Utah State Aggies College Football Pregame Quote, 10/14/2019

On playing Nevada this week:

We are coming off a bye week, so we’ve had a little more time to evaluate them. They are a very tough-minded team, overall, that has dealt with some ups and downs, which this crazy game of football and this conference will give you. They have been resilient, they’ve been tough-minded and they’ve battled through everything that has come their way. They started a new quarterback last game and he did a nice job. Their offense was clicking pretty well, and their big, tall wideouts made plays for them. The running backs are tough, physical guys that took over in the last drive of the game against San Jos√© State and made some plays for them, which gave them an opportunity to win the football game. That game was kind of typical of their season and many of our seasons. There are swings that go both for you and against you. They answered to make enough plays to win the football game, so they are sitting in a good spot in conference. I’m sure they’re excited to come here and play a football game. It’s a late start, but it’ll be exciting. Hopefully, the crowd will come out and support us, and the weather holds off and gives us a nice night instead of a rainy night, which we had last time. You have two very good football teams that are fighting like crazy to stay in the conference hunt and are right in the thick of it now. Defensively, they’re very stout up front within their defensive front guys. They play the odd front. It’s tough moving to get those guys to move very much in there. Their linebackers are playing very well. You’ll have two teams that have high expectations, matchup on Saturday night.

On how the second bye week differed from the first:

Practice was a little bit different. The emphasis was still on the young guys and some techniques and fundamentals, but having the games behind us that we’ve played, we were really able to identify and deal with a number of things that you don’t have with the earlier bye, such as when are kids coming back that are injured? How do you work your depth chart to get your guys in the best spot to be able to get the best starters on the field? But, then also prepare for injuries and situations that can take place as you go through the season. So, that was an emphasis and will continue to be an emphasis this week. We do have some deficiencies where some young guys may need to potentially change positions, but we’ll see how that goes. You have to do your best to help the team for this year to get them in a position to be able to compete at the highest level that they can. Then recruiting; we went later in the week and recruited. We got a lot of work done with the young guys, which was awesome to spend time with them. And, we got a good jump start on Nevada. We’ll come back this week and continue to prepare. There was a tweak, but not a big difference between bye weeks, to shift your objectives just a little bit depending on the timing of the bye, the health of the team and all that comes with it.

On if he’s concerned about players who got hurt at LSU being able to play in the oncoming weeks:

Yes. We’ll see how that goes as we continue. Guys are rehabbing and they’re battling like crazy. Trainers, all the doctors and weight room guys are all doing their best to get those guys back, so we’ll see how that all progresses. We use every day to our advantage to make sure we get them back and get them healthy. When they go back on the field, we want them to be healthy. That’s the biggest thing.

On if Nevada’s ability to win close games this year earns his respect:

Oh, it absolutely does, and the adversity that they’ve had. This last game is a perfect example of what they’ve gone through. That team has fought and battled whether it’s been good, bad or indifferent. They keep on fighting and keep on positioning themselves to keep playing hard, and that’s one thing you’ll notice: these guys play hard. Football is important to them. They seem to really like football. That’s the identity of both teams that are going to play on Saturday night. They both like football a lot, they like each other and they’re going to play hard. It always comes down to a young man making a play here or making a play there to win those close ball games, and they’ve been able to do that a couple of times. We’ve had the opportunity to do that ourselves. It should be a great mashup within the conference.

On Nevada’s offense:

It’s the pistol offense. It’s a physical run game. Just because it is in pistol makes it much more physical as far as the downhill run. That running back, instead of running sideways the first two or three steps, he’s coming right down at you quickly two or three steps before he gets the ball in his hands. It’s a physical zone-type football play that’s designed to hit the line of scrimmage with the back moving whether he’s bouncing it outside or staying inside. He’s got some momentum going with him, so there is a physical presence with it. The play action run game has been very good to him. They throw the ball deep and they take shots down the field. They have some very capable receivers. It’s a little bit different of an offense just because of the pistol. They’re not in that all the time, but a lot of the time they are in the pistol. It just changes up some of your calls and some of the things that you can do to take advantage of the offset back. You don’t get the opportunity to take advantage of that as much when they’re sitting back there in the pistol.

