8.19.24 Weekly Press Conference: Nevada Football Head Coach Jeff Choate

to to deep tomorrow uh I think SMU is going to release theirs as well so we're release our to deep at that point in time and uh you know shoot man I just think about this game and I think about what an unbelievable opportunity this is not just for our football program but really the community of Reno Northern Nevada and this great University um at 5 o'clock on Saturday we're the only game in town if you like college football and you turn the TV on and you want to watch a game there's only one to watch and so this can be an unbelievable commercial for this University for our community for all of Northern Nevada and so uh I really encourage you know uh members of our community hey if you're on the fence about hey what should I go to this game or not absolutely you should go to this game um it's a it's a beginning of a new era of woolpack football but it's also an opportunity to to Showcase uh our University the spirit and the pride of this place and uh hopefully we can have a great turnout and uh be uh somewhat gracious hosts for the SMU Mustangs um turning our attention to them they're 11 win football team from a year ago and they returned nine of their 11 starters on offense so this is a team that was a top 10 scoring and red zone offense a year ago that has not really missed a beat um their quarterback is I'm assuming he's going to be healthy missed some time at the end of the year last year really efficient player they have excellent skill um I think there's you know it's it's a team that you know we've got to make them earn it they they thrive on explosive plays that gets them into their Tempo offense they've got an offensive minded head coach and uh and they're you know they're they're dangerous they're a very dangerous football team they're a power five football team that's resting just outside the top 25 and I'm sure they want to make a statement early on in the season to put them in position um to to make some noise down the stretch and so offensively they prevent present kind of a multitude of issues the tempo uh unbalanced formations uh just the speed and athleticism that they have on the perimeter a wide receiver they run a lot of Gap schemes in the run in the Run game so you got to do a great job of fitting counter and Power they will run the quarterback a little bit and so they're and they're very balanced I think there's a perception that maybe this is a pass happppy offense and they're not they're uh you know I think red is kind of a um you know a lot of people are going to say well air raid because some of his roots date back to his St at Texas Tech but you know I see a lot more Gus malz on and Gus is much more of a balanced guy I mean they're almost 50-50 run pass from last year and I think that's what you're going to see from them on offense uh they do create a lot of explosives they're going to push the ball down the field vertically and when they do get an explosive you can anticipate them going fast and so it's really important for us to try to win first down and uh keep them off schedule and out of their Tempo that's those are things that I think you can pay attention to for us from a defensive standpoint uh when you turn the attention to their defense uh I think it's it's very underrated man I think this is a really good outfit they were top 12 in scoring defense a year ago uh they don't return quite as many starters but they may have added more pieces through the portal than they did than they had to on offense uh their defensive line is active and uh and very talented I think that's the best unit on their defense they have athletic linebackers and they have good skill in the back end so I think this is a uh I love the way these guy play guys play defense they're not overly complicated on mixed Downs primarily they're going to play post safety but they do what they do really well and they run to the ball and they tackle well and they play physical so I admire what they do on defense and uh they present a variety of challenges just in terms of matchups from that standpoint as well so a very talented football team that's coming to Mackey and uh an opportunity for us to to go out and find out we got and I think that's going to be the whole thing is like how do we respond to the tempo of the game and I'm not just talking how fast they run plays I'm talking just the speed of the game is hard to simulate in even in practice situations especially when you're going up against kind of taking a step up in competition like we are I think tackling always shows up in first games you know who's going to be the better tackling team usually see a lot of Miss tackles early on because everybody's adjusting to the speed I think turnovers are always going to be a huge factor and then special teams and uh I think you know they've got a new punter uh we have a new punter uh they return their kicker it'll be interesting to see kind of almost have to get live Scouts on these guys I think the the the kick charts not going to be as relevant you know they're playing a lot of games at or near sea level and being at almost a mile high that Ball's probably going to carry a little bit more knowing that the wind's going to come out of the North pretty much consistently here in Mackey and uh so I think we're going to have to get a little bit of a good live Scout in pregame as are they to see kind of where we want to set our returners up and how aggressive we want to be in that phase and uh it it's a it's a it's an interesting challenge but uh as I said you know we've got we've got a great opportunity and I think it's a great opportunity for the community Areno to come together and have a party at 5 o'clock and Mackie on uh on Saturday the 24th happy to take any questions a lot of Mountain West schools kind of open with an FCS obviously you guys have a much bigger challenge iess are the pros and cons starting against yeah well I think we're going to