Press Conference: Coach Fleck, Coordinators Preview Season Opener

hey everybody uh great to see so many familiar faces uh thanks for coming out just got off the practice field so uh a little casual but uh we can make make doe with this uh great to see all your faces football season's right around the corner 10 days away from kickoff really excited uh really like this football team I'm sure you have a lot of questions so you know I I did enough of my opening pressure at the Big 10 media day uh what was the time 10:40 1050 not bad some of the false reports out there is 1450 is inaccurate was 1040 I think uh not to say anybody in here did that just saying heard some rumors so we'll get to questions how's that good to see everybody on Tuesday you talked about Thursday maybe being a scrimmage for some evaluations how did that go what did you what' you see yeah it went great you know I mean we've done a few things we've had another scrimmage we've had a mock game um where we go through all special teams situations do it under the lights uh we were going to have one in the stadium on Thursday but weather uh made us come inside but we did the same type of thing uh I love this football team I love the depth of this football team I love the competition of this football team uh we have more competition this year in in 2024 than we've had since I've been the head coach here at Minnesota and that's a credit to our staff our recruiting the players the way they've kind of Taken on this whole year um so hopefully I answer your question we got a lot of questions answered but it's not about just answering questions okay you're number one we have a lot of different starters uh we do uh we have a lot of guys that are going to be splitting time so they're both starters and so I I think that's what's really healthy about this football team as we keep going forward decisions could you see splitting time as a possibility I think any when you look at defensive line I think there's going to be rotations that continue to happen just like that normally is we just have more people that are going to be rotating which is good for our D line offensive line you can see at some positions we're going to be doing that as well wide receiver we're going to be rolling some people in tight end you're going to be rolling some people in um you know you want to be able to do it we have so many different packages on defense too so it's hard to sit there and go hey here's the 11 guys I mean from our nickel package to our dime package to all these other packages that we have as we talked earlier about the Personnel that our defense has I think that helps as we continue to go into game one uh I'm not going to tell you all those different packages but it's really fun to be able to to Plug and Play based on what these guys can do and put different combinations on the field whether it's first or second down or third down develop have you know no from The Corner Room throughout Camp yeah tremendous growth um you know we I was just having a discussion with one of our coaches about that um you know you have Wally and you have Ethan both those guys played a ton of football but when you start to look at like Zan Bryant's development uh you're really pleased with what he's been able to do especially for such a young kid he got a chance to play in the bll game but that that has helped him exponentially get to where he is right now we've got a lot of other guys in that mix at that corner position Ryan Kelly's had a really good camp you know he's big long strong he's gained a bunch of weight um you know and then we've got a bunch of guys that can play a lot of different positions whether they slide down inside stay outside that's a pretty deep room um and they're aggressive like they they've done a really good job of getting better I think Coachman R's done a great job coaching them got to keep getting better but I I like where we are there and and you mix that with the safeties and then the Nickels you start to look at there's more guys that are going to be playing in the secondary than we've had in the past DJ um new er of college football with transfer portal yeah uh name image likeness Revenue sharing looks like coming down the pike expansion of the salary cap yeah expansion of the Big 10 expansion the college football playoff what do you think is the what's the ceiling as you look at it for this program now this new era a lot of changes Dave I love the question um I think it's a little bit uh we're 10 days from game day I think that's a little more for a few weeks ago and maybe the off season but I do think the changes of college football uh are really healthy for where we're going it's really positive for the student athlete it's positive for the universities as you can see financially but when you start to look at what it's going to do for the change of college football we don't necessarily know what that's going to look like um we're not there yet um nobody's there yet that's the future I think with the new college football expansion I think that makes people really excited especially at the University of Minnesota as I said at Big 10 media day I think when you had four teams in the college football playoff you could probably name two or three that were going to make it from the start of the Season then they're probably in there at the end and maybe there was one or two that maybe some people had On The Fringe or maybe there was one shock I think as you go through this and if it's 12 game or 12 teams which it is in the colge football playoff that leaves the window open for a lot of teams uh to get in there from different conferences and I think that's exciting for the fans it's exciting for college football and the and the growth of our Sport and the health of our sport as we keep moving moving forward one thing I've always loved about college football is it constantly changes there one thing that changes is it always changes and I think that's what makes it really exciting not just rules but how it's all done not just like on the field to you know this this year we're going to talk about you know the uh the drop tackle and that's fine those are those are all good changes um but I'm talking about huge changes that change the Dynamics of what college football look like in the future based on what was in the past words like scholarship walk-on whatever our definition were prior to that of that and our vision of that was those are all changing of what that word actually means it has a lot of different meetings now Von has a lot of different meetings now 105 puts a lot of different puts people on this this this parity uh not equal playing field because with nil still being in play but when you start talking salary cap when you start talking those types of things it it definitely creates a little bit I think more parity where I think every fan base is going