Games, uh, tomorrow it’ll be fun to, to have it kicked off. And when you do as a coach, what you do is you sit there and you watch all the games and then you make notes. Oh, my gosh, they didn’t, uh, create an edge on this sweet play and this happened and, and you’re, you’re texting your coaches and players during the game and we’ll actually have our players, uh, with a, to do list tomorrow during the, uh, Florida State Georgia Tech game because we play both teams. So we’ll have them, we’ll require them to watch the game and then give them assignments, uh, to write up with what they see and what they think, uh, for later down the road and also talk to them about, um, looking at things in, in those games tomorrow that might come up next Thursday for them and how they would handle it, um, as we wrap up a preseason camp and we did it a couple of days ago. Um, we, we’ve been really, really hard on all the little things we, we’ve said we’re trying to figure out how we can finish better. Um, we, we’ve had more penalties than, than we should have. Uh, we’ve got the best academics in the AC C, the third best in the country. Uh, so we shouldn’t be having penalties. So we’ve talked to the guys about, that’s a lack of discipline when we have penalties. Uh, this game last year, I think we only had three. We might have had five. It was very, very few and that was a big factor in, in winning the Minnesota game last year. So, uh we have documented every penalty. We’ve had AC C officials at every practice and then there have been consequences for those that have had penalties. We have uh um really cut down on the pres nap and post whistle penalties and, and those are things you cannot have. And then the, you’ve got to limit uh the ones um within the whistles and those are usually holding penalties and pass interference penalties. That’s the large majority of the penalties in, in college football as you look at it, but you can’t have a false starts. Uh You can’t have uh late hits. Uh You can’t have offsides. Tho those are things that are just mental uh penalties that, that get you killed. So we’ve done a much better job and, and we’ve actually put up in every team meeting how many penalties we had by each side of the ball and who had them. And then we put them up on a video screen in the locker room so players can see every day, uh, who needs to clean up their, their, uh, their, their penalties. And therefore, um, it, it, it goes back to go to class being on time, goes back to keeping your locker room clean. It goes back to keeping the, the players lounge clean. All of those little things we feel like will help us, uh, on the, as, as we get there. Uh, it’s been the most fun camp I’ve ever been around because the guys have done everything we’ve asked them to do. They’ve been ready to practice every time we haven’t had a bad practice. Um, we’ve had tremendous leadership. It’s the best leadership. We, we talk about player led teams being important. This is the best we’ve had on this team, um, since we’ve been here. Uh, so we’re, uh, it’s been fun. They’ve been fun. They’ve policed themselves. Um, they’re the ones that, um, run the guys when they have penalties during practice the next day, they decide what they do and they run it with them. Um, if in their position unit, someone, uh, has a disciplinary issue, uh, the players decide what they do and the whole unit runs them. Um, so it’s been, uh, it’s been fun and, and really good. The other thing we, we’ve hit more, we’ve scrimmaged more, we’ve tackled more during practice and scrimmages than at any time since we’ve been here because we’ve got more depth and part of that is, we’ve recruited better and part of it’s that, uh, uh, we’re developing better. Uh, so we’ve got a lot more guys that are playing and, and, uh, young guys have to tackle old guys. Uh, Marion Hampton’s been hit enough. He gets hit some, but he, he’s, uh, he carried the ball enough last year. Why are we gonna beat him up in, in a scrimmage? He just needs to get his ball security. He knows what to do and be fresh for the game. So, we, we’ve hit all the other backs a lot in live scrimmages. We’re not gonna hit on Marian in a live scrimmage. He’ll, he’ll get his first contact next week, but the young linebackers need to tackle and they’ve got a scrimmage. You, you can’t put them in a third situation and throw them out there in a ball game and expect them to tackle. Well. So we’ve, we’ve scrimmaged more than we’ve ever scrimmaged and we’ve stayed healthy. It’s, uh, um, we’ve told the guys unless you practice on Sunday, which will be like a Tuesday practice for a Saturday game. If you don’t practice this Sunday, you’re not going to make the trip. Um, as of right now, we think everybody’s gonna be ready to practice. Uh, Marie Campbell has been the practice yesterday, full speed and, and got after it looked really good. So we’re proud of him. Um, so guys are, are ready to go. We’ve got, we had some uh soreness in the receiving court and all those guys are back out there running around. So, uh we, we feel like that they’re all in a position um to, to play as of right now for next Thursday, uh depth chart. Uh PJ Fleck, a good friend of mine, he decided not to release the depth chart. Uh I think to, to be fair to our team. Uh We, we’re gonna do the same. Uh, we’re not gonna release the depth chart. Well, we haven’t even talked