Akheem Mesidor Updates Injury Status + Riley Williams, Cam McCormick & Elija Lofton on TE Production

Akheem Mesidor how's everything going for you out there um how much are you able to do this spring and uh is it coming back to you quickly yeah uh football is like riding a bike um I get to do what I can in the uh indivi like individuals um during breaks I'll make sure to get extra stuff with JT and stuff um but just doing as much as I can and just I mean how good was it for you last year I mean obviously missed pretty much the whole year what was going through that like for you it was hard it's always hard when uh you play the sports you love um but it was good to be able to watch my brothers out there play um I was just a coach on the field basically I did everything I could I could to help and it's it's sad but everything happens for a reason and hopefully this year can be my year it was still the same like nagging like foot thing right yeah so what what exactly is that like is like just like inflamation that or no I had to get surgery for my foot okay do you have a timeline on when you'll be a full go um I'm currently just waiting on on um shoes from Adidas um I had to get a special pair because it's just my feet my feet just weren't doing well with any regular shoe so I'm really just waiting on shoes and then I'll be full go so excitement knowing that in I guess what 6 months now you're going to be back out on the football field uh doing what you do I'm excited um I've been waiting for this for a while um by the time I get back it'll be almost a year since I played football so I'm nerv nervous but excited seems like the the def the defensive line ler just didn't miss a beat like ribon Bane established himself and now there's a bunch of guys on the line very talented group just I mean what's the competition like with in that room everybody's trying to compete at the end day we're all Brothers but we're all fighting for the same thing so we're going to compete but we're also going to love each other up you still planning on playing on the edge this year or be mixing up Edge and inside I'll mix it up okay hey I saw and they might asked you this that you wear some kind kind of like sneakers or something I don't know what different yes during practice I just wear regular running shoes um because of my cleat situation they haven't come in yet but that's why I'm only able to do Indie and I'm really limited because I can't really go up against a live person with shoes on all slip and it could possibly be I could possibly hurt myself or somebody else that whole injury last year I guess for that was all your one of your feet right you had told us and it kind of just lingered or I ended up getting getting it fixed gettingg surgically repaired and um off season like spring dur during the season last season yeah and then how how so now you're just waiting at CLE I'm just okay how much can you do in practice now really just individual stuff hitting the bags moving around a little bit um doing stuff with JT but nothing nothing live nothing against somebody else do you expect to be an end tackle both I'm I'm going to play all over the line um really I'm I'm a defensive line people ask what I play I just say defensive line cuz I play inside and out are you the same weight since you were in 22 or 23 or same weight um but I changed my body comp lower fat percentage higher muscle so yeah same weight just different what impressed you most about what R did last year as a true he was a dog he showed everybody what he could do what he's capable of and um I was right there with him the whole the whole way and I would just encourag him every game I made sure I gave him more confidence to try to talk to tell him that he's a great player tell him remember who you are remember what you're capable of know what you're capable of and I love watching him play he's he he made me like watching him just just gave me a sense of excitement and it just made me feel just proud happy for him happy for the dine just I love watching Ruben play it's great and now you're GNA get to be a tandem with him yeah now me and Ruben are gonna going cause destruction together so you're similar players you feel like you guys can play together at the same time yeah of course of course I'll play inside he play outside if he wants to switch it up I don't know how much Ruben wants to play inside but um when we're both on the line it'll be it'll be hard for people to block us was it how tough was it last season sitting out all those games it was really hard um I love football I love to play football that's what I've been doing since I was 8 years old so sitting out uh it hurts it hurts a lot but um everything happens for reason and hopefully this year I can make a difference talk about some of the the new additions on the dline guys like Altin and and Marley cook and CJ Clark and do you think the dline can be even better this year than it was last year yeah of of course um we got new guys both all three of them everybody who's come in has been working showing who who they are what they're capable of I'm excited to play with them and I'm just I'm ready to compete with them and against them was it your a or your it was my foot the bottom of my foot what was what was the it was um I tore a ligament in the bottom of my foot okay and you got it surgically repair and how are the cleats different you know what I mean I I I don't know I've asked so many questions nobody knows yeah is it your left or right both Bo yeah so you had both rep yeah anything else with when do you get your new shoes I have no idea they said uh within 6 days and this was last month so hopefully hopefully within the next month yeah it takes time rley uh you feeling more comfortable this Riley Williams time this year than you did when you came in as a true freshman oh yeah definitely I mean this is the second go round for me now so it's really just about getting better all around in my game so just working on every area in terms of blocking pass catching and knowing the