Kyle McCord "The 315" 8-27-24

without further Ado the first of our weekly visits with the orange quarterback well it is our first of our 12 weekly visits this year with orange starting quarterback Kyle McCord and have you processed that whole sentence yet Kyle it's been a wild nine months that here at a different place it's a different team and you're ready to go here again yeah no I can't wait um I feel like August 31st was the the date that I had circled on my calendar when I decide to come here and now that it's only a few days away and uh we're finally getting into to the season it's an exciting time it had to be a whirlwind right like the transfer portal is crazy like when you like we all watched how your season went last year it was very much out there on the national stage so you make the decision to do that how fast was the process for you from that point it was wild um I really didn't know I was getting into the uh the Portland until really once I put my name in at midnight um on that Monday and I feel like some guys get into Portal and have kind of a sense of where they'll end up but that was not the case for me I honestly had no idea um and so woke up that that Monday and my phone was blown up and then uh fast forward a few hours coach Fran is sitting in my living room that Monday night um and we talked for three or four hours uh coach nuns was there as well the quarterback coach and I feel like from that point on Syracuse was number one on uh on my list and and every school after that that was recruiting me was getting compared to Syracuse and then when it came time to make a decision uh it really was a no-brainer for me to come here felt like Fran had a plan like like circling your house just wait wait waiting for your name to he got there it was he was too fast he shouldn't have been able to get there that fast no I mean I told him I was like you are you are a crazy man for this and uh but I mean that's just how he is he's he's a great recruiter and I think his track record speaks for itself how many calls in text like how many teams reached out to you was it I mean it must have been a lot i' imagine yeah no it was a lot um I feel like a lot of schools reach out and just try to you know gauge your temperature and see where where you are and what you're thinking uh and then you start to get fous with a handful four or five of them um and then I only took two visits I kind of narrowed it down pretty quickly like do you even have time to respond to them all like thanks but no or like is it just too much is it is it overwhelming uh I mean I would put my phone on on do not disturb and then every hour or so pick it up and uh just respond to as many people as I can and then put it back down because uh it's Madness I feel like it's it's free agency what was crazier that or doing that to some extent for you like multiple years when you were in high school was it the pandemonium of like a week or was it like everything that goes on in high school recruiting I think the PO by far um because High School you you know what you're getting into and it's a lot more uh time involved whereas the portal at least for me I had no idea put my name in and then you have about especially for a quarterback because most most schools are only taking one you have about 10 11 days to make a decision y um and so it was just uh a sped up process uh it's like uh recruiting on steroids yeah it's it's wild to watch I can't even imagine what it's like to to be a part of something like that I'm going to phrase this this way Kyle because I don't want to ask you which is better or which is worse between Ohio State and Syracuse what what is the biggest difference you have found from your time at Ohio State to your time so far here at Syracuse yeah um I think uh there there's a lot to be honest and I feel like coach Fran has done a really good job of implementing um a family culture and I feel like uh guys have really bought into it and I'm still extremely close with you know all my Ohio state teammates um but but I think here it's just from top down it's a it's a family feel um like just this morning I was sitting in coach Fran's office just talking about life for 45 minutes like not even football related um and I feel like just having that relationship with the coaches I think all the players will will tell you it's special um and so you know he's a great dude's extremely genuine uh and I think all the guys know how much he cares for them and I feel like when you you know uh that about your coach it makes you want to play that that much harder I feel like every program says there that right like every every coach is like yeah family all this stuff how different is it to see a guy that's you know actually doing it yeah I mean he he you know does exactly what he says he does and I feel like that's extremely rare uh in college football today and I I try to tell the young guys on the team like like you you don't realize how lucky you are to be playing for a coach like this um and a lot of the other guys who came in from the portal with me um are saying the same thing like you know having a coach as genuine as coach Fran is who cares about his players um you know more than what they do on the field but off the field as well uh it's special and I I feel like that's a big reason why he's such a successful recruiter and I feel like that's going to be a big reason why he's such a successful head coach it's our weekly visit with Kyle McCord joining us every Tuesday throughout the season getting ready for couston Ohio on Saturday 3:30 you know the deal in the dome by now we'll get into that game uh here in a second you know we've all been watching this all access show I don't know if you guys have any time to actually watch the show uh you completed a lot of balls to AE in the show yesterday how good is it to have a guy like that especially coming off you know you had Marvin Harrison now you got rande yeah I I think that rande is the best uh tight end in college football um I think you turn the tape it speaks for itself um and and I feel like everything happens for a reason obviously getting hurt last year was was not a ideal but I feel like if he he doesn't get hurt he's going on to the NFL um and he would be on an NFL roster right now so having the chance to play with him I'm extremely grateful for it and uh you mentioned Marvin I think aande reminds me of him a lot just the way they they go about their business um both coming from uh dads who played in the NFL for a while um you know he just he's a professional the way he carries himself on and off the field the way he studies the game the way he sees the game