to say sit there and go okay Hey listen we got a great opportunity here if we invest in X Y and Z uh we have just as good a shot as as a lot of other teams so that's what's really exciting as we go forward and I think I've said that publicly at Big 10 media day that I think it's really healthy especially for Minnesota um with the changes of college football when you went looking for a quarterback and you got Max how involved do you think FCS level would be in that in that search um I'm sorry Randy you mean getting somebody from the fcfs level was that something you were looking at all along or yeah no it wasn't it wasn't necessarily we needed somebody just from FCS I mean it wasn't FCS or Bust it was the best available player and we we needed somebody to come in here that understood the situation there was pressure of the situation right from the start we had to find the right fit for what we were looking for and if you think back to it Randy we weren't we didn't bring in four quarterbacks with all this nil money and and stuff like that and say okay you guys all compete and let's go we had to bring in somebody who was going to be able to lead the team the minute they got here was going to be able to do okay without maybe the most W without the most competition threatening them was going to have to do okay with maybe not competition threatening them knowing that they're the guy to handle that responsibility in a very mature way and in a leadership way um and go out there and perform at the highest level um because the option after that for us was okay a true freshman and bringing in another guy that we're going to develop so when you're looking at it you had to be right so there I mean every decision you make you want to be right and you're feeling you have to be right but this one we had to get right and Max has just exceeded all of our expectations he's got to go out there and prove it and play on game day and and do what he does every single day the only thing Max brosmer has to do is be the best version of Max brosmer every day and that's what he that's what he's capable of doing and that's what he'll do and we have the most confidence of him he's had a great six months um he's an amazing human being and uh he's made this program better he's made the people around him better he's made our culture better he's made University of Minnesota better and uh I'm really proud of him for that and it's GNA be fun to be able to watch him here in 10 days you or how's Darius Taylor doing right now and how do you feel about the running back down yeah he's doing great you know we brought in a a ton of players for that reason in in general if anybody ever gets banged up we got a few bumps and bruises but you know I'm gonna use the same line as we get in 10 days before game day I mean the injury report will come out you know two hours before kickoff but this is a very healthy football team and uh I love how they've gone about uh their business throughout training camp I thought we structured it uh to benefit them which we always do but you learn from your past to create your future on certain things listened to a lot of the science and data and applied our whole training camp schedule accordingly but I really like the depth of the room from the top with Darius all the way down and we brought in a lot of guys for that position a lot of guys who have played big time college football uh and then some other guys that have been Young have really come on strong uh so it's going to be fun to see how that all plays out and as the guys continue to compete within the season but feel really good about where we're at 10 days out do you think you know about North Carolina in 2024 yeah I mean we just started them yesterday with game planning and looking at them and starting to work with our coaching staff and dedicating a lot of hours towards that in between our players and training camp first of all I got a lot of respect for ma Brown a lot of you I think it's well documented the relationship him and I have and he's always been really really good to me I mean he's he he's been a a sneaky Mentor because I I get him at the most opportune times and uh he's always been really really good to me um they're really talented I mean they got eight returning starters on defense and they added a bunch of transfers that do start other places in the ACC or other places they're deep um I think it's well documented I think the AP All-American team came out and uh you know one of the running backs on Hampton I mean he's he's really really good and we played against them last year uh they've got a stable running backs they always do they've got really good receivers I think everybody's talking about well Drake May's not there but they reloaded they didn't rebuild they reloaded with the guys that they have now I know they're not NE been a starter and and uh we just we expect to see two or three of them and we'll prepare that way but they all can run they all can throw um you know they've all played college football at a high level so but they're talented I mean they're a North Carolina team ACC team and Ma brown Coach team and a lot of the guys are very familiar with what we saw last year when we went out to Chapel Hill so we got to play our best football we know that we're preparing to working hard really every day 10 days out uh right now still working a lot of Minnesota versus Minnesota and as the days go on we'll we'll trans transfer that into more North Carolina do you feel defenses respond to Cory etherman I think it's been great you know you really hope that the first six months of that really gel you know I it's one thing if things don't gel and then you're all right we got to get through the season we got to do this this we got to manufacture certain things there's no manufacturing with him he is one of the most authentic uh genuine real football coaches I've ever been around and I I've told you a few stories of why that is but he loves football he's a really good football coach uh the players love playing for him and you can see that in how they practice you've been out there how they play The energy they bring you know we talked about three things that we needed to bring as a defense that excitement level every single day and it's been there unmatched every day the swarming I mean we're swarming more and better than we ever have to the ball and then you have to bring that that on the field violence that contact that that that willingness uh to be really physical and that's a mental piece and we've demanded that every day from them and our players have responded in the right right way and I just think they love playing for him I I'm still old school when it comes down to there's all these things Dave you mentioned a new college football and why people play it could be for a lot of external driven things uh it could be for money it could