Tuesday Press Conference Quotes
August 29, 2017 | Football
Head Coach Mike MacIntyre
Opening Statement
"Our guys are tired of practicing and ready to play a game. We're excited about Friday night in Denver. It'll be here before you blink."
On Anything Surprising About Colorado State After Their First Game
"No. Before we watched that game, I watched every single game from last year. As the year went on, they kept getting better and better. I throw out the Idaho game, because they were playing on an ice-skating rink, literally. Guys were falling down and sliding all over the place. I wasn't surprised at how well they played and how well they were running the football and the plays they made offensively. I knew they would be really excited playing in the new stadium. What I saw on film is what I've been seeing in the last part of last season."
On If There Are Any Unknowns About The Team
"I'm confident in our football team. Every game has different situations and different things happen. I'm very confident in our football team going out there and executing as well as they can. With it being our opening game, we'll have to knock a little rust off in the beginning. Every year you have new guys playing, every team does. Every team in America has a few guys injured or moved to different positions. We always say you've got to star in your role, so everybody's dreams can come true. So, they've got to star in their role. I believe they will go out there and play well."
On Excitement Of Playing On A Friday Night In A Pro Stadium
"Yeah it's exciting to play on a Friday night. There's not a lot of games playing that night. That makes it special. Playing in the Broncos stadium, the kids love that. It's a unique atmosphere. I think there's almost 70,000 there and I think there'll be over 70,000 this year. It'll be loud and exciting."
On The Team Focusing Having Seen Colorado State's First Game
"Our guys have been watching the film. They saw the plays they made last year at the end of the year. We watched our game and then watched how they improved as the year went along. That just put a stamp on it that they are a good football team, they can make plays and they're really powerful offensively. Defensively, it looks like they improved there also. Our guys understand how good they are. In no shape or form will they take CSU lightly, even if they wouldn't have had that game. It's such a good rivalry game with a lot of intensity involved in it. You've always got to come ready to play."
On Pressuring CSU's Quarterback Nick Stevens
"The thing I've noticed about Nick is he's making quicker decisions as the year went on. He's getting the ball out of his hand quicker. He's knowing where he's going with the ball a bit quicker sometimes. That helps him and helps their offensive line. We've definitely got to get him off his spot and we've got to be able to get to him. If you don't get to the quarterback and he sits back there all day, most all of them have a good day. We've got to be able to do that. He'll make plays because he knows where he's going with the ball a bit quicker. He seems like he's checking the sidelines a bit more. They look to sidelines to get some calls to try to get themselves into the right play. The main thing I've noticed in their offense, besides Nick being improved, is they're playing in a higher tempo. They're running a fast-paced offense more. They've done that at times before. At the end there, they didn't do it as much because they were trying to run out the clock."
On Him Feeling Like He Has A New Quarterback
"I definitely feel like we're going in with a new quarterback, because Sefo [Liufau] was our starter for so long. But, I'm not going in with an inexperienced, new starting quarterback. I think there's a difference there. I definitely believe that he's a lot farther along than he was this time last year. I know he's in better shape and he's more comfortable with the offense. As far as that goes, I feel really excited seeing Steven out there playing."
On Colorado State's Wide Receiver Michael Gallup
"He's an excellent receiver. Last year, they tried to get the ball to him quite a few times and just weren't that successful as they got going later in the season. I think they got better timing with him and Nick. He's a big athlete. I noticed him in our game last year, because he was a newcomer. After he caught a few balls I could tell that kid was good. You could see his athleticism and his speed and his size on the field. He's someone we'll have to watch. He'll make his catches some, but we have to keep him from being too explosive and hopefully we can corral him a bit."
On Montez's Demeanor In the Huddle Compared To Sefo Liufau
"Sefo is really funny, he had his own sense of humor too. I think Steven is a little bit more emotional, but not out of control. He's more of a jokester. With Steven, I think the guys really respect him. With Steven having played pretty well, it gives him some more respect. They have confidence in him."
