Utah State Aggies College Football Pregame Quote, 11/18/2019

On beating Wyoming:

It was another crazy, but great, Mountain West football game. Two great teams battled right down to the wire again. Wyoming is a really good football team, and they’ve shown that all year long. It was a great game. It was physical, tough, and it went back and forth. You look at those games and it can come down to a play here or a play there, there are a whole bunch of plays that could be made one way or the other to swing it, and fortunately, we made just enough to be able to win the football game. My hat goes off to that program. I think anybody that understands how we thought about Wyoming during the week, it was very obvious that they are a very good team. They have been built the right way. It was awesome to get a victory. I thought the kids played extremely hard, they were prepared, they worked hard throughout the week and battled through the momentum swings of the game, which we’re always going to have. This team just finds a way to continually get in those fights and battles back when the other team does some really good things or gets up on them. Every team has some self-inflicted wounds, and there are some of those we need to work on. They bounced back from it and found a way to get a victory. I was so proud of them as a whole.

They got bowl eligible. We have six wins. Are we satisfied with just that? Absolutely not. But I’m the first guy to stand up and say that’s a great accomplishment. There is a reason that there are bowl games, and you get to six wins, and you’ll probably hear me say this three or four more times, but I’m going to keep saying it, because when you get to six wins you get an opportunity to go to a bowl game, so it’s something very good that’s happened to this football team. I’m very proud of them, and they should be very proud of the fact that they got to that point. Satisfied? Again, absolutely not. But, proud and happy of that accomplishment, you bet. If you lose sight of that, you’re not fired up about that accomplishment, then boy, oh, boy that’s a pretty bad place to live for a football team. That’s one of their major goals, obviously. We still have major goals out in front of us, and we’re excited about the future.

Boise State is a tremendous football team year in and year out. They are the foundation of consistency within this league, obviously. Year in and year out, it’s well deserved. They do things the right way. They have tough-minded kids, and they recruit the right way. You can see it with their ability to sustain and maintain, and deal with an injury here, an injury there, or the ups and downs that come with the season. They handle those very, very well. It’s a great program. It’s not a good program, it’s a great program. We’re excited to get the opportunity to compete against them in a great setting at our place. It’s elimination game number three for the Aggies. We have passed the first two tests, so here we go again. Elimination game number three. We’ll start preparing today, and work very hard at it, understanding that we have another extremely quality opponent, the best of the best over the years in this conference. They gain your respect very quickly.

On junior linebacker Eric Munoz against Wyoming, and earning conference co-defensive player of the week honors:

It’s an awesome story. I’m so happy for Eric, and all those awards are well-deserved. I think every one of them need to be pointed out for a kid that just battles, because he loves the game of football. He kept fighting his way, and said, ‘I’ll do whatever I need to do to keep playing football.’ It’s showed up since January. It shows up in the weight room. He is a hard worker, and he’s adjusted to the scheme and what we’re doing. At the end of the day, he’s the one that went out there and made those plays with the support of his teammates. Coach (Justin) Ena has done a great job of helping him understand and absorb the scheme, but Eric goes out there and does what he does, and did what he did in that situation because he prepared himself for that moment long ago ‚Äì not just the last two weeks or whatever it may be. All the credit in the world goes to him and his teammates for helping him get in that spot. As coaches, we’ll do all we can to help him, but the players go out there on game day and it’s about them being in that moment, getting in that moment, and when the opportunity presents itself, taking advantage of that opportunity. That’s exactly what he did. He made spectacular plays in that game, but when opportunity presented itself, he took advantage. It just makes you smile, and does your heart good. All those good things that come out of football that I believe in for kids, that’s what’s happened for Eric here in the last couple days. It’s fantastic to see his reaction, and it’s fantastic to see his team’s reaction. It just goes back to how this team has been from the very beginning. They’ve been tight. I try to talk to them all the time about being a fist and being a tight-knit fist, squeeze that fist to keep it tight, and they’ve done that. It’s a credit to them.

