Fall Camp Weekly Media Availability
Aug 05, 2025 | Football
Watch or read below as Mike Elko and coordinators Collin Klein and Jay Bateman met with the press at the weekly media availability Tuesday inside Kyle Field.
I think we want the identity of this team to be a team that pours everything they have into each other, and into playing this game together the right way for themselves and for Texas A&M University. I think that's always been the mantra. That shows up in how hard we play, that shows up in how physical we play. That shows up in the consistency of how we do that every single week. That's kind of been the standard we've tried to create within this program from day one.Mike Elko
Q&A with Coach Elko
The thing I just want to address before we start is the Dalton Brooks situation. Obviously, that's something that we're aware of. Issues like that are things that we take very seriously in our program. We'll look into it internally; we'll handle it internally. It's not something we're going to talk about, how we're going to handle, but it is obviously something that we take very seriously, internally inside of our program. So, we're on it and we're handling it. From there, it's camp. It's five practices in, so you're going to want big statements and know how everything is, and I don't have any of that for you. So why don't you guys fire away with questions, and we'll see where we go.
Amari Niblack looks amazing. I mean, he's a physical specimen and he looks like he's catching everything. They throw his way. Can you talk a little bit about what you've seen so far? And also, when did he first hit on your radar in the recruiting process?
From a recruiting standpoint, I think I've addressed this before. I think it was an interesting one just because of his relationship with Coach Wiggins. When he entered the transfer portal, he had been with Coach Wiggins at Alabama and he didn't have the best year last year, but I think there was a prior track record of what he was capable of and what his potential was. And so that's what kind of created it. We were looking for a taller pass catcher at that point in the process. So that's kind of what made it a connection and a fit. I think what you see from him is just a really tall, long, athletic kid. He's continuing to get comfortable and continuing to develop at the things that we're doing. I think he has a chance to be a weapon for us this year if he can keep going.
In your career, you've coached against and even coached some College Football Playoff quarterbacks who have led teams to the College Football Playoffs. Is there a common denominator between who they are as a person or even statistically what makes a College Football Playoff quarterback?
Yeah, certainly not statistically and certainly not in terms of a package as a quarterback. I think you've seen it a lot of different ways. I think you've seen pocket passers. I think you've seen kids who are dual threats. I think you've seen kids who run better than they throw. I think, in the last five or six years you've seen the whole gamut of quarterbacks get into that position. I think the trait that you're looking for is competitiveness, the ability to lift others around them, and the ability to kind of bring a group together and galvanize a group to follow and play hard for each other. I think that's probably more than anything, the trait that is consistent through them all. You need a quarterback that can do those types of things, and then you've got to build an offense around what your quarterback does really well. If you can do those two things, you've got a chance.
You have a lot of new faces on the defensive line, guys that are kind of moving positions a little bit. How do you feel about what you've seen out of them in this very limited sampling size?
I think there’s potential there. It’s the same names; there’s not anything new. I think early in camp, there’s just a couple names that maybe haven't been on the radar that have flashed a little bit and are trying to get themselves in the mix. Dealyn Evans has had a really strong three days, that's been really good to see from him. We challenged him to step up and try to go get one of those spots in the rotation, and that's been cool to see. I think Marco Jones, with the summer development that he had, has elevated himself even a little bit more from where he was in the spring. Those are two guys who maybe we haven't talked a ton about in that group. The rest of the group at this point is still what we've said. I think there's a lot of pieces in there, and a lot of veterans who have played a lot of football. We got to see them put it all together consistently over the next week and a half when we get full pads on.
Last year in run defense, y’all were actually really sound most of the time, and then had the tendency to give up the big plays. My question is, when y'all evaluated over the off-season, was there anything that kept showing up as the problem? And moving forward, do y'all put more emphasis on that the rest of camp or is that something that just happens?
