Neal Brown Spring Practice No. 11
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00:00All right, let's get rolling.
00:01Thank y'all for coming.
00:02Appreciate y'all coming out to practice,
00:03and appreciate you.
00:06I think it's good for you to be out there.
00:07It's good for you to report back.
00:09Appreciate you not showing pictures of full 11 in video,
00:13so I appreciate y'all doing that.
00:15We had practice 11 today,
00:17and we're kind of right in the middle,
00:20and what we do is right up until our first scrimmage.
00:25We had a scrimmage on Friday.
00:26We went in the stadium.
00:28We tackled for most of it, and that was practice nine,
00:32so right at practice nine, like one through eight,
00:36is basically there's a lot of drills, fundamentals, group,
00:41and then starting at practice nine, it was all team,
00:44and then practice 10 was a little bit like you saw today.
00:48After you guys left, we did all 11-on-11 football after that,
00:51and we'll do that.
00:53We're going to do all team on Friday.
00:57We'll do mostly team again next Tuesday.
01:00Thursday, it's a helmets practice,
01:02so it'll be, and then we'll have our spring game on Saturday,
01:04and we'll talk more about either myself or Monty
01:09will kind of give you the format for the spring game
01:11toward the end of next week,
01:13but that's kind of, we're in the evaluation piece,
01:16is we've worked skills for development,
01:20you know, drills for skill development.
01:22Now we're working a lot of team for evaluations,
01:24trying to get a good picture of where our personnel is,
01:27you know, and, like, who's taking the next step
01:29and who has gone from a red shirt
01:31or who's gone from a backup to potential
01:34can play a lead role,
01:36who's a guy that's kind of off the radar
01:38that now is ready to be maybe a core special teams player.
01:43That's kind of the decisions that are made over the next,
01:46and then we really start trying to work
01:48on some opponent stuff and some different looks,
01:50you know, because one of the things about spring
01:52is you want to wrap your schemes,
01:54but you can get some bad habits
01:55if you're just going against your offense
01:56and defense basic looks.
01:58So we'll do some things on offense
02:00to get our defense ready.
02:02We'll do some things on defense
02:03to get our offense ready, you know, for the season.
02:06And so that's kind of where we're at,
02:09and so with that, I'll take questions.
02:12So, Neal, follow up with a little bit of that.
02:14Neal, you went over that.
02:15I know Cody asked about most improved,
02:17but a little bit of fast climbers this year,
02:20guys that have maybe weren't factors in the past
02:23that now look like they could be too deep,
02:26major special teams guys this year.
02:29Yeah, I think from a special teams standpoint,
02:33I'm going to talk about some guys
02:34I think that are showing up.
02:36You know, we've really prioritized those.
02:39You know, a couple guys on offense will be Jalen Anderson.
02:41You know, he's a guy that has never played
02:43special teams a year, and it's really been a want-to deal,
02:46and so really stressed him in January.
02:49He needed to be a complete football player
02:50and be able to help the team, and he's came,
02:52and he's done really well.
02:54TJ Johnson is registered last year,
02:57and now TJ's coming out, and he is starting to,
03:01we do a lot of these competitions during spring.
03:05It's kind of controlled competitions for special teams,
03:09and TJ's been a real pleasant surprise in that,
03:12and really starting to do that.
03:13Collin McBee's another guy.
03:15You know, start talking on defense is Reed Carrico.
03:20Ever since Friday, he's really put
03:22several nice days together, defensively and special teams.
03:26Like, he's going to be a factor on both.
03:31Talk about Zay Jennings, who's an early enrollee,
03:35a really good football player.
03:37It's happening really fast for him on defense,
03:38but you can see his talent
03:40and his ability on special teams.
03:42He's a guy that's playing himself into that.
03:45Derek Berlitz is a guy that's, you know,
03:48I think is going to help us in our punch shield,
03:50and the back line will kick off return.
03:52And so he's been in our program now going on his third year,
03:55and he's showing signs of being one of those guys.
03:59I think Jordan Jackson, defensively and on special teams,
04:04is showing some growth, especially here since Friday.
04:09But those are some guys,
04:11like some other guys are sticking out,
04:12like Caden Bizer and a couple other guys
04:14that have done well on special teams,
04:16but those are some kids that are really kind of showing up.
04:21Curious, when you've got an older team,
04:24do you plan and practice differently in the spring
04:27than you would if you had a bunch of younger guys
04:29that you had to train and develop?
04:30Well, I think that it's really not necessarily anymore
04:33if you have a young or an old team.
04:35It's just kind of, you got to be careful.