On the performances of linebacker Kevin Meitzenheimer and safety Troy Lefeged:

We’ve talked quite a bit about Kevin being the leader. Even when Woody (David Woodward) was there, Kevin was the vocal leader. Woody is not a good player, not a great player, but an elite player, but you’ve got to squeeze him to get him to talk, and that’s just the way Woody is. Kevin was the vocal guy out there, and he’s continued to be able to do that. That’s showed a lot with Eric. Getting Eric out there, and not that Eric can’t handle himself mentally, but still walking into that situation, their relationship was key for Eric to go out there and be good and ready to play and attack it. Kevin has grown on the field, he’s grown off the field, and he continually grows from a young man to a man every single day, which is the most important part of this whole thing to me. His development on the field has been very good. The guy that he plays for is very, very, very good. Justin Ena is a tough, hard-nosed, great teacher. Demanding, yes. Hug them up, yes. All those things that come with it. But that’s just who Utah State football is. That feeling of toughness and grit and hard-working, smart football comes out of that room. That’s who we need to be as an Aggie football team, and those guys have done a great job of taking on that demeanor and taking it out on the field. But again, Kevin’s the one that’s made that happen so it’s been fun to see.

Troy is tough and physical, and is becoming a student of the game, which, is, quite frankly the next step for him in his development. The consistency, every single day in practice, film watching, you can see that in players as they continue to develop that confidence on the field. Obviously, they have to have the athletic ability. Troy is fearless. He’s a tremendous tackler, and he uses his physicality. He wants to be there, he wants to smack you every chance that he gets, and he seems to really be even in a better flow week in and week out because of what he’s taking from his coach in Michael Caputo, what he’s putting into his film research and his film study. The classroom is just as important as the practice field, and it’s just as important as the game field. Troy is really growing in that area, and will continue to do so. Shaq (Bond) is one in the same. Shaq ends up in the post a little bit more than Troy does, but Shaq’s ability to communicate with the defense is growing in all those areas that I talked about, also. I’m proud of those two safeties. It’s great to see Troy jump out as a JC guy to come in and play for us and play the way he’s played.

On forcing four turnovers against a Wyoming team that had only allowed five all season:

Turnovers are always a huge stat, and it’s a big spot in the stat line. They’re all big turnovers. You could say that the interception at the end of the game was a giant one, but to me, the turnover at the first of the game was just as big, if not bigger. It was another situation with these kids, and I probably bore a lot of people when I say this stuff, but their ability to react in those settings has been remarkable to me. There wasn’t anybody looking at what happened there, who did this, here we go again. Coach Ena was aggressive with his calls there, which played out very well. It was great to see that happen. The kids executed those calls and made a tremendous play there at the end. Troy (Lefeged) forced the fumble, got on the fumble, and away we went. That set a tone there. I think the first play of the game, they caught an eight- or 10-yard slant, whatever it was. Then, we make some plays right in a row, back-to-back-to-back, to knock them back. It was great to see that. The turnovers are huge. My opinion is, with a defense that’s a really good, swarming defense, you’d like to see a turnover take place every 30 snaps. That’s hard, but all of our goals are hard. We don’t have a goal that we put on the offense, defense or special teams that’s easy to obtain. That’s a goal that we’d love to have as a swarming, attacking, aggressive defense. It hasn’t happened every week for us, but it happened in a big game when we needed it. The kids executed it and made the plays, and when the ball was on the ground, they were able to get it. When it was in the air and it was their opportunity to get it, they got it. There was one we didn’t get, but we got it a couple plays later, so it was good.

On Jordan Love leaving the game with an injury, and if he’ll be ready for Boise State:

I really don’t have anything on that yet. No comment. There is nothing to really tell at this point, so we’ll see.

On Henry Colombi’s involvement with the team throughout the year:

