USF Football: Weekly Media Availability - HC Jeff Scott, Jimmy Horn Jr, Aamaris Brown (10.04.22)

well today is good to get back out on the practice field and get back going I think our overall energy was good from our players and coaches had good meetings uh Sunday coming in watching the tape and everybody's just ready to get back to work and really the big biggest message is we got to stay focused on the things that we can control and that's how we prepare during the week and how we play and how we execute on on game day that's really what it comes down to but there's no doubt I believe in this team I believe in our players I believe in our coaches and I mean we knew this isn't some big surprise we talked about it before the season started that we had a challenging schedule to start with right we could have played some of the teams that other teams played in the non-conference and we would have the exact same team we have right now and we would be three and two but the message would be that we're so much better we've turned the corner and here we go we're ready to go and we'd have the same flaws and mistakes that we got to clean up and uh and the difference is who we played right and so I think the the message for me to our coaches and to our players is you know we got to fix the mistakes there's no doubt there's mistakes and we can play better and that's what our Focus has to be on but let's don't walk around and act like we were favored in all these games and we've just been you know losing all these games I think somebody told me the other day the four games that we lost we were on average a 15 Point Underdog in all four games you know so we're disappointed because we didn't play better in some of these but at the end of the day we got got to keep our perspective and understand that we have seven more opportunities and I'm very confident that we're going to see some positive results here uh over the next half of the Season it doesn't get any easier this week watching Cincinnati there's a very strong chance that this will be the best team that we played up to this point uh watching their defense I would say there's a chance this could be the best defense that we've faced since I've been here in two and a half years and uh it's pretty incredible to think that they had nine players drafted off last year's team and uh and they may be better overall as as a team coach fickle and his staff have done an excellent job you know they're 26 and three over the last three years obviously last year going 13-1 and and making the college football playoff and then again nine players drafted uh third most second to George and LSU so pretty strong there but when you turn on the tape they've definitely done a great job of replacing the players that left they have a lot more draft picks that are playing for them right now they're defense is currently number one in the country with the most sacks through five games have 23 sacks this is a pretty impressive stat that I don't know that I've ever seen before if you take their starting 11 right all the different positions and the starting players there's eight players and they're starting 11 that all have at least one sack on the season and that's pretty pretty impressive right there that means they're bringing pressure from a lot of different places very physical their linebacker I think is one of the number zero Ivan Pace I think he has to be one of the best linebackers in the country he's number one really big size great speed he's got 56 tackles 15 tackles for loss and six sacks on the season so far through five games and so that'll definitely be a challenge offensively they've reloaded there as well uh their new quarterback Ben Bryant has thrown for close to 1400 yards and 13 touchdowns in the first five games their offensive line is uh huge they got really good group up there I think on average they're about six five three twenty up front at the o-line and then very long and athletic at the skill positions just like they were last year running back tight end receiver I'd say just overall the team's size at every position I mean their linebackers are in the 2-4 40 to 235 range all the way across the board and then just their team speed really shows up so they've done a great job of recruiting and developing their guys so it'll be a big challenge for us and really uh you know what we're talking about again for this week is controlling what we can control and that's how we show up in the meetings and looking for opportunities and ways to get better to improve and you know that's what we did Sunday I mean go back watching the video Sunday there's a lot of a lot of things number one give credit East Carolina there's a very veteran team and their quarterback receivers played extremely well they executed very well there's a lot of things that uh you know we we did not do well that it also led to some of that success and you know the other side is we also can't throw away the baby with the bath water and just say well we lost the game and everything was just horrible and the world's coming to an end I talked about three plays right we gave up four touchdown Downs versus Man coverage right and uh you know three of them were verse our our third Corners that uh were in the game there and they gotta play better and we got to coach them better but we gave up four touchdowns versus Man coverage if we give up three instead of four right and a lot of those are on third and fourth down right if we can defend one of those better than we did right that's one less touchdown they have right so that's one play and then let's take the two series that we have inside the five yard line right there in the first half first and go up to five Gary's going in to score the guy comes around knocks the ball out we fumble it we get no points there the last Drive offensively we're going down to score get five plays inside the five we think we get over the pylon we don't we don't score there that's 14 points so take away seven of theirs and add 14 of ours and all of a sudden now we're leading the game by one with eight minutes to go and so it didn't feel that way at halftime it didn't feel like there was any chance and so that that's the the message to our guys is man the the margin for error is very very small and even in games where we're not playing our best