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00:00 - All right, thank you all for being here.
00:01 Before we get rolling, I want to wish Coach Kellogg
00:04 and Coach Eilert good luck as they get started.
00:07 Men play at home tonight in Coach Eilert's
00:10 first regular season game, and then Coach Kellogg
00:12 kicks off his tenure tomorrow night.
00:14 So, wish those guys and those teams best of luck,
00:17 and when things settle down for us,
00:19 look forward to getting over there
00:20 and watching some basketball.
00:22 Great night on Saturday.
00:24 Again, I want to thank the fans over here.
00:27 I thought it had great energy in the stadium.
00:30 I said that right after the game,
00:32 but I want to reiterate that.
00:33 I thought even in pregame, just a really good atmosphere,
00:36 from man trip to the pregame, all the way through.
00:40 I appreciate that, definitely is a benefit.
00:44 This can be one of the tougher places to play in our league,
00:47 so appreciate our fans.
00:50 Thought we played very well on offense and defense.
00:54 Practiced and prepared well, thought we earned
00:56 the opportunity to go out and perform
00:58 like we did on Saturday.
00:59 And I was happy, we got a lot of guys in
01:03 on offense and defense, played a lot of people,
01:05 and get some valuable experience,
01:08 and I thought some of those guys really did a nice job.
01:11 Two things really disappointed in, one, some penalties,
01:14 especially the procedure penalties.
01:16 We haven't had that issue this year,
01:18 we got to clean that up.
01:19 And then the second thing is what I'll start with
01:21 on kind of the recap of the game.
01:23 Special teams, just very disappointed how we performed
01:26 on our punt return unit.
01:27 You know, BYU's punt team had struggled,
01:31 and we got zero return yards out of our punt return team.
01:36 We had two penalties on that unit,
01:38 and just played really poor on punt return.
01:41 And then disappointing our kickoff.
01:44 We didn't kick the ball very well.
01:45 We kicked short kicks with low hang time,
01:47 which makes it really difficult to cover.
01:51 And we didn't tackle very well, we didn't fit their return.
01:54 So, disappointed in special teams overall.
01:57 I thought our field goal team really protected well.
02:00 Mike continues to be good on field goals,
02:03 struggled with kickoffs, but he was really good
02:05 with field goals and PATs.
02:07 And then in field goal block team,
02:08 we just continued to get pressure up the middle.
02:10 I thought we affected the kick that they missed.
02:12 We just need our core players on special teams to play better.
02:17 You know, we've got a group there
02:19 that started on multiple teams,
02:20 and just didn't play well enough.
02:21 And so, we got to get those two,
02:24 both the punt return unit and our kickoff unit fixed,
02:27 or we'll get exposed in that.
02:28 Moving over to defense, you know, the positives,
02:32 we only allowed 67 yards rushing.
02:35 And I think anytime you do that in this league,
02:36 you're going to have a chance.
02:37 And then end of possession downs.
02:39 They were 0-3 on fourth down, 3-11 on third.
02:41 We got a huge turnover right before half
02:45 that we were able to turn into points.
02:46 And I thought we flew around, tackled better,
02:49 fit the runs better.
02:51 You know, it was good.
02:53 I thought, you know, very reminiscent of how we played
02:56 during that three-game stretch there.
02:58 We still got to improve our pass rush.
03:00 I think we ran by the quarterback too much.
03:02 I thought their kid did a nice job getting the ball out,
03:04 had a real quick release.
03:05 But we got pushed by the quarterback too much.
03:08 We got to get that corrected.
03:09 And our zone drops were better,
03:12 but we're still off our landmarks.
03:13 So, we still got to be more disciplined in that.
03:15 And then I thought we had two interceptions
03:17 that hit our hands,
03:18 we've had a little bit of an issue on that.
03:20 We've got to be able to catch those balls.
03:22 Offensively, the positives, 336 yards rushing.
03:25 And, you know, I forget how many plays we had,
03:28 but we only had five negative yards, you know,
03:31 the whole game.
03:32 And that's good.
03:33 We had 30 first downs, held the ball for 35 plus minutes,
03:36 really controlled the game there.
03:38 You know, we've got improvements to make.
03:41 We got to fix the procedure penalties.
03:42 The red zone, you know, we had to settle for field goals.
03:46 One right before half, really didn't have a choice,
03:48 but the other two kind of shot ourselves in the foot.
