On incoming safety Greg Eisworth’s role on the defense:
Greg’s background was (as) a high school quarterback. I have said this a lot, I really like guys that were the high school quarterback. No matter what position they end up playing collegiately. There’s something about when you’re high school coach trusts you to have the ball in your hand on every play that there’s just something leadership-wise about you that gives you a chance to I think really project. That’s one thing that Greg has given us. He had the experience, probably what he would perceive as probably not the most positive experience at a Division I institution, that certainly has had some success. He goes through that, he transfers to get himself so he’s eligible for this year, to a junior college, plays last year, gets to perfect his craft. And then I think one of the things that he has brought and, back to that quarterback piece, is he’s a communicator. He’s a leader and he brings kind of an anchor. The position we’re asking him to play, safety, it used to be the linebackers were the great communicators. They were getting everybody situated and adjusted in football. Well the game spread out so much it’s those safeties that have to be elite communicators. I think that’s what we saw this spring from him is taking great ownership and great communicative skills and I think that’s only just moved forward through the summer portion of it. So I think that’s the biggest thing about Greg that we’re all excited about and he’s certainly done a great job of what we’ve asked him so far. Look forward to watching him play.
On quarterback depth behind Kempt and Noland:
It’s been really, really fun to watch that group. If you said, where’s one attention for me is, what [does] this young quarterback group look like and feel like? And to me I think there’s very high-end potential in all the young men that are getting reps at that position. I think there’s the potential to continue to challenge our football program to go forward. That quarterback position as we all know is critical to the success of your team. We continue to find that out and I feel really confident about, just even in four days, the skills, the characteristics and the traits that those guys have. And I think it’s going to be a really high-end competition. Again competition always allows the cream to rise to the top and I think right now you’re seeing a group, really, Kyle’s leading it and then everybody else, great competition. And you feel it and you see it and that’s good to have in your program. I think that part’s really, really good. I think that’ll allow all that to fester through the rest of fall camp and certainly into the early part of the season.
On junior OL Josh Knipfel:
I’ve got four kids; if I could have one more I’d take Josh. That’s how I like Josh Knipfel. A lot of kids in our program, and you talk about our success last year, he didn’t get here until mid-June. Then Josh comes in. I remember I watched him run the stadium steps his first Friday; I think Josh almost passed out on the stadium steps. And I’m like, hmm, maybe it will be a little bit farther away. And then we walk out there first game and he’s starting. Not only does he start, and I think the (one) penalty piece is great, the reality of it is he was probably our most efficient lineman last year. And when I come back now and I watch him, he is kind of part of, just like Julian and just like Bryce, he’s a guy that has unbelievable leadership traits. And one of the things that I love about him is you can say to a young man be your best version of you every day, I know what we’re going to get from Josh. He’s going to be the best version of himself every day. Walks out to practice and when you get that you trust that student-athlete. That’s why I say that about him. He has got the utmost trust from me, our coaching staff, and I think really his teammates. So I think he’s an anchor to the success of our program.
On handling the success of last year’s 8-5 season:
I think that’s probably the number one, that’s been our number one challenge. I don’t think going into the season. I think that had to be addressed in January. And again, that was the number one thing that I addressed right after the football game because I knew that that would certainly be a conversation point. We know how fickle it is; it can change really fast. One of the reasons that we can allow it to change from within our walls is we can’t control what anybody says about us outside of our walls. But we can control how we handle our day-to-day operation. And I think that ego is the only thing that allows us to allow what’s said outside of our walls to infiltrate who we are in our own process. And so I think that was the biggest challenge in my opinion to our off-season, was not buying into the positive and still enough negative to say where we are and where we’re going. Last year it was primarily dealing with the opposite. Nobody thinks we can win here, that’s kind of the old deal. Now you’re dealing with the opposite. Now there’s some positive and how do you not let that infiltrate your program and infiltrate your team. And I think that’s equally as hard of a challenge. Especially in the world we live in today, right? Everything, social media, all those things out there. The news cycle of everything coming at you a hundred miles an hour and that’s hard. And the only way to handle it is to handle it head on. You talk about it, you address it, and you bring those situations right to the fact of our kids all the time. And I think that’s one thing our staff does a reallt good job of and knowing what’s the temperature outside of our room and making sure that it stays the right way inside of our walls. That’s been the key to that. So that’s how we’ve addressed last year. That’s kind of how we addressed anything of positive or negative that’s said outside of our walls. And we worry about being successful one day at a time and the winning and losing at some point will take care of itself.
