WSU Football: "At this moment, It's John" | HC Jake Dickert after Fall Camp | 8/19/24

well coach I kind of think it's the the burning question of the hour uh had a chance juice guys I appreciate you know it is coach Hicks gave it to Kenny worthy Kenny's been phenomenal Jamie uh coach C gave it to Durham Harris he's been silently just really great if you're a snapper and you don't know his name that's exactly where we want him to be and of course Dean Janikowski gave it to Nick ha so that's exactly what you're talking about right I thought juice was done after fall Camp so you know we're in Fall Camp cleanup mode right now uh as we get into a couple practices at Texas Tech but after a long eight months um Fierce competition talked to both of those guys yesterday uh we're going to name John mattier the starting quarterback at Washington State uh I think both of them handled it the way I would expect okay zevi's a competitor you know his strengths uh were the experience the way he throws different level balls his leadership qualities but Jon's intangible pieces what he can do with his feet what he can do Off Script his big arm and I think more importantly Jon is going to get exponentially better he will be okay the the John mattier that you see game one every time he's out there you know going through you know Gea field and and what we're going to ask him to do he's going to get so much better week to week excited about him leading our team and just like any other position I told him you know there's an expectation level of performance okay and zevi will be ready when and if called upon and uh I just really appreciate his character and and how much both of them have put into this for John when it comes to kind of the ultimate decision was there one or two things that maybe just really stood out in in terms of his athleticism and so on well that's the biggest thing I told him you know both of them didn't finish well on Saturday when we watched it you know so it was a it was the whole eight months and it was the upside that John brings I think his accuracy with the Deep pass was really evident in week two he's very confident that we need that and I think when things break down that's the mark of a great quarterback and I think JN has that in him now he's got to play controlled he's got to be better at not turning over the football I think both of them you know we had 40 interceptions through 15 practice is a camp and that's not all those two guys but we need to be better in those areas but I think like I said every time John's out there he's going to get better and better I'm very convicted in this decision this wasn't a straw pull this wasn't asking every coach what they thought this was me and Coach Arbuckle sitting down and doing what's best for the cougs and and we believe that's what we did non-quarterback question for you uh just seems especially the last few days Trey leers really come on strong I know you obviously have some returners in that tight end room but it seems like maybe is there going to be a for him or how kind of what does his outlook look like for 2024 yeah and we talked about it yesterday in the staff meeting I think Trey lechner is one of those guys that can carve out a five to 10 play you know role within our offense I think he's one of our best perimeter blockers and then you get him matched up on a tight end he showed it the other night he won on the seven he was open again uh later in the scrimmage we just didn't go to him uh excited about what Trey has brought but we just need that consistency to show through you know and that's the mark of a young guy that's getting better uh how much did John's knowledge of the Playbook just you know hav been here for you know two years kind of factor into this I think some you know I think when you really go back to the spring he had a huge Advantage you know but really you even talking to Zev throughout this summer in Fall camp we really felt like they were on an equal playing field to really show what they could do you know so I really didn't come down to that as much as you know just the upside of JN and and we feel he's best for our offense a couple guys to ask you about being out Tyson Durant and Chris Barnes any update on them yeah we got most the guys back today and we're really shooting our first Portland State real practice will be Thursday you know so I think you'll see all those guys jamori Coulson you know just a lot of kind of Nicks and bruises from Fall Camp you know so we'll get those guys ready and we'll be really prettyy much at full capacity besides Carlos and Lely come Thursday when did you inform John of your decision what was his reaction you know we we talked on Sunday I you know I met with both of them separately you know I told the team this morning and then obviously you guys today um John's excited you know I I think when you achieve something you work so hard for but he knows this is just the beginning you know he's got to go out there and perform he's got to go out there and do what we all expect him to do and Lead this football team you know and I told the team this morning that you know this isn't something we take lightly everyone's going to Rally around John I think everyone knows where we're kind of at and making a big decision so he was excited and and I think like I said the the character traits of zevi he was exactly who he said he was going to be and I thought that was impressive for that kid I just really appre appreciative to him and like I said he's going to be ready if his numbers called and I think that's the mark of a really mature competitor we've talked to some folks about John's leadership style and we uh we heard that he's not afraid to you know to tell people what they need to hear um how important is that for a team leader well I think that's the biggest thing I'll work with personally with John you know uh just to make sure that he's being authentic to himself his competitiveness shows in everything that he does and I think it's channeling that fire that energy that passion when he gets out on the field but I love a quarterback that's going to call somebody up a little