be for power it could be for ego it could be for draft stock it could be for all these things you know I'm still old school where you know when I played I played for people you know I played for people and I played for my University and I feel like this team has a little bit of that old school feel to it we have all the new changes of college football like everybody else does but for each other this team has better than I've had in the past and not saying we didn't it just has exceeded that uh I really love where they're at and I think they're playing for them I think they're you know playing for our staff I think they're playing for each other player to player coach to player player to coach it's it's very refreshing they're a fun team to coach and that's why I say when they're fun to coach that's what I mean they really do it for someone else and not only just themselves but they're that's not the number one thing showing right now words for Cory he's def how much does blitzing come in obviously he was aggressive when he was a DC before how much does that factor in how you guys the scheme up I mean it's a piece of it but you know it's not like we're doing more than we did last year you know I think I think the difference in in the defense is it's very similar to what we've had remember we weren't we weren't going off the tracks and going off the rails here and going outside of of the family of what we really want as a defense and what we core believe in um but it's his own personality and then it's it's our Personnel you know our Personnel allow us to do certain things that we did last year and get a chance to even do them better or do certain things that we're doing now that maybe we couldn't do last year with the Personnel that we have but it's not just that uh but I think those three buzzwords that we used the ESV um is what we're doing every single day and whether that's Bas whether that's just normal cover two whether you know whatever it is that's uh I feel like that's the difference in in this year from last year will you uh describe maybe four or five deep with the running backs but a little glimpse into their style and and what they're like yeah I mean obviously Darius has grown up a lot in the off season and he's really you know Darius played High School wide out at times too and and then he was a running back and he did a lot of things so he's brought that that full playmaker ability to our offense in the pass game in the Run game we brought in Marcus major played a ton of football at Oklahoma um he every time I see that number 24 I just say man man he looks like 24 just bigger just a bigger version of the old 24 um with Muhammad um and mouhammad stopped by a few Pras which has been really cool to see him but Marcus is I think is again another guy who's exceeded my expectations I mean he can run in between the tackles really well he can get thin real fast and he can play behind his pads really well anticipates blocks I think that's huge for a running back can you see the whole scheme and how it's working then okay here's just my read then I go to the next read I mean you can tell people who are a little robotic he is not that it naturally happens he can see blocks before they happen he can see it on the next level makes people missing the Hole uh and you know joejo nuan's played a ton of football for us you know he was moved from safety to running back a few years back and he's played a ton of football for us and and then we have a few guys that we brought in you know feem uh EA boy has has been great as a true freshman you know I mean he's had a great training camp brought and Jared Magnum who's kind of been a journeyman different spots and we're really glad he's here he's really matured and developed big back plays behind his pads he's got better feet and more speed than I think people give him credit for and then see CA benur uh who was the uh the Freshman player of the year uh in the mac and uh a year two years ago and uh you know he's he's a young back but he's got good size he just got to continue to bend and and he's getting better with every day and that's what I mean about our our running back room you know Derek L Captain played running back when we moved him you know from linebacker to there Jo Jo Newman came from safety we knew we had to emphasized the running back position and the competition's been really good and I thought derry's done a really good job with Marcus of leading that room especially in practicej what's the biggest benefit of having your first four games at home well I think you know you got 12 games they're all equally important you know I I don't look at it as just home and away I think to win at a high level you got to win on the road and you have to win at home you know I mean when you look at somebody that's going to go play in the college football playoff you can't be like oh we got this many home games and oh boy we got to go on the road I mean people are are you know they're talking about you better be 10 11 wins to get into the college football playoff and that means you got to win all your games you know no matter where they are if they're in a parking lot you better win them so I just love playing in front of our fans I I think we we create one of the more underrated environments in college football I really do uh I love our fans I love our student body we got a gold out coming up in 10 days which the last gold out we had which you all saw that uh to open the season at Nebraska was a pretty special environment and uh I love people for that here in our state I love our fans for that again I I I think um they deserve a lot of credit because they create an atmosphere that I that I feel that is a little under underrated at times playing in Huntington Bank Stadium and and it's fun our players Thrive off that they feed off that energy and it's like anything you feed off that energy at home and then you play that Underdog role when you go on the road like nobody likes you so the sounds you're using to Advantage on one side and then you go somewhere else and using that sounds to pump up your team on the other side um and it's kind of that all for one one for all type mentality but love playing a hunch in the bank and can't wait for 10 days from now two more for Coach PJ when you look at the offense do you look at at a position group that's maybe looking to see a little bit more out of wide receiver comes to mind is there something that you need to see from a position group that needs to get to the level of everyone else you know I know what you're asking Andy and I think um and I I respect your question and I'm not dodging it but I think that you know as well as I do to have an efficient offense you know here at the University of Minnesota everybody has to be involved uh even when we had baitman it was we were the best when he had Tyler Johnson and you had Co