find out a lot about ourselves uh we're going to find a lot out about not just not just what we do well schematically but how we play what is our competitive character how mature are we as competitors you know there's going to be moments in every game no matter how how Elite the competition is that you're going against where things are not going to go your way and football more than any other game is a huge game of momentum so when the momentum's on their sideline how do we respond that's what that's the biggest thing I'm going to pay attention to in this game and one of the things that I think is pretty obvious is that you know we have an interesting schedule we play five non-conference preseason games essentially then we have a buy and then we have our mountainwest schedule and I've kind of looked at that like we've got a long Runway to figure out our identity what do we do well in all three phases who are our Playmakers how do we help them to give us a chance to impact the game in a positive way for us right how are we maturing as a as a team in terms of our com our competitive nature really and then you know are we improving week to week are we getting better at fundamental football are we becoming smarter football players are we playing with better pad level are we tackling better are we sticking the blocks are we are we tighter on our vertical cuts the little things that make a big difference in a football game and so I think uh that's kind of how I look at this like you know you know brendon's the starter week one well we got five weeks of preseason there's a lot of things can happen between now and then and I think that's one thing that uh should give our guys hope I think you know we've got to play a lot of guys in these five non-conference games to find out who the guys are that we can count on in competitive situations you mentioned Brandon didn't throw an interception the entire fall the entire fall can't now he tried he tried Keaton Crawford dropped a couple but you got to catch them or they don't count but his yeah his his accuracy um you know one of the things share with you is that you know I think there was a question mark maybe even within the locker room about hey how hard are is is he preparing how hard is he working there is no doubt that he was the hardest working member of our football team this fall camp that guy was in the team room in between practices in between walkthroughs uh every single day and he did it intentionally he didn't go back in a corner room where nobody could see him working he made sure that when everybody walked through the team room they saw their starting quarterback or who he hoped would become the starting quarterback in their grinding and out watching the tape and preparing and I think that uh I think that wenton over a lot of the guys in the locker room and I think that his preparation showed day in and day out in Fall camp where do you think that added maturity came from is that something that you guys had discussed coming out of spring I think there's a lot of he's he's getting older you know his his uh you know his three- yard run starting to kind of shrink a little bit if that makes sense so as you got to understand that analogy and and uh you know I think he also sees a new opportunity you know I think he's T I think you know coach gilbertson's done a really good job with him I think I think he really likes what we're doing on offense and how Matt approaches you know keeping Reed simple for the quarterback giving them Rhythm throws um and uh and I I just think that he sees like hey this is if I'm going to do it Now's the Time I mean what am I waiting for you know been in college three years I've got an opportunity here and let's let's take advantage of it and so I think he's matured I'd like to hope that some of the things that we've done uh in terms of having bringing in people for him to work with um you know just in terms of performance coaching whether that be Phil corner chuk or other people that we've kind of surrounded himself him and other other players that we have in a program with uh I'd like to hope that some of that work has been is is going to pay off as well I know you guys will release your JY tomorrow but is AJ the backup at this point or yeah AJ will be the backup going into the SMU game you expect to play multiple quarterbacks or is it just kind of see how it goes no I really don't uh I think that would that would be U um you know dependent on how the game Flow goes and the circumstances I think this week um you know that's that's not necessarily the plan um but you know you never know how the game's going to fold unfold and and I do think that AJ's prepared himself and he'll be ready to go as is Griggs I mean I think all three of those guys would be capable of running our offense in an efficient way what part of the team would you say is the furthest along are you're most comfortable with right now I think just the depth is the running back room we just have so many guys that have played major college football and so um that's that's probably the room that you go okay we've got a little bit more bandwidth in that room than we do some others what about where the biggest room is to improve I gu um you know I think that's always going to I mean I think we all have room to improve in every area I think there's just a lot of untested things like we've got I I really like our defensive backfield but we've got a lot of guys that maybe haven't played on this stage and so uh you could say the same about a number of positions in our in our organization and so like I'm all I'm this is very much an observation game for me you know I'm watching their body language I'm watching how they respond when they get hit in the mouth I'm watching how they respond when things are going well uh know the type of team that I want and I'm realistic to know that it's not going to be there in its entirety week one you know it's going to be a work in progress and