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Morgan Scalley Weekly Press Conference – Week 3 vs Utah State · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This Friday on campus, and women's volleyball has three games
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: back-to-back-to-back this week.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Huge.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: First two are at home, 3 p.m., so show up
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and be loud. Go support Coach Dorico and those awesome ladies.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And as far as the game, again, can't say enough
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: about the coaches, their game plans. As a head coach,
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  Speaker 1: it's all about the culture and how we do things,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and the game planning really is up to Coach McGiven,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Coach Swan, Coach Shaw, so credit to those gentlemen and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: their staff for putting that game plan together and proud
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: of the offensive, defensive lines for their physicality all night.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We talked about a few guys with Noah Benny and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Jai Mua and Dev, Weishan. Going back and looking at
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the film, really pleased with the backers, how active they were,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: how physical they were. I thought Nate Ritchie had his
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: best game as a Ute. A very good tackling day
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: for him, some PBUs. Hunter Andrews and Will Money, you
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: go back and watch that film, and they are blocking
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: their tails off. Very good game by those guys, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I thought Daniel Bray ran hard. Never get too many
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: shout-outs to the special teams guys. Dylan Curtis, 100% on
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: his PAT so far, kicking the ball out of the
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: end zone, which as a defensive coordinator... kick that thing
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: out of the end zone every time. Never give them
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to return a ball. Ryan Phillips had an
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: unbelievable punt net at 60, I believe.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: And then Logan, Logan.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Castor, you know, our, our snapper, he never gets enough credit.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: That guy's on our leadership council and you don't notice
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the snapper until you don't have a good one.
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  Speaker 3: And then that's when you notice them.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So credit to Logan for what he's been doing in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: terms of, Our opponent coming up, Utah State, so much
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  Speaker 1: respect for Bronco Mendenhall. Anywhere he's been, he's created a culture.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And he's true to who he is. He's a very
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  Speaker 1: good coach, has produced everywhere he's been. So much respect
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  Speaker 1: to him and.
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  Speaker 3: His team.
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  Speaker 1: Robert and I is a guy that I've respected as well,
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  Speaker 1: the way he runs an offense, his discipline nature, the
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  Speaker 1: way he coaches. And then Coach Howell is a very
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  Speaker 1: good defensive mind. So we know we're going to get
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  Speaker 1: the Aggies' best shot. You watch those guys play.
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  Speaker 3: They play hard.
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  Speaker 1: They've got two athletic quarterbacks. Whoever starts, one got injured
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the last game, but very athletic.
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  Speaker 1: So another one of those games where you've really got
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: to be concerned about an extra guy in the box
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  Speaker 1: for the Q run game. And they've got speed on
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  Speaker 1: the edges defensively, very sound. very good tackling team, and
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  Speaker 1: they hit, you know, so they run to the ball,
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  Speaker 1: and they're well coached, so excited to, this is 114,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I believe, 114th time Utah Utes have played the Aggies,
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  Speaker 1: and in 1960, Bud Scali scored the only touchdown against
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Merlin Olsen and that crew here at Rice, it wasn't
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Rice Eccles at.
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  Speaker 3: The time, and I think it was the The Redskins.
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  Speaker 1: Versus the Aggies at that point, but 6-0, and that
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  Speaker 1: was my first memory was seeing my dad's newspaper clipping.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, I wasn't born at the time, but seeing that.
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  Speaker 1: So the tradition's strong and excited for us to host
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  Speaker 1: the Aggies.
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  Speaker 3: Questions?
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  Speaker 2: Justin?
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: We have Justin's question.
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  Speaker 2: He said it's not that spicy. With Utah State coming
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to town, a dominant win over Arkansas for the last
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: two opponents, are you concerned about the penalties continuing from
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: last week?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Going back and looking at the penalties, the ones that
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  Speaker 1: you really need to handle are those that it's delay
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: games that you should never have those. Those are ones
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  Speaker 1: that procedurally we've got to be better on the sideline,
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  Speaker 1: and our offense knows that. The pass interference stuff, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to continue to have our guys be aggressive, and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I think the Big 12 does a really good job
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  Speaker 1: of calling games, and there's going to be disagreements, but
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  Speaker 1: they do a heck of a job. They have a
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  Speaker 1: hard enough job as it is, and I thought for
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  Speaker 1: the most part we were pretty clean. You look over
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  Speaker 1: the first two games, I think we're one of the
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  Speaker 1: fewest in penalties. particularly at the offensive line. You've had
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  Speaker 1: one holding penalty, it was on a tight end, and
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  Speaker 1: really no fault starts from offensive linemen, so I'm really
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  Speaker 1: pleased with the discipline there.