On Play Of Terran Hasselbach And Derek McCartney
"Terran played well for us at different times last year and did some good things. Terran's doing really well. He'll play in some different packages for us depending on what personnel is on the field for the opponent. He's had a good fall camp. Terran's a fourth-year junior and doing well. Derek's back and healthy and running around and playing really well. It's great to see him out there. His work ethic and leadership is something we desperately needed."
On If He Has Named A Kicker
"No. I kind of said that yesterday. I told you I would, but I haven't named one yet. So, I guess I told you a little fib. I haven't been able to make my mind up yet."
On The Inexperience Of The Defense Having Trouble With CSU's Offense
"It does concern me. We've got guys out there that I know can make plays. What happens when a guy comes back and makes a play on you? Are you going to compete or are you going to push back and not fight as hard? That's what I want to see out of those guys, because they're going to make some plays on us. But, when they make plays, how are we going to respond? With new guys that haven't played as much – we've got quite a few guys who have played a lot – they're going to get tested. When they get a play made on them – which everybody does – how are they going to respond? That's what I'm interested to see. I think I know what's going to happen, but they've got to go do it in the heat of the battle."
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On Confidence In Special Teams Improving
"I definitely think our special teams will be improved. Special teams is a really easy area to pick on. It always has been. Every place I've coached for 28 years, they've picked on the special teams as an assistant coach and they've always picked on the offensive line. Those are the two easiest areas to pick on. Anybody in the stands can say it. I think we'll make plays there. The opponent will make plays on our special teams, too. They've got good guys. Hopefully we'll make more plays on special teams than our opponents do."
On Frank Umu's Suspension
"Our team decided to choose discipline this year. That's what they put on our t-shirts. Frank's a young man who's going to be suspended for not choosing discipline in an area and that's where it stands."
On The Defensive Line Rotation
"We've got quite a few guys up there that can play. That's the good thing. We've got a few guys that have played a lot and played well for us and we've got some newcomers who've played well during fall camp. We'll rotate about five guys in there and depending on the personnel and what CSU's trying to do to us – because they play multiple personnel groups. Going into the game, I won't know exactly that rotation, but we'll have about five guys rotating through there that'll play quite a bit."
On The Rivalry With CSU
"I've said for a long time, it's a 365-day rivalry. I saw a guy the other night and he showed me a picture of an outfit that he had to wear to work and he said, 'Coach, I don't want to have to wear this outfit again. I had to wear it 2014.' You have little things like that that are little ribbings. I even had one person who lived in Fort Collins and every time CSU beat CU, they'd get letters about going to a funeral from a bunch of friends. It's one of those things that reverberates throughout the state. You've got side things like that that make it more of a rivalry. I think it makes it cool and fun. That's why there'll be 75,000 people there. They're excited about watching it happen."
On The Offense Taking The Lead Role
"I think every year you try to figure out as a head coach what's best way your team can win. You always want to work on your strengths and make them positives, minimize your weaknesses and attack the other team's weaknesses. You try to figure that out each week and game to game. Then, you want to find out how you're going to win that game. Some of the games last year going in, we felt like we could run Sefo and run Phillip [Lindsay] more and help our defense out and win the games that way instead of opening it up. Then, there were other games we felt like we'd have to be wide open based off of what their strengths would be and our weaknesses. As we looked at this game, we have a strategy that we want to do and we'll go with that. Our main strength going in – I think everybody in the country would know – is our offense and our experience there. I think we have a good defense, but we'll see how that works out."
On Chances The Game Is A Blowout
"Sometimes you expect a shootout, then everybody's disappointed that it's 7-3 or something. Both teams have really good players that can make plays and both teams have good defensive players. I think it's just two really good football teams. It seems like in college football and there are two really good teams that have good offenses, then there are quite a few points scored. That's the trend in college football. That's why college football is catching on a little more, because people like to see more points. The old-fashioned coaches, we like to see scores like 10-7 with the toughness. People will say that was boring, but it was a good football game. I think with these offenses and with the way people use the clock and the field, you get more opportunities to score. They're playing faster now and it'll give them more opportunities. There could be some more points on the scoreboard, for sure."
