WMU Football Media Availability | Lance Taylor | 7.31.24

Opening Statement start with an opening statement and then uh we'll take questions yeah I appreciate you guys being here today um welcome back it's a 2024 football season and training camp underway here with our first practice our guys reported yesterday really excited about the trajectory of our team um you know we had a great off season a great summer we've recruited really well um and now we've got all of our freshmen and some of our new transfers uh on campus today was a great day for practice number one um really excited about uh this journey and starting this journey with our guys um and really this is the start of the process I'm happy to announce and excited to announce a couple of promotions for a couple of our staff members uh Sean Spence has promoted to been promoted to linebackers coach he's done an excellent job he played linebacker at the highest level uh for the Pittsburgh Steelers and in the NFL been a great player he's really done a nice job building relationships with our players um and then we've also promoted coach Dan sabok uh to uh special teams coordinator uh and specialist coach he came over from Arkansas during the Spring um and he's done an excellent job really working with our specialist really wanted to give him the full Reign there um he's coached in this league before uh knows the M really well and has been a coordinator in this league and with the new uh rules with countable coaches we were able to make some uh changes there um also coach papovich um is going to take a step back uh for personal reasons he still help will help us in some form or capacity we appreciate everything that he's done for us um and really you know when he's here his role won't change uh but just wanted to uh make those announcements as we start here beginning a training camp you guys had a lot of changes Excited to get to work obviously the offseason coming into the spring um how did you really feel before you guys started today like did you feel like you were kind of in a good spot and just ready to hit the ground running and then obviously from what you saw today what are you looking forward to yeah you know I try not to use the word excited too much but I've been using the word excited a bunch even since Mac media days I tell you this group has really re-energized me and really there's an excitement with this group of players um we returned 17 starters um there's 26 guys on this football team who have started for us in some form or capacity over the last year when you look at that Core Group um I think that there's some excitement because they understand uh the standard that we've set they understand the foundation that we've laid and they've really taken ownership and really taken that to the next step with the player accountability which is the exciting part for me they've really taken ownership and they've really led the freshman and the new guys on what our culture is what the bronos standard is um so I'm excited we've got three new coordinators which is awesome um and they've done a really nice job uh I'm just you know ready to get to work and there's still a lot of work left to do how different do you feel from this time How different are you from last year last year when you were getting ready new program new position and now you have that year under your belt just how do you feel now maybe just a bit more comfortable a year later that's a great question I don't even know if my you know my head was spinning last year um this time really did didn't know what we had and what we didn't have it was my first experience as Mac first uh experience as head coach and I think our players were the same you know I've referred to last year as really year zero they were really learning the standard and expectation every single day what's been so comforting for me is going into year two our players having an understanding of what our standard is um and them owning the culture the best teams that I've been on it's been the players in the locker room um who really take hold of that standard um and really own the culture with their accountability and I think that I've seen that this this summer they have a want and desire for it to be their team and that's that part um is encouraging to me you guys putting a heavy emphasis Staying healthy before practice after practice obviously staying loose staying limber you know obviously we know that's so key but how key is that is that either a different Focus for you guys this year a different you know uh more emphasis on it to make sure that guys are staying healthy throughout Camp hopefully throughout the season as well yeah that's a great observation by you um we really you know through the offseason and really just uccess in year one um we wanted to put an emphasis on two things one being mentally and physically prepared for practice when it starts and part of that getting loose and activation part is not only physical it's mental as well so that you really get in that optimal Zone to play at your best and so that's part of the priming not only physically but mentally um and then through spring practice we had some soft tissue injuries and we wanted to make sure that we keep our guys healthy so that we don't have any of those injuries we need a full healthy Squad if we're going to go chase our dreams and goals this year Returning players looking at the return on the offensive side especially uh just so many names you know uh wolf Buckley Sami wck so many guys just coming back so many key leaders for you guys just how excited are you I mean you being a former coordinator yourself on that side of the ball knowing you've got so many weapons back on that offensive side to hopefully put up big numbers this year yeah we' returned a lot of really good players on the offensive side of the ball um you know we mentioned you know return to 17 starters uh eight on offense I mean when you've got uh four of the five starters up front uh on the offensive line listen that's where it starts it starts up front on both sides of the ball so that gives you a great comfortability when you've got an offensive line and a defensive line that have played so much football for you when your quarterback has started in 27 football games um you know there's nothing that we can throw at him there's no defens of look that he hasn't seen he prepares the right way and then you know you