FOOTBALL | Blake Shapen - Week One Media Session

Blake you've been through this before but just uh you haven't been through it here so just what butterflies or anything special comes out yeah I think I'm just excited to get the season going I think we've been going against each other for a long time now so I think it's just excitement ready to get out there and play my first game in starville you've seen games on TV I'm sure before and seen some film to kind of see what the atmosphere here is like I mean how what's it going to be like to run out there and hear all that for the first time and know that college football is here yeah I think for me it's going to be cool cuz you know I've been in the same stadium for for four years so being able to run out um somewhere different especially like a place like here I've heard how electric it is and and like I said I'm just excited to be able to go out there for the first time Saturday said yesterday that the offensive Line's probably the the group that's made the most progress since January to now when he says that what what areas do you have you seen that group grow I think they just grown together um when you get in a system for a long time and it's been a whole spring it's been a whole camp and now getting into the season I feel like uh reps and and doing it over and over again helps a lot especially with confidence so um for those guys that continue just to do what they do each and every day just to to grow in their craft has has been good and giving them a lot of confidence we saw some difficulties in the Georgia Tech Florida State game with the coastcom system in a really loud environment but as loud as this place can be on Saturdays is there anything you're doing uh to kind of combat that maybe I think think I think especially at home it should be fine I don't I don't know how big of an issue it will be obviously we have things that we'll do if it is an issue but um I think more on the road it'll be more of an issue so more generally speaking what's it been like to have that headset communication to be able to you know get the play down from uh from upstairs and communicate to your your teammates that way and not not have to rely on those boards on the sidelines yeah I mean it's been different obviously because I've never used it before but um it definitely helps out a lot um coach leby helps me out and things like that especially when before it hits 15 seconds so it's it's going to help me out a lot as a Star Quarterback obviously you you have to get this team prepared and team ready and you've been preparing for that since you got here the spring in January but you also have the duties of bringing along two younger quarterbacks how have you handled that role too yeah it's been it's been good those guys are great guys and they want to learn they're picking up any information to grow just like I am we all came in pretty much at the at the same time because we're all new to coach loveby system so um it's been good to grow with those guys and you know hopefully my experience and things that maybe I've been through has has helped them out a little bit to give them a little bit experience without playing much so um it's been fun working with them you mentioned so much being new I was going through the projected lineup 10 of the 11 guys listed to start or transfers of one year or another what's it to say about college football that you can assemble so many guys into a team and be ready to play this quickly yeah I mean obviously this is this is new in college football and and it's kind of the norm now and so so you know it's definitely different than what it used to be and and it's just you got to grow quickly with guys and you got to get to know them and things like that and I feel like our team's done a really good job of doing that so um it's obviously different uh than the past but it's definitely been something that you know we took in in a great way and we were able to to bond with each other pretty early on so it's it's been a good transition for most of us and what does that say for the people that coach leby and his staff brought in that they can bond together like this yeah I think I think with Coach lby how he relates to the players it you know it makes us feel like we're at home and and how he can relate to the younger generation so I think that's the main thing with Coach Levy and how he can communicate with us just as we would communicate with each other helped us out a lot before before you came did you talk to so Robertson all just about playing here and and just going back to just the atmosphere and everything uh I might asked him a few questions but yeah I think I did I asked him about start reveal and things like that but um yeah we talked a little bit you guys had to kind of do a dress rehearsal last weekend to kind of get you ready I mean what all did you guys kind of do to so it's not question time on Saturday yeah we just went through the whole game day thing so we we would go to the hotel we did that Friday um got to see the hotel that we're staying at I think it's a new hotel and then we just went through the whole game day and the dog walk and then going on the field pregame and all that stuff so just getting a feel for what game day is going to be like what do you make of Eastern kuy's defense I think they're a solid defense I feel like they got some good players I feel like their their dline is a strong suit so um that's going to be a big emphasis for us is blocking those guys up front and then obviously making plays uh down the field and and with the receivers um and obviously run the football but at the same time they they got a lot of experience and and things like that so we got to respect that talking about schematically um a big part of Levy's offense is the spacing it creates out by uh how now through fall Camp have you seen guys kind of adapt to that yeah I feel like like I said earlier with the o line it's just about reps and those reps matter and so the more times you do it the more confidence you're going to get and I feel like those guys have a lot of confidence going into week one outside of of a win what what do you feel like would create a successful satday for for the off uh I think for us just to put out on the field what we put out in practice and and for us to see the growth and and honestly just go out and have fun and enjoy what we're doing um we we've practiced so many different times just to be able to go out there and play these football games so mostly just go out and have fun and and execute what we're what our game plan is