Training Camp: Middle Tennessee Football – Episode 2

how about this mle Tennessee has called a press conference tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. to announce their new football coach we have to master the tools of practice to elevate our level of play ni quarterback four my parents are my motivation way to come back offense I look I look goodbye when you turn on the tape you're going to see uh passion option is winning so let's go win [Music] [Music] um so the first thing I need you to do you know this whole time just look at me me and you having a conversation essentially y um so the first thing I want you to do is say your name position and in your hometown name's Luke Pascal U I'm the Special Teams coordinator here and I'm from Dixon Tennessee so uh tell me about your history and you know your playing career here at NTSU uh playing career I played here from 2002 to 2006 uh under Andy McCullum and my last year being under coach stock still um history in terms of coaching um I've been all over the place I traveled I've been at a junior college in Mississippi to Oklahoma State to Old Miss North Carolina um Arkansas State UMass Louisiana uh now I'm here when we think about coach bco and his standard man you just think about somebody who's very detail oriented and takes his job very serious details got to level up we got good details on this film but it's time to what every everybody in the room has got to be on that same page if not we got three or four guys that are leveling up and these other guys in the unit won't be good it's got to be a commitment of everybody that's on the field Specialists included he's a um not so much of a specialist coach but is he he's a special teams coach he wants he holds everybody to the same standard regardless if you're a kicker punter Snapper or if you're a returner or if you're an L1 if you're a boundary if you're walking on the field goal unit or if you're on the shield on the five you're all the same in his size you're going to have to defeat a block maybe somebody do it but as long as we hustle to the ball and run so that one rep that we get during practice today it has to be full speed so you get a feel about it where it's like about saying overall communication and everything let's just go through the communication right now and if we came to the sideline whole deal we're good go through the communication we not going down the field J get around yes yes they've got to get what they got if it's a bound to return this way they've got to get what on you leverage they got get leverage and he is no bull rushes nobody understand we're going to get work in some way shape form either we can get it mentally or we can get it fisal that's on you good cuz the B turn going that way the more you run at them you squeeze the lane down because they're going to keep wanting to get lever come back down and back everybody go put out great job great job damn good effort no each and every day he comes in and make sure we have the right approach to understand that special teams is something that dictates a game it's very serious and he wants us to understand our roles and know that we are impacting the game you know some things that he says often is that players never rise to the occasion they rise to the level of our training so each and every day we go out there Focus just and focused on our training to make sure that we're ready for anything we can see in the [Music] game so in your special teams gr what is the standard I know you guys talk about that a lot so tell me what the standard is uh we say it all the time but the the standard is best uh if we're not striving to be the best in the country then then what are we doing it for uh so that is our standard uh we're going to try to achieve that every single day and it and it takes a level of consistency and a sense of urgency to get that done uh and from both coaches and players alike and there's no days off everything's essentially fourth in inches every single day uh but to be the best it has to be that way tell me about Coach Luke Pascal and his standard what is his standard it's to be the best I mean anything you do especially what we do special teams wise we're trying to be the best not only in the conference in the country and if you do anything why not be the best yeah uh his standard is the best he's always been the best everywhere he's went you know his special teams have always been up there I feel like his standard is like bring your best every day cuz from what he's told me he's like trying to get better every single day you're like just be at your best another thing I can say is that he's going to always tell you the truth and I feel like that's what we need as a team as a special team's unit him telling us the truth cuz that's only way we going to get better your standard is the best as Coach P says a lot so I feel like for me that means just everything you do make sure you do it to the best of your abilities and it's hard as you can go for as long as you can go really to make sure the next man can do his job the best uh there is no second there is no average uh the best uh and when you do that you give yourself a lot of chances to win a bunch of ball games my name is Bri rutin I play running back and I'm from Miami Florida well Brian brutin uh I have personal experience with Mr brutin uh when I was at UMass he was at Yukon at the two trying to cut here to the near side Bruen turns the corner 30 40 Midfield Bruen trying to pick up a block may not need it and he won't a high five down the sideline for a 99 yd kick return to start the ball game but you can see going into it that you had to game plan