got the the you know uh returning M freshman of the of the year and Buckley Jaylen Buckley are running back and then also you know Kenny wack led the league in receptions and so there's a lot of uction that is returning on the offensive side of the ball I think one thing that people are overlooking is the production that we return on the defensive side of the ball I mean you know we had um six guys who played and started in all 12 games last year we're ret turning our top four tacklers from a season ago we're returning a lot of production all four uh linebacker spots both safety spots you know some guys up front you know we're returning I think 75% of our sack production even though we lost marshan nean and one of our best players on defense there's a lot lot of production coming back on the defensive side of the ball and Coach power our new defensive coordinator has done an excellent job really simplifying the scheme uh allowing our players to play fast with less communication um and do what they do well I don't know if if anyone in the MAC games country starts the season tougher than you guys do the first first couple weeks how do games like that prepare you for when you get into the the thick of things and the games start to become more important in conference play yeah I agree I don't know if anybody starts with a harder uh out of the gate schedule than we do um but I think it helps prepare you for those m games I tell you our guys are excited we do a great job in our Midwest recruiting footprint you know so Wisconsin kids and Ohio kids um we recruit those States really well and so there's a lot of players on our team that are excited to go play those two games they probably grew up going to those games and loving their instate teams which is great uh but we've got one thing on our mind and that's playing to our bronos standard uh but I think it helps prepare you when you when you play in the Mac you know there's great coaches there's great players there's great football played in in in mac and the parody is so close week in and week out that you have to bring your aame every single week so it really helps battle test you for those games later in the season when you've got to be at your best just feels like Competition with the amount of returning experience that you do have and with the way you attack the portal it just seems like there's going to be a lot of competition here in in Fall Camp which is awesome it's is exciting where do you feel like is going to be like an area like a position group that's going to see the most competition well that's a great question and you know I will agree with you you know I think we're excited about the guys that we brought back we're returning a lot of starters but I think we've upgraded our roster you know we had a great High School recruiting class we were number two in the mac and high school recruiting you know was the best recruiting class that we've had since 2016 um and we went out and had some portal additions that are going to be instant impact guys I think one group to look at in in particular is the defensive line I think we've got some really great defensive linemen and we are deep there um but that's going to be be able to allow us to keep guys fresh and platoon guys I think the other area to to look is on the offensive line you know um we only brought in one transfer there but we brought in you know seven guy we brought back seven guys who played or started for us last year um and so you know with the addition of Quinn Murphy from from Notre Dame um I mean he's going to add you know great competition in that room and so those are two battles that I'm really you know looking forward to looking at um I think the running back room is really deep and strong um even returning you know the M freshman of the year um and and I think there's some great players in that room that are really going to push him for play in time do you feel like you're Running Game going to be more balanced in terms of carries uh with that running game you know at a at a Oklahoma State transfer you know you just get a lot of returning Talent with that as well do you feel like you're going to be able to do some different things in terms of running the football this year yeah I think we have to be more balanced in our Run game in terms of carrying the load you know Jaylen did an excellent job last year uh but he carried the ball of the carries and that's really hard whether college or the NFL you know I've been fortunate enough to to be at both levels and you know really you have to have multiple guys even when we had Christian mcaffry at Stanford we had Bryce love who could help shoulder some of the carries you know the attrition at that position and you see the wear and tear that it took on Buckley last year and so I think just being able to share the the load and the carries in the Run game uh between The Talented guys that that we have you know um we've got you know oldie coming back um who who's done a great job for us we've got um Trey Hartwell who was a true freshman last year we signed Jaden Nixon out of the portal we've got Jamal Haley I mean we you know we've got keesan King who didn't play a ton for us so we've got a deep group there that I think all can rotate and I think that it helps allow to keep those guys fresh and for the wear and tear of the season I Secondary know you uh touched on you wanted to put an emphasis on the secondary um just in the portal and coming into here so you know I I see some names that are familiar but um do you feel like that's an also an area where you're going to see some competition maybe at the second secondary spot cornerback and and everything absolutely I mean you know we talked after Spring ball and we were very thin in the secondary we knew that you know going into Spring ball uh but you know I really appreciate how our coaches addressed the weakness and area of need and they went out and really you know we have some depth there now at the safety and Corner position we've got several guys who we think that can play the nickel position for us uh which is going to be critical in in our def defensive scheme this year and so I'm really excited about that competition battle I didn't mention it earlier but we brought in some guys who've played at a high level at other places um and also some guys with some experience uh here that that will create a great battle in in in in Spring Bowl