03:51 And we were just okay on third down.
03:52 We've been better.
03:54 And then the most important thing
03:55 that we got to continue to work on,
03:56 we left a ton of pass yards out there.
03:58 Fundamentally, Garrett's got to get better
04:00 on some things, throwing the football.
04:01 And, but we left some passing yards out there.
04:05 To wrap up that, players of the week,
04:08 offensive lineman of the week, played extremely well.
04:11 His best game of the year,
04:13 continues to play at a high level,
04:14 but this was his best game.
04:17 He grayed out 96%, five knockdowns, 53 production points.
04:21 And Zach Frazier was the O-lineman of the week.
04:24 Special teams player of the week.
04:26 And this really could be a guy every single week.
04:29 He plays his position as well
04:32 as anybody we have on our team.
04:34 And I think he's one of the best in the country.
04:37 And that's our long snapper, Austin Brinkman.
04:39 Was perfect on all the snaps.
04:40 He's got elite speed and location.
04:42 And he's as good as anybody in the country.
04:47 Defense player of the week.
04:48 We had several guys that were,
04:49 that could have been our defense player of the week.
04:53 Thought Lee played well.
04:54 Lockhart played back the way he was playing
04:57 earlier in the year.
04:58 Ben Cutter played his best game.
05:00 But this guy really came back strong
05:03 from not his best performance a week ago.
05:05 He had five tackles and really communicated great,
05:08 had great energy.
05:09 And that's Anthony Wilson.
05:11 Offensive player of the week.
05:12 Jaheim White, 16 carries, 146 yards.
05:15 And he's been really good with the ball
05:18 the last two weeks.
05:19 And he played better without the ball.
05:20 Pass protection, run blocking, those type of things.
05:23 We give a blue collar award.
05:26 These are guys that may don't show up in the stat sheet,
05:29 but played really well.
05:30 Offensively, Brandon Yates played three positions
05:33 in the game, played both guards,
05:35 played center, came back after getting
05:37 banged up a little bit early in the game.
05:39 And he's playing at a high level.
05:42 And he's gotten better every year,
05:44 but he's made a huge jump since last year.
05:46 And then the other one on offense was Preston Fox.
05:50 Really made some difficult catches.
05:53 The touchdown was special.
05:56 But just blocked and did a great job on the perimeter.
05:59 Played almost every snap.
06:00 And then the two guys on defense,
06:02 I talked about Ben Cutter.
06:03 He played his best game.
06:04 He had a sack, a tackle for a loss,
06:07 made a tackle and kickoff.
06:08 And definitely his best game.
06:12 And then the other guy, this guy's playing
06:13 his best football of his career.
06:15 And special teams and on defense,
06:16 that's Jalen Thornton.
06:17 Back to back weeks has made plays on the D-line.
06:20 Scout team players of the week on offense,
06:23 it was Sean Boyle.
06:24 He's getting better.
06:25 And he did a really good job giving those guys
06:29 a look last week.
06:30 And then on defense, DJ Cotton,
06:32 a kid that walked on here that's going to be
06:34 a player for us on the D-line.
06:35 And then on special teams, this guy does a nice job.
06:39 His brother's a high level swimmer here as well.
06:42 And that's Derek Berlitz.
06:43 And so those are the award winners for the week.
06:48 And so kind of turning the page to Oklahoma.
06:51 And another week, another really tough test.
06:53 This time we're going on the road
06:56 to play one of the top programs in the country.
06:57 And it's on primetime TV again.
07:00 It's at one of the top venues in the country to play.
07:04 And so our guys will be fired up.
07:05 Great respect for Coach Venables.
07:07 Went against him a number of times now.
07:10 And a really good person.
07:13 He's done really good.
07:15 I think his defensive work speaks for itself.
07:17 And he's got that program headed in the right direction.
07:20 When you look at them, special teams wise,
07:22 what sticks out is their specialists are good.
07:25 They went out and got some in the portal
07:27 and they're really good.
07:29 Their kicker returns.
07:31 He's got a strong leg.
07:32 He's been really good on field goals.
07:34 They use a right footed and a left footed punter.
07:36 So we have to really pay attention
07:37 to who's in the game there.
07:39 They're dangerous at returner.
07:40 Farouk is a really strong receiver
07:44 and he's really good at kickoff return.
