Latest / Coaches Corner / Jason Candle Presser - Aug 31 Lafayette

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Jason Candle Presser - Aug 31 Lafayette · Coaches Corner

0:00
Speaker 1: Okay, thanks everyone. Coach, week one here, you got a
0:04
Speaker 1: first game. Just give me some thoughts heading into Lafayette. Yeah,
0:07
Speaker 1: good afternoon. Thanks for coming. I think first of all,
0:10
Speaker 1: I'll start off with just saying our team, I think,
0:12
Speaker 1: is coming off a really strong preseason camp. And, you know,
0:16
Speaker 1: I think it comes a point in time where everybody
0:17
Speaker 1: in preseason camp is tired of hitting one another and
0:19
Speaker 1: it's time to go, you know, put the pads on
0:21
Speaker 1: and play somebody different, compete against somebody else. And looking
0:24
Speaker 1: forward to getting into the stadium for our first home game.
0:28
Speaker 1: Like I said, I think our team is ready to
0:30
Speaker 1: do that. Got to have a great week of practice
0:31
Speaker 1: and prep. And, you know, I know Lafayette's a very
0:34
Speaker 1: formidable opponent. And, you know, they had their opening game
0:37
Speaker 1: last week, just got to play one half. And I've
0:40
Speaker 1: lived that situation before as well. So, you know, I
0:43
Speaker 1: know they're going to be ready to roll and we
0:44
Speaker 1: got to be at our best. But ultimately looking forward
0:46
Speaker 1: for a great week of practice here. First question today,
0:54
Speaker 1: not second. We'll continue to work through it this week,
0:58
Speaker 1: but I think we're getting closer to that. You know,
1:01
Speaker 1: I think those guys have done a really good job,
1:03
Speaker 1: and they've handled that part of it really well as well. So,
1:05
Speaker 1: you know, we'll continue to work these next couple days
1:07
Speaker 1: and make a decision on that for, you know, obviously
1:09
Speaker 1: before the first snap Saturday. Well, I think that it's really,
1:21
Speaker 1: you know, ideally you would have your starting quarterback in
1:25
Speaker 1: place from the previous season. Ideally, scenario two would be
1:28
Speaker 1: that you had two guys competing that were ready to
1:31
Speaker 1: win the job. And then this scenario would be the
1:33
Speaker 1: last one you would pick, right, where you have three guys.
1:35
Speaker 1: But it can be doable and it can work if
1:38
Speaker 1: those guys are very mature in their process and very
1:40
Speaker 1: methodical on how they prepare for practice. And they really
1:43
Speaker 1: understand and harness the fact that they do play the
1:46
Speaker 1: most scrutinized position in all the sport, and they embrace that.
1:48
Speaker 1: And those three guys in each one of those cases,
1:51
Speaker 1: they've done that. I'm proud of them for that. It
1:55
Speaker 1: makes it a hard decision because nobody really eliminated themselves.
1:58
Speaker 1: That's kind of why it's been going the way it's
2:01
Speaker 1: been going. Is there another reason why you keep it
2:03
Speaker 1: to this final week to keep the competition level highest
2:08
Speaker 1: before the opening game? Yeah, I think it's no different
2:11
Speaker 1: there than any other position. We practice good on good
2:17
Speaker 1: an awful lot. This is not hey, you divide the
2:19
Speaker 1: team in half and some guys are really good and
2:21
Speaker 1: other guys are not. This is three units that have
2:24
Speaker 1: been going against each other the entire spring and then
2:28
Speaker 1: carried that through fall camp. I felt like it's created
2:30
Speaker 1: a lot of internal competition. When you have 60-some new
2:34
Speaker 1: players at the beginning of the season in January, I
2:37
Speaker 1: think you're foolish not to create as much competition as
2:39
Speaker 1: you can. It's helped us in a lot of ways.
2:42
Speaker 1: I haven't felt the repercussions of the negative piece of it,
2:46
Speaker 1: and hopefully we don't. Well, I hope we see a
3:00
Speaker 1: very fast physical football team. I feel like, you know,
3:03
Speaker 1: that we have the people in place to present that.