04:37You know, like, you know, everything moves so much.
04:42There's so much movement.
04:43And so, you know, maybe five, ten years ago,
04:47you're really trying to get a bunch of reps
04:50with what may be your first team and may be your second team.
04:53And now it's not like that
04:54because there's going to be some movement.
04:56And so, like, let's say at offensive line or defensive line,
05:00you know, like chemistry and having groups play together
05:04is really important, especially on the O-line.
05:07But the spring is, there's moving parts.
05:10So what you try to do is you're rotating guys
05:12because everybody needs to learn
05:13how to kind of play with everybody
05:15because you don't know what the fall is going to look like.
05:17And so it's more of, the other thing, too,
05:20is, like, I think is, you know, and this is why we do this,
05:24is I think guys generally like just playing the game,
05:27you know, so, like, to keep our energy levels up
05:30from kind of the midpoint,
05:31or I guess the last third of the spring
05:34is we just play a lot of football,
05:35you know, 11-on-11 football,
05:37try to make it competitive situations.
05:39That's kind of the thought process.
05:43Neal, you mentioned Zay earlier.
05:46Something I don't think we've discussed a lot
05:47is early enrollees are the true freshmen.
05:50But, Cy, give us a little evaluation of them.
05:52And any of them you think could help you in the fall?
05:55Yeah, I think that Zay, Israel Boyce,
05:57would be the other one that's,
05:58Israel's really kind of second part of the skirmish
06:02on through today's practice is coming along.
06:09Nate Gabriel is a big athlete, and he's learning.
06:16He's learning, but physically he's going to be ready to help us.
06:19And I think if that nose position
06:21will be able to give us some snaps in the fall.
06:26Just trying to think here,
06:28as far as any other early enrollees
06:30that have really kind of jumped out to me.
06:37Anybody that's off that you want to ask about?
06:40No, I mean, you've got Kinsler, I guess.
06:44Kinsler, he's got more reps today.
06:46And he's going to be a really, really good player.
06:51And we're moving him around because he's a smart guy.
06:54And so he's been getting some reps, and he could be a factor.
06:58I tell you, Jackson Marco,
07:00he's got to continue to get stronger.
07:01He's getting a lot of reps because Cole's not going.
07:04And I don't know if it's going to happen as quick as the fall,
07:08but he's going to be a quality tight end for us.
07:10And he has really good hands.
07:12And as he gets stronger,
07:13he's going to be good at the point of attack
07:15because he's big.
07:19Based on sheer numbers, would you say this is the most
07:22you've gotten ready, capable to play right now
07:25at any time since you've been here,
07:26in terms of just sheer numbers on offense, defense,
07:29special teams?
07:31Yeah, I think that when we get to the fall,
07:33I would say in the fall,
07:35because we're still missing some pieces right now,
07:38whether that's portal.
07:39Then we've got those signees that haven't gotten here.
07:42But in the fall, that would be accurate,
07:44as long as everything stays.
07:46Yeah, I would say in the fall,
07:47that's absolutely going to be the case.
07:49You know, and where it really shows up is on special teams.
07:52You know, like, we do this, we call it a four-on-four drill,
07:56and it's really a competitive drill, punt, punt, return.
08:00And we did it the other day.
08:02And, like, as we watched it as a staff,
08:04the comment was, I forget who said it.
08:06I don't know if Jeff said it.
08:09But it was by far the most competitive,
08:11and it was, like, a lot of good-on-good player reps,
08:15which I think is a credit to our overall depth,
08:17and guys just understanding the techniques
08:19that we're teaching in those areas.
08:22I got to ask you this.
08:23I asked Jeff this on Monday.
08:25You know, of all the skills that you do in practice,
08:29the one thing you do up to the collision is kick off.
08:33How do you know what you got on kick off or kick off return?
08:36Because you only go up to a certain point.
08:38That's the only thing I can think of in sports.
08:40You don't do the actual full thing.
08:42Yeah. Yeah, it's a science,
08:45and we didn't master it last year
08:47because we weren't very good on kick off.
08:51You know, I think what we try to do,
08:52and this is in the spring,
08:54really overall on special teams, like, punt and field goal
08:57are really the only teams that we do all 11.
09:00Most of it is part, part, whole,
09:03and so what I mean by that is in the spring
09:05is we're going kind of individual techniques
09:08and then kind of pods.
09:10You know, so when I say pods,
09:11maybe it's the left guard, left tackle on punt.
09:14Maybe it's the right up back, right returner,
09:17right end on kick off return.
