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00:00 together and then be able to play connected and all the things that comes
00:04 out of playing good defense like I've never been more energized than I am
00:07 right now because of the depth we have but also the amount of work that has to
00:10 be done because of the depth you know and I told our staff this morning don't
00:15 be afraid what groups on the field together because that stuff is not
00:19 defined yet we really don't know what it's gonna look like as a group yet but
00:24 that's not it's not a rush to get that done so there'll be guys playing with
00:28 different groups guys playing with different people and you know that'll be
00:31 part of the spike you lost obviously Jared brain fest both I guess potential
00:36 first-round picks along with Fabian lovey you lost some real talent it's a
00:39 real experience but with the people you brought in do you feel like it could be
00:43 as good a defensive line I know you don't want to put limitations on things
00:46 but could you do you feel really good about the depth and overall talent on
00:50 the defensive line yeah I think I mean we just we brought in four defensive
00:55 linemen we've got four high school kids that'll be here later and plus you can't
01:00 lose sight of the development you know and so what does that mean that Danny
01:03 Lyons the Byron Turner's the guys that have played a little bit like they're
01:08 still the KJ Sampson's you add that because it's when you bring in a guy for
01:14 one or two years he's a transfer that's one thing but like what happened with
01:18 Pat Payton was critical to our success of the last couple years too which was
01:22 he didn't play at all played a little bit became a ACC Rookie of the Year
01:27 became an all-conference player like so that when we're putting the team
01:31 together when you're bringing guys from different places high school red shirts
01:36 all that stuff and you're growing them all I think the individual development
01:39 of each guy within the team atmosphere is critical and for that reason yeah I
01:43 think I'm not gonna play any seeing so I think the front can get done this year
01:47 like the piece that we added now we just got to go get better together health
01:51 wise could it even have more depth if they stay I think we could be working
01:54 right I think you know defensive tackle is gonna be an important thing we'll see
01:58 where Tom awa ends up playing he's gonna play all along the front here in the
02:02 spring and we'll see what that ends up looking like but I definitely think
02:06 we've got a chance because even I thought Jaden Jones a really good winner
02:10 you know he's a name that you probably don't think of right off the bat but
02:13 again he was a one-year junior college player that got hurt so I mean last year
02:17 he was just coming off so you know there's a lot of those type of pieces
02:21 that are still in our program that I think are undefined of what it can be
02:25 but I have a lot of optimism about what somebody like that can do for us next
02:30 year you reference Tommy won the versatility is that something you guys
02:33 went to the portal looking for pieces you did look for versatility guys that
02:37 could play a great spot a little bit you know I don't always say hey we want to
02:42 make sure we get a multi-tooled player I think that happens in the secondary a
02:45 little bit more than up front because up front you can look at you know there
02:50 weren't many guys you know I think probably Kier Thomas Dennis Briggs and a
02:54 little bit of Braden you know out of my four or five years here so it doesn't
02:58 happen a lot but I think tumble walk fits into that realm he's about 270
03:03 pounds we think he runs well enough to play on the edge but I think he's got
03:07 enough stuff to play in the a/b gaps - Pat's added 15 pounds how beneficial is
03:12 it to him to get bigger and why did you guys want to get bigger well I think
03:16 that's just a natural progression he's still a young man you know he's still
03:20 growing man you just he walks out the hall and you notice the size and you
03:25 notice his frame getting bigger I think you know that's a credit to our
03:29 nutrition staff that's a credit to Josh storms our strength staff it's a credit
03:32 to Pat and I just think it's part of the progression to me look what Josh Farmer
03:37 is doing his body he's bigger than he was last year you know and he's moving
03:41 just as well so I just think it's part of the development for him linebacker
03:46 DJ Lundy obviously made the decision after going into portal to return what
03:50 has he been like since I returned and what has he told you guys he wants to
03:52 improve upon as he enters his final year DJ has had his best offseason but he
03:58 should it's he's going into his later years of his career you know I think DJ
04:04 is taking a lot of steps from a leadership standpoint I think I think
04:07 Tatum D lo really helped that with him you know because he was really part of
04:12 that group last year with those two they were all played it didn't matter which
04:16 two or those three were in the game they're all playing I think when they
04:20 left I think DJ noticed okay there's a void here and I not only do I need to