On How The Team Chooses The Uniform Combination
"If you think about kids and they have Xbox or video games, what's the first thing they do when they put on a team? They sit there for 20 minutes and design uniforms, the stadium and the fields. Kids are into that. When we have the guys over, we lay out all the uniforms on our pool table and we have all the shoes, gloves and accessories. What happened to when I was playing? You had two pairs of shoes, so you better take care of your game shoes. And you got two specific jerseys, your away and your home. And you wear your same pants. That's the way it is anymore. It's a lot of fun. They want to know what the other team's going to wear to see how it matches. I was teasing them, they're kind of like a woman going to a cocktail party. 'Is she wearing the same dress as me? I can't wear that.' It is a lot of fun. I enjoy doing that with them."
On Colorado's Relationship With NIKE
"The relationship with NIKE is awesome. NIKE's been a great thing for Colorado. I think we're the first or second school to get NIKE, so we're one of the charter members. The cool thing about being a charter member is we get to experiment with some stuff. We get a few new things like different shoes and different gloves. That makes it pretty special."
On The Families Of Players Affected By The Flooding In Houston
"I've talked to all of them. Right now, where some of our players are from, they're not in the flood area, but they're being affected by it. Javier [Edwards] was telling me this morning that the other night the shingles on the roof flew off and now the rain's dripping down through the roof and hole's getting bigger and they can't get anybody to fix it. So, you have things like that. But, luckily no one is in harm's way. We recruit down there, so there are some kids that we are recruiting that we've been texting and some of them are okay. But, some of them are affected pretty good."
On Evan Worthington Getting Back On The Field
"Evan to me is the typical teenager. They come in and they're not quite ready for college. So, he took a semester off and looked life in the eye, like we all do at some time in our lives. I see a new guy. His family went through a tough situation, as you can see he changed his last name back to his birth name. That's been neat for him and his mom and grandparents. I've seen a new Evan. I always saw a great athlete, but he's focused and not taking life for granted and understands what life is all about. He had that ah-ha moment. I wish I would have had my ah-ha moment when I was 19. Most of us have it when we're 28. That's one of the things I truly love about coaching college football. We've all been knuckleheads at times. When you see a guy realize not to be a knucklehead anymore and go, that's a neat moment in life. That's what I've seen with Evan. I can't wait to see him on the field, because he's fast, big, and athletic, and he can make plays on the field. He might even remind you of Chido [Awuzie], because he's so fast and athletic."
On CU Professor Shaun Davies
"I don't know if you all know the Shaun Davies family. He's a professor in finance here. They had a young boy, 24 months old that died in his week two or three weeks ago. Two days before, they were at our scrimmage playing with our players. Then, they came to one of our practices and our kids came over and hugged them. It's been amazing. Just remember the Shaun Davies family in your prayers please."
On Hawai'i Football Player Kalepo Naotala
"He's a defensive tackle that played at Hawai'i. This summer, they went out diving and he dove and hit his neck wrong. He's now paralyzed, but he'd fighting like crazy. They shipped him to here in Denver at Craig Hospital. Two Sunday's ago, me and the guys from the islands went by and visited him. Now, he's moving his arm and he's in great spirits. We've been able to work it out that we're able to bring him to the game on Friday night. It made all our guys see how special life is. Remember Kalepo also in your prayers. Those are two things that have hit home for our players that are tough in life, but have also shown our guys what really matters. Getting ready for this game is important, but there are a lot of other things more important and those are two stories that'll be happening at the game, because both of those families will be at the game. It's a pretty neat deal. It's really tough. One of things about sports is that it takes you away from the tough things in life and makes you able to escape for a minute. I've been thinking about those people a lot and they're special."
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"Our guys are tired of practicing and ready to play a game. We're excited about Friday night in Denver. It'll be here before you blink."