3:06
Speaker 1: I hope that it's a football team that doesn't beat
3:09
Speaker 1: itself and comes out and plays very clean. And it
3:12
Speaker 1: really doesn't matter who the opponent is. I mean, I
3:13
Speaker 1: think we, you know, we've talked about an awful lot
3:15
Speaker 1: within the walls of this building of being you know,
3:18
Speaker 1: inside out rather than outside in. So there's going to
3:20
Speaker 1: be pressures of every game, right? Game number one. You know,
3:25
Speaker 1: some opponents are way better than others as the season progresses,
3:28
Speaker 1: but your first pressure is game one. Being out there
3:32
Speaker 1: and not being in pads and playing in front of
3:34
Speaker 1: fans for, you know, for months at a time, you know,
3:37
Speaker 1: you get back and everybody in the country feels the
3:39
Speaker 1: same anxiety when it comes to game one. So we've
3:41
Speaker 1: got to handle that part of it. You know, and
3:43
Speaker 1: we got, you know, all 12 opponents we have on
3:45
Speaker 1: our schedule, we've got to respect them the same and
3:47
Speaker 1: prepare each week. Like, you know, you know, our goals
3:50
Speaker 1: and our, our, our aspirations depend on that preparation. And,
3:54
Speaker 1: you know, some teams do that better than others. I'm
4:00
Speaker 1: not just excited to watch him play, you know, I'm
4:02
Speaker 1: tired of practicing, you know, and going through the same
4:05
Speaker 1: process over and over. I feel like we've, we've done
4:08
Speaker 1: a lot of football. It's been a nine month journey
4:09
Speaker 1: to get to where we're at. You know, today's college
4:13
Speaker 1: football is a little bit different, as you guys know.
4:15
Speaker 1: You know, there's so many moving pieces and so many
4:16
Speaker 1: new things that come at you. And, you know, I'm
4:20
Speaker 1: just really looking forward to three and a half, four
4:22
Speaker 1: hours of in between the white lines with these guys and,
4:24
Speaker 1: you know, our offense playing and supporting our defense, our
4:28
Speaker 1: defense playing and supporting our offense and us coming together
4:30
Speaker 1: and being really strong in a kicking game. Jason, you're
4:32
Speaker 1: an experienced coach. This is your first program. When do
4:34
Speaker 1: the butterflies start kicking in a new place, a new team,
4:37
Speaker 1: a new stadium? Does that happen game day or– I
4:42
Speaker 1: haven't had many of those since 2001 when I had
4:44
Speaker 1: to play. Coaches don't win games. I mean, you're going
4:49
Speaker 1: to write that they ultimately lose them someday, but, you know,
4:52
Speaker 1: they don't win games. Players do. So, you know, you
4:54
Speaker 1: want to do a great job that making sure those
4:56
Speaker 1: guys are prepared for those moments the best that you can.
4:58
Speaker 1: You try to put them in as many of those
4:59
Speaker 1: situations as you can through preseason practice, through spring football
5:03
Speaker 1: and and through the summer. But I think I wouldn't
5:06
Speaker 1: say butterflies. I would just say more anxious to watch
5:08
Speaker 1: our team gel together and see what we have. And
5:10
Speaker 1: I do believe, really, and regardless of the outcome of
5:13
Speaker 1: the game this Saturday, I mean, I'll sit here and
5:15
Speaker 1: tell you the same thing after the game. I think
5:17
Speaker 1: your team takes the biggest jump from week one to two.
