UW Football Weekly Press Conference: September 3, 2024

e opening night on M Lake 2024 as the Washington Huskies Embark upon a new era at the University of Washington Galvanize this program Galvanize this fan base Galvanize this University in this region it is now our time it is now Our Moment we've got to bring the musicality the violence every single play in this roster of 110 players at the University of Washington 51 of whom are newc knock get everybody in here gets the say that's the only thing matters let's go Domin 3in 3 1 2 3 only six games at the greatest setting in college football this season and the dogs get one of those rare opportunities to run out of the tunnel moments from right [Music] now keep raising the standard all day long I love you guys and I'm glad we're all doing this thing together this is a team I can feel the energy down here this is a team is ready to remind the college football World what Washington football is all about B to the belly at Jonah Coleman he's pass the 40 and he's into Weaver State territory off Coleman C Parts touchdown Jonah Coleman into the end zone that play blown up in the back field and great for Tackle by Jordan Shaw in space Rogers wide open it's caught touchdown Decker to grab First Catch of his husky career goes for [Applause] [Music] six to that was a beauty from Rogers Luna Coleman with a three touchdown game for the Huskies Williams the pass got a guy touchdown Denzel B [Music] one more game off you got one more game you guys know this this isn't your coach's first win but winning is hard it's his first one with the [Applause] w e e e just it's a little different from us we haven't seen that that often here can you just kind of explain why you like to be down in the field instead of up in the Box uh yeah I mean I started in Booth um when I was um started uh early in my career um charting then doing the Personnel um and stuff like that but getting down on the field you get to feel the energy a little bit more there are more distractions down there rather than being up in the booth but um like to feel the energy like to see uh look the guys in the eyes so um uh yeah I enjoy it down there the field now that you can use the tablets did you use much of that uh yeah I mean I'm I'm used to the tablets but it was pictures in the past um but now with the with the video it's um it's pretty cool you could U maybe one at a time after week one here talk about if there's one area that you want to improve going into a week too you can pick one I mean I'm sure there's a lot of stuff you've SE on film there but if you could pick one area you want to see on this week group yeah I got this one uh yeah we need to eliminate negative plays um we had two sacks that we didn't have to give up we had a couple runs behind lines scrimmage that are all correctable um from the coaching standpoint and uh fundamental standpoint so uh would love to eliminate those um we did a great job protecting the ball so obviously we need to continue doing that and not put the ball In Harm's Way um so those would be the uh huge emphasi this week Sten yeah I think uh for us is just uh keep building um on what we did it wasn't perfect uh the games are never perfect but um keep building um first game of the season so always a lot to work on in every area fundamentals technique um you know communication all that stuff but I think we can get better in in every area you kind of warned us that you might have have a rotation last weekend and I'd never seen anything quite like that with uh so many changes I mean a couple guys play three different positions in the game um had you ever gone through something like that anywhere you've been before um yeah yeah we'd rotate guys in every once in a while um did it at the uh the last last place and did it the last place did it in Miami a lot um so it's I mean if it's jarring I apologize uh but uh uh the guys did great they uh we practiced with the availability to do that so there it was only one time I might have put someone where I normally wouldn't put them but um that was just for one play for one snap we won't do that again um but uh so sorry go ahead finish your question was it hard to grade them when you shift them around so many different places I mean Mike Switzer does such a great job with the uh with the grading scale like it's it's Flawless so absolutely not both you guys uh after after the game Jed and both the players we talked to said that they wanted to make this the worst game for for both of you what is the the biggest Aira Improvement that you want to see going into next week you first uh yeah similar to the to the question before I just think um yeah if you if you set that bar as as the worst game of the season then everything should be better um you want everything to be better um like I said before for it's not always perfect um that's just that's just football but uh you want everything to be better we got a long way to go um it's good to get out there and practice again uh after the couple days from the from the game but we got a long way to go and um got a lot to improve on defensively yeah did in this first game back uh Lando did really well um he's probably on the ground one time which is a great start for you know got I think he got close to 20 snaps um so uh yeah he did really well first time out coach bich just the way that I saw Alonso tatala lining up all over the place he was in the back field quite a bit is you if I was to go back and look at some New England Patriot film is there somebody in the past that you maybe looked used like you used Alonso or is that just kind of a new thing uh no I mean I think um you know I always go back to saying I got to coach um identical twins and I went to ruggers