uh we've just got to make sure that we identify the behaviors that we want to have in our program and we celebrate those behaviors and then we correct the ones that we don't want what positions do you think have improved the most since you got this job until this season over I think quarterback comes to mind I think offensive line comes to I mean I don't think there's a position that hasn't improved I mean word like this is not even it's night and day from what it was in the spring both in terms of who the people are out there you know 30 something 40 something new guys and uh and in terms of their understanding of how we want to go about practice how we do our preparation you know what the expectation is in the locker room and out in the community and those things like that so I think it's I think there's been vast Improvement across the board but if you were say one on the offensive side without doubt it's receiver but you could also make an argument that's more we brought better people in the room as far as players um and uh and on the defensive side you know I'd probably say you know I'd probably say Edge you know and again there's good talent there too um in terms of people who would be on the two deep who might not be available through the injury I guess how Healy do you guys this we we've gotten pretty fortunate I think uh we had some guys that were out for quite a while and uh we're starting to get some of those guys back Andrew S who's not been involved a lot is the last week and a half has started to kind of you know re acclimate to college football again Patrick garwo we you know coming off an injury we were very cautious with him he's back to full go so there's some of those types of guys I really don't see guys that are too deep guys that uh that are not going to be available at all now they they may be a little bit limited they may have a pitch count on them but uh but I don't see guys that are in the two deep that are significant for us they're not going to be available Sean it seemed like limited Rec yeah he's he back full yesterday so yeah we we kind of dodged the bullet there thought it was a high ankle it wasn't it was just a medial ankle and he's back rolling he's got fresh legs probably not a bad thing to take a a veteran and give them a few days off before we get into game week you mentioned their explosive passing attack and not allowing big plays what be the keys to making them you known series rather than you know these big exposive plays well they're going to take their shots I mean I don't it doesn't matter what we do that's their DNA they're going to they're going to have 11 to 13 vertical plays a game um you know whether those are dialed up shots out of 12 Personnel whether that's just seeing a a single safety in a pressed corner and they're going to throw it up and so you know we've got to we've got to pick and choose when we put our guys on Islands we got to be smart about that obviously um and then you know we've got to we've got to try to not get in not allow the play callor to get in rhythm with us we've got to you know show them different looks we can't live and die even in even in Tempo We Can't Live and Die in one look or they're going to they're going to identify the matchup that they want and they're going to exploit that and so uh I think that's really the critical aspect of it is not putting our guys in bad spots we have to put them in positions that doesn't mean we're not going to call an aggressive game that means that we can't do it down after down after down you mentioned identity of your team as well I guess what do you want that identi to well I think this I think I want us I mean really I want our program to be defined by two words toughness and discipline those are the two things that I want this program to be about and if uh if us and I'm not just talking about physical toughness being able to take an emotional blow and respond quickly in an appropriate fashion being resilient right and uh I think that's something that you know when you have a program that's struggled as we have over the last couple of years that's the first thing that's going to be that's the first in the armor that here we go again mentality like I don't care I really don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of this game the only thing I care about is how we play how we represent the University of Nevada how hard we play how disciplined we play showing resilience and mental toughness and then physically getting after it that's the only thing that matters you know and if we if we feel good about the effort the toughness and the discipline that we played with then we'll grow from there and that's the objective I'm sure you inherited a group that didn't have a lot of belief given the last few seasons how have you seen that belief among these guys a whole kind of change as you get closer to the start of the Season yeah I think well confidence comes from success I mean that's the reality of it right but I think it also comes from trust and then knowing how I'm going to respond being as consistent as I can be you know if I'm a roller coaster coach we're going to have a roller coaster team and so trying to be really really consistent and intentional about my approach to these young men uh when I speak with them uh one-on-one holding them to a high standard holding them accountable I think it starts with our best players or the guys that are perceived to be the best players in the locker room I intentionally make examples out of them I'm not going to go after the walk-on freshman for not having the right dress in the weight room or not using the type of energy and effort that we want on the practice field um you know I'm going I'm going to make sure that our best players are are providing the right example for a program because if they're doing it right everybody's going to fall in line and if I allow them to do it wrong we're not making progress so I think it's being really consistent