On whether there's a depth chart at QB heading into fall camp

We're just going to start with the oldest down to the youngest, simple as that. Starting out that way. That's a fluid operation, that will change daily. We'll make sure everybody gets the opportunity to run with the ones and we'll evaluate it. Day-by-day process.

On Jack Tuttle's experience

Jack, even though he didn't practice, he was all around the program. He's like another coach on the field. Obviously, having the opportunity to experience the seventh year, being around other NFL players. He's been around Tyler Huntley, J.J. and Michael Penix, that really helps him to prepare for him to possibly be the starting quarterback.

On the receivers

The guy that I had a nice conversation with yesterday that needs to be the leader of the room is Tyler Morris. It's kind of his time. We view him as a starter, he started last year if we were in 11 personnel. He needs to step up in that role. Roman Wilson, Cornelius Johnson aren't here anymore. Tyler Morris, it's your time. Semaj Morgan has been outstanding. Moving him around, not just keeping him as a slot guy or ball-in-hand guy. He's been outstanding. Fred Moore, Kendrick Bell, you guys saw them in the spring game, had really good summers. We added some depth in Amorion Walker and C.J. Charleston, really good football players. Like what I saw from both of them coming out of the summer. Some of the freshmen did some really good things so we'll see how Channing Goodwin and, as we call him, Stew, because you've Amorion and I'Marion. So, Stew, let's see how they do coming into fall camp.

On what Max Bredeson brings to the offense and his development

Max Bredeson, another player we considered a starter last season in his role. Max is a glue player, not just from a mentality, the way he plays, but how he's around the players. He's got a good way about him, smart, intelligent, great energy, great player. He's developed his game to not just be the plug fullback. He wants to be part of the pass game, he's worked on that and we'll see where we're able to go with that.

On what gives him confidence that this offense can put up 30 points per game again

We have a lot of guys coming back who have had a lot of playing time. Like I just hit on Tyler Morris, if you don't consider him a starter you better consider Semaj Morgan a starter. If we're playing 11 personnel, they're playing in it. If we put a fullback in the game, Max Bredeson started. Then we add Josh Priebe. Yeah, he didn't start here but he started at Northwestern. Myles Hinton started the season. We have a lot of guys with experience so that gives you a lot of confidence there. The players we have in the room are so explosive and dynamic. We talk about Colston Loveland, his ability to be explosive and the other guys I hit on. Excited to see who steps up to be the explosive outside receiver. We've got a lot of talent in the receiver room, the tight end room, the running back room with Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards, as we know. I couldn't be any more confident in the ability in those guys.

On what a Kirk Campbell offense looks like

The identity that I want is to make sure we're a fundamentally sound unit who prides themselves on details and precision. Alignment, assignment, execution.

On whether a tougher non-conference schedule impacts offensive install during camp

When we attack fall camp, for us, you have the entire spring, you've got the summer that we get a lot of install with the players, too. Fall camp, we're full-go. We're gonna go at our pace, we're going to get a lot installed in the first couple of weeks and then we'll start gearing up to tailor that to attack Fresno State first and then we'll have some preparation for other teams down the road. We're worried about ourselves and how we're going to prepare first.

On how he is approaching the QB battle and how strong his convictions are in sticking with a starter

Actually going back to 2019 when I was with Penn State, this is the fourth time I've entered a situation like that where you have to make a decision on the starting quarterback. Penn State it was Sean Clifford and Will Levis, D.J. Mack and Hayden Wolff at Old Dominion, J.J. McCarthy and Cade McNamara a couple of years ago and now we have a plethora of guys. What I've learned about all of those is obviously you have a deadline to make a decision, that's the first game, or you want to depending on seasons. But, you don't want to rush the decision. You've gotta make sure you prepare those guys and if you make the decision too early, you could put yourself in a situation where halfway through the season you're trying to fix that thing and go in a different direction. You want to make sure you take your time, you do a thorough process, evaluate each practice, evaluate each meeting, evaluate how they interact with the players and then make the best decision for the team.

On how he avoids the trap of sticking with his decision

I think you gotta be confident, you gotta hold your ground. Obviously, injuries could change how that plays out so you gotta prepare all of them like they're starters. When you make the decision, you gotta be confident in what you do. Listen, there's no second-guessing when you leave the room, you gotta make the decision and we're gonna go forward with it. That's how we'll execute, that next game, those two games, unless an injury happens.

On being open to the wrong decision at quarterback

We're not going to sit there and second-guess ourselves. We're going to make a confident decision and we're going to be ready for it. That's for the outside people to decide. When we make a decision, we're confident that we made the right one.