5:21
Speaker 1: You know, you don't get preseason football here at this
5:23
Speaker 1: level of football. You don't, you know, get to get
5:25
Speaker 1: on a bus and go down and scrimmage the team
5:27
Speaker 1: down the road and really find out what you have
5:29
Speaker 1: or have a closed scrimmage or closed practice versus somebody
5:31
Speaker 1: else like other sports do. So, Very unique in the
5:34
Speaker 1: sense that you haven't been together and you haven't been
5:36
Speaker 1: in a fight with one another and they only get
5:38
Speaker 1: 12 times to do it and here you go, game
5:40
Speaker 1: one comes at you fast. Yeah, I think that they
5:46
Speaker 1: do a really good job offensively putting their skill position
5:48
Speaker 1: players in positions to be successful. They have a very
5:51
Speaker 1: aggressive defensive scheme. You know, a coaching staff that's been
5:54
Speaker 1: together for a long time so you see there's a
5:56
Speaker 1: lot of continuity and there's carryover from last year to
5:58
Speaker 1: this year's half of football that we got a chance
6:02
Speaker 1: to watch. It seems like they're very confident in their quarterback,
6:06
Speaker 1: and they let him do a lot of things. He's
6:08
Speaker 1: a good player. Like I said, I think the thing
6:10
Speaker 1: that speaks out the most is the amount of skilled
6:12
Speaker 1: players that they have. They can threaten you vertically down
6:14
Speaker 1: the field, and I think they've done a good job
6:16
Speaker 1: recruiting to match the scheme of how they want to play,
6:18
Speaker 1: and I think that's the sign of good coaching. Jason,
6:20
Speaker 1: when you consider the eight or nine months that went
6:23
Speaker 1: on to this week, how has the whole... i mean
6:46
Speaker 1: i think on campus here it's been tremendous right i
6:48
Speaker 1: mean you know we've we've done a lot of things
6:51
Speaker 1: in a short amount of time to, to help enhance
6:54
Speaker 1: the facility. We've done a lot to enhance the practice situation,
6:57
Speaker 1: the two practice fields up there. And, you know, I mean,
7:00
Speaker 1: it just been amazing to have that space to be
7:03
Speaker 1: able to get out and, you know, you don't know
7:05
Speaker 1: how valuable that is until you don't have it. And,
7:07
Speaker 1: you know, you're going through spring practice and you're indoors
7:09
Speaker 1: the whole time. So to be out there and to be,
7:11
Speaker 1: you know, to have that space and have that thing,
7:14
Speaker 1: you know, really online, whether the matter what the weather does,
7:17
Speaker 1: I think that is a massive plus. So, You know,
7:19
Speaker 1: it's been really good from administration all the way down
7:22
Speaker 1: to the students and their commitment to wanting to be involved.
7:26
Speaker 1: So we've got to do our part and put a
7:27
Speaker 1: great product on the field. But so far, so good.
7:29
Speaker 1: Has there been a position, group, or two that has
7:32
Speaker 1: exceeded your expectations for this point? Or maybe that you
7:42
Speaker 1: might be worried about doing before? I think our defensive
7:44
Speaker 1: front has done a really good job. you know, there's four, five,
7:46
Speaker 1: six guys on the edge. I think they can really
7:48
Speaker 1: be solid players. I think the linebacker room has been really,
7:52
Speaker 1: really solid. And I think that, you know, there's young
7:55
Speaker 1: players emerging in other position rooms that maybe right now
7:58
Speaker 1: on paper, you'd say, man, that's not a very deep room.
8:03
Speaker 1: But I think after Saturday's game and as the season gets,
8:06
Speaker 1: you know, it unfolds, you're going to say, man, oh man,
8:07
Speaker 1: like that guy is really playing at a high level.
8:10
Speaker 1: And you know, what you read in Phil Steele's preseason
8:14
Speaker 1: magazine isn't quite, you know, what it looks like in
8:16
Speaker 1: week four or five. Yeah, still an ongoing process there
8:31
Speaker 1: at kicker and punter, really. I mean, those guys are
8:33
Speaker 1: competing as well and continue to, you know, put them
8:36
Speaker 1: in tough situations at practice and, you know, to see
8:38
Speaker 1: how they can handle it. So, And, you know, hopefully,
8:41
Speaker 1: you know, we get settled in on one there. And,
8:43
Speaker 1: you know, you're right. The pup has done a really
8:45
Speaker 1: good job. He's done a good job of just coming
8:47
Speaker 1: in here and putting his head down and working and
8:49
Speaker 1: not saying a word and just going to battle. So, yeah,
8:55
Speaker 1: we'll make that decision here as we continue through the
8:57
Speaker 1: week and, you know, put the best guy out there
8:59
Speaker 1: that we feel like gives us a chance to win
9:00
Speaker 1: the game. You talked about the talent in the running
9:02
Speaker 1: back room and he's going to sit out for you.