That’s a good question. I certainly wouldn’t say it just happens. I think that was the story of us on defense and we’ve talked about that. We were play in, play out a lot more efficient than we were overall production-wise because of explosiveness. That was in the run game and the pass game. I think you're dead on in the run game. I think there’s a couple things that we've really tried to emphasize and point out to them. One is, what the difference is between being 11th and 12th in the conference and the top two or three in the conference and how small those margins are. Those margins usually come down to those plays, so a lot of times kids have a tendency to walk off the field thinking about the three plays that they've made. We've tried to say “Hey, let's focus on the three that we didn't make” and how we fix those to continue to try to get those out of the system. I think when you look at it schematically, the big runs happen two ways. They happen one, because of a misfit or somebody being out of a gap at times, not a ton, but at times. Where we got in a lot of trouble last year was losing perimeter leverage. Whether that was a run that that got through and then got outside or a run that was designed to get outside, we did a really poor job at times of leveraging the football properly. What you do is you go out and you put all of them on tape, you show them to the guys consistently, and when you get into practice now, you point something out and you say, “Okay, this is the run from South Carolina. This is the decision you make that costs you the ability to [make the play]. There's a little bit more understanding of how it can impact them, whereas maybe last year in fall camp, you were saying, “Hey, don't do this”. You get a little bit of the “Yeah, okay”, but they don't really know the issue with doing that, if that makes any sense. I think when you're talking specifically about “That's why we gave up a big play at South Carolina. That's why we gave up a big run against Notre Dame”, it hits home a little bit more and makes those problems a little bit more fixable. You hope that it just continues to go as we go through camp.
As Mark Nabou continues to come back from his injury, what have you seen from him so far in Fall Camp and just how competitive might that center position be?
Obviously, we want competition across the offensive line, and I think we're getting it. I think we have three kids who have a chance to play center for us. Mark [Nabou] and Kolinu’u [Faaiu] are the obvious two. And then I think Trey Zuhn is another kid who's getting a lot of reps at that position. I think what we've seen from Mark is a kid who's now confident in trusting it. In the spring when you first come back, it's still sore. It doesn't feel exactly like you want it to. There's probably a little bit of a lack of trust in terms of how healthy you really are. But then you come out of it and you're okay, and you go back to work in the summer. I think through five practices he appears to be back to the player that we always thought he could be, and that's been good. I think he's taken another step from his competitive nature, and I think he's taking another step from his ability to finish blocks. Hopefully that continues as we move forward.
You said Trey Zuhn at center. Is that seriously considered, or is that kind of a depth option for you guys?
No, we've done that quite a bit. But going all the way back to the spring, I think it's part of the conversation. And we've talked about this before. We move kids around a lot so that we can always ensure the best five kids are out there. And there's certainly lineups that have Dametrious Crownover and Reuben Fatheree II as part of the best five. Now, whether that's the first five or that's one or two injuries in, I don't know. Competition will determine all of that. But there's certainly the need to have some flexibility with Trey, and that's been that's really been two-year process. I think last year with where we were, it just never got to it. But again, I think the competition is an ongoing process always.
As far as the scrimmage this Saturday, what are you looking for with how much retention you guys had from the players and the coaching staff? Do you put more on them in an initial scrimmage, or is it going to be treated kind of like past scrimmages?
I think it'll probably be treated like past scrimmages. I don't know that you put anything more on them. I think the challenge that we've talked about with our guys is you have two different things. You have a veteran group that's been through it before. What you have to make sure is they check every box along the way to prepare themselves for the season. One of those boxes is preparing yourself for the physicality that it takes to be successful at this level and in this conference. You only really get those things a handful of times in fall camp. We get eight days in full pads. It's important that even though you've been through four fall camps, you've been through a bunch of fall camp scrimmages, you have a feel for what this is all about, there's still a preparation process that goes in for this particular season that you have to go through. We'll be smart about how we use some of the guys who are going into year five and have certainly played a lot of college football, but there's just the part that they have to go through this physicality to get ready to go.
Five practices in. What have you seen from the secondary? What differences do you see at practice now that you maybe didn’t see in the past?
Five practices in last year, I wouldn't have told you we would be in the spot we were. I think what is noticeable is there's a much better comfort level playing together. When you just talk about communication lines and when you're familiar and comfortable playing with the guy next to you, it makes it a lot easier to communicate through the difficult concepts and combinations that get thrown at you. When you talk about Will Lee IV, Bryce Anderson, Dalton Brooks, Marcus Ratcliffe, and Dezz Ricks, that group of kids now has played a lot of football together between fall camps, spring ball, the season. You certainly see an uptick in their familiarity with each other. Then you see the new guys getting comfortable with the system, the communications, the schemes, and you see that happening at a faster rate because there are guys who are more comfortable with it. When everybody's trying to figure it out together, it's hard. When there are some experienced guys who can talk through things with guys who are less experienced, that speeds up the process. I think you're seeing that happen and we’ll see where it goes as we go through the rest of camp.
It’s almost been a year since Rueben Owens went down. We didn’t expect to see him last year, but we got to see him at the very end of the year. I just want to talk about the journey to get him to where he is now and what you have seen from him.
