North Texas Mean Green College Football Pregame Quote, 11/09/2021

On the running backs:

The backs are doing a great job, and up front they’re doing good and taking pride in paying physical. Our runners ran really physical the other day, which is key. One man goes down with DeAndre getting banged up, and others step up and make some big plays and we had two 100-yard rushers. Physicality is where it starts. That’s the most important thing.

He [Ikaika Ragsdale] finally got back to being healthy and practicing. Especially with the young guys, they’ve been out with some different injuries and once that happens and you miss a week of practice, it takes a while to get back in the rhythm of doing it. Those young guys being able to practice and get the looks. I think they just look a lot more comfortable and back to where they were in fall camp. It’s good to see those guys out there. [Freshman] Ayo [Adeyi] continues to get in and make plays for us and then those other two came up big, too.

On UTEP:

Dana [Dimel] does a great job. He’s an excellent coach. Offensively, they’re physical and they’re always starting up front and trying to establish the run game to get downhill. Their quarterback and receiver positions have a lot of skill and that’s where they’re different now. Those receivers get out there and make a lot of plays and the QB slings it around well.

On defense, it all starts up front for them. They do a great job in the run game and the pass game. They bring pressure and play good, solid team defense. They’re aggressive and they’ll pressure you and know when to come after you. Again, they’re just playing well together and you can see their confidence is growing every single week and guys are playing together and getting that continuity.