Football - Miami (Ohio) Postgame Press Conference (8/31/2024)

I saw uh some opportunities to to grow and and get better in terms of protecting the football um I saw a lot of poise U maturity competitive Spirit um I saw someone that you know was efficient in the passing game um you know was able to make I mean opening throw shot down the field that was awesome to see and someone that uh really has the ability to put stress on defenses by extending plays scrambling to pick up first downs and and being utilized uh you know strategically in quarterback run game with three guys who have really earned their keep on this team in past years on special teams for them to come in and make such an impact on the defensive end what does that really say about the culture of development that you guys have on this team exactly what you just said devel developmental program you know everyone's a special teams player there's transferable skills coach katton talks about it all the time you know special teams are your Proving Ground you know and uh to see Heaven Smith the growth that that young man has had you know since Spring ball like incredible the weight that he's put on the confidence that he's showing for him to come up with that interception like awesome and you know Robert Fitzgerald the fall camp that he had um you know for to see him come up in such a critical situation like I I I couldn't be more proud and excited for those guys and Brandon Turner like you know that position is not an easy position to play it's a critical role within our defense and for him to step up and play the way that he's playing uh you know really proud of those three young men individually and um you know we talk about next man up you know we got a developed entire roster we got 111 young men that just got to keep getting better every day and uh those guys did that for the last couple years maybe didn't you know like their role last year but now it's their time to shine and so cool to see see them do that this afternoon overall what do you think of your defense today and as your offense was kind of getting things together how nice was it have to have your defense playing that well and kind of shutting them down yeah no I really proud of our defensive effort proud of the our ability to you know uh be super efficient against the Run game uh proud of our ability to get after the quarterback I think we even left a couple opportunities out there in terms of you know setting those guys back um you know I I I think there's certainly some some areas for us to continue to improve and some areas that we can continue to clean up um I think as an overall team you know you you could sense that momentum in the second half where we're starting to wear our opponent down and you know our defense continue continue needs to continue to understand when we get that sense man three and out takeway we need to give it back to the offense offense needs to go put somebody away um but you know I I I'm I'm I'm thrilled with the way that we we play defensively and the thing that's going to be fun is we'll go back and watch the film and and recognize that there's there's areas that we can continue to grow D I know film will tell you more but when you look at the defensive line I me four sacks 40 yards rushing what was one way that you saw that they kind of this when where you take over yeah you know I I think our guys did a good job um number one in the Run game of uh you know get getting off of blocks um they were condensing gaps you know which just makes makes it easier tackles for themselves and those playing behind them um you know in in terms of of sacks one thing that we talk about a lot and Coach Smith does such a great job of this but you know everyone has this impression that sacks come from like you know an Elite pass rush or one guy winning and that pressures can come that way but sacks come from like good coverage on the back end forcing the quarterback to hold the ball and four guys or Five Guys whoever is rushing understanding how to build the pocket it's like you know the the passers mechanics of that are like the ultimate like Team game sometimes you have to own your leverage to allow someone else to get a sack and and for us to be able to do that in week one against a veteran quarterback and a good offensive line um that's excit something we're excited to build off of Coach you mentioned Mike right's ability to extend plays earlier he was excellent in the Run game today led the team in rushing what sort of Dimension you that's the off if we continue on this season yeah you know the thing that I think we got to be really aware of is you know in terms of designed Run for the quarterback uh Mike's a competitor so like if you give him gray a he's probably going to pull the ball and and put it in his own hands and uh that's something that we got to do a great job of managing you know um we we we are not going to you know identify as an offense is a primary quarterback run team you know it's got to be strategic it's got to be well thought out um but certainly in in certain situations it can be an incredible weapon uh the thing I want to make sure we continue to see and you could see it there at the end of the game is Just Mike's ability to be smart in terms of uh moving the chains in a scramble situation extending plays that we saw a big play to Thomas Gordon on uh and then and then just being really smart you can see it at the end of the game he picks up the first down he knows it's downtime once we pick up a first down and he slides you know protecting himself um can really excited to see uh him continue to grow but again from a defensive perspective uh those things are tough to defend will you try to articulate uh how how different it is for you from a year ago today essentially I'm thinking after the Ruckers game didn't go well you never won a game let alone had a season your I'm sure kind swiming and now you know year later you win an opener soon you're more kind of in command of the way things are going but