9:04
Speaker 1: I know we're talking to Kenji today as he kind
9:06
Speaker 1: of lit the way for you. Yeah, I mean, I
9:08
Speaker 1: think Kenji, he's a senior, and this is time. He
9:12
Speaker 1: feels like that it's his time. So he's a very
9:15
Speaker 1: talented player that's, you know, had, you know, has made
9:18
Speaker 1: career moves where he's changed schools. He's had injuries. He's
9:21
Speaker 1: had a lot of adversities through his career. And to
9:23
Speaker 1: get to this point in time and to really have
9:25
Speaker 1: a really solid offseason, in my opinion, you know, he's
9:29
Speaker 1: fully aware of, you know, he's got to continue to
9:31
Speaker 1: have a really great process to have the season that
9:33
Speaker 1: he wants to have. And, you know, you know, you
9:36
Speaker 1: can only judge off of what you've seen from January
9:38
Speaker 1: until now. And to this point in time, he's done
9:40
Speaker 1: a really, really good job with that. So I'm excited
9:43
Speaker 1: for him. I mean, he's one of the guys that,
9:44
Speaker 1: you know, there's a couple of guys in that room
9:46
Speaker 1: that can score a 70 or an 80 yard touchdown.
9:49
Speaker 1: You know, we got to make sure we get a
9:51
Speaker 1: hat on a hat to allow them to have the
9:52
Speaker 1: room and the space and the creases to go do that.
9:55
Speaker 1: But yeah, he should expect to go play well. He's
9:58
Speaker 1: earned the right to do that. Sincere Bowers should go
10:01
Speaker 1: play well as well. I mean, these guys have had
10:02
Speaker 1: a lot of, you know, work in games, and they've
10:06
Speaker 1: had a lot of at-bats, right? You know, and there's
10:08
Speaker 1: a couple other guys in there, too, that are up
10:10
Speaker 1: and coming that I think will continue to push, and
10:13
Speaker 1: that's one of the rooms I think is pretty strong.
10:15
Speaker 1: How would you define... I think it starts off by
10:28
Speaker 1: winning our first game. And after that, we figure out
10:31
Speaker 1: what it looks like after that. So when we're not,
10:33
Speaker 1: we're what it looks like in December. I mean, my
10:38
Speaker 1: wife asked me the other day, like, Hey, we're going
10:39
Speaker 1: to go on vacation anywhere. I don't even know when
10:41
Speaker 1: the hell vacation is. So I'm like, can we just
10:44
Speaker 1: get to Saturday and play Saturday before we worry about
10:46
Speaker 1: what a successful year looks like, where we're going on vacation,
10:48
Speaker 1: and what all the things that lie ahead. There's so
10:51
Speaker 1: many hurdles in today's landscape of college athletics that you
10:54
Speaker 1: have to jump over that you see down the road,
10:57
Speaker 1: and there's equally as many that you don't even know
10:59
Speaker 1: that are coming. So what weeks and months look like, honestly,
11:04
Speaker 1: I really don't care. I'm more worried about how this
11:06
Speaker 1: works this week and getting this week of practice solidified
11:08
Speaker 1: to give our team the best chance to go play
11:10
Speaker 1: well on Saturday. sense that this team has a humbler
11:21
Speaker 1: about what they've got on the field because they've had
11:22
Speaker 1: to bring it every day in a lot of different places?
11:24
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean, I feel like they are
11:25
Speaker 1: ready to go compete and to, like I said, see
11:26
Speaker 1: a different opponent. And I don't, you know, it gets
11:29
Speaker 1: to that point in time, right? I mean, you know,
11:31
Speaker 1: preseason practice, you're starting to really look for checkpoints. You know, hey,
11:35
Speaker 1: this week we're really focusing on these things schematically, offensively,
11:39
Speaker 1: and defensively. But what I would say is this team
11:41
Speaker 1: has grasped the the importance of how to practice. And,
11:46
Speaker 1: you know, for the most part, they've really taken care
11:49
Speaker 1: of their teammates at practice. I think they've done a
11:51
Speaker 1: good job really taking care of the football on offense.
