2024 Idaho State Football Fall Camp - Hawkins Presser 1

yeah uh summer nowadays looks much different than it did you know 5 years ago uh let alone back when when I played but you know having the opportunity to have that 8-week period with the guys and being able to do drills on the field it really changes the way you you install you prepare and kind of the way you integrate into fall Camp you spend so much time with your guys over the summer that fall Camp is less about getting in shape and conditioning and more about refining the tools and getting used to the physical contact and technique that it takes uh to execute at a high level and I thought our guys had a fantastic summer I've said you know I'm sure other people in the country had great Summers too but I don't know if there's anybody in the country who had a better summer than we did just cuz our guys did such a great job you know we had a 116 guys here all summer uh which is more than we had last year and you know ended up went down only 110 were able to suit up and play today but there were a lot of guys that were here putting the prerequisite work really since you know Memorial Day that's kind of when we treat the start of the season now and uh man it was it was fun to see him come out today there's always you know there's something different about having a helm on and getting have the jerseys on that uh just makes makes it feel like there's a little bit of an uptick but our guys are definitely ready to go and we're excited about you know refining uh as we get ready to build up for that first game Cody you can't hit yet so what are the most important things what are your priorities before you can start having contact I think the biggest one is just attitude and effort being able to see guys finish football drills uh going full speed and doing what's asked of them it's kind of nice to be able to do a lot of things without contact because whether it's alignment assignment communication you want to get those in place before you really start going it's kind of like you know driver head you want your kid to be able to learn to drive in a safe space and it might be in a parking lot before you start adding live bullets because if they're worrying about getting hit and trying to think about what their Gap is and what their depth is and what their assignment is then uh I think it's probably a little bit more dangerous that way but it's good to focus on uh you know kind of what guys should be doing and give them the lay of the land at full speed and then go out and play Big Boy football and actually rack a little bit from a Personnel perspective did everybody come back that you anticipated have there been any changes any anybody lose anybody yeah we we have not lost anybody over the summer everybody everybody that's been here since a memorial day that we kind of talked about at the end of May is is still here and ready to roll and uh uh as of now I mean hey day one we're healthy um shocker but uh yeah it's uh it'll be interesting to see how we go through Camp obviously we have to manage that we have a plethora of seniors which is fantastic for our leadership and experience those always go into building a successful program uh but you also know some of these guys have six years of wear and tear on their body now with the co year so um we got a lot of young guys we got to integrate make sure they get a lot of reps we have a lot of other guys that we have to continue to fine-tune and help compete but do so in a way that's smart for their bodies what's the most important thing to accomplish between now and the opening day of football without a doubt I think it's it's trusting each other um just because camaraderie is so important going throughout a football season but also trusting each other to make plays who can I count on as a human who can I count on to to go make plays for me when it really matters uh whether it's a linebacker trusting a d linan to stay in his Gap a quarterback trusting a receiver to go make a catch that's really what you're trying to build I I think schematically you're able to do so much with the guys now in the summer you kind of know what route combinations you want to have together how you're going to handle certain Blitz pickups and uh but man you just really don't know until you can turn up the dial a little bit from a competition standpoint and see who can respond and it's fun you know sure enough there there's some kids that were true freshmen that look like chickens with their head cut off in the summer but running around in pads today they look like they can play some football and and you got some other guys that when their elements of spontaneity and it's not just a drill that they're not able to react quite as fluidly as you may have anticipated over the summer so uh playing football is definitely different than uh than running the other drills so building that trust in uh in each other kind of building the team chemistry is really important but also knowing who can go out and make plays and you can trust on the field everybody's going to watch the quarterback competition how do you grade that have you got a uh a chart that says here's the the um the drills that we're going to put them through here's how we're going to grade the the progress yeah I'll uh I'll bring in some of those sheets next time and I'll I'll actually show you what we do so we we have a category that we break down um obviously you have a operational successes and errors that that we want to go whether it's you know Mission a protection call Mission a check uh anything operationally that the quarterback may have done well or Miss uh then there's also a category for you know operated as needed uh it's not necessarily Plus or negative you just did what you're supposed to do same thing for throws um you know did they make a was it a great read was it an evident read was it a poor read uh you have different categories for throws you have throws you have big time throws that man that was hard to make and then there's some throws that everybody in this room could have made um that you know and you have to grade those differently it's been interesting to see the NFL move towards that total qbr rather than quarterback rating because hey third down in Red Zone matters more and we try and find Opportunities to grade those so we'll have competitive periods the quarterbacks will get to do and we'll grade those and add them and subtract them from their score cuz if you look great in seven on but every time we put on pads you can't complete a pass that's going to be an issue and we want to try and find that out as soon as possible uh we also talk a lot about explosive plays completion percentage uh turnover to touchdown ratio and total turnovers and we also chart you know turnover worthy plays so if you're throwing interceptions that guys drop in my mind you still have to count that as an interception and uh all of those things go I mean there's there's a factor of about 15 things that we chart the guys on every single day Colony Castle a great job talking to them they're all having