07:46 He kind of, he's a big kid,
07:48 but he runs like a running back.
07:49 A really natural player.
07:51 Offensively, Levy does a great job.
07:53 He's been doing it a bunch of different places now.
07:56 UCF and Ole Miss and now at Oklahoma.
08:00 They play as fast as anybody in the country.
08:02 So alignment's going to be critical.
08:04 They move their pieces around.
08:08 Drake Stoops is a guy that,
08:10 he's kind of their jack of all trades.
08:12 He does a little bit of everything.
08:13 And he's playing at a high level right now.
08:16 They're balanced.
08:17 They're always good up front.
08:19 I think Bill does as good a job from a recruiting
08:23 and then developing those guys.
08:25 And it seems like he has a couple NFL players
08:28 every single year.
08:29 And their right tackle will be a first round pick.
08:32 This is the fourth, and I think this speaks to our league.
08:35 People don't talk about this probably,
08:37 but this is the fourth first round pick,
08:40 potential first rounder we're going to play
08:42 on an opposing team's offensive line.
08:43 And so, but Bill does a really good job.
08:47 They're a group that challenges
08:49 in a lot of different ways with RPOs
08:50 and in the run and the pass.
08:54 And then last, but definitely their most important guy
08:58 is their quarterback, Dylan Gabriel.
09:00 He's played at a high level.
09:01 He can run.
09:03 He's got a really quick release.
09:05 Kids won both at UCF and at Oklahoma.
09:08 So a lot of respect for him.
09:10 Defensively, they're multiple.
09:11 They're going to put pressure on you, mix up the coverages.
09:14 I think that unit takes the,
09:16 really takes the personality of their leader,
09:18 and that's Coach Venables.
09:19 And they're attacking.
09:20 They, you can see that they're enjoying playing for him.
09:26 They'll mix in some man, some zone,
09:30 but the one thing they're constantly going to do
09:32 is get hats to the football.
09:33 And so again, big challenge.
09:36 We're looking forward to get on the road.
09:38 We've played back-to-back nail biters versus these guys,
09:40 and don't expect anything less when we go out to Norman.
09:45 So with that, questions.
09:46 - Start with some injury stuff.
09:49 I mean, Doug's status, Hudson's status,
09:51 and also along with Doug,
09:52 what has Nick Malone meant in being able to fill in
09:56 for Wyatt in one weekend?
09:57 - You're going to stretch me right here
09:58 with these three questions at once.
09:59 (laughing)
10:00 - So I'll try here.
10:04 Let me go, start with the first one here.
10:07 - You got to remember it first.
10:08 - Yeah, I got it.
10:09 I'm working on it.
10:10 So Doug, so Doug moved around today.
10:13 We'll know more as the week goes.
10:16 I think he's questionable, but definitely could play.
10:21 Okay.
10:22 And then from on Hudson,
10:27 Hudson could have played in an emergency
10:29 on the end of game on Saturday.
10:30 He practiced a little bit last week.
10:33 I don't think he's a hundred percent.
10:35 So we made the decision that we weren't,
10:37 he dressed and could have been ready,
10:40 but we made the decision not to play him
10:41 till he gets a hundred percent.
10:43 He practiced today.
10:44 We're hopeful that he can, he can really help us.
10:48 You know, he's big playability.
10:49 And so we're hopeful that he can play,
10:51 but he's dealing with an ankle.
10:53 And you know, some of those times
10:54 did just take a little while.
10:56 And then Nick has played,
10:58 Malone's played a ton of football for us.
11:00 You know, that was his best game of his career on Saturday.
11:05 Really in pass pro in the run game,
11:07 did, played really well.
11:10 And, you know, he's played now,
11:13 I think five, five of our nine games,
11:16 quite a few snaps on the offensive line.
11:18 He's played in every game, whether it tackle or tight end.
11:20 So he's versatile, very smart,
11:23 plays on our field goal team,
11:25 plays on our punt team.
11:27 And, and so he's a guy that's positioning himself really.
11:31 He's got an opportunity to go play, you know,
11:34 after another year, he's got an opportunity
11:36 to go play at the next level.
11:38 - Tight end leading and receiving.
11:39 And if it happens here, it'd be the first time in 33 years.
11:43 - You talking about for the year?
11:45 Yeah, no, I haven't.
