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00:00 Live receiver, Traylon Ray.
00:02 Questions for Traylon?
00:03 Greg?
00:04 So, Traylon, to start off, I mean,
00:06 true freshman playing, starting, I mean, that's unusual.
00:08 Did you expect it?
00:10 Has the year and the process been easier than you thought,
00:14 harder than you thought?
00:16 I wouldn't say I exactly expected it,
00:18 but something I definitely worked for, you know, coming in.
00:22 I knew I was coming in a little bit later than everybody else,
00:24 so I had a little chip on my shoulder,
00:27 so definitely starting.
00:28 And, you know, playing more than the average freshman,
00:34 it's definitely a lot to take on, you know,
00:37 doing more in school, you know, being far from home.
00:40 That definitely was a lot, but I'm getting kind of used to it
00:43 now, Coach Lyle's definitely helped me through it all,
00:45 so it's definitely getting a lot easier.
00:47 Are the adjustments playing this early when you're that young?
00:51 Physical, the physical part, definitely, you know.
00:54 I'm not used to playing this many snaps,
00:56 you know, playing against bigger guys,
00:57 but I'm definitely getting used to it as the season goes on.
01:01 What did you learn?
01:04 What did you take out of last Saturday's game in Oklahoma?
01:08 I definitely learned, like, what type of team we are,
01:13 you know, throughout the whole game,
01:15 even when we were down, you know, the team.
01:17 We weren't really down.
01:19 We kind of kept motivated,
01:20 so that definitely kept me in high spirits,
01:24 knowing that I had guys around me that still cared.
01:26 You know, the whole team definitely cares about it,
01:28 so that's what I really learned.
01:31 You mentioned you didn't come in until,
01:35 you know, later in the summer.
01:36 Was it hard to catch up physically at that point?
01:41 Definitely physically, taking, you know, the blows, the shots.
01:45 That definitely was the hard part about it,
01:46 but at some point,
01:48 you just got to kind of let your athleticism take over.
01:54 Is there a moment you know you knew you could play at this level?
01:58 I mean, play as a true freshman that sort of stuck out to you?
02:04 Definitely fall camp.
02:05 We had a scrimmage that was definitely,
02:07 you know, the moment I knew I could play at this level.
02:10 You know, that's when the confidence
02:11 started to come out at this level.
02:13 I always had confidence,
02:15 but that's when it definitely stuck out to me.
02:17 You had some instances this year
02:19 when the passing games really clicked,
02:20 and then other times it's kind of struggled.
02:22 What do you think the passing game overall
02:25 amongst everybody needs to do to get where you need to be?
02:30 Honestly, I feel like it's still, you know,
02:33 one of the best in our league, if I'm being honest.
02:36 It's just some games, sometimes things just don't work out.
02:38 Guys have bad games, and it's just a part of the game,
02:40 but I don't think there's anything wrong
02:43 with our passing game.
02:45 What's your relationship like with Rodney,
02:48 just because you guys are coming in,
02:50 you know, same type of deal, same type of athlete,
02:52 position, first year.
02:54 That could breed competition,
02:56 but what's your relationship kind of like?
02:58 Honestly, me and Rodney, that's like,
03:00 it's honestly one of my best friends.
03:01 Him and Jaheim, those are like my best friends up here.
03:04 So, I mean, it's always competition,
03:06 but it's healthy competition.
03:08 So, we're always trying to see, you know,
03:10 who's going to hit this speed today,
03:11 who can make this many catches,
03:13 who can have no MAs during practice,
03:14 things of that nature.
03:16 So, it's honestly great having somebody like that
03:17 in my same position,
03:19 so I can compete with them and get better every day.
03:22 What do you learn from him?
03:23 What have you learned from him, maybe?
03:25 You know, he was a basketball guy,
03:27 so definitely, like, his footwork,
03:30 things of that nature, his quickness,
03:31 I can kind of see what he does, and I'm like,
03:33 "Okay, I can take that from his game, add it to my game."
03:36 Hard being this far away from home?
03:42 I was kind of prepared for this at a younger age
03:45 from my parents playing travel ball
03:47 and stuff like that.
03:48 I'm always home, so they prepared me well for this.
03:51 You mentioned Rodney's basketball skills.
03:59 I mean, you played and looked pretty good as well.
04:02 Do you guys -- Have you competed on the court?
04:04 Have you gone out and played?
04:05 We haven't gone out and played yet,
04:07 but definitely, we talk about it a lot.
04:10 We're at each other's throats about it a lot,
04:12 so after the season, we're definitely going to go.
04:18 Is baseball completely over for you?
04:20 Have you thought about trying that?
04:23 As of right now, I haven't really thought about it much.
04:25 I've just been, you know, focused on football,
04:28 trying to get, you know, my freshman season,
04:30 get through it and play the best I can for football right now,
04:33 but you never know.
04:38 What ways have you improved since you've gotten here?
04:41 Definitely strength.
04:43 That's a major factor in it.
04:47 With Coach Mike, he's helped me.