On Anything Surprising About Colorado State After Their First Game
"No. Before we watched that game, I watched every single game from last year. As the year went on, they kept getting better and better. I throw out the Idaho game, because they were playing on an ice-skating rink, literally. Guys were falling down and sliding all over the place. I wasn't surprised at how well they played and how well they were running the football and the plays they made offensively. I knew they would be really excited playing in the new stadium. What I saw on film is what I've been seeing in the last part of last season."
On If There Are Any Unknowns About The Team
"I'm confident in our football team. Every game has different situations and different things happen. I'm very confident in our football team going out there and executing as well as they can. With it being our opening game, we'll have to knock a little rust off in the beginning. Every year you have new guys playing, every team does. Every team in America has a few guys injured or moved to different positions. We always say you've got to star in your role, so everybody's dreams can come true. So, they've got to star in their role. I believe they will go out there and play well."
On Excitement Of Playing On A Friday Night In A Pro Stadium
"Yeah it's exciting to play on a Friday night. There's not a lot of games playing that night. That makes it special. Playing in the Broncos stadium, the kids love that. It's a unique atmosphere. I think there's almost 70,000 there and I think there'll be over 70,000 this year. It'll be loud and exciting."
On The Team Focusing Having Seen Colorado State's First Game
"Our guys have been watching the film. They saw the plays they made last year at the end of the year. We watched our game and then watched how they improved as the year went along. That just put a stamp on it that they are a good football team, they can make plays and they're really powerful offensively. Defensively, it looks like they improved there also. Our guys understand how good they are. In no shape or form will they take CSU lightly, even if they wouldn't have had that game. It's such a good rivalry game with a lot of intensity involved in it. You've always got to come ready to play."
On Pressuring CSU's Quarterback Nick Stevens
"The thing I've noticed about Nick is he's making quicker decisions as the year went on. He's getting the ball out of his hand quicker. He's knowing where he's going with the ball a bit quicker sometimes. That helps him and helps their offensive line. We've definitely got to get him off his spot and we've got to be able to get to him. If you don't get to the quarterback and he sits back there all day, most all of them have a good day. We've got to be able to do that. He'll make plays because he knows where he's going with the ball a bit quicker. He seems like he's checking the sidelines a bit more. They look to sidelines to get some calls to try to get themselves into the right play. The main thing I've noticed in their offense, besides Nick being improved, is they're playing in a higher tempo. They're running a fast-paced offense more. They've done that at times before. At the end there, they didn't do it as much because they were trying to run out the clock."
On Him Feeling Like He Has A New Quarterback
"I definitely feel like we're going in with a new quarterback, because Sefo [Liufau] was our starter for so long. But, I'm not going in with an inexperienced, new starting quarterback. I think there's a difference there. I definitely believe that he's a lot farther along than he was this time last year. I know he's in better shape and he's more comfortable with the offense. As far as that goes, I feel really excited seeing Steven out there playing."
On Colorado State's Wide Receiver Michael Gallup
"He's an excellent receiver. Last year, they tried to get the ball to him quite a few times and just weren't that successful as they got going later in the season. I think they got better timing with him and Nick. He's a big athlete. I noticed him in our game last year, because he was a newcomer. After he caught a few balls I could tell that kid was good. You could see his athleticism and his speed and his size on the field. He's someone we'll have to watch. He'll make his catches some, but we have to keep him from being too explosive and hopefully we can corral him a bit."
On Montez's Demeanor In the Huddle Compared To Sefo Liufau
"Sefo is really funny, he had his own sense of humor too. I think Steven is a little bit more emotional, but not out of control. He's more of a jokester. With Steven, I think the guys really respect him. With Steven having played pretty well, it gives him some more respect. They have confidence in him."
On Play Of Terran Hasselbach And Derek McCartney
"Terran played well for us at different times last year and did some good things. Terran's doing really well. He'll play in some different packages for us depending on what personnel is on the field for the opponent. He's had a good fall camp. Terran's a fourth-year junior and doing well. Derek's back and healthy and running around and playing really well. It's great to see him out there. His work ethic and leadership is something we desperately needed."