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  Speaker 3: I think we're doing a really good job.
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  Speaker 2: Nationally, the Battle of the Brothers probably doesn't get much attention. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: you've grown up here, you know all about it. What
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  Speaker 2: does this rivalry series mean to you, and how important
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  Speaker 2: is it to play it pretty regularly?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, I.
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  Speaker 1: You know, any time you get to play the in-state schools,
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  Speaker 1: there's something on the line, right?
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  Speaker 3: And it is, you never take it for granted.
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  Speaker 1: I was in Logan when we lost to Chucky Keaton
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  Speaker 1: and that crew. And it's, you know, they want to
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  Speaker 1: win this thing. You've got recruiting on the line. You've
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  Speaker 1: got bragging rights in-state. So, you know, at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the day, it's always going to be important when
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  Speaker 1: you're playing those in-state schools. And I love the rivalries,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's BYU, Utah State.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's just healthy, in my opinion.
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  Speaker 4: Morgan, speaking as a former defensive coordinator, when you look
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: at your own offense, what kind of struggles does that
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  Speaker 4: present a defensive coordinator? Can you kind of explain what
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: this week would look like trying to be able to
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: figure out how to go against an offense like that?
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  Speaker 1: Well, you're... What you try and do each snap is
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  Speaker 1: know what offensive personnel is coming out on the football field,
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  Speaker 1: particularly if you're a man coverage team and you're trying
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  Speaker 1: to match good on good. And when you have athletes
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  Speaker 1: that can play multiple positions, right? Daniel Bray could line
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  Speaker 1: up as a wide receiver, he can line up as
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  Speaker 1: a running back. Bird, you see lining up as a
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  Speaker 1: wide receiver, he can also be a quarterback. And when
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  Speaker 1: it's a quarterback that can also throw the ball after
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  Speaker 1: a handoff or after a backwards pass. That creates, well,
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  Speaker 1: we've got to stay on coverage, first of all. We've
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  Speaker 1: got to be aware that he can still throw the ball.
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  Speaker 1: These are the issues that you face every single snap.
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  Speaker 1: And when you've got 40 seconds on the play clock,
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  Speaker 1: play ends, And really, you don't have 40 seconds. You
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  Speaker 1: have about 15 seconds to figure out what's going on,
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  Speaker 1: who's coming on, who's coming off.
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  Speaker 3: The most stressed out.
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  Speaker 1: Person in the entire stadium on game day is your
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: personnel guy up in the booth that's trying to, it's
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: 12 personnel. No, no, no, it's 10 personnel. All the while,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the coach is like, let's.
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  Speaker 3: Go, let's go. So they have a hard time, and
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  Speaker 3: the more you can create.
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  Speaker 1: Chaos with guys coming on guys going off and still
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: be able to snap it in time and and you
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  Speaker 1: know be efficient that's what we're trying to do creating
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: different tempos as well you know you go from being
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  Speaker 1: a huddle team to quick on the ball and so
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: teams aren't don't get into a rhythm of okay they're
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: always going to huddle they're always going to break the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: huddle and we get to see the formation you got
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  Speaker 1: to be able to mix that stuff up as well
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  Speaker 1: and we're constantly having conversations back and forth as to
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  Speaker 1: You know, what's too much? What can we get away with?
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  Speaker 1: You know, all the while, you're just trying to make
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: sure that you're getting your guys the ball, right? Figure
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: out who your guys are, and we've got a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of them.
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  Speaker 3: And so you can have that. There's that. Do you
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  Speaker 3: want to be someone or do you want to do something?
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: If you want to be someone, anywhere can go.
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  Speaker 1: You can go someplace and go start, you know, Or
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  Speaker 1: you can be a part of a great team and
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  Speaker 1: do something. And our guys have a great attitude right now,
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  Speaker 1: great mentality. You may get yours one week, you may
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  Speaker 1: not get as much the next week, but it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: matter who scores, it matters that we score.