09:19On kick off, maybe it's, you know,
09:21the guys that are, you know,
09:23kind of the ball guy and the capper.
09:26We're working those in pods, but we don't work all 11.
09:29Now, once we get into fall camp,
09:31we do, but it's limited, you know,
09:34and it's probably less than five full speed.
09:37We do a kick scrimmage where I know we hit two live,
09:40and then we probably get at the start of practice,
09:42you know, two or three more leading into the first game,
09:46and that's it, yeah, and that's it, and it's hard, you know,
09:49and, like, what we've tried to do to get better at kick off
09:53is a lot of our tackling drills that we do now
09:57as part of our special team circuits are kick off tackles.
10:01Like, we missed a ton of tackles
10:04just overrunning the ball from the backside, you know,
10:07so now what we're doing is we're really working a wrap tackle
10:10where we're sprinting and we're practicing it
10:13on the track landing pad,
10:15so it's not putting a bunch of force on your shoulders,
10:19but just that was a point of emphasis in off season
10:21is trying to figure out how can we practice these tackles
10:23that we're missing on kick off
10:24without having 22 bodies out there, you know?
10:27Having more linebackers certainly helps.
10:30It's going to help in special teams, yes, absolutely.
10:32It's going to help kick off, you know, the, you know,
10:36our bandit spur bodies, they can, like,
10:40Tyron Bradley, those guys can run well, too.
10:43Like, Sean Martin's a guy that he runs well.
10:46Like, he's, like, 19, 20 all the time on the GPS,
10:50so, like, he's a guy that could even be a factor
10:52on kick off for us, too.
10:54Well, when you were named coach,
10:56I'm sure you had a vision of your progress,
11:00and, of course, everything happened to change that vision.
11:03I mean, the road was not a straight road to where you got.
11:07But are you now where you thought
11:09you might be at this point,
11:11or are you still trying to catch up from COVID,
11:14from NIL and transfer and all that?
11:17I just think that this is the way I look at it, Bob,
11:19is, like, so after that season in 22
11:25where I felt like we underachieved,
11:28like, I just hit the reset button on a lot of it.
11:32And so, I don't know.
11:35I probably didn't have a six-year plan when I got here
11:39as far as just thinking about what we'd look like
11:40going into year six in the spring.
11:44And so, I probably can't answer that question.
11:46What I can say is after that 22
11:49where things didn't go the way I thought they should
11:52or we didn't play as well in any phases
11:55I thought we were capable of, so we underachieved,
11:58is we just changed a lot of what we were doing.
12:02And there was just a big reset in our program.
12:05And so, now what I think of is, all right, this is,
12:09we are in, like, month 16 of kind of the reboot,
12:14and we're making progress, you know?
12:17I can't sit here and tell you in the spring.
12:18I'll be able to tell you probably after three
12:20or four games in the fall.
12:22But that's the way I look at it.
12:24Month 16, going in, we're in spring,
12:27kind of the second year of our reboot.
12:29That's the way I'm thinking about it.
12:30Are you starting to become the team, though?
12:32Yeah, like, the main thing on that is just from a simple,
12:37there's a lot of things off the field,
12:39but from a simple football point
12:43is we want to be a team that is disciplined,
12:49that strains, is tough, and is smart.
12:54And so, and all those traits take absolutely no talent.
12:59And so, what we do is, like, we have things that we do
13:03from our winter program through spring ball,
13:05to summer, to fall camp, into the season
13:08on our Tuesdays and Wednesdays,
13:10that we are working that identity of, like,
13:14who we have to be to be successful.
13:18And again, it's just being disciplined, it's straining,
13:20it's being tough, that's mental and physical toughness,
13:23and it's being smart.
13:24And so, we take in this 12-month approach to football,
13:29who we are from a football identity standpoint.
13:33And I think some of the fruits of our labor,
13:35like, I'll give you an example is,
13:38is, like, we're tackling much better in the spring.
13:41Well, we're in month 16 of a team,
13:47a total revamp of how we taught tackling,
13:51how we worked it, you know,
13:53and it's a year-round approach
13:55from even going back into the winter,
13:58how Mike, in strength conditioning,
14:01how they work angles, and how we work deceleration,
14:05and things like that, into the spring ball,
14:08into our summer OTAs, into fall camp.
14:11And so, like, we're showing signs
14:13that we're a much better tackling team,
14:15which goes under physical toughness.
14:17And we work it, you know,
14:19like, we talk a lot about, like, striking with your hands,
14:22because that's part of physical toughness.
14:24Well, we work that in the weight room,
14:27like, on these strike pads we have.
