Rice Owls College Football Pregame Quote, 08/27/2019

Our training camp wrapped up this past weekend. (It was a) full 24 day training camp. We got after it pretty good. We started July 31. I’ve talked about the schedule before but it really was like Groundhog’s Day. It was a 5:30 wake-up call (and) 5:30 breakfast for these guys. We were on the field at seven-something. Then we had quick position meetings, and then feed them lunch. We let them go away from the building for a couple of hours and then jump right into a workout. Back to position meetings, install, and let them go about eight at night. So, it was full days for these guys. In the practices that we had, we learned a lot about these players. We learned a lot about this team and I’m excited about the direction that it’s going. I think this is a team that is hungry for success. You see it in the way they practice. You see it in the way that they take care of their bodies. The way that they dove in to learn these complex NFL systems on both sides of the ball. I’m really proud of what they’ve done so far.

If you’ve been around at all, you know that this is a physical team. We’ve had very, very physical practices. They have not hidden from the physicality. They’ve stepped right up. They’ve responded the way we’ve wanted them to. The way I’ve wanted them to. They know that being physical is a non-negotiable trait in our program and they have certainly answered the bell. If you’ve been around, again, you know that. You’ve seen it. They are living and breathing Intellectual Brutality in every way and I love their commitment to our brand.

The other thing that you’ll see if you’re around our kids at all is they love each other. They genuinely love each other. It doesn’t take being around long to see that. It’s also really cool to me that we introduced 40 new players this summer and they were welcomed into our building. (The team) integrated them into our system. I think it’s a testament to our coaches and to our strength and conditioning coach Hans Straub and his staff. But, it also speaks to our leadership, about these guys right here that welcomed them and brought them into the fold. That’s really cool because I know that doesn’t go on at every place.

After we’ve wrapped up fall camp, we had an opportunity to vote on captains. I can tell you as a head coach that I’m really pleased as a head coach with the captains that these guys chose. I told these captains that I don’t believe that there’s a great honor that can be bestowed upon you by your teammates than being elected captain. Our captains for the 2019 season are senior Myles Adams, senior Chris Barnes and junior Austin Trammell. These guys, really since I’ve been here, they’ve bought in to the culture, they’ve helped us advance from day one and I think they are going to do nothing but hold their teammates accountable and keep advancing everything that we’re all about. They embody what I think a Rice student-athlete should be and I’m so pleased that these guys were chosen by their peers. We look forward to those three and our senior class leading us on and off the field this year.

A couple of housekeeping notes. It was walk-on scholarship season. I think in the last week you’ve seen it all across America. We got to participate in that as well. We have three guys that we gave scholarships to. I really think that the reason it’s so cool and that everyone sees that it’s so cool across America is that these are people that bet on themselves, that said, you know what, I think I can be a college football player, whether other people see it or not. In one of these kids case, he had Pac-12 offers and still chose to come to Rice because he wanted the best of both worlds. He wanted to be a world-class student-athlete and we gave him that opportunity. So the three players that came in and earned it are Matt Sams at the safety position. He played a lot for us on special teams last year. In the running back room (and) playing fullback for us is Brandon Suckley and then at corner, true freshman Tre’shon Devones has been added to scholarship. If you’ve been to our practices, he’s showed up time and time again.

The status of players for this weekend’s trip. Largely, we’re a healthy football team. People say you can’t practice like this. You can’t have training camps like this and not have injuries. We’ve done a good job of kind of putting them aside. Right now, we have a few soft tissue injuries that will keep people out of this first game, but not many. Right now, three that are ruled out and won’t make the trip are wide receiver Rhett Cardwell, linebacker Myron Morrison and offensive lineman Nick Wagman. Aside from that, we’re coming back from a few nicks and bruises. But, we’re in a really good place health-wise and that’s a testament to our training staff and, once again, our head strength and conditioning coach Hans Straub.

