FIU Panthers College Football Pregame Quote, 10/25/2022

On how to build momentum after a win and returning home:

Yes, I think that, they learn to keep practicing harder each week. Win or lose. That’s part of it to show up, all coaches say that, but it is a truism. But the main thing about practice to me is it’s hard to get focused… So you have to be focused in practice, detail in practice, understanding all that and they are getting better and better at that. So, I’ve seen that I thought we had a good day today. But it all goes back to our practice habits and then you know in every game is different to you’ll have some people back for a game you’ll have some people injured for the game some on the other team, so you have to tweak each game a little bit to your strengths and weaknesses. So hopefully we’ll be able to handle that on Friday night.

On how the team remains positive and motivated following a win:

The kids and the coaches are all believing, they’re all stepping in the right direction. They’re trusting each other, which is the word we have up. It’s in our tunnel. That’s the only word we have in our tunnel is trust. And if you can’t trust each other on all aspects, in any type of relationship, or any type of organization or any type of family or marriage or anything, it’s not going to be successful, and they’re all starting to trust each other. And they’re starting to compete, and they’re starting to fight through the emotions of everything, the highs and lows of the game, and just keep playing.

So, looking forward to seeing how we do Friday. Like I said, I love and enjoy these guys. There are a lot of fun to coach a lot of fun to work with. And they fought through a lot of different things with injuries and people quitting and all the different things that go along with the first year, and kind of college football in a way now with all the things that go on. The core group of guys they got to buy in and believe and these guys are doing that and we’re also maturing it’s a big part and we were basically a JV team when we started experience wise and now, we’ve kind of come into our own. I think you see that in the game we don’t make as many mistakes, we are lined up better, we don’t look disorganized. The kids look like they’re getting an understanding what we’re doing.

On the progress of WR Kris Mitchell:

Yeah, I’m so proud of Kris, like I am of all our guys, but Kris is one of those guys that hasn’t played a whole lot around here played at different times. And then we got into fall camp, and he got nicked up a little bit, so that kind of put him down the roster a little bit because he wasn’t able to practice and then he was practicing as a second team receiver.

We go into the first game and he gets out there on a couple plays and makes big plays and he’s been practicing well got moved up and then keeps making the plays and keeps pushing through different things. And I think that that really shows his character and his work ethic, because he could have pouted this it’s not going right for me. He didn’t, he just prepared I always tell him you got to star in your role, each opportunity, whatever your role is, you star in it, you get more of you don’t star in it, you get less. I mean it’s just the way it is. And he’s really doing that. Really proud of what Kris is doing.

On how the defense has grown and improved throughout the season:

Coach Dewitt and all the defensive coaches have done a great job with the guys and the guys have bought in and then they’re playing more. There’s so many of them. I mean the whole secondary hadn’t played much, the linebacking core in our level hasn’t played that much and they’re getting better and better. Shawn has never played defense in his life in college and so just week to week is getting better. Coach Dewitt has done a good job of getting them lined up in the right position. The kids are starting to understand why we call things, why we’re doing it, why we’re checking in. They know what we’re thinking and how Coach Dewitt is thinking on how we want to call things. So, I think the mental aspect of the game has really improved, but then they’re playing fast and hard and doing a good job there. It’s been fun watching them grow. This team, Louisiana Tech is going to give us a huge test, they really good receivers, they spread you all over the field. So, there’s going to be a huge test for us.