11:46 Well, I say this, we, we had the Amaro kid
11:49 at Texas Tech my last year and he got, but he got hurt.
11:52 He got hurt.
11:53 He probably would have been our leading receiver that year,
11:55 but he got hurt.
11:56 And then he came back the following year for Cliff.
11:58 And I think he was their leading receiver
11:59 before he got, before he got drafted there with the Jets.
12:03 But no, this probably not, you know,
12:06 but I'd have to think about it,
12:08 but right off the top of my head, John, no.
12:10 - Cole's averaging 12 yards a catch.
12:12 You're getting a ball down the field to him.
12:13 - Yeah, we're trying to, you know, we tried the other night.
12:15 He had a great run after a catch on the touchdown.
12:18 He really mistimed his jump on the first kind
12:21 of downfield throw we had on the opening drive.
12:23 Garrett threw a nice ball
12:24 and Cole just kind of mistimed his jump for it.
12:27 But we are, you know, there's things
12:28 that he's got to continue to work on.
12:30 He's got to, he's got to play big sometimes
12:33 in the pass game.
12:34 He's, he's improving in the run game.
12:35 You know, he's got to hold his lines and,
12:37 but we're going to continue getting the ball.
12:39 He's a matchup problem.
12:39 He's got great ball skills.
12:42 Some of the things we're doing in the run game,
12:43 it leads to tight ends having success.
12:46 - So you mentioned a lot of the off-seasons
12:48 about him being a pass catcher.
12:49 And so there's not too much surprising to that end,
12:52 but is it exactly where the plan was?
12:55 Because it's also kind of been a roller coaster
12:57 with some of the receivers this year
12:58 and now Hudson being hurt.
12:59 Like, is this ideal or would you rather?
13:02 - No, I think that going into the year,
13:03 I really, we really felt like that Cole and Devin
13:06 were going to be the two guys that had played,
13:09 played quite a bit of football.
13:11 We knew we had talent at receiver,
13:12 but we, we knew there was going to be some ups and downs.
13:15 And like you said, a little bit of a roller coaster
13:17 and that happens with young players.
13:19 But we felt like that Cole and Devin
13:22 would probably be our most targeted guys.
13:24 And they, they've been to this point.
13:26 And I think we've left some,
13:27 we've missed them on some throws, you know,
13:29 and, and, and they've got to do some better things
13:31 in the route game, but I'm not,
13:33 I'm not surprised that those two guys
13:35 are probably our most targeted.
13:36 - Live with a 50% pass completion percentage
13:42 if you're throwing it downfield.
13:43 I mean, if these were screens, you'd be really.
13:45 - Yeah. You know, so we are,
13:47 we're throwing the ball down the field quite a bit more,
13:49 you know, and I just, I just felt like,
13:54 why throw it underneath
13:55 if our completion percentage is about the same?
13:57 So like, I'm just like, let's, let's, let's start,
14:00 let's throw it further down the field.
14:02 And no, and with that, you know,
14:07 we've, we are calling more downfield.
14:09 So now we should be closer to 55 to 60%.
14:14 And that's the next step for Garrett.
14:16 He's playing really well.
14:18 He's got a, there's two things.
14:21 It's from a fundamental standpoint, you know,
14:23 like he's got to get his body aligned
14:25 and he falls off to the left sometimes.
14:29 We got to get those two things fixed and he does it.
14:33 He's just, he's not as consistent with it as, you know,
14:36 he threw as good a ball as you're going to see
14:37 anybody throw all year to press it on the touchdown.
14:40 But a couple of those two fundamental issues,
14:44 he's got to correct and he's got to correct them
14:46 all the time.
14:48 The second thing is, is he's got to,
14:51 he's got to take some of the, the, the heat off.
14:53 He'll change up every once in a while, you know, like,
14:56 yeah, it's, you know, a lot of fast balls.
14:58 We got to take off.
14:59 We got to, we got to relax on that a little bit.
15:03 - Neil, the team, I'll interrupt a little bit.
15:07 They said that he picked 14th in the league
15:10 at the preseason and asked the players about it.
15:12 And they've all come back and said,
15:13 it's provided a chip on the shoulder
15:15 and you're still bringing that up at times.
15:18 How much was it this summer?
15:19 How much do you still use that as motivation?
15:23 - Well, I think, you know, motivation's important.
