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00:00 We have tight end Cole Taylor.
00:02 Questions for Cole?
00:03 Cole, as the season has gone, just give me your thoughts.
00:07 I mean, you're nine games into this.
00:10 How the offense has progressed, how you've progressed?
00:13 Yeah, it's definitely flown by.
00:15 To think we're three quarters of the way
00:17 done with the season already is kind of mind blowing.
00:19 But I think the offense has done a really good job.
00:22 I think we've gotten better each week.
00:23 And I think we come in with that mentality
00:26 that we're not settling on anything.
00:29 Each week's different, and each week's a different defense.
00:31 So we've got to be prepared for a lot of different things.
00:34 But I think we've done a really good job.
00:35 We put up a lot of points in the last couple of games,
00:38 a lot of yards.
00:38 But we just got to keep progressing,
00:40 keep hitting the easy plays.
00:41 We're still leaving a lot of yards out there.
00:44 I got to ask you on the touchdown,
00:45 did you glance at the video board
00:47 to make sure you weren't going to pop it out?
00:49 Yeah, I did.
00:51 You can kind of see on the video I look up real quick,
00:53 which is not a good idea because it's a little delayed.
00:56 So probably I learned my lesson there.
00:58 I'm not going to do that again.
01:00 That was-- you were thinking, I've got somebody behind me.
01:03 I don't want to get--
01:03 Yeah, exactly.
01:04 So then I saw him behind me, and I felt him.
01:06 So I just went with the two hands there.
01:08 But yeah, not a good idea looking up.
01:11 How badly, though, do you want to score?
01:13 I mean, you know you're dragging him.
01:15 What's your thought there?
01:16 Yeah, that was one of those things.
01:18 I hadn't had a catch all game.
01:19 There's a couple of things on my end that I missed
01:23 to not get a catch.
01:23 And it was one of those that I was kind of in open field.
01:26 I knew I was within the five.
01:28 I'm a long guy.
01:29 I'm 6' 7".
01:30 So I got a chance.
01:31 Anything within the five, I got a chance to score.
01:35 But yeah, that was just kind of a willpower.
01:36 I really wanted to score on that one.
01:38 But that was awesome.
01:39 That was a really good throw, really good play design.
01:42 Execution was good.
01:43 We were hitting him on the wide zone all game with the toss.
01:46 And we just kind of set it up perfectly.
01:48 You always talk about you want to be a complete tight end,
01:51 obviously, and not just a pass catcher, not just a blocker.
01:53 But you just mentioned you hadn't had a catch.
01:55 Is that something that is in your mind?
01:57 Is it hard to get that out of your mind,
01:58 I'm not there yet?
02:00 Yeah, I mean, especially when-- because early in the game,
02:02 I missed one.
02:04 You can watch it.
02:04 I definitely missed one.
02:06 And that's something that kind of runs through your mind.
02:08 But it's definitely just a one play at a time mentality.
02:12 You need to do what is called what's in front of you.
02:16 But yeah, I mean, I'm not a selfish guy,
02:19 like, oh, I need to catch this game or anything like that.
02:21 I'm going to do whatever it takes.
02:23 But it's something that's kind of in the back of the mind,
02:25 for sure.
02:27 Something else that hasn't worked for you
02:28 is jumping over people.
02:30 Yeah.
02:30 First time you did that, and do you see it coming a little bit?
02:34 Or is it just more an instinct, oh, low, I can go over?
02:38 Yeah, I mean, I know as a bigger guy,
02:40 a lot of people are going to try to go low.
02:42 It's something that, especially at 250,
02:44 it's something that people try to do is go low,
02:46 especially safeties.
02:48 It's kind of an instinct thing.
02:49 It's kind of you feel them just diving at your legs,
02:51 and kind of try to go over it.
02:53 It's not something that I want to do every play or anything.
02:56 I've got caught a couple times with it.
02:58 But it's something that it's in my toolbox,
03:00 and I can use when I need to.
03:01 Do you hear the floor reaction when that happens?
03:04 Yeah, no, you can kind of hear, especially when it's not good.
03:06 You can hear that one, too.
03:08 You said, whatever it is, 3/4 of the season over,
03:11 you're the leading pass catcher.
03:13 Is that something you expected to be at this time of the year?
03:16 I mean, for myself, personally, yeah.
03:17 I mean, that's something that I wanted to be.
03:20 Not necessarily expected, but I just
03:22 go in every week with the same mentality.
03:25 I got to do my job, and whatever my job is,
03:26 I got to do it to the best of my ability.
03:29 And right now, that's catching the ball.
03:30 And I think we're in a good spot as a whole offense.
03:32 We're rushing for, what, 300-plus yards this last game.
03:37 So it's not on the top of my concerns,
03:39 but it's something that's a plus for sure.
03:41 But it also, too, reaffirms what they told you
03:44 when they recruited you, right?
03:45 Definitely.
03:46 No, they're holding true to what they said.
03:48 And I love being here.
03:50 I love playing for West Virginia,
03:51 and I love playing for Coach Brown and Coach Stewart
03:54 and the West Virginia offense.
03:56 But yeah, it's something that they've held true,
03:58 and I'm really excited moving forward in that.