Keon you know catching balls and and and a really good running game every position has to do their job to the best of their ability and meet the expectation that's created for them within the program and U you know when that's the hardest part for whether it's media fans coaches you have an expectation of something and somebody because those somebody's fit inside something right that's something's a scheme so you have this expectation and then they show you what they can and cannot do well that's the expectation and then there's a thing called reality and you're doing everything you can as a coach to make sure the expectation and the reality actually match and if they match we're in good shape it's when the expectation and reality aren't there where the frustration comes into play and the more they're apart that space gets bigger and most of the time that's what negativity is filled with and I expected this I didn't get this you know I mean we're we're still waiting to move into our house call me frustrated I mean Heather's right there moving right now I mean we're moving in today I mean this is June 1 July 1 August one now it's August 19th and she's moving in I mean I was I was told I told her a year ago I'd help I can't help that it's August 19th and our driveway's just being poured today guys how can you move in and the movers show up the same time the concrete guys show I I don't understand that so pardon the expectation not meeting reality call me crazy actually they don't have to worry about me the Italian Irish woman's at home so who's got a huge heart she got them all lunch today every single person there bought them all lunch very nice of her for Coach how's the Special Teams operation come together with a new Long Snapper in there you know what with with with Ryan and Allen I'll be honest just I don't really have it noticed and I think Brady week said it best he'd stand up at different events and my name is Brady weeks it's the last time I ever want you to hear my name and he sat down and that was Brady weeks you know I mean he was he was so valuable the two guys we have same type of thing I feel really good about where we are there they got to continue to challenge each other daily which I know they will and uh we feel we got two really good ones there so I know that our specialist feel the same way and we support him every way we can and keep coaching them up got Ro boat Sky Go Go we're supposed to have this in our house today uh to treat all of you and uh sorry it's not done heard e e e see e e e for what what's going on guys fair for a new defensive coordinator when you really don't have a lot of tape on how he's going to use his new Personnel uh it can be a challenge you you go off based off what he's done in the past when he was defensive coordinator when he was a uh when he was a head coach um you look at I think the last you know two places at Georg Tech um you know and at Temple you know he was um he's an aggressive guy by Nature um so you look at all that you kind of that's what you kind of give him his philosophy and then schematically we have to be prepared for a lot of things or you go you just look at all the the big picture piece of you know what he's doing defensively and try to piece it together and figure out what he's going to do with that Personnel he's got good Personnel you know power Eckles and Kay on Rucker they're they're very good Amari Campbell's a good back linebacker too um you know so they they do a good job and I'm sure with their personnel with their with their secondary they'll be aggressive they'll play Man coverage things like that touched on the aggressive nature it's pretty exotic defensively bringing pressure from different spots so how important is pre- snap identification and communication in this game it's everything um it's what Max's what a Max's strength is um he's he's work he's worked very hard at that throughout the spring throughout the summer then through training camp um he's he's done an exceptional job at that but it's going to be you know going back to a 100 level what's the first thing he's got to look at whether it's boundary safety field safety maybe it's front things along those lines like those things are going to be critical in this game you talked this spring about putting Max in the best position to be successful how have you tried to do that we've seen a little bit in Camp with shortened and immediate throws in particular uh I'm very confident in Max um I I throughout the spring you know and I i' I've had this conversation before with him and I knew it would be a a transition process and he's exceeded my expectations with how he's handled the transition and he's done he's done a phenomenal job of taking each experience he's learned in Spring ball training camp throughout the summer and putting that to good use now like he's rolling he's he's he's really he's really in a good good State mentally which I'm really excited about and now you know in the spring like like I've said this before is like his his superpower is his leadership ability and how he can get people to come with him that's what he's probably best at not mentioning anything he does football-wise but now he's able to he mastered the offense now he's not thinking about the play during the snap or pre- snap now he's able to play the game play quarterback and lead the team which is you're really seeing him shine in that aspect now coach is there a is there kind of an evident depth chart at the quarterback position right now behind Max coach coach fle handles all those depth chart questions um you know but Max is had a great Camp level of preparation how have you kind of seen him exceed kind of an understanding of what he needs to do and I mean I think there was a story Big 10 media days about him chatting with Cali about protection and those kinds of things I he understands he understands what we're what we're attempting to do um at a high level you know we talked about we talked about throwing into windows and and understanding that the the the windows they they're the same size you know where what he's coming from um but they what we talked about actually like a couple weeks ago is they close faster and in the spring that's the thing that he really had to focus on you know he would he would he would put the ball in the right spot the ball would go to the right place the ball was never really In Harm's Way it was that he was changing the the trajectory or the pace of the ball based off of the window because he was giving he was giving the defense too much credit at times where he was processing the information but then he was attempting to throw the ball too hard that's probably the best way to put it now now what we worked on Big Time over the summer was okay the window is this you know it's going to close fast cuz the the level of athlete is different and it's better you