Colorado linebackers coach Andre' Hart told reporters Deion Sanders' extension is a win on the recruiting trail. Since Coach Prime signed a five-year, $54 million deal, recruits have some added confidence that things aren't changing in Boulder anytime soon
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Y'all look cold.
00:01I hope she's looking at me and saying that.
00:04I'm not the only one.
00:05Nikki, go ahead.
00:06Coach, just your reaction to Coach Prime's extension and
00:09how exciting that is for your future and his future.
00:12Yeah, I think it was honestly it was expected.
00:15I think you should get paid, no pun intended, for
00:19having doing an excellent job.
00:21And of course we want to do better, but yeah, I was very excited about that.
00:26Coach, you lose both your starting linebackers.
00:28What does that group look like right now as you're trying to,
00:31I know there's a lot of practice to go and a lot of months to go.
00:33But what were your early impressions of this new group?
00:36Well, they're competitive.
00:37I think you get the same thing if you got guys that want to play.
00:40Of course, we went to the portal, because we always do, right?
00:43And you get guys that come here who have a chip on their shoulder,
00:45want to prove something, or they just want to get to the next level.
00:48And we can provide them the exposure.
00:50So right now they're working hard, but of course it is.
00:52There's a lot of football left, a lot of practice left.
00:54So we're not sure how it's gonna shape out, but
00:56I do like the intensity of how they're playing.
00:57You got two guys through the portal with a lot of experience.
00:59So I think they were all conference guys last year.
01:02Are you seeing them step up as leaders and
01:04kind of taking a leadership role initiative on the field a little bit?
01:08Well, I'm seeing them be pros right now.
01:10So what they're doing is they're making sure they learn the defense.
01:13And then they're doing the right things and saying the right things,
01:15so they can be the leaders.
01:16They're not trying to jump or do anything like that.
01:18But they are not leading by example, per se,
01:22but they're asking the right questions.
01:24And they're pros in the meeting rooms.
01:25They're not late to anything.
01:26And they're just trying to get their job done.
01:28You recruited Mattress Walker for a long time.
01:31He's finally on campus.
01:32What are your early impressions?
01:34And what are the biggest challenges for a young true freshman
01:36going through this transition?
01:38Well, I think just the speed of the game is the thing that they got to get used to.
01:42And then also he's in a new system.
01:43So you want to develop him and keep him going forward
01:47and then get him with those guys who've been here
01:49so you can have a room of leaders lead him.
01:52If I got to keep coaching him, I think that's a problem.
01:54He has to be infectious with the team.
01:56And he's doing that so far.
01:58Coach, the last few years on the recruiting trail,
02:00other programs have been able to say, you know, negative recruiting tactics.
02:04They say, you don't know what crime is going to be here.
02:05Now we have locked up, obviously, for the foreseeable future.
02:07How do you think that will kind of help this program
02:09continue to recruit at Iowa?
02:11Well, it's already been helping.
02:12Like, you know, you got guys who even hit us back.
02:15And they're giving us the thumbs up and the praise.
02:17And they want to be here.
02:19But, you know, it's a tactic that I think only works on people
02:21who have a little bit of doubt.
02:23Because any coach can leave at any time.
02:25You know, nothing's guaranteed.
02:26But, yeah, it's been exciting because we've got a lot of feedback
02:29and a lot of people calling us back.
02:31You've got Levante Bentley trying to take the next step in his career
02:33to sweat your message to NFL teams.
02:37He's a tough physical player, man.
02:38He's a football player at the end of the day, you know.
02:41Minus any attributes you may think he doesn't have,
02:43he's a hard worker and he can take hard coaching.
02:46How is the development of guys who are returning, like,
02:50sorry, Keaton and Jalen coming along?
02:53Well, you know, you want to see them take the steps they've been taking,
02:55being a second year or third year in the system, getting better
02:58and being in that leadership role where they're making calls on the field.
03:01That's the biggest thing I've seen now that my two linebackers are out,
03:04that they're actually stepped up and they're making calls on the field.
03:06So that's exciting.
03:08Last year, Mekhi Hokery and Levante Bentley,
03:10they were the quarterbacks on the defensive side.
03:12Who do you see in your room could potentially hold that role this season?
03:15Good trick question.
03:16I'm not sure just yet who that is.
03:19But we're going to keep evaluating.
03:21Coach Bryant said the other day
03:22that you may still be doing some fishing yet in the portal.
03:25Is your room one of those that you may be trawling for?
03:28Every room is open because we're always trying to create competition.
03:32We have heard a lot about the defensive line as well.
03:35That group obviously can make your life easier as well as linebackers.
03:38What are you seeing out of that group, the front seven, the front group?
03:41Yeah, well, I think I'm seeing the same thing.
03:43You've got a bunch of athletic guys who are trying to prove the point
03:45that they can be the guy.
03:46Even on the front line, we've had a lot of change, right,
03:49as far as roster is concerned.
03:51So it's creating competition, and everybody wants to say,
03:53I can be the guy, which we love.
03:56I've heard a lot of Coach Bryant and Coach Livingston
03:58have given a lot of praise for Coach Mathis.
04:00You've been around him for a long time too.
04:01What, in your mind, makes him such a good coach
04:03and makes him such a good teacher at the quarterback spot?
04:06He's a pro.
04:07The man is a pro, day in and day out.
04:09Early days, late nights, he's always watching film.
04:13He's always ready to talk ball, and he's always ready to give you a hand.
04:16He really takes on that tribe mentality.
04:20No job is too big, no job is too small.
04:22Last question for Coach.
04:23How big is it for this defense to have Robert Livingston coming back
04:26and some of the guys know the playbook and stuff?
04:28Oh, it's exciting because I think you saw the steps we took last year,
04:31and we can only get better from here.
04:33So to have him come back and believe in us and trust in us
04:36and say, hey, we can do something here, it just revs everybody up.
04:40And then you're running the same system,
04:42so now everybody's a lot more clear, a lot more clarity in what we're doing,
04:45and we want to get after it.
04:47Thank you, Coach.
04:48Thank you, Coach.
04:49Appreciate it.