and firm with the expectations and standards that we have and over time that confidence builds like hey I know a coach I'm gonna get out of Coach I know that's what I'm gonna get if I do this I'm gonna get this and then pretty soon the standards start to rise and then their confidence builds because their skilled gets better if that makes sense and so uh you know there's going to be a moment that this season I don't know what game it is I don't know when it is it might be Saturday it might not that the light's going to come on and these guys are going to start to play with more belief and more confidence and uh and that's just the nature of a competitive environment right you know and so um I'm looking forward to that moment competitive maturity is something you talked about a lot how has that come along since we kind of last night and day night and day I think they heard my message loud loud and clear you know from Runners are the ones that run their mouth and and getting shoving matches and and try to grandstand finishers are the ones that let their pads do the talking and we've made tremendous strides in that area you kind of touch on it throughout but what will it take for you to walk off the field Saturday and say that was a success what does that look like I don't know we'll get to Saturday I mean got to watch the film got to see like I said I mean how they play is what's important to me I'll have a pretty good feel for it after the game um I think I've got a reasonably well- trained eye but by the same time um you know there's going to be a lot of details that show up like you know hey did you see the backside tackle climbing to the safety on that screen and straining to finish or did he not did he hang it up did he take that play off and so those are the things that are going to be important and impactful for me to see um you know next Sunday you personally just the excitement of being a head coach again putting on that headset and having you know eight months in the in the books here in town and getting ready for a game how how do you feel I guess yeah I feel like uh I'm exhausted if I'm being honest with you like this is I eight months it seems like an eternity uh the way you know the zero week not having a little bit more time off in the summer year one you've got so much more to do and so I'm looking forward to a year from now if I'm being honest with you so I know what's coming and it's uh you know year one's always going to be some heavy lifting and we've done a lot of that heavy lifting already um I'll be excited on game day uh but hopefully I'll be poised as well you kind of talk about like your high energy during practice and like game for the players and maybe your changes like what is your personality does that change yeah I I mean again I try to be really consistent and my personality in general has changed I mean when I was 34 you know I was a lunatic out there on the practice field right and uh coaching linebackers and special teams and you know like your roles change right as your roles change your demeanor has to change I can't be that guy and so trying to be really intentional when I talk I have something to say you know I'm not talking just just to talk uh I don't think yelling is coaching I really don't I challenge our coaches on that a lot uh I think that you know if I really want to make a point I'm gonna bring a kid over and put my arm around him and whisper in their ear right that's going to get the point across a lot more than me screaming and yelling atam they're probably not even going to hear me anyway and so I think being really intentional about my communication with our players being really intentional about our communication with our staff I told our coaches yesterday we did our Sunday reset and they said well you know gosh you're really calm and I said I said it takes more energy for me to just have a really calm demeanor than it does for me to do what I'm naturally kind of prone to do which is to get get excited and emotional and so that takes a lot of self-discipline and I think I've learned that over time and so um on game day hopefully I'm under control I'm not losing my mind on the officials I'm I'm trying to you know if a series doesn't go well I'm not you know telling Matt that you know jump out of the booth buddy we're going to go to another play call you know just have some maturity about what we're going on what we're about to do and have Poise and composure and I think that's sometimes that's my biggest challenge and that takes more mental energy for me than anything and so um because I know what you know it's easy for me to light the fire it's harder for me to suppress that and be focused and poised and composed have you guys selected captains for this we'll have game captains okay yeah yeah so um each week we'll select a group of captains for the game um based on kind of you know how did they represent the core values of our program and so that'll be something that'll maybe be a little bit different new I always find it hard year one to do permanent captains you know you just don't have a long Runway with these kids and um you know especially early in the year things are great you know and then you meet some struggles well who are the guys that are really going to show their medal in the right way and uh I'm hopeful that we have a lot of those young men in our program um but I know that if we if we kind of take this approach that week by week the guys that are kind of exemplifying the values that we want to have and and be living examples of the culture that we want here then we're rewarding those guys on a weekly basis and I think our season captains then will'll vote on those at the end of the year and they'll emerge through the course of these 13 games like sideline props become a big thing college football you guys have you know I am the worst guy in the world when it comes to stuff like that so like I don't know like we are going to have we are going