how different is it for you it's it's dramatically different you know um and and you know there's a lot of factors in that as we all know but I I think the biggest thing today was not calling plays you know there there were times that honestly it was like gosh I don't know I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing with myself like you naturally like drift towards like I should be talking to the defensive staff but where I really try to be intentional is take notes you you know interject where I felt like I was bringing value without let you know making those guys get out of their Rhythm and then just trying to be really mindful of how we manage the clock how we manage situations and making sure that I'm doing everything in my power to put our team in in a position to succeed and maximize and win in the margins uh but it's uh it's definitely different uh but you know I'm I'm I'm excited to continue to grow in that space and also continue to find areas that I can even bring more value to all three phases of the game uh coach talk about offseason the offensive line was going to be a work in progress today no sacks what' you feel of their performance day just in terms of pass protection more than anything proud of those guys you know and and the thing I'll say like really proud of those guys up front but the thing that never gets mentioned when it comes to Sachs is the Ultimate Weapon against protecting against Sachs is getting the ball out on time you know a quarterback that understands what it looks like to get the ball out on time can be the ultimate asset to himself and the entire offense I think that comes from you know convicted play calling great teaching from the the quarterback coach and the offensive coordinator and then just a quarterback that's convicted and making decisions but uh cannot take anything away from the job our old line did and uh going into next week there that that that Duke defense line is is going to uh it's a talented group excited for our group to continue to build off of today uh coach in terms of the offseason position C battles we talked a lot about that Mike linebacker spot Matthew got a lot of play today you make of his performance finished with some sacks and tackles all over the field yeah so so awesome to see Mack out there you know I mean he just he embodies who we are as a in a program and as a defense so passionate plays so hard uh student of the game uh I think Mack possesses a lot of the qualities that that Bryce Gallagher did from from a standpoint of Bryce Gallagher made all 10 other guys on the field better because he was out there and I think Mack is really starting to step up in that leadership role and take command of the defense um excited for for him and you know continuing to utilize brain brush but but mck definitely look comfortable out there today yeah and then Coach you have Duke coming into town next Friday You' already mentioned how talented how talented they are um and you also mentioned how you guys have a lot to work on what are you hoping to specifically work on as you head in Bas team with who has Malik Murphy a quarterback they're going to put up some points so I'm going to assume offensiv you guys wanted to work on from today so what exactly do you want to work on knowing you're facing a team like that yeah you know I I think I think for us uh you know on the offens side of the ball it it's it's going to be um you know just just cleaning up some operational things um you know the first fumble that we have we're not aligned right and then the snap comes up early uh you know I I liked coach luhan's call uh down down near the goal line to Tempo and try and get the ball in the end zone but we we we don't take a clean snap um um you know some communication things that that can get cleaned up but all things that you know too many times today we had negative plays which put us behind the chains you know offensively we're designed to go from first and 10 to Second and six to Third and two you know and and then all a sudden offenses start to come up and now we create explosive plays and then defensively just some communication things Duke's going to do a great job of tempo on us and trying to put us on our heels uh just making sure that we can play today we did not play our cleanest game it's getting all 11 guys on the same page every single play and regardless if there's a check made by somebody that's not the right check who cares just get all 11 on the same page I'm really confident that when when our group uh does that they're they're they're a pretty stingy group uh coach uh Coco lipped off after that late return I know Robert F made a great play but it was kind of in replacement is what's Coco's kind of in just cramping so um he he'll I mean he was in a position where he is fully available at the end of the game just with them tempo uh kept fits out there but Koko was just dealing with some cramps it seems like Bry and Mike developed an early report and Bryce like you guys in receiving today with 91 yards how key has his veteran presence been uh for you guys at this early Junction of the Season yeah no it's been huge I mean Bryce is is he's just such such a compet internally competitive individual really hard on himself if he doesn't have a perfect practice he's probably orry like you know it's just but it's it's cuz he's hyper competive comp and he wants to be the best um I love to see him and AJ and Mike and CJ Johnson like just the way that those guys communicate um Frank cvy like I mean th th those guys care so deeply um it's going to be exciting to see how that quarterback room and wide receiver room continues to just mesh and and and really um get get a certain uh you know uh Rhythm to him but you started to see some of it today and and Bryce is certainly as a captain and a leader a huge part of that thank everyone on the left we got Smith on the right we got Robert fald if you have a question your get Robert Bo that interception kind what did you see how the play developed um well