It's the hardest thing for a kid who has high hopes and expectations for what a season is going to be to get the season taken away from him. To his credit, I've said this on multiple occasions and will continue to, for him to come back the way he did, knowing how skilled and talented he is when he's 100%, and knowing he wasn't anywhere near that, but still going out to give us anything he could for the last game of the year and to go out into the bowl game and try to shake some of the rust off and get some competitive reps. That's a real credit to who he is as a kid, how he was raised, and how competitive he is. I think the other thing that happens, and this is the end process of it all, is then you go through the whole rehab, you get back, you get healthy, you get comfortable, and then you get out there and you realize how much you missed it. Maybe there's a little bit of an elevation of urgency because you don't just expect that everything's going to always be there for you. Maybe you've seen that a little bit from him through five practices that he understands how much he loves this game, and he loves getting to do it. His urgency to do it at a really, really high level every rep has probably stepped up. One, because he’s a year older, but probably because that's what happens sometimes when it gets taken away from you like it did.
You were very vocal about the USC loss last season. How has the presence of Tyreek Chappell helped you fix that problem with that unit?
That was like a long time ago that we had that. We've addressed that one a bunch. Tyreek Chappell is the best cover guy we have in the secondary that can play in the slot, and that matters. When we lost him last year it drastically impacted us playing the way we wanted to play. Having him out there, those things matter. He's got flexibility with where he can play. He's got the ability to be a matchup guy for us, which is always critical in your secondary, so it's really good to have him back and healthy.
What do you hope to be the identity of your team this season? And how do you hope to instill that?
I think we want the identity of this team to be a team that pours everything they have into each other, and into playing this game together the right way for themselves and for Texas A&M University. I think that's always been the mantra. That shows up in how hard we play, that shows up in how physical we play. That shows up in the consistency of how we do that every single week. That's kind of been the standard we've tried to create within this program from day one. How you instill it is, it's what we live every day. It's the things that we talk about in every team meeting. It's the things that we illustrate on film, for the positive, and the negative. It's the things that we are just constantly trying to pound into the program. And I worded it to them this way in the first team meeting. I said, one of the biggest challenges is you're at an age group that across-the-board kind of sees things as challenging and difficult, because that's just what teenagers do. The reality is, you're in the elite 1% of your age group in the world. There's a certain responsibility that comes with that to put in the work, and to take advantage of the blessings and the opportunities that have been put upon you. I think that’s the mindset we want to have in this program. It’s a daily process and I think we’re making progress. We’re doing the things we want to do.
Thinking back to last year when you finally decided Marcel Reed is going to lead this team, and the offense as your quarterback. The things that you had seen from him and hope to project forward, have you seen those come to fruition in this offseason, early in the fall? ?What have you seen his development look like?
I think he's a lot more comfortable going through the progressions. I think when you talk about the passing game, a lot of conversation gets had about separation and guys getting open so much of the passing game is timing and rhythm. That, as coaches and studying it every day, those are the things that you're trying to see is. Are the eyes getting to the windows? At the same time, are the routes getting to the windows? And that's a lot of how we're going to improve our passing game. It's just an overall efficiency of timing and operation. I think that it is coming. I think you're seeing that get a little bit better every day. There are times where we're getting through progressions better than we did with him at any point last year. Those were the steps that we felt like he needed to take, because a lot of times what you see as a bad throw, but what we see is the eyes not moving fast enough or the body and the eyes, not in rhythm together and poor mechanics because of that, which sometimes leads to bad throws. I think you're starting to see it click a little bit more for him every day.
In your mind, are you fairly settled if you had to start tomorrow with the 22 guys that will start for you on either side of the ball or how many of those guys you were talking about on the offensive line you're still waiting to see step up?
I'm a poor coach if in five practices, in my mind, I know who the 22 are going to be. I think that's a poor reflection of me and how we run a program, in my opinion. I understand what you're asking me and there's certainly guys who you look at as a large body of work and assume it would be very challenging for them to get beat out. I think our job as coaches is to create an environment where everything is up for grabs every single day, and you allow competition to drive performance to a higher level. In that end, there's 22 open spots and there's the ability every day for someone to come out and elevate themselves not only into the top 22, but into a higher role, into more reps, into more opportunities. And I just think that's what you owe your locker room, and nobody wants to be part of a program where they feel as though the 22 are set, regardless of what performance looks like over the course of four weeks. To that end, we just want it to be very competitive between now and the opener and then when the opener comes around, we'll figure out which 22 we're going to put out there.
We've talked a lot about KC [Concepcion] and Mario [Craver] throughout the off season, but from what you've seen from Jerome Myles? I know it's kind of a small sample size, but what kind of impact do you think he can have in his freshman year?