especially defensively there you know in the passing game and and really struggling offensively not getting off to what we needed to in the first half even with all that going on we had opportunities to be right there in the game and you know like I said if we score right there in the last drive you know we're down 13 with 8 30 left we're probably going to go on an onside kick you get the ball and and you got a chance right there so I think we got to take the good and the bad from that and uh learn from it and move forward that's all we can do so with that opened up for any questions is there one area that you can pinpoint from Fall Camp to week five that you guys have had consistent development in that you've seen Improvement in since it started here yeah I would say the number one thing is our guys haven't quit you know and I think it's it's easier to quit more than ever uh you saw yesterday all over Twitter uh people all over the country season's not going the way they want to and I'm out I'm taking my four games and I'm going home and you think about what these guys have uh been through this year and these seniors have been through the last four years it's easy to quit right and the thing I told the guys after practice one of the best things we're doing right now is we're showing up each and every day no matter what happens so from a big picture perspective I would say that as far as things that we're improving in I felt like we improved in our passing game from the beginning to where we are right we had you know three touchdowns and over 250 something yards you go back to uh you know Devin Leary at NC State pretty good quarterback and uh you know he he didn't have the day that Gary had there so I think you know that shows you a little bit about East Carolina's skill in the secondary and it was good to see Improvement in that area defensively really you know up until this last game we haven't really given up the Deep ball touchdowns that really plagued us last year that was the frustrating part you know on Saturday is uh you know giving those up because that that had been something through four games against some good teams I had good whiteouts and good quarterbacks that we hadn't really seen and um you know we obviously had some injuries there and they took advantage of it we got a coach coach those guys to be able to play better there but Improvement wise on defense I would definitely say this past week stopping the Run they had a really good offensive line good running backs and they ran the ball 30 times it wasn't like it was just because they could you know throw it like they wanted to obviously they had a lot of success in the air but they tried to run it they ran it 30 times and we gave up 110 yards 40 at halftime and that's the fewest yards they had had rushing all season long so I think those are some positives I think uh you know quite honestly and again I've never you guys have been around me here for two and a half years I've never been one to come in and uh lead with excuses or anything like that you know I know we brought up on Thursday or Friday about injuries and and I didn't even want to give that excuse before it started but also the reality is we were without 11 guys that have started for us you know on Saturday and uh we're not a good enough team I don't know if anybody's a good enough team to take 11 starters off your team you know I think it was Five Guys on defense and uh it was Greer Day Day Yates T.J Robinson and then a b went down early Matt Hill went down a little bit later and off offensively Dono obviously Kelly Joyner Jaren Mangum OD wasn't able to go and Latrell Williams and then you know obviously uh Stokes had a hamstring too so I think you know you got to take all of that into consideration as we're looking at it it's very easy to say man look at our record we're not doing what we want to do we just need to blow it all up and start over but that would be a mistake uh to do because at the end of the day we are seeing progress and hey we know it's a process right I mean I knew when I took the job that I was taking a very challenging uh rebuild I knew that coming in and you know as you're going through this process the last thing that usually comes part of the process is those on the field results right and and we're all frustrated by that but we also understand that we we have uh we definitely have seen a lot of progress and a lot of the other things that we're doing and and I'm confident that as the season goes and we get some of these guys back here over the next few weeks that we're going to have a chance to play much better what do you have to do to start some of these games better because you look at BYU yeah you know I've looked at that and came we play better in the first half yes uh I've studied that as much as I possibly can everything that we're doing uh in pre-game everything that we're doing at the hotel is exactly you know what I know in the blueprint that I've been given and seen been successful quite honestly I think that they've played better those teams have played better than we have and they executed better than we did and and again that doesn't that's not what anybody wants to hear they want to hear that you know we you know haven't been feeding them a pregame meal or something and now we're going to feed them a pregame meal and they're going to play better but the reality is there's nobody sleepwalking out there I mean I would say the the BYU that was a weird dynamic right being in the locker room for two and a half hours and kind of you know shooting your Fireworks off maybe a little bit too early before the game started or whatever but really these these other games the guys have been locked in they've been focused we've just got out executed outplayed out coached in the in the first half and then in the second half um you know quite honestly the other team gets up they probably relax a little bit we get pissed off and then we go play a little better that's probably a little bit of the reality too but there's nothing uh that I've seen any big thing that we're going to be able to turn over some new leaf and and go out there and ultimately it comes down to executing and uh you know doing the things required to win and and those other good teams have done those things better than we have in the first half so far this