to have there'll be a press release is that on on Thursday is that when we're doing that they'll talk about something that we're doing to lead our team out which I think is pretty significant and it's impactful uh and I I like things that have you know they have bandwidth that have like there's a history a tradition behind it like I don't know that there's a history or tradition behind a turnover belt or whatever I think those are a little p u but if it gets the kids fired up whatever I don't care I'm not going to be a part of it so um that's more ask Kane that question I guess is a better answer for me what do you make of SMU QB room it seems like it's obviously more than just Stone out there that could potentially throw an one yeah I could see seven the guy that finished the year for him I mean that guy's a very talented player very good athlete they can spin it um I think whoever's in that room they're going to have talent you know I mean this is a this is an ACC team that you know has Deep Pockets and can be active in the portal and does a really good job of evaluating and recruiting and and quite honestly I don't want to minimize the job you know that that coach lashley's done there by saying that they just go out and buy players because I don't believe that I think he's done a tremendous job of building the culture you watch them play defense like if you want to know what a team's all about what's the heartbeat of it man a lot of guys can do a lot of cool things on offense depending on what their toys are but the way they play they play a physical brand of football on both sides uh you can tell that they've done done a really good job of you know when they have gotten into the the portal they've done done it in a way that's been intentional and they've got guys that fit what they want to do and have the personality that they want to play with so um you know I doesn't matter who they roll out there they're going to have talent about the numbers you guys will go in as underdogs uh do you feel like this is a squad that can wear that title well in game number one I think we're going to be underdogs in every game I I think that like maybe by the end of the year we'll have open some eyes and hey you know these guys maybe aren't underdogs anymore I don't know um but you know number one you know I don't think we're supposed to worry about what the spread is number two I would totally expect that right you know I mean I mean given who we're our our recent past right and so I think that's okay you know that's okay we we we know who we are we'll play with the chip on our shoulder and and uh go see how it goes outside of what we're going to hear about I it sounds like on Thursday can you just take us through what game Le looks like for you guys and specifically also maybe the day before the game if you guys have any Traditions or anything you're going to try to do yeah so we're a little bit different in that so we practice we have a like a real practice on Monday um it's it's a little shorter we're in helmets and spiders but we get through quite a bit we do some game plan stuff uh Tuesday is kind of your every Tuesday everywhere in America practice you know mix Downs covered units Wednesday is kind of your every Wednesday everywhere in the country Wednesday um and then we take Thursday off that's our players day off and I found that doing it later in the week they get a little bit more refreshed um and when they come in early in the week and they want to get extra film study we're still in the process of formulating the game plan right and once it's later in the week like hey here's the call sheet take 20 minutes and go in there and go right through the third Downs or whatever the case may be and so I think uh I think it also gets the coaches a little bit more fresh leading into game day and then Friday is a combination of what would be a walk through on a normal Friday at most institutions and a Thursday practice so we kind of combine those two so we'll bring the guys in we'll have a have a script walk through uh go through situations they'll go in they'll dress tape we'll have a special teams meeting we'll work on situational stuff in that meeting as well and then we'll go out and have about an hour and 15 minute practice we'll have two Scout periods and two crossover service periods during that and then we intermix the Special Teams so um our our our Fridays are are a good chunk right so we're kind of activating them the day before the game and then Friday night we don't stay in hotels so um on home games so we'll come in here we'll go the silver blue we'll eat dinner we'll have an offens defensive meeting I'll talk to the team and then uh we'll send them off to you know their house and let them sleep in their own bed and then we'll get up on Friday and play so I don't know that there's any there's any specific Traditions or anything like that I mean um one thing I know and at doing this as long as I have there's no magic bullet doesn't matter I mean it's it's about preparation and execution and those are the things that matter on game day now you in the hotel or is there anything am I in a hotel is that what ask my wife I don't know traditionally you know the team will say in a hotel home yeah I'm trying to here's what we're doing okay that I'm saving a little over $150,000 and I'm putting that into nutrition so that's a that's a budgetary you know I mean I think it's well documented where we're at in terms of competitive investment in the Mountain West uh with our football program and I think that's one of the ways that I can be a good Steward of the resources that we have and make decisions that are going to have the most impact for our players and that doesn't we're still feeding them they're still getting a good meal we're still send home with a snack all that kind of stuff the only thing is we're not you know staying in a hotel we're not using the expenses of taking the buses back and forth and so um I think