On his transition to co-offensive coordinator
Everything has been good, it's been fun. Enjoying the process. The staff has been great, coach has been great. When you go through the summer and you're working through things, you're recruiting and you get into July and you get a little time off, spend time with the family and doing those things, it's been refreshing. It's been great. I'm loving it. Busy, but good.
On whether he's doing the same things as least or if his role has expanded
Different things. Part of the play-calling now so it's a little bit different. It's been good. It's been an easy transition. Tried as much as I could to be part of that last year, be involved in that is super flattering how we do things. It's fun, it's great. Everybody bounces ideas off each other but it's been good. It's a little different, it's been a little bit more but it's been great for me.
On how they will call plays on game days
We'll be collaborating. We have a method of how we're doing things and we've been pretty smooth so far and it's just rolling. The kids have adjusted to it and everything has been good.
On the expectations of the offense
We have our goals. The same goals that coach spelled out, we have the teams we want to beat and we know where we want to be at the end of the day. For us, right now, we want to focus on each day, not trying to look too far ahead. Because when you start to do that you start to forget the little details you got to do. We're just trying to harp on every little thing that we can now, we can be as good as anybody. We've got to work to get there. It's not going to be handed to us, we have to go and take it. We've been working every day to get better.
On determining the identity of the offense
I think it goes through fall camp and you figure it out as you go. You start to figure it out as you put the installs in. We're one on day four of practice so you don't really know that and we won't have pads on for two days. Which you can kind of see things and how they develop. You don't really know what's going on as far as the identity and what it all looks like until the ball is snapped on game one. Still trying to figure that out and we will take the time to get there.
On when they figured out the identity last season
I don't even know, I couldn't even tell you. It was just a rhythm. The kids just figured out at some point, maybe a little later in camp or after we got through those first three games, the guys figured out who we were gonna be and we just took it from there.
On the biggest strengths of Oluwatimi's game
First, his experience, he's started 36 games in college football and that's an invaluable experience. He's strong, he's smart and when he came here it was like he has been here for four years already. He's an outstanding young man on and off the field, he's also an outstanding player. He just has a great all-around game with what he can do and, obviously, you see those accolades that he had last year speak to that. Day by day he tries to get better, that's it. He's really stepping up as a player, trying to be a leader with the experiences that he's had in his college football career as well.
On whether Oluwatimi is plug-and-play to replace Andrew Vastardis
You implement the offense, you see what you got, and keep rolling from there. Day four, what we're doing, it's not just him, it's everybody. The whole o-line, it's the receivers, it's the running backs, we know what those players are and we'll continue to shape and mold everything to their strengths as we go.
On whether they try to get more passing reps to get the passing game along
We try to be 50-50. Try to balance it out, it'll be one pass and one run. You've got to continue to work on everything because we're not ever going to be a finished product in the run game, so you can't just go over that and do more pass game. We're always trying to be as balanced as possible in everything we do.
On the third running back position
They've been great, man. You know, again, it's early. We're two days in pads so not much to go on but the guys are working their tails off. All those guys are getting reps, working hard. We don't really know this early in the game, we just haven't done much tackling yet so that's where you'll figure out what you're going to do.
On the challenge of replacing Hassan Haskins
Hassan was an elite player for us and in college football. It's hard to replace him. Guys like Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, obviously we have those two but now you have the Tavi's, the CJ Stokes and even Kalel is getting reps in spring, those guys have done a great job for us so far. Watching those guys continue to progress, we'll just see what we're going to have to do.
On the battle at right tackle
Trente ended the spring as the starter, started the camp as the starter. Karsen has made tremendous strides and he's right there. He's done a heckuva job, he'll play for us this year. He's a guy that we could put on either side. Really, he's played his entire career at all four positions besides center. He's gotten stronger, more physical, more twitchy. They all look phenomenal. Herb and his staff has done an outstanding job. He's done a heckuva job for us and he's going to continue to push and play for us this year.
On whether it's Trente Jones' job right now
Yeah, Trente's had an outstanding four days and he's a really good player. Karsen is pushing him.
On Donovan Edwards
The first thing he brings is energy. If he walked through right now you probably would hear him yelling. Just the energy and the presence that he has, he has an infectious personality. He's an electric player and he's still learning to do things. He's by no means a finished product. He continues to strive to get better. He just wants to get pushed to get better. He has a great skillset, a great toolset, to be an elite player in college football. We have high expectations of him and he has high expectations of himself. Continue to push him and try to get better.
On whether you could see Edwards and Blake Corum on the field at the same time
We'll see.
On whether there's a jumbo tackle to tight end conversion taking place right now
We'll see. There's a possibility of that.
On the challenges of having two play callers with two quarterbacks
We set our plan and we have the plan and we just try to execute to the best of our ability. We continue to do that. It's all about rhythm and finding the rhythm of what you're doing. We feel like we're in a really good place and we'll continue to strive to make that perfect for game one.
On how he foresees the wide receiver personnel rotation playing out
I think, in general, with that position you have to play at least six, seven, eight if they're running a lot. We'll see who those guys are. We obviously have some studs and we're ready to put their skillset on display. We have a lot of guys in that room, we have a lot of guys in the tight end room, the running back room. It's going to be our job to make sure we get them in the right places at the right time and continue to make sure that, one, they're in the right place but, two, the freshmen are doing it.
On Ronnie Bell's progression
He's been great. His mindset has been great, leadership quality has been great. He looks like his old self again. He's been outstanding.
On whether they tackle to the ground during padded practices
It's mixed, it's mixed. We mix it up. Coach does a great job. Sometimes it's live, sometimes it's (not tackle to the ground). When it's live, it's not always the same so we do enough where we get the physical work in and guys know how to tackle on defense and we know how to try and break tackles. It's a good mix.
On Erick All
Erick couldn't get lined up when he first got here. He was a mess. He'll tell you that. He's a beautiful human. He is going to play at the next level for a long time. He has all the physical traits. Playbook-wise, he knows everything inside and out. From a fundamental standpoint in the running game, he's always had the want-to but just never knew how to do it so we continue to teach him that. In the passing game, he always had the ability to run great routes but he just knows when to run and how to run, what the specifics details look like in all those routes. He's just been great. He told me the other day, that he's at 260-pounds. He came in at like 219. He looks like a grown man.
On how he would assess recruiting during the 2023 cycle
Try to do as much as I can, as much as I did before. Obviously, with the responsibilities now, there's a little less and I kind of have to divvy up to other people. Still doing my part. On the other side of it, trying to make sure from an offensive standpoint we know where we need to be.
On how he would assess recruiting
We've been good. It's been a steady pace, excited to see where it goes. Especially when the dead period is done and the dead period and we can get rolling.
On the defensive line
They've been great. We always talk about this great give and take. There's been parts of practices where you're like, oh, dang, we're getting it or they're getting it. Battles back and forth. The defensive line has been aggressive. Coach Elston has done an outstanding job with them. They're playing physical, they're playing fast, they're playing downhill. The edge guys are coming off the edge as fast—sometimes it feels like last year. Excited to see where they'll go and how they'll progress. It's been great, great competition, it's been physical. Mazi's done an outstanding job, he's a strong dude. Very hard to move. Excited for his future.
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