On the starting quarterback

We're close. We'll figure that out soon though. We're in a good place.

On what will be the final determination and whether there will be rotation at QB

Yeah, we'll just see who practices better these next couple days, and then we'll make a decision whether it's Friday, whether it's right before the game. We'll let them know, and then everybody else will find out at the same time.

On whether there will be two quarterbacks in rotation

We'll see.

On his philosophy of playing two quarterbacks

Yeah, I've been a part of it. I've been a part of it here. I've seen it work. I've seen it not work. So, we're just going to do 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 Tebow and Chris Leak. It worked out pretty well for them. But there's teams that have done it and haven't worked out well, so we'll just figure out what's our best formula to win.

On whether there's momentum with one quarterback right now

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. It's something that, whether you get a stop or you don't get a stop, whether you score or you don't, those are things that really create the momentum. For us, it's just going to be a decision on who we feel is going to help us win.

On whether Alex Orji has been taking the majority of first-team snaps

It's been pretty even. They've done a really good job of it. It's been even snaps throughout. Maybe it's one with him, one with the next guy. It's been an even distribution. Those guys have done an outstanding job and obviously made it very hard for us to make a decision right now.

On who is the next guy

Davis Warren.

On Fresno State

I think, first of all, whenever you have a new coach, obviously being a new coach, but whenever you have a new coach, there's the unknown. There's the not really sure. Coach Skipper has been in the system. He's been there. He's been with them, so he's evolved in the culture. It's something that's been very successful, so I don't see him diverging too much from what they've done. I know he was a defensive coordinator, so I don't know how much evolved he will be with the defense or not, but I can see that there's definitely going to be some wrinkles and things that we've got to be prepared for, but they're a good football team. They went 9-4 last year. 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.

On who stands out on offense with Fresno State

Yeah, I think it starts, number one, with their quarterback, Mikey Keene. He's not as big as a lot of quarterbacks, but he gets the ball out quick. He's mobile. The offense all goes through him, so for us to be successful against him, it's about how we stop him, how we contain him. 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 box, so we've got to keep him contained and confuse him a little bit with coverages and things we do and make it messy for him because it really goes through him. When he's healthy for them, he does a really good job of ball control and controlling the offense, and you can see that the offense has a lot more confidence with him in the game.

On how he keeps the team focused with Texas next week

I mean, our guys, we've got a really mature culture, and obviously the past few years we've done what we've done, but I think it's all about really today. You can't be worried about two or three days from now because then you're going to lose today, so 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. Last year they went to Purdue the first game of the year and beat them at their place, so there's no cakewalks anymore in college football. So wherever you play, you've got to be ready to go.

On the excitement of game week

Yeah, I think the biggest excitement is that they don't have to bash each other's head against each other for the next whatever week. So that's awesome to see, but it's also awesome to game plan and get into that part of preparing for another opponent and the competitive part of it, and then playing in the stadium with all the fans. We're super excited about that. But for me it's been awesome. Camp's been phenomenal just to be out there with the guys and grinding and really building the callus 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 president's game.

On whether there's nerves coaching his first game as head coach

Yeah, not really nerves. I've kind of stopped getting nervous anymore.

On describing the emotions

Anxious, just ready, just ready to go. Ready to practice, ready for meetings. Today's the first day of school for the boys, so we made sure we talked about going to class, being on time, sitting in the front, doing everything right, talking to a couple of younger guys, saying make sure you introduce yourself to the teacher. Shake their hand, say hello. They're like, what? Yes, do that. It's going to help you in the long run. But watching them as they come back from class and they go to meetings, that's going to be a cool thing to see them, oh, you guys had school today, now we're back in the football, and then you get this routine of a game week. So that's been the fun part for me.

On having a sense of urgency in naming a quarterback

I mean, there's always a sense of urgency in everything we do. So regardless who's in the game, we're going to have a plan for him to be successful. So for us, it's not. The players, they just go out there and perform. You know, whatever the play is called, 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, you know, we know we play Saturday, and we'll have somebody ready to take the first snap.

On whether he anticipated Davis Warren pushing hard for QB reps

Oh, yeah. I mean, if you 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. He 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 whether he's shared lessons learned from the Florida State loss

Yeah, that's what I said. You got to just prepare. Every week, you got to prepare like you're playing 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 it to face us upon, you got to make sure you're prepared every day to go win that game. So for us, the message is pretty simple. They saw it. So there's not much we have to say about it.