14:28We do grip training, you know, like.
14:30So, we're in progress of, like,
14:35that identity that we need to be.
14:38I'm pleased with where we're at,
14:4016 months into it, but we've not arrived.
14:44But I can't, you know, if we sit here
14:45after three or four games,
14:46and you ask the same question,
14:47I'll be able to give you, like,
14:49yes, I think we're where we need to be,
14:51or no, we're not.
14:53The injured guys from the spring,
14:55are the rehab going well?
14:57Any setbacks there?
14:58No, so Asani, Asani is, I think he's on track.
15:02He won't be back in the spring.
15:04You know, TJ Crandall's been down with a hamstring.
15:06It's not serious, but it's nagging.
15:08We'd like, you know, he'd like to be out there.
15:10We'd like to be out there.
15:11We'd like him out there.
15:13You know, Jacoby, I told you that's going to be right up
15:16into the fall, early in the season.
15:21You know,
15:24anybody else you're asking about?
15:25I mean, it looked like Cole and Tom.
15:27Oh, yeah, so, yeah, so, yeah, CJ.
15:30So, going back.
15:32So, CJ has done everything except take contact.
15:39He could play in a game if we had a game,
15:41but he's going to be fine.
15:46Cole had a little operation upper body.
15:49Nothing serious.
15:50He'll be fully released in the summer.
15:53They're doing individual drills.
15:55Y'all saw him out there today.
15:56There is no contact at this point.
15:58Tomas is the other one.
16:00He's starting to do individual.
16:01He could not do, he got released to do individual,
16:03I think, the beginning of last week.
16:05So, he's out there doing individual,
16:06but won't do any 11-on-11 work.
16:08Grayson.
16:09Grayson, so Grayson just had another procedure.
16:11He's kind of, he had some really bad luck with a lower body.
16:15He's kind of nagging.
16:16He missed some of the winter, came back,
16:19practiced early in the spring, just didn't feel 100%,
16:21so he got a little procedure done,
16:23and I think it's about a month.
16:26He's about a month out from being able to run
16:28on hard ground, I think.
16:29Looked like McIntyre on breakfast.
16:31Yeah, so McIntyre, he had a lower body injury
16:34on today's Wednesday, right?
16:38Monday.
16:39Yeah, and we'll know more about that
16:41probably later in the week.
16:43Didn't look good, though.
16:45Your receivers, part of the, just moving guys around,
16:49I guess, and maybe this is always true,
16:51but you want people to know as many things as possible,
16:53depth, all that stuff, but, like,
16:56how can you, at that age,
16:57for you to have people who can just keep the defense,
17:00I'm not guessing, but you can't, it's hard to match up,
17:03I guess, if you're constantly moving your pieces around.
17:04There's something there for you all that's good,
17:06but part of it is versatility.
17:07I think what we're trying to do is, in the spring,
17:09it's as much trial and error as anything.
17:11Like, we want to teach them, Mike, conceptually,
17:14so, like, if you think about it,
17:17anytime you're in a two-by-two set offensively,
17:20you usually have some type of two-man concept to your left
17:23and a two-man concept to your right,
17:25and so there's multiple ways to teach it.
17:28You can just teach, you know,
17:30hey, this is your route that you do.
17:32Every time we call this, this is what you do,
17:34or you can teach the concept, all right?
17:36So, early on, what you do,
17:37if you get a guy that comes in in the summer
17:40or they get there in fall camp,
17:41you just want them to know their individual responsibility,
17:46but now we've got all these guys outside of Jayden Bray
17:49that have been in the system now
17:51since we hit the reboot last January,
17:53and so now what we're trying to do
17:54is teach them conceptually,
17:57and it keeps them on their toes
17:58because it gets a little monotonous in spring practice,
18:00so it keeps them on their toes,
18:01so, like, Hudson Clement,
18:04he's probably more comfortable outside,
18:07but we're challenging him
18:08so he learns all the spots, inside and out,
18:11and so he knows what to do, Traylon Ray.
18:15He feels more comfortable outside,
18:16but he's been getting reps inside so he knows what to do,
18:19and so I think it's about, you know, trial and error,
18:22teaching them the concepts,
18:24gives you some flexibility once you get in the fall
18:26because if you have some injuries or things like that,
18:28they know what to do, and then they have some comfort
18:30because they've gotten some reps against good people.
18:34In a situation where a guy is, I don't know,
18:36he's like a wide first series,
18:38and there's some nobodies to see outside, or is that...
18:40Yeah, if you'd like today, if you were watching,
18:42like, Hudson did that today.