they were running WP into the boundary they hit us with that uh two plays before they got us on it uh I recognized it was able to jump the route Evan you spent a lot of times in your the previous Seasons working through the Special Teams today was one of your first big opportunities as a corner what it mean to you just to be out there with the defense and then be able to come away with one of those P it me a lot I mean I've put a lot of work in since I've gotten here I've learned from a lot of great people so I mean to get the opportunity been dreaming for been praying for a long time so um you know I just always wanted that opportunity and throughout Camp those opportunities always came and we always capitalize on it so I was pretty confident coming into this game that you know we' get one and that's what happened guys hi Taylor Chicago I actually have a stadium question for you did you take a moment while you were out there and kind of like look out and if you did would you see what was the vibe like how did you enjoy that view um I took a moment before the game and I sat on the bench for about 10 minutes and kind of took the scenery in and it was it was surreal um just to see the progress of the stadium throughout summer and how it was built and I knew it was going to be a big crowd today so it was it was a fun environment and um I think we really enjoyed it and it was just cool to just all taken at once following up on that did it feel any different than a game in a 9000 seadi FS feel different to be out there um I mean I would say like in my experience when you're out there you don't really hear the noise um um it doesn't matter if there's 10 people there 10,000 100,000 people there you're just playing football yeah second that uh this question is for either of you guys but this off season L lost a few defensive backs to the transfer portal or a early season was able to play you guys just kind of speak to the next man up mentality defensive yeah I think throughout the room I think we just have a lot of confidence inot all the guys there um we've all seen what each of us can do in practice um through our preparation and I think just every single guy in the room when their numbers called that they're always going to be ready um we prepare like no one else so I think that's a big Advantage we have in our room this is for either or both of you guys Miami five 14 on third Downs what do you credit that to and how do you plan to keep being a good third down um I would just say our coaches uh coach mcgargle um coach Hicks um you know they they do a great job coach Barnett they do a great job with helping us with formation recognition and allowing us to play fast and free and seeing stuff so we can go make plays on third down uh foran you played some quarterback or a lot of quarterback in high school did you feel like having experience on that side of the ball helps inform your play uh absolutely there's still uh some things like terms of you know recognition of plays of different uh formations you know splits releases um just little things like that you can kind of pick up um going from that transition but other than that I mean it's just you had to put the work in you know uh but coming here I learned from a lot of great Corners so um just take be bits and pieces of their game try to form into what Evan would be like at corner and yeah robt we saw I saw you on kick return throw on the 46 Jersey to get out there why is it important for you even with everything else you're doing to still be out there on special teams um in contributing in those roles as well um I mean I just love this team I'm going to do anything I can to help us win um if that's to put on a different Jersey so that Joe Heyman can go return kicks whatever so appreciate you guys thank youall no that's finey you have a question go ahead raise your hand get my attention start with uh for Mike uh coach little about halim those conversations just about hey we're moving the ball just calm things down we've been efficient and how how did you feel like things changed from the first half into the second how you feel yeah I think as simple as we stopped being ourselves I mean when you kind of go back and of course we haven't watched the film yet but I mean we had those two costly turnovers um we had a three and out in there and at the end of the day I mean they were giving us the looks that we wanted um it was just about us capitalizing on it and so I mean when you get in the half time you all look around you just sitting there like we're beating us they're not beating us right now and so I mean when you come out of halftime with that mindset and you put it out there on display I mean as you guys can see I mean the ball was moving so for both of you guys just I know you've been practicing at this Stadium now that stuff but what was it like kind of walking in there kind of seeing the fans kind of have the catwalk that kind of stuff and today like they kind of realizing with this this is it we're playing yeah no I mean it was definitely cool I didn't expect it to be jumping as much much as it was um it was definitely cool to just see you know whenever the first night I come into the stadium I find my parents um and it was just cool to see all the parents up there I feel like they were definitely making the most noise which was cool to see um but even like the the section we on our left whenever we first walked in like I didn't expect that to be as like as there as it was um but yeah it was just a really cool experience um it it didn't feel like a practice field at all it definitely felt like a game day field um it definitely got me hyped up for the games like I usually get um so I was happy with the outcome of uh what they've done with the field and everything like that yeah I I'll piggy back just real quick I mean really just want to extend my appreciation for everybody who played a factor into the stadium um behind closed doors I mean those construction workers out there in the summertime I mean guys it gets