Yeah, it's an interesting one. He was not healthy when we got him. He ran track in the spring, but that was straight line. He was not ready to cut or decelerate and do the things a football player needed to do on that knee. He's really been rehabbing a lot since we've got him. We can rehab him and still evaluate him. Obviously, there's an athletic skill set that he brings to the table that is really unique. He's tall, he's big, and he can really run. Last night was the first night we were able to really clear him and get him out there running around and doing some things, and he certainly catches the eye with his ability to do that. Now, I've said this to my son who asked me this question every single day, how does he look? There's a long gap between being able to go out there on air and look athletic and being able to get out there and run routes and get open and be where you need to be. We'll see what it looks like over the next 20 days, but there's certainly a skill set there that we're really excited about.
We've talked a lot about Scooby Williams. Five practices in, how does he seem to you in your evaluation of him so far?
I think he's really athletic. I think he's really twitchy. I think he has the ability to make a lot of plays that are a little bit outside the scheme with how quick and athletic he is. He's a good blitzer. He's a good cover guy. ?I think he's still getting back and getting rolling. He missed the spring, so there's some rust that needs to get knocked off of him and he knows that. But we're excited about how he's going about it every day to kind of get back to who he's capable of being.
Q&A with Collin Klein
LSU game first half, you can't move the ball. Second half, you bring in Marcel Reed and your offense comes to life. Is that just Marcel, or is that you finally getting to do the playbook that you've had success with in the past and is that something that you look forward to this season?
Well, I think in relation to that particular evening, it was a lot of different things coming together at one time. ?There were some changes that they had made schematically in the first half from us the previous couple weeks that they had not shown that we had to make some adjustments on. There were some plays that are right there, that we weren't able to make at one position or another to really get the wheels turning and we were kind of spin a little bit and needed a spark and some of those adjustments were very evident in the run game but I think even looking at Marcel's work through last season, I think we're going to be a very, very balanced outfit. I think we're going to be able to be more explosive, we're going to have a little bit more speed at the skill positions. ?We will continue to have a lot of depth at tailback and then just, obviously, we have to stay healthy. I mean, injuries definitely added up last year for sure at times and being able have to another year in the system, continuity, working together, growth. It has been really fun to watch across the board at every position group. So, I think the entire unit is in a better place.
What are some things you hope to see from Marcel this year so that he can take another step forward and go to a next level?
Yeah, eye discipline and progression discipline is part of it as our passing game continues to grow and we continue to develop it. There's lots of pieces and lots of components that have to come together and work together in a really good sequence. And I think those pieces around him are really coming along nicely. And then, I think just allowing to play the game in the right rhythm, in the right timing, to be able to use his arm talent and distribute the ball to more playmakers is going to be his next step.
What have you seen from Mark (Nabou) as he's returned to form from his injury?
You know, Mark's done a great job. ?He's had a great camp, even just in this first five practices here. I think you could definitely tell his strength levels and comfort levels from the injury are much better than recently. So, I think having a good strength and conditioning summer for him has done wonders to really show flashes of what he was last year before he got hurt.
(Coach Elko) had said that Trey (Zuhn) has been getting some reps at center. Just what do you like about being able to cross train guys like that and just, maybe the versatility it brings in the competition?
Yeah, I think all of those things are huge for our offense. I mean, being able to have that flexibility, obviously, Heaven forbid, if someone does get hurt, you can move pieces around. You know, the competition part, I mean, I heard Coach mention it but that is critical and our mindset as an offense is like, every day is zero. Every play we're trying to go 1 and 0, and it's that type of competitive mindset that really pushes that unit and pushes those individuals to be the best version of themselves. And being able to have those guys with that level of experience and depth will be a huge force.
How much of your offense were you able to put in last year? Were you at all limited by maybe what your personnel had? And if so, how much has that changed, if at all?
You know, I really think that's a year-to-year question. Last year at times we were thin in certain spots, in certain personnel groupings. I think some of it, though, honestly wasn't all that much off.?Some people have asked me, like we didn't use tight ends as much, and I think we were 33% 12 personnel instead of 38% the year before, as a coordinator. So, you know, a little bit down there, but I think we're going to be multiple. It's multiple at the end of the day. Who are the best guys that, packaged together, feel like give us the best chance to win? How can we dictate the terms of what we're seeing defensively to try to make them do what we want them to do to then attack them how we want? I mean the whole offense was in, but we probably were only going to use a certain percentage of it based on those people that are healthy and what we're doing and then the family of defense that we're facing that week. But I do think we will be able to take steps and use more of that because our capacity has grown. All of our players, every single position group, has really taken it upon themselves to deepen their level of understanding about the game of football--their position, their fundamentals, defensive recognition--to be able to elevate their game, elevate their capacity. Which then allows us as a staff and us as an offense to be able to use more of the offense. ?