15:27 I've kind of enjoyed reading some of, you know,
15:30 with the passing of Bob Knight,
15:31 kind of reading some of his thoughts on motivation.
15:33 Some of them are simple, but true.
15:35 But, you know, I think that it's something
15:39 that we keep in front of them because until the year's
15:43 over, like, we still have something to prove.
15:45 And it all starts with that.
15:47 That's what people thought of us.
15:49 You know, that's what they thought of this program
15:52 at the start of the year.
15:53 And we're out to prove that wrong right up until the end.
15:57 And so that's kind of, we're using it as motivation.
16:01 It's the truth, though.
16:02 I mean, that's where we were picked.
16:03 It's not like we're embellishing on that,
16:06 that we were picked to finish last
16:07 and Oklahoma was picked to finish in the top three.
16:10 And so that's what it is.
16:13 - In the sense of motivation,
16:15 obviously last year, a big win for the program,
16:17 first time with both in the Big 12,
16:19 but Oklahoma leaving the conference.
16:21 This could be the last time for a long time
16:25 West Virginia has a chance at Oklahoma?
16:26 - No, we just got a sour taste in our mouth
16:28 about the last time we were there.
16:30 You know, we got beat on a walk-off field goal,
16:32 felt like we were in control of the game
16:34 and with an opportunity to win it.
16:35 And we have turned it over on downs
16:39 and then they win it late.
16:40 And so that's really the motivation.
16:42 I know y'all get, you know,
16:44 somebody, or Tony was asking me about the schedule
16:48 when it got released last week.
16:49 And I was like, I don't really care.
16:50 You know, I'm like, I don't care who we play in our league
16:53 or, you know, I don't care if we play all of them
16:55 or none of them.
16:56 I don't care that Texas or Oklahoma's leaving.
16:57 I really don't care.
16:58 And I don't mean that bad toward Texas or Oklahoma.
17:00 It's just like, all right, who's in our league?
17:03 You know, commissioner's going to take care of that.
17:05 We're in pretty good, we're positioned pretty well.
17:07 And whoever we have to play,
17:09 hopefully we don't have to do back-to-backs
17:11 on the West Coast.
17:12 You know, other than that, I don't really care.
17:14 - You came into the season
17:17 and there was a lot of questions about your future.
17:19 Yet you played and wound up having
17:22 a number of freshmen as key members of your team.
17:25 I mean, that, the emphasis on playing freshmen,
17:30 using freshmen, and recruiting freshmen,
17:33 it was someone whose future is questionable.
17:36 Y'all, talk a little bit about that.
17:37 - Well, I don't think it was anything deep.
17:39 You just play your best players, you know?
17:40 And I think you want to,
17:43 you know, if you have a choice
17:44 between talent and experience,
17:45 and I'm not the only coach you'll hear say this,
17:47 if you have a choice between talent and experience,
17:49 you know, you're going to take talent, you know,
17:51 and they're going to take some lumps.
17:53 There's going to be some lessons,
17:55 sometimes hard lessons,
17:56 that those young players have to learn.
17:58 But you want to play talent.
18:00 And I felt good.
18:03 I feel really good about our evaluation process,
18:05 especially in the positions
18:06 where we've been leaning on young players.
18:09 And so, it wasn't a whole lot of deep thought put into it.
18:13 It's, they got in, some of them here in the spring,
18:15 some of them in fall camp.
18:16 It was clear that they were talented.
18:18 Let's put them in a position where they can have success,
18:21 where their confidence can continue to grow.
18:23 And then when we got to really lean on them,
18:25 let's lean on them.
18:26 - Yeah, I mean, they're explosive players.
18:29 I mean, Hudson, Waite,
18:31 - Trey Leray.
18:33 Yeah, if you look at it,
18:34 mostly offensive skill positions
18:36 is kind of where we're playing them.
18:37 And I think that bodes well.
18:39 You know, we've got to do some things after season
18:43 to retain them.
18:44 That's just the world we live in.
18:45 But when you look at it,
18:46 you know, Hudson's a red shirt freshman,
18:48 and he's not just a feel-good story.
18:51 He's a real player.
18:52 And then Jaheim Waite,
18:54 I'm zero surprised that he's kind of burst on the scene.
18:56 He's really talented.