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  Speaker 3: And the guys are bought into that right now.
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  Speaker 2: Jackson Benny's played a lot of nickel to start the season.
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  Speaker 1: What about his seal set makes him a good fit
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  Speaker 1: at that position?
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  Speaker 3: Very good cover guy.
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  Speaker 1: He's long levered. He gets his hands on you. He's
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  Speaker 1: really good at sliding his feet, good hips, good ball skills.
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  Speaker 1: All those skill sets make for a good corner. We
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: can also bliss him. We haven't done much of that necessarily,
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  Speaker 1: but he's got an unbelievable skill set.
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  Speaker 4: You decided to keep the starting offensive line.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: The same from game one to game two.
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  Speaker 1: What led to that decision, and did they show you.
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  Speaker 4: Enough on tape for you to lock that in as
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: you're starting back in the foreseeable future?
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say, you know, particularly the tackle spots,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: those are pretty much solidified with Sed and Zerway. And
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  Speaker 1: then the guard spots, I think Roger's been doing a
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: really good job as Keith has continued to get healthy.
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  Speaker 1: And so, you know, we're going to continue to see
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  Speaker 1: guys get reps in those situations. May, you know, have
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: some guys get a little bit more backup reps at tackle.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the more your guys can do, Isaiah Kim
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  Speaker 1: is another guy that snaps at center but also could
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  Speaker 1: play guard. It's just important that when you get those opportunities,
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  Speaker 1: they get those opportunities. So you see you know a
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: lot of our twos and threes coming in and playing
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: in those situations how valuable it is to get those
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: guys reps you're not trying to run up the score
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: but you definitely it's important to get those guys reps
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: under the lights because that's how you find out really
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: who they are so really pleased with the progression of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: that offensive line, and we'll see, you know, because we
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: do have some guys that are challenging, and those.
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  Speaker 3: Guys know, hey, you know, whenever I get my shot,
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  Speaker 3: I've got to make it count.
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  Speaker 1: But I would say I don't think we've necessarily solidified
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  Speaker 1: this is what it's going to be for the rest
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of the season. Gordon, the last two offensive coordinators you've
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: hired have come from Rocco Mendel's staff.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: I didn't hire one. you were involved with okay okay there.
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  Speaker 1: Um just what is it about his his offenses or
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: just the similarities that you like that he also likes
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: that you know and that you you wanted to kind
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: of pick up from his staff and hire those guys
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: one of those guys um.
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  Speaker 3: Well yeah both jason and and and mac g they.
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  Speaker 1: Elements that cause you issues are particularly man coverage teams,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: formations into the boundary where your skill, your corners would
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: have to travel, right? If your corner travels, more than
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: likely it's man coverage. If your corner doesn't travel, okay,
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  Speaker 1: it's probably zone or zone pressure. So stuff like that,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the shifts, the motions that force defenders to communicate through
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: throughout pre-snap communication. How good are they at pre-snap communication?
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: How loud are they, particularly in loud environments? So the
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  Speaker 1: changing of the formation, the motions that can cause eye tricks,
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  Speaker 1: the changing of personnel groups.
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  Speaker 3: And then the physicality.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: If you don't have an offense that challenges you physically,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: it's tough to play on Saturday that way. So it's
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  Speaker 1: complementary football. what you face in spring ball and fall camp,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: it better be getting you physical, right? Or, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's tough to ask that of your guys come season time.
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  Speaker 3: Coach, building off of.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: That physicality, how would you assess the physicality level and
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: where do you feel like your offensive line and defensive
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: line can develop the most?
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: We got to continue to see where we're at. You know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: we're two games in and like I said, You really
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: don't know who you are until probably midway through the season.
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  Speaker 3: I like our progress. You know, a lot of the
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: being physical.
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  Speaker 1: Is not just, you know, blowing snot rockets and trying
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to tee off on people.