having a ton of fun competing uh and I really appreciate all the hard work that uh Coy Castle has done and all the quarterbacks in that room over the summer and I'm excited to see it play out over the fall what other positions are their U real competitions right now sheez you know I think uh there's competition everywhere I I think the running back room is really interesting just because you have kooa or lone returner in the running back room is extremely talented you got Dace in the converted line linebacker Donnie the grad transfer and then you have you know Jackson riddle and Carson Sudbury here are some true freshman in the mix and then huntera coming in from w i mean there's nobody in that room who's not ready to play but none of them have played extensively so it's uh going to be interesting to see those guys continue to compete and again you kind of got to get out the you know the fine tooth comb and figure out who's who's doing what appropriately and put them through some adversity to see how they respond and try and mimic uh real life football as much as possible uh I I think kind of figuring out the the slots is going to be interesting for us just because there's there's so much talent in that room of guys that we think could could end up being special and obviously with the production of Chay and leaving there's there's a lot of touches in there somewhere that we have to look at I think on defense we love our leadership at dline and in the secondary you know all those guys are coming back um even at linebacker there are some seniors but uh they're they're strong there as well and they're competing and uh really excited to see some of the young guys kind it's you know it's the competition for depth is really exciting places like corner and linebacker when's your first scrimmage uh first time it won't be a full-on game scrimmage but we're going to have a bunch of live periods will be next Saturday so this Saturday will be the first opportunity to create some game situations but we're still technically in shells uh um so we'll try and be as physical as we can be within the bounds of the rules uh we'll go live next Wednesday and next Saturday and then we'll have scrimmages on the 17th and the 24th the 17th will be more of a game likee scrimmage and then the one that's on the 24th is more of a rehearsal just to go through operationally which you'll do on a game but probably won't take guys to the ground you're going to practice more inside or outside uh you know a little bit of both I'd like to get some outside practices in just knowing where we're at but the reality I mean we play Eight Games inside this year and our two out two of our outside games are going to be you know at the beach first week of October and at Oregon State Labor Day weekend so I don't know if weather's necessarily going to be a factor until we get to November and it'll be a massive Factor so I mean having the opportunity to play at North Dakota and any mixed in with those being in the dome is going to be important for us obviously ICCU is put in that massive Jumbotron for us which restricts our space a little bit for the next two days uh but we'll uh we'll do inside and outside I think it's good to get some vitamin D get some sunshine get outside uh but I do want our guys to make sure that playing indoors is something they're comfortable with because you know a lot of people think hey playing indoors is is it is an advantage but when people come here it's a little bit weird picking up the ball and the lights and understanding that so it's something we want to make sure we're comfortable with I would say it probably be somewhere near a 7030 split once both fields are open speaking of Outdoors you know guys we're definitely battling the elements today it was hot was about 100 degrees um I mean how how did the guys do and then maybe what advantages are there to getting some of these hot practices in yeah I think it's definitely harder earlier in Camp because you're getting used to wearing a lid they haven't worn a helmet in you know five months but uh I think there are elements of adversity that you always try and manufacture and practice sometimes it can be a tough competitive period but hey when you don't don't have pads on you almost Embrace that this is adversity in itself that this is hot and it's one thing to recognize that it's absolutely hot outside but what are we going to do to overcome it what are we going to do to make sure it doesn't become a distraction that what whether there's 5T of snow on the ground or it's 110 degrees we got to go out and play football and you know the cool thing about football is the other team's always going to deal with the same elements you do who's going to respond to it better so uh whether it's rain snow shine heat uh we're always going to do our best to recognize the possibility of adversity but we don't want to become a part of it and today heat was uh the opportunity to overcome um Cody you have a you have a really stacked receiver CT this year um going into fall Camp going through fall Camp um what's the what's the way to balance this idea of guys that are going to get playing time and still building depth of the entire cor well one thing that we do a lot of I mean we're going to spend a lot of time in two groups you know they're at the end of practice we're not hitting yet but I mean we're going to go in three groups a practice and we're going to get more reps than most anybody in America so even if you may not be a guy that is you know pushing for playing time right now at least in the eyes of the people that are here immediately you're going to get an opportunity to put stuff on tape and show that you can make football plays and it's kind of like you have the three groups and if you make plays in group three you move up to group two and vice versa but I also like intermixing some of the young guys with the old guys to see this is what it's like this is the expectation level of execution and communication that has to happen if I want to play eventually so uh I think it's getting guys a lot of reps and everybody gets an opportunity the biggest thing you want to do is be smart about making sure guys work together so I want to make sure that you know the guys that are potentially going to start at quarterback are probably going to spend less time thrown to the true freshman and that starting offensive line group you want to get them as many reps together as possible receivers it's less important because you're not working on double teams together but quarterback to receiver chemistry is extremely important lineman to lineman chemistry is really important have you got a starting lineup yet for the offensive line uh we don't uh I mean Alex Ramirez is going to start for us at Center uh that's probably the only thing I can tell you for darn sure CU we have a lot of athletic guys I mean joran Miller's going to play whether it's a right tackle left tackle I'm not sure um you know J Jaden Garcia started Force at Right Guard I would imagine he'll start Force at Right Guard this year Striker Reed has stepped