bit say hey we're not meeting the standard today but to do that you got to live it and you got to bring it every day and I think that's what I told John you know the two most you know two most um good job Bobby the two most kind of you know talked about people in our program are going to be me and him and we accept that responsibility and the spotlights on us and everything that we do we got to own that we'll take uh you know all the blame when things go bad and we'll give all the credit when things go well so he's ready for that moment and and he's prepared was it that neck and neck up until the scrimmage on Saturday or I mean I don't you know I I'm not going to go through our whole process but we've had conversations here that it just kind of it started to separate in my our mind probably week two of fall Camp you know I think that's when Zev probably pressed a little bit and John's you know just kind of deep ball and just what he could do with different things kind of came to light um but it was a close battle and that's exactly what we thought it would be obviously the work isn't done for him now but when you told joh and when he kind of got the news that he had won the position battle did you feel any sense of relief from him a little bit maybe not worrying so much I think when you're a competitor you expect to hear that you know I thought John expected to hear that answer because he put everything into it and I don't consider that a bad thing I think at quarterback you got to have that type of competitiveness you got to have that type of conviction in yourself and your talents and John's a very confident guy and I appreciate that about him so I think he handled it exactly the way you know I expected him to a lot of excitement uh should be a lot of Joy I mean when you put that much hard work into something uh it should be a big deal and then just for the greater team at large how much does their life change their schedule change now that classes are here well we talked about it you know you got to start getting on routine first day of uh classes you know but I told them we're not on routine yet obviously we're practicing the afternoon to get some things installed for Tech and what we wanted to accomplish in these practices make sure these guys are alert we had an academic meeting this morning to make sure everybody is on the same page but it's not someone else's job to create your routine to be successful that's the big message that's your job okay how you show up before practice how you show up to class the amount of time you're putting in extra now this isn't fall camp we get you for 20 hours but that's the bare minimum if we want to do what we want to do this season you mentioned it was obviously the decision you made was from the body of work but how many nights did you lose sleep going back and forth in your head on such an important decision for the starting quarterback job you know what I'll go the other way I was really excited about it cuz I knew we had two guys that were really capable and I think to be in that position as a head coach I think is very rare especially when you dip yourself into the portal you know or you lose someone that you didn't quite expect or or not expect like cam so I was more excited about it I knew it was going to be a big decision um but that's why they put me in the SE too I got to make those deals what's best for the cougs always and I think that's what we did and what about the job the the rest of the offense did has done throughout Camp getting chemistry with two different guys when they didn't necessarily know who was going to be the guy I think it was hard on everybody you know and that's where I kind of went to we had to make this decision now to give a jelling point to get the receivers on the same page to get the old line working in unison because sometimes you could see laps in execution because we were working with so many different guys and John and zevy were different in in their great individual ways so I think it had to happen now and and I think hopefully it can be a relief to them where they know so they can focus on you getting that uh feel for one guy and how they throw the ball and and how that fits in with their strengths you've been around JN ever since he stepped foot on campus here how does John mattier starting quarterback of the Washington State Cougars compare to that 18-year-old kid that first stepped into your program we'll go all the way back to recruiting John you know I got the head job and we didn't you maybe three years ago seems like forever you know but we found John in January he was going to go to an FCS program and we believed in John I give Eric Morris tons of credit and that that decision he's the one that saw him work out but the more I got to know John he was the right guy he really was and then the moment he got here he'd be out going through plays by himself at night 10 p.m. when I was leaving the office and I'm like Who's down there in the dark it's John mattier you know and those are the days that lead to these big moments um so I think it's really cool to see a guy wait his turn you know he didn't know if Cam was going to leave and he was going to wait his turn and he was ready for that moment so he's learned a lot of really good football and I'm really excited for him and just overall how much do you believe having zevy here push him every day helped him 10 years from now and John's going to have tons of success and I think JN has a lot of qualities to play at a Next Level we'll talk about that long down the line but he'll thank zevi you know zevi came in here pushed him challenged him showed them what leadership is um just really cool to see their Dynamic um on and off the field they know they were competing but I think John owes a lot to to zevi's professionalism to come in here and just work you know and the biggest thing zie said to me after it was all said and done was like coach I just appreciate that this was a fair shot he never felt he got slighted he knew we gave everyone the same opportunity to prove they can do it um and at this moment it's John all thank you guys go cougs