Football vs. Duquesne Post Game Press Conference

obviously proud of our football team you know I I think that those week one games are really hard to you know prepare for when you have so much turnover in your roster like we've had and you know I think there's a lot of unknowns that happened throughout the course of the game so I think what we challenged our guys all week long was just to make sure we were able to adjust and make sure that we were sound in those adjustments through the course of the football game and I thought that happened um you know we we took advantage of a couple turnovers and mishaps in the second half and we're able to turn those into points and that kind of turned it into kind of a one-sided game but credit to decain in the first half I thought they played really really sound football and played tough and um that program is a winning program and a playoff team for a reason there's a lot of pride in that locker room so um a lot of guys participated tonight thought our crowd was excellent tonight I thought we we had a lot of positives to take and pull off from this thing and you know going into a a little bit of a longer week into week two here we we want to see some some growth in some areas and take some jumps that way and um you know see how this thing progresses from week one to week two how pleased were you mean you talked about you came played well in the first half how pleased were you offensively that it wasn't as close as maybe it could have been um I mean I think our efficiency like the quarterback got off to a great start you know what I mean and he's hitting the receiver's hands and doing a good job getting the ball to where it needs to go and really I think the passing game the entire night was really efficient you know I mean High completion percentage and you know not a ton of yards due to some short Fields but um you know you got one and two and 88 and those guys like getting those those guys the ball in their hands early and often you know that's you know that's a that's a recipe for success and the quarterback understands that so you know I thought he was really good at the line of scrimmage you know the communication and the helmet thing and him being able to check plays and do that kind of stuff I thought was was really really good and um happy for for him to get off to a great start to his season Jason you had a ton of guys from Northwest Ohio made huge plays in the first half Bryson Bren and you know like Five Guys what does that say about just football in northwest Ohio how cool is it to see the you know the loal guys yeah I mean I I think when you you know you walk out of this this room and you walk down the hall you see those guys in those NFL uniforms many of those guys are um you know they're they're local guys and you know to see those current players out there make those plays and and and really just that's a big moment for them to be in front of their family and their people and to to do that in their home City I think that's a that's a major thing you know and then you look on the sidelines there's Dallas Gan at the game there's Brian koback koback at the game there's Adam Beal from last year's team at the game like there's all these local guys that are back and they're here on the sidelines with you so it means a great deal to our city to to have guys that have had success whether that be in the NFL or on to their career is over and the cleats are off and they're in the corporate world doing really really good things and it's a clear picture of what success looks like for our current players and hopefully you know future rockets that come here the defensive starters you they didn't play was that mostly precautionary uh those guys you know in DA's case Dre's case um couple of those other I mean those guys are all injury I mean those are things that are you know mending and healing and trying to come out of Camp here and you know um hopefully get those guys back here in the coming weeks Hammer's a guy that just kind of came out of nowhere I think everyone obviously didn't play last year um was he someone who just kind of showed up in Camp as like hey he can make a difference in the return game or how much of an impact like on a scout team type role did he make last year Well I you I think this is this is the cool thing about sports I mean you know that guy is as a receiver is still on the scout team but yet he's out here making first team reps as the pump returner and doing a really good job lots of young players can't handle that they can't emotionally handle being on the scout team and they feel like they're a failure and this is a guy that just progresses and continues to improve and get better um he is a very good receiver um and we'll have success playing wide receiver here there's just a couple really good guys that are in front of him right now but um he's got a unique skill set said he's really got great hand eye coordination as you saw tonight and um you know he does a good job catching the punts we we trust him back there and you know he's certainly good enough to make something happen when he gets the ball in his hands as you saw tonight so um you know I really think that you know a young player coming into your program they want to make an impact on special teams that's a high priority and high emphasis for us and to be able to do that now necessarily you you can progress and almost project what it's going to look like for him someday on the offensive side of the ball too uh offensive line one of the starters was out today um but just overall I mean all new guys none of them had ever started a college game before what did you think of their play tonight uh I think pretty efficient we had a couple we had a couple misses and press protection early in the game that turned into sacks or quarterback hits that we got to clean up um you know but I don't think those are those were uh not knowing what to do type of things those are maybe just technique things that you know maybe in a live situation or setting that maybe the you know guessing and just guessed wrong so I'll look at the tape and see what's up there but I thought you know those guys did a pretty good job you know up front and doing a good job communicating and there wasn't a lot of glaring mistakes where guys were just turned loose and you know and and disrupting the past game another young guy that we got to seash shine tonight was Maran Lang just what kind of impression has he already made in his early stages in this rocketr yeah I mean I think I'd say the same thing about him as I saw I said about Bryson you know infectous young player that you