season oh we did we did that against Howard and we win a double move and threw an interception and then they got the ball and went down to score it I believe so you know I think to me you know uh you know each week we kind of think through that to me I think the advantage of having the ball in the third quarter uh is a really big Advantage I mean all these games you're going into you're trying to figure out a little bit of what they're doing how they're going to play you I mean you got new coordinators going against new coordinators new players all that and um you know I think uh you know if you look at the Louisville game we went out there they got the ball first and we had a chance for an interception right and we don't make the catch which we need to make the catch we make the catch we get the ball maybe we got to score and that game's different right so uh regardless you're going to have to play offense and defense for me right now uh where we are a lot of the times I I lean on having that ball in the in the third quarter to start it off um but you know week to week that can change based off where we're playing or who we're playing yeah I would say number one I can understand uh their frustration uh their frustration is not just from the last three years it's really over the last 12 years right and uh and that's that's part of some of the stuff we're dealing with uh just quite honestly I mean there's been a lot of uh turnover in the last 12 years within our program and so that Foundation you know is is what we're trying to to build and uh you know at the end of the day whenever I got the job here I was the fifth head coach in 12 years we'd had three ads and three presidents you know and so what you get is just kind of you know trying to pick up the pieces a little bit and put them put them all in place but at the end of the day I feel very confident in our our plan of what we're doing I feel like we've got a great alignment and vision and we have a plan with what we're doing with the program and facilities and these things that aren't going to pay off until years down the road some of these people were playing they did that years down the road and those have paid off for them now right so from that perspective we're starting that process and we'll see that down the road but from our our team perspective you know it's it's uh you know each and every day uh how you show up and uh and how you do what you do and uh and I would just say that um at the end of the day I would ask our fans to continue to support these players because number one these players chose the University of South Florida they had other choices they chose to come here number two they've chosen to stay here they've had plenty of opportunities for those guys to go quit and just say hey it just didn't work out and and walk away and uh and then also I know each and every day those guys are showing up hungry with an attitude to come to work work hard and get better and you know I just ask that our fans continue to support our players and because we need everybody I mean no nobody likes where we are uh but you know it's uh we're not going to get to where we want to go just by continuing to push reset I mean you can go look at the the last four head coaches that have been here they've been successful at other places they've been so this isn't something that this is not a program that you can just come in in two years and change a few things and all of a sudden you're winning 11 games I mean this is truly a process and like I said I knew that that I was told very clearly by Michael Kelly and our leadership that it was it was going to going to be a process and uh going to take a while and you know they were committed to doing that and that's exactly what we're what we're doing but um you know I think it's it's a combination of a lot of things right it's a combination of a tough schedule and it's a combination of being banged up and injured It's a combination of not quite playing very well right and what do you do when you don't play well you go back to work and I told our team I was listening to uh Tom Brady's podcast that he does uh with uh who does he do that with Jim Gray that's a great let's go podcast I'll listen to it each week and a week ago Tom was on there talking about their first three games and how they kind of been slow offensively and I think he said that you know their first three games they had 36 offensive drives and they scored three offensive touchdowns you know and number one that just blew me away right and uh because if you're not careful you kind of live in this building this kind of like we're the only one that struggle we're the only one that don't have but at the end of the day what he said on there it's about how do you get out of that is you show back up to work and it's your meeting time it's your walk through it's your practice and it's individual Improvement becomes team Improvement right and that's just such a great message because that's exactly you know what we're telling our guys and uh and eventually that that's going to show and I believe that a 100 percent uh I Know Myself our staff and our players are working tirelessly and uh to find a way to get it done and um and that's what we're committed to do I thought Ben Brian has done such a great job of replacing dozen Riders so far but that offense has changed a little bit because Ben is obviously not as you know mobile as Desmond was just right you know how have you seen that change yeah there's probably 20 10 to maybe 15 percent of change where uh he's they're not running him quite as much as they did with Ritter but a lot of their Concepts and Pat I mean they're going to take shots they're very aggressive down the field uh they have really good like I said really good speed at wide out and then uh they've got a really good run scheme that goes with that and and makes the defense kind of have to be in that middle ground of guessing what they're going to do uh throwing the ball or running the ball but yeah I mean if you if you just kind of blurt out the numbers and the names it looks very very similar other than I would say the defense probably is is better this year than where they were last year but and they were incredible last year but it's pretty impressive when you watch them on tape we certainly saw what to bring