with Jason and Deon mccordi and those guys were we different players so every player is their own player every player's different um I wouldn't look too much into that um I think zo brings a lot to the table just like a bunch of other guys on our defense um so yeah I always go back to that the fact that two identical twins play different positions um and it's hard to tell them a part looking at each other um when they're side by side but now zo is on player just like everybody else on their team on our team is um and you got to respect and and appreciate what those guys do so no there's no like like carbon copies or anything like that or rubber stamps from from what's happened in the past he's his own player just like everybody else obviously used to the the helmet communication I'm curious how you thought the players handled it for for this being their first time with it yeah they were great they were great I mean going all the way back to the spring um those guys have done a great job we mixed it around uh multiple guys had it in the game multiple guys have had it in practice so uh those guys did a great job easier for me than them maybe just because I'm used to it but um no I was really impressed with with uh how those guys handled it deciding who gets it is it based on whoever's lined up at a certain position in a certain package is it based on the the individual and their capabilities how do you kind of determine that uh you know it's uh there's a lot that goes into it I'd say um I've had a lot of different guys do it in the pass safeties linebackers are kind of the guys in the Forefront but um uh most importantly it's it's what the other players here in the Huddle um and so their opinion matters a lot to me because you know the person who hears it from me then has to reiterate it to 10 other guys so um to me I was big on talking to the other players who do you like to hear from um who uh you know how's the message perceived which all those guys did a great job there was a lot of positive feedback it kind of went down to uh to the wire who's going to have it but at the end of the day someone will um we're going to use it if we got it so uh I always appreciate the player feedback on that stuff you look at Eastern Michigan how much tape do you go back and look at Cole Snider when he was at Buffalo how much do you compare that with what he's done at Easter in his first week at Eastern Michigan yeah I just think it's a balance of um you know the individual player and the and the scheme that they're in um you know if a guy's really fast it doesn't matter what scheme he plays in he's a really fast player if a quarterback has a good arm it doesn't matter what scheme he's in has a good arm so um how they're utilized in the in the scheme is is relative and then what the scheme is is is relative as well I don't know if you had a chance or or are planning on looking at last year's Eastern Michigan offense but it seems like they got better with this quarterback I think they had more yards against UMass than they did at all last year U you see a team that's gotten better on that side of the yeah yeah for sure I mean every team's different um you know me BC weren't together last year it doesn't matter where we were uh we're a new team here at Washington so um it doesn't really matter every team changes year to year so um you can't buy into that too much looking at the stats too much but evaluating what you uh what you see out there Steve Zack dery got his first bow game in in two seasons he's been waiting a long time to play how how did he turn out in your your grading system did he play well I know he had a almost a chance with a pick six uh yeah yeah I mean all the guys you know they played hard they played aggressive um I appreciated how the how the full defense played um yeah he didn't he hasn't played in a longer period of time but those guys were excited they were ready to go um just kind of getting into the getting into the groove with Quinton going down you know how what's your level of concern at tight end position with depth and how does that change things um yeah uh quinton's a a huge feature uh in our our offense um so we'll make some adjustments we got some great players at the position though uh coach pal pal got those guys ready to go um so yeah you could see some uh new uh new names and faces out there but um uh nothing crazy so we're still excited about the tight in position Eastern Michigan's defense what what stands out for them uh yeah it's Unique and uh they're always going to have one more you call it core player down lineman or linebacker than you do uh quotequote blockers so if you got 11 personnel out there one tight end five line they're always going to have seven bigs four down three backers um so that's that's unique in it um a lot of man coverage uh so it's uh it's it's a unique opportunity excited to go against it and kind of uh take on this challenge so it's uh it'll be fun Che for you looks like Logan second PA only played Four snaps between him and Jayvon Parker how much expect how much do you expect them to factor in this this coming weekend yeah you never know how the game's going to play up both those guys doing a great job um but you kind of never never know how the game's going to go um but yeah they're good players we've talked about everybody who played didn't play um whether it was as a unit or individually and and those guys know their role so um I'm not concerned about them being ready to go every single game regardless of how many snaps they play Steve what did dadus Dixon do to put himself into that uh cornerback conversation since you've been on campus I mean I just think that him and the rest of the guys on the defense um their approach