specifically for him whether you didn't kick it to him uh Sky kicks whatever the case may be you had to plan for him cuz he has Elite Speed don't nobody want to be second as simple as that don't nobody want to be second so you got to be first just me like I don't know I'm not going to take all the credit cuz the other 10 guys they play a really big part so if they want to be out there and they going to give like that that one play out mentality they going to leave it all on the line for you then it's going to work so that's what I'm would say when it comes to me being a return the other 10 people they count like I do my thing but I feel like they play a way bigger role in that too Omar Kelly wide receiver and I'm from Birmingham Alabama uh energetic brings passion to the game you know being a transfer here some guys could see this as a demotion like you're stepping down but in actuality you have an opportunity to start a new uh and he's embraced that role of coming in in and living up to the standard of I'm him and I'm going to be him every day that I step on the football field so it's always a a passion uh uh that he brings the energy that he brings and you never see him with a a frown on his face he always brings joy and happiness to to whoever he's around he's a he's a blessing to be around for sure [Music] tell me you know about the standard requirement uh hey you need to start on special teams in order to start on offense or defense yeah I think it's is it's a good thing that they implemented that just cuz you know now people actually have to take special teams serious even though special teams is something that everybody really should take serious anyway now people feel like they have a reason to take special Team Series and it's going to make the competition on the Special Teams a lot more higher yeah to be a to be a starter on offense or defense you got to be a starter on one of the big four uh big four being punt punt return kickoff kickoff return uh that's something that I've carried at most of the stops I've been at and it's you know it's it's worked well um mentioned that coach Mason Mason and he said you know he'd be on board with doing that and he's been behind that 100% it always starts with the head coach uh if if the head coach is completely bought into philosophy culture um the mindset of it all and if special teams is important to him then it it it'll be important to everybody else as [Music] well your name position position all right now yeah right now yeah all right I'm Chris Johnson I play safety here and I'm actually from murbo Tennessee so Marv Myers Glover West atando Florida [Music] Safety you know with all those guys you mentioned the great thing for me is having been here before when those guys were younger and then getting to see them grow and kind of that leadership those leadership roles that's been awesome to see well there's no substitute for guys that had a bunch of reps and there's no substitute for guys that are that are very smart in this game uh he is a guy that is going to be exactly where he's supposed to be he's going to anything that you give him his sense of urgency is always high uh his attention to detail is always high uh and having never known him before I got here in the spring he found out real quick that the players also see him in that same light they trust [Applause] him it also helps that uh him and his dad and I played together in college so shout out rev uh what's it called they they used to call my dad Rev on the team so now they calling me rev and and stuff like that so it's it's kind of like full circle type thing yeah cuz I used to be in the locker room every player used to carry me around and stuff like that so it's now it's just kind of crazy I'm like dang I'm on the same campus too so will you be exceptional in every moment that you have be Limitless and use every moment to the best of your opportunity like Mitchell did or will you limit yourself in these moments and run the risk of being forgotten the choice is yours thank you you know in this game this game is very long and excruciating on your body and soul so for me having a foundation with God is the biggest thing I can have you know you waking up at 3:00 in the morning every day you coming out here wondering why you do what you do if you have nothing to fall back on it makes it very tough so for me my relationship with God is above all because you know it's what keeps me going it's what keeps me focused I remember why I do what I do and just coming out here with a different approach to everything being grateful uh expressing gratitude and just taking everything serious and understanding that at any time all this can be taken away so I'm very grateful and I'm thankful for uh the connection that God has allowed me to have with football and the things has done for me yeah Marv same exact situation as CJ like he he played a bunch of reps at this University uh he's bought in since day one both him and CJ both but Mar has especially has bought into to what we're trying to get done and understands like whatever you need me to do I got it uh and it's somebody that I can lean on both those gu both those guys especially CJ and Mar like guys that I can lean on the veteran voice uh a sounding board in the locker room sounding Bo off on the field like these guys are are not only vets but they work hard they have a high sense of urgency they they're give a crap meter is very very high every single day and I don't have to like motivate them to want to do a great job uh I just feel like nobody wants to do it everybody wants to talk about offense and defense you know those being like the the main standouts