Arizona Football Press Conference - Brent Brennan

Intro with Justin usually kickers don't usually get a lot of love but just you know what are your impressions a Tyler Loop and what has he shown you so far Tyler Loop's a big time player um he's an awesome awesome leader on our team um I'm just been really impressed with how he goes about his work and how dedicated he is and you know I think uh I think we can all expect really big things from him do you feel like his uh leg strength has gotten better feel like he's starting to extend his range a little bit that's hard for me to say cuz I wasn't here you know since I've been here it's been outstanding you know I don't I don't have the point of reference of being here for when he's a freshman and seeing that development but obviously he's really really really strong now Brian and Michael how's it been On using tablets in practice going so far with uh using the the tablets and and figuring all that out it looked like maybe you guys were like checking them out after each set this time is that just to get familiar with them exactly yeah just you know it's new for us too and and so you know how do we get reps doing that and so we just built it into the practice plan um I thought I thought it was good Danny Gonzalez had said the other day that he that the tablets can make an average coach really good because now they have this information is that like there's some gamesmanship that maybe you have to it's you have to adjust to the adjustments because you're everyone is able to look at this stuff right away yeah I think it's I think you know it has a chance for some of those adjustments to happen maybe a little bit faster because you have an exact picture of what you think you saw you know sometimes that you know the game happens pretty fast and and you're like no this is what happened um and then you look at the film you're like it wasn't exactly what I thought it was um now you have a chance to evaluate that you know the you know the next series and so I think there is value in that and I think uh you know and especially with you know the communication from the coaches that are upstairs and what they see and so I think it's going to be good Michael and On Trey Smith then David um Trey Smith was really given off a strong leadership by the other day when he was up here what can you say just about his his character his makeup and his like presence in the locker room Trey Smith is just an really really special you know person we've obviously known him for a long time because he you know he played for us at San Jose um he was one of the guys at San Jose State where I could literally set my watch with the time he walked in the building every day um my last the last three years at San Jose he's one of those players that you saw in the building every single day of the year no matter what um just like that was how committed he is um and how you know how much it means to him and so he's been a great addition to the team and the guys on the on the team here have done a great job of welcoming welcoming him into the family it's been really good what enabled him to kind of take off as a player last year well he would have taken off the year before he just got injured David and BR what would you say Most pleasant surprise in the first three weeks of Camp has been the most pleasant surprise for you with this team uh that's a good question um the most pleasant surprise sh I don't I don't know I don't know you know I think it's different because most of the players that joined us that were're new joined us like we're already here when I got hired you know so and sometimes that happens with like a freshman right you're like wow this freshman's really playing great um but like those players were here for spring practice most of them so you saw that part of it um you know I think I I do really think this team really this is it's really important to them and I I wouldn't say that's a surprise to me but it's nice to have that confirmed with how they go about their business dayto day uh you know the energy they bring to the meeting room the weight room the practice facil you know the practice environment I think that part of it has been really really great and on the Flip Flip Side what would you say it's been the biggest challenge um you know I I don't know I think like the the challenges of football are kind of they change year to year team to team I don't know that there's an exact uh situation that we've been dealing with it's been specifically challenging um shoot I don't know that's a good question I don't know that I have a great answer for that I'm sorry Jason and Troy uh the last time we talked to Depth chart you mentioned narrowing down some of the depth chart specifically at at quarterback behind Noah where are you in in that proc that start this week so this is technically like the break of camp for us even though we're not starting school next week which is different for me because I think most semester schools start on Monday or start this week sometime um but this is kind of the break of training camp um the players will be off tomorrow um and they give us you the coaches a chance to you know start to ramp up some of the conversation and the planning for New Mexico so that's kind of where we're at Troy we had a chance Maris Skov to talk to Maris SC keru and he just you know share how he's developed throughout training camp in spring since he's been there and what he's brought to the table and also I believe he came to Arizona as walk- on is that still the case right now is there he a scholarship player so he's a scholarship player um I think we're all really excited about him just his the acceleration of his development um that's been that's been really exciting justinich