whole offense and just I talking with with Coach Dawson with Coach Woody hle I mean obviously tight ends didn't get super super involved in the passing game last how much do you guys expect that to change this year um I mean early on I mean as y'all can see like during seven on seven one-on On's like um it's just that building trust with the all our QBs cuz we know all our QBs um they can throw the ball every single one of them doesn't matter which one is back there so for us it's just about you know getting open um giving ourselves the opportunity to get that ball and I feel like this year we're we're expecting to get a lot of touches in this tit of room and it seems it seems like there's a lot of talent in that room you and the elij and Cam and seems like every day we're at practice someone's making another one hand catch how does that drive you guys um honestly uh it drives us as like we're tight like I say our tight in room is uh we're a really tight group we hang out a lot outside the facility outside of practice outside of meetings uh we'll go out to eat together go to each other's houses we'll hang out so it's it's really us building the connection and we're pushing each other every day we're holding uh all of ourselves accountable really every day practice and just what hanging out outside it's uh I mean you got you and Elijah often are younger guys Elijah Roy a little bit older Cam's a little bit older what's that Dynamic like you have Elijah Lofton who is 18 I guess and C like 26 and stuff what's that like uh well I like to think about it is uh Cam's our grandpa uh Elijah's the dad U I'm the middle child and we got L E's the youngest so it's it's cool to think about that way like I said building that uh all building that relationship we took uh Elijah Lofton and uh um and we're showing him the ropes I mean we all learned from Cam and Elijah cuz you know they're the oldest ones in the in our room so it's fun talk about those battles and you know the one-on ones I saw you you know shping a little bit you know how awesome is that you know seeing those you know battles you know early on in Camp it's fun I mean uh we live for it we live for the competition like I said this year like we're hoping to get we're we're not hoping we're expecting to get um a lot of touches this year so um just building that connection with our QBs like uh like he said I uh catch today a lot of us like we talk like we're going to talk you know we make a good play like we're going to talk to each other and that just motivates uh us what's changed Riley um you you talking about we're going to get a lot of touches this year what's different like what's changed from last uh what's different is you know just like the trust Factor um we us as a tight end room like we work on our stuff uh every day we work on our uh route running we work on our uh catching abilities whether that's throwing with the QBs uh before after practice when we were in our uh workouts uh before Spring ball you know throwing every day after our uh our workouts so just building that connection like and we know uh us as a titand room we have a we have a wide range of ability like we all have different skill sets and we're all going to contribute our skill sets to the team to you know ultimately make us great working with a couple new quarterbacks this year what stands out most about cam Ward and Reese pen Barker uh stands out most is uh I say I mean honestly like they're dudes like they can throw the ball they they're um they're well versed in um everything to be honest with you uh they can throw deep they can throw short they can throw medium they they understand the off uh the defenses they can read so they're going to throw to the open guy regardless they're going to find us and not just them too um JB you know JB's got that arm he's throwing that we got emry who's coming back you know from from that uh significant arm injury and he's feeling his way back so it's really excited it's it's we got a really good honestly QB room so how how's uh Elijah you know he's a new guy Elijah Lofton what what is he doing well what does he do well talk about him a little bit um to be honestly he's doing everything well um in terms of I mean you seen him he's uh he's out there playing not only just tight end he's playing running back he's playing slot uh they're using him kind of all around the field cuz he's allaround gu he can make those plays we like to think of him as a a like a like a little Debo Samuel you know he's uh he's able to do everything and he's like you see he's make a one-handed catches he's he knows how to make the plays so for him now it's just um being able to learn the offense you know coming from that transition from straight out of high school to college now so he's got to learn a fast-paced offense and he's picking it up well what can you learn from cam Corman oh everything I mean he's I tell one thing that I really uh learned from him was um the ability to read coverage um the ability to um tell what a Defender is going to do by his leverage on the field and he really taught me that a lot which is helpful so you hoping to be a nine-year guy now you hoping to stick around for a while um you know we'll see like like I said this is the second go round and uh we're expecting to get a lot of touches this year so um you know we'll see where that goes from your perspective um how much of a jump has Elijah Royo made from last year to this year I mean a big jump uh you can tell uh he was a little banged up um last year of course um it sucks you know going through injuries but you know how it is and you know a power five football you're going to go through some injuries some obstacles but um he's like that I mean he's he's doing everything you want a tight end to do he's he knows he knows what he's doing he does it well he's making plays yeah so last year a source of frustration or did you guys guys in your room have a feeling that we have to earn the trust of of Coach dawon we have to earn those looks on game day I mean um yeah I