18:43Like, Hudson played inside first series.
18:45He played outside first series.
18:48You know, we've been messing around
18:49playing Rodney a little bit,
18:51like, as a nickel on defense,
18:54and so, like, when he went over,
18:55when Rodney went over and took some snaps on defense,
18:58Hudson came in and played,
19:01and we're messing with Rodney on that
19:04just because he's got really good lateral quickness.
19:07He played defense in high school,
19:09and it'll give us some flexibility there,
19:13and he's done pretty well.
19:14He's done pretty well, so we've just kind of,
19:17we've just been throwing him in there a little bit.
19:19Defensive linebacker, a lot of positions, different things.
19:21Yeah, it's our most complete room.
19:24You know, they've got to go out and make plays.
19:25You know, before I say it's our best,
19:27but, like, there's a lot of competition in there,
19:29and that's what you want.
19:30You want competition in every single one of your rooms.
19:34And if you look at it now, I mean, we got, you know,
19:36six guys, really, that are competing,
19:40and, again, going back to what I was telling Mike is,
19:45conceptually, too, is they're playing both positions,
19:47so they have to know both Mike and Will,
19:49and so that keeps them on their toes.
19:51You know, Josiah Trotter, it's been nice to have him.
19:54Like, he just plays the game the right way.
19:56Like, he's going to make mistakes,
19:58but it's mistakes you can deal with
20:00because he plays so hard, you know?
20:03And he has a physical presence,
20:06so excited as he continues to get comfortable
20:10playing in this defense.
20:11You told me to check in with you.
20:13I don't know if you've had enough time yet,
20:14evaluating what you need moving forward.
20:16Yeah, I think so.
20:18Big part of it, it'll see, you know,
20:20who we have is not going to be here, right?
20:22And I think when you think about it,
20:25like, you want all of them.
20:27You want all of them.
20:28You want everybody that, like, we had a team meeting
20:30yesterday, and I was saying, like, we don't avoid it.
20:32Like, the portal's open.
20:33Like, you know, it's not like everybody's walking around
20:35going, I hope they don't figure out the portal's open, right?
20:37No, they know it.
20:39And so, you know, it's part of the,
20:42kind of the reboot that I was talking about,
20:43is one thing is, man, we're really transparent with our guys.
20:46Like, portal's open, and what that basically means
20:49is everybody's a free agent,
20:50and so everybody has individual choices.
20:53And, you know, I think the thing that, you know,
20:57obviously money's a factor for some more than others.
21:00You know, I think it's a little bit,
21:04I think it's a little bit misleading
21:05what the narrative is out there on some of the money,
21:07you know, so dig into what the truth is.
21:09It's kind of what, you know, really hard.
21:11And I said this to our guys yesterday,
21:12and I really mean this.
21:13Like, everybody talks about, you know,
21:15there's a ton of benefits of being a college,
21:18like, football player or a men's basketball player.
21:20There's, they're making money, you know,
21:22more than they have, and they deserve it, right?
21:25But what people don't talk about is this,
21:27there's an added pressure element.
21:30You know, there's this comparison component
21:36that wasn't there when I was playing,
21:38which doesn't seem too long ago.
21:40It's, you know, when I grow facial hair
21:42and I see all this gray, I'm like, ooh.
21:45But there's a comparison component, you know,
21:48there that, in kind of a FOMO,
21:52they're fear of missing out,
21:53or they look on social media,
21:55and I think that puts a lot of stress on them.
21:58And I think a lot of these guys get stress
22:00from outside influences that really,
22:04that, and some of them come from home.
22:06Some of them come from agents,
22:08or things that they don't really know
22:11what exactly is going on within their sphere, you know?
22:14And so I think those pressures are real,
22:17and I feel for them, and it's,
22:19there's a ton, like I said,
22:20there's a ton of benefits to playing Power Four football,
22:23but there's also a lot of pressure
22:25that a lot of people don't understand,
22:27or don't talk about.
22:28And so like these, during this time,
22:30like our players have a lot of pressure.
22:33And so I think that they always, you know,
22:35money's a factor, you know,
22:36I think the experience that you're having is a factor,
22:39and I think your individual situation is a factor.
22:41And so like everybody,
22:42they got to think about those things.
22:45And I want everybody that practiced today,
22:47everybody that was in our team meeting yesterday,
22:49and today, I want them part of our program,
22:51and we care about them.
22:54But at the same time, I get those decisions.