Back in 2022, if there would have been a 12 team playoff, Kansas State would have made it. When you had your two quarterbacks, what was it about those guys that were able to put y'all into that position? What are some of the common denominators, even though they might not have had the most eye-popping stats like some other playoff quarterbacks??
I'll tell you what, that year was as good of an example of being an unselfish teammate that you could use, for both of them. And both of them were on either side of it.?Adrian (Martinez) got hurt early. Will (Howard) came in, Adrian came back and played well, and both of them were in it for the team. They were in it for each other, and ultimately trying to find a way to win, and were willing to do whatever it took for the team to be successful, and I really believe us winning the Big 12 that year was the team watching both of them handle that situation. It galvanized that group and us as an offense that year to truly realize, like, you know, no one really knows how it's going to go down for anyone, who's going to get this many catches or this many carries, or this many throws, or who's like, hey, it's all of us in it together and it's about finding a way to win. And I couldn't have been more proud of both of those guys and how they both led our football team. ?
As you've coached against other playoff-caliber quarterbacks, is there a common denominator between intangibles and statistics that you see, okay, this is a guy who can lead a team to the playoff?
Yeah, I think that is a huge part of it. One of the first things I look for when we're recruiting young men is are they competitive? How competitive are they? What's their inner core makeup? What is the level of their grit? ?Are they going to have the intestinal fortitude to do what it takes out of this position and lead this football team, right? And I think, obviously, Will was tremendous at that. Adrian had that, and Avery had it, like, all those guys were very much in that mode. ?And then the second thing is, I think, too, the football IQ and intelligence is huge, right? Because you have to have the arm talent to do it, but if you can't direct it and channel it and make your body do what you want it to do and react to what you're seeing, you can have the strongest arm in the world, and it doesn't matter. And so I think, how competitive they are, how smart they are, I think both of those are characteristics to equal championship teams.
Marcel Reed, you've worked with him and closer than anybody. From last year to this year, Fall to Spring, what have you seen whether be intangibles or on the field that's impressed you with his development?
I am really excited about the growth and the steps that he has taken. I think as a young player, and I remember it myself, you don't know what you don't know, right? And now he knows, right? Like going into the last season until you've started multiple, multiple games and kind of been through that cycle…after you've been through it, you know how to prepare yourself so much better, right? And I think he has taken advantage of that. He's been up around the building all the time. He's asking questions. We've been able to spend a lot of time and just talk football, and really kind of deepen our relationship, but then also study the game. He obviously comes from a football family and has been around it his whole life. He loves the game; he has a passion for the game. He's got a tremendous passion for his teammates and an engaging, energetic personality. The Lord's blessed him with some really good physical tools and that's a good combination.
Obviously, you've had a lot of turnover at wide receiver. Can you kind of point out some of the differences that jump out to you when you see these guys, and do you feel like you may have a little bit more depth at that position this year?
I think most definitely on both fronts. I think having, first of all, our strength staff, Coach Moffitt and his entire crew have done a great job of preparing those guys. From just a GPS speed standpoint, change the direction standpoint in practice, there have been gains, and there's been some of those guys that have been here and then even the new guys coming in…some of the strides that they've been able to make and the changes they've made to their bodies, their movement skills, change the direction skills. I think all of those have improved over the last four to six months. When you talk about KC (Concepcion) and Mario (Craver) as a couple of the new editions, what sticks out to me about them is they both love to compete. They both love the game of football. They play extremely hard every single snap, whether it's blocking, whether the ball's coming their way or not, they’re team guys. If quarterback misses a ball, they're going over there and encouraging him, like, 'hey, we'll get the next one'. And so there's a really good, not just skill set of route running, understanding of coverage, those types of things of actually doing the job…but there's a lot of intangible things that they've brought to our unit that I've been really excited about. You look at a guy like Ashton Bethel-Roman being in the program for a year, how he's developed in some of the things that he's put on tape in the first five days, I’ve been really excited about (him). He has got some real home run potential, some top end speed, but still being able to have that top end gear and be able to detail his routes like he's doing and how he's done and the development he's had over the last year has been great. Izaiah Williams, I could say basically the same thing about how he's developed and gotten stronger and is playing a lot stronger here this year than he did last year. So I think a lot of good things out of that group.