know and now you just have to throw it into that window change of trajectory go back to your normal trajectory you're processing the information well you know and that's one thing we worked on hard and that was a lot of just watching film and him seeing the window there and then seeing the trajectory of the ball and then maybe looking at like all right what would he have done at New Hampshire and then okay the ball can be thrown the same way you're you're processing it the same way you know and that's one thing that him and I worked really hard on in the summer what are your expectations for Marcus major and Christian driver know Marcus Marcus is uh I was talking to him this morning when we're at our team stretch and you know I'm just proud of him being because you never when you bring when you bring transfers in you you it's we've talked about this before it's like you have that quick relationship that you build throughout the recruiting process and then you really work on developing the relationship once they get here and you know he's come in and he's just worked and you're seeing his true leadership ability because I would say he's a leader um he's a great teammate I sent him I sent him a picture it was one of our inner Squad scrimmages where Elijah scored and you know everybody goes down to celebrate and he's the first he's not in in in on the play and he's the first one down there to celebrate with Elija you know my expectation for him is that he's going to contribute he's going to help us um a love it I love his feet I love his power his vision um but more most importantly like he fits in with that Max category of like he leads and he leads by example but I I I have a feeling because I'm not in there all the time but I have a feeling that coach mckisic Luke relies on him from a vocal standpoint too because he he is he's a guy and and we're we're counting on him you know with and then with Christian you know Drive was has done an excellent job while training camp I love I love his you know know he has Elite burst um Elite Speed you know and he's just continued to learn and continued to take coach Simon's coaching um and get better every day and you know he's really taken that approach throughout the whole the whole training camp and he's I don't want to say that like these guys exceed my expectations because the expectation already so high I don't know if they're ever going to exceed it um but they they they work very hard every single day when you were looking for a quarterback in the portal to get Max did did you figure that you might end up looking at the FCS level just with guys of more experience um I was looking for the the at that point in time you know we were looking for depth um looking for the best player you know and at that point so then like then obviously we had the guys get into the portal you know shortly after that and you know then it changed where we got to find the best guy um and Max from the first time I watched his tape and the first time I talked talked with him you know I'm I'm I'm big on him recruiting like I I find a guy that I like you know I find a guy that we like and we go after him and he fit what we needed at the time and you know I couldn't be you know happier with just the personal relationship I have with him you know he's he's up there right now I mean this morning I walk in at you know whatever hour that is he's sitting right there I mean he's that's who he is and and like he's he's just he's he's just it's just a unique relationship that's what I'll say like I've never never had a relationship with a player like him where we can have this dialogue we're sitting there in the quarterback meetings this morning before practice going through you know what we're working on that day um might be something with North Carolina um you know and he he's like hey we could do this we could do that he challenges me you know which I love um but it it's fun it's fun coaching him how's the helmet communication been going and how do you sort of make that new rule Advantage it's fun um it's fun with Max it's fun with you know Drake and Dyan too um because you're able to just you're not you're not like everyone thinks like you're using like it's like a conversation it's not a conversation you don't want to put the quarterback in a position where he's thinking too much it might be a little reminder hey keep your eyes here post Snap um this is your tell um hey this is this is a high tendency on third down stuff like that that and it's just fun because I think like the the cool thing with the quarterbacks right now is they generally like if they make a mistake they don't make it twice and it's fun it's fun to coach guys like that that you know they make that mistake whether it's Max all the way down to the the last guy they they do a good job of just taking that seeing the mistake on the field and then seeing it in the film room not doing it again Daniel Jackson who's in that top tier earned your trust to go to on third down for a pass catch uh you know I trust everybody like I if they're out there they have a job to do and they have to make the play and catch the football um Jameson gears has really come on you know obviously dar's I really love dar's um but like those guys have really come on you know but I'm I'm expecting you know if you're out there if it's Elijah Spencer if it's lcky if it's Christian driver like they they're going to make the play and you know I'm I'm expecting them to you know we are as an offensive staff mention thir down it was I think 52% conversion two years ago and 35ish I think last year what's a key to getting that back up to 52% um I would I would say number one being efficient on early Downs getting into a situation where you're in third and manageable and then we talk about it in the quarterback room that's where that's where you're Elite you're Elite at quarterback you're Elite in third down and you're Elite in the green zone and and you know that's where I'm relying on on the quarterback you know it might be third and eight third and seven and we're going to drop back everybody in the country does and you have to be able to do that you have to be able to play you have to be able to manage the protections you know that's where it's going to come down to but it it all comes down to If you're looking at it from a Global Perspective offensively it's going to come down to how good we are on first and second down we we' we've talked that about that at length you know I think was one it was NFL team I think it was in when the Falcons went to the Super Bowl um they were one of the lower third down conversion teams in the NFL but they went to the Super Bowl well they were one of the best first and second down teams you know and so I think being successful on early Downs is going to be key for us mean a little bit more being a North Carolina native did you