would say we all a little frustrated but I mean it comes with it you can't do nothing about it control the controllable so I mean this year like we said we're going to prove a point we're going to um we're going to prove to everyone on our team that we're we're reliable we can make those plays um and we can do everything that you'd want to tight end to do on the field cuz you nine going so far it's Cam McCormick good man I'm enjoying it you know with the guys the offense the team uh just enjoying the moment you know being being where my feet are and and just enjoying every day so we can remember this your what's your birthday today it's April 2nd yeah happy birthday seriously yeah it's today wow birthday today you are how old today we don't need to talk about that 26 happy birth appreciate it thanks guys so what was the the decision process like for you thinking about whether decide whether come back for a ninth year just the guys around here really um you know the tight end room that the team the coaches it was really it all played a factor and like just I just want to leave here on my terms rather than like not on my terms and and the coaches the players the guys around it it made it a really an easy decision for me to to want to do that um and that's why I decided to come back young guy in that tied L lock kind of making some noise what are your impression for ear he's doing a really good job and he's elevating everybody in this room and needs to keep holding himself to a high standard cuz he's going to be a play a big role in this offense for us this year and I guess what what do you want to improve the most on going you know in the spring and and going into the ball uh I just want to become a better leader I mean you know scratch that I don't even want that what I want to improve on is building up the guys around me and having these guys be excited for each other's success CU there this room is going to be there's going to be a lot of success in this room and I don't want guys to get to that selfish aspect um I want us to all celebrate each other's success and and build each other up when we get out there and we we each make a play and we can all be happy for each other and Riley was saying that you guys hang out a lot you know off the field just you know on a day-to-day kind of basis what are what are those you know what are that what's that like for you guys yeah we we want to be a connected room um so we try outside of here like obviously we're brothers here but when we leave here we want to get together go eat hang out kind of do those things outside of football because this life is more about more than football um so just being able to build those relationships that those lifelong relationships with each other is is kind of what we try to do so what kind of role are you trying to carve for yourself on this team I'm really I'm willing to do whatever I they they want me to do whether that's run block pass catch uh whatever that is be a leader you know whatever my role is I'm going to you know approach my rule 100% and and uh and give it my and being a ninth year guy that's not a a common path as far as I know you're the you'll be the first ninth year college players what's that I guess like is it weird knowing that like this is a brand new thing a brand new situation for kind of the whole country um I I wouldn't really say it's weird um you know obviously that I had some unfortunate circumstances that happened um and I've been blessed to be able to play this long um so I mean it's definitely cool I mean I'm the first person to play n years like that's that's something that holds value to it you know what I'm saying so and I don't know if another person will ever you know get to that point but U no it it's cool to I guess own that title but yeah ideally no one will because that means they have to get hurt and stuff and go through hurt Co all that type of stuff so yeah how's Elijah Royo been looking to you it seems like this is the healthiest he's been in a long time I imagine he probably leans on you given what you've gone through in your career yeah he's doing he's doing really good um obviously he's like you said his back healthy um looking really good um explosive and fast and you know his ability is out the roof so he's he's been showing a lot of us teammates and I know a lot of good positive things so look forward to seeing what he can do this year what about the progress of Riley Williams who we just talked to uh seeing him heading into his second year yeah R you know last year Riley came he was young same with Elijah those guys were Elijah LOF and they were they were both young so the growth Riley's made from year one to year two has been you know it's been huge um and and I've been happy to see where his growth has come because obviously that's like a little brother to me so trying to get him to you know look at it a in a different lands um it's helped him out a lot and what about Jackson haror who's you know he's still you know learning the position I'm sure like you know he was new to the new to the yeah he was new to football last year um he's doing a lot better this year um I think with anybody's playing football for the first time there's things that you got to work on and and that's goes for everybody as well but he's obviously came came in playing football later so it's taking him he's behind the eightball so we're trying to you know throw as much as at we can as him to help him get better and help him be that player that he wants to be so any more specifics on Elijah often you know what he what is he doing well I know he's a freshman but he's doing everything well he he just needs to keep diving down with his head down and go to work every day like he's been doing um and the results will come cam a couple years ago you faced cam Ward the last that game it looked like it was crazy what do you remember about that game what were your impressions of Cam then and yeah Cam's a Cam's a good player um as long as all the other quarterbacks in that room they're really