in and done a wonderful job but he has to continue to do a great job in Camp and then right tackle's been a little bit of of a battle because uh whether jorgan stays there and we go with some of the other guys we have experience at left uh we're integrating everybody there trying to find our best five but man I feel great about our I we have eight or nine guys that I would feel comfortable starting in a football game but find in the chemistry the best five and where they're at is really important is that a plethora of riches compared to the offensive line at the end of the last seon yeah I mean at the end of last season absolutely just because where we were at and you know some of that's my fault from of changing the program of trying to you know working on the identity and then kind of trying to fill the cabinet afterwards uh but I mean our guys have done an unbelievable job it's a huge credit to to Jeff Pitman and the strength staff and the work that they put in a huge credit to the players for taking advantage of our Nutri nutritional benefits here whether it's a black label or nutrition budget uh the strength and conditioning the new weight room those guys have done a great job and uh I'm excited to see that stuff play out in the fall because we'll definitely uh we'll definitely be able to play more balanced football which is going to be important if we want to be more competitive in this conference what difference did the new weight room make to you this summer you know I think the biggest thing is just the sense of Pride that the players is able to have that we constantly making improvements and you know it's one thing about you know your weight room is did our old weight room do the job yes 45 lb weights weigh 45 lbs but if you know you have a worse High worse weight room than you did in high school it's just showing that you have support and you have backing and that's one of the great things about being at idah state is the community cares and having the opportunity to show that they care you know Calvin pitcher we're doing a thing where every day in Camp our leaders kind of have the opportunity to address the team and run the team meeting and Calvin pitcher spoke today about gratitude and just how many things have changed since he's been here many things that I didn't even realize changed right before I got here here I mean I've been so blessed that there have been so many improvements over the last 18 months since I've arrived that it's it's been special and uh I think our guys see that and they understand that hey there's there's support here we are working hard but other people are working hard for us too and when that love and appreciation hard work is reciprocated I think it's it's good for those guys to feel proud of what they're doing know that they're valued uh as far as their sense of worth is it it helps them go a little bit further helps them go a little bit harder uh functionally it creates much more space for us uh able to get 16 racks in there instead of 15 and just these racks we have double racks in the middle instead of having individual racks that add an extra 3 four feet of space in there so being able to lift 50 guys in there instead of 30 has made us much more efficient in there um and then on this one's my last one but um we've had people asking so let's just go ahead and ask it how is it having Dan on the staff how's it having your dad on the staff and uh what role does he actually play with your coaching group yeah so uh I think his job title is something fancy like a the D dor of player and staff development and the reason you know you come up with something like that and people might go oh that's not you know he's not a coordinator or what but I mean really that that's what my dad does best I mean he's a he's a master of developing people he's a master of developing units and position groups and and Guy sense of self he does an awesome job mentoring coaches and that's something that I recognize I I I totally believe in my competence as a coach but having the opportunity to get 40 plus years of experience at a really high level who can be an extra set of eyes I love feedback I crave feedback and I think I'm always Sol listening feedback from our staff but you know you know you're still like the head head coach and whether guys are willing to give feedback or maybe not experienced enough to give the feedback at the level that you want he brings it in Spades you know my team meeting this morning he s he ripped me to shreds gave me 10 meetings about you know 10 notes and I mean he's able to communicate in a good manner and whether he's helping out special teams or the Specialists or the defense or you know our receiver guys we have a lot of young coaches on staff that can really benefit from that amount of wisdom and I can't be in everybody's room all the time and I really trust him how he handles people how he promotes the culture his ability to teach and his passion for developing people is unmatched and just the ability to to have that type of experience in this program is going to really help us uh help us go in the future very good you know sorry one more one more so tomorrow we're GNA hear from Josh Ronda he's going to be the coach of the press conference what should the bang fans look out for with Mr Ronda this year okay ronda's got a lot of things going for him he is he's smart he's hardworking he's humble he's probably the best looking dude on staff he he's he's got an incredible life story and I hope you guys get the opportunity to ask him about it you know he'll say you know he started in Ohio boy and he's continued to move west but he does an unbelievable job running that defense and I think the type of relationships he's able to have with a guy is the his ability to teach I think the culture in that room is just is absolutely incredible the linebacker room does a great job I mean they they live and breathe them he has a great relationship with with them people gravitate towards him you know he's kind of got that got that it factor that a lot of coaches wish they had but um he is a hardworking dude you talk about being blue collar he's an Ohio guy but you know if you think about Ohio I mean Ohio is to the east coast Midwest kind of what Idaho is I mean you want bluecollar hardworking guys and that dude I mean it's I mean he's he's going to beat most coaches into the office he's going to stay later than most coaches he's going to spend more time watching tape diving into the details he's an excellent teacher he's an excellent speaker Ronda will not be at Idaho state for long he's he's too talented I mean he's got a bright future in the game he knows enough people he asks the right questions he takes feedback great and just the way people relate to him is something special and uh people notice I mean he had the opportunity to leave last year and ended up staying just because it wasn't the right opportunity but um as much as I love him he's he's Bound for big things and we'll try like heck to keep him here as long as we can and uh we're sure lucky to have him in black and orange