Oklahoma State Cowboys College Football Pregame Quote, 12/28/2021

Thank you, Denise. Thank you for having me here this morning.

First of all, our players are really enjoying themselves. The Fiesta Bowl is a first-class organization. This is a first-class bowl game. The guys are working hard, and at the same time, enjoying themselves a little bit. Had a chance to go to the Suns game last night. An unfortunate loss, but an exciting game to watch. We are working hard and progressing and getting ready to play this game.

If I could, Coach, I will start it off by a little bit of background on how practices have been going, how the team is feeling going into Saturday’s game.

We got in here on Sunday. We had a lighter practice, but the guys were enthusiastic and worked hard. They had a little bit of a heavier practice yesterday, and then we’ll begin to taper down moving forward before the game. But the guys have been enthusiastic. The practice facilities have been nice. They’re working hard and they’re excited about playing this game.

I was wondering what you were going to ‚Äì I asked Mike [Gundy] this question yesterday on the call. I know you’ve got one more game to play with the Irish, and it’s a big one; but now that the season is winding down, what are you going to miss about this particular team?

I think it’s the overall leadership and the character of these players. This has been such a mature group to work with. Their work ethic has been second to none throughout the entirety of the season. The maturity and calmness with which they play the game; there’s never any panic. They just kind of look forward to the next play. They take the call, digest the information, and just play their hearts out each and every game. I just think the maturity and the cohesiveness of it is what I’m going to miss the most.

To follow up on a different topic, COVID has got everyone on pins and needles again, with some bowl games being affected and positive tests coming back, contact tracing. Any trepidation in your camp in terms of just getting to the finish line here this week?

Oh, I think there’s always concern. We have a very good medical staff. They tell us to space out, we space out. They tell us to put on our masks, we put on our masks. We’re constantly educating our players on trying to stay away from large groups of people. For the most part, COVID hasn’t been a real issue for us. Even though it’s affected the entire world, it hasn’t affected Oklahoma State football for the past two years. So this has been a very mature group of players that have taken care of their business.

Mike [Gundy] said ‚Äì I think it was yesterday ‚Äì that he might have two guys call the defense on Saturday. How could that exactly work? I’ve never actually heard of two guys making the call. It seems like it gets pretty tense in 15, 20 seconds. How does that work?

Well, I mean Coach Gundy is going to have to address on who’s calling and how we’re actually going to do that. But I can tell you, to this point, it’s been a collective effort as far as the game planning. At the end of the day, whoever’s mouth that the call comes out of it’s just a byproduct of the collective effort the staff has put in as far as getting ready for the game.

How has that been in terms of the game planning? Has that been much different than during the season when Jim [Knowles] was here?

I wouldn’t say it’s been much different. We all have our own parts and responsibilities that we take care of during the week. Obviously, Jim being the play-caller had a bigger role on what he wanted to call and how he wanted to do it.

The great thing about our defense is there’s a lot of components to it. And, really, it’s just a matter of putting your minds together and deciding what components you feel that ‚Äì we feel that we have that match up good with our opponent, and then we just kind of put those together and the players go out and practice them. Some we like; some we don’t like. We get rid of the ones we don’t like and focus on the ones we do like.

One thing that Coach Gundy has talked about is how, with Jim Knowles leaving, his system was the basis of things, but it was a collaborative effort of people building the defensive system that you all got to have. Kind of going back to when Coach Knowles was here, what was that like for you, being involved in that process of building his system?

Well, I was excited when Jim took the job, because I liked the way they played defense at Duke. I thought it was a very aggressive style of defense. I knew that there would have to be some adjustments as far as going into the Big 12 with the defense. I know, after the first year, we asked Jim what his thoughts were and what his biggest shocks were after his first year of being a defense coordinator in the Big 12. And it was simple: Their offense was trying to score a touchdown every single snap. And that’s hard to call a defense when they’re not just trying to get first downs; they’re trying to score touchdowns on you.

So it’s been fun as it evolved and as the players bought in, and it’s been a good ride.

You mentioned the maturity of this defense and this group. We’ve heard about it from Coach [Mike] Gundy and from some of the players. But from where you stood, watching this group over the last month that lost its defensive coordinator and had to prepare for a bowl game, what have you seen from them?

Just tremendous leadership. I mean, we came back from a brief break after the Big 12 championship and Jim had taken the job and was no longer here. And the guys just went to work, never missed a beat, never skipped a beat, just had smiles on their faces, and they generally liked playing football. They just went to work.

And Mike [Gundy] said yesterday that he was blown away a little bit about maybe the level that you and some of the other defensive assistants were at in running this defense. Did anything surprise you about where you guys were?

No. I mean, we’ve all been a part of it. This group has been together for a long, long time now. Me and Tim [Duffie] have been together for nine years. Dan [Hammerschmidt], I think, five or six. Greg [Richmond] four. So we’ve been together for a long time, and there’s some cohesiveness that’s involved in that.

With your defensive line in particular, who are the guys that really step to the front and are some leaders for you?

Well, there’s a bunch of them, and I hate to single any of them out. But the easy ones ‚Äì Brock Martin has shown a tremendous amount of leadership throughout the entire season. And then you still have seniors, Brendon Evers, junior; Tyler Lacy, a senior; Israel Antwine. They’ve all done their part and their role in being leaders for this defense.

So you guys at Oklahoma State are going against possibly two, maybe three quarterbacks because Notre Dame’s used many different quarterbacks and many different play styles throughout the season. How are you going to prepare to go against possibly two or three quarterbacks?