good players and you know they're all here competing for for that job um but playing against cam a couple years ago when I was at my previous school um he's explosive player you know he makes plays he extends plays and and you got to be ready for everything with him so I'm glad he's on our side now so Elijah you know your first spring Elija Lofton here just uh what's it been like kind of learning the ropes and everything um it been first of all it been a blessing be able to play football to get my love and I'm just looking up to the big guys like Riley Elijah Cam he's teaching me everything me soaking it up and trying to use it to help me get better every day Elijah I watched you when you were in high school too and um you know you're not the biggest guy in the field you're not the fastest guy on the field but you're no matter when you're out there you're just balling uh talk a little bit about like where that mindset comes from and you know what's in your head through all this what's in my head is just just play Fast play physical like just ball just like height speed don't mean nothing it just means like it's in your heart and what you do as a person like if you want to you can do anything you want to do in life I feel like so me I just go out there have fun just do what I can make plays and what do you think sorry what do you uh think you've learned so far from the older guys like Cam and um Elijah Ro Royo and even guys like Riley other a lot like route running blocking technique hands placement blocking mostly just blocking routes being more physical learning A playbook and stuff like schemes defense there a lot of things Ro uh describe you as a little DB stand was there anyone that you kind of model your game after pick up pieces from uh I do look up to I do pick some gamees up for dvo but another I look up to is brend Jordan he's um like a big brother to me so I be L some his game and andly to mine how often did you talk to him reever yeah since I was in high school he always come back and talk to us always testing him getting advice and stuff what's he told you before the spring you know what's some of the stuff he's told you told me to go be great told me to stay disciplined stay locked in be humble and just go make plays and ball out he's probably glad you picked um right what did you say about um he was just happy he was like he told me made the best decision for me as a kid as a person so he he doesn't matter he didn't tell me to come here he just said make the best decision and I feel like this decision was best for me and also cam of the cam McCormick specifically I mean a guy who's in his ninth year college football what have you learned from him specifically how can he help you he's he's really smart with the game he learns you know a lot about defense blocking routes basically a lot of like reading defense blocking schemes where the defense is how the alignment FL do stuff like that you talked about your mindset so where did that come from was it your parents uh my mom my mom she always pushed me every day to could be the best man I can be on and off the field so my mindset really comes with her cuz she's a hard working young lady what does she do what what's her for work I mean for work she does a lot of things she's always with church she worked with the school district so she just busy working hard so I get everything from her she a teacher or no she do like the financial stuff behind the financial stuff like okay yeah we see you're listed at tight end but we see you get work in multiple different spots including running back uh is that always something kind of understood you would do or whose idea was it to work you out at multiple spots I just came here to play ball and get on the field so anything coach crystal ball coach wood any coach need me to do something I'm just going to do it try it go hunting full speed and then just do it the best I can how comfortable do you feel in the back field comfortable it's football you got to be comfortable I feel You' be comfortable anywhere you got to line up and just go and play ball what do you like about running back just that playing that position just helping the team I do whatever I do to help the team be be elite be great what is your height weight right now it's two 235 40 and how you doing with the Playbook you know you know playing different roles comes with a lot of responsibility to know them uh how how's that coming along it was hard at first but I'm Every Day I'm getting better and learning from the older people learning from coaches so I'm learning I'm still getting in there so what's it like working you come in you get to work with a you know quarterback like cam W it's it's a blessing to have a good quarterback and it's like he's really smart with the game he's a good quarterback he knows his game he know what to do he know what to check and call so it's like basically it's blessing to be able to have a quarterback like that what what was I guess the biggest adjustment for you just even on the field off the field just being in college you know long way from home and everything just being away from my family that's really what it is but I'm a adjusted to it I'm happy to be here and I'm just working did you grow up in Las Vegas Yes I did you did so you flied there your whole Lifey yes ma'am a lot different from South Florida what do you think a lot different yeah talk to us about that amazing it's really it's different the weather's different the like City's different it's more crazy out here but do you like it here yeah I like it here what kind of stuff do you do just for fun for fun I'll be hanging out with the other guys so like they take me to like the mall and stuff just chilling like we don't really be doing stuff we just be chilling you played against you know some of your teammates now in high school against sh Central have you talked to you know guys like ZW about those games they they still they still kind of mad about it but we we teammates now so we he's working he's getting better every day e