04:25 make sure I feel part of that leadership point but he wants to do it so you know
04:29 questions like he'll reach out say coach how can I do a better job of this or
04:33 that and not even football technique just maybe of how setting up workouts or
04:37 how we should watch the tape with the guys or how his communication should be
04:41 things he should say things he shouldn't say so it's just there's a long list of
04:45 things that he's trying to work on after him linebacker groups really young a lot
04:48 of inexperience Sean has some experience or Omar has some experience how important
04:53 is the spring for that group will have guys just emerge push each other truly
04:56 see how the competition good part about it is you know Blake played a ton of
05:01 special teams juice played a good amount of special teams Murph played a bunch of
05:06 special teams even though it wasn't here they've all played football and I still
05:10 I truly believe that Omar Graham like what he did last year for us I mean he
05:15 didn't practice in the fall because the ankle and he basically battled through
05:18 it the entire season and so you know last fall camp I remember what it looked
05:23 like and I know exactly what Omar is capable of I think there's a lot of good
05:27 football left in him the secondary to it it's gonna be it's gonna be fun for you
05:31 to have somebody you know good players battling for not a lot of spots I mean
05:35 just the competition level of that is where good programs become great right
05:39 like having competition like that I mean your best at places that like for a
05:43 state what we're building is the competition should be daily it shouldn't
05:47 be every Saturday and I think you only create that by having capable players
05:52 throughout your program at all positions I think a DB is critical because it's
05:57 hard to hide a DB that can't play because the ball is coming at him so you
06:00 better make sure they all check the boxes and you know obviously you can
06:03 just look at it we've recruited a lot of good length guys that can run guys can
06:07 play the ball guys like a tackle and you know we're seeing that now you know the
06:11 depth showing up especially you know it's safety you know Conrad Ashland KJ
06:16 Kirkland like all those names are like a true freshman some of them help some
06:19 did now they're going into their second year and now it's like okay now we have
06:24 some depth at that position you know yeah we've got a lot of good players in
06:29 secondary but they got to go play this is what the sprint is gonna be for.
06:33 Obviously Azari and Finchrell have played a lot of football for you last
06:36 year they're penciled in I know it's penciled in this competition but you
06:39 figure they're gonna be playing a lot if they're not starting they should who
06:41 else at corner can be into that rotation would you like to have four or five guys
06:46 last year we played three yeah you know and most of the time you're gonna at
06:50 least play three but you know like look at what we did last year we took Azari
06:54 who was our third corner we started with dying so that we could create that role
06:58 on third down now some games he played more than Finchrell because he was the
07:02 hot hand the matchup was good he played more you know I think you're always
07:05 trying to find that next piece you know so I mean obviously every all the
07:10 freshman corners that we signed this year are gonna be in the corner but from
07:14 last year's class when Darius Jones Edwin Joseph to go Rawls add to that mix
07:19 and they're all buying for reps you know and we will use Edwin and we will use
07:24 to Brill summit nickel because I do think it helps grow those guys just like
07:27 I mean shoot we use Renato green at nickel last spring he didn't play a rep
07:31 of it in the fall but it helped them when corners were over and some other
07:35 packages or you never know when those things can show up I think it helped his
07:39 development you know and obviously look what it did for Jada how do you see her
07:43 little fitting it to the secondary going we're gonna start with he's gonna the
07:47 position you're gonna work with immediately so you nickel so that's what
07:50 we see him playing I think there is some multiplicity that he could add to it but
07:54 what we try to do Chris if you're a returner we're gonna put more on your
07:58 plate from a position like you'll see as a read nickel you'll see fentrell at
08:02 nickel Earl will probably leave him at nickel for the most part greedy we can
08:09 kick out a little bit of corner but Earl will pretty much leave it one spot here
08:12 this spring what is it about Earl that makes him a
08:15 palance I thought he's one of the best high school players I've ever seen on
08:19 tape play DB you know and you know we're so we got him from another school but I
08:25 also got his high school coach here too so I've got feel like I got really good
08:29 insight I knew what my eval was on high school and who's at heritage and I
08:33 believe in my eval and then hired his high school coach to do I believe it too
08:38 he had some fill in the space information I needed to so there was no
08:43 hesitation he's taking her I asked Mike this earlier how grounded was he in the