Greg’s background was (as) a high school quarterback. I have said this a lot, I really like guys that were the high school quarterback. No matter what position they end up playing collegiately. There’s something about when you’re high school coach trusts you to have the ball in your hand on every play that there’s just something leadership-wise about you that gives you a chance to I think really project. That’s one thing that Greg has given us. He had the experience, probably what he would perceive as probably not the most positive experience at a Division I institution, that certainly has had some success. He goes through that, he transfers to get himself so he’s eligible for this year, to a junior college, plays last year, gets to perfect his craft. And then I think one of the things that he has brought and, back to that quarterback piece, is he’s a communicator. He’s a leader and he brings kind of an anchor. The position we’re asking him to play, safety, it used to be the linebackers were the great communicators. They were getting everybody situated and adjusted in football. Well the game spread out so much it’s those safeties that have to be elite communicators. I think that’s what we saw this spring from him is taking great ownership and great communicative skills and I think that’s only just moved forward through the summer portion of it. So I think that’s the biggest thing about Greg that we’re all excited about and he’s certainly done a great job of what we’ve asked him so far. Look forward to watching him play.
On quarterback depth behind Kempt and Noland:
It’s been really, really fun to watch that group. If you said, where’s one attention for me is, what [does] this young quarterback group look like and feel like? And to me I think there’s very high-end potential in all the young men that are getting reps at that position. I think there’s the potential to continue to challenge our football program to go forward. That quarterback position as we all know is critical to the success of your team. We continue to find that out and I feel really confident about, just even in four days, the skills, the characteristics and the traits that those guys have. And I think it’s going to be a really high-end competition. Again competition always allows the cream to rise to the top and I think right now you’re seeing a group, really, Kyle’s leading it and then everybody else, great competition. And you feel it and you see it and that’s good to have in your program. I think that part’s really, really good. I think that’ll allow all that to fester through the rest of fall camp and certainly into the early part of the season.
On junior OL Josh Knipfel:
I’ve got four kids; if I could have one more I’d take Josh. That’s how I like Josh Knipfel. A lot of kids in our program, and you talk about our success last year, he didn’t get here until mid-June. Then Josh comes in. I remember I watched him run the stadium steps his first Friday; I think Josh almost passed out on the stadium steps. And I’m like, hmm, maybe it will be a little bit farther away. And then we walk out there first game and he’s starting. Not only does he start, and I think the (one) penalty piece is great, the reality of it is he was probably our most efficient lineman last year. And when I come back now and I watch him, he is kind of part of, just like Julian and just like Bryce, he’s a guy that has unbelievable leadership traits. And one of the things that I love about him is you can say to a young man be your best version of you every day, I know what we’re going to get from Josh. He’s going to be the best version of himself every day. Walks out to practice and when you get that you trust that student-athlete. That’s why I say that about him. He has got the utmost trust from me, our coaching staff, and I think really his teammates. So I think he’s an anchor to the success of our program.
On handling the success of last year’s 8-5 season:
I think that’s probably the number one, that’s been our number one challenge. I don’t think going into the season. I think that had to be addressed in January. And again, that was the number one thing that I addressed right after the football game because I knew that that would certainly be a conversation point. We know how fickle it is; it can change really fast. One of the reasons that we can allow it to change from within our walls is we can’t control what anybody says about us outside of our walls. But we can control how we handle our day-to-day operation. And I think that ego is the only thing that allows us to allow what’s said outside of our walls to infiltrate who we are in our own process. And so I think that was the biggest challenge in my opinion to our off-season, was not buying into the positive and still enough negative to say where we are and where we’re going. Last year it was primarily dealing with the opposite. Nobody thinks we can win here, that’s kind of the old deal. Now you’re dealing with the opposite. Now there’s some positive and how do you not let that infiltrate your program and infiltrate your team. And I think that’s equally as hard of a challenge. Especially in the world we live in today, right? Everything, social media, all those things out there. The news cycle of everything coming at you a hundred miles an hour and that’s hard. And the only way to handle it is to handle it head on. You talk about it, you address it, and you bring those situations right to the fact of our kids all the time. And I think that’s one thing our staff does a reallt good job of and knowing what’s the temperature outside of our room and making sure that it stays the right way inside of our walls. That’s been the key to that. So that’s how we’ve addressed last year. That’s kind of how we addressed anything of positive or negative that’s said outside of our walls. And we worry about being successful one day at a time and the winning and losing at some point will take care of itself.