He’s had a lot. For instance, we do a two-minute drill every week, and we do it twice. When we do our crossover periods with the offense and defense, he gets a lot of snaps there. There is some carry-over to what the opponent is doing, but it’s also kind of a service period. It’s not the exact reps that Jordan is getting, the exact looks of the defense, but he gets a good, fair amount of reps. Jordan takes the majority when they’re in their scout scenarios, but he gets enough, definitely. I think the good thing about Henry and Andrew (Peasley) when Andrew was there, Cooper (Legas) is in that situation now, Josh (Calvin) is down running the scout team with us, but Henry has stayed mentally ready. Just watch him in practice. It’s not like he’s just over there watching the birds fly around, the pigeons up on the press box, that’s not what he’s doing. He’s ready. He sees it and he understands it, and I think he’s really playing it out in his mind, so that’s a credit to him. Coach (Mike) Sanford stays on him good in that situation to make sure that he’s continually growing, but Henry understands that those are big shoes to fill when that opportunity presents itself. It’s not easy to hop in there in that situation, especially in that tense of a game, that scenario and against that defense, because that’s a really good defense at Wyoming, but he made some plays. He made some plays with his legs. The ball that he threw over the top to Jordan Nathan was a huge play. He made a good decision on that sack, too. Number 30 from Wyoming is a tremendous football player, both those inside linebackers are great players, but if Henry throws that ball, number 30 probably picks it and scores a touchdown. He took the sack, and we’re in a good spot. He made some good decisions, and I’m proud of him.

On Boise State’s depth, and how much we’ll learn about Utah State’s depth this week:

I think we found out that our depth is a bunch of fighters, already, and battlers ‚Äì kids that are interested in getting into that fight. I think we’ve also established through the year that when opportunity knocks, you have to take advantage of that opportunity, and when you don’t, there is another young man that’s going to be excited about having the opportunity knock for him. That’s just part of the structure of a team that’s going to compete, that wants to fight. Every kid should want to be on the field. That’s why you’re playing. You shouldn’t be happy and satisfied by just watching the game, and by just putting on the Utah State football helmet. That shouldn’t be the ultimate end point for you. I think that our kids have shown that. We’ll find out a lot about our depth, to answer your question, probably no more than we’ve found out about our depth the past month of the season, quite frankly. Look at the offensive line, look at the linebacker spot, look at the DB’s, especially earlier in the year, look at the running back position when Jaylen (Warren) was hurt for a few weeks there and Enoch (Nawahine) and Riley (Burt) had to hop in there in that situation. I can go on and on in those spots, not to bore you, but we’ve had a lot of those situations. I think they’ll react to the best of their ability. I think they’ll be excited about the opportunity to compete when the youth is given a chance.

On Boise State quarterback Jaylon Henderson:

He’s really good. Boise State, again, does a tremendous job where they’ve stabilized their program very well. They recruit to who they are, and what they’re going to be. That comes through time, and it comes through commitment. They know who they’re going to be on offense, they know who they’re going to be on defense, and their ability to recruit at a high level is right there. I’ve gone up against Boise State for a long time. There are six or seven kids on that team that we would have loved to have had at some of the places I’ve been in the past, but Boise State got them. Boise State does a great job of recruiting and identifying. They have a tremendous place to recruit to, which we all know, so we’re excited about continually growing and building that, and getting into that situation. Their reputation speaks for itself. We’ll get into those recruiting battles, and we’ll see where it all goes, but the ability to maintain and sustain and stabilize a program the way they do with consistency, regardless of how many games they win, you have to look at them every single year, and when you go to media days, they’re going to probably always be picked one or two every year. That’s where they’re going to be every single year, and that’s what a program that’s stabilized every single year expects. They have those high expectations to be where they are this time in the year right now, playing a huge game in the third-to-last week of November. That’s where they expect to be every year, and that’s where we want to be every single year. It’s a credit to them and their program, their administration, everything that goes with Boise State. That’s what you want to be. You want to be in a position to be in a special spot in late November. That’s where they’ve found themselves, and they’ve found themselves there most years.

On Henderson’s athletic abilities:

The thing that I’ve been probably the most impressed with is his ability on one of the first plays of the game, where he just gets back and rifles the ball out of there. He’s very good in the pocket in their boot game, and Boise State is a team that will move the pocket with a whole bunch of different personnel groupings, so his ability to sit back in the pocket, his ability to get out in the open, he did that three or four times on the boots, and he gets out of the pocket and spins the ball in there to some really good receivers. He’s seasoned; he’s a senior. He’s been there for a long time, obviously, and it’s a lot like Eric (Munoz). This kid got the opportunity, he took advantage of the opportunity, and played great. He absolutely had a special game (against New Mexico), and he let the players around him make opportunities when they had the opportunity, and it’s another great story in college football. We’ll have our hands full, regardless of who plays quarterback. Who knows who it’s going to be? I guess that’s the million-dollar question for both teams.