grow up a Duke fan and Stu uh um my dad obviously played at eth Carolina you know my mom went there my older sister went there my little sister went to North Carolina um you know i' I grew up an East Carolina fan so it's it is cool um to play against them but at the end of the day I'm I haven't thought about that one point because my main focus is is making sure the offense is ready to go you know I'm very I'm very excited to see what we can do um I'm very excited to see Max you know I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm more excited if I'm just talking about the quarterbacks I'm very excited for Max you know because he's worked extremely hard you know all the way back into high school you know cuz I don't know if you when I was at Chattanooga you know we we recruited Max and you know Max was you know one of the quarterbacks that was on our board when I was a receiver coach at Chattanooga and I knew of Max and then obviously the rest is history from here you know so it's cool to see how much he's changed you put on his huddle tape see how much he's changed I'm just excited for him you know to have that moment for for himself because it's fun for him but I'm I'm excited I'm excited to open up with a great opponent North Carolina's going to be really really good and we're really excited to take him on is your what's your evaluation of Drake so far Drake from January on you know I think um he's he's I sat him down and you know when when I think it was right before he signed um we talked about you know we had to bring in a transfer at that time and you know we were talking about Max and I explained to him like this is going to be a really big thing for you to learn from him and and for Max to take him under his wing and Drake has done that uh I mean if you saw him in a spring he was running the he was running the two offense as a true freshman and he should be a senior in high school and he's he's done a great job of as soon as he got in in January learning the offense understanding the offense making mistakes learning from those mistakes he's a natural thrower of the football um I again it talks about a unique relationship I tell him all the time like you know I I I love him I love his family and they they it's it's cool it's cool to just it's cool to be able to coach those guys because when I go into the room every day like we have moments say we have an hour meeting we might have moments of it might be 30 minutes extremely serious and then it might be another 10 where we're we're sharing a story about something then we're back we're back at it like it's cool to have that relationship with those guys somebody that's gone against Cory Heather's defense for weeks now what what have you learned about the way he approaches things and how he does it he's aggressive you know I I I like I like what we're doing on defense you know I think it's it's really fun to go against him every day because you're going to get something different there's one thing like in training camp and Spring ball sometimes you know the quarterback can get used to seeing the same picture all the time well he's done a good job of of changing that picture and making it challenging on us offensively and the quarterbacks um you know so it's it's fun to go against them every single day they get after it they obviously play very hard you know that that that comes down from coach Fleck you know that's the standard that we have we're gonna play with the how we're gonna play really hard so they they do that talk with Max recently he mentioned how much he likes to play chess to help with quick decision making how have you seen that aspect play out on the field so it really comes into play cuz chess like I played him in chess and it didn't go well for me um you know he's played a couple guys it doesn't go well for them either but he he looks at chess as so like if you get one reaction from the secondary you have to understand without looking at it what's happening on the other side of the field or what the underneath Defender doing he looks at chess that way you have to be ahead on the next move um you know it's funny I walked into the team meeting there day he's playing tic tac he's playing uh Tic Tac Toe with Quin Caroll you know and he's and he's like he like the third move he's like I'm going to win and then he wins you know he's always like that he's he's always thinking he's a unique guy you know and so it's fun it's fun to be around him but it's it was funny it's was funny like just to play him in chess because he I think the second game I played him he purposely lost his Queen and then he was like I'm gonna beat you without the queen then he beat me so it's fun football where he can understand I'm handing off here yeah which maybe two play for now exactly so like if if we're in the Run game we have a run play called he's looking like he I don't have to say to him all right look at this because we have this off of this you know and he knows and right when after that play you know I've gone through periods and practice with him when I go through the plays and say maybe he has six plays in that period he ran that the first play three to four minutes ago and he can go through exactly what he saw his recalls his recall is uncanny you know it's it's it's cool set thanks coach cool thanks guys e e Carolina's offense without Drake may you know that's the biggest question is you know the quarterback situation you know you know we'll be prepared for multiple guys figure out who the quarterback is and then the offensive line situation you know they lost a lot of a lot of reps there but you know they got some really good players up front and we got to be ready to adapt and and uh be ready for what they throw at us with that offensive line and quarterback but you know they got a lot of really good players play up front or um you know on the perimeter the back you know he's an electric player he makes a lot of big plays and you just got to be ready to you know contain them control them up front is that uh you relish kind of the opportunity given what this Rush defense was in Minnesota last year to go against somebody that is have high quality yeah that'll be the number one thing is you know stop the run you know we got to make sure we stop the run we got to stay ahead of the sticks and you know we got to put our defense in favorable situations all day have is The Playmakers on the back end of your defense right now talking linebacker corner safety I think we got a lot of guys that can make some plays and you know I think the way you know the way the defense is is framed and positioned I think we have a lot of guys that can step up and play Ro you know make plays in those roles um you know I'm excited about really both levels you know our back end has had a really good camp you know I thought we came off a really good spring um excited