that's there's always more than one way to do it you know I mean if we're you know where I get a I get a budget I decide how that budget spent and um you know there's things that maybe we can I'm not going to use the word cut Corners because I don't think that's cutting Corners we're doing everything we would do but I know I sleep a lot better in my own bed and hopefully our players will be mature enough to be able to handle that as well and if they're not you know then we'll will adjust this wack football fan base has obviously been through a lot the last few seasons lost coach conference trial back Seasons I guess you know how important is it to get Mack back filled and what do you think it's going to take to get I guess confident dire yeah I think obviously giving them a kind of a marquee game I would think that would be a part of it right hey bringing them back them having a really good game day experience because you know the days of go buying a ticket just for the game or over right it's it's about the experience too and so people having a really good experience hey the parking was good I I enjoyed the food and the Concourse the the fireworks or whatever the heck else they got going on in between series uh was was great our kids had fun you know I think that the the overall experience is just as important as the product on the field I don't know if I agree or disagree with that but that's a big part of it right but the draw is still going to be are you winning or not right that's still the draw are we playing significant impact games in November because there's a conference title opportunity on the line or a bowl opportunity on the line um I think those are the things that are that are going to be interesting and I think that how we play again is going to be the determining factor is it a product that people in Northern Nevada can be proud of you know and if if we do that the right way you know we we'll bring the we'll bring the fan base back um and it's kind of chicken or the egg right like okay is it we invest in the program and and people show up and then they win or is it we got to win and then they'll invest in the program and we'll bring the people back I I think it's probably the latter and I'm well aware of that I was like like you know I'm I was not naive when I took this job I knew it was going to be a steep mountain to climb and so um but I think we've got a good plan for how to do it there was a report out that the group of five Commissioners are going to this week to talk about group of playoff obviously the timate goal is to get into the 12 team college football playoff but would you be in favor of the group of being a separate well until 2032 we we are the the group of five does have a slot right so so that's already present now it's how do you want to how do you want to select that team right now it's the highest ranked conference Champion correct um from the group of five that would have an opportunity to get into the 12 team playoff so I think that's the decision right that the Commissioners and the presidents of the universities have to make is hey do we want to stick with the plan that's already in place through 20 2032 or do we want to create something that maybe captivates a different audience and uh and find some dead air in those weeks before bowl games start to be played where we can have our playoff system in place and then the winner of that playoffs then gets an opportunity to get into the 12 team now there's some things that are going to have to happen if that choice is made and that's clearly made well above my pay grade um you're going to have to go to an 11 team regular 11 game regular season so you're going to lose a non-conference game you're probably going to have to go to week zero to play because there's a lot more eyeballs in that and you're also going to create a longer runway for your play off okay and so um you know are you giving up a home game are you giving up a money game what are you you know what's the cost benefit in that and so again um you know I'm very familiar I mean it's really the FCS playoff model which you know certainly uh Wolfpack fans of a certain age will understand and you know I've um I grew up as Big Sky fan and I was a head coach in the Big Sky so I understand that format playoff football is cool it is it's a it's a it's a cool deal and uh I think there's there's a lot of scenarios that are going to have to be talked about because I don't think the movement is done right I mean we don't even know what the house decision total Fallout as yet and so I think there's some other things that have to happen but I do think that's definitely a a conversation that's being had and probably should be had between the top rated group of five Champion going in the play know do I I I think playing an office I mean I I'll use Liberty as an example right okay Liberty schedule last year SMU can make an argument a big argument that they should have been in that game right now they weren't going to get into the cfp because it was only four teams last year but you could make an argument that hey they kind of got hosed on this deal because Liberty was undefeated but who did Liberty play well if Liberty had to go through a playoff system would SMU have beat him in a playoff I don't know they didn't play would be cool if they did and then you can say Hey you know we're comparing Apples to Apples we're not saying this guy's conf schedule strength of schedule is different than this it's like hey we're going to play off win or take all got one more coach you don't strike me as a superstitious guy but is there anything you you do every game day or every week of a game or anything you have to do not really no I mean I show up um that's kind of it you know I mean I think uh you know I think there's little things but not any not anything that's significant that I would say you know I wear a certain color or socks or yeah that's not really my thing so all right thank do I