On Boise State being a good defensive team:

They have some tremendous players. It starts on the defensive front for them. They’re physical, tough game changers. (Curtis) Weaver is fantastic. (David) Moa is a tremendous player. They have a bunch of good players inside, as well as four or five other guys that are just the tough, physical, play with great technique technicians. I got a little bit of a scouting report over the summer on those guys from coach (Chad Kauha’aha’a), who coached them a year ago, but now is trying to win games at USC and doing his deal there. He loved those guys. So, that tells me if he loves them, they’re hard-nosed, tough guys. The defense is built around guys that can run and skillful guys that have great length. We’ll have our challenges for us. (Riley) Whimpey, the inside linebacker, just because of our knowledge of him through the years and years of knowing the Whimpey boys, has turned himself into a heck of a player also. Defensively, they believe in each other. They are physical, long and play the way it should be played.

On limiting Boise State senior wide receiver John Hightower:

It’s very important. Boise State does such a great job of finding ways to use him within their scheme. It may be in a grouping of two tight end sets where they’re play-action passing, max protection, running boots. They do a great job with their crossing routes. They’re smart in the way they attack things. You can look at it and say, ‘Look, they’re trying to get a pick here, trying to get a pick there, but they don’t. They do a nice job of moving through things and sliding and getting those undercut routes, whether it’s him or it’s another guy. The big crossing boots across the backside are big. They have a lot of trick plays. I’ve admired their offense for many years. It’s a great way to play. They’ll play with pace sometimes to get you offset. If it’s a big play, you better be ready for pace coming back on. That comes with time. He’s a tremendous player. You give him an opportunity to get the ball, a 50-50 ball he’s very good at. He’s got great speed to pull away from you. He does a nice job of getting off man coverage from what I’ve seen. When you get up and press him in his face, that doesn’t bother him, which a lot of receivers that does bother them. It doesn’t seem to bother him a bit. He’s surrounded by good players. He’s another example of a really good football player that fits their scheme and they use him the right way. That’s a credit to the young man and a credit to the coaches, too, how they’ve built that system to where it could handle whatever’s going to come in its way. If it was snowing sideways on Saturday, they’d be prepared for that to be okay and they’ll run what they run. If it’s 70 degrees and clear, they’ll do what they’re going to do to cause you problems that way, too. It’s a really good offense.

On his role lately:

Like I said a couple of weeks ago, I really felt it was important for me to be a head coach and moving around, and being a part of things and being with the players. That goes from the young guys to the old guys to recruiting to making sure we’re prepared as we move through the next six months. I always try to keep the players and the coaches six months ahead. That sounds crazy talking about that right now, but it’s good. It keeps them at ease. It keeps them where they need to be so they can stay busy with the task at hand, which is winning football games. That’s good for players and coaches. It’s just that at the beginning of this year, we had nine full-time coaches. We didn’t have 10 full-time coaches, we had nine. I did that. I made that decision. Nobody else made that decision. It’s not because we couldn’t, it’s because I didn’t. I didn’t think it was the best thing for us to get the coaches here that we needed and help ourselves in all aspects of the program. I was heavily involved with the defensive line. We have Bojay (Filimoeatu) here and we have Al (Lapuaho). Bojay has done a great job. Bojay is the main lead guy in there now. We split it a little bit early on when we were deciding how much we were going to be in odd front this year versus an even front. It became clear as we went through time we were going to be an even front, for the most part, and play with two defensive ends and two defensive tackles with the personnel that we had. You don’t want to take those guys off the field. They’re the most experienced guys we have on the team as far as defense goes. So, I was with them a lot early on. I weeded myself off of that as we went through time, and Al started taking a much more aggressive role with the defensive tackles. Bojay kept running those meetings. We didn’t break off anymore, and he started running meetings. So, it was just time for me step away and let those guys do their job. Al has done a great job of growing into that position, and he’s going to be a great full-time coach when that opportunity arises for him. It’s been good for him. Bojay has just continued to grow and is handling that room. There are two of them in there, and those guys are in very good hands. They’re experienced, too. That’s a tough-minded crew. They have a lot of miles on them and lot of reps underneath them that allows them to be able to handle thing as far as game prep on their own. They’re in great hands with those two coaches.