to your office now these they just speak about his development and just yeah the all the things you have at your disposal ways to deploy him ways he can affect the game right and that's kind of you know I know we talked a lot about Gary and Gary's continuing to improve and I thought he played better but it's also Gary played a lot better when Jimmy and Weaver were back right you know kind of all those things you know go together and uh but yeah it was good I mean those guys have been kind of working back through some injuries and to be able to have Jimmy back I mean obviously he's one of the the top play makers on our team and uh one play 91 yards you know and I mean it's hard if you have to drive the ball you know 10 and 12 plays every time for every touchdown that you get you need those big play threats and Jimmy brings that he's got uh he works really hard at practice it's important to him just seeing his maturity from where he was a year ago and I'm hoping he can continue to stay healthy and and be a big factor for us as a guy who's been around a lot of great receivers what do you see from him in terms of how he approaches his craft and yeah well number one he's just got a really good uh burst I think some of the best receivers that I've seen especially kind of his body type are guys that can put their foot in the ground and change direction right and you know back whenever I was a walk-on receiver at Clemson a long time ago you know it'd take me about three three uh steps before I could you know go one way and those great whiteouts can be running full speed put the foot in the ground and go the other way so that's that's one thing that he has that change of Direction and then he also has really good top end speed uh got good hands and then again what I was saying he's just got a good knowledge he he studies he wants to know more than just sometimes as young receivers is kind of what do I do on that route all right I run here 10 yards and turn in and look for the ball and he wants to know all right what coverage are they going to be in if the guy's playing outside leverage how can I stem it a little different if he's inside leverage you know what do I need to do and kind of that next level going from kind of pre-algebra to Algebra 1 algebra two um he he asked a lot of those kind of questions in meetings and on the field uh hopeful uh we still got a good number of guys uh down um you know and we won't really know until uh you know later on in the week uh some guys were able to do a few things um trying to think if I can think of anybody that for sure were hopeful that Daquan Evans may be able to get back today was his first day practicing and again that corner position has been one where we've you know got banged up and uh kind of got depleted there pretty quick and and uh so hopefully he can be back and be able to give us something this week and the other guys I would say I I don't want to speak too early in case they're not able to come back but there's probably six or eight guys that are in that gray area whether they'll be able to come back and and uh Kelly joyner's still probably a week away that was one probably here but the good news is Kelly is out running and doing some stuff he got the boot off last week and uh if his scams go well this week then there's a chance that he'll be able to start practicing next week and maybe potentially play against Tulane what's how do you evaluate your performance um well number one uh you got to look at your record right you are what your record is uh so that's that's uh not a good grade right there um I would say I've done a good job of continuing to show up and keep everybody moving in the right direction I think if we didn't have a good culture I think you'd see a lot of guys jumping ship and our guys continue to show up every day they continue to believe in what we're doing and uh and that's the way that we're gonna you know continue moving forward as far as uh in-game decisions and those type of things you know we're we're using an analytics group that that most people out there use and I look forward to every Sunday I kind of get their grade report back and all that on Fourth downs and timeouts and these type of things and I don't feel that that's been too big of an issue there we need to be closer in some of these games so that we have more of those kind of decisions at the at the end of the game but you know I think ultimately my report card is going to be you know here by the the end of the year and we'll know a little bit more after we have a chance to to play our entire schedule and you know really get off and like I said again not making excuses but it is reality uh if we if our non-conference schedule which was determined five years ago they didn't know maybe where we'd be as a program five years later uh if that was a little bit different than it is right now we're three and two and everybody's high-fiving and feeling great and and here we go and we really would be the exact same team that we are today and uh so you know when you agree to play some of those teams you have to realize that if you're not quite there as a program and all that you know that that uh Escape that uh record may not look real pretty um you know at the beginning but you know ultimately I didn't take the job to to go uh just for a couple of those non-conference games it's really to to get our program to have a foundation that ultimately we haven't had in the last 12 years for sustainable success I mean and uh at the end of the day it just takes somebody having a good plan again all I'm doing is what I know and what I've seen work at at some other places that have been successful and I think a lot of the the things that we've been able to do within our building and on the practice field and all that have shown some growth and unfortunately the last stage of that growth process is the results on the field and uh so until we have the results in the field my grade's not going to be very good and I'm going to continue to to show up every day and and uh continue uh doing the things required and finding ways for us to improve as a team to be able to get better looking at those two dry yeah and uh the last Drive obviously you know with Jared mangum's healthy the the point seems to be given to him would be using you know maybe a guy like Jason