of the game how much they love the game game how hard they play um he brings a a physical skill set just like the other guys do um but I've enjoyed working with all those Corners um just like everybody else on the defense so um he's been great but um yeah thad's a D's a good kid he bring some good energy um talking smack to the offense is is uh is good energy for the team um good camaraderie and he loves his teammate so it's always always in good fun um with those guys when we're out at practice um and I appreciate that Steve how different was game day for you college game day compared to NFL game day was I don't know if you get a chance to you know see your family before the games ready back how much different was it for you when you first came out yeah um yeah those sideline pregame sideline passes were tough to get uh before um so no it was really cool to see my family um I appreciate that um you know I was talking to my brother talking to some other people um it's hard to describe but uh it's just different um I'm not trying to dodge a question but my brother asked me the same thing and I it's just different so uh that's the best I could say um but BC has been in college and the pro so that's a good uh that's a great question you know per usual the uh the Seattle fans are fantastic and they come out and they and they can rock the house pretty well um so it was great to uh to have that backing from the home home crowd it was a it was a blast it reminds you why this is such a great Sports to I know we only got two touches but how did Adam mam grade out for you uh all the running backs played really really well um it was cool to see Adam uh you know get loose a little bit right there would like to go check that film one more time see if he didn't get it or not no no I it's close uh but uh no he he did he did well on his role um and uh you know he's ready to go ahead and play he's done a great job in preparation he's been here with us for a long time now you know in comparison so uh yeah he's ready to go I got to see him how much different is Deon in the game and how much different blocking for a guy who can be so electric and get out of the pocket and stay easier um yeah it's kind of the things that we thought you know going uh going through spring thought this is kind of what he would look like um so that's great that he's been consistent throughout and and was able to uh you know kind of play like we thought he could so um it was cool question from the hallway you know a great out between playing guard and Tackle he look like he can play both pretty readily if you needed it uh yeah he did great you know jumping in there at The Tackle Spot a little bit um we'll see if we'll do that again this week and kind of up in the air about it but uh um yeah we got a lot of good players which just means that's the reason why there's more guys out there because there's good guys and capable players so um yeah we'll figure it out through the week of practice you expect to have similar level of offensive line rotation this week or will it be more game dependent n little get game dependent practice dependent you know central theme of the program is competi position so um those guys will be out there competing and we'll see how it all plays out he was kind of the culprit that stole will justly from the defensive line over to tight end uh you guys call him Jordan okay gotcha powpow gotcha gotcha got to move over to that position uh I don't know right now I'm not sure about that we'll uh we'll take a look into that and see if that's a possibility um so we're not there yet though but uh I like that thought we got the coach will at Seattle he's he's a fantastic one you had give up the three points Miss the shut out we got the win I wasn't disappointed at all dubs that a got to play well dubs yeah no you can't be if we would have scored four and You' have scored three i' been happy so so dubs because we would have gotten two safeties I good job we're good at math uh okay cool that's a great way end e e e CD being out there for the first time since that apple cup over a year ago what did that mean to you oh it meant a lot um I mean shoot just thinking about last year this time last year I was in crutches couldn't even walk and stuff so everything I'm doing right now is really just an accomplishment um felt good being out there I'm just grateful uh it feel good to play that um it always feels good to you know show husky nation that you feel me the DBS is back where he supposed to be but honestly uh not too excited you know we did what we were supposed to do uh probably around a week before the first game telling people since the end of last season to this game you may be the most improved player on the team uh what's the difference um I honestly just say my maturity as uh as as a man um just you know going about my business as a pro every day um you know it obviously makes it easier to just develop throughout the offseason just taking care of your business every day what was your approach to this to this off what did you want to get better at everything man um I had a very cerebral approach um you know I really wanted to work on my f uh flexibility and my core I felt like my ball skills and my coverage was was good but just working on my speed my core and my flexibility for the most part player how do you balance and how have you gotten better balancing that fine line between using your physicality and not getting penalized for it just uh trusting my technique uh knowing when to use certain techniques and when not to uh that all comes down to my discipline same discipline I kept and I was working on this offseason what was the biggest difference from the junior college level of the game to to this