18:58 Trey Leray, he's doing all this,
19:00 and he played really well on Saturday,
19:02 and he didn't even have a spring ball,
19:04 and he got here halfway through the summer.
19:06 And so he's going to be a special player here.
19:10 Rodney is really good with the ball in his hands.
19:12 And after an off season,
19:14 he gets stronger and really learns how to run routes.
19:16 He's even going to be better.
19:18 And so, and we feel good about our young offensive linemen
19:21 we have in our program too.
19:23 And so, and then on defense with Ben Cutter,
19:26 and if Josiah Trotter was healthy,
19:29 he'd be playing as a true freshman.
19:31 And so there's guys.
19:33 And here's the other thing.
19:34 Sometimes we forget guys if they're not playing immediately.
19:38 Like everybody's past different.
19:40 Like some of these guys that are red-shirting
19:42 are going to be really, really good players here.
19:45 Like just thinking about James Hurd.
19:47 Like James Hurd is red-shirting
19:49 just because he needs the physical maturity,
19:50 but he's going to be a great player.
19:52 You know, it's just a matter of when, not if.
19:54 And I could talk the same about Johnny Williams
19:57 or Nick Cray or people like that.
19:59 So we feel really good about our freshman class.
20:03 But I'm not surprised those offensive skill guys
20:05 are playing and they're starting to be productive.
20:08 - Are you not doing the Juice Award anymore?
20:12 - Yeah, we are.
20:13 I should've, I didn't, here's,
20:14 I felt guilty because I didn't announce it.
20:17 Here's, I'll go back a couple weeks, Mike, since you asked.
20:20 No, so like, I need to.
20:22 So Ronan Swope, who is our third string punter,
20:27 he's got, he's almost a permanent Juice Award winner.
20:31 And then Nick Cray has done a really nice job.
20:34 And then this week, Nate Flower from Fairmont,
20:37 a red shirt, a true freshman,
20:40 he's red-shirting from Fairmont.
20:42 - I don't know why they called my name.
20:46 - I'm on it.
20:47 You called me out, you were exactly right.
20:48 And what I did, I got it written down on my sheet
20:50 and I was like, I forgot it last week,
20:51 so I better not do it this week.
20:52 But you gave me an opening.
20:54 - Let some smart-aleck out here.
20:56 - Hold on, Mike, he had a question.
20:57 Hold on, you get back here.
20:59 - Like the hybrid term for guys like, you know,
21:02 defenders, you think, you know,
21:04 linebackers, safeties, and linebackers,
21:06 but like, the way you're using Gallagher,
21:08 it's not like a tight-end receiver,
21:09 like a running back receiver, too.
21:10 I'm not sure it's perpetual,
21:11 but it does seem to fit right now.
21:12 But is that a guy who, in years,
21:14 could have a number of carries and receptions,
21:17 or is he gonna gravitate toward receiver
21:18 and this is just the best way to use him?
21:19 - Yeah, so what we're doing right now
21:21 is just putting him in the best position to be successful.
21:24 Now, he played, if you go back
21:25 and look at the snaps in the game,
21:27 he played more true receiver in this game.
21:29 And, you know, there's just a number of things
21:33 that have to go right for a receiver to get the ball.
21:35 So we called several pass plays for him,
21:37 and for whatever reason, and same with Cole,
21:39 the ball didn't find him.
21:40 But when you hand it to him,
21:42 you can definitely determine they're gonna get it.
21:45 I think he's gonna be a guy, as he progresses,
21:49 and really learns how to run routes,
21:51 he's gonna be good in the middle of the field.
21:53 He's gonna be a guy that we can run some option routes with
21:57 and things like that, once he gets a better feel
21:59 for the type of the routes.
22:00 But I think as his career progresses,
22:02 we're gonna get him the ball, handing it to him.
22:06 You know, I think he's a guy, too,
22:07 that we can use at some different, you know,
22:10 he can play some wildcat and some things like that
22:12 once he gets a little thicker,
22:13 because he played all that in high school.
22:15 You know, that's kind of what his background is.
22:17 He's got great ball skills,
22:19 which you see a lot of times in guys
22:20 that handle the ball a lot in basketball.
22:23 And so, he understands sports,
22:28 he understands, like, he's a quick learner.
22:30 And so, we'll continue to find ways.
22:33 But we are being creative right now,
22:36 but he is getting better as a receiver.
