WMU Football Media Availability | Zahir Abdus-Salaam, Jalen Buckley, & Darren Paige | 6.16.24

so here we're in the uh halfway point of Camp um you know how's this one uh feel compared to last year you know getting through that kind of first year under a new staff um I think this year everybody's more bought in uh the chemistry of the team the offense defense being together everybody coming here working putting their um their their tool box bringing their tool box together and everybody just bought in and we're all working hard you know two new coaches for you obviously position coach and and dar Paige and offensive coordinator in Walt Bell um you know what have your thoughts have been on on how they've been helping you excel at your game um just development and details uh coach Paige is heavy on the details coach Bell is also heavy on the details uh we go over the little things cuz that's what's really matters and that's and that's what's more important and along and the little things everything else will come together and come along so working with them they just been elevating my game and elevating everybody else game you elevated your game quite a bit last year career highs across the board um you know what did you work on in the summer to try to improve further um just like I said the details my footwork my speed uh being being more mobile uh catching out the backfield running out of Back Field blocking being able to load the shoulder everything and everything like that so what do you feel are the best aspects of your game uh I feel like I'm a a decent balanced back uh I can make a guy Miss I can lower lower my shoulder uh get short yardage Downs third down fourth down conversion so I got good Vision so I think I'm more of a balanced back and do everything you're often in there on third down a lot too which sometimes means pass blocking um you know how do you take pride in that knowing that you're being counted on to help protect the quarterback as well um I think it all comes down to just your heart and your mental like just can't make sure this guy can't outdo me so and not be able to get to my quarterback so uh I take pride in that make sure that the quarterback don't get touched and just protect you're the veteran in the running back room um you know how have you developed uh into a leader and you know how have you use that to help you know assimilate the new guys into uh to the culture here um just growing up under other guys uh when I first got here uh I was under the the wing of larius uh Jackson King K Sean Tyler so they paid the way for me and was was great leaders and great role models for me so going back as I'm the older guy in the group I just look back to those times and remember what they've done for me so I'm doing the same thing for the young guys in the group that's like now so all right thanks to here thank you no problem Jaylen we're through the first half of Camp uh the running game was super important to the success of the team last year it's going to be again this year um you know what did you in the summer kind of do to prepare to know that your group is going to have to shoulder a big load um I mean I think we all came as a collective and just work every day uh especially me personally I working every day you know in the the weight room but especially this year just on the mental side of the game like reading like what I'm doing where like what defensive coverage is and fronts and stunts they running so now when I get in the game it's not so much of a reactive I know what's going to happen before it happens so yeah uh a big part of that success was also the uh the offensive line and uh you know pretty much everybody returning and and kind of everybody in that group has had either starts or a lot of work in rotation um just talk about the the big guys in front of you um I mean those are the best man uh I would say the best in the country for my experience but um it's nice having all five of them back um a lot of experience like you said um just grateful just blessed you know new new position coach for you um and Darren pagee and then new offensive coordinator um you know how has the offense the new offense been going um and then how do coach Paige kind of help you elevate your game gotcha so uh we got coach Paige here at the end of the spring so it I mean a beginning of Spring right before Spring ball uh but it's been nice he's a great addition the whole offense is great uh especially new transfers coming in and then the new coaches coming in I mean everything feel like I feel like we never missed the beat like going off the season the offense is like somewhat the same just same like that and then uh back to coach Paige the mentor side of the game like I said the summer I came in with him like almost all the time just to work on uh my mental game you talked about the new additions and some transfers um every running back in that group is pretty different um I guess just talk about you know what you've seen out of the the new guys and you know maybe the youngsters from last year that have developed gotcha um yeah I mean everyone here is great man as you can see everybody's getting extra work in after practice I think it's just the culture we built here with Lance Taylor and then everybody's brought in especially the Freshman The Freshman have came in and definitely showed out this game uh and then personally with the room I feel like our room is very versatile like we have big backs small fast backs big fast backs and everyone can just do everything so any given day somebody can go in and make a play for our room and then uh you know this is your first year with your younger brother on the team uh have any fun with that yet um yeah I see him every here now uh I try not to make it too like personal where I'm here and he's here just so he can get a college experience like I had and just like I want a college experience like I'm here by myself but every now and then we do see each other I mean it's pretty cool just a testament how great of parents we have and then last question you happy with your EA Sports college football rating I mean it is what it is uh a game is a game at the end of the day uh but I heard they're boosting the ratings every week so maybe I can get a boost later on all right thanks jayen thank you all right talking running backs with H coach Darren Paige uh coach you got here just kind of before Spring ball in the winter there um you got to kind of see a film view of the guys you know what were your first initial thoughts of your running back group uh first of all it's just a tremendous opportunity to be here and working with Coach Taylor and this group of guys you know Jaylen Buckley and oldie and just having an opportunity to work with those guys because you when you turn on the film and you start studying them it's a tough hard hard hat just hard-nosed group of guys that runs really hard and play hard play the game the way it's supposed to be played so it's I'm grateful to have the group that I do and the way they attack their preparation and practice and it's it's been fun it's what what I saw on film is is what I get every day was there something on film maybe that didn't that doesn't show up that uh you know you see in practice now every day um I I think it's just the the ability like I challenge them about finishing plays whether they have the football where they don't have have the football and them like like actively actually attacking that really going after finishing plays going to fine block you know people to block or whatever the whatever the play is just going to make sure that they are always giving Max effort on every single opportunity because you never know and I I think that that was one thing that maybe it wasn't emphasized that's something that I've emphasized with them and they and they've seen the benefits of it by putting themselves in position to help their teammates as well as themselves so as a running backs coach you also had to be pretty excited when you saw that offensive line and what was returning right absolutely like you can't I mean you can't be a great running back without a great offensive line and those guys are they're so knowledgeable they all the experience that they've had the playing the Reps that are in front of us it's it shows up every single day and it's it's nice the way that they work with us communication is really really clear it's nice to be able to have my guys learn from them especially the young guys being able to see how how it's supposed to go the correlation between the running backs and the offensive line so it's been great everybody in that running back room is a little different in terms of style play um how does that kind of lead towards the the success of the group I mean I think it I think it makes us hard to defend it's just like almost like a basketball team you don't want every single player have the same exact skill set so it's nice to have guys that have different skill sets that can bring different things to the table and now it's up to us as coaches to be able to put those guys in position to be a be able to utilize those skills and help make us successful so it's it actually it's it's nice to have you know the downhill guys nice to have the guys in space you know with the long speed to be able to hit home runs and we can just you know as far as strategy put them in the right places and let them do what they do all right thanks coach all right no problem man appreciate perfect thank you