22:57You know, I get those decisions,
22:58and if we have some movement, you know,
23:01I think that our secondary,
23:03we got to continue to take another, you know,
23:05we need one or two more bodies.
23:06We just don't have the depth there, you know?
23:09I think we're better, but we need some depth.
23:12Depending on how a couple of injury things work out,
23:14D-line wise, you know,
23:17that could be a potential area of need, too.
23:19Just, I think the injury picture will tell us on that.
23:23Yeah, could we go back to Rodney playing nickelback?
23:25Yeah.
23:26Spring thing, or?
23:27Yeah, you know, I think, to be determined.
23:29Yeah, like I told him in recruiting,
23:30like when we were going through the recruiting process,
23:33I can remember telling Big Rod this,
23:35is he played corner in high school,
23:37and I used to give him a hard time,
23:38because like he played over there,
23:40and he never showed up in the picture, right?
23:41He was never getting tackles or anything.
23:43But what you could see is, like, he could play man coverage.
23:46Like, he really, and he didn't spend any time on it, right?
23:49He was a raw football player in general,
23:51and he played, you know,
23:52most of his practice time was spent at quarterback.
23:57But, you know, there's so much,
23:59like when you're playing defense in basketball, you know,
24:01and I watched Rodney play basketball,
24:03just because he was so close.
24:06I probably saw him, however,
24:07whatever the number of legal times I could see him,
24:09I saw him.
24:10So I can't remember, I think it's three times.
24:12But when, like, you play man in basketball
24:18against good people, and you stay in front of them,
24:21and you have this presence where you got a feel
24:23where you can always play man-me ball, you know?
24:26And he did that basketball really well,
24:29stayed in front of people.
24:31He wasn't a guy that crossed over,
24:32just naturally could stay and had good, really good ball.
24:36Like he was, he had a lot of steals in basketball.
24:40And so that translated in two areas for me.
24:43Number one, I knew he had great ball skills,
24:44even though you don't see him catch a bunch of passes
24:46in high school football,
24:48because he was throwing them if they were throwing.
24:51So I knew he had great ball skills.
24:53But the other thing too, is like,
24:54I knew he had great change of direction,
24:57and he had skills that,
24:59where he could go over and play defense.
25:00And so what we've done is,
25:02we're not really coaching him much.
25:04It's kind of one of these things where we tell him,
25:07like, hey, this is what you're going to do,
25:09and we meet with him for about two minutes,
25:10and he goes out there,
25:11and it's like, if he looked bad,
25:14then we'd just went, oh, just kidding, come back over.
25:16You know, but he's looked pretty good.
25:18And so like, you know, we're teaching him a little bit now.
25:21And so definitely could be a potential,
25:24like, he's an offensive player.
25:25Like, give me a round.
25:26He's an offensive player.
25:27He's going to, he's pushing to be a starter, a receiver.
25:30And he's a guy that we want to give him the ball.
25:32Like he had a great scrimmage on Friday.
25:33Like, like really a great scrimmage.
25:35Like, was really excited about his growth,
25:38that receiver, and that scrimmage.
25:41But he's also a guy that, you know, could potentially,
25:44if he stays, could, could give us some snaps at nickel.
25:47And maybe that doesn't put stress on us
25:49where we have to go find somebody else.
25:53Yeah. Yeah.
25:54I think, I think it's doable.
25:54I really do.
25:55Like, I don't think,
25:57now, the kid at Colorado, Travis Hunter,
25:59like, what he's doing is special
26:01because he's playing a ton of plays.
26:04And I don't, I don't think we're at a standpoint
26:06where we need him to do that.
26:09But I think it's a deal where he could play, you know,
26:13six to 10 on defense and wouldn't take away
26:15from anything he's doing on offense.
26:17We just have to watch what we do with him on special teams.
26:20Don't you have to do that in this game now?
26:22The more two-for-one players you have,
26:24the more versatile guys, the more depth you have.
26:26I just think you got to be open to it.
26:28You know, like, and here's the thing, Rodney's,
26:30like, he, I just told him one day in the hall,
26:32I was like, hey, why don't you go over there
26:33and we'll see you, we'll put you in our dime package,
26:35see how you do.
26:36And he was like, oh, yeah.
26:38You know, I was like, remember I told you in recruiting?
26:39He's like, yeah.
26:40I was like, let's go see what it looks like.
26:41So I think you just got to be open to it.
26:43You know, we, so we had a kid, Marcus Jones at Troy,
26:47and he's playing for the Patriots now, but great player.
26:52I wish I would have got him here then,
26:54but Marcus, great kid, and we used him on,
27:00he was a corner and he was a great punt returner,
27:02great kickoff returner, and we played him.
