Toledo football: Jason Candle Week 1 press conference

All right guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for coming. Certainly excited to get, uh, this 2024 season kicked off. I think we've had a great preseason camp. I think, uh, team is taking shape over the last couple of weeks and really, uh starting to hit our stride here and obviously week one, lots of challenges that, that come along with that, the newness of everything, the new season, new players, new team. Um but this group's been hard at work since mid January and pretty confident where we're at right now and just wanna make sure that we, you know, have a great week of practice here and preparing for what I believe is a really strong, well coached Duquesne team. I got a lot of respect for Jerry and his program and, you know, early in my career, recruited the Pittsburgh area. So I'm very familiar with these guys and how uh the emphasis that they put in football and developing people the right way. So, um, we're looking forward to a stiff challenge here Thursday night and getting this thing kicked off in front of our home crowd. So, um, that was being said, willing to take your questions obviously, with it being week one, there's not film out there on teams yet, but like, you know, you mentioned kind of that familiarity, what do you know about and what you can expect? Yeah, I mean, I think this, the staff's been together for the most part for quite a while, new faces on defense. But, um, you know, they've, they play efficient offense build around the quarterback who's a good player, um, high pressure situations on defense, you know, throw a lot of different looks at you different fronts and some multiple in their coverages. And, you know, they've, they've aided their roster, you know, like many people have through the transfer portal and it's a very veteran team. I mean, I think there's 15 or 16 maybe graduates slash senior players that are starters. So, uh, I think it'll be a confident group and a team that I think will, um, you know, and I think this is probably you're true across the board, right? Somebody in our team is gonna play against the best player they played against all that, they will play against all year, um, in this game and, you know, maybe not in every position, but somebody's gonna have that challenge. So, um, you know, we have a lot of things that we have to take care of on our end. You know, we have an offensive line that has zero career starts, uh under their belt. We have a new quarterback starting. We have, we're replacing a first round draft pick at corner. You know, we have a lot of newness ourselves. Uh, even though we have a great familiarity with one another, we haven't played another opponent yet. So, um, you know, a lot of things you gotta handle in house and then, you know, some other things, obviously you gotta worry about your opponent and prepare for them. Um I mean, I think we, you know, we have a new process here in the Midamerican conference that we have to announce on game day, you know, who's injured and who's not. So I guess we'll just wait till then. Speaking of that. Are you, what do you think of those new reports? Are they, is that a good thing for integrity or is that just another sign that we've completely lost and gambling? I think that it kind of cleans the picture more maybe for the student athlete. I mean, probably hopefully that deters everybody from direct messaging, text messaging and trying to get any inside information from players and coaches that, uh, that probably isn't as important as people think it is anyways leading up to games. And I think there's a level of transparency there that, um, you know, I get a kick out of every pregame that every G A and assistant coach on every other team is sitting there with a notepad waiting for guys to come out of the locker room and check and who's in uniform and who's not like if you just wait 25 minutes, you'll know. Um, but, uh, so I think that, yes, I think it's a good thing and, and, uh, certainly something, I think that would hopefully clear the picture up for everybody. You guys may be the only team in the country that returns. Zero career starts on the offensive line. How encouraged are you by the, I know you have some transfers a lot of depth from, yeah, excited for those guys to be able to, to go out and play together for the first time. Um I think we have a good defensive front and I think they have to block some really good players every day in practice. Um, and they've done well, you know, they've, they've done good as far as from the standpoint of, from January, putting that into spring practice, taking those 15 opportunities trying to have a great summer and really work on some deficiencies there and, and then putting together in preseason camp. So, um I know there's an element of toughness there. I know there's a want to, there's a desire, there's a greediness there. Um, it may not be perfect all the time but, um, you know, I'm encouraged where they're at and I'm excited to see them guys go play to piggy back off that. I think you mentioned that you've gone through that process before. What was that process like trying to find five guys that, yeah, hopefully it's different this year than the last time we had to do that. The last time we had to do that, we played a game, I believe against Stony Brook out here and it stormed the entire night and the game, we