hot out there I mean they were out there every day uh you know building that stadium and so really just on behalf of the team too like want to extend our appreciation and thanks to everybody who played a factor in that yeah um Mike for you had there been a lot of under Center exchanges throughout preseason you guys were mostly in pistol and gun is that just something that hadn't been gone through a lot and just in the flow of the game just didn't get a clean grip on it that's called being too excited to score a touchdown uh we work center quarterback Center exchange uh every single day um I could sit here and argue with you all day about how I had the ball um but there's no point in doing that but I mean yeah just understanding like when you get down in the Red Zone I mean that kind of that pressure gets higher and higher being able to reset after every play get the snap first and then go score um that's as simple as that was Tempo oh no no no no no no no that that's completely Mike Wright dropping the ball getting too excited like oh shoot I might getting ready to score a touchdown on the quarterback sneak up for that thir had a lot of success whether that was a design scramble what do youbute that to the o line uh I mean we had no sacks today I mean whenever you're getting that push I mean you have to respect our running backs we have really really great running backs so a defensive coordinator gets put in a difficult spot like do we want to focus on guys like Camp Porter Caleb and Joe or do we want to put our eyes on the quarterback I mean you're not going to be right in the zone read game unless you load the box then that's when you got guys like Bryce CS out there 101 so I mean at the end of the day without that push from the o line you don't get those opportunities so really proud of that group uh can either of you guys just speak a little bit about what it feels like on the offensive end to have a defense who's able to hold them to six points even like as you guys were mentioned when you guys were turning the ball over a little bit or struggling at times just uh when the defense stood up and what that means to you guys yeah no I mean it's definitely like a relief um because just knowing like whenever we come out the field off a bad snap you know I mean off a bad drive like the defense is like I know that they're going to hold up like we always talk about like threes don't get us beat and that's the most that the defense is going to give um they're just going to give away three points at the end of the day so just coming off the field knowing like okay the defense got it like let's what's our game plan going in the next Drive um that's kind of what we focus on because like we know the defense just from like me being here six years this it's always been like that the defense has always been really good they've always like won US games for sure um so just really just knowing that they got it and then whenever we're coming off the field on the sideline just making sure that we have a plan going in the next Drive Mike um just want to know what it feels like to go to a new school part of the country start an opener win the game um you how do you feel coming out compared to how you felt yeah I think I use the word excited a lot um because that's what I was when I when coach Braun called my phone uh the day after getting in the portal um present with the opportunity to come in and compete for a job and help this team win um but I say this all the time I mean it's really easy to make that transition whenever you're surrounded by great people um we talked about that earlier I mean whenever I mean we have great men and women in this building um so they make that transition all the much easier I mean the city of Evon in Chicago is beautiful I mean it's been great to me my mom uh was here today and she's staying the weekend now to go tour the city so shout out to Mom we're going to go driving around um but I mean I'm just excited to be here um and I feel amazing right now I mean we could be having a totally different conversation right now but we got the win that's the most important thing uh yeah this is uh Justin Fields High School Jersey um we grew up grew up in the Atlanta area together um got a chance to work out with him a whole bunch and almost served as a kind of like a big brother mentor uh stayed in contact with him throughout college and so uh yeah gu his high school Jersey on to day uh when I got when I got here saying hey what do you like to do in Chicago uh he was gone off to Pittsburgh the day after but I mean but I mean uh I mean that him and Simeon Kelly I mean that's his best friend and so uh I mean just being having mentors and being around great people I love being around great people so uh Bryce it seemed like the the DBS were giving you about 10 yards of cushion to cover four look did you kind of look at that on film and say hey we can hit those quick out routes and just really move the chains more efficiently than maybe a de post that Zach likes to run yeah no I mean that's exactly what we were um seeing I mean we kind of knew that going in they like to play uh very soft coverage so we had the idea like you know let's just keep hitting these these out routes let's keep hitting these quick Cur routes that we can uh take advantage of and just move down the field and I mean like once we started doing that we started moving the ball and then scoring so um yeah I mean to your point like that was definitely something that we saw and we took advantage of Mike this was a school that you seriously considered as a high schooler and again when you entered the trans portal first time how much of a full circle moment was it for you to start your first game at Northwestern on the campus it was awesome uh like you said full circle moment I took an official here uh my freshman year uh or coming out of my senior year High School um so I mean it was exciting I mean my sisters were excited cuz their favorite color is purple um so it made the entire house happy when