Baylor Bears College Football Pregame Quote, 10/21/2024

OPENING STATEMENT

Dave Aranda: It’s good to see you guys. The team meeting was energetic. Everyone’s looking forward to this week. We have a really strong opponent. A lot of respect for just the program and for Coach Gundy and just everything he’s accomplished. You see the improvement in this particular team. It’s a dangerous team. Everyone sees that. [We] had a spirited practice this morning, and we’re ready to attack this week. 

Q: You guys haven’t allowed a sack in the past two games, do you like the growth you’re seeing in the O-Line?

Aranda: Since the beginning of the season, really, from the first game on to the second, there’s been improvement. It’s been the consistency part, that’s what’s been lacking. The Iowa State game, there’s some to be desired. I think one of the things that was happenstance of just the structures of their defense and our offense was their rushing three gave our O-line confidence that they can block, you know. I think confidence has so much to do with it. When the confidence is just coming from your best friend or your mom or your coach and everywhere else, it’s negative or bad or not good, or any of that, it’s hard to have confidence in the moment. To go out and do it is a big step, because then you can really finally start to believe it. And I think that happened with the Iowa State game, and I thought, you know, that continued with this one. We’ll continue to see effective four-man rush teams and teams that will blitz and bring pressure, and so we’ll be tested further, but I feel that we’re probably more ready for that test than we’ve been.

Q: Is Sidney Fugar a long-term player at left tackle and what steps has he taken at that position?

Aranda: He’s got great size, and he can bend for as big as he is, and he gets hands on you. There’s a good chance that you’re stopping. Those are the strengths. The weaknesses is just kind of, he’s been here, he’s been there, he’s been all around so to kind of get him settled down in terms of the looks and the alignments that he needs to kind of master, I think that really happened this past week, and it’s probably the most comfortable that he’s been. He’s very willing and wants to do well and very humble. I think it’s been a great addition. I think the best for him is yet to come.

Q: What have you seen from Ryan Lengyel?

Aranda: He’s a fighter. He scraps, he fights. I think some of the things that he does, they’re not necessarily graceful, and probably not the way you draw it up, but he fights guys down, he gets hands on people, and he finds a way to get him onto the ground; finish them. And that’s been consistent. One of the things that is most appreciative about with him is that he’ll do that after he was the guy just the play before getting taken to the ground. That doesn’t faze him. All that stuff would faze me. But it doesn’t phase him. He gets right back up, and then very next play is putting somebody else into the dirt. I think there’s a contagious thing that goes with that, and he’s right in the center of it. I’m really proud of him. 

Q: Do you feel the team is re-energized after the Tech game?

Aranda: Yeah, I guess that would be one way to say it. I just go back to the belief and confidence that’s contagious. When you’re when you’re making an argument, and you’ve got a cut up here, or you’ve got some stats to show here, or you got video evidence of something, and it’s kind of particular and specific, that really doesn’t do it, that doesn’t do it. I think it’s very hard. I think there’s individuals that are just born and kind of imbued with just a natural confidence. I think those guys are able to kind of get to the other side, the ones that aren’t like that, and we do have a few on our team that are not like that, the particular cut up fails to meet the standard there. I think when they can go out wanting and hoping and trying and all the other things and then accomplish something… the Iowa State O-line protection is one example of it. Then I think there’s a belief of, man, I’ve I’m that guy, I can do this. And so I think the team feels that, I think particularly offensively.

Q: What challenges does Ollie Gordon present? Do you carry anything over from planning for Tahj Brooks?

Aranda: Yeah, big, fast, explosive, dangerous.

They are the fastest tempo team in our league. We’ve played some tempo teams to this point and they’re the fastest of all of them in terms of seconds between plays, or seconds that are left rather on the ball snapped. I think they’re trying to find their footing just in the throw game. I think that’s affecting the running game a little bit. They started off really fast and strong this last week out, and it was scary team. I think he has a lot to do with it. You can’t one arm tackle the guy. It’s got to be a gang tackle, and you really have to kind of tackle him low. We’re going to have to be at our best, or better than what we’ve been, to defend him. 

Q: What is it from Sawyer’s leadership that you’re looking to carry in from last week?

Aranda: He’s one of those guys that has that confidence, and he’s able to articulate it. He doesn’t hold anything back. I think we’ve got some guys that feel something that will kind of keep it behind closed doors. With Sawyer it’s just right out. So much of it is good when that’s the case, that guys can read him and follow him. I think he puts himself out there, which takes a lot of confidence to do. Our guys look to him. At the end of practice day, he broke it. You know, our aim is to start fast in this game, and we’ve had that for a couple games, and have struggled to do that. And we’re going to need to do it this particular week, just with the start time and with our opponent and everything else. We’re going to have to play our best early on. He was able to vocalize that. It’s probably better him than me. 

Q: How much do you want to go out and just reward the homecoming crowd and get them excited?

Aranda: You’d love for people to be excited about Baylor football, and we’re really working hard for that to happen. Probably the last time we talked, it was kind of, where has this been? We’ve been trying so hard to get it. I go back to I go back to the end of the half, and we score, and we go into halftime, we’re going to get the ball back. We have an opportunity to score again. We got an opportunity to go three and out, get the ball back, and extend the drive. The total, complete opposite of that happened in every way. Those have been the struggles right there. But I think what’s good about our our opportunity now, is that that happened, and we battled through it, and then basically did that with the Caden pick and the touchdown that followed. Again with the confidence piece, once you’ve done it, we can do it again. I’m hopeful that that happens, and that happens fast, because I think our fans deserve it, our kids deserve it. We’re going to have to go and earn it.

