ball down the field.
14:53 But really, we really have ran a lot of 11, 12 personnel.
14:57 And it's super exciting as a guy that's always grown up
15:01 as a tight end body.
15:03 - Is that the best way for someone like Noah or Jack
15:07 or Will to learn?
15:08 I mean, they can do a lot in the sideline or film,
15:10 but just throw them in the deep end, see what happens.
15:12 - I seriously, I think so.
15:14 I mean, I think that was the best thing always
15:16 for me to learn.
15:18 Put me out there against guys that have done it for a while.
15:21 Let me see what I can do and see what,
15:23 I mean, I'm not going to learn what to get better at
15:25 if I don't go out there and get beat a few times too.
15:28 - That said, that could be discouraging
15:32 for a young tight end going against Ty
15:34 or Tyron or someone like that too.
15:36 As someone who's been through that,
15:38 you ever pull guys aside after a bad rep or a bad day
15:40 or even a good rep for a good day
15:41 and just kind of mentally walk them through,
15:44 this is a different world.
15:44 It's you're going to have days like that.
15:46 - Yeah. I mean, seriously, a lot of the time you call it,
15:49 you're like, welcome to college football moment.
15:51 You know, like you go up against somebody like that.
15:53 And so I'll pull them over, talk to them.
15:56 If they do a great job, give them a high five,
15:58 tell them, do it again, whatever, like great work.
16:00 But if it wasn't how they wanted it to go,
16:03 then I'll tell them, you know, kind of why it happened
16:05 and what to fix and focus on fixing it
16:08 rather than what happened wrong or what went wrong.
16:11 - Do you remember your welcome
16:12 to college football moment?
16:14 - What is it?
16:14 - Do you remember your welcome
16:16 to college football moment?
16:17 - Oh yeah. Mine was actually Dante Stills. Yeah.
16:20 Yeah, probably. Yeah.
16:23 - How did that go?
16:25 - I came across on a split flow blog
16:27 on a split flow zone to kick him out.
16:29 And he looped out and met me on the edge
16:31 of the line of scrimmage and it didn't go well for me.
16:34 Yeah. Yeah.
16:35 - Okay. Thank you very much.
16:40 - All right.