Albritton down the depth chart a little bit but still that big stocky power back right useful to you guys yeah um that definitely could be I think um you know if you number one going back to specifically what you're talking about you know we had a great call right Zone read and I think you know he's probably going to score if he doesn't fumble or we're going to be able and then if you go back to the two previous times down there we had nice schemes and the quarterback walked in untouched and so when you get down there that next time you know you're kind of thinking the same things right it's it's the hindsight right afterwards you're like okay we did all that and it didn't work now what would we do right and uh yeah I definitely think we're missing uh Jaron for you know last year he was kind of that guy for us that was able to get us uh in the end zone and we're hopeful to be able to get him back at some point and then uh you know there's definitely a chance uh for uh Albritton maybe that he could end up being that guy a little bit but there really weren't any pictures on those plays where it was a smaller back you know not getting in it was more of an athletic play to the pylon it was you know 50 50 and then you know the quarterback the guy coming from behind him and he's got to have that ball a little bit higher and Tighter not to let it get out generation to go and Bear Bryant can get his people in the room and not only for players but coaches or all of us messages coming from all over the place how do you deal with that when it's not going good when when there's slings and arrows going everywhere yeah well the first thing I do is um and I tell our players to do the same thing is you got to protect what you let in your mind right I think it was Gandhi said uh you know don't let anybody walk through your mind with their dirty dirty feet right and so it's it's uh it's harder than ever right because everybody has the cell phones and you know especially our players man they're on those things all the time because that's just a way of life you know for me uh personally I I don't get on social media which is probably a good thing right now during the season I'm really uh you know we have communication and stuff with recruits but I don't look at any of that during the season and um you know so it's I think it's easier for coaches to kind of be insulated because you really just in the office and then you go home you know you're in the office and you go home for the players they're going out to class right and seeing their classmates and out and they have their families and friends and everybody texting them from what they've seen in games and these things and then again they they live on their social media world so the message to our guys is you know let's uh make our decisions and our mindset based on what we know is the truth let's watch the video Let's don't hide it let's talk about the bad let's talk about the good right and then that that's where we're going to live and you got to eliminate the Clutter and the distractions and I've heard it said before and I've talked to our team all the time everybody has this negative dog on one side and this Positive Dog on the other and the one you feed the most is the one that gets the largest so our players they're getting plenty of negative right outside of our building so if they come to us and all we give to them we're going to call out the mistakes and what they are and talk about them and demand that we get it better but if all we do is talk negative to them then you know they really don't have uh much of a hope right so we've got a we've got to coach them hard but we also have to encourage them and uh to continue doing what they're doing because that's the only way that we're going to get to where we want to go I mean the the easiest thing it's more easy now in today's society than ever just to quit and to say man it didn't go my way and quit and I just told our players one thing I commend them on they haven't because once you quit one time then it becomes easier to quit the next time you know now when you're you know your family and things aren't going well it's easy just to quit right and so there's something about sticking to and there's nobody that's accomplished anything great by Queen eating just because it got hard or or people telling them that they should but now I believe just showing up every day and not quitting that's a competitive Advantage because so many other people do quit whenever it gets hard right so that's the big message is hey control what you let inside and uh you know let's let's make sure that we're talking about everything in here and uh that our messaging in here is is factual it's about the truth and uh because it's so easy to get caught up in the extremes right and just judging our entire season and everything that we've done just based off a record right and if we did that then there's not a lot of encouragement for the guys we got to look behind that and see the opportunities that we have so when we do improve what we can do and that's that's ultimately the only way that we're going to get to where we want to go truth about where this program and where this team is right now right now yeah well I pretty much I've already said that but I can rephrase it for you the truth is we have not played well enough to upset the strong teams that we played in our schedule being 15 16 whatever Point Underdog in all those games we haven't played at a high enough level to go earn those victories verse teams that are really really good and the other truth is we've been injured we've you know and everybody has to deal with that at different times of the Season hopefully this is kind of our early time at the beginning of the Season we get everybody back and that's that's part of the truth too right we're not going to use it as an excuse we as coaches got to get our backups ready to play better and our backups got to go out there and play better right that's the other part of the truth right and uh but whenever you watch the film you know you go over the Good Bad and the Ugly here's what we did well right and uh and and here's what we can build off of here's what we didn't do well this is what we got to correct and then this is the the really bad stuff that can't ever happen again and you're not going to