Rondell Bothroyd Interview 8-8-23
Oklahoma DL Rondell Bothroyd meets the press after Sooners' practice.
Transcript
00:00 What has stood out to you about the defensive line
00:02 just through the first few?
00:04 I mean, our depth is crazy.
00:06 I think we have depth probably up there
00:09 in the top of the country.
00:11 And just the way we pay attention to details,
00:14 Coach Chavis, Coach Bates, they give me the best out of us
00:17 every day, regardless of how you feel,
00:19 regardless of what's going on.
00:21 So I think we just were relentless,
00:23 and our depth is probably the one thing I would say.
00:25 When you were at Hell's Camp, what did you do personally?
00:28 Personally, I was sick the first few days,
00:30 so it wasn't what I wanted to be.
00:32 So I was out there kind of sluggish.
00:33 Today, I kind of felt like myself again.
00:35 You know, I'm not really sick, not feeling it.
00:37 So today was a really good day, but it's
00:40 time to get going, kind of.
00:41 Things you try to work on in camp
00:42 to make sure you're ready for the season?
00:44 The plays still, even though I feel like I have them myself.
00:47 But here and there, I'll have a brain fart,
00:49 and I'm like, OK, I've got to figure that out still.
00:52 But just explosiveness still, and just reading blocks better.
00:57 Thank you.
00:58 How much do you see yourself moving between inside
01:00 and-- I guess my camera's not--
01:02 moving between interior and outside.
01:04 DG's over there.
01:05 I don't matter.
01:06 This season.
01:08 It depends, definitely on the package.
01:10 Like, if we have a package where I go inside,
01:12 I'd love to go inside.
01:13 If we have a game where I have to go inside,
01:15 I'd play inside all day.
01:16 But right now, I'm outside trying
01:17 to work on being the best outside so I can go inside.
01:20 But we have enough depth where we can literally just rotate.
01:24 Awesome.
01:25 Thank you, man.
01:26 How's the depth you've been on with Stephen
01:28 to now compare to what you experienced at Wake Forest?
01:31 I think my first few years at Wake,
01:34 the depth was kind of the same.
01:36 And then as you get older, the same guys kind of leave
01:38 or whatever happens.
01:39 But yeah, this is probably the most depth
01:41 I've ever been around.
01:42 So it's cool to see.
01:43 But that means you have to bring it every day.
01:45 You can't really have an off day because you'll
01:47 get put to two, three.
01:50 So I don't think it's really comparable,
01:52 but it's just every day you've got to bring it,
01:54 which is just like Wake.
01:56 So it's cool to see everyone doing well,
01:59 everyone just not dropping off.
02:02 How noticeable is that depth difference,
02:04 even just from the spring?
02:05 Yeah.
02:06 I mean, we got Trace back full, which is a big deal
02:09 because Trace is a dog.
02:11 And then everybody just pretty much healthy.
02:13 And everyone knowing the plays more now.
02:15 It's not like you don't hear coach
02:16 yelling as much about plays.
02:18 And instead, we're just making plays
02:20 and running around the field is fun.
02:22 As one of the older guys on the team,
02:23 have you taken on a leadership role in this defense?
02:26 Yeah.
02:27 It was definitely harder in the spring just because I
02:29 didn't know the plays as much.
02:30 So I couldn't get on people if they messed up
02:33 because I would be messing up too.
02:34 But now it's easier to be a leader
02:36 because I'm more confident in what I'm doing
02:37 and what everyone else needs to be doing around me.
02:40 You talk about Trace.
02:41 Obviously, you were around him in the spring.
02:44 But now that he's, like you said, full go,
02:46 what kind of difference have you seen from him?
02:49 And what stood out to you that maybe you didn't
02:51 know in the spring about him?
02:53 I knew everything about him.
02:54 He's just healthy now.
02:55 So it's like not everyone else can see it kind of thing.
02:58 But he's probably the fastest D-lineman
03:00 I've ever seen in my life.
03:01 So you guys will see.
03:03 It's funny.
03:04 What's the difference between playing
03:06 in a Brent Bennebel's defense and some of the other defenses
03:08 you've played in in the past?
03:10 He's intense, really intense.
03:12 You got to know.
03:13 You can't not-- you can't kind of know what you're doing.
03:16 You got to know what you're doing
03:18 because there's a reason for it.
03:19 And if you mess up, you probably hear him sometimes
03:22 when you're out here.
03:23 You get the intense stuff.
03:25 But it's good, though.
03:26 He knows what he's doing.
03:27 And if we know what we're doing, it'll all work.
03:30 How different is someone like TJ from the spring
03:32 compared to who he is now?
03:34 Same as me, kind of, more confident.
03:36 He's still obviously a freshman because he--
03:39 like in the meetings, he'll still have questions,
03:41 which is good.
03:41 But it's just like me.
03:42 He's more confident now.
03:43 So he can play a little faster.
03:45 And he's fast as heck, too.
03:47 So I think you guys will see that.
03:50 Aside from just helping this defensive front improve
03:52 from last year, do you have any goals for this year?
03:57 I think goals-- yeah, win the conference championship.
04:01 Maybe even go to the national championship.
04:03 That'd be cool.
04:04 But I think just win as a team, have a better season last year,
04:07 help them win more games than they did last year.
04:09 And me, personally, just get to the quarterback as much as I
04:12 can and help my teammates around me get better.
04:15 What is it going to take for you all to have
04:16 that success as a team?
04:18 I think just being together during a time like this
04:22 when the grind gets tough and you want to go home and sleep,
04:25 sometimes you've got to take that extra minute
04:27 to go watch film with your teammates,
04:29 sit down with your teammate and eat dinner with them.
04:32 Because in the long run in November,
04:34 the connection you guys have will
04:36 make you take that extra step for the guy next to you,
04:38 the guy behind you, the guy on the other side of the ball.
04:42 Talk about wanting to bring pressure defensively
04:46 from yourself, especially.
04:47 What is it that makes you feel like this defense this year,
04:50 this group, you can be better about getting pressure
04:55 on quarterbacks this season?
04:58 I think the play calling is what starts that and knowing what
05:02 we're doing in the plays.
05:05 And then I think just being ourselves, being relentless,
05:08 being what we can be, it'll definitely
05:10 get us to the quarterback a lot more.
05:11 And yeah, I think that's about it.
05:15 Just knowing what we're doing.
05:17 Because I know BV and Chavis, they all
05:20 want us to do the same thing.
05:22 Where has Coach Chavis really added to your game?
05:25 I think loving the game a little more, just because I'm older.
05:30 Sometimes it feels like I want to just walk through stuff
05:33 and go through the motions.
05:35 But hey, he's relighting the fire in me.
05:38 And just again, knowing what I'm doing,
05:41 he hammers that into us.
05:43 Because it can get confusing, it can get tough.
05:45 And then yeah, just loving the game.
05:47 Because the way he loves the game
05:49 makes me want to play even harder.
05:51 What is the toughest thing about getting this defense down?
05:55 I think it can change every day.
05:57 It can change in an hour when we go to meetings.
06:02 Coach could not like what we do on one play,
06:04 he changes right there.
06:05 Like wait, I thought we had this.
06:06 And he's like, nope, we got this.
06:09 You mentioned the spring maybe moving inside.
06:11 Is this still a possibility?
06:13 It's always a possibility.
06:14 Right now it's not really a thing.
06:16 But it could be at one point, because I played there before.
06:19 So I know how the game goes.
06:21 But right now, just focusing on it.
06:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]