of the game but really special teams is what really changes the game when you think about the importance of trust it makes you value your role for any Union whether it's special teams offense or defense you know these coaches rely on you to go out there and set the bar for the rest of the team and show them how it's done and for those small amount of people that they trust that much it's on us to build the identity of this team you know coaches can inform us on what to do and how we should do it but it's on the players ultimately to go out there and do it so for me to be in a position where they count on me I take it very seriously as a way to show the rest of the guys how to do it and to just go out there and set the standard for who we want to be and the identity we want as a team [Music] [Music] yeah uh Zeke uh Zeke is a natural leader um he leads he leads also by example but he also leads verbally uh very well I'd say U Zeke is probably one of our better communicators on our entire team um so again he's a guy that our younger guys can look to um can follow his footsteps and uh he also holds himself to a very high standard when it comes to Performance and uh and just how he wants to contribute to our team success what's the M dominate um be the reason we control field position battle uh be the reason we control the game just in general um you know give our chance give our team the best chance they have to you know go out there and win I mean I feel like anything you put your name on um it's like coach Mason talks about it every day is a job interview um I think anything you throw your name on should automatically be something you want to be the best at um I don't want my first or last name to be on anything that isn't the standard um and like we said the standard is the best so I feel like you know if I put myself into no matter what situation is if it's flipping burgers um I'm going to be the best burger flipper there is yeah Brody is a perfectionist you know you see it in the way he prepares the way he warms up um and each rep you know then we get back into the film room he he's very critical of himself holds himself to a high standard obviously he's already put together a phenomenal career and uh he's he's someone that I think everyone in our room looks to um as he leads by example all my life I've been told what I can't do and why I can't do things and I'm just here sh them that I I can do things as high of the level as I want to if I want to I'm going to go go do it yeah Brody and Zeke once again no substitute for game reps and they've had a bunch of game reps but you could tell from the time that I got in here that you know they knew they had to earn it they knew they had to earn it with me and and this staff as well and nothing short of exceptional in doing that they're both guys that are very hard on themselves when uh one rep that they do in a practice maybe a warm-up rep if it wasn't done exactly the way they thought it needed to be done they're not waiting for a coach they're not waiting for somebody else to let themselves know that that wasn't good enough when you're always around somebody you grow to you you grow to enjoying your time around them it's almost like that I I treat them like brothers almost I mean they're not just teammates they're not just my roommate like they're like my brothers like the amount of time and the challenges and just the experiences we've had together I mean it formed a brotherly Bond I think it goes back to like you said being a veteran like we've been through we've been here through so many other Specialists that have come here and been together and so like we can kind of talk about like oh this guy reminds me of him this guy reminds me of him and the same thing in the Walker room too um I think just how many stories we have together just playing so long with each other that I feel like we have so many things to go back and look at and laugh and talk about you know like all the bad summer workouts all the funny moments in the locker room all the bowl trips all that different stuff [Music] this is what we do understand that you got to put out every chance you get say yes to hard y understand yes sir One play out on 31 2 3 One play out what is your definition of one play what does that mean to you it's really self-explanatory it's one play out offensive defensively you have another play as long as you don't turn the ball over well special teams you kick it off everybody doesn't do their job it's one playing out it means just everything you got for that one play you know is like this play this play like it's your last play I you it's all you got well it's trying to create the sense of urgency about what special teams is like a lot of times unless a penalty occurs like you don't get another opportunity with that play it's over like either you did something really good with it or maybe you did nothing with it or did something bad like you don't get another opportunity so I going say one playing out like that's that's it like there is no doovers so every rep that we take and we we we try to hammer home a lot of the times um and whether it's drill work or anything that we're doing we're not we're not getting a bunch of reps it's it's it's quality over quantity and to make sure that that rep that one rep that you get or that two reps that you get in that practice three reps whatever it is that every one of those reps Elite and when you start getting in that way getting in that mindset in that mold that then you can then you start forming that that mindset of one plan out one playing out one playing out one playing out one playing out one playing out one playing out