On If He Has Named A Kicker
"No. I kind of said that yesterday. I told you I would, but I haven't named one yet. So, I guess I told you a little fib. I haven't been able to make my mind up yet."
On The Inexperience Of The Defense Having Trouble With CSU's Offense
"It does concern me. We've got guys out there that I know can make plays. What happens when a guy comes back and makes a play on you? Are you going to compete or are you going to push back and not fight as hard? That's what I want to see out of those guys, because they're going to make some plays on us. But, when they make plays, how are we going to respond? With new guys that haven't played as much – we've got quite a few guys who have played a lot – they're going to get tested. When they get a play made on them – which everybody does – how are they going to respond? That's what I'm interested to see. I think I know what's going to happen, but they've got to go do it in the heat of the battle."
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On Confidence In Special Teams Improving
"I definitely think our special teams will be improved. Special teams is a really easy area to pick on. It always has been. Every place I've coached for 28 years, they've picked on the special teams as an assistant coach and they've always picked on the offensive line. Those are the two easiest areas to pick on. Anybody in the stands can say it. I think we'll make plays there. The opponent will make plays on our special teams, too. They've got good guys. Hopefully we'll make more plays on special teams than our opponents do."
On Frank Umu's Suspension
"Our team decided to choose discipline this year. That's what they put on our t-shirts. Frank's a young man who's going to be suspended for not choosing discipline in an area and that's where it stands."
On The Defensive Line Rotation
"We've got quite a few guys up there that can play. That's the good thing. We've got a few guys that have played a lot and played well for us and we've got some newcomers who've played well during fall camp. We'll rotate about five guys in there and depending on the personnel and what CSU's trying to do to us – because they play multiple personnel groups. Going into the game, I won't know exactly that rotation, but we'll have about five guys rotating through there that'll play quite a bit."
On The Rivalry With CSU
"I've said for a long time, it's a 365-day rivalry. I saw a guy the other night and he showed me a picture of an outfit that he had to wear to work and he said, 'Coach, I don't want to have to wear this outfit again. I had to wear it 2014.' You have little things like that that are little ribbings. I even had one person who lived in Fort Collins and every time CSU beat CU, they'd get letters about going to a funeral from a bunch of friends. It's one of those things that reverberates throughout the state. You've got side things like that that make it more of a rivalry. I think it makes it cool and fun. That's why there'll be 75,000 people there. They're excited about watching it happen."
On The Offense Taking The Lead Role
"I think every year you try to figure out as a head coach what's best way your team can win. You always want to work on your strengths and make them positives, minimize your weaknesses and attack the other team's weaknesses. You try to figure that out each week and game to game. Then, you want to find out how you're going to win that game. Some of the games last year going in, we felt like we could run Sefo and run Phillip [Lindsay] more and help our defense out and win the games that way instead of opening it up. Then, there were other games we felt like we'd have to be wide open based off of what their strengths would be and our weaknesses. As we looked at this game, we have a strategy that we want to do and we'll go with that. Our main strength going in – I think everybody in the country would know – is our offense and our experience there. I think we have a good defense, but we'll see how that works out."
On Chances The Game Is A Blowout
"Sometimes you expect a shootout, then everybody's disappointed that it's 7-3 or something. Both teams have really good players that can make plays and both teams have good defensive players. I think it's just two really good football teams. It seems like in college football and there are two really good teams that have good offenses, then there are quite a few points scored. That's the trend in college football. That's why college football is catching on a little more, because people like to see more points. The old-fashioned coaches, we like to see scores like 10-7 with the toughness. People will say that was boring, but it was a good football game. I think with these offenses and with the way people use the clock and the field, you get more opportunities to score. They're playing faster now and it'll give them more opportunities. There could be some more points on the scoreboard, for sure."