22:39 Down the line, is there room for White and Donaldson
22:43 on the field at the same time?
22:44 Yeah, we tried to do it the other day,
22:45 and then CJ got stepped on, and he's fine,
22:48 but we were gonna play a little bit more two-back
22:50 in the game.
22:51 And so, I think time and place,
22:53 it just depends on, you know,
22:55 how defense has played different personnel groups.
22:58 You know, you've heard me say this before,
23:01 is like, if you're gonna play both runbacks,
23:02 they just gotta block, you know,
23:04 'cause you're taking somebody else out of the game,
23:07 so they gotta be able to block.
23:08 Mike, do you have a follow-up?
23:09 I'm sorry.
23:10 - Question, Oliver, true freshman,
23:12 he's a steamroller guy, kickoff return.
23:13 - He made great play.
23:14 - Is he a four-game guy, or--
23:16 - So, I gotta make a decision.
23:18 Yeah, he's played four games right now,
23:20 and so, we gotta, I'll meet with him later on today,
23:24 and we gotta figure that out.
23:26 But he's played, he started on three units, yeah,
23:29 and he's done that two weeks in a row.
23:31 And I like him, like, I really like,
23:34 he's a really good football player.
23:35 You know, he started both ways in high school,
23:37 and he's physical, and that was a great play.
23:40 That was by far the best play we had on special teams
23:43 the other night was the one he had.
23:44 - If he does play, is he just a special team,
23:47 or do you try to--
23:48 - Nah, you know, then we would,
23:49 if he's gonna play, we need to use him some, too.
23:52 You know, I think it's only fair to him.
23:54 But I don't have an answer for that yet.
23:56 - Best portal class that you've gotten?
24:00 I mean, you've got a lot of hits in this group.
24:00 - Well, I don't know, yeah, it's so young,
24:03 and we've had some hits, we've got some misses, too.
24:06 I'm not gonna talk about those, but, you know,
24:08 I mean, it's like anything else.
24:11 I'll tell you what we've done.
24:12 Well, you know, you think about it,
24:17 defensively, is Beanie Bishop,
24:19 Day-Day Hawkins, Tyron Bradley, Anthony Wilson.
24:26 We added guys that are making contributions,
24:29 but they've been really good in the locker room, too.
24:33 You know, which I think, you know,
24:34 that may be as important as anything.
24:36 And, like, Beanie, like, just use him as an example.
24:39 Like, he's done a really good job
24:40 from a mentoring standpoint,
24:42 and I think I've talked about this
24:43 maybe a little bit before, but,
24:45 he's done a really good job from a mentoring standpoint.
24:47 So, I think you live, and as you go through this,
24:51 this is still relatively new.
24:53 You figure out kind of what your niche is,
24:55 and then not only what type of player you're looking for,
24:59 what type, what's the best fit,
25:02 and we've made some mistakes in the last couple years,
25:04 but we've also had some big hits, too.
25:06 And I think we've got a better kind of system
25:09 for what our hits, why we made,
25:11 why we hit on some kids, why we missed on some kids,
25:13 you know, and so, when it opens up again
25:16 in the not-too-distant future,
25:19 I think we'll have a lot more hits than we did misses.
25:22 Do you have to be as aggressive pretty much every year
25:25 when it comes to bringing guys in, or?
25:27 I don't know. I'm not in that mode yet,
25:29 like, in fairness, but I'm going to say yes.
25:32 I just think, yeah.
25:33 I don't think, I think you're going to see this
25:35 where you're going to have, you know,
25:37 probably a third of your rosters turned over every year,
25:40 you know, and I may even be conservative with that.
25:43 And so, I think you've got to work
25:45 to retain your best players.
25:47 You're not going to retain every player
25:48 that you want to retain.
25:49 That's just the, that's kind of what it is.
25:51 And then, in your position of need,
25:53 you're going to have to be really aggressive.
25:54 And I think, too, is, you know,
25:57 I think that you'll see more people
25:59 that are a little bit younger, you know,
26:01 like, it's been a lot of older kids,
26:03 but some younger guys, you know, there's some real,
26:08 like, Tommy is a great example.
26:09 Like, he's a kid that didn't play,
26:11 but Red sure did, and he's having a big impact, you know.
26:14 So, I think, you know, those are some of the lessons
26:16 you learn as well.
26:17 That it? All right, thank you all.