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00:00 Obviously it was a position where Jeff was talking about that you had to do some things in the fall game,
00:05 but you did some experience and some reps. How do you feel like it went for you guys?
00:08 I think it's gone well. I think everybody in there has gotten better, the reps.
00:12 Josh and Nate have a great grasp on the offense now. They know what to do, they play their butts off.
00:17 They give incredible effort and do a good job of that.
00:21 Jamari's come a long way. He's gotten a lot better in terms of getting the offense down.
00:26 He makes some plays that not a lot of other people can make, but still we're trying to find that balance of consistency
00:32 with him here and there to make sure he can consistently be on the field and he's not just kind of an L-T-B-O.
00:38 Joey's done a good job. He came in in June for a guy that's never taken a snap in a college football game
00:44 or a game in his life, a tight end. He's been all in. He's done a really good job in the past game.
00:50 He's picked up route running. He's really worked to develop his hands and it showed in camp early on.
00:55 He had a couple drops in the first couple practices, but as camp progressed, he got a lot better,
01:00 made a lot of contested catches, made some plays for us. With his athleticism, he can help us.
01:06 And as DJ Martin has a fullback, H-back type of role, he can do some good things for us too.
01:11 So I think he's got a good group with a good nucleus of guys that are going to give you high effort
01:15 and we're going to have to use all of them. That's the big thing. I think that will keep them fresh,
01:19 but also allow them to do things that they're good at and allow us to be a productive offense.
01:25 Josh Lipson had a couple opportunities to make some big plays for Louisville last year.
01:30 How has he looked in fall camp? Has he prepared to take it the next step?
01:35 Yeah, absolutely. I mean the one thing I tell the guys all the time is, I mean, Josh is a great example
01:40 in that room for a guy that plays with incredible effort. He dedicates himself to learning things,
01:46 he knows the offense inside and out. He really tries to do what we coach him to do in terms of technique.
01:52 But his effort is something that you can point to on his football team as something that everybody should try to do.
01:58 I think that he's done an incredible job of kind of taking over that leadership role in the room.
02:02 Being an old guy in there, he's got some experience in it and he knows that. He's done a good job of it.
02:07 Is running with that like trying to convert a player like Joey? You have the experience of a wide receiver, quarterback,
02:14 now trying to get into the playing time. How's that process going?
02:17 It's a lot of fun. For a guy that has those intangibles where he's a big, long guy that runs really well,
02:26 it's something I think the quarterback and wide receiver intangibles carry over.
02:30 From a quarterback's perspective, he's able to understand zones and man and how to leverage routes
02:36 and understand how to run routes and look at it from a quarterback's perspective.
02:40 That was really easy for him to pick up the other side of it.
02:43 It's something that in our past, in our offense with Coach Brown, we've had guys that have transitioned from quarterback
02:48 and tied in our backup last year was a former quarterback. He played quarterback in college for two years.
02:53 We moved him over and he did a good job for us. But the buy-in from him is what's been most impressive.
03:00 He's been on it. He understands this is his last shot.
03:03 He wants to go do something, be able to improve himself and do a lot with it.
03:06 I think that's been a good challenge for him this summer as we've spent a lot of time together
03:10 and developed a great relationship. I'm proud of him.
03:14 I think you're going to see that on the field at some point this fall.
03:18 Ron, how would you describe the tight end's role in this offense?
03:22 How it can vary in certain respects with what you guys want to do?
03:26 I've been in it a long time. I like to tell people, you've got to know as much as the quarterback
03:32 and you've got to know the run game, the pass game. You're kind of the eraser.
03:39 You almost allow the offense to operate at a high level.
03:44 The more we can do as an offense, because you can put the screen on us.
03:48 Trust that we're a smart group that's going to play hard and know exactly what to do and trust our tech team.
03:53 There's a lot on us and those guys understand that.
03:57 Kudos to them because they've attacked it since we walked in the door in January.
04:02 They've attacked the playbook and they've met with me and they've gone extra and they've done a lot with it.
04:06 How have you seen Jamari grow over camp? Obviously a freshman, a long way to go, but how have you seen him get better?
04:12 I'm proud of him because the maturity level of him. He didn't turn 18 until the day before camp.
04:17 I think it was July 30th that he turned 18 years old.
04:20 You're talking about a kid that was a quarterback up until his last year of high school football.
04:24 He basically played soft receiver. Then he comes in in January and straight into spring ball.
04:29 He's matured a lot in terms of understanding how to practice, understanding how the intensity it takes to succeed.
04:35 He understands that you need high effort every rep after rep.
04:39 He's got incredible hands. He's got great ball skills.
04:43 He's getting better at the run game. He's got to understand the leverage of bringing his feet.
04:48 The consistency factor of it is what he's got to continue to improve there. He is.
04:54 He's come miles along since the spring. At some point this year, I think he'll be able to help us.
05:00 The more consistent he can play, the more opportunities he'll get.
05:04 A lot of times, people say he's not physically ready to play. He looks physically ready to play.
