Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 >> It's been great, we got a lot of good players, which means a lot of competition.
00:05 And that's what we preach every day.
00:08 So we're just trying to, continuing to build depth and
00:11 I think we're having really good competition.
00:14 Obviously, everything kind of revolves and goes around Ashton.
00:18 And he's gonna have a great season for us, we're confident of that.
00:22 Trying to figure out who's that next guy at defensive end.
00:25 I think between Rodney and Rahim and Vic,
00:28 those guys are all competing, we tackle right now.
00:33 It's been Ramon coming out of the spring.
00:37 But when we really get where we need to be,
00:39 I think Jermaine's starting to progress and do more every day.
00:43 And he's certainly got a ton of talent.
00:45 I think Jared Dawson, those are two big body explosive guys.
00:48 They were a little bit slow coming into camp, but doing more and
00:51 more every day, so confident.
00:52 And then that will allow, to be honest with you, Ramon,
00:56 to do some other things, kind of be a guy that helps us in different areas.
01:00 And I think Jeff Clark's come in and done a good job.
01:03 So we really got four guys at that tackle spot that knows.
01:07 Again, Dez coming back, doing good.
01:10 Tawfiq has been a little bit slow with an ankle, but he'll be back any day.
01:13 And then I think Salah's continuing to build on what he did in the spring.
01:16 And then I think our deepest position is Leo.
01:19 I think Steven's picked up where he's left off, really good leader.
01:24 Cam Wilson has emerged.
01:26 I tell you, he's a talent.
01:27 He's very athletic.
01:28 He's very twitchy.
01:29 He's had a great camp so far.
01:31 Popeye's been steady.
01:32 And it's gonna be hard to keep AJ off the field.
01:36 I mean, for a guy that's 230 pounds and he's done what we asked,
01:39 he's put more weight on.
01:41 But he doesn't play like a 230 pounder on line scrimmage.
01:43 He's got long arms.
01:45 He's just a natural football player.
01:47 He's got excellent instincts.
01:48 And I just think throughout the season, he'll continue to get better and better.
01:53 So I'm excited.
01:55 >> You just mentioned a ton of guys.
01:57 >> I know.
01:57 >> What is your, and Jeff has talked a little bit about it, and
02:00 Ron talked a little bit about it, even in the secondary and
02:02 in the line of how you rotate guys.
02:04 How, there's no perfect number, obviously.
02:07 >> No, there's not.
02:07 >> But how do you look at it?
02:09 What do you wanna build?
02:10 >> Well, and I lean on John and Malik, my two right,
02:14 I guess my right and my left hand guys.
02:16 That's something we'll talk about as we come out of camp over the weekend.
02:21 But in a perfect game, a game of 80 plays, let's say,
02:24 how many is Ashton gonna get, right?
02:28 I don't want Ashton to play 70 out of 80 plays.
02:31 That means he's probably not gonna be at his best in the fourth quarter.
02:35 But we've gotta be intentional in how we rotate.
02:38 The one guy I failed to mention before I ask that is Mason Rygaard.
02:42 Mason coming off the surgery, he's been out there, he's been progressing.
02:46 We gotta be smart with him.
02:47 And when you talk about a lot of guys, I think we've got at least two,
02:53 maybe three guys that can help us in multiple spots.
02:57 Ramon, I think we got obviously Mason, okay?
03:03 Those are two guys.
03:04 And then, who am I forgetting?
03:09 Those two guys specifically can help us if we go bigger packages with 5D linemen,
03:14 6D linemen, those guys can move around and do different things.
03:18 So, but playing all those guys, it's not the same, right?
03:23 So just because you earn the right to play,
03:27 everybody's not gonna play the same, right?
03:29 And so our first team guys are certainly gonna get more reps than our second team.
03:34 If we're equal, let's say, at a couple spots,
03:37 we're gonna be a little bit more balanced there.
03:41 But there's no perfect answer.
03:42 Like I say, at the end of it, you know what?
03:43 In crunch time, you want your best guys on the field, and
03:47 that's what's gonna happen.
03:48 >> How comfortable would you say this group is,
03:50 especially some of the returning players with this new 4-2-5 scheme?
03:54 >> I think they're getting more and more comfortable.
03:56 Three man front, moving all the time, we're not gonna quite do that.
04:01 We are gonna move some, it's a little bit different.
04:04 We're a single gap control team up front.
04:06 We talk about being very, very aggressive.
04:09 We don't wanna play sideways, we wanna knock people back.
04:11 And I think our guys are buying into that.
04:13 We're gonna do some different techniques, I think, than what they've done in
04:17 the past.
04:17 We'll allow our guys to cut it loose, play physical.
04:21 And we preach technique, obviously, like most D lines do, right?
04:25 You gotta play with good technique.
04:27 But we're gonna be very, very aggressive up front.
04:29 I think they like that.
04:32 They like the four down.
04:33 So we just gotta figure out where all the pieces fit.
04:37 >> With Ashton, when you saw the tape before spring, when you watched,
04:43 what did you see from him?
04:44 And is there anything that surprised you once you have been through spring and
04:48 now into fall?
04:50 >> No, I just saw a very, very explosive guy that's physical, can run,
04:54 very athletic.
04:55 He reached out to me back in December before I'd watched the Licket tape.
05:01 And when I see a guy that's high 60s, low 70s,
05:06 going into a four down look, I kind of initially thought this guy might be our
05:09 three technique.