On having to replace many starters in a competitive conference

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've played here, they've played 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 they've done that training camp, and we've started 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.

On Jimmy Rolder and the backup linebackers

Yeah, I mean, he's had a great camp. We were just talking about him the other day. 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.

On the safety rotation

Right now, obviously, Makari's been phenomenal. Quinten Johnson's been great. But you've got Zeke Berry in there. You've got Wes Walker in there. You've got Jaden Mangham. You've got Brandyn Hillman, who's really, really taken his level of play to the next level because he's got some elite traits and ability 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 Berry, who's really all he needed was the confidence. And, you know, it would be funny because I'm talking to Rod, I'm talking to Will. I was like, who's the guy in the background? And this was in the spring. Like, who are you guys most excited about? They said, Zeke. Zeke. And to watch his evolution as a player, 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 up. So that room's super deep and ready for it.

On having two QB options with limited starting experience limiting the offense

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 of plays. And both of them can execute the offense fully. So it's just going to figure out who's going to do that consistently over these next couple days.

On how different the offense looks with Alex Orji compared to Davis Warren

Not crazy different. There's just things you can do with each guy that you'll change and manipulate. But it's not super different. So we're still going to be who we are and play our football.

On whether he plans to watch the Netflix documentary

I'll be watching film.

On WR3

Yeah, I think there's going to be a competition as we continue through this camp. But guys like Kendrick Bell, guys like CJ Charleston who's coming, Amorion Walker, Fred Moore. It's going to be all those guys that continue to compete as we go through the season, as we go through this camp and prepare for this first game and go to the next game. So we'll see. We'll see who's going to really take that, solidify it. But right now, we feel like we've got great options at all of them.

On whether he's taken a moment to reflect on what Saturday will mean for him

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. don't think about myself. Dave asked me to do this the whole time. I'm just like, why do I have to talk about myself? All I care about is the players. That's it. That's all I care about. So I haven't looked at it in my perspective. I just want them to go out there and be successful and have the time of their life.

On center and right tackle battles

Right now, at center, we've got a couple guys. We've got Dom Giudice, we've got Greg Crippen, and we've got Raheem Anderson. Right now, it's still a competition. So we'll see who does it. I think Crippen and Dom have been the top two in camp so far. So we'll see how they compete this week. Then our right tackle, Andrew Gentry, Evan Link, have been the top two candidates there. So we'll see what happens this week. But I feel like we've got a good — we'll have more insight and cement as we go through the rest of the week.

On Dom Giudice and Evan Link

Yeah, I mean, I think just one, from a knowledge of the playbook standpoint, knowing what to do and how to do it, both have the talent, 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, be able to be flexible. Play right, play left, play center, play guard, and 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 built the line, and that's what we're going to continue to do.

On CB2

Yeah, right now it would be Jyaire. Jyaire's really taking hold of that position and doing a really good job. Sug, he's been phenomenal, tough, just a gritty dude. One of Kankakee's finest. And he's been great. So I think it would be him on Saturday that would line up across from Will Johnson.

On turning the page with the NOA delivered

Not hard. Not when you're here. The players, and you get right to the game. So you can write about that. You guys can write about that. You won't. We're just worried about playing.

On Marlin Klein

He's been great. He's really cemented himself as that third guy with Colston and Max. He's had an outstanding camp. So ready to put his talents on display for sure.

On whether there are any injury updates

We're locked. We're in a good place.

On what he hopes the fans take away from the team on Saturday

Oh, man. Just hope they're proud of the product that they see on the field. We're going to be flying around like our hair's on fire. We're going to play fast. We're going to play physical. We're going to play tough. We're going to play through the whistle. We're going to do everything we've done in the past. But we're going to try to take the level of play up to the next level.

On whether he expects a heavier workload for Derrick Moore and Josaiah Stewart or will there be rotation

No, I think we'll definitely rotate. Those two have definitely cemented themselves as guys. But the guy like TJ Guy, I mean, he's had a certain spring and then just went over to fall camp. And he's put himself right in the conversation with Derek and Josiah and nobody's talking about him. That's great. We kind of like it that way. He's going to have a heck of a year. But him and Cam Brandt are going to be guys that are going to really bust on the scene, so I'm excited for that.

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