How close do you think you guys are to picking a backup quarterback and just what have you kind of seen from that competition so far?
Yeah, again, it's a good group. I've been very, very pleased with Miles (O'Neill). I thought he finished the spring strong, he's had a really good summer, and is really attacking it. He's attacked the preparation, he's attacking every day in practice, which is really impressive for a young player like he is, and he's got a skill set, obviously, really good size, really strong arm, and I think his watching and his understanding of the game is starting to slow down for him a little bit, which is really exciting and has done a tremendous job. Jacob Zeno has come on, I think understanding the offense a little better. I think it jumped on him a little bit in the spring, but it was really exciting to see was the strides that he's made. Brady Hart's done a nice job coming in early and has made some really nice throws the first couple days. It's going to be competitive the whole way and like I tell all those guys every year and every time I have a couple really good examples that I've lived through in the last couple years. At the end of the day, the depth chart isn't what matters. What matters is we play winning football at the quarterback position for our team. And that's going to take all of us to help get it done.
How does Le'Veon (Moss) look compared to pre injury and just how nice was it to get him back to start a preseason camp?
It's definitely a great thing. I know he's hung in. Just an unbelievable young man, and watching him, how he's attacked the rehab and been able to stay positive and how he's been encouraging with his teammates through the process has been outstanding. I know I’m just really, happy for him and our team.
Coach, what are some strengths or intangibles that Ar’Maj (Reed-Adams) possesses, both physically on the field and then as a leader, especially on such a veteran O line?
He brings a lot of energy. I mean, he's a very passionate player. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and gets the rest of the guys fired up and going in the right direction. Again, I think he's a great teammate and he gets understanding the things that are most important and truly caring about his teammates, and he's physical. He's got good length and he's really physical at the point of attack and something that we're excited to even elevate his game. I think Coach Cushing does an unbelievable job of truly developing those guys, and I think they've really bought in and really are taking their level of study approach to the game and their preparation. He's a better player than he was last year, and I think he's excited to take steps this year.
Who has the best hands coming out of the backfield and how important is that what you're trying to do offensively?
Well, I think it's good that that's a hard question to answer. Because I think there's a couple of them that really have good ball skills. I'm not afraid to throw the ball to any one of them, to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, I think a couple guys that probably stand out catching the football would be Rueben Owens, Jamarion Morrow and E.J. Smith are probably the top ones in the group of their route-running ability and how they use their hands and how they catch the football. But to be honest with you, like I said, I'm not afraid to throw it to any of them.
How much is the depth of the running back room a strength for you guys and how much do you feel like you will lean on that group within this offense?
I think they're going to allow us a lot of flexibility. I think the diversity of skillsets that they have gives us a lot of flexibility and excited to, again, have the competition and be able to have fresh legs and a fresh back there at all times, really. That is a big deal, too, especially when you talk about through the course of the season that we're going to have and the amount of carries and load that they'll have. So I think it's going to be a really good thing for us across the board, and every single one of those guys is sold out to what we're doing and excited and in it for the other person as well, which will make it pretty seamless.
You talked about more depth at wide receiver, so how can you possibly do that and make sure you still feature your top one or two receivers?
That's a good question. I tell the guys all the time, the most important thing again is, it's about what does the team need to be successful, right? And everybody attacking every single time…we're trying to get touches to everybody, but at the end of the day, what does the team need to win? And that's the most important thing. The ball will go how we design it, and we will get our playmakers the ball and opportunities to make plays.
When you looked at the tape and everything in the offseason, what were maybe one or two other things of the offense where, if it wasn't the quarterback's fault, that contributed to not maybe having the offense you needed?
I don't know, that's a big question, may be a little hard to put my finger on one thing. The biggest thing I felt like was a level of consistency of disciplined, assignment-sound executing, the exact same way every single time. When it was at times, when things weren't working out, you could flip a coin maybe for the reason why it didn't. I think the timing, sequencing of some of our passing concepts will be better and an experienced quarterback will be better. I think team speed is big when you talk about spreading the field and getting guys to certain spots. The faster you get to those spots and get those spaces expanded it helps your quarterback in the reads. You don't have to protect as long. Everything is so tied together in this game. It's hard to say, hey, this is just the one thing that if you fix this, we would have been better. Again, I'm proud of last year, and last year was a long time ago, but I'm proud of every single one of those guys of what we did and what we were able to accomplish.