27:06He was a corner, that was his number one position.
27:08And we used him on offense and he hurt his shoulder
27:14his second year with us.
27:16So that had been my last year at Troy.
27:18He hurt his shoulder, and on defense, it's hard to protect.
27:20You can't really protect on offense.
27:22You can kind of protect yourself.
27:23You know, you can go down, like if you're going to get hit.
27:25And so he was like, man, he was on me about playing.
27:27And I knew he was a special player.
27:29So I was like, eh.
27:31And so I was like, you know what?
27:32I was like, you can play.
27:34And you know, his mom and dad,
27:35he got released by the doctors,
27:36but I was kind of like, man, it's a shoulder.
27:40And so we just played him on offense for two weeks
27:43and told him, he only played offense.
27:45And then from that point on, we played him both ways.
27:49And he, you can do it, you know, like,
27:52because now you can't, I think it's really hard like that.
27:56Like what the Hunter kid's doing is special,
27:58but like, I think you can dabble for sure.
28:01But I mean, you're wide receivers
28:02that are learning all the positions.
28:03You're defensive backs.
28:06I mean, you have to do that today.
28:07If you have one guy that only plays one spot,
28:10I mean, that's kind of robbing your depth a little bit.
28:13It can, and you got enough time now.
28:15You know, the OTAs in the summer,
28:16that stuff has really helped,
28:17where you can meet football-wise.
28:19You should be able to do football almost year-round,
28:22where, you know, you don't want to do too much,
28:24but guys should, their knowledge should be better.
28:28You know, recruiting-wise,
28:29you've had a lot of guys come through the building
28:31that, you know, we see all the time.
28:33Different recruiting off the success you had last year
28:36than maybe in previous years?
28:38You know, I think that,
28:41I think there's a couple of things.
28:42I mean, it's easier just because I don't have to deal
28:44with the narrative that I was dealing with last year.
28:47So that helps.
28:49But we've also had a lot of success with freshmen,
28:52and most people want to play early now.
28:54So I think that has really helped.
28:56And we've been pushing these spring visits
28:58because I just think that the way
29:03the kind of the recruiting model works
29:05is things happen fast.
29:07So we've had a lot of 25 kids here,
29:10but we've had a lot of 26s, too,
29:13and for them to watch spring practice.
29:15And they can observe things in spring practice
29:17they don't get during normal recruiting,
29:19like a game visit or a junior day or an official visit,
29:22because it's the only time they actually see a practice.
29:24So they see what the depth looks like.
29:27They can see the schematics that we're running.
29:29They also can see the coach-to-player interactions,
29:32the player-to-player interactions,
29:34and those are critical, you know?
29:35And they get a feel for, like,
29:37what is the environment, you know, at practice?
29:40And so we've really been pushing guys to come,
29:43and we've had a bunch.
29:44We've had a bunch.
29:45It's a, we've had a lot going on, in a good way.
29:50You only got one basketball one, I guess.
29:52If you've got a lot of, like, five, six, seven guys,
29:55it's pretty hard to find.
29:56Your receiver's about the same size,
29:57but heights and weights are pretty similar.
29:59I imagine that helps with inside and outside, too.
30:01It's not saying that's part of the plan,
30:02but maybe it functions that way, too, a little bit.
30:04Yeah, we got, we got one.
30:08We need, we don't have the real long guy.
30:11You know, if you follow us in recruiting,
30:13that's the piece that we're trying to get, is we,
30:16I like our body types, like Jaden Bray,
30:18Trae Lynn Ray, like, Hudson.
30:20Like, those are really good outside body.
30:26Guys, and Preston, y'all can see him,
30:29he's put on about 10 pounds,
30:30and he's got this innate knack for how to adjust his body.
30:37And that's a talent, you know?
30:39I'd love to tell you we taught that.
30:40That's, that's just a talent that he has.
30:44We're missing, like, a real long guy,
30:46but that's the only really body type
30:47that we're missing in that receiver room,
30:49is just a 6'4 plus guy.
30:52Neil, I've got a spring game question,
30:54and this is just something I've been thinking about.
30:57Teams keep experimenting with what to actually do
31:00in spring games, and some of them just cancel.
31:03Would there be any value in, like,
31:07playing in different venues?
31:09Like, just for the novelty aspect of it?
31:11Like, there is, like, change of,
31:14like, change of scenery does, you know,
31:17like, like, fall camp stuff.
31:20Like, I've been a proponent.