fool your players I mean these guys are 18 to whatever 31 years old right you're not going to fool these guys and so if you go in there and you just try to throw out a bunch of stuff to to try to trick them they're going to look right through that and that's one thing that I would say uh hopefully our guys know that I've been very genuine and real in my assessment of where we are each week and I think that's one reason that our guys continue to to show up if there was ever time for our group to quit it would be down 41-7 coming off of the week before at Louisville and you're playing at somebody else's Stadium after you've been away for a week right and then they came back right and the defense held East Carolina to Seven Points which is the fewest they've given up in the second half uh the fewest that East Carolina scored in the second half All Season the offense came back and scored on three of the four drives and should have scored on the fourth drive right and so those are the little signs along the way that you see as a coach that even though we haven't got the final result we want we're trending and we're going to get there as long as they continue to do that so that's what I believe the truth is and uh and I believe the other part of the truth is we have an alignment and vision and goals between the administration from the top down that is probably greater than it's been at any point in the program history and I think some of the programs that are ahead of us probably have that consistency in the alignment from the president of the A.D to the head coach and and the facilities and all those things you know they did that 10 or 15 years ago and they're reaping that success right now and so that's the other part too that that uh we can't do anything about the past but we can do things about the future and now we are now in this indoor we're hoping to get in that next month right and then we talked about the stadium and all these things so we're kind of building everything up um you know and a kind of a New Foundation in a lot of areas all at the same time and it's like when you're building a house it's ugly for the first long part of it and then all of a sudden at the very end that's when they start bringing in the tile and start bringing in the the granite and all that and now it kind of takes shape and building a football program and all that is uh you know not not much different I mean I think great example look at Kentucky right what what coach Stoops has done there first three years not a winning season right and in today's society shoot two and a half years they're pushing reset right well I'm sure they're pretty glad they they held on because now they've done things they've never done in the program history and really you can go back and look at a lot of programs that uh eventually came out of there are certain programs that maybe they've had a lot of success and then maybe one or two years they were down and a coach can go in there and turn that around pretty quick but you know when you go into a place that hasn't had sustainable success you know over their their history and there's not that uh overall investment and resource and facility and consistency within coaching staff I mean it's not to mention how many OCS and DC's have we had in 12 years how many position coaches have our players had over the last five years you know I mean there's nobody can sustain that and just you know snap your fingers and all of a sudden everybody's you know going against really good teams you know I mean all this stuff kind of all plays into one so I think you know for us nobody is you know excited about where we are everybody uh coaches players are are frustrated and and we want to see the results right now and that's okay you need to be and you need to use that as fuel when you show up to uh to to improve and do the things that you can control and uh eventually that's when it'll turn uh it gave me a lot of confidence because I had just got back from my injury so you know the whole time I've really been hungry waiting to get back out there on the field but I kind of already like kind of had a good feeling that I was gonna go out there and do good because like the hungry building up inside of me had me ready to go out now play what was it like for you those two weeks I know Florida you got into not really touching the ball and then you didn't play I mean those two weeks of nothing how frustrated were you and how eager were you for to get back on the field I was really eager to get back on the field because like I don't like just sitting and watching the game and like then on the side like I see stuff that like that I that I can help help out with but like Florida game I was just kind of in and out in the night and like I ain't really had no good impact as like as I knew I could for sure but they were just trying to put me in the so I could uh so I can like draw attention but like then not the other two games it just really made me hungry like I said that's about it was that uh 91 yard touchdown did that feel pretty similar to the the one you had against Cincinnati last year yeah it did what was the you know what was the the play and you know kind of kind of what felt going through it uh like previous like it was a previous play Man seven was out there arguing with each other I told them I'm about to school like right now when the ball come my way and so happened it just so happened to call that play because I thought it would be like a post route but they call it the slim instead so I caught it and I just knew what nobody to go catch them when you're talking to a guy like that does it take away from feeling hurt because you didn't look hurt at all when you sprinted up there oh no yeah I love peace let me ask you after the uh the second touchdown when you went out to get it it looked like you like high-fived the referee was that true well okay no I don't think the real said no he probably would laugh and I ain't really soon because I thought I thought he was Z so I tried to hurt uh high five him but I was like oh it's not tripping it because they was calling money here like J5 J5 and I turned around this as hell so Jimmy help when you look at last year and you had productive moments last year how big of a difference is it from being a Freshman to a sophomore now have much more