One-on-one with North Alabama head coach Brent Dearmon

coach we're heading into the second season for you here in the schs tell me a little bit about what you learned in the first season and what you're hoping to improve on this year you know I thought we have a very resilient football team you're you're looking at a a team that a year before had zero FCS wins only win was a a very close D2 win um that that had had kind of been a little down and out beaten up and and come into last year and and have seven out of 11 games you had a lead in at some point most of them going into halftime um we knew that we needed more depth that's a lot of the reason why you can't hold on to a lead is because you need to increase your depth a little bit um but we have a group that never quit they never stop fighting even all the way down to playing Florida State on National Television in front of 1.3 million people uh where no one in the world gave us a chance and you come out and take a 13 nothing lead it's 24 to 13 and a half um I didn't think our kids ever back down they never quit so I learned that we've got a team that doesn't quit for sure when you think back to that Florida State game as you said you had so many eyes on you guys you guys went up 13- nothing what do you think that did for the confidence of the team even though it wasn't the end result you were hoping for you know it really catapulted our offseason workouts um where where you got guys like Edwin white Schultz or um you got Gage s our leader up front that can come and address the team afterwards and say listen guys you saw tonight for a quarter what this team could have been you saw tonight for a half what this team could have been and and we don't want to look at each other next year um and say what could have been we want to perform like this we want to play like this at all times it sent a message to our coaching staff that I think that game we we had more trick plays than we ever had before uh it really sent a message to us that that um it it really fuels our guys to do little things like that a little bit more often so um we we may pull out the bag of tricks a little bit more than than we had been but um I think for our guys that really catapulted us into a great offseason workouts so looking at where things are this season you recently named Ari Patu your starting quarterback what was it about him that distinguished himself and I know he's somebody that you had some previous experience with you know Ari uh uh gives the look for sure he's he's a 64 and a half um QB the the the culture his background he comes from there there's never too high there's never a too low and that's a great quality to have as a quarterback you know look at uh the tongue of alas um they're in the same mold um so I think our team feeds off of that where the they know that when if he throws a touchdown pass he's going to really act the same way if he made a bad decision um and it keep really helps us stay grounded you know he can run really well um so it adds the QB run element to our game um but but he really has all the tools I mean he had all the tools that I think he was the youngest starting quarterback in the history of Stanford football um got got early starts there played against Notre Dame I mean he's he's played in some big time football games which is going to help him early on in this process for us when you look at some of the guys he'll be throwing to obviously you got TK back someone who has as much experience as him basically like having a coach on the field what does he bring to the lines you know TK uh there's so much experience there there's not a coverage that he hadn't seen um he he's a consistent Guy where if you got a QB sometimes that that's looking for a completion looking for an answer um you can always look to number five side um but what what's been really good for TK is we've increased the depth in that room where you you were already pretty solid last year with the likes of Dakota Warfield and Kobe Warden JJ Evans um but you add on to that room with Tanaka Scott another 65 receiver moved in from Kansas uh Logan CER was an ni All-American at Lindsey Wilson that's really the speed guy um that that TK's been even better because he's had guys nipping at his heels in that room so and he knows it he knows it's made him so he can't get comfortable every day obviously everybody saw what Edwin white Schultz did last year preseason defensive player of the year what does that do for his confidence and for the team um you know I think that's the first time you I had to ask Mike our Sid but I think it's the first time in the division one history that we've had a preseason um allconference U player and and for him the being the defensive player of the year um it it says a lot about what he did last year now what we reminded him as a staff is preseason Awards mean nothing um it just it's a extension of last season what the what the coaches in the league thought about you and now I got to go out and I got to prove it again um you know he he's a tackling machine um he's he's basically an extra linebacker playing at at 10 yards deep um his playmaking ability I mean I I recruited him out of high school and he was committed to Tennessee I convinced him to come to Kansas with us um he was a receiver he was a return man um that was a few Sprites and a few Debbie cakes ago but uh he he he can make plays when he does get the ball so um he he's um a very experienced player lot play a lot of football and he's helping our young guys back there grow a lot this will be the second year in a row that you and your guys get to start on the national stage what are you looking forward to about that oh it's it's awesome for our guys it's awesome for una Athletics it's amazing for our University for for uh the third time in a year span the the UNA lion logo is on going to be on National Television you know playing in this game last year uh played a a team that ended up being a playoff team had a seven nothington lead early in the game uh and ended up being a one score game most of the game um I think it opened a lot of people's eyes to what we could be and we were uh going to be a contender um and then to like we talked about earlier with the Florida State game in National eyes but now we're we're going to get to do it again to start the year off and um when you're not battling many other games and you're the game on ESPN we know that you're going to have a national Spotlight especially on the first weekend of college football where people have been craving uh college football again so um we we know all eyes are on us now we got to go out and perform and and put a a good image of of unaa out there last thing I got for you you look right across the parking lot at the new facility that's going in how much do you think everything you guys are doing this year and the promise of a new field will help you build the program uh well we've got evidence already so at this point last year we had two High School commitments at this point of the year right now we've got 18 um 16 of those 18 are from the state of Alabama we've made a huge emphasis on getting kids on campus especially in the last two months because when they come on campus and they see bulldozers when they see uh fences being torn down when they see some digging happening it's no longer just a a pipe dream it's no longer uh what could be down the road it's it's happening and uh that has really been able to help us sell the vision it's really been able to help us sell the future of this place and this class is going to be sophomores this incoming class will be sophomores that that welcome in the new stadium a few years from now so it's making my job a little bit easier um in the time being it's making my job easier that we got the adversity of of traveling every day to an off-campus practice facility U we look at as an opportunity to get better every day so there's so many different ways that that this process out out behind me here is really helping our our program as a whole