only played two quarters of the game and the game didn't even end up counting. And that group only got to play like 30 snaps and we had to go play Arkansas the next week who had three or four draft picks on the defensive line. So that was, uh, it's probably where a lot of these gray hairs came from that week preparing for that one. But, um, yeah, hopefully this group gets the chance to get into a rhythm and get, you know, lots of snaps under their belt. Thursday night and, and goes and performs at a high level. Yeah, I'm just excited for them, you know, I'm excited for them guys to get out and, and hit somebody else, you know, I mean, we've had a very competitive camp one that's, you know, highly competitive from, you know, the older guys going against the older guys all the way down to the freshman, going against the freshman. So you wanna have the opportunity to go and see if your work has been really good. We think it's been really good. We don't know until, you know, we can actually get out there and compete against somebody else and I think we're excited and I'm excited for that opportunity for these guys to show what they've been doing. And, uh, you know, and then there's another element of what has been put down on paper and, and what the videotape shows and then going and fixing some of the mistakes that will probably be made next Thursday. So that part of the process is exciting for me. And that's, that's why you coach. But, uh, yeah, really just encouraged and excited to watch these guys go play together. Is there anything that you didn't expect to come this year? We had perfect weather. We had no rain other than the first day, we had temperatures somewhere in the high sixties to the low eighties every day. And, um, you know, those big guys, they don't like to get out there in the heat and practicing the heat. So I, I'm good. I can get out there and stay in the heat, but those guys don't like that. So I'm happy that it was perfect weather the entire time. So that's the most surprising thing. Any more questions? I got a couple of lighthearted ones and that's all right, lighthearted questions. First thing, obviously, high school football kicks off in this area. Do you have a favorite memory from the high school? My high school is, man. Uh I think first and foremost it's game one, right? Like it's, you know, whether you're in the NFL, whether you're in popcorn or football game one is exciting. You know, that's, uh, you, everybody goes through this process or the off season puts in work and wants to go out and have a great, you know, a great first game and so much respect for the people in the city of Toledo here and the coaches that we have in our area. I think there's some great coaches, some of the better teams in the state of Ohio are right here in our backyard and, um, you know, excited for them guys to go play and have an opportunity to, to get their season kicked off and, you know, not only but any personal memories of that. I mean, there's lots of things that, you know, that I would probably go back to but, uh, just the excitement of game one and going through what we're going through really? And what's the best part of your game, man? Uh, my handicap is my swing. Um, and that, uh, the, the things that prohibit you to play are a seven year old, a five year old and a three year old. So I don't get to play as much as I maybe used to, but, uh, all for a good reason, um, but still like to get out there and compete a little bit once in a while and, you know, uh, whoever is wanting to, whenever they're ready to play, I'd love to play. So, just tell them to reach out. Well, I mean, there's a, there's technology that actually ranks these and there's actually scores. So, I guess you can't really argue with that. I mean, it's kind of like a, a football record. Lots of people say they're better than us and they didn't win 11 games last year. So there's really no argument there. Uh, there's actually a record for a reason. So if you're third or third you just gotta get better, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a how many game, not a, how far game. So, you know, the goal is to still get that ball in that hole. Oh, any more questions? Serious or lighthearted. D A would love to talk about his golf game too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Anthony Torres, he looks like he can, I was gonna say, who would be your dream force on, on the team then go out and play that. Oh, man. Well, every specialist thinks they're really good, which is probably because some NFL kicker or punter is really good because they have a lot of money and they play a lot. So these kickers and punters think that they're on that level, which is probably not true. So there's probably some easy pickings with one of them quarterbacks are probably fall somewhere similar to that range. Um, I'd probably pick the O line or D line. I mean, that'd be a good time after four or five holes. It may be a little annoying but it'd be good for the first four or five ad A so. But, uh, no, I think we have a good group of kids. Anything that any, any of those activities would be fun with any of the guys dream force. Some, I'll take Gleason Torres Butler and Alexander. How about that? Uh, well, uh, I could probably give you what, who you don't want to play with. Probably more than maybe what you would want to play with. But, uh, we'll save that for a later date.