On bouncing back from a 42-6 loss to No. 5 LSU:

These guys will play hard. They’ll bounce back. They’re excited to get back into conference. They understand how competitive this conference is right now. There are a number of teams with one loss and there are a couple teams with no losses. There are a couple teams with two losses that still see themselves, obviously, getting back in the mix and fighting. This Utah State crew will be ready to play, and I’m sure the Reno crew will be ready to play. I expect our guys to bounce back. They bounced back last week very well. It’s not like we walked around moping because we lost that football game. We talked about it. We put it in the rear-view mirror. We can’t leave it entirely, we have to have a little piece of that in the rear-view mirror. We have to remember it and have that little piece in the rear-view mirror in order to help it drive us, help us focus and help us continue to grind. It’s just so important for me, as I’ve gone through this for many years now, you have seven weeks guaranteed now to be together and seven weeks where you’re guaranteed to be there. It goes by so fast. You have to enjoy it, enjoy the practices and have fun. Battle like crazy to get those victories, battle like crazy at practice to get better. We start this thing out in January, and we’ll start it again in January next year, but those days go so fast and now there are seven guaranteed weeks left. If I were on this team, I’d be fighting every day and enjoying every day, and giving it my all when I look back and say, ‘I gave it all I have for that time frame.’ I expect that will be the case.

On Nevada freshman placekicker Brandon Talton:

He’s made them when he’s had to, and he’s made them whenever he’s been given the opportunity. Everybody wants to talk about the kicker there, and everybody wants to talk about the quarterback also. It’s awesome for him to be able to get that done. He’s come through in some clutch moments. But, there’s also a snapper and a holder there that are a key piece to that puzzle. So, that’s a three-headed monster that’s doing a very nice job for those guys. That’s not to take away from the protection that he’s getting, which allows those kicks to happen. Those three guys work in unison so well together. When you have a successful unit on the PAT or field goal team, obviously, they’re operating at a high level, have a lot of success and have a lot of confidence that they’ll make it.

On if he knows Nevada’s three Utah players:

They’re good players and good guys. Other guys on our staff know them better than I do, but I know of them and have much respect for those guys. It’ll give them a little extra juice when they walk in here. We watched those guys as they grew up and developed, and they’re good football players.

On what he saw from Nevada junior quarterback Malik Henry:

Wherever they’re at in what they’re doing, it fits the world that they want. When he walked into that moment, he was prepared. It was good to see a guy jump into that spot and be prepared to do it, and he did, he took advantage of the opportunity and played well enough to help his team do what they had to do to win the football game. He’s waited to get into the position to make those plays, and he’s done it. We’ll see how it continues to grow and how it continues to develop as he goes through time. I’m sure he’ll have high expectations, as well as the coaches, for himself, and he’s definitely a young man that you have to deal with.

On if he spent time with young players in the running back and wide receiver spots:

The running backs are who we have, and we’ve felt good about those guys all along. You want to have three or four guys in there that can continue to take the reps. At the wide receiver position, those young guys have been getting the reps. (Ajani Carter) is getting in the mix and having some things to do, and getting a lot of reps on special teams helps him get prepared. (Taylor) Compton getting back, that’s going to help us be in a good position there as far as we move forward. It’s really just the focus on all the positions as we go through there where the potential deficiencies are just from not really a sheer numbers standpoint, but the health of the team as a whole. It’s easy to see the guys you see in the game that don’t actually finish the game or have an injury in the game, but there’s also some outlying factors out there from things that take place in practice, like guys getting worn down. You just want to make sure you’re in a position to continually build to get the best starters out there, but also be prepared in case somebody goes down at a position to allow the team to function at the highest level it possibly can.

On graduate defensive end Jacoby Wildman:

Jacoby’s played all over the place. He’s played outside, he’s played inside and he’s played nose guard at times. He’s played in the A gap, he’s played in the B gap and again, on the edges of the defense. He’s so smart that you can allow him to play different positions and handle it mentally, and then physically he can handle the different types of techniques and fundamentals that come with playing the different positions, whether it’s a nose guard, whether it’s a tackle or whether it’s an end. It’s just a credit to him. He’s very versatile. He’s very strong-handed. When he lays his hands on you, you’re going to feel them. It’s a big part of playing the end position for him and for the tackle position. There’s not a great departure. His game is physicality. He likes to get in the mix and be physical and play with a nice physical presence to his game, whether he’s inside or outside. That works well for him to be able to move inside and then go back outside. It’s not a drastic change as far as his pad level and how he plays. His motor is the biggest thing, and how hard he plays. He loves football. It doesn’t matter if it’s snap 52 of practice or snap one of a game. He goes 100 miles per hour. It’s fun to watch him get out there and have some success. Jacoby always has a smile on his face. I’ve even seen him out on the field with the other team, and he’s got a smile on his face and talking with the guys on the other side. That’s something I was never really good at when I was a player. That’s his personality, though, and he stays with it. It’s fun to watch him play.