I said that I'm going Northwestern so excited that first play of the game new offensive coordinator on the offense out there you guys are able to connect on a nice deep pass how did that feel just after a whole offseason of working to be able to kind of get that monkey off your shoulder move the ball down the field and uh and just be able to drive the ball like that yeah I mean like that was a great feeling obviously I mean we knew that was the first play uh going in for about a week now so it was just sitting on my shoulders like the whole time I was nervous um I definitely like didn't want to drop it but I mean Mike put the ball in a great spot I mean we've been working that route for months now so we kind of knew what it was going to be we just had to execute honestly for either of you guys what was the difference between the first half and the second half and he comes to the office I know you kind of mentioned it the mistakes but what's something that you kind of see as immediately something could clean up especially not going just in the second half but going forward yeah I'll start it off um really just I feel like we were just out of character in the first half um I mean like we were getting looks and I feel like we were kind of just you know sticking to what like we thought um but like once we really just started reading their defense and then just you know us just making simple plays like a 10 yard out route like that's just that's a pitch and catch the routes on air right there once we just started doing that um I feel like the game became a lot easier and that's whenever we started doing that in the second half but yeah I think I mean taking a deep breath that's all we need to do I mean we're shooting ourselves in the foot when you take a deep breath and realize you're moving the ball just go execute the game plan feel good about it yeah know I was I was saying before the game um I was actually really jealous like I wanted to actually go tailgate cuz I saw how cool all that stuff looked back there um but I had to play but uh no it was it was great I mean just getting out there and seeing everybody you know show up um I didn't see the boats there was a lot of boats out there apparently but that I bet that's a cool scenic view um to go look back at but you know it was just amazing honestly um I mean it was everything that we've kind of talked about the past couple months to and then finally see it out there and um get to be able to play in front of all that was just amazing so yeah yeah and then as far as this the size of the stadium I mean we're playing in front of our fans I don't really care how many are there I mean it could be one it could be 50,000 it could be 100,000 I mean we're playing against I mean if we're playing out there our family and friends are out there that all that I mean that's all that matters to us so for Mike this was the first game with you with Lan as your OC also first game where he's in your ear with the in helmet communication what were those well guess it's not a conversation but what what was that experience like to be the starter for his first game at this level it was awesome I thought it was really cool um if you guys want to go back and look at Clips I was talking back to him realizing halfway through that he can't hear me um I'm saying yes sir throughout the entire game when he's talking in my ear um that's a really cool element that college football has brought that in the iPads and so uh it went smooth we practiced that stuff so guys saying you like that stadium and and Mike you said you know care how many uh people are watching wouldn't some college football players care wouldn't some guys say it's not for me I think that there was an element in there you guys choosing to have good you know have a good attitude about feel especially transfering in yeah I get what you're saying I mean at the end of the day I mean the culture of this team is you can go put the ball in the middle of the street we'll go out there and go play um we like I said I mean we we are very much appreciative of all the fans all the people who support us um but you our our main job is to go out there and go play football and go win I mean we're going to play in some really big stadiums this year we're going to play in some smaller stadiums this year um our mindset is really not about who's watching um it's about going out there and executing the game plan and go getting a win so yeah just to kind of add to that um I mean like whenever I came to Northwestern like I didn't necessarily think about like how many people I've been playing in front of I mean I kind of thought about like you know the coaches the players um these facilities obviously um I just what was going to make me a better football player um I kind of knew like Northwest didn't have a great show out um but like that's that's not really something I was thinking about necessarily whenever like I decided to play football here so yeah last one yeah this is for both of you 30 passes thrown today none of them were drops I know you guys said you've been working together for months but what do you credit that Synergy to the fact that you guys already seem to have such a good connection not just necessarily between the two of you but the entire yeah I mean I would say with Mike it's just I I would say our off the field relationship like we're very like just two dudes that just love to just kick it um I mean like we're always making jokes um feel like we get along very well um I mean he knows whenever I'm upset I feel like I know when he's upset about something you know then we just communicate and we talk about it and we work it out and then just like working just after hours together um I mean there's been a couple times and like we've we've gone up and we know we just thrown simple slant routes simple out routes just to you know get the timing down I'm going make sure we're on point at that aspect I paid him two catches extra catches next week to say that so we're all good thank you guys