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Morgan Scalley Weekly Press Conference - Week 1 vs Idaho · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome!
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Excited for this home opener, get this thing going. We've
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: been hitting each other for some time now. Fall camp
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: went really well. Established a two deep at the majority
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: of our position groups with some injuries still lingering a
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: little bit.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So we'll see come game day.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Nothing that's going to keep guys out of the mix
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: for the most part. So really healthy fall camp. pleased
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: with the coaches' energy, the players' energy, getting a leadership
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: council and captains in place that really kind of determine where.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Things go from here on out, but excited. I know
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: our fans are excited.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's been, what, 95 straight sellouts, and we've
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  Speaker 2: got an unbelievable.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Fan base, so home opener versus Idaho.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: We were able to get a Sneak peek of them
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: last week and nothing but respect for Coach Ward and
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: that group. Got an offense, a dynamic quarterback that was
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: very efficient, both throwing.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: And when you add in the running element, it causes
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: some issues for defense.
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  Speaker 2: Really good wide receivers, tight ends that are athletic, seasoned
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  Speaker 2: offensive line on the defensive side of the ball. Very
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: twitchy up front, active. You can kind of tell how
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: a team's coached by how they run to the ball.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: These guys run to the ball. So with that said,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I'll open it up for questions. Fire away, Steve.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, you know what?
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: No.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Justin gets the first. Justin gets the first.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: And I'm reading Justin's question.
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  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: So it says, with this being your second game as
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  Speaker 5: Utah's head coach, with fourth down and six to go,
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: are you more likely to go analytical or follow your instinct?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: You are always stirring the pot, dude. Yeah, kind of
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: a mix.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: You take everything into account, how practice went, the people
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: that do the analytics, just going over those numbers and
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: how they do it. I mean, really, really smart, but
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: there's also a feel.
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  Speaker 1: For the game, and I'll take everything into account, just
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  Speaker 1: not your opinion. Okay, all right.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: You've coached a lot of Utah season openers, but this
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: is obviously the first one as head coach. Do you
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: anticipate when you walk out on the field to feel different,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: and are you planning on crying?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: No, no.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't plan on it being too much different,
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  Speaker 2: and no, I don't plan on crying.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, unless something horrible happens. We don't need that. Knock
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: on wood.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: You already have your first win under your belt as
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: head coach, but what would your first win at home mean?
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: A win. I'm excited for our players. It's all about them.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: The preparation that they've put in, buying into our culture
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: and our way of doing things. We've got, like I said,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: a really good group of leaders that.
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  Speaker 1: Hold each other accountable, which is an awesome thing to see.
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  Speaker 2: It's not always easy to hold each other accountable and
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: to bring others along. A lot of people shy away
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: from that, but we've got some good ones. These players
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: are ready and cannot wait for them to let it loose.
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: Morgan, with the offensive line obviously replacing all five guys,
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: what is the sign of success in this first game,
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: knowing that it takes time to build that communication, especially
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: in real game reps?
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  Speaker 2: Just no intolerable penalties. Just want to play clean. Want
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to play clean, and you're not going to be perfect,
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  Speaker 2: but aggressive.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: We want to be physical.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: We don't want to be soft. For me, success is
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: running the ball well and playing clean.
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: Morgan, when you are in a game like this, obviously
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: installing the new offense, you have all these new pieces
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: on the offense. What is the line between not having
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: a vanilla play-calling game and having one that doesn't give
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  Speaker 5: away everything that's in your guys' Rolodex for this season?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Kevin's done a nice job of having
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: enough throughout spring and fall that you're always going to
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  Speaker 2: see something new. With this offense and the amount of
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: threats that we have, playmakers that we have, you may
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: see something new every single week in terms of not
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: just play selection, but personnel, right? And that's what I
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: think makes this offense difficult to defend is that, okay,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: they're sitting there in a four-wide group. They're sitting there
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  Speaker 2: in 12 personnel, and then all of a sudden it's
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  Speaker 2: 13 personnel with your two rhino tight ends. There's something
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: for every defense to be worried about.
