Nevada football head coach Jeff Choate talks upcoming Spring Game

Spring camp a football coach Jeff Cho you're here to promote the spring game you guys will be holding at macki Stadium on Saturday gates open at noon you guys will start at 1:30 so let's talk a little bit about spring camp before we get to the spring game how's spring camp been going as you guys wind down here yeah you know I've Spring ball is always one of those unique deals right I think it really a lot of how you go about it determines where you're at in the program and obviously being year one it becomes more important and us getting to know each other um The Players realizing what the expectations are in terms of practice habits the coaches communicating together um you know the meeting time is really as valuable as the practice time and have an opportunity to do walkthroughs on off days and things of that nature so this is this is probably the most important Spring ball of of my tenure here at Nevada uh because it's kind of the tone Setter for us right and then in modern football it's also we're not really going to know who our team is until after we get done with our exit interviews next week uh because that's the reality of it you know there's probably some young men that are going to look at it and go hey this is different than what I signed on for a few years ago and I'm going to go look for an opportunity to to get a fresh start or whatever the case may be and um that's just uh that that gives us kind of another place to kind of you know restart this thing and and all right now hey whoever's here when we get back on May 19th and start the summer program on the 20th that's who's here but the the communication the repetition the how we do things the why we're doing them the standards the expectations those are things that we are having an opportunity to establishment what's been the most encouraging development during your first 11 practices I think the kids's willingness to to take coaching you know I mean we've had some you know we obviously anytime you do this you're going to have situations where the the the players are waiting to see how I'm going to respond if that makes sense and um I think they've been really open when I and hopefully I've been intentional about hey this is why we're doing this and this is how I want it to look and then they'll kind of oh okay that's what you want okay we'll give it to you or we'll do our best to give it to you and so I've been really pleased with the kids uh they've been they've been intentional about their approach and you obviously we've got a long way to go but I think we've got a good foundation right now obviously back toback really difficult Seasons before you got here I guess what's the hunger of this group to go out there and experience a lot more success on a football field on Saturday yeah and if there's one thing that I've heard from especially the young men that were that were here um over the last couple of seasons is just how painful that is you know I mean these kids put a lot of time energy effort into this process and a lot of their self-esteem is centers around seeing them M themselves as football players and so that's been difficult for them um that's one of the things they've expressed to me you know this has been hard we don't want to lose anymore and I think they're looking for that hey what's the direction that we've got to go to make that happen and uh there's probably been less resistant Behavior than i' would have anticipated I guess to as a first year head coach and kind of implement a new style and a new system but uh I that that would be kind of the overlying thing I think it's like you know we've we've experienced this it hasn't been great and we want to make sure it's better uh let's talk about a little bit about the unity you're were trying to get with this group that was one I guess your first big things after talking with the players they wanted to be more unified and they wanted to have a a better uh I guess Bond I guess how have you gone about setting the culture for this program and what do you expect the culture to look like when this program is fully formed yeah this is that's an ongoing process and the reality is everybody I think people use that term a lot like culture has become like a buzz word in athletics in general um the reality is I think people look at here culture and they think oh that's a good thing well there can be bad culture too exists everywhere and uh and so I think that what I wanted to do is come in and start off by trying to address some of the issues that they felt like were president in the program that the UN being more unified and spending a lot of time in the offseason doing uh doing some team building exercises and putting them in situations where it might not have been conventional if that makes sense to to get them out of their comfort zone and be a little bit more stressed put them in positions where different guys might have to take leadership roles uh force them to have conversations about who they are where they're from what their goals are and so that was uh that was a big part of us trying to become more unified in the offseason and then pushing that forward and you think about what do you want this to look like what's the endgame and ultimately for me you know you want it to be a player run program I I want to be able to hand the Reign Over and say you know I know that you know what our standards our expectations are and I know that you you've got the leadership ability to uphold those and that you're not going to allow things that don't meet those standards to happen uh because leadership at the end of the day is going to be about what's tolerated and so that's uh that's what my hope is is that you know a couple years from now I can say okay this is you know this is your team go get it done and uh and I think that i' I've seen that happen before but it is work it's a process it's you've got a I mean it's clear concise and repetitive communication holding them consistently to the high standard regardless of who they are I think that's one thing that a lot of players feel in football programs in particular is oh this guy's a star player he's getting a bunch of nil why are you treating him different and I I try to be really uh really intent and really conscious about holding our best players to the highest standard and I think that carries over in the locker quarterbacks room let's talk about the quarterbacks that's always a big battle in a lot of spring camps and you obviously inherit a couple guys who have started at Nevada