The quarterback position (is) one I know that some people want to talk about. It’s been a great battle:

There’s three guys that have taken the bulk of the reps with the (first team) this fall and that’s Wiley Green, Tom Stewart and Evan Marshman. I think Evan and Tom have thrown the ball extremely well. They’ve earned this staff’s trust. They’ve done a great job through camp. I think Evan’s thrown absolutely as well as he ever has. (He’s) throwing the deep ball as well as he ever has. Their leadership is what we want from all three of those guys. There’s talented guys behind them in that quarterback room. It’s not like they are winning these jobs by default. These guys have just stepped up. But, as we talk about the guy that is going to start for us, it’s going to be Wiley Green and the reasons are very simple. He’s got elite arm talent in what I’ve seen from him. But, also, the way he prepares (and) the way he lives the quarterback lifestyle. Very simply, I think one of the things that led him to secure this job as our starting quarterback is his experience in the system and his ability to protect the ball consistently throughout training camp. Those are things that are non-negotiable.  There are so many things that we ask those guys pre-snap. He does them all extremely well. But his post-snap in the fall was so many better than it was in the spring. We have so much confidence in Wiley and how he is going to be an extension of our coaching staff on the field.

On how you gameplan for Army’s offense:

I don’t think it’s just Army’s offense. I think Army in all three phases they challenge you. They challenge you in the norms if you will. The triple option makes you start preparing for it. It would be extremely hard to prepare for this team in one week. Luckily, for us, we started preparing for them in the spring. For the last two weeks, our commitment to them defensively has been real. I think a lot of teams will go into this game and think that because you fit things well, that you’re going to fit things well in the game. I think you see game in and game out that that’s simply not true. You have to practice against live cutting, which we did. You have to practice against the speed of this system to the best of your ability. Will it be exactly the same as Army is able to run it at? Absolutely not. But, we’ve done everything we can. Our scout team has done a phenomenal job. As good as any time I’ve been around and preparing for triple option football. Then you look at their defense. I think their defense is outstanding because they bring extreme pressure from the field. Then they bring internal pressure. Then they bring it from the boundary. They make you ask a lot of questions about is this a good play, even if you can’t see X, Y and Z coming. They do a great job. Then we know that you can’t waste plays against this team because it’s all about negative plays. If they get you in negative plays and make you go three-and-out, you may not get the ball for 12 minutes. They’ve proven that time and time again on film. I don’t think there’s any easy way to play this Army team. This is a different Army team. What Coach (Jeff) Monken and his staff have done to get better talent than they ever have and to play better than they ever have, it’s so impressive to me. This is a different team, night and day, from when we played them at Stanford in 2013 and 2014. Just the talent level. It’s so much different. They are really good at what they do to say the least.

I also think about what they did last year to end the season. Beating the team across town, 70-14 and ending up ranked No. 19 in America. There’s a lot of things that, when I look at them and what their program’s done on film, it’s a lot of what I want people to think and say about our program. The discipline that they have, the physicality that they play with. They’re the team that nobody wants to play. You read what teams said about them toward the end of last year; it’s exactly what I want them to say about our team. Whether they are talking about our offense or our defense. The physicality, fellowship, the culture and the success.

On what was different in the quarterback battle this season:

Number one, what was different was Wiley’s experience in the system. I think that’s what he’d tell you. This time last year, Wiley was taking three or four reps and he was struggling at times to call plays in the huddle, like all quarterbacks do when they first enter the system. Now, he really thinks like a coach. Every conversation I have with him, I can see the wheels turning. He asks unbelievable questions in the room. Some of the conversations that he has with Coach (Robbie) Picazzo are just next level things. I think that, again, this would be really different if we were looking at last year. If Wiley was a freshman coming into this system this year, maybe Tom’s experience in game and moxie as a quarterback would have beat him out. But, that’s not where we are. Wiley’s pretty comfortable with what we’re doing.

On when Wiley Green started to emerge as the starter:

Honestly, Week One I would have told you that him and Tom Stewart were really neck-and-neck. Tom was pretty comfortable with the first few installs. I think once the volume of installs caught up with Tom a little bit and I think he was thinking a little too much instead of using his ability to react, that’s what we saw and Wiley just kept ascending. Now, Evan Marshman kept ascending too.

On how much the incoming depth on the offensive line has helped:

‚ÄúI think the incoming depth of those guys really helps us. There’s three of those graduate transfers that are going to start for us on Friday night in Brian Chaffin, Nick Leverett and Justin Gooseberry. The experience that comes with those names is incredible. The number of games started, the number of college games played in. The fact that Brian’s played in big bowl games and championship games. I just think that those guys add so much. We’re at a point where we kind of have a ‚ÄòPair and Spare’ which is what I’m used to in the National Football League. That’s what you’re used to traveling with, seven or eight offensive linemen. We’ve got seven or eight guys that could go in a game and we won’t have a significant drop-off. So, I think that’s really good.