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  Speaker 1: Not, not too worried about being vanilla.
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  Speaker 7: Morgan, you've been on the sidelines so many times as
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: defensive coordinator. What do you think the biggest adjustment is
• 5:13
  Speaker 7: going to be when the game starts as head coach?
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  Speaker 7: Are you anticipating anything that might take you by surprise?
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  Speaker 2: Well, just for me to shut up, just to turn
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  Speaker 2: off the mic, I guess, you know, let coach Swan
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  Speaker 2: do his deal.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And, and I, you know, I'm, I'm excited for him.
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  Speaker 2: That's another aspect of this that Colton Swann's worked his
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: tail off to be in this position. They've done a
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: great job in fall camp of having these guys fly around.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: He's pretty dialed in. I'm excited to see him perform.
• 5:47
  Speaker 7: The biggest difference from last.
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  Speaker 1: Year to now going into this season? Health being the
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  Speaker 1: number one thing.
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  Speaker 2: He's also got a quarterback coach in Gunderson that is
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: really helped with progression. And I think for me, the
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: biggest difference has been in his leadership style. And that
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: is probably the most important in a position where everyone's
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: looking at you. How are you going to respond to adversity?
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  Speaker 2: How do you attack a stretch, a warmup?
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  Speaker 1: Everything that you do, everyone's watching.
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  Speaker 2: And so are you that guy that's owning his 20
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  Speaker 2: square feet that's being compelling by the way you live
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: your life, or are you a guy that is giving
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: everyone else an excuse to slack off, and he's been fantastic.
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  Speaker 4: He put up huge numbers last year, but a lot
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: of times he was injured or banged up. What have
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: you seen from him this fall as a healthy quarterback,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: and what are you expecting from him.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: On the field?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you also want to be careful with that, because
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: if he thinks he's Superman sometimes, that's where the injury
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: bug can get you, but I've been very pleased with
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: his decision-making, you know, when to check it down, when
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: to stay alive, when to take off and run. He's
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: doing a much better job of understanding his role as
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: keeping himself healthy as well.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Are you setting all those, especially at your offensive line,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: your five starters?
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: There's going to be some rotators game one. Yeah, there
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: really is.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Because of the injuries and because we haven't been able
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: to solidify that. So you'll see some rotation going on.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Both of the defensive lines are more normal because if
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: you get into longer drives, guys just get on the
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball, you're going to probably see
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: some rotators, primarily interiorly.
• 7:35
  Speaker 8: Morgan, what's a good number of touches for Rayshon Parker,
• 7:39
  Speaker 8: and how would you split them up, rushing.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: And possibly receiving?
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: It depends on how the game's going. You never know
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: in openers, right? You see mistakes being made. So that's
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: why I think playing clean, not having turnovers, not having
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: those penalties that get you behind the sticks early in
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: a drive, So really, it's just going to depend on
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: the flow of the game. This is a revenge game, brother. 1993,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: we lost to the Vandals. This is a revenge game.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: We're the only two who remember why. Okay.
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  Speaker 8: Morgan, you've seen a lot of teams in multiple Pac-12 championships.
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  Speaker 8: You were part of a 2004 team that's identity was
• 8:21
  Speaker 8: strong quarterback, playing strong defense. Now that you've had nine months,
• 8:25
  Speaker 8: or maybe eight months still, to kind of see what
• 8:28
  Speaker 8: this team's identity is, what do you feel like their
• 8:30
  Speaker 8: biggest strengths are so far?
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  Speaker 2: The strength of the offense is in the number of
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: positions that can be threats. I'm so impressed with the
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: job that Jordan Gross has done with his front, and
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: that is, you know, hopefully going to show itself on Thursday.
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  Speaker 2: So I would say just the amount of threats that
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: we have on the offensive side of the ball and
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: then on the defensive side of the ball, you know,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: there's been, I think, a chip on everyone's shoulder about
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the run game, you know, how we ended it last year. So,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: you know, it's been a pretty physical spring and fall
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: camp for us, which is why I think you see
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: some of the, you know, the injuries, but Thankfully, nothing season-ending.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: But you need that. You need the scarring. You need
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: to know you can do it when it matters. So
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  Speaker 2: I'm excited to watch these guys against the run.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: With Joshua Woods athleticism, the Idaho quarterback, how do the
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: testers for your defensive line early in the year since, honestly,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: they don't get to.