know brings great energy to practice each and every day uh works really really hard Elite quickness um you know playmaker when he gets the ball in his hands that kind of thing got a Really Brave future here just like just like say Echo the same things like I said about Bryce you also mentioned wanting to see a jump from week one to week two what's what does it mean to have like 10 days now from having played on a Thursday for that kind of yeah I think that's huge I mean it gives you a full day tomorrow to put this one to bed um you know and try to get your injured guys we got a couple more days here um as you as you get into in the game prep for next week so hopefully it leads to a great start to a good week of practice and you know we're going to we're going to have to rely on really good practice the entire year to get to where we want to go so we'll take as many days as we can get them in between I don't know how much you guys see walking in or riding in on the buses but the lots are all pretty full the students were packed in what do you think of just like the atmosphere and kind of the excitement in the air for this game yeah I think our students are awesome you know and I think you from the minute we walk off from kicking the last field goal in pregame warm-up and they're sprinting on the field there I mean you can you can feel their energy the entire time um you know and I think that's not only us but also our opponent and you know to have the glass B full to have a electric crowd to have people energized about the product that we've been able to put on the field and then all the external things that our Administration is doing a good job with I think that is you know hopefully a recipe here that leads to a lot of success and in a great you know great momentum in 2024 here for us you mentioned it a little bit in your opening statement but just now having used it in a game what did you think of the inh helmet communication both offense and Def yeah I love it you know I think it's awesome you know I mean some coaches this week were public about not liking it but you know the change is coming you know what I mean I guess if we don't change I guess you go back to wearing leather helmets so you know you got to just adapt and figure it out and go forward and see what's up but I think it's awesome I think it helps I think it I think it makes our game faster I think it makes our game in a way safer uh there's when everybody's on the same page and doing what it needs to do there's not glaring holes and glaring mistakes and people getting free hits and things like that so um yeah I'm all for it and and I think the communication stuff on the sideline is you know an iPad whatever like that's I can see that being some type of sometimes a little bit of a distraction you know everybody's everybody wants to have something to look at instead of maybe paying attention to the game and paying attention to what they're supposed to do so I think there's some Kinks we got to continue to iron out through that process of it but uh yeah I mean I think it's it's all positive can you talk about bradden's uh progression obviously a big impact on defense tonight huge impact on special teams last year um you know I think you can in you know you you we've talked about a guy here earlier had great special teams performance tonight and you can kind of project how that looks down the road so it's where it starts it's where it started for eight of the 10 nine of the 10 guys out there on that wall that were draft picks the only one that didn't was Woodside and the quarterback so you know if you're if you're going to be a if you're a great player and you're going to on your progression to be a great player most of those guys started there you know um Maxon Hook was an elite special teams player when he was a young player young safety you know uh quinon Mitchell was an elite special teams player as a young player so um Braden's done a great job bradden's got a great relationship with his position coach who coaches the tails off of those dudes and they do a great job developing uh he had great pictures of what success looked like last year and Zack Ford and Nate B and those guys that have played a long time understands the value of communication hard work discipline all that stuff he's a winner he comes from a great program um right here in our city and you know you can't say enough good things about him game like this obviously a lot of guys get touches in in minutes um how just how does that help build depth going into the season well I think it's huge you know you you want to you never can go into a game feeling like it's going to be a one-sided game because I think sometimes that leads to you know Overlook overlooking some things in in the preparation of it so um you know I think having as many guys dialed into what the game plan is you know we really practice three groups all week this week and um we're going to have to do that at times through the season to develop the depth that we want to have you know as I mentioned before in preseason camp there's 60 new guys on our team that have never been through a preseason practice and that was their first experience in a college football game so uh with us you know what I mean so I just I think that the the depth is going to continue to develop it's going to continue to show up in moments we're going to need it to show up probably in some big moments some ones that right now on paper we probably would say oh my gosh that scares the you know what out of me but uh I hope that by then and those moments show up good players are ready to step up when another good player maybe goes down started out well had a good first half how how much did that kind of ease you into things yeah I think there was definitely like a nerve factor to the beginning I mean just coming into a new season being the starter new offensive line all of that obviously there was a little nerves there but I knew the whole time like once I get in the first drive once I feel that first hit like those nerves will go away and then it's just playing football and I think that's exactly what it was how uh I mean Jan Jr and Torres last year kind of showed you know they can be these big time players they all had touchdown catches tonight how much I don't know of like a security blanket comfort factor kind of is there with those guys yeah I mean definitely like you know like whenn in doubt like I know one of those guys is going to be open you know um and I know that if I can just get the ball into their hands like they're going to do something special with it I mean Junior Vander Ro might be the