confident and Polished do you feel as a player I feel way better as a player like the game I slow it down for me a lot so like I could see things out there better on the field and just play smarter the program as a whole since you've been there how's it gotten better uh like it's like a confidence thing like clubs getting more confident in a little piece like we still got to build that confidence but that's like the program building I see like plus starting to get more confident give me the second half against DCU the offense came out you guys seem to be free you guys were rolling downtown doing pretty much what you wanted to do as good as it was to see and I know ECU is playing things differently too given the lead they had a half but when you're seeing the success you had in the second half of you guys wondering okay why can't we do this in the first half and was there some frustration there to say well why is it taking us a while to get going and I know you've had some injuries too and all that yeah I mean it a lot of frustration do build up inside like that first out and like why can't we start fast the same way we do in the second half and I think some of that stuff play out in practice like we got to come out quicker like if we come out fast the same way we do in the second half we'll be able to beat a lot of teams because defense get the role in offense get the rule as you can see like defense thought uh you see almost the whole game they'll put a seven point second half they had all how many they had in first quarter uh first half uh 41. yeah that's all they had ever since like until like four quarters I think he scored but if we start out fast we'll be good coach Scott talked uh highly about this is just you know what you know some of their corners and ndbs uh I'll have watching film and stuff like we had watched like at least 100 play they run a lot of man covers because they feel that they just better than everybody so you know they go go out and play man they gonna mix up some coverages and stuff like that but I mean anybody can be beat so I don't see none of that yeah you showed Gardner last year on the 80 yard or just how much confidence does that give you to see you know him in the NFL now what's going on like that I mean that that gives me a lot of confidence because like knowing like how many players went went to the league on their team last year like 12. there's a lot of them players out there they ain't got that same defense no move but they still pretty good but you just can't put nothing past anybody like they just go out there and let you do this and not so I don't take nobody easy that's how I feel I'm not doing that field Jimmy was saying that sometimes the receivers will just want to know okay what's my route and where do I get the ball but he said you you look at different things you study you don't know what the defense is doing how to play off the DB I mean you're trying to make it into a real study what how do you approach it do you just how do you break things down and what's important to you to know as you're prepared for a game see like I was saying like my last year my freshman I just go out there and play I really ain't watched film for real see this y'all started watching a little bit more film so I go in there and look at the DB's hips and you're like okay he can't come out his brakes that quick if I do a curl around or something he can't guard this double move if I do this you know so I just look at them details and I just use it in the game um I'll say uh in some areas it's probably you know a lack of confidence I feel like I feel like some guys you know weren't as confident as they were you know now at this point in the season you know um I mean you know not starting off how we wanted to you know that kind of you know put everybody I ain't gonna say everybody but it put people you know in the mindset that you know maybe it's not going to go you know how we plan on it you know how we planned on the season going excuse me but I mean really though I mean it was just lack of focus you know lack of confidence you know everybody just I don't feel like everybody was locked in you know I thought I feel like we just had the mindset that oh okay well we preach about you know winning this and doing this so I felt like everybody had the mindset that we can just go out there and it was just going to happen you know rather than you know reality hit us in the face and realize it's going to be a dog fight you know the whole season in order to get to where we want to be so that's what I say the message that we kind of kind of is that something you feel too uh yeah for sure uh I know this in practice um we're starting to have a lot more you know leadership on the defensive side of the ball at least a lot more guys you know stepping up you know saying stuff to other guys making sure you know we finished plays run to the ball you know what I'm saying uh attack the ball you know try to strip the ball get stripped with Tim's picks everything like that so I feel like that's helped us you know grow this season because after each game we realize you know how much it means to us and how important it is so I felt like you know the practices just got even better as the weeks progressed throughout uh throughout the season so far seems like you've been the one guy that's been pretty much at the same spot all year because you've had injuries and people have had to play sometimes at different positions how difficult has that been I know it's not in your case but around you as far as the secondary and adapt oh I say it's been you know kind of a I guess you could say a struggle I guess uh you know some guys not used to playing you know the other positions they was you know all kept all summer they was locked in on one position and then like you said you know somebody goes down now you got to move to the other side and stuff like that so I mean I felt like it probably has hurt us in specific situations but you know it hasn't like brought us down as a defensive you know or anything because I mean we still continue you know to play better week by week as we move those guys around and you know had those injuries so I'm not asking asking for update on DayDay but what would it mean if he does return when he does return uh it would actually mean a lot you know he's