Q: You mentioned starting fast. How do you carry that from week to week?

Aranda: I think now is the time to be really kind of particular and really focused on areas we can get better. it’s not the time, if you have a chair that leans back, to not recline. I think it’s a time to maybe stand up and time to kind of get moving on things that you’re not doing particularly well, things that we could have done better. And there’s a bunch of those things, both sides of the ball, special teams included, who had a hell of a day. Today is the day where we’re kind of losing all of our stuff on people to get stuff right. The team knows what we’re capable of. They can see it, and they want to achieve it, too. They need a little extra push.

Q: Was Saturday against Texas Tech the best tackling game of the season?

Aranda: Yeah, it was. I think the effort and everything, I think it’s been good throughout the season. But this was probably the best, too. I think of it was, in the bye week, we really tried to simplify things. I think so much of it, the issues on the defense, have been me. it’s been so long since I’ve called it, and trying to get to know the team and what they can do. And we’ve really simplified a lot of things. And I think we had a good idea of who we are, the best way to play it and all that.  So, I thought that we had cleats in the ground, and we were ready to play and all this other thing. I think the Iowa State game was the exact opposite of that. So, we had to make that big correction. And I feel like we did.

Q: How good was that to get Caden Jenkins back, and do you think that interception can help him bounce back from some early struggles?

Aranda: I think so. That was a down where we were showing quarters. We’ve been a really, really heavy quarters team, and the safeties and Caden did a great job of really disguising it and showing kind of our base coverage. And then Caden sloughed off, and the safeties kind of opened up and we played (Cover 2). And by the time the QB saw it, it was too late, and the ball was out. I think those are the things that we’re going to need to do. I think we’re going to have to be able to get them halfway there in situations, and I think we’ve got the guys that can get us halfway back home. It’s nice to be able to put somebody in the boundary, show one thing and then get them on another thing and have them take advantage of it. I think there’s going to be more of that coming up.

Q: Was Saturday’s game more indicative of what you had been seeing in practice?

Aranda: Yeah, I think it’s always difficult. I recognize that I probably talk about practice too much here. But you see guys make incredible plays, you see guys rise to the occasion. And I just think with all of it, showing up for a meeting and having the right mindset and attacking it is one thing. Showing up for a walk-through and having the right mindset and being intentional about it is another thing.  And you just go down the line of whether it’s a practice or it’s a scrimmage or it’s an opening game or it’s an away game, or it’s any of these things, all of it is another level of competition. All of it is different. And all of it brings you to a higher level of kind of do or die. And you don’t know until you know. And then, you’ve got to face yourself and then you’ve got to get better. So, I think that whole thing is the thing. I think our guys have gone through that, probably not like this like you’d like, but probably a little bit like this. But this next one’s a critical one in just that journey, let’s say, so I’m excited to walk with them through it.

Q: Caden is still young, but is he a guy that could play in the NFL?

Aranda: We’ve got some guys that I think can do that. You look at what Caden did; what Steve Linton did. Steve had an incredible game and versus a team that he was just with. And he had an incredible week of practice. Josh Cameron was our player of the game, and Josh had an unbelievable week of practice. And I think we were just talking before about it. To have someone that does everything right and does everything right when no one’s watching. So, you don’t have to be there, kind of taking roll or checking boxes. Josh is going to do it right. I think for some of our guys, that’s not a thing. That’s only a thing when I’m getting watched or I’m getting looked at. For Josh to be that way all the time, and then to be the playmaker that he is, gives us hope that we can create more people like Josh. That’s such a positive thing. But I think Josh is one. I think a lot of our receiving corps, if they continue to play like they’re playing, they’re going to have opportunities. So, I’m excited about the talent and the development of guys that have been here for a little bit and how they’re playing now.

Q: Can you talk about Josh Cameron’s breakout game and journey?

Aranda: There was a point in practice on Tuesday, this last week, and it was right at the end of practice. We have scout team periods. This is the first year that we’ve had scout teams or look teams. We haven’t really had those before. We would go ones versus twos. And I think the offense at that time was maybe not having their best day, was maybe slacking on details versus the scout team. And Josh is really good-natured, great heart and all of it. He threw his helmet down, and he just said all of the S and F words you can imagine. And just said it in such a violent and frustrated way, like we all were. And he got everybody’s attention. And they all kind of stood up, and he flipped the practice around for the offense. So, that’s great growth right there with Josh. I imagine, if we’re making a Disney movie about it, you probably choose different words. But I think it got their attention. And for him to go stand up in that moment and take charge like that, that’s the growth in him.

Q: What’s the status of Ketron Jackson, Dom Richardson, Kendrick Simpkins, you expect them back on Saturday?

Aranda: Ketron is back, Tevin Williams is back. Who else did you say? (Dom Richardson and Kendrick Simpkins) I don’t know about them. I think we’re hopeful for Simp, Dom may still be a minute.

Q: What about DJ Coleman?

Aranda: He’s back.