04:49 Sometimes I don't always like it,
04:51 but he's definitely gotten me in a better position
04:54 than I was when I first got here.
04:55 Is that an interest for you in the offseason,
05:00 hitting the weight room and getting even bigger and stronger?
05:03 Yeah, definitely.
05:04 That's one of the biggest things for me
05:05 because I'm a pretty smart football player.
05:07 I can catch on to things pretty good,
05:09 but strength, getting stronger,
05:10 that's definitely going to be a really big part
05:12 in the offseason.
05:16 Third-yard catcher against BYU,
05:18 you took a pretty good hit on the play.
05:20 Almost had the touchdown catch at Oklahoma.
05:22 What goes into making a contested catch for you?
05:24 How much of an adjustment is that
05:26 when you talk about some of the blows and shots
05:28 you've had to take at this level?
05:29 I mean, that's just football.
05:30 I mean, you see the ball in the air,
05:32 you just got to go get it.
05:33 I mean, you kind of know you're going to get hit at that moment.
05:36 Once you see it about the corner of your eye,
05:37 you just go up, catch it, and just make the play.
05:44 Some athletes in high school concentrate on one sport.
05:48 You were a multi-sport athlete.
05:50 The pros and cons, do you think it helped you
05:52 to be playing so many sports?
05:56 Yeah, it definitely helped
05:57 because all sports go in to each other.
05:59 Footwork from basketball, you know,
06:03 catching fly balls in baseball
06:04 definitely helped with your hand-eye coordination,
06:06 so all the sports kind of tie in together.
06:10 Okay.
06:15 Baseball, like your number-two sport?
06:18 What I like to say in high school
06:20 is just I like to compete.
06:22 I mean, it wasn't really a number-one sport,
06:24 number-two sport.
06:25 I just love playing all of them.
06:27 All right, so you're playing one in college.
06:28 You had to favor one more than the others.
06:30 How do you figure out which one is for you
06:31 when you play all of them and you're pretty good at all?
06:34 I kind of just looked at, you know,
06:36 what I had the brightest future in,
06:39 and that was pretty much it after I figured that out,
06:43 just football, my athleticism, size, things of that nature,
06:47 and just like family members, they played football,
06:51 so I was just like, "It's kind of what I want to do."
06:54 Was there pressure to --
06:55 Like, football can be a year-round sport,
06:56 especially down in Florida.
06:58 Was there pressure to just focus on one sport
07:00 and, like, specialize, or did you just kind of ignore that
07:03 and say, "Now I want to play all of them"?
07:05 I kind of just ignored when people told me
07:07 to focus on one sport
07:08 because I couldn't sit back and watch other people
07:11 play the other sports and I'm not involved in it.
07:16 Was there any advice or any comments
07:17 that Coach Brown even said to you
07:19 about being a dual-sport athlete,
07:21 and even before you came to W, when you were talking to him?
07:24 Because he did talk about his conversation with Rodney
07:27 about how he basically convinced him,
07:29 "You've got to finish basketball.
07:31 You'll regret it," things like that.
07:32 Did he have those conversations with you?
07:34 Yeah, he definitely did.
07:36 Actually, he loved that I played three sports.
07:38 He wanted me to finish baseball.
07:40 He wanted me to play basketball.
07:41 He just loved the multi-sport athlete thing going on,
07:45 so that's really why I love Coach Brown also.
07:50 What is your recruiting aspect?
07:51 Who else were you really highly interested in?
07:55 Why ultimately West Virginia?
07:58 Ultimately, West Virginia.
07:59 It's a family atmosphere here.
08:02 When I came on my official visit, I loved the guys.
08:06 Nico was my host. I loved being around Nico.
08:09 Gareth's from back home,
08:10 so we kind of had that connection already
08:13 just from being the same hometown, home state.
08:17 And then Rodney, he was a big part of it also.
08:19 He would text me every day.
08:21 We'd catch up, things of that nature,
08:23 so I already had a connection with Rodney,
08:24 so that was really one of the big things about it.
08:28 As a kid who played three sports,
08:32 what would your advice be to --
08:33 You know, you see a lot of kids that are 8 years old
08:35 that they have to put them in camps,
08:37 in a camp, and specialize in one sport.
08:39 Would you suggest that,
08:41 or would you suggest whatever you took?
08:44 I'd say play as many sports as you can, honestly,
08:48 like, especially as a young athlete, young kid.
08:51 You know, you never know what could happen
08:53 with any of those sports.
08:54 Just play as many sports as you can.
08:56 If you're good at it, go for it.
08:58 It's going to help you in the long run.
09:03 Jarrett warned you about winter here yet, Tallahassee guy.
09:07 What do you expect?
09:09 I mean, I'm not going to lie.
09:11 It's already pretty cold to me.
09:14 So I'm at practice.
09:15 I'm already freezing, and it's only, like, 50 degrees outside.
09:19 You got this, Tyler.
09:20 Yeah.
09:21 Okay, anything else for Taryllon?
09:30 All right, thank you very much.