a he's a big part of our defense you know believe it or not other people might think otherwise but you know being in that corner room with him and the knowledge that he has of the game you know in just the IQ in general like he's a big part you know that we definitely definitely missing but I mean you know he just he batted the injury right now so he just got to take the time and recovery and get his body right so challenges their offense poses uh I say uh they have uh you know good receivers uh slot receivers outside receivers they got you know good speed um good releases they they know how to attack the ball well so I mean as far as our our end you know we just got to play with good good technique good confidence and uh you know everything should be able to go smoothly so um um one area I could say well I could say something as simple as you know getting lined up you know like I don't know if you guys watch the BYU game but on the defensive side you know we was taking a long time you know to get lined up you know they were you know about to slap the ball we still looking at the sideline you know what I'm saying so I felt like being that we took pride in that uh you know that helped us you know further on uh in the season that we're at now and uh as far as the team um I feel like the offense of the offense they gained you know they gained more confidence than they had week one you know I felt like week one like I said you know they went out there and thought it was just going to happen and everything like that but you know they realize that you know it's going to take some work it's going to take some you know some grit to actually you know get the results we want so I felt like uh you know their confidence is continuing to build as the season progresses do maybe give up a catch there's not very many yards after you know tackle just how important is that to you to be able to stop those guys you know without getting up field and making fun uh that's that's really important to me um especially as a DB you know like obviously I don't want them to catch the ball but I mean it's going to happen you know we could be in the zone or something like that he might you know catch a little curl up or something like that but uh one of my one of my season goals for me though you know is to not let up any touchdown so you know if I do give up a catch like you know I'm mad about it but not really you know what I'm saying it's just kind of that next play mentality you know but uh I'm definitely Pride on that you know and making sure you know once they do make that catch or whatever that you know I made that tackle because you know at the end of the day that's a stat for me you know what I'm saying that's putting my team in a better situation so and you know this is I I would imagine it's been the most that you've played you know in your college career yeah and obviously an increase the increased you know role in snap counts just you know how have you been handling that load you know you know your body and you know trying to you know manage that from the health standpoint yeah um honestly I felt like uh I feel like I've been managing it uh pretty well more than that more than I expected uh for sure um you know like throughout the spring and the summer like that's kind of what I was thinking about you know like how my body was gonna feel and how how was I going to do because you know I haven't played a full game for real since probably my senior high school you know until I got here so I was kind of you know worried about that but um I felt like you know everything's going good uh I kind of pride myself on getting treatment and Recovery you know to prevent those you know minor injuries and you know soft tissue stuff like that so I won't have to sit out and miss any game so I feel like uh it's going pretty well I know you don't have to guard them in games but maybe in practice but Jimmy horn obviously a weapon for this team is a DB you look at him as a receiver what do you see what concern you and how do you uh you know what kind of weapon do you think he is for this yeah guard them too much because you know he'd be in the slot but uh if I were um I mean my perspective on I mean if you know you know like you know what I'm saying he probably the fastest kid we got on the team you know if not the fastest like uh so you know just seeing him you know line up across from me is kind of that mindset like all right like I gotta lock in you know like I gotta play with good technique Good Feet because if he catch you slipping it's over with you know so that's just kind of how I view him at least I mean one cut yeah pretty much though he gonna outrun you you're gonna make one cut and it's a foot race after that so I mean I hope you know how to run I hope you fast yeah for sure what about overall confidence for you and the team as you know you haven't haven't gone up to the start you wanted to you got seven more games left yeah pushing forward through that I know you're used to it in football but how do you do it how do you as far on each week and keep pushing yeah uh as far as confidence for myself I would say um it's really it's a mindset you know like I feel like yeah The Season's not going how it goes but if you go if you come in every day with like uh the season not going well you know what I'm saying like with the with the I guess you could say feeling sorry for yourself you know what I'm saying because you're not getting the results you want then you're going to continue to laugh you know what I'm saying in specific areas rather than coming in every day you know trying to get better you know wanting to learn more wanting to do better one of you know I'm saying get recovery and stuff like that uh I feel like you know that would uplift your confidence you know you know throughout the week each week but as a team um I'll say I'll say it's pretty good though you know I feel like everybody I feel like people are starting to buy in and actually realize you know that we have to respond uh respond the right way you know what I'm saying rather than okay we take the loss we can't just come in you know I'm open around hands down feeling sorry about last Saturday like it's a new week you know what I'm saying new opportunity new team so it's kind of like it's kind of like a fresh slate you know each week