I think our young men have done a great job of acknowledging that we didn't do some things really well. And coaches, too, okay? And so it was like, okay, look, we need to fix some things. We started the season last year with hardly any kids that had ever really played together. And so now they've had a year to play together. The communication is better. The pre-snap communication and pre-snap adjustments are better. And so the overall knowledge base has improved a ton. And because of that we're able to do a little more and now they understand some of the coaching points that maybe went over their heads a little bit a year ago--(those are) now are hitting home.Jay Bateman
Q&A with Jay Bateman
How would you assess last year's past rush? Would you categorize it as missed opportunities and what has been done to finish those opportunities this year?
Yeah, so I think we did miss some opportunities. I do think, you know, there were some times towards the middle of the season, towards the end of the season, where we we had to manage the defensive line in such a way that maybe limited their ability on normal downs to rush the passer, right? We were concerned about some things in the back seven. And so I think now that we feel stronger back there, I do think we've got some kids that have real edge pass rush. I think Tyler Onyedim has been really good so far. So I think as we feel better about the coverage, I think we'll allow those kids to rush the passer more. And I think, you know, those three kids were great players. They understood what we had to ask them to do some. And so, yeah, I think there were some missed opportunities. I think there were some schematic adjustments we had to make that that I don't think we'll have to do anymore.
Obviously you and your unit go against him the most every day. So Marcel Reed, what have you seen from him? What are some challenges he presents to a defense and how does his development look?
I think the team believes in Marcel. I think our kids have a lot of faith in him. I think the thing that I've seen as a coach and in talking to my guys back there is...like I think the decision making has really...I don't want to say 'improved'. Collin (Klein) knows that way better than I do. But I think it's faster decisions. And look, I mean, he's hard to defend. He runs like a running back and throws like a really good quarterback. So I think he's improved a lot as a leader. I think he's improved a lot as a leader of our team. And I think we're all pretty excited about him.
You were talking about some of the schematic adjustments he had to make. One of the most obvious things to the untrained eye is that the defensive ends are a lot lighter this year. Are you guys looking more for speed to kind of cut off the edge or is that just kind of how the weight worked out?
I think some of it is the way it worked out. I think some of it is...I mean, look. No one said, Shemar Stewart, we didn't think he could play on the edge, right? So, I think part of it was kind of how it played out. And then also, as this league evolves and as college football evolves, you start to say, what do we need more out of this position? And I do think the ability to play in space and play on the edge...what we're asking those guys to do now is a little bit different. And I think it's been good for us.
Marcus Ratcliffe. We talked with him last week about just the changes he made to his body, how do you think that might impact the way he's able to play this season?
Yeah, the job Tommy (Moffitt) and that group and his group has done with our kids has been really special. I think Marcus is a great example. He came in here from a lesser program, a group of five program, and kind of had a good first year. But then now you look at him physically, and it's like, wow. He's big, man. And I think he controls his body better. I think he's faster. I think everything that you want a kid to improve upon, he's improved upon. And I think it's going to allow him to do more in our defense. I think we've got some pretty cool things with him we can do that are going to help us a lot.
As the coach who works at the linebackers. How have you seen that group come along alongside guys like Taurean York and Scooby Williams?
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, Taurean's doing a really nice job. I think Taurean's really improved athletically, too. Brad Minter's done a great job with those guys, man, one of our strength coaches. Him with the d-ends and linebackers...he's done a great job. Scooby...I have had Scooby for a long time now, right? He came over to the house, my wife and my daughter were like, man, look at this guy. He's bigger, you know? But the kid at linebacker who I think is really impressed all of us so far is Jordan Lockhart. He's just doing a tremendous job. He's worked his tail off. And I think he's got a really, really bright future, man. He's going to be a really good player. Daymion's (Sanford) doing a nice job, Noah Mikhail is really coming along as a freshman. I think we feel pretty good about that group.
?Obviously, you have, like you mentioned, a lot of experience with Scooby and Toron's been a two-y starter already. But as you see those guys progress and as you look at what the performance last year and everything, are there any specific areas that you say, "yeah, guys, you are really good, but I need you to be better here, and this is how you do it"?
I think if Taurean and Scooby are standing right here, I don't think they would ever say like, 'man, we're good enough at anything'. That's kind of how that group's built. It's kind of how I'm built. I think we're trying to get better at everything. I do think coverage-wise there are some things that we're asking them to do and that they've improved upon a lot. And then I think the second thing is point-of-attack tackling. I think it got better during the season last year. But I think in this league, if we get the ball delivered to one of those two, the ball's got to get knocked down. That's kind of been our point of focus. If the ball gets to us, if we're the unblocked defender, if we're the extra defender and the ball gets to us with those two kids, we've got to get it knocked. It's got to be 100%. And I think that's been the kind of message for those kids this Spring and Summer.