everything about him uh is just topnotch it's got to make you feel good too I mean Fran and rande had this conversation back in December R's like hey get a quarterback I'm back yeah well I guess that means you're a quarterback right I guess so work uh so he is he is here at that what kind of mismatches like obviously Marvin Harrison provides mismatches but it's more the hey he's just going to go beat your best corner Rand you he's in the middle I don't know who they're going to guard him with and keep their normal defense how screwed up can a guy like that make defenses yeah I feel like uh he has a very special skill set I feel like he's uh too big for for Corners uh too fast for for safeties and linebackers I mean he and I think on top of that just the the way he sees the game his football IQ is on another level and I feel like that's a testament to to how much time he puts in in the film room and how much he studies the game so if they want to go man I have confidence that he's going to win that one-on-one match up and then Zone I feel like he has a great feel for the game um you know running the the the route the right way versus different coverages and sitting in the zone whatever the case may be uh but it makes my job a lot easier uh cuz I feel like every single time you turn the tape 19's open that's helpful it's very helpful when he when he's he's always he's a guy he's 66 whatever he is he's open in a lot of different directions uh up there so we got Kyle McCord with us I feel you kind of saw I don't know the back half of his rehab I don't know if I've ever seen somebody so matter of fact about like a serious injury it's like well that stinks let's get surgery tomorrow and go like that's a rare attitude right yeah no I mean I I came in uh like you said towards kind of the back half of it but uh for the the first three or four months I was here he was living in the training room and he was the first one in there the last one to leave um and he was just a machine and kind of from that moment on I was like okay like this guy is is serious and obviously I watched his tape before I came here and then seeing the way he worked I was like okay like makes sense why he's so good all right take me through the New Jersey stuff on this team how how big is all this new New Jersey stuff going on I mean at this point I feel like we should just be like the South Jersey orangeman just with with how many guys we have um obviously coach Fran being the South Jersey guy and then looking around the locker room it's a lot of kids that I grew up playing football with whether it was um you know on the same youth football team seven on seven whatever the case may be there's a lot of kids that uh I had relationships with before I even made the decision to come here do you consider yourself more Jersey or or or Philly or is it the same the same deal okay Jersey I mean I went to to high school in Philly but born rays in Jersey okay so that's that's a and the South Jersey North Jersey thing oh like that's a whole thing right they're two completely different states I feel like South Jersey is uh a bunch of uh people that that moved out of Philly a lot of eagles and uh sixer fans then you go up to to North Jersey that's really just an extension of New York yeah we got to get used to it because Tommy DeVito was here a few years ago he is a a North Jersey guy through and through so we got to we got to relocate where our quarterbacks from here to to figure all this stuff out very very different thing as we got Kyle McCord with us it's game week like finally right nine months into this process you're here what what has changed in the last I don't know few days as you shift from Camp mode to Game Mode yeah um I feel like when you're in Camp mode uh my mindset is going out and beating Fidel Diggs and Justin Baron and Marlo wax like those are the guys you're competing against and then now kind of uh switch gears a little bit and you're watching film on your opponent and uh you know talking about different schemes and stuff like that and so now it's not so much about how can I beat our defense it's how can we beat Ohio's defense and Ohio is the opponent which is like just random right you coming from Ohio State I I've got to imagine I I could be wrong there's a significant crossover and fan base here I imagine a lot of people you know they went to Ohio their Ohio fans grew up Buckeye fans is that something you're aware of am I making this up what's your sense here no it definitely is crazy uh there are a few kids on the team uh that I know and just playing at Ohio State um you know you kind of keep tabs in all all the teams in Ohio and so they've done a great job especially in the last few years I think back-to-back 10- win Seasons uh a lot of talent really well coached so uh you know I've been telling the guys like this is not a team to to take lightly they have a lot of talent they're going to play hard they're going to be well coached and so uh we have to come out on Saturday and bring our best and no fr is EO the same thing right especially the back-to-back 10- win Seasons that that stands out does that really help catch your guys' attention it's not just oh this is some schools like no you may not know a lot about them but they've won 20 games the last two years yeah no 100% I think especially when you watch the film um you know they dominated a lot of the games last year um and I mean you can say what you want about the competition but I mean they they went out and they beat Iowa State last year who who in my mind is a really good team um so uh I feel like they they they bring it every single game it shows on film they have good players and they're they're well coached um so like I said I think uh this is you know definitely something that that we have to take um you know the approach it the right way all right last thing uh for this week here Kyle you've run out in front of 100,000 like that's and you've done it more than once like that that's a thing but this is a new thing right like Jitters what what are you expecting nerves cool what what are you expecting when you run out of that tunnel on Saturday yeah I'm more I think excited more than anything um and just itching to get out there um you know it's been a a long offseason like the last time I played football was against Michigan uh so still have a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth so I'm excited to play um just get out there and you know finally be able to compete with you know the guys that you know have been busting my butt with the last nine months all right Kyle looking forward to watching this season good luck yes sir thank you