about what some of those guys have done and then the linebacker group we've had some guys step up some guys play some different roles and you know I'm I'm excited really about everyone in the back seven you know especially on first second down and on third down what some guys have stepped up and done feel like you have a safety group that you can sort of mix and match based on the situation this year yeah we've had you know different guys and different roles and you know each guy has different strengths and different traits different abilities and I think you know we put those guys in those situations and I'm excited to see him play you know it' be I can't wait to get against a different color jersey so but um but you know I think we're excited what those guys are going to do I think guys have really stepped up here in Camp you know some guys have different situations where we weren't sure we've tried to put them in different plays or different looks and you know they the way they've responded we've been really excited about it as a staff what do you see in Max Johnson you know I think he's he's got a big arm he has a lot of talent um you know he's got a lot of experience he's you know started a lot of games played a lot of really good football down in the SEC and you know he's going to be a guy that we're going to have to you know the whole game plan we're going to have to make it onedimensional we're gonna have to stay ahead of the sticks we can't let them dictate you know to us the tempo and the and you know situational football and you know but he's you know LSU he made some really good throws made some big time plays I think he's a really good athlete also that part doesn't always get looked at that way you know the way he does move uh make some plays with his feet and you know he's a guy that we're going to have to contain and keep the ball in front of us what led your change to switch sides of the ball as a early coach I think it was an opportunity you know to kind of learn more um you know at that point it's interesting like you kind of get into it and you I almost feel like you're comfortable you know the room how to coach it or you think you do at least I did and you go to the other side and it you completely throw everything out you know for me my first year learning how to tackle block destruction you know the emotion you know the amount of different things that all of a sudden you need to react to on defense and it it helped me tremendously as a coach and I think it's the best thing I ever did um you know I don't know if it was something at that time that I wanted to do um but it was something that tremendously helped me in my career who would you say are your biggest influences as a coach Who Your Role Models as you go to the defensive side to model what you what you are your defense I think right away you know just people that have affect me as a coach or to get me in the coaching you know my high school coach um my high school history teacher is a is a coach um you know I took a lot from you know coach Reno and then you know the guys I've been with my you know coach Hy where I played college football constantly spending time with me Talking Football learning the game different situations or trying to become a better player and then you know the guys I've worked for I've I've been very lucky and very fortunate in my career all the way starting at Kings to Springfield and all the development that you have in that program being a ga having your own room being a position coach and you know I wasn't ready for a room at that point you learn that kind of the hard way and you learn a lot of football on the Fly and um you know but everywhere I've been you know from the coordinators to the head coach and then you know people that have helped me you know every single stop you know I think there's been a different influence everywhere and I think you know they've all helped in different ways what enables your defense to swarm effectively to the ball what what goes into that you know every day we talk about ESV and you know we want our guys to fly around we want excitement we want our guys to love the game of football we want them to walk in the building every day and love you know embracing the new challenge you know what what are we doing today and then we want a swarm you know we want 11 hats to the ball we want Relentless defense on every single snap and that's the way that we you know we drill it in Indie that's the way that we play in you know every different period of practice and you know that's what the expectation is that's what the standard is for game day the amount of roster movement in college football how do you go about preparing for a first game when you don't really know how the Personnel will be used and featured is there a lot of contingency plans in place yeah that's the that's the biggest question um you know I think you know we got to go back and look all the way what you know what has coach Lindsay done where he's been different spots different style quarterbacks um you know different Playmakers how does he distribute the ball you know they have a lot of Talent on that offense you know between the back the tight ends the wide receivers you know how they're going to use the offensive linemen you know last year they did different things in different games and they had a very experienced front to sometimes help them protection sometimes help them in the Run game and you know I think we just you know we're going to take a big picture of you know different ways they've attacked different defenses different people different styles um you know different things that he's done whether it's been at North Carolina or different places and um you know we got to kind of take a look at the full picture and we'll be ready and early in the game I think we'll get a good good idea of how they will attack us and you know what their style for the day will be and we just got to make sure we respond to that on the flip side they may not know much about you and the golfers as a mix can you use that to some Advantage too and spring some timely things on them do you think yeah absolutely and you know we're going to stay within what the defense is but you know that's that's the one thing we got to let them try to figure out what type of progression have you seeing from Maverick baronowski you know M's been awesome you know coming back from last year and you know the way he responded in Spring football and the way he competes every day um you know I love the way he competes I love the way he attacks the ball his physical style of play he leverages the ball really well he's you know got really good block destruction U plays with good pad level and just you know he loves football you know every day he's in there he wants to know more wants to learn wants to get better playing multiple positions and uh you know