On How The Team Chooses The Uniform Combination
"If you think about kids and they have Xbox or video games, what's the first thing they do when they put on a team? They sit there for 20 minutes and design uniforms, the stadium and the fields. Kids are into that. When we have the guys over, we lay out all the uniforms on our pool table and we have all the shoes, gloves and accessories. What happened to when I was playing? You had two pairs of shoes, so you better take care of your game shoes. And you got two specific jerseys, your away and your home. And you wear your same pants. That's the way it is anymore. It's a lot of fun. They want to know what the other team's going to wear to see how it matches. I was teasing them, they're kind of like a woman going to a cocktail party. 'Is she wearing the same dress as me? I can't wear that.' It is a lot of fun. I enjoy doing that with them."
On Colorado's Relationship With NIKE
"The relationship with NIKE is awesome. NIKE's been a great thing for Colorado. I think we're the first or second school to get NIKE, so we're one of the charter members. The cool thing about being a charter member is we get to experiment with some stuff. We get a few new things like different shoes and different gloves. That makes it pretty special."
On The Families Of Players Affected By The Flooding In Houston
"I've talked to all of them. Right now, where some of our players are from, they're not in the flood area, but they're being affected by it. Javier [Edwards] was telling me this morning that the other night the shingles on the roof flew off and now the rain's dripping down through the roof and hole's getting bigger and they can't get anybody to fix it. So, you have things like that. But, luckily no one is in harm's way. We recruit down there, so there are some kids that we are recruiting that we've been texting and some of them are okay. But, some of them are affected pretty good."
On Evan Worthington Getting Back On The Field
"Evan to me is the typical teenager. They come in and they're not quite ready for college. So, he took a semester off and looked life in the eye, like we all do at some time in our lives. I see a new guy. His family went through a tough situation, as you can see he changed his last name back to his birth name. That's been neat for him and his mom and grandparents. I've seen a new Evan. I always saw a great athlete, but he's focused and not taking life for granted and understands what life is all about. He had that ah-ha moment. I wish I would have had my ah-ha moment when I was 19. Most of us have it when we're 28. That's one of the things I truly love about coaching college football. We've all been knuckleheads at times. When you see a guy realize not to be a knucklehead anymore and go, that's a neat moment in life. That's what I've seen with Evan. I can't wait to see him on the field, because he's fast, big, and athletic, and he can make plays on the field. He might even remind you of Chido [Awuzie], because he's so fast and athletic."
On CU Professor Shaun Davies
"I don't know if you all know the Shaun Davies family. He's a professor in finance here. They had a young boy, 24 months old that died in his week two or three weeks ago. Two days before, they were at our scrimmage playing with our players. Then, they came to one of our practices and our kids came over and hugged them. It's been amazing. Just remember the Shaun Davies family in your prayers please."
On Hawai'i Football Player Kalepo Naotala
"He's a defensive tackle that played at Hawai'i. This summer, they went out diving and he dove and hit his neck wrong. He's now paralyzed, but he'd fighting like crazy. They shipped him to here in Denver at Craig Hospital. Two Sunday's ago, me and the guys from the islands went by and visited him. Now, he's moving his arm and he's in great spirits. We've been able to work it out that we're able to bring him to the game on Friday night. It made all our guys see how special life is. Remember Kalepo also in your prayers. Those are two things that have hit home for our players that are tough in life, but have also shown our guys what really matters. Getting ready for this game is important, but there are a lot of other things more important and those are two stories that'll be happening at the game, because both of those families will be at the game. It's a pretty neat deal. It's really tough. One of things about sports is that it takes you away from the tough things in life and makes you able to escape for a minute. I've been thinking about those people a lot and they're special."
Quarterback Steven Montez
On Unknowns Entering The First Game
"There shouldn't be too many unknowns actually, we should good in and play very solid both as an offense and defense. I expect us to come together and look very good on Friday."
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On Takeaways From CSU's First Game
"I don't want to give away the game plan, but we can definitely do some stuff with our receivers and our run game that can hurt the Rams defense. I think that there are some weaknesses in that defense and we're going to try to exploit them as best as we can."