and then you brought in a couple of newcomers I guess how's that position kind of shaken out yeah I ironically I think that might be the deepest position on our team right now you know I think we've got four guys that I could say let's go out and you know if we put the game plan together right and protect their weaknesses and and craft it to what they do well we'll have an opportunity to compete and uh I think you know Bren Lewis has probably had the he's had the best spring and I think he's also had the most opportunities right uh but he's capitalized on those and I think his skill set his ability to create outside the offense uh has definitely enhanced that uh one guy who's just now kind of starting to go he was really limited until after spring break was chubba and and you know even yesterday he took off a couple times on runs and I I was listening to David Gilbertson our quarterback coach and he's like gosh he runs a lot better than I thought he did um and so you know I think that that he's going to elevate you know belo's level of performance uh the guy that maybe has had the most surprising in a good way spring is Anthony griggsby the transfer from from College of San Mato um he's had some really really good moments he didn't have didn't didn't have a great scrimmage last Saturday but he bounced back with a good scrim with a good practice yesterday and so uh he's been a guy that I've been really impressed with and then AJ biano is a guy who's like as far as a this guy should probably go into coaching when he's done with this um really understands Concepts knows where to go with the ball uh I think has good innate leadership qualities um lacks a little bit of that skill set of being able to create outside the offense but um is a guy that you would you'd love to have in your in in your in your team let's talk about the newcomers as well I mean you guys brought in a ton of players to the transfer portal that can be a good or bad thing to transfer portal but you've been able to stock this roster with some you know division one transfers I guess who's kind of stood out among you know some of the new wolfback players yeah I I I think the guys that jump to mind on the defensive side Keaton Crawford is a really talented to athlete just in general um he can run he can he can catch he can hit you know I think he's got some value as a returner for us we got to get more Reps for him back there was a tremendous special teams player at the University of Texas and and played a lot of football force on the defensive side too and so him getting a chance to I I've noticed a lot of improvement just in terms of him being more vocal and I think that was a step that he needed to take in his game uh Kayon Johnson who plays Edge force a transfer from um from Wisconsin I just love his maturity he's very consistent very steady guy uh and so that's been that's been something that I've been really impressed with and so like you know and then interior D lineman Nelson rotti from City College of San Francisco um that's a position where we've got to get more depth um but he's been he's been a pleasant surprise he's done a really nice job in that regard and so those are some guys on the defensive side that I've kind of seen some really good things from we have a punter guy Gillespie um that you know we had that need and and he's he's done a nice job thus far we've got to put him in some more competitive situations and see how he's going to respond he's got more Rush on him but he's a guy that's going to be important for us you know you need to have that guy in Your Arsenal on the offensive side we brought in three offensive linemen all three of those guys have have showed uh the ability to help us win games I think you know we've got a I think Snoop um the young man from Virginia he's got to slide into guard at some point uh you've got uh you know Spencer leville who's a transfer from Kansas but he's a massive human being those two guard bodies I think are going to be guys that can help us and then jacoba Seth is another interior offensive lineman it's hard to find the tackle bodies but all three of those guys I think can help us on the line of scrimmage and so that's been a real positive and then at running back you know um unfortunately Pat Patrick Garo hasn't been able to go through Spring ball but we're anticipating him being a guy that can help us um but he's a guy that is just really mature maybe one of the better leaders on our team right now and that's saying something for a guy who just got here and is kind of quietly stepped into that role and gained the respect of his teammates but Dominic ball has been really a pleasant surprise the true freshman uh from Chicago and then the two wide receivers that have uh that we added to the roster in Cortez and and Daren um those two guys have done a nice job as well so that's kind of that the way that mix has come together I'm probably forgetting some guys but that tells you what we needed to do was add some depth and some competition and I think we achiev that goal a lot of new players coaching staff also a new coaching staff I guess it's a pretty experienced group but what have you liked working with them what have you learned about you know your supporting crew that's going to help you try and build this program yeah I think I knew a lot about him uh the one thing that I will say is that I've been really impressed with the job that the offensive staff has done in the absence of having Matt there consistently physically there and so uh now that Matt's kind of with us a little bit more remotely until he gets the full green green light to come work uh on site the the the offense is starting to come together more but you know probably the guy that had the toughest job that I commend for for how he went about it and how he handled it and how he's helped us be better is Mike Lynch you know as the inner of OC he's got to put the pieces together in some cases we almost had to guess like this is something Matt's going to want in the system cuz Matt wasn't available as he when he was in the you know the dark days of that treatment you know and so I think Mike's done a really good job Brian is a guy that I have a lot of trust and faith and our offensive line coach Brian Armstrong and then you know the young guy James price he had kind of got thrown to the wolves and he's got the not a low maintenance group and the wide receivers but he's done a nice job with that and David Gilbertson I think has got a really bright future in his profession I think he he was Co coaching wide receivers at akine we've