to them about, uh, um, who’s gonna start it at? What position they see every practice they see every play on, on an ipad. So they know who’s gonna play. Um, and, and we’ll figure out, uh, do we tell them, uh, at each position who’s gonna play, do we tell them in their own unit? Does it matter? Um, but they know who’s gonna play. So that, that doesn’t make any difference to us. Uh Most of the Minnesota teams back. So, uh, they were all the, the, the lines of scrimmage were so good. Most of the guys that, that, uh, played against us last year we anticipate will play, but we’ll, we will see if they have any changes in the first quarter, like they will see if we have any changes and then we’ll go back, uh, next Monday, uh, the following week, uh, before the Charlotte game to our regular, releasing a depth chart. And and, and it’ll be the same as, as we move forward. Um, as far as offense is concerned right now, we’re, we’re planning on playing both quarterbacks, uh, depending on how the game dictates. I mean, one of the problems we had last year is Connor came in the West Virginia game without any experience because Drake didn’t play in the bowl game. So part of developing depth, um, we, we want to have two quarterbacks ready to play and that’s, that’s important to us. Very few people do that. That’s something that we have not done a very good job of. And we’ve been lucky that Drake and Sam stayed healthy, but it’s hurt us that we, we did not have someone ready if they had gotten hurt. Uh, we, we lost a national championship game to Alabama and in 2010 because Colt mccoy got hurt on the fifth play of the game and our backup, um, had not had a lot of experience. We didn’t play him enough. We’re trying to get Colt the Heisman. Um, so that, that’s, that’s part of, uh, making all that work. But then we ended up, uh, having a freshman quarterback out there and we were down by three points for up to, with five minutes left to go, four minutes left to go in the game, but we, we lost the game and, and we didn’t play him enough then. So, uh, depending on how the game goes, um, we would like to play two quarterbacks and we’d like to do it for the season and the offensive staff has done a really good job. Uh, Connor and, and Max are different. They’re, they’re the same in some ways, but they’re different than others. Uh, and the offensive staff has done a really good job of blending the, the line with what both of them do best. So I feel really good going into the game, uh, about, uh, the plan, uh, for both of those because they’ve tailored it to where the quarterback that’s in the game, uh, will have things that he can do best, um, with, without question. Uh, but I do see scenarios where both play defensively. I’ve been impressed with Jeff Collins. Um, he hadn’t been the stubborn guy that, that sat around in his year off and, and just said this is what I do. It’s what I did at Mississippi State. It’s what I did at Florida. He’s come in, he’s looked at our personnel, he’s looked at, uh, he’s, he’s had great visits with all of our coaches, um, and he’s doing a great job in my estimation of making this defense work for this place and this team, not just a quote, Jeff Collins defense, so he’s changed a lot of things. He’s given our offensive line a lot of looks which is really good for preseason. You usually don’t get that. Um, the defense has had a lot of looks because we’ve had two quarterbacks, we’ve given them a lot of different plays to, to, uh, try to work against. Um, so I, I like his approach and, and the fact that he is, uh, fine tuned, uh, a lot of the things that he’s done in his past, uh, moving forward with this defense. Uh, we’ve been good at times on defense and gotten credit for it because we’ve been bad at times on defense too. But more than not, we have not been a consistently good defense that’s kept us from getting where we want to go. Um, what I’ve seen is that we’ve got older players on defense, we’re more experienced on defense. Ted Mon Aquino has the front plan. Well, uh, you, you’ve got a question mark when you lose a set gray, obviously with Amari Campbell and, and who would the other young ones be that can step up there because we’ve got to get more depth at linebacker. Um, but you’ve got an older, uh, secondary and those guys have played now and we’ve given up too many explosive plays in the secondary. Um, I think mainly because of miscommunication and, and, um, I’m, I’m seeing less of that now, so I’m, I’m excited about, about what I see. I’m seeing four older safeties that can all play, um, and you can just rotate them in. So we’re talking about depth. Um, you, everybody says, well, you haven’t played depth. Well, if you don’t have it, you can’t play it. People hurt you don’t have anybody to put in. You can’t, but you got to develop it and, and I’m seeing opportunities now for us to do that. So, um, to, to get from good to great. Um, we’re, we’re sitting here after five years where we’ve had the second most wins in the AC C behind Clemson tied with NC State. So we’ve been good because we’ve lost the NC State three times and because we’ve lost at the end of the year, we haven’t gotten credit for being good. Um, but we, we want to be great. That’s what we’re working toward and we’ll continue to do that. Um, right now, uh, special teams, there has been a huge emphasis. Uh, a lot of your starters will play