11:54
Speaker 1: I think they've done a really good job of, you know,
11:56
Speaker 1: putting high emphasis on taking it away on defense. And
11:58
Speaker 1: when you're practicing against each other, like that's give and take, right?
12:02
Speaker 1: So all we can do is put our guys in
12:05
Speaker 1: position to make sure that they're doing it the right
12:07
Speaker 1: way and playing with great fundamentals. You know, I'm still
12:10
Speaker 1: of the belief that All 11 guys on offense or
12:12
Speaker 1: defense got to play out of a stance, right? I mean,
12:14
Speaker 1: there's still, you know, this is still an ABC process,
12:17
Speaker 1: not the other way. You know, so I think that
12:20
Speaker 1: we're ready, and I do think that we're ready for
12:22
Speaker 1: a checkpoint. Are we a finished product yet? We're not.
12:25
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot left in the tank for
12:27
Speaker 1: us to be a finished product, but I think we're
12:29
Speaker 1: ready to go see where we're at week one. Yeah,
12:38
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I'm an offensive coach and I've
12:40
Speaker 1: done this my whole career. So, you know, that's my forte.
12:43
Speaker 1: I'm not going to mess with Manilac and what he does.
12:44
Speaker 1: That's why, you know, he was hired and, you know,
12:48
Speaker 1: for him to come in and to do a really
12:49
Speaker 1: good job getting that unit ready to go play and
12:52
Speaker 1: be an aggressive style of defense and, you know, that's
12:54
Speaker 1: going to cause havoc and disrupt the plays. And I'm
12:57
Speaker 1: looking forward to watching them guys go. With so many
12:59
Speaker 1: new pieces and so much chemistry that needs to be built,
13:03
Speaker 1: have you found something in the offensive line that you
13:05
Speaker 1: find different? early in camp so you can bring that
13:07
Speaker 1: consistency forward? I think the thing there that is key
13:12
Speaker 1: is communication, right? And, you know, for quarterbacks, receivers, it's
13:18
Speaker 1: easy to go out in the middle of June and
13:19
Speaker 1: throw passes and to play seven on seven and to
13:22
Speaker 1: work half-field routes and to, you know, just, hey, we
13:26
Speaker 1: meet me at the field at 2.30 and let's work on,
13:28
Speaker 1: you know, perfecting our craft together. Like, that's easy to do.
13:32
Speaker 1: On the offensive front, you know, when you have to
13:34
Speaker 1: communicate every– every call, you have to move another 300
13:38
Speaker 1: pound man in front of you and you have to
13:40
Speaker 1: do it with somebody like you can't simulate that. Right.
13:44
Speaker 1: So I think preseason camp, I think some of those
13:47
Speaker 1: competitive spring practices that we had, um, you know, that
13:50
Speaker 1: really sets the table for what the foundation looks like.
13:52
Speaker 1: But again, I'll go back to the point we've, we've
13:55
Speaker 1: not been in a fight together yet. So, you know,
13:56
Speaker 1: and we're going to get in one on Saturday. So
13:58
Speaker 1: we've got to make sure that, you know, our communication
14:00
Speaker 1: is key. Uh, we're going to have some moments of,
14:02
Speaker 1: of of great success, I'm sure. And we're going to
14:05
Speaker 1: have some moments of failure and the communication has got
14:07
Speaker 1: to be, you know, consistent through, through both of those storms.
14:12
Speaker 1: I believe so. I mean, you got your normal camp
14:14
Speaker 1: stuff that comes up, but you know, Hey, we have
14:18
Speaker 1: seven or eight, nine guys that are out for the season.
14:20
Speaker 1: That is not the situation we're in right now. You know, you, you,
14:24
Speaker 1: start to get back on the practice field today. Miraculously,
14:26
Speaker 1: some of these injuries start to, they go away apparently.
14:29
Speaker 1: You know, the training room door doesn't open as easy,
14:32
Speaker 1: I guess, during game week. But that's part of it.
14:36
Speaker 1: It's a long camp. You know, there's, without the presence
14:39
Speaker 1: of two-a-days, there's no other way to do it. So
14:42
Speaker 1: it's a long month and, you know, guys get bumped and,
14:45
Speaker 1: you know, they get bruised up and they got soreness.