31:21Like, there's some, there's a couple different places,
31:25in Southern West Virginia, that I would be for,
31:27if we could, we could make it work financially.
31:30Because I do think a change of scenery does.
31:33You know, the way it works, like,
31:35every time I go to the beach, I feel better coming back.
31:37You know, like, it's, like,
31:39change of scenery definitely helps.
31:43You know, the spring game stuff is,
31:45we've done a little bit of everything, man.
31:47We, we made it kind of a, you know,
31:49Lane got a bunch of, we didn't go quite as far
31:52as Ole Miss did, but, like, Troy,
31:54we used to have, we would make it kind of a,
31:59more of a, like, celebration and fun, and, like,
32:02because to me, like, I want, I want the spring.
32:04Now, like, a couple years,
32:06because people administratively just wanted a spring game.
32:09So, like, all right, shit, if you want to be boring,
32:11we'll be boring, you know?
32:12But, like, to me, like, the spring game is unique.
32:16And, you know, it's, like, how many inter-squad games?
32:20You know, like, let's do something fun.
32:22Let's do something, you know?
32:23So, we've got a couple of really good ideas,
32:26especially around getting our young people involved,
32:30like some, some young fans,
32:32getting them down on the field and doing some things.
32:35We're going to play, you know,
32:37we're not going to play four quarters of live football
32:39on a week from Saturday.
32:41No, we're going to, we're going to play some football
32:43because our fans deserve to see what our team,
32:46like, our players, and our players like competing, too.
32:49But we're also going to do some, some competitions,
32:52and we're going to get some people involved
32:54and, and do some things that, that'll make our fans,
32:58especially want to bring their young people.
32:59You know, I always think, all right, hey, Dax is nine.
33:02Like, what would make him be entertained
33:04at this spring game, you know?
33:05Like, if I'm, if I'm bringing, all right, my kids,
33:09like, what is something that would be like, man,
33:10this is a different experience?
33:12Because you come to, we play Penn State, man,
33:14you're not getting on the field, right?
33:16You're not going to have a chance to go up to Sean Martin,
33:18dap him up, or talk to Garrett Green.
33:20So how can we do some things in the spring game
33:23that maybe makes a family that,
33:25maybe they can't afford to come,
33:27or a family that wants to have an experience
33:29meeting a player, taking a picture of a player?
33:31How can we make this a special deal,
33:34especially here at West Virginia,
33:35because we're the state's team, right?
33:36Like, we're the state's team, and we need to be accessible.
33:39And so we're, we're, and when we're ready to announce it,
33:43I think it'll be a, a fun day a week from Saturday.
33:47Huey Macvent, one more Charles Wesley guy.
33:51Hey, listen, I'm, I'm for all,
33:53listen, I'm for all local people making it, all right?
33:56He had a cool video, I know Clint, Clint was,
33:58Clint Trickett was in that video,
34:00and, and so I, I know his music.
34:03What about Charles Wesley, man?
34:04He's opening up for Luke Combs.
34:06I look up, he's playing in the Brewer Stadium.
34:10I think that, I'm for all these guys, really.
34:12Like, I'm for any of these local people that can make it.
34:17You know, I felt the same way growing up in Kentucky.
34:20You look at all these guys, like, that,
34:23that from Eastern Kentucky that have made it huge,
34:25and, and, and it's guys and girls that,
34:27that have made it huge in country music.
34:30I just think that, I know what it feels like
34:33being from a small town, and you do,
34:36you, you've been able to do things
34:37that haven't been done before.
34:39And I know how people get behind you.
34:41And, and I was telling Charles Wesley this,
34:47I can't remember, I don't know if that was
34:48when I saw him in concert,
34:49or, or when he was at the baseball deal,
34:51but, man, what a cool, like, you can feel,
34:55like, I went to that concert back,
34:57I don't even, whenever we did that
34:58Country Roads uniform reveal,
35:02and, and like, everybody's just pulling for him to do well.
35:06You know, like, I went down to the Players Championship,
35:09and a buddy of mine, and, and so,
35:14the first song they played is, is, is Q Country Roads.
35:18I got in his car, and he played Q Country Roads.
35:19I'm like, oh, you know this?
35:20He's like, oh, this is awesome.
35:21And I, like, and I, like, I just think it's cool.
35:23You know, like, anybody that's local,
35:25and like, he, he's doing, his, his,
35:27his music's a little bit different.
35:28He's got a unique sound, and yeah,
35:31so, for sure, I'm pulling, I'm pulling for him.
35:33I'm glad he's opening up spring game.
35:37Anybody else?
35:38All right, thank you all.