on it. You still have a lot of, of backups on your special teams and it gives them a chance to develop, especially if you’re playing more people, they’re gonna play in the game. But then it, it, they elevate as, as you go through, uh, the season and, and get better in, in those areas, but we’ve got to change games on special teams. We can’t just be ok or poor. And the special teams coach from Syracuse last year is a special teams coach at Minnesota and they blocked punt against us when Ben Ken and read his knee in the Syracuse game. So I’m sure he’ll come after it and and he will come after it early. Um I am excited about Tom as our punter. He uh he has improved a lot. He is getting it off quickly. He can conventional putt or rugby punt. So it gives us advantages. Um So he’s really done a good job because I was asked that early in, in camp and, um, he, he’s come on and, and done a tremendous job and Noah Burnett made nearly all the kicks last year. So, uh, we should be good in, in those two areas. Um, as we are moving forward, uh, also we decided to bring back the helmet stickers. I think Jeremy released that earlier today. Um It’s something that I probably should have done, uh, five years ago when we came back, uh, players like it and, uh, players that were here liked it. You’ve got the Tommy Thig Pins and, uh, Rick Steinbacher and Corey holidays and Kevin Donnelly’s and Brian Simmons and, and I brought it up to them. So would you all like to see them back? And they said, oh, my gosh, it, we loved it. It was great. So we asked our coaches to get a, an award system, um, where you would put the, the stickers on the helmet for certain awards where you might lose a, um, a sticker because you didn’t do something right. Then we took it to the leadership committee, then we took it to each position group. Uh, so we feel like we have a really, really good reward system moving forward. Uh, and on Sunday after every game, uh we will um, obviously award each player what, what he accomplished during the game and there’s some really cool stuff in there that even the players brought up and brought back back to us. And, uh, Jeremy the, on the, uh, blue helmet, it will be a white sticker and on the white helmet, it will be a blue sticker and, and the tar heel foot that we had before. So that’s, uh, that’s what we’ll do when we went to Texas. They’ve never done anything like that and coach roll didn’t want to do it. So I didn’t do it when we got back here. I just didn’t continue and I, I wish I had, I, I should have, um, PJ Fleck, the head coach at Minnesota. He’s a friend of mine. Uh, we’ve been on trips together, we’ve played golf together. I don’t, I don’t enjoy coaching against friends. It makes it tougher. Um, but it, it, uh, I admire what he’s done. He’s, uh, he got really high energy. His teams play like his personality. Uh, his wife, Heather is a dear friend of ours as well. Uh, he kind of, he grew up in the Jim Trestle Ohio State tree and then he, he really has been around Greg Schiano most of his career and he, he coached in the Pros at, at, at Tampa Bay with Greg. Um, so he’s a, he’s a guy that I really admire. He’s got, uh 12 years as a head coach, 29 and 16 at home. So they play well at home. Uh, the real impressive stat is they’re 13 and one in nonconference games at home. Um, so they, they’ve been tough, they’ve got it as a yellow out, I think is gold out, gold out. Uh, so the, everybody in the stadium is gonna wear gold so they made it a special game. So we’re anticipating that the atmosphere will be very much like the uh atmosphere at Virginia Tech when we went up there the, the first game after COVID because they’re, uh, they’re all excited about us coming and, and it, it should, uh, it should be a great opener on Fox National TV, only a couple of games at night. Uh So it’ll showcase our, our team for sure. Um They’ve got, uh, we, people are wondering about our quarterback situation. They’ve got, uh Max Brosman Rosmer, excuse me. Uh He was an all American last year at New Hampshire. He won the Heisman for that level. Uh He’s really good, he can move. Um, he’s uh a guy that’s very accurate. Um He goes to the right place, he’s hard to sack. Um Then you add Darius Taylor who gained 100 and 38 yards rushing against us last year. That’s a great back. Um And their offensive line, three of those guys are, are gonna be high draft choices. Uh, the, the offensive tackle supposed to be the number one pick you start looking at Carol Cooper and, and, um, Essy, Essy, they’re, they’re all, they’re 663, 36 73 15, 663 10 and all seniors are graduates. So they’ve been around a long time. Uh, so the, the back, the athletic quarterback, um, being physical, it, it’ll be a really a test of the two lines of scrimmage. We, we, we, we feel like we’re improved in our defensive line, our front seven. they’re gonna have a handful and, and then you take our offensive line, there’s only one offensive lineman o on our team that’s ever started a game. I mean, so they’re, they’re totally inexperienced and I, I told, uh, Randy Clements and I were talking about it, our offensive line coach, I said it’s not an excuse, it’s a fact. And you’ve got a new defensive coordinator we’ve never seen before. Uh, so we’re gonna have to do a great job of figuring out who they are, what they’re gonna do. Defensive coordinator used to be at James Madison. He