On the third running back role and how Jordan Marshall factors in

Jordan had a good summer, we gotta make sure we continue to develop him. Ben Hall is in that mix, you got Tavi Dunlap who had a really good spring game. Really good summer. Cole Cabana, hopefully he stays healthier this season. We have a plethora of guys to work with there. Hopefully, we get some fortunes where we can get the ball in their hands. We've got so many good playmakers it's going to be tough to get the ball into every single players hands, we gotta evaluate that through full camp.

On whether Jack Tuttle's experience and desire to be a coach make it easier to grasp concepts

Him in that mindset, this is not the end for him. I think that does help. I do think that gives him an incentive that not only is he trying to learn as a player, he's trying to learn from the coaching side. I think that definitely helps him and his mindset. Everybody in the room. I know Jack definitely wants to be a coach, I would not be surprised if there were more guys in the room that go on to coach whether that's at the high school level or college level. That could be an advantage for him but there's a lot of guys who are really intelligent in that room.

On the addition of in-helmet communication

In the spring, we were allowed a select few numbers via Big Ten rules. This camp, we're gonna be allowed to have all the quarterbacks in the communication system. For us, being a primary huddle team, I think it benefits us. We can get the call in faster. We can help the quarterback get through some pre-snap stuff via the headset but that will shut off with 15 seconds, so we gotta make sure it's done there. It's not going to affect our operation too much but it should help us a lot.

On whether the offense can be tailored around Donovan Edwards

I've been on record saying this, I think any offensive coordinator tailors their offense to their players. Donovan Edwards, different running style than Blake Corum. He's still going to be asked to do the same things but we also gotta get him in open field, get him in space one-on-one with linebackers, that's what he does really well. Kalel Mullings is a really good downhill runner. We have to tailor the run game around what our offensive line does well and what our running backs do well as well. It could be a little bit different but it could be the same at some point in time.

On how Donovan Edwards' demeanor has changed

I think he has a lot more confidence walking around right now. He knows that a lot of guys in the program are looking up to him now where in the past it might've been Blake and him. Now, it's like, hey, the guys are looking at him to have a leadership role. I think the confidence that he exudes is a big difference. He's had a really good summer. He looks healthy, running around well, has cut some weight again. I think the confidence thing is a huge factor. As a freshman, you guys probably remember, he had that swagger, that Donovan swagger where it was like, man, when he touched the ball it was going to be electric. That's the look in the eyes he has right now and he has the confidence he's walking around with.

On whether he will tailor the offense around different aspects of each quarterback

You have this pod of an offense and there's some things that you're going to ask any quarterback to have to do these things. Then there's things another guy might do a little bit better than when he became the starter, then we would be able to pull more and build that package a little bit more. Yes, there will be, hey, this finite amount of offense, listen, this is what Michigan is and this is the offense we're going to run. If it's Jack Tuttle, Davis Warren, Alex Orji, down the list, it may deviate into a smaller package into something else that would highlight and accentuate their skillsets a little bit more.

On the depth on the offensive line

The depth on the offensive line is something we were cognizant of building in the spring and in the summer. One guy has gotta step up there. Last year we were probably 9 deep, 10 deep. If we can get to 8 deep, I think we're probably around 7 right now. If we can get to 8 or 9 deep, we'll feel really good about that. Injuries are gonna happen. You look back to the last couple of years, Trevor Keegan missed a bunch of games, Karsen did, Jeff Persi had to start a game against Rutgers. If we can continue to develop that and find another guy, we'll be really confident. Coming out of spring, we did develop it and Coach Newsome has done a great job with developing some of the younger guys but we'll need guys to step up, that's just the reality of it.

On the new teams in the conference contrasting with Big Ten football and whether adjustments need to be made

Throughout all of last year I always did weekly studies across the country so you cross their paths and kind of see them and get eyes on them. We really got to dive in when we played Washington. Got to see a lot of the PAC-12 at that time. Offenses and really watching the defense. I'll be interested to see how some of them tailor to us, they're not used to seeing as many big bodies out there. Doesn't mean that they're not going to be equipped or ready for it. I'm excited to see how they'll try to counter-punch what we're going to try to bring to them as well. Different styles, a lot more receivers on the field than they will see from the University of Michigan, maybe, at times. So we're excited to see how they'll defend us.

On how much freedom Sherrone Moore is giving him to run the offense

Obviously, Sherrone, the buck stops with the head coach but he fully has trust in me. If there's something he wants to see, or see more of, we have meetings daily, we go over that. He's given me the reigns to run the offense and if he has any input he'll add it when necessary.