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  Speaker 3: It's actually using really good technique.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: So, you know, inside hands, vertical leverage is what we
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: talk about all the time. And that's showing up. And
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: you've got to be able to promote it when you
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: see it. Man, our guys are doing a really good
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: job of that, both on the offensive and defensive side
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: of the ball, using their hands, driving piles, finishing. That's
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: the stuff that I want to see and that we're
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: seeing in games one and two. You're always going to
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: have minuses, stuff that you've got to clean up, whether
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: it's footwork, whether I was too high. But for the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: most part, I think coaches are doing a really good
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: job of teaching these guys really good techniques.
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: Building off that one as well, tackling was something that
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: we've talked to you a lot about.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Going back to spring.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: Through the first two games, you.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: Guys have had less than 10 missed tackles in the game.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: How as a whole do you think this unit on
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: the defense is doing in the tackling category and where
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: is there left to improve upon?
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Good tackling is good tackling.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you face really good athletes that make you miss.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: If you're relentless to the ball, you know, that shouldn't
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: be an issue.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: So that's, you know, what this culture does for these
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: guys is it gets them in the mind frame of, okay, yeah,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: I'm being taught technique, but I can also attack, attack, attack,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: because I know the guy behind me, if I miss,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: is going to be there. Coach Swan and that crew
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: is doing a really good job of making sure these
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: guys in practice, because you can't, you know, Right now
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: during the season, if you don't know how to tackle,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: that's an issue.
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, and the stuff that we.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Do do, making sure they go low, they tag low,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: you know, just proper technique is over and over again.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: It's stuff that you do over and over and over again.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: If you don't do it and you don't hold them
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: accountable for it, then you shouldn't expect to see it
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: on game day. But they've done a really good job
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: of coaching those guys up in spring, in fall camp
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: when we were going live, and it's showing up. Well,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: if you're consistently having guys behind you and those shots are.
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: Piling up, When you throw, you know, say a fade ball,
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: two out of three things can happen that are good
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: for the offense, right?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: A penalty or a completion, right? And so you're going
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to take those opportunities, particularly when you have the athletes
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: that can go up and their 50% is really good.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: You see that with Pagan, with Larry. These guys can
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: go up and get the ball.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: So.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: You don't just throw deep shots to throw deep shots,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: but if you want to loosen up a secondary, you've
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: got to be able to have those options. And so
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know how far Bird can throw it. He's
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: got a really live arm.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: We've not had a competition or anything like that, but, yeah,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: he can sling it. Coach, K.J.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: Jackson was 8 for 12 passing in the first quarter.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: No, not with a touchdown.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: After that, he.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: Was 4-for-22 with an interception.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: What were the in-game adjustments that allowed.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: You to kind of rattle him?
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I think early on, some of those completions, I'd be
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: interested to see where some of those completions were.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: A lot of them were on the away.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: You had a screen play. So some of those are
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: within 10 yards of scrimmage, and that's fine. Anything past
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: 10 yards, if he's really efficient, that's not.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: A good thing. So I think the.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: The cumulative effect of getting hit. I mean, he was
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: getting hit quite a bit. If not, he was getting
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: bodies thrown into him. So really good job by our
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: guys of providing pressure. And then, you know, you look
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: at those 13 pass breakups. A lot of those are
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: just guys batting down balls to the line of scrimmage,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: being aware of depth of drop. You know, is this
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: going to be a three step down distance situation? It's
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: going to be a five step. So our guys understanding
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: that plays into it. But I would, yeah, I mean,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I would say probably early on he was getting the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: short stuff and then forced into, you know, longer yardage situations.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: You have to throw longer, and we were having success there.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Final question for Coach.
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Pagan will play against his old team this Saturday. Is
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: he the player you hoped he would be, and how.
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: Does he fit into the group?
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Oh, he's everything I could. and, and more. I love
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: that kid. Love how he's progressed. You watch him.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: And, uh, I'm, I'm always, you talk to the wide receivers.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: What does Coach Kelly want out of you? Blocking, blocking, downfield,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: go block downfield. And, and that's, you see all these
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: guys buying in. It's so much fun to see these
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: guys block for each other and, and, uh, understand team football.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: But Brayden Pagan has been fantastic. I'm excited for him. Um,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: you know, it's, but it's, it's, It's not about him
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: versus Utah State. It's about the University of Utah versus
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Utah State, and it's all about the team, and he
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: knows that. But he's been a team player. He's on
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: the leadership council for a reason. Love having him a
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: part of this family.