04:01 And last thing there on that, yards per catch,
04:03 you're catching the ball down the field.
04:05 It's not five-yard catches.
04:06 It's stuff down the field.
04:07 Yeah, no, it's a good multitude of everything.
04:09 I think I've got a couple in the flats
04:11 and when we go hurry up a good bit, a couple downfield,
04:15 a couple in the middle.
04:16 So it's been really good just spreading the ball out.
04:18 What do they present defensively?
04:24 Yeah, really good bunch of guys.
04:27 Their defense kind of runs through those linebackers.
04:29 They got two really good linebackers.
04:31 The one I think missed last game,
04:33 I think is expected to be back this week,
04:35 a really good player.
04:37 Their secondary is really good.
04:38 They got guys at every level.
04:40 It's going to be a good defense.
04:41 They're going to fly around.
04:42 It's going to be tough.
04:43 We're going to have to do our job
04:44 and execute what we need to do.
04:46 And every week, it's about us.
04:48 It's about getting better personally.
04:50 We know we have Oklahoma in front of us.
04:52 And we know what they present.
04:53 They're a really good team.
04:55 And then it's just kind of on us.
04:57 You've played in the SEC.
05:05 You've played non-conference games.
05:06 Now you're going to go to Oklahoma in the Penn State.
05:09 Yeah.
05:10 What are all they like?
05:12 I mean, what--
05:13 Yeah.
05:14 What are the folks--
05:15 What are the folks' venues?
05:16 Yeah.
05:17 It's awesome.
05:18 I like playing on the road.
05:19 It's tough.
05:20 Of course, as an offense, playing on the road
05:22 is tough because that's where it's really loud.
05:25 When their defense is on the field,
05:26 the opposing fans want to get really loud for that
05:28 and make it difficult on the offense
05:30 to communicate and everything.
05:32 But it's something that we practice every week.
05:34 We practice indoor with a bunch of music on, a bunch of noise,
05:38 a bunch of crowd noise.
05:40 And so it's something that we practice.
05:41 But it's never easy.
05:44 You got to do silent count sometimes just
05:45 because it's too loud.
05:48 You got to communicate quick.
05:50 But it's awesome.
05:51 The energy is really fun.
05:53 And I like playing on the road, but it's not
05:55 something that's easy.
05:57 Kind of an interesting deal with them
05:59 because two weeks ago, they're talking about college football
06:02 playoff.
06:03 And two losses later, how do you approach that
06:06 against a team that is either going
06:08 to be really anxious to play you guys or maybe a little bit down
06:13 because they're not where they want to be?
06:14 Yeah, no, I think they're going to be anxious to play,
06:17 just like when we lose.
06:18 We come in the next week with a bad taste in our mouth,
06:21 and we want to get that out.
06:23 They're going to be excited to play.
06:24 There's still a lot at stake for them.
06:26 They can go to the conference championship just like we could.
06:29 So they're going to be ready to play.
06:30 We're going to get their best shot.
06:31 And we look forward to that.
06:33 That's what you want.
06:34 It's kind of why you come play big time football
06:36 is because you want each team's best shot every week.
06:40 Well, you used that finish, your predicted 14th,
06:45 since the summer.
06:46 And it sounds like you're still using Forty-Nile Aubrey.
06:48 So how big of a motivational factor was it then?
06:50 And how much is it still a motivational factor?
06:53 Yeah, it's huge.
06:55 Coach Brown just showed a picture of it,
06:58 that we were picked 14th in the team meeting
07:00 right before practice.
07:02 So it's something that we carry over every week,
07:04 and we take great pride in.
07:06 I don't know where we are exactly right now.
07:08 I think we're fourth or something around there
07:10 in the league right now.
07:11 So it's something that we play with a chip on our shoulder.
07:14 And I think it's something that West Virginia's done year
07:17 in, year out, is play with a chip on their shoulder.
07:19 Aubrey mentioned that you guys are bowl eligible,
07:25 but you're playing for a better bowl, which
07:28 means better bowl gifts, better bowl gear, that kind of thing.
07:30 Has that been thought about that in the back of your mind?
07:33 Yeah, I mean, I think the main goal
07:34 is just trying to get to a conference championship.
07:36 That's still at stake.
07:38 So we've already locked in a bowl.
07:40 We're trying to win out.
07:42 And I'm not exactly sure how it all
07:44 goes for us to go to the conference championship.
07:46 But the biggest thing for us is just
07:48 to be able to try to win out, win each week.
07:51 And bowl games are awesome.
07:52 They're fun.
07:53 It's a really big deal.
07:54 It's hard to become eligible for a bowl.
07:56 Six wins is not something that's easy.
07:58 It's really cool that we were able to get six wins
08:00 through the nine games.
08:02 Didn't come down to the last week or anything like that.
08:04 But yeah, I mean, bowl games are fun.
08:06 It's an extra game that you get to do.
08:09 It's an extra month of practice and kind of preparing.
08:13 So yeah, I mean, a nice bowl would be nice.
08:15 But I think the big picture is conference championship.
08:18 And if not that, then win each week and win out.
08:20 Thank you, guys.