UC DE Jowon Briggs on His Position Change, Bye Week Tweaks, Explosive Plays, And More
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00:00 You see defense tackle Juwan Briggs joining us here on Talking Cats with Russ Heltman,
00:05 Emerald Bearcats reporter.
00:07 Russ Heltman, Juwan, five games into a new position.
00:11 How do you feel at that spot?
00:12 How do you feel like it's working in your game?
00:15 How do you feel overall, five games into the season at that new spot?
00:17 I feel pretty good.
00:18 You know, I feel like there's definitely some things that are starting to work and change
00:22 with game tempos actually applied, but I definitely feel good playing out there and I feel like
00:26 I'm able to contribute more to the defense by moving around a bit on that line.
00:30 Speaking of contributing more, you're on a higher pace pressure rate wise this season,
00:33 total pressures than you were last year.
00:36 Is that just an amalgamation of being on the outside, getting a little bit more paths to
00:41 the quarterback that way?
00:43 Or do you feel like you've gotten a little faster, the improvement is working in that
00:46 way?
00:47 What's the biggest factor in that?
00:48 Kind of like you said, I think it's an amalgamation of everything.
00:51 Not only being outside a little bit more, being a little more lucid, as well as dropping
00:55 a little weight and being able to move a little bit faster.
00:57 I think all those combined, as well as playing next to some great guys on the D-line.
01:02 Pretty much all combines to allow for me to get a higher rate this year.
01:05 You guys are top 20 defense analytically, EPA per play, you're 18th nationally, and
01:10 rushing EPA allowed per carry.
01:13 What's been the biggest factor in your guys staying pretty consistent down the down?
01:18 I mean, it's just one thing.
01:20 Our defense opens every meeting with earned respect.
01:22 So just making sure that we come out swinging, come out putting our best foot forward, and
01:27 making sure that at the end of the game, we're making sure that we earn the team, across
01:29 from us, earn their respect.
01:32 So whether that be in the run, whether that be in the defense, or whether that be in the
01:35 pass.
01:36 Always we have a lot of things to clean up, but we're just making sure that we come out
01:39 there swinging.
01:40 When we look at the big plays allowed, that's kind of been your guys' biggest issue this
01:44 season is those explosives.
01:45 It was unfortunately for you guys on display against BYU, most namely in that end of first
01:49 half drive.
01:51 Is that a factor where you guys, in terms of your responsibility in the defensive line,
01:55 do you think, "All right, we've got to get to the quarterback faster, we've got to interrupt
01:58 the quarterback faster to be able to help our guys out on the back end"?
02:01 How does that all play together in terms of stopping those explosives?
02:03 So Coach Stu always says it, "Once the ball leaves the quarterback's hand, it's out of
02:07 our reach.
02:08 It's out of our hand."
02:09 So what we can do is play the defense to the best of our ability, try to get more pressure,
02:15 try to affect the quarterback more.
02:16 And then if we affect the quarterback, we don't have to worry about that.
02:19 So one thing I will say is a lot of the time we're shooting ourselves in the foot.
02:24 It's mental mistakes that are causing those explosives, misfits, seeing the wrong signal.
02:30 So just make sure we clean up all the little things.
02:32 That's where we're harping on, cleaning up the little things.
02:34 We can put that 18, put that 20 up to number one.
02:37 Not that it's an excuse, more of a reason.
02:39 A ton of new coaches, it's a brand new system across the board, especially defensively,
02:44 the miscommunication factor.
02:46 Obviously, I'm sure you guys worked on that over the bye.
02:48 Can you kind of lend that to trying to get everybody to learn a new system?
02:52 For the most part, obviously, Dorian comes over from Louisville.
02:55 But does that kind of come with the new system of you're going to have those issues of being
03:00 a human being out there?
03:01 Yeah, yeah.
03:02 I mean, yeah, it comes with a new system.
03:03 Of course, we have spring ball and fall.
03:05 And of course, the bye to kind of tinker and work things in.
03:08 At the end of the day, we're all human.
03:11 So you install a new play, make sure we rep it, we rep it.
03:14 Just really being on our guys to continue to watch that film, continue to take in things,
03:18 continue to take coaching.
03:19 Then sooner or later, it'll become like the back of your hand.
03:22 So that's what we're trying to harp on.
03:24 Again, the little things, make sure we're just dialed in as much as we can.
03:28 So speaking of the bye week, speaking of the kind of things you guys are trying to clean
03:32 up, you've had plenty of bye weeks now in your college career.
03:35 A few here at UC.
03:37 How has this one compared to prior seasons bye weeks, especially in the fact that you
03:41 guys are unfortunately on a losing streak entering a bye as opposed to you guys haven't
03:45 been on a losing streak for three games in this decade?
03:48 Exactly.
03:49 I think it's just a huge chip on the shoulder.
03:52 For me, being a senior, and also for the team in general, this is the bye week that we really
03:59 took to try to really buy in and really try to correct this ship.
04:03 Because it can go one of two ways.
04:06 You can win them all or you can lose them all.
04:08 So basically, we correct as much things as we can.
04:11 We lock in as much as we can.
04:13 Hopefully we get that positive outcome that we want.
04:16 Homecoming here at UC.
04:17 I host a podcast with former Bearcats receiver Dominic Goodman.
04:21 I tried to get his thoughts on homecoming when he was a player.
04:24 He was kind of like, "We were kind of siloed a little bit."
04:26 It's kind of just eyes focused straight ahead on the opponent that week, focused on ISU.
04:31 Has that kind of been your experience here at UC where there's a lot of fun stuff going
04:34 on around homecoming, but business is business for the football team and you kind of get
04:39 to experience all that once you're wrapped up with your career and then come back?
04:42 Exactly.
04:43 Once we take care of business, we can enjoy the fun of the city later.
04:47 But right now, we need to focus on winning these games.
04:49 Taking care of business.
04:50 Jawan Briggs, everybody.