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On Whether He Feels Like A First Year Starter
"I feel like I'm already past the first year starter kind of thing with the experience I got last year, especially in the big games. That's not to say this year isn't also going to be another great time to get experience, and to get better as a player and as a quarterback. But I think I've definitely gotten past some of those first start jitters."
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On Expectations That The Game Will Be A Shootout
"I don't know if I expect a shootout. I expect us to score a lot of points. I couldn't tell what CSU is going to do on offense to be honest, but I expect us to put up a lot of points."
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On Rapport With Receivers
"I think it's really good. I think we took that chemistry we had last year and we've kind of built on it in the spring and then in fall camp, so it's just gotten stronger I think. Me, Shay (Fields), (Bryce) Bobo, Devin (Ross), Jay Mac, Juwann (Winfree), Kabi (Ento), even the younger guys KD (Nixon) and Viska (Shenault), Lee Walker, we all kind of understand what each other is thinking. We're on the same page most of the time and that's going to help us out a lot when it's game time."
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On Second Year Of Up-Tempo Offense
"I think the fast paced style that we like to play helps us a lot. I think the offense has just gotten used to it since Chev has been here, and Lindgren also tried to run some of that so we've already kind of seen it."
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On Co-Offensive Coordinator Brian Lindgren
"He's been a ton of help. He changed my base, when I first got here I was standing up tall, balls were sailing on me, balls were just going into the ground, I wasn't throwing very well. He tweaked a lot of stuff in my base, a lot on my release. The balls been coming out very well, it's been coming out with a lot of pace on it, so it looks good."
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On Growth Of Tim Lynott, Jr. And Aaron Haigler
"I think Aaron and Tim have made really great strides, especially in fall camp. And obviously with the entire offensive line as a unit, they've gotten really strong together. I think this is probably the best CU offensive line in a while, at least since I've been here for sure. We've also got some younger guys that are going to be very good in the future as well, guys like Brett Tonz, Will Sherman, and some other dudes that can play un front."
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On Rivalry With CSU
"I hate to look at that part of the game, just the rivalry stuff. It's in-state, it's a big game, but it's just another game we need to go win to be honest. There's not really any extra pressure playing a team from in-state, just different colors that they're wearing."
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On Whether The Outcome Of CSU's First Game Surprised Him
"I watched that game and CSU looked pretty good. Oregon State struggled a little bit, but they looked pretty good. They looked pretty good on offense, they looked pretty good on defense, they were doing some things that were working so hopefully on Friday we do more things that work than they do."
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Safety Afolabi Laguda
ÂOn The Rams Performance Against Oregon State
"It definitely surprised me, I think they're a great team. They have the capability to win the mountain west. They were very prepared for their season opener. It woke us up, it woke the coaches and the players up. We're going to have to step our game up to the next level."
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On How To Make Up For The Loss Of So Many Defensive Players
"You can't really make up for it, you just have to keep moving forward. You just gotta keep playing and bring the young guys up, the guys who are already in the program that got to see the success of the older guys that got into the league. We're not really gonna move forward, just gonna rebuild, revamp and retool."
Â
On This Year's Defensive Strengths
"I think we're a quicker D, I think we have a lot more speed in different positions. Especially up front, we have a quicker D-line. All across the board. We have a great Jack linebacker, Drew Lewis who can fly around, he runs around like a DB but he's built like a linebacker. So, I definitely think we're a faster defense. We can get sideline-to-sideline quicker."
Â
On What Is Different About CSU This Year
"They do the same thing they always do. Mike Bobo is a great coach, he gets them ready to play. It's really about us and executing our game plan to shut down what they throw at us."
Â
On Playing CSU's Up-Tempo Offense
"Our offense is a great up-tempo team, they play very fast and very swift. We have a lot of speed across the board on our offense so I think it will translate for us as a defense during the game.