most dynamic player in our conference um you know get the ball in his hand and he's going to run for days you know and everybody saw what jwan did with that that little glance route today I mean took it for what 55 yards you know threw somebody off of him so it's all about just getting the ball into their hands and letting them do the work and then I what what's it like for the quarterback to to have all new guys in front of you several of which were transvers you having played with or anything I think I think it'd be a little bit different you know if I had you know started in the past you know and had different guys but I mean I'm I'm brand new as a starter too so I mean we're all coming in together and you know I told you know those five guys up front before the game started I said I got your back if you got mine you know and like we're going to ride this thing together you know till the wheels fall off so going off of that how do you feel like the offensive line did play I mean you got sacked twice but yeah I think they did great I think you know coming in week one it's always a little hard game planning wise because you don't know exactly what they're going to do you know it was a new defensive coordinator over there so we weren't sure exactly you know what they'd show us and they showed a little bit different than what they saw you know showed on film last year so I think just kind of getting that piece in there I think those guys will be fine they played great and you know I'd love having those guys in front of me just to get the first one out of the way I know running around the stadium you were talking to your family afterward just kind what did that mean for you to kind of get yeah it was awesome I mean I've started you know two games since the Eastern Michigan game but that was the last time I had won a game as a starter um so to kind of win another game as a starter it's a it's a good feeling and having my parents there is you know they're they're my biggest supporters so I'd love you know being able to go up to them after the game and and talk to them was the I mean football games always kind of the quarterbacks kind of looked at like the win loss record and all that um the bowl game for you like did this nine months eight months whatever it is have like a bad taste Absolut absolutely I mean like I would have loved to play better in the B game um and that kind of ate at me for the last you know eight months nine months whatever it's been and um so I I really just wanted to come out here and put on a good performance and show everybody like that's you know that's not who I am right there like what I am tonight that's who I am being a a local kid and thing how exciting was this for you tonight to to do this in front of I'm sure you had a lot of family and friends here uh you know it was awesome you know every game my parents and friends and family they come to every whole home game so it's awesome and to be able to you know actually play a lot more snaps I did last year it was awesome to have a good game in front of them now for them and me to experience that how cool is it just for football in northwest Ohio I think get perb represented Freemont a couple few guys from too just all had huge plays in the first half and I guess the forc fumble by P the in the second half but what does that just say about football in too just kind of the pride you guys have or Northwest don't have football uh you know I mean like you know you a little like chitchat with the guys on the team they try to say like Florida football this you know Georgia football but you know the guys from to Ohio Northwest Ohio and just Ohio football in general you know we can play football too and you know we're just up there with the with the best of them is there kind of good natured rivalry talk with not rivalry but provincial talk like Florida guys saying that Ohio football's not yeah yeah there's a little bit of that but you know you got you got to give it to them you know Florida and Georgia they produce some of the best athletes in the entire world so you know it's good to have a little something we can say back to them how much did Central prepare you do you think for college I'd say a lot you know there's great coaches over there great teachers every centrals is a great place you know and they prepare you for college life football every they prepare you for everything and you know coming from a winning program like that it's just it's a it was a good it was good for me to play put yeah they it was a good it was a good foundation for me going from Central to to come here at Toledo what like what in particular do you think prepar you the most not even if it's necessarily football maybe feels like school and college uh just like people like Coach Brown coach Martin and Miss McGee over there you know they always make sure I got grades grades right first and then football and you know always keeping me on a good path you know and Coach Dempsey as well you know there's great people over there and they always they care more about a person than you are a football player and you know I think that was good for for me when you kind of got that first like pass break up I think it was like on a third down like you so fired up like how did that kind of energize you the rest of like the game for the other big plays that you then made you know I mean starting off the game hot it's good it's good for you get some momentum going you know once you get that after that first snap the first like hit all the nerves go away like tuck said and you know after that first play made a good play on the uh slant that he ran you know he was felt was calm and just smooth sailing after that I don't know if you anticipated getting a pick tonight but just what was that feeling like uh you know it was awesome I mean kind of threw it right to me uh I don't know much to say about that but you know it was good to get that out of the way in the first my first college start but yeah yeah for your experience on special teams last year just how did that kind of help transition you to be you know on defense to get to defense uh you know I'd say special teams is it's it's a huge part of the game and you know playing an important role in special teams last year put me in a good uh good position this year to be able to make plays last year and going and making plays on defense against special teams this year how far could you Grand if you would have fallen down I was talking about I I think I was probably scoring that if I wasn't if I wasn't on the ground yeah cuz all all the receivers were deep you know unfortunately fell down but yeah