he's a guy that you know that's why we love what we do you know you got and really the defense here that's one thing you I love about the family here is we got guys that love football every day you want to show up you want to continue to attack continue to get better and um you know he's one of the guys that help you know set the temperature every day for the room wish you feel like you can put on Cody given his amount of experience yeah he's a guy you know he's one of the smarter football players I've been around just situational football being able to handle checks being able to handle different things in situations um he plays fast you know he really sees the game well I think it's moving pretty slow for him right now and you know he's a guy that we trust you know we're going to put him in some good spots and but you know as a defense we got to make sure all 11 hats you know they're they're playing fast they're playing physical you know we want to get to the ball and we just got to make sure all 11 guys are on the same page you know every you know whatever the look is they give us or what what whatever the defense is that we make a call for not not to name names or schools but is is there significant difference in in your business in the ability of coaches to adjust in games do you you kind of see that through your career and going up in competition yeah I think everywhere you got to be able to you know I think football's football you know I think there's really good coaches everywhere and I think they're going to come out they'll have a plan and you know we got to make sure we can adjust depending what you know who the quarterback is who the offensive line is which backs in the game where the wide receivers are you know what personnel it is and you know I think you know I think we'll have a good plan for it and we got to make sure at some point we'll have to adjust at some point they'll have to adjust and I think we'll be ready for that and you know that's the part that that we love and that's why we do it so I'm excited for it you see a lot of difference though some some are better in making adjustments on others yeah I think everyone everyone handles it differently everyone has a different plan for how they attack it and you know we'll have to find out you know exactly what theirs is other than the final score is there any stat that stands out to you that is is most important for your defense yeah we want to stop the run you know we want to stop the run we want to try to make them onedimensional you know we got to it it's going to be all about the ball we got to try to create takeaways you know we talk about being obsessed with the ball um and then you know we got to stay ahead of the sticks on third down you know if we could win third down situations create takeaways and then you know the last thing that we always talk about here is you know our 78% is going to be you know eliminating big plays there's been a lot of talk about the versatility where you can move guys around and have packages and sell packages is there a challenge to try not to do too much because there's maybe so many pieces you could move around that you could get too thin or too spread out in terms of trying to excel it everything how do you walk that line yeah we try to teach our guys techniques and fundamentals you know we want to be technique sound we want to be fun fundamentally sound and you know we don't want to put too much on any specific player you know we want to give him those techniques give him those fundamentals and let him go play Fast within the system and you know it might be a guy playing multiple linebacker spots or a guy playing multiple safety spots or moving around the defensive line but we we're not going to do a ton you know it's it's the same fundamentals the same techniques that they're going to be playing um you know and I think that that allows our guys to be a little bit position like you know gives our guys some versatility and you know it's going to let us be sound as a defense but the number one thing is going to be you know the speed that we play at you know we we want to be a physical fast football team and I think the biggest thing for that is we got to make sure we let our guys play with him what have you seen in in JW and what s of kind of seasoning do you think he can have with his skill set yeah really I think he's from Spring football to fall Camp you know I think he's really matured I think he's really grown I'm excited about the way he's been practicing you know he first second down right now you know he he's been very strong at the point of attack you know his technique his his Pad level we've been really excited about how he's been playing and really the dline in general you know you watch that group right now you know we've taken big steps really since that first spring practice to you know this morning we've taken a lot of big steps we've had a lot of big strides just with the technique that they play you know taking a man on block taking a man away block their progression their pad level um you know how physical they're playing and and ja's a guy that you know I think he's really come out and helped set the standard every day you know and you know we've talked about you know obviously D lman want to rush the quarterback you know we got to make sure we got stop the run and that's one thing that the emphasis has been on you know really since day one of spring football and that's something I think we've continued to improve at every day as we attack it Cory how much progress have you noticed from The Corner Room as a whole throughout Camp you know that's room I think you know I'm really excited about what we've done you know Wally has really done a great job Senate Ethan you know Z Ryland you know there's a lot of guys in that room our young guys have really stepped up the way we compete in 101s the way that we challenge throws um you know that's a that's a group that competes in everything they do and we've been really excited how they've responded from different situations um how hard they play how fast they play you know in both the Run game and and the pass game the other day we had we had an awesome block destruction rep you know where one of the corners you know tears off from a wide receiver and puts his face on the ball and you know I thought it was an awesome rep just setting the temperature for the day you know it was early in one of the periods and you know that's that's kind of you know what what the expectation is what the standard is from that room right now and you know I've been every day you know coach Monroe does a great group great job with that group and you know you know I love watching like when you go in their meetings they're always like you know ton of energy and excitement and you know I think that's what the way they attack the field every day [Music] right