05:10 And he certainly could do that.
05:12 I mean, he is a tough, fast, physical football player.
05:16 But I think what we've allowed him to do is spend more time on the edge.
05:20 And then in certain situations, we can move him around.
05:23 If they're a matchup, if we wanna put him on a guy that we think is a weak link,
05:27 we're gonna be able to move him around and do those types of things.
05:29 So he's a guy that can do it all.
05:32 And like I said, we're gonna feed off of his energy.
05:35 We're gonna feed off of his physicality.
05:37 And our guys, like I said, I think collectively so
05:40 far in camp are doing a really, really good job of that.
05:42 >> Mark, you mentioned Jermaine obviously hasn't played a full season in a few
05:46 years.
05:47 But how have you just seen him kind of progress and
05:49 maybe not get nervous about injuries and those type of things?
05:52 >> Well, I think our medical people, our trainers,
05:55 our medical staff have been intentional, right?
05:57 When he had a little bit of a setback in the spring,
05:59 it wasn't nearly what the prior two injuries have been.
06:04 So as we got him through and into the late part of the spring and
06:09 into the summer, I just think we've been very intentional about our path.
06:12 I think we've hit all those check marks so far.
06:15 And now we're starting to easing back in.
06:17 It first started with just individual type stuff out on the field and
06:21 now we've progressed to team things.
06:23 And really a guy like that that's played a lot of football,
06:26 I just told him you've just got to communicate with me.
06:29 But so far so good, it's been steady progress.
06:32 We're a different team when he's out there.
06:35 He and Jared Dawson, I just think are two guys that are big, strong,
06:39 300 pound guys that are very, very explosive.
06:42 Those type of guys are hard to handle.
06:45 I don't care what offensive line you're at, I mean, those two guys.
06:48 And then I think with Jeff Clark and Ramon, those guys can certainly factor in
06:52 there and will factor in there as long as Jared and Jermaine are staying healthy.
06:57 I think those are guys that we can move around in some of our sub packages where
07:01 we maybe got a fifth D lineman out there or down the goal line, maybe six guys.
07:06 So it's nice to have that flexibility in those options.
07:09 But I say so far so good with Jermaine, he's coming along and
07:16 we're excited about where he's at right now.
07:18 >> Brom and Ron English have talked a lot this offseason saying that they want this
07:21 defense to be aggressive.
07:22 Are you seeing that aggression and disruption out of the D line in this fall
07:26 camp? >> Yeah, I mean, and
07:28 when we're not, we'll go back and we'll watch it.
07:30 And I think these guys will attest that that's what we preach.
07:33 When you talk about what you wanna be, right, like for us up front,
07:37 we wanna be very aggressive, so we talk about attacking, right?
07:40 And then I think to be a good to above average to great D line,
07:44 you gotta be physical.
07:45 I don't care where you're at, and then we wanna be relentless in how we play.
07:50 Well, we talk about those things, those gotta show up on tape, right?
07:54 Not just at the start of camp when everybody's raring to go, and
07:57 it's gotta show up in the middle of camp, the late part of camp,
08:01 when things start to grind.
08:02 So we talk about just putting that on video and
08:06 stacking days, day after day after day.
08:08 And what's great with that competition that we have, if a guy doesn't wanna do it,
08:13 these guys will tell you, right?
08:15 We'll put the next guy in.
08:16 And like I say, as a coach, you love that competition, right?
08:20 And so I think these guys are feeding off of each other.
08:23 I think they all get along well, they play well together.
08:27 And we just gotta stay on the path, right?
08:30 We're not gonna get out ahead of ourselves.
08:31 We're solely focused on one thing, and
08:35 that's being ready on September 1st for Georgia Tech.
08:38 >> Mark, you mentioned Cam, and what have you seen with him?
08:42 And when he's been out there, some of the past, he seems to make plays.
08:45 What do you see with him, with where you have him now?
08:48 >> Well, you said it, he's making plays, he's playing fast, all right?
08:51 He's twitchy, he can rush the quarterback.
08:54 I think he's a matchup problem.
08:56 People would think, well, there's a 230,
08:58 35 pound guy, he's not big enough to set this.
09:00 Well, yeah, as long as you play with good technique, you play with your hands,
09:04 you play with leverage.
09:05 And then you add to that your athletic ability, right?
09:07 You're gonna get offensive lines that are maybe a little bit nervous
09:11 because of what he can do, right?
09:13 He might beat me around the edge, he might up and under me.
09:15 So there's a little bit of fear that a guy like that can put in the offensive line.
09:20 And that's what I want our guys to do.
09:22 But to me, he and I had a conversation coming out of spring.
09:26 He had dropped some weight in the spring and all of our guys wanna play, right?
09:30 So it all gets back to, well, here's what you need to do, right?
09:33 If you wanna put yourself in a position to compete for playing time,
09:36 these are the things that you need to focus on going into the summer.
09:39 And to his credit, he came back, he had put weight back on, he's holding his weight.
09:44 But he knows, right?
09:45 Like he's got guys between Stephen Heron and Popeye and AJ.
09:50 He's gotta bring it every day, and to his credit, he's done that so far.
09:54 So excited about the camp that he's had.
09:57 And like I said, he's just another bullet for us to use.
10:01 I think we got a lot of bullets.
10:03 >> Thanks. >> You bet.