uh what has it been NFL scouts like having NFL Scouts and coaches come by the facility and check out your team well you know I think the cool thing is that um I've had so many of those guys say to me how much they've enjoyed their visit here where they felt like uh the information they were getting from the you know from Gea or from the trainers or the you know strength staff coach Carol and his staff or from our coaches just the communication the access you know like everything we're trying to do is give our players the best chance to play on the next level you know so I think it's important when those guys come here that it's a good experience for them and I think everybody I just mentioned is doing a great job of that it's really great really good I two of them tell me it's the best visit they've had so I was like let's go you know Showcase scrimmage Micha David how come you guys aren't having like a showcase scrimmage for the students or the fans or whatnot before the the season starts I think you've seen more and more of that go away um over time um you know our students aren't here yet so that doesn't you know it's not as big of a deal but um you know um you know when they that first week of school we have a game so they'll get to see the real thing um I I think you know when you get into those situations you're always the closer you get to the start of the season the more you hesitate to play live football I know lots of schools don't do anything live in in the month of August um we've been able to get some really good live work and some really good situational football which is kind of what we did tonight so I feel good about where we're at that way it's a fine line because you're always you know are we getting enough tackling right are we getting enough of that kind of physical but then and you're also like well you're also saying to yourself well you know we have a couple really special players um do we want to play this season without them you know so it's a really fine line in terms of getting them game ready and then also putting them at risk right what about just in Open practice terms of having an open practice for for fans well we you know we had done that you know our first few months here you know what I mean and then as it goes you know I think for me I'm always fig trying to figure out what's you know one of our major um you know kind of standards for the team is protect the program and so if if those if when we do that if there's a lot of information getting out there about what's happening in the practice environment that I think is not going to serve us then I have to make determinations on how to Corral that and so that would be that would be why but um you know I think you know we had we've had you know big group of donors at every every practice so far this training camp and that's been real positive and um you know early on camp we had a lot of fans and so I think people have had a lot of access to our program I feel good about that David and then our last question Message from Coach Peterson Jason you had Coach Peterson here last week uh what did you take away most from and like about the message he delivered to your guys well I mean Coach Peterson is one of the best coaches in the history of college football and so anytime you can have somebody like that around your program I think we're you know you're really fortunate and um I'm really grateful for the friendship ship that he he and I have had over the years and uh he you know and I I think there's been lots of head coaches that have helped me on my journey as a head coach guys that I can call when something comes up or you know how how have you handled this or how did you guys practice this or you know what was your coaching points on you know whatever it is and so having resources like that you know for me over the years it's been lots of people it's been David Shaw or dick Tomy or Chip Kelly or you know I think that's one cool thing about football is it like coaches actually try to help each other it's not like you know there's like no proprietary um you know secrets that you're like like they're actually they share and I think that's really good and uh I really really value um my friendship with Coach Peterson last question Jason uh at this point in Camp only a certain amount of days away from preing for New Mexico is this team where you wanted them to be where you expected them to be in terms of what they look like in Camp I think we're in a great spot I really do I I I think we have work work to do I'm glad we have two weeks of practice left you know I mean that part of it um this this stretch right here was a tough stretch I think we had six practices in seven days so like that's a that's that's kind of the grinder one of the grinder kind of parts of camp and I thought our players did a great job I thought they they showed up for camp and they're in good condition and in good shape I thought coach Carol and his staff did a great job of preparing them for that and then you know our coaches are you know coaching the heck out of them and you know spending every hour of the day you know trying to do everything we can to improve our football team and tonight we did a bunch of stuff that's uh you know stuff the mechanics of the football and and trying to put us in some situations a two-minute or you know third down or you know moving the ball and just like that kind of stuff get our players used to substituting special team substitutions and like those things that are you know um it's hard to simulate simulate what those things feel like on game day and so trying to get us in the flow of that and we're going to do a little bit more of that as we get closer to New Mexico all right that's our time thank you guys appreciate it