On if he thinks the physicality will help them face Army:

I think it’s the only way to play Army. I think Army absolutely feasts on finesse teams. That’s what they want. They want people that aren’t willing to stand in front of them and throw punch after punch after punch. What they’re going to see is that we are going to be willing. We are a willing group to come into the fight. We’re going to fight. I think these guys love each other too much not to do that.

He talked a lot about finishing last year. How much has he mentioned that this year?

There’s not much that we do where we don’t talk about finishing. Discipline, finish, toughness (and) mental toughness. One thing that I thought was really cool this offseason is that I got to hear Tom Brady talk about competitive stamina. What he said was that anybody could go into a practice. Anybody could go into a season and rock it for three days, three periods, or three games. He said ‚ÄòI have great competitive stamina. That’s what I want to challenge our guys to obtain. To get to a place where they have great competitive stamina. So it doesn’t matter, the distraction, the length of time or the point in the game, where they are going to be fine. They are going to fight through that thing. Again, I think it’s going to come down to how much they love each other and just say ‚ÄòI’ve got this. Let’s keep going.’ Adversity is going to strike. In every football game, in every football season, adversity strikes. I actually like where our guys are at right now. I actually think they are going to respond very well. We know that when things like that happen, as much as we want to prepare them, it’s summer conditioning and through the program and mental gymnastics and the way we try to talk them through situations in the fall, when that situation arises and that adversity hits; when you’re sitting there on fourth and one and we need it or you need to stop someone with the game on the line, my staff and myself will be a sideline away. It will be up to them.

On where the run game is at:

I think we’re in a very good place. Running game wise, we believe in our core. We know our core and we’re going to do our best jobs as coaches to stay within that core all season. We’re a gaps team. We’re a two-back team. We talk about the sub runs that we’ve added and just because it’s only 11-personnel or 10-presonnel, doesn’t mean it’s not an extremely physical rep. Every time we have the ability to do anything on the football field, it has to be done in the most physical manner possible. I like where we are in the running game. I think our kids have confidence and understanding of what needs to happen and they understand that position blocking is not a word we use in our system. It’s about moving your man from point A to point B against his will. I think if you ask any of our kids, they’ll know that. I remember Walter Payton used to say ‚ÄòI need 18 inches of daylight.’ I think that’s an awesome thing for our running back to say but we’d like to get him at least 24. We’re trying to at least get him to expand the holes to the best of our ability right now.

What’s different for you this year than getting ready for your first game last year?

Nobody wants to hear me talk about all the things that are different. We’ll be here until tomorrow. But, everything is different. It’s the second time around for me. Just understanding more about my staff and this team and having the comfort in knowing how great the people around me are and having the trust in them. I probably tried to do too much as a first-year head coach, especially with the experienced guys that I have around me. I know who I can trust with what so that I can focus on things that are truly important. I know this team better. I know this group of guys, especially the leaders, better. I will sleep well Thursday night.

On Army quarterback Kelvin Hopkins Jr.:

He’s pretty sporty. He’s a really good player. I think you look at him offensively and he makes them go. That’s the biggest difference. I think they had eight turnovers all of last year. I remember a game from a few years back where they had six in a game. When they can keep the offense going, keep getting to fourth-and-one and keep moving the sticks, that’s where they want to be. He’s done a great job. The fact that the does throw it really well makes him really dangerous. I think he is absolutely the key to their offense.

On Army’s defense:

Defensively, they have two seniors who have played a lot of football for them. Cole Christiansen, in a very complimentary way, we’re calling him Captain America. He’s played a ton of football. He’s always on the field and he’s a downhill linebacker. He will hit you. He’ll make play after play and their bounty corner, Elijah Riley, wants to be a bully. He’s going to be involved in the run game. He’s going to reroute receivers (and) get in their face at the line of scrimmage. Those two seem to be the lifeblood of their defense, especially with the defensive line having a lot of new faces on it. Their guys are going to be disciplined. They are so ingrained in that system. Whoever they throw out there is going to do their job very, very well. They are not going to give you anything. We’re going to have to out execute if we’re going to gain yardage.