14:48
Speaker 1: And you try to do the best job you can
14:49
Speaker 1: to to maintain and to make sure you protect them
14:52
Speaker 1: from all that stuff. But there's no other way to
14:54
Speaker 1: practice and get good at football without playing real football.
14:56
Speaker 1: And when you play real football, injuries happen. Do you
14:59
Speaker 1: have any unusual pregame game day rituals that you do
15:08
Speaker 1: every week? There's another day at the office. Again, a
15:10
Speaker 1: game day is not about me. This is about me
15:11
Speaker 1: staying the hell out of the way and letting these
15:12
Speaker 1: guys do what they love to do. However I can
15:15
Speaker 1: support them to get them to do that at a
15:17
Speaker 1: very high level. That's why you do this. That's why
15:19
Speaker 1: you put time and energy into, you know, forging a
15:23
Speaker 1: career in this industry and making sure that you help
15:25
Speaker 1: young people be the best version of themselves. So I'd
15:29
Speaker 1: be crazy and it would be totally hypocritical to everything
15:31
Speaker 1: that I preach to them if it was about me
15:34
Speaker 1: on game day. So get out of their way, you know,
15:36
Speaker 1: make sure we're on time and go play and play well. Yeah,
15:46
Speaker 1: I think it goes back to his question about, you know,
15:48
Speaker 1: the importance of, you know, continuity and communication. I think
15:51
Speaker 1: it just goes back to that. I mean, whoever's out there,
15:54
Speaker 1: those five guys got to communicate at a really high level.
15:57
Speaker 1: If we're all right, we're all right. If one's wrong,
15:59
Speaker 1: we're all wrong. But we're not divided. We're not the
16:03
Speaker 1: right side's doing one thing and the left side's doing another.
16:05
Speaker 1: And you watch football and you watch some of these
16:07
Speaker 1: games this weekend, there's an unblocked player running in the
16:09
Speaker 1: backfield to to make a play. Rarely is that some
16:13
Speaker 1: defensive call that some guy drew up on a piece
16:15
Speaker 1: of paper that tricks somebody. That is poor communication by
16:18
Speaker 1: the offensive front. They didn't know where they were going,
16:20
Speaker 1: where the point was in the run game, or they
16:22
Speaker 1: misdirected it in the pass protection, and next thing you know,
16:26
Speaker 1: a guy makes a play. So you want to take
16:28
Speaker 1: those off the tape as best you can, and you
16:30
Speaker 1: want to eliminate those situations. And again, I think it
16:32
Speaker 1: all starts back from great communication. Yeah, staff's been unbelievable.
16:46
Speaker 1: I mean, really, from the recruiting department all the way
16:49
Speaker 1: down to, you know, I mean, really everything, honestly. You know,
16:54
Speaker 1: operations to, you know, food service to EQ staff to
16:59
Speaker 1: athletic training. Like, everybody's been right on point in doing
17:03
Speaker 1: what we need to do. it's a tough, it's a
17:06
Speaker 1: tangled web a little bit because you're, everybody's new and
17:09
Speaker 1: the process is, they're talked about over and over and
17:12
Speaker 1: over and over again. But until you go through the
17:14
Speaker 1: entire calendar, you don't really, you don't really know how
17:17
Speaker 1: it's going to work itself out. You know, a lot
17:18
Speaker 1: of people come from previous institutions where things were done
17:21
Speaker 1: in one way there versus, you know, maybe how we've
17:23
Speaker 1: done it. Um, you know, and I think from my,
17:26
Speaker 1: from my standpoint, and I've had to adapt and to some,
17:28
Speaker 1: some new ways to do things and some new thought
17:30
Speaker 1: processes by the guys that we brought in here. But, um, Yeah,
17:34
Speaker 1: looking forward to game day and getting to be in
17:37
Speaker 1: those battles with them because I think it's a group
17:39
Speaker 1: of people that really go to work for the right
17:41
Speaker 1: reasons and want to help these young people be successful,
17:43
Speaker 1: and that's what we're after for on Saturday. All right, guys,
17:50
Speaker 1: thank you.