when you first got here last year the lineman uh I feel like on the outsides it wasn't too much big of a difference uh VC by a lot of Chang in the offensive line how many guys got playing time and mooved around different positions what what did you see from your your perspective as how that unit performed on Saturday oh yeah um they performed exceptionally well you know um it's always good having you know a good set of guys you know you can rotate in and keep a guy fresh and stuff we have a lot of young guys and you know they showed that um the lights weren't too bright on Saturday and so you know um that's always good knowing you have good guys up front passing game running game really things don't move without the old line line so um you know they showed out on Saturday and L really well thus um a lot of guys I think feel like you guys have been overlooked this year because you only had one or two starters coming back and and the team just changed overnight but uh today you guys are 25th in the coach's poll any reaction to that that's like a little respect uh no um we used to be Overlook so you just taking one week at a time we always going to be the underdog so you know we got to keep proving people both of you guys I'm wondering about the process pre-play now where you're getting the call from somebody who's getting it over their helmet rather than look into the sideline and just kind of what what it's like and and what the differences are and how you felt that that went on Saturday uh I'll say on the offensive side it makes things just a little bit more smooth remember last year we was looking at the cars have look to the sideline every play and stuff so just having that um mic in the helmet gets the calls in a lot quicker a lot easier uh on the defensive side I feel like it's I gotta love haate relationship with it because now that it's no signs I play corner so I gotta really run into the Huddle and get the call but for the most part um we getting the calls in very early so we can make our checks and and know what to dial up talk a little bit about just the tandem of you and Jonah you're both big but you're a different type of big when you come into the game how does that change things and maybe how you guys kind of feed off each other yeah you know um it's a it's a good onetwo punch I feel like we compliment each other well um but one thing I feel like we both pride ourselves on is that we could do just about everything in the back field um I know they like to throw me the ball a lot just off my frame and stuff but um Jonah has great hands as well and one thing I can't get overlooked is just how T talented the room is in general you know it's not just me and Jon it's as you guys seen Adam mohamed's good you guys will see flashes of Jordan to Sam and Dan you know we all can you know have a role in this um offense so you know that's one of the things we're really excited about what's it been like working with John Richardson man it's been great it's it's been great uh you know he he's hard on us but you know he really wants the best for us um he's keying in on just details and the little things you know we all got talent in our room but the talent really you can't make the most of your talent if you're not keen in on the details so man it's it's been great working with him man I I've honestly like felt myself grow as a player a lot this offseason bring kind of the DBU mindset and everything like that when Marcus came to you guys in the spring or at the spring game did he talk to you guys and all before because I know he was kind of that guy that was gave you guys the jacket saying you know we ain't done yet sort of thing yeah did he talk to you came out um I I had chopped it up with him um I don't think he had the opportunity to talk to the whole group but you know Marcus he he always showing love man he be tapped in with us so great dude Richard Sherman and cam Chancellor Bobby Wagner were on the sidelines did you get a chance to talk to them N I didn't I honestly I didn't even know they were at the game until like yesterday I was so locked in like it didn't even cross my mind the coordinators were in here and Steve belich mentioned how you like to talk smack to the offense Ren and Carol acknowledge that do you carry that over in the game did you talk to the opponents on Saturday last Saturday uh not too much I try to steer clear talking uh during the game I don't want to get no penalties but you know if I make a good play I'm G let him hear it for sure C You' been on the other side of Dad's uh talking dur practice and so what's that like n he hasn't said nothing to me I do hear him chipping away though and stuff but um I mean that's just the competitive nature you know we're all saying things you know we make a good play you want to let the other side of the ball hear it so you just having fun out there dad what what stands out to you from the initial film that you've seen in Eastern Michigan um their splits uh the quarterback he actually has uh a nice touch on his ball but he does like to Loft him but uh they love like wide splits for some reason I don't know but that's what standed out to me the most C I guess for you what stands out they have a pretty good defense in front at least that think six sacks and opener what about their about their defense yeah um they have a solid defense um I feel like they're going to be a little bit more bigger than last week last opponent and stuff but um their defense isn't too complicated so um we're really just looking forward to attacking them this week dad what was it like being in that competition with eie and uh EJ during the BR into the B um I feel like we was all making each other better um you know we were all competing