• 9:41
  Speaker 8: Hit Devin and Bird in practice?
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Really good because they're not just a team where he
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: makes his yard scrambling.
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  Speaker 1: They all have some designed runs for him. So... you know,
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  Speaker 1: much like we've done with Devin.
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  Speaker 2: So the design runs are really the stuff that you
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  Speaker 2: really got to pay attention to.
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  Speaker 1: And situationally, when is that going to happen? But it does.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: When you have a quarterback that is, you know, big enough,
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  Speaker 2: physical enough to be a factor in the run game,
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: you have to have a plan for it.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Morgan, thoughts?
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  Speaker 2: Coming and preparing for this game, what has been your
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: overall message to the guys this entire fall camp, but
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: especially these next few days?
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: What's going to be your message to the guys?
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  Speaker 2: Just focus on us, on behaving the way we're supposed
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to behave, that culture that we talk about. Every position
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: group has a set of behaviors that you're looking for
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  Speaker 2: that makes them elite in that position. If everyone can
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: just really focus on becoming the best they can be
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: at those.
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  Speaker 1: Behaviors, the results should speak for themselves.
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  Speaker 2: So, yeah, just focus on us, our culture, and it
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter who we're playing.
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: Morgan, are you comfortable right now with the support you're
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: receiving from the university and the infrastructure around you and
• 10:56
  Speaker 7: who you're reporting to?
• 10:57
  Speaker 8: Is all that in place.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: For you right now?
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow. That came out of left field.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm very blessed with a president that's a Utah
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: guy and an AD that is fully supportive.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: We have a really good thing going on right now.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Our focus is on these players and on putting the
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: best product out there. We have an unbelievable fan base
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: and it's a great time to be a Ute, brother.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: There's been some restructuring elsewhere.
• 11:22
  Speaker 8: I don't know if you've been following the news cycle.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Gotcha. I gotcha. Very happy with what we've got.
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: It seems like there's a ton of versatility all around
• 11:32
  Speaker 6: your roster. How much does that afford you as a
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: head coach? Knowing obviously it has to live out on
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: the field, but How much does that afford you and
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: how do you stack that up to maybe prior.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Teams that you've been a part.
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: Of?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know that I've seen the depth on the
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball that we have right now.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: What you can't do is try and get too cute
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: with it. You really have.
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  Speaker 2: To hone in on, okay, who are the the top
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: playmakers and who are going to be role players. Um, you,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: you do too much and, and you never get good
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: at one thing.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: So, um, the trick is.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Is being able to do the same thing in different
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: personnel groups, the same thing with maybe masking it with
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: a shift or emotion. And that's, uh, you know, that's
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: the beauty of, of what we have in this offense.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Bless you, by the way, don't, don't hold that in, dude.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: If they're not paying rent.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: You got to get him out.
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: How important is it in a game like this against
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: an FCS opponent to try to get as many guys
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: game action?
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I'd never think about that. I never think about that.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: My, my, our whole goal is to play the best
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: we can now as, as the game progresses and we
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: feel like, but you, you, you go into it with
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: that mindset and, be prepared to be on ESPN for
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: all the wrong reasons. Every game is our Super Bowl.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: You've got 12 of them. Don't let any... No regrets
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: with any of them. You've got to go in prepared
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: to win every single one of them the right way.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: It's such a long build-up to getting to these dozen games. Fall, camp, spring,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: everything else. Do you feel it when you get to
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: game week? A sense from the players and your staff
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: and everybody.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Else that Yeah, definitely a sense of excitement. There's also
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a sense of exhaustion, just being done hitting each other.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Like, let's go, let's get into this thing. And I
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: think we're in a good, healthy mix of that right now.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: We just want to get out there and play.