What's the biggest difference over on the defense you've seen now here at the beginning of fall camp as opposed to last year, especially with the way, you know, Mike Elwood kind of said, you know, there needed to be changes?
You know, I think our young men have done a great job of acknowledging that we didn't do some things really well. And coaches, too, okay? And so it was like, okay, look, we need to fix some things. And I do think another year...we started the season last year with hardly any kids that had ever really played together. And so I think now they've had a year to play together. I think the communication is better. I think the pre-snap communication and pre-snap adjustments are better. And so I just think the overall knowledge base has improved a ton. And I think because of that we're able to do a little more and now they understand some of the coaching points that maybe went over their heads a little bit a year ago, (those are) now are hitting home. So, yeah, I feel really good about our veteran players--even though Marcus Radcliffe isn't a very old kid, he's a veteran player to me--so those kids understanding what we want from them and how disguises and how pre-snap looks and pre-snap communication matters...I think that's going to pay off a lot.
How much of an instant impact can Marco Jones have on the season this year?
I say it's practice five. He is a super talented kid. That was pretty obvious. I mean, look, recruiting him was like a knife fight, right? We had to go get him. We knew what we were getting and we are very happy with him. He's a really bright kid. Every day he gets better. Every day he improves. He's in a group with some really good players. But I do think the future for him is really, really bright. Ask me that question like Week 6. But I do think he's going to play and contribute this year. How much it is? we'll see.
When you have a guy like Jordan Shaw, Nickel, how tempted are you to move Tyreek Chappell outside and just what's that kind of been like that with the cornerback group as a whole beyond Will Lee III at competition?
That's a great question. Tyreek is a tremendous football player. He's smart. He can do a lot. He could easily go play corner. Losing him last year was a blow to us. So I think him back...you know, he can go play corner. He's rotated in and out of nickel and corner this camp. Jordan Peterson and BGA have done a great job with those two groups. I think Jordan Shaw has really come along. I think Bravion Rodgers is having a really good camp. So I think that nickel position has become a strength. I think the corners have improved a ton, not just Will. I think Dezz (Ricks) is having a really good camp. I think Julio (Humphrey) is having a really good camp. So I think I think we've created a lot of competition over there, right? And so they know they better come every day in practice or you're going to get passed up. And I think that's when you have improvement. I love Jordan Shaw. Smart. Good player.
When Chappell went down last year, was just the fact is maybe you didn't have enough talent and depth in the secondary?
I just think it's...we built some of the defense on the fact that we could play man in the slot all the time. And that became not necessarily the case. And so it affected everything else. And I think as the season went on and more people saw us and were able to see some ways to attack us, it continued. So I feel way better about our depth right now. I feel way better about the younger kids in the program improving and coming along. So I think in that back five there's going to be pretty good improvement.
Do you say goals for your defense, any kind of goals at all? For a season?
Yes, every day. Every week, every month. Every day.
How have the dynamics changed, if at all, in practice with Coach Elko having a maybe more hands on approach?
I don't think practice has changed. I really don't think it's changed a whole lot, to be honest with you. You know, Mike was very involved a year ago. He's probably more involved now. I think he's way more comfortable with how he's involved now. But practice-wise, I don't think it's changed a ton at all, honestly. Games, I think it will change more.
You've got three veterans at defensive tackle, and then you've got a lot of youth. What have you seen from (Dealyn) Evans and the three freshmen that maybe make you feel a little bit more comfortable with what you got there?
I remember watching Chace Sims' film when I first got here and being like, man, this kid's as good as any tackle we've watched. And going to recruit him...Sean (Spencer) and Tony (Jerod-Eddie) did a good job recruiting him, all of a sudden we had to hold on at the end when everybody wanted him. Landon Rink's been awesome. I think DJ Sanders has as much upside as any kid in this program. So I think the three young D-tackles are going to be really good players. I think every day they get better. We see that group just continuing to rise. And Evans has been, these last couple days, he's been really good. I think he's improved a ton. So I think, I think we're very comfortable with those four kids. Obviously, the three veterans are guys we trust and believe in and are really good players. So I think we're in a really good situation there. And I think that's going to become a strength of ours. And I do think, you know, week three, week four, week five, it starts to get into the season, you're going to see those young kids be able to play more and more and more as they get more comfortable.