but at the same time we was just all getting better you know we all have a lot of common and the same goals so you know just buying into what Jay Rich was teaching and going out into practice and just you feel me trying our best to to do what he was asking you know it was it was good it was great I feel like we pushed each other a lot and man we set up to have a a real good year in the uh in The Corner Room I think of a deal was it to to be the guy who got the the starting KN in week one uh to me I mean obviously the competitor than me you know you always want to start but you know it wasn't too big a deal um we all goingon to get our turn we all gonna make plays so you know just being Keen in on the details man trying to lock it in week in week out stay consistent FES just in the second half they weren't able to do much offensively the entire team as a corner do you kind of sense frustration from a defense frustration at not being able to throw the ball you sense that at all yeah yeah you could tell uh body language is the main the main factor I feel like um coming out to the second half you know we were kind of going against a defeated team uh you know just the body language coming out the huddles you know you you pretty much knew that they I gave up on the game d did you have any thoughts about entering the portal before the season and so what kind of conv you to stay I didn't um I didn't I never once thought about entering the portal because I didn't come here for the coaches I came here for the coacher um I feel like so many DBS have came out of Washington it's not a coach that's goingon to make or break uh my decision or you know what I wanted to be a part of so I just really wanted to be a part of the the great DB so I came out of here and went to go play in the NFL which just the first that kind of caught your eye does it go back to Desmond or how far does it go back to you for wwvs I'll probably say probably a couple years probably like yeah Desmond King I mean yeah Desmond truth my fault um uh yeah it it goes back pretty bad probably like 2014 I'll probably say it's when I really started watching you know udah football One play from this past game whether you were on the field or not is there one play that just really sticks out to you I'll say Decker deg gr's touchdown um you know count on him in that moment I think um not too many people even himself expected to get that play unfortunately Q went down but just him stepping up and scoring um you know that was really um that was really a key thing got a momentum going and you know showed that the lights weren't too bright for him he was ready for his moment when his number was called he made a play so it was pretty exciting seeing him going out there and doing his thing how you describe cam your role in this offense you had I think five touches but you also had three or four catches yeah what was what was the message Scotty gave to you and Paul Camp about what your was going to be knowing how important Jonah can be to the team yeah I mean we're taking it a week at a time you know going into last week you know pretty much the main thing was just getting me going obviously it's been a year so you know they weren't going to put too much of a load on me but um yeah every week it's going to you know change um you know like I said I'm I can do anything you know I can catch the ball Block Run and stuff so I would say that's that's pretty much my role in this offense were you uh surprised the way they shuffled the line just some guys played three different positions during the game and I've never seen that before I mean you've seen guys come in and Sub in but guys just almost it's like a fire drill taking positions yeah was that different for you um it wasn't too surprising um you know you can see it a little bit in Fall Camp people are rotating around but it just goes to show how versatile our guys are and you know that's what you want to see in alignment um whether it's pulling whether it's run blocking pass blocking I'm confident that whoever's in you know they can get the job done do you feel your role is more verstile because it look like you played according to P every every position but D line in the opener do you feel like this defense has made you more versatile or asked you to be more versatile um not asked me to be more versatile but just ask me to be a football player uh you know lining up in different spots same thing you going to do on Sunday same thing we did on Friday nights like you know just being a football player being able to line up in the post in the slot um I feel like this defense is is just keying on the players you know it's a play around defense so yeah Kev we talk to to coach Carol just now about Eastern he said that there's always going to be one more Defender than they're going to have blockers how does that kind of change your expectations of running back knowing that like you're going to have to you're more likely have to make a guy new um I'll would say it doesn't change much that's kind of always our motto playing running back um um that's our job description you know never get tackled by the first guy really just not try to get tackled in general and stuff so nothing changes with this game plan you know we're expected to make the any guy miss the first guy Miss so um if there's one in the hole that's on us coach fish uh is pretty well versed that Eastern Michigan was kind of a launching pad for D'Or and Grub you guys aware of that that you know they they kind of went to the FBS or the power five level from there got their start kind oh no I wasn't aware of that um I mean obviously I know they came from Fresno before here stuff but you I wasn't aware of Eastern Michigan okay all right for