On whether he listens to his input

Absolutely (laughs). Obviously, he's the head coach but he's such a smart coach. He saw the big picture. Everyone knows the O-line, he coached the tight ends for a long time in his career so he's got a unique perspective on the entire football game. Ultimately, Coach Moore and I just want to win every football game, however we gotta get that done by scoring one more point than the opponent, we're on the same page there. The biggest thing that neither one of us has is an ego. We work together. We just want to win football games, that's it. At the end of the day, if he has a good idea, we're going to listen to it. If it's an idea we think it's a good idea and it doesn't work, we'll just throw it out. That's the type of people we are and the type of offense we're gonna run.

On whether the 50-50 run-to-pass ratio will remain the same

When you're calling a football game, there's a feel to it. You can just feel when there should be a pass play or play action pass or a quarterback needs a complimentary pass. We're not going to have strict numbers on that, we'll evaluate that every week as far as self-scout so, you know, formationally, alignment, assignment. How we call the game. If we were pass-heavy in this formation or a run-heavy team, I think that needs to be answered in the next week. Throughout each game, you're just looking to win the football game. You may have subtle goals but, at the end of the day, how do we score one more point than the opponent.

On the tight end usage in this offense

First off, Colston Loveland, Marlin Klein, Max Bredeson, just to name three guys in that room are dynamic players. You can argue that Colston Loveland is the best tight end in the country, Max Bredeson is probably the best fullback/H in the country and Marlin Klein has had an outstanding spring and summer. Tight ends are quarterbacks best friends. They're big targets, they can go over the middle, they have a huge catch radius. When they're the best players, you gotta utilize them. I think they'll be a large part of what we'll do this year. How much? I don't know. Every game will dictate that and how healthy we stay at those positions will dictate that as well.

On when decisions on starting center and quarterback can be made early in camp

Coach Newsome, Coach Moore and myself, we're treating the center position the same way. Obviously, Greg Crippen, he's been here for a long time. Raheem Anderson as well. We mix those guys up constantly and work together. Hey, one day this quarterback will be with this center, this center will be with this quarterback. If that is the combination, we're ready for that, we're prepared for that. There's one thing we won't do and it'll be lack of preparation. We'll make sure we're prepared on those things. Is it important? Yeah, it is. Is that gonna decide Fresno State if we make that decision today? No, absolutely not. We've got three really good guys at each of those spots that could go get the job done.

On identifying protections

We've got three really good coaches and we teach those guys, right? They get taught, they know what they're doing, they get a lot of reps and walkthroughs in practice. Whoever is the starting center will be ready to play football come Fresno State.

On what he feels good about with the offense right now

The fundamentals and the details and precision in the throw game. I thought we were physical in the run game with outstanding fundamentals for guys that, like I said, the nameplates change but the playmakers of that offensive line, the physicality has not changed. Fundamentally, we were great. We had really good alignment and assignment at receiver. We caught the ball extremely well. Very pleased with that.

On analysts being able to coach impacting his coaching

I think it's outstanding. The more eyes you can get on the practice field, instant feedback, frees me up a little bit. There will be some times where maybe I can walk around individual practice instead of having my fingers directly on the quarterbacks. I think it's outstanding. We had guys in specific roles before this rule ever happened as far as in those rooms. Now their roles are elevated on the practice field and in the meeting rooms. We've trained them just as we've trained the players. We're able to just turn key and get some things going. We know the OG Freddy Jackson can be back in action so that's exciting for everybody.

On any aspects of Wink Martindale's approach has jumped out to him

Wink and how he hands his business on a day-to-day basis reminds me how detailed and how organized you have to be at this level, right? Not that I'd ever slip in that area but just seeing how he approaches it, he's done it for how many years? He's detailed, organized, has a plan and executes it. Obviously, they have a lot of base defenses that they run but they've got a variety of pressures as well and that makes us even better in the quarterback room making sure we're identify those and get rid of the football. Off the field, his organization and really his leadership with the players is outstanding. On the field, the variety of pressures and base looks that prepare us for any opponent we play during the season. I think that's the beauty of the defense he runs, we're prepared to play anybody in the entire country.

On whether how the staff identify recruits or pursue recruits has changed under Sherrone Moore

For me, individually, I have more help because Coach Moore has beefed up the staff. But how I identify them personally, no. How the recruiting department may, I'm not in their room the whole time so I really can't speak to that. As far as how we identity the quarterbacks, it has not changed much.

On how beefing up the recruiting staff has lessened his workload

It's helped a lot when kids are on campus. When recruits are on campus, there's more people to interact with the families, with the parents, helping with campus tours, all that stuff.

On whether he buys into the idea that the defense will have to carry the offense during the early part of the season

We're a complimentary football team, no. We had a really good spring. Our defense is the best in the country, I know that, but no. We're a complimentary football team. We're going to execute on offense at a high level. We're going to execute on defense at a high level and have the best special teams in the country. We're going to play great team football.

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