05:10 Do you feel like he's mentally ready now?
05:13 Mentally, that's where the consistency factor is coming in in terms of MAs and stuff like that.
05:18 He'll go out and make a great play and a great run.
05:21 Then he'll do something that he knows is wrong. He freezes up. He thinks a little bit too much.
05:27 That's just going to take reps. Rep after rep after rep.
05:31 He'll be able to have the confidence to go play every play.
05:34 Mentally, he's getting a lot closer. He's miles closer than he was in the spring.
05:38 I'm proud of him. I think that he is dedicated. He works his butt off. He comes up and beats.
05:43 I think that aspect of it is going to get there.
05:46 There are some technique things there too that just from not being experienced in that position,
05:50 especially from a run game aspect, he's trying to clean some stuff up.
05:55 Physically, he's ready. But mentally, he's getting there. He's getting closer.
06:02 You mentioned that learning the offense from the height of the position can change here.
06:06 Does that just have to do with how versatile the position has become over the years?
06:10 Yeah, exactly. I think you see that all across college football at the next level.
06:14 It's a position that you're lining up at every spot on the field.
06:18 You're doing everything. You're part of the run game. You're part of the pass game.
06:21 You've got to know protection. You're in the back because you're doing a variety of different things.
06:25 You have to be good at everything.
06:27 If you've got a weak spot in your game, you've got to attack that weak spot and bring it to the bottom of your game.
06:32 You're only as good as your weakest link.
06:34 Luckily, I think in our room, we've got a group of five, six guys in there that all of them have a good skill set
06:40 where they do some different things well.
06:42 It's up to me. It's up to us as coaches to get them in the right positions on the field
06:46 and make sure the right guy's in the right place at the right time.
06:49 I am excited about that aspect of it. It's a lot on us. It's a fun offense to coach in.
06:55 For a guy that is transitioning from quarterback to head, do you see him more receptive to route running or more blocking?
07:02 Absolutely. Absolutely route running.
07:04 Joey does a great job. He doesn't have any fear of contact.
07:11 It's more of a technique thing going there.
07:14 He's coming in and he picked up route running quick.
07:17 You talk about a kid that was laying asphalt in Jacksonville, Florida all spring during the day
07:22 and then he'd go work with a receivers coach and now he can learn how to run routes.
07:26 That's the kind of guy you want.
07:28 You want a guy that needs it, a guy that's dedicated, he's got a chip on his shoulder.
07:32 He came in, he bought in, he wanted to know everything.
07:35 Definitely that aspect of his game he picked up a little faster.
07:38 As that head-to-back, or whatever you guys call him, what is he good at going around the offense?
07:44 He does a lot in terms of pass protection, little sneak routes out of the backfield,
07:50 but he does a lot as a lead blocker.
07:52 Again, that's going to allow us to do some different things
07:54 because he does have the ability to move up and play in a wide-off position
07:58 and do some of the same things that the tight end does, and he does a good job of that.
08:02 But he's going to be kind of a utility guy for us.
08:05 He's going to get opportunities to go make the best of them.
08:09 I think he's a good weapon that allows us to do some different things.
08:13 Ryan, how special has this been for you to come back home
08:16 or come here where your dad is coaching high school football
08:20 and you get to be here as a position coach?
08:22 What's that experience like?
08:24 That opportunity that I have in a lot of college football,
08:27 when I was a GA at Western with Coach Rahm,
08:30 obviously my dad's coaching across the street there.
08:32 We all kind of went our separate ways.
08:34 I stayed with Coach Rahm, and we all came back here.
08:36 It's pretty cool.
08:38 Last Friday, luckily, I'm going to go with my dad to coach.
08:41 I'm allowed to go watch his games and stuff like that.
08:43 I have to go over to the Sand Axe game Friday.
08:45 I'm sitting in the stands with my wife, my mom, my grandma, my aunt and uncle are sitting there.
08:48 We're all just kind of hanging out. They're all here.
08:50 It's home for me.
08:52 It's hard to describe that.
08:56 Obviously, you're coaching with a little extra heart.
09:00 How much has he taught you as a coach?
09:02 What kind of stories do you remember about growing up with him
09:05 and doing that for his whole life?
09:08 There's some I can't tell you.
09:10 He's a little fiery when he coached me.
09:12 But looking back on it, I think a lot of the way I am,
09:17 just with both my parents being teachers,
09:19 I learned a lot from my mom as a college basketball player.
09:22 My dad's been a coach his entire life.
09:24 I've been able to see how he builds relationships with the guys he coaches
09:28 and how he treats them on the field, how that carries over.
09:32 He does a great job. I learned a lot from him.
09:34 There's very few days during the week that when I leave the office,
09:38 I don't pick up the phone and call and just talk about it, ask how their day went.
09:42 If there's anything that's on my mind, I'll just kind of run into my eyes and say,
09:46 "Hey, what do you think about this?"
09:48 It's great to have a soundboard like that,
09:50 and you've got that relationship with them, you can kind of ask whatever.
09:53 Thanks.