moved him to quarterbacks and I think that's his natural spot you know played the position at a high level and uh I just been really proud of those guys they they've worked really well together they've suppressed their egos they understand the dynamics's going to be different when Matt's there all the time and so I've been really proud of those guys and defensively you know it's it's I've actually spent most of my time on offense in the spring and I look forward to maybe getting back home a little bit in the fall but uh but you know I trust Kane and I know he's going to do a great job P's uh a guy that's a veteran Co coach who you know he can lean on for a lot of things and then we did have a little coaching change right there but Nico's you know it's it's Jacque 2.0 I mean they're they're very similar in their backgrounds and and understand what we're trying to do on defense because we work together at Texas and then obviously Joey in the back end he's you know you know the DB guys are always going to you know create a little create a little verbal combat and practice so that's been good too so tell us what can fans expect if they go out to the spring game here at macki Stadium on Saturday 1:30 gates open at noon free if anybody wants to come out I guess what do you guys have on to yeah so it's going to we're not going to select teams it's going to be the offense versus the defense we'll have a scoring system in place to kind of handle that we'll have 15-minute running quarters uh we'll go to normal normal clock mechanics in the last two minutes of each half and uh and then we'll do a Red Zone lockout at the end so what we're going to do is we're going to compile the score from our four quarters and then our overtime period we'll spot the ball somewhere between the 25 and the 20 and we'll have a separate scoring system for that and then the winner will be the combination of those two scores and so um you know we'll we'll I think we're going to put the stuff out on social media uh you know it's I'm not a math major so we'll stay away from me getting involved in that right now uh but uh you know I think it'll be I what I think it's going to be I think it's going to be a great culmination you know obviously we hope the weather's good although I looked at the SK calendar today touch and go but that's all right we're not going to it changes every day Saturday if you look at your phone it's either going to be 70 or it's going to be 45 and raining so who the heck knows yeah so we we'll lean towards the towards the former so that'll be uh that'll be kind of what we got to do there but um I'm I'm excited I mean you know you want to get out of it healthy I think there's still some real competition that's taking place so it's another opportunity for us as coaches to evaluate our team and uh and then have some fun man you know like let do some of the fan engagement stuff that we did down in Carson City hopefully we'll get a nice crowd and uh get people excited about football what do you need from this community to build the program you're trying to build yeah I think that that support is important um but I think there's also this you know an expectation and an anticipation that uh that we can and we will be better you know and I think that that that trust a little bit is is you know it's hard to you know it's there's probably about 50/50 there's a lot of people I talk to that are really excited about um where we're going in the change and the energy of the program and you always kind of have that honeymoon period when you're when when there's a new hire and so I feel really good about that but I know there's also a portion of our community hey we've seen this movie before you know they prove it and then we'll show up m and so I think there's going to have to be some Blind Faith there a little bit and uh We've created some opportunities to to engage with just about any socioeconomic group that wants to come to a football game I mean I think we've got this four-pack deal that's for 400 bucks you can get seven game season tickets and a parking pass you know so you bring if you're a family of four where are you going to spend 400 bucks over a four month period of time and get that kind of entertainment value so I think we're trying to do our part to promote the to promote the sport um and the program and and I'm trying to do my part to put a better product out there and what we we'd love to have is we'd love to have the community engaged in behind us and um some of that is certainly buying tickets and and coming out to the game and enjoying that and some of that is just you know believe in what we're going to do you know let's let's let's get behind this and let's make it happen and let's make Reno a football town again yeah talking with you through spring camp you've mentioned that quite a bit that Reno needs to be a football town again no slight at basketball which has obviously had a lot of success the last couple of decades why is that important for football had a lot of success the last couple decades too it's been about it's been about eight years since it was really good um but I know growing up we were talking about this you know you know live growing up in the Big Sky footprint this place was always talked about you know that that Big Sky Championship was oftentimes going to come through through Nevada and uh and now you look at it and you go okay yeah that slid a little bit but when this campus was growing and this place was the the college experience was as good as it could be here that piece was was there was present you know football was good and football drives so much of the perception of any institution and uh and I think that's why it's important for us to this place is a great place you know it's a I mean fantastic campus this is such a unique place it's a mountain town it's a college town it's a des Resort destination it's all rolled into one and there's there's no reason why we shouldn't have the same caliber of support and success on the football side that we that Steve and his program have been experiencing on the basketball side and if football and men's basketball are good together then this entire athletic department and our entire University benefits and so that's why I think it's so important to make football relevant in Reno again and uh and and that's why I'm here you know that's the challenge that I undertook right it was like how do we get this thing flipped and it's going to take some heavy lifting but uh but we can't do it alone so let's uh let's all roll up our sleeves and let's make this happen