Â
On Defense's Talent And Athleticism
"We all know that Chidobe is irreplaceable, he's a special guy. He lit up the room. He lit up things on the field. But we have guys that study film rigorously. Rick Gamboa is a film room junkie. He knows the ins and outs of this defense. He knows how to get guys lined up. I don't think we can replace guys like that. We've got to revamp and retool, bring the next guy up and teach him how to watch film like Chido did. Chido taught us in that DB room where I should be and where our keys should be. And that translated to this year, so when we watch film as a group it's not just one guy leading it, it's a collective group. Like Isaiah Oliver, Ryan Moeller, and myself, we see something in particular and can speak on it as a group."
Â
On The Possibility Of The Game Being A Shootout
"I don't care if we win by 31 or 3 points. As long as we get the win, it doesn't bother me. The comments don't really bother me. At the end of the day winning or losing is what matters to me.
Â
On The New Starters On Defense
"Faces may change but expectations never do. Our expectations are high, we're definitely ready to go. Our coaches are on board and we're on board with our coaching staff. They're going to lead and we're going to follow right behind them. We're all going to go to war together."
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On Isaiah Oliver
"That's a long corner, physical corner, special. You don't really see many 6'2"corners that can run like the wind. He's agile, lengthy. He'll be a pest for opposing receivers all season. He's smart, we talk football with each other. I know I can trust him. I know I can shade away from him and leave him on an island all by himself. Isaiah is well advertised and he will definitely meet the expectations."
"It definitely surprised me, I think they're a great team. They have the capability to win the mountain west. They were very prepared for their season opener. It woke us up, it woke the coaches and the players up. We're going to have to step our game up to the next level."
Â
On How To Make Up For The Loss Of So Many Defensive Players
"You can't really make up for it, you just have to keep moving forward. You just gotta keep playing and bring the young guys up, the guys who are already in the program that got to see the success of the older guys that got into the league. We're not really gonna move forward, just gonna rebuild, revamp and retool."
Â
On This Year's Defensive Strengths
"I think we're a quicker D, I think we have a lot more speed in different positions. Especially up front, we have a quicker D-line. All across the board. We have a great Jack linebacker, Drew Lewis who can fly around, he runs around like a DB but he's built like a linebacker. So, I definitely think we're a faster defense. We can get sideline-to-sideline quicker."
Â
On What Is Different About CSU This Year
"They do the same thing they always do. Mike Bobo is a great coach, he gets them ready to play. It's really about us and executing our game plan to shut down what they throw at us."
Â
On Playing CSU's Up-Tempo Offense
"Our offense is a great up-tempo team, they play very fast and very swift. We have a lot of speed across the board on our offense so I think it will translate for us as a defense during the game.
Â
On Defense's Talent And Athleticism
"We all know that Chidobe is irreplaceable, he's a special guy. He lit up the room. He lit up things on the field. But we have guys that study film rigorously. Rick Gamboa is a film room junkie. He knows the ins and outs of this defense. He knows how to get guys lined up. I don't think we can replace guys like that. We've got to revamp and retool, bring the next guy up and teach him how to watch film like Chido did. Chido taught us in that DB room where I should be and where our keys should be. And that translated to this year, so when we watch film as a group it's not just one guy leading it, it's a collective group. Like Isaiah Oliver, Ryan Moeller, and myself, we see something in particular and can speak on it as a group."
Â
On The Possibility Of The Game Being A Shootout
"I don't care if we win by 31 or 3 points. As long as we get the win, it doesn't bother me. The comments don't really bother me. At the end of the day winning or losing is what matters to me.
Â
On The New Starters On Defense
"Faces may change but expectations never do. Our expectations are high, we're definitely ready to go. Our coaches are on board and we're on board with our coaching staff. They're going to lead and we're going to follow right behind them. We're all going to go to war together."
Â
On Isaiah Oliver
"That's a long corner, physical corner, special. You don't really see many 6'2"corners that can run like the wind. He's agile, lengthy. He'll be a pest for opposing receivers all season. He's smart, we talk football with each other. I know I can trust him. I know I can shade away from him and leave him on an island all by himself. Isaiah is well advertised and he will definitely meet the expectations."
Â
Players Mentioned
ILB
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OL
/ Football
OLB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
ILB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
OLB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DB
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