Well, we’ve had the fortunate benefit of having a month to prepare. It might have been a little bit more of a headache if we only had a week. But you see some uniqueness with the quarterbacks that they play, but you also see similarities.

And it’s a very deep position for them. They’ve got a guy that’s starting for them that’s playing in his second New Year’s Six game for two different programs. So that doesn’t just happen by accident. He also has a tremendous amount of ability.

And then they bring in Number 12 [Tyler Buchner], and he’s a dynamic runner, but he can also throw the ball. And he can make some things happen for them.

Some of the best tight ends in the Big 12 have been kind of a thorn in your guys’ side this year. And Notre Dame’s top receiver is a tight end. How much of a focus has he been for you guys looking at this Notre Dame offense?

He’s been a major focus. I mean, our players had better know where Number 87 [Michael Mayer] is on the field. Notre Dame is going to do a good job of moving him around and getting him involved. I mean, he’s had 100-plus targets on the season. So we know, when they need to make a play, the quarterback is probably going to be looking in that direction and we need to be looking towards him.

Can you tell me about Koy McFarland and what you’ve seen him do as his progression as a linebacker’s coach?

I think Koy has done a great job. He’s going to be a star in this profession. He’s a bright young coach. He has a very bright mind when it comes to football. He was a coach’s kid growing up. He’s been around the game for a long, long time. I think he’s going to have a bright future in this profession.

On a different topic, we’ve asked Mike [Gundy] and we’ve asked Jim [Knowles] all season about Collin Oliver, but, really ‚Äì and the surprise that he keeps being able to do what he does. Does that surprise you? What really comes to mind about Collin to you?

It doesn’t surprise me. It may surprise me that it happened this quickly, but I saw a maturity level in Collin when we had him at a youth camp before his junior year. By the end of the camp, I had gone off script and I was trying to teach him things that we were teaching our own players, and he was picking it up at that moment. So I knew he was going to be a good football player in time.

Did I anticipate that it would happen this season? No, I didn’t. I’m glad it did. He’s obviously made a lot of plays for us, and a lot of it comes because of the leadership of that room. They’ve embraced him and brought him along and helped him along the way.

To follow up on that, I was going to ask about Collin Oliver as well. I know people have talked about him all season, but what do you think it is that makes him so good out there? Is there a certain trait that really stands out to you most about him?

Just overall athleticism. He’s got a tremendous first step. He’s got great coordination with his hands, his feet, and his hips. He’s got a high football IQ. And to be honest with you, a lot of the benefit is probably the depth we have at the defensive line, too. We’re not asking him to go out there and play 60, 70, 80 snaps a game. He has his role. It’s an important role. It’s a big role. And it’s allowed his body to stay healthy. It’s hard for a true freshman at any position to come in and just their body to hold up throughout the entire season.

A couple of years ago, West Virginia had two different play-callers, front and back. Last year they went back to one. Talking to some of the guys I know there, they thought it even went better with one guy focused on calling the front, and he was generally the lead guy, and then the guy covering the backend kind of knew what to call off what the front was. Is that similar to what you would imagine this process maybe being?

Well, I think it’s similar to what it could be. Like I said, this defense has a lot of different components. A lot of times, the front doesn’t even need to understand what the back is doing. And the back doesn’t need to understand what the front is doing. It’s a matter of us as coaches putting those pieces together to make it sound, and try to accomplish what we were trying to accomplish against the opponent.

If I can have a follow-up; when you’re in the process of the game ‚Äì and I know you are controlling the subs on the defensive front ‚Äì but how much does every defensive coach kind of think through in his mind ‚Äì and I know you’re on the field; you don’t get the best site lines ‚Äì but you’re thinking about the process of calling even when you’re not calling, aren’t you?

Well, it’s just like all of us when we grew up, we play the what-if game ‚Äì what if this? What if that? I’ve been calling defenses in my head since probably as a player. We’d go in as a group of players on Thursday night to study the upcoming opponent, and each player would make a call. And then so you kind of play the what-if game and you execute what your responsibilities were in that call.

And then when I got into coaching, even as a graduate assistant, it’s just a what-if game. What would you call in this situation or what do you think of the call that was made, et cetera?

What do you think of Notre Dame, their offense?

They’re a good football program. There’s a reason they’re in this game. There’s a reason we’re in this game. I think you got two very talented teams. I think you got an offense that has a lot of dangerous players on it that we’re going to have to be able to account for. We’re going to need to be strong up front. Our defensive line is going to need to play well.

We’re just going to have to play with the same tenacity that we have all season. And if we do that, it will probably be a four-quarter game, and we hope to come out on top at the end.

I was just curious, what is your long-term coaching goals, career goals? I assume you’ve had chances to go be a defensive coordinator elsewhere. How much would you like to be the defensive coordinator at OSU? What are your long-term goals?

Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have aspirations in this profession; but, at the same time, I value patience. If something is right, then it will happen; if it’s not right, then it won’t happen.

I’ve had a lot of friends in this profession that have made moves trying to, quote/unquote, climb the ladder. In some cases, those moves have been good; some cases, those moves haven’t been so good.

With me and my family, we’ve always based any decision I make professionally, one, is our family first; what’s going to be best for my wife and my kids.

And then, secondly, it’s what’s best for me in the profession. Is it a good place? Am I working around a lot of good people? And thus far in my career, it’s been really good. So I have no anxiety over what may happen in the future.