blitzed a lot. Minnesota hasn’t been a blitzing team. So we’ll have to figure all that out during the first quarter and it’ll, it’ll be, uh, it’ll, it’ll be, uh, a real challenging, fun thing for our offensive staff to take those young offensive linemen who we think are really talented and, and figure it out with a new quarterback and, and, um, and get us in a position to go through. Um, they’ve also got a couple of other backs. They’ve got, uh, Ben G, who was the Mac freshman of the year at Ohio last year. They got a transfer from Oklahoma Marcus Major. Uh, so they’re gonna run the ball and they’re gonna be physical running the ball and, um, we, we got ahead of them in late third quarter last year and it was harder for them to run it late. Uh, but that’s who they are, uh, defensively. They’ve, uh, uh, they’ll be one of the best fronts we’ll face. They’ve got AAA defensive end that was, um, number five and, and pro football focus, uh, pass rushing last year. Um, so we’ve got the new young tackles and he’s really, really good and he’s talented and, and, uh, they’re big and physical, their best linebacker. Um, Linda Beg 45 did not play against us last year. He’s their leader. He’s kind of the captain of the guy in the middle. Um, so all those things are, are going to be, uh, fun and, and challenging for us as we go through. But I, I think when you, you look at new quarterbacks on both sides, you, you look at new coordinators on defense on both sides, uh, an away game for us, um, early game National TV. Uh, a lot of fun stuff to look forward to next week. We are, uh, we will have a, uh, a mock game tonight. Uh, today is, is like game day. So this is what I’ll wear for the game. Next week, our coaches will be in their coaching gear. Um, our players will wear the uniforms tonight that they’re gonna wear next week with the shoes and the gear to make sure it all fits. And then we will take, uh, an hour tonight to go through every possible situation that could come up during the ballgame. We will eat the pregame meal this afternoon at 345 that we will eat next, uh, Thursday. Uh, so this is game day for them and, and we have enough, we’ve, we’ve got a, a rare combination of a lot of older experienced players and some really talented young ones that have never even been on a plane. So we, we’ve got to get the older ones to get the young ones to, to be more comfortable with, with what’s gonna happen on game day and they’re all working on that. Uh, tonight, questions with the many adjustments you guys are gonna have to make on the fly early in the game next week. How do you simulate that tonight? How have you thought about doing that? We think we’re lucky. Andrew, the, uh, Andrew’s question was, how do you simulate the possible changes that you’re gonna look at? Jeff Collins is one of those that comes from everywhere. So we feel like as inexperienced as we are in this offense with these two quarterbacks, Connor hadn’t played very much. Max has never played in this offense and all those young offensive linemen, we’re very, very lucky, uh, to have Jeff bring them from everywhere. So we feel like that’s helped us, that we’ve been able to look at those things and, and we’d say, oh, I’m, I’m Chip Lindsay come over and I say, man, he’s free. He’d say, yeah, that’s good stuff. We’re gonna have to work on that. We’d have to get a game plan for that. So, um, I think what you do is you stay simple. Uh, you try to figure out who they are in, in that first quarter and then you redo your game plan and that’s what you’ve got to do. The first games are so much like bowl games because you haven’t played in a while. You haven’t tackled. You haven’t been as, as live with your kicking game. So, uh, usually you’ve got to keep from losing those early ones, uh, until you can figure out how to win when you say you’re planning to play. Does that mean that one of them is not when the job is 10? Yeah, let, let me, um, I’ve learned that what I say is not what people hear sometimes. So I’ll be very, very careful even in our staff meetings, I’ll have, I have staff notes every day. And I’ll walk out and one of them will come and ask me a question. I just went over and I said, you’re 50 you didn’t listen or you didn’t understand me. So either I didn’t say it properly or you didn’t hear. What about these players? And then fans, it’s, it’s amazing when people come up and say, did you say this? And I said, yeah, I said it and he said, well, that, that’s, I said that that’s not at all what that means. That’s not even close. So what I’m saying is that we will have both quarterbacks ready and we would play them based on how the game would dictate when you go into the game. Uh There’ll be some that will hear this and say, he said he’s gonna play two quarterbacks. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. There’ll be some that say, um I can’t believe they don’t have a quarterback, they don’t even have one and there’ll be some that say, oh gosh, maybe we got two quarterbacks. Um, and really, and truly, they’re both good, they’re both good enough to win, but we’ve got to figure out what during the game works the best to win the game and that’s it. And that’s what we tell the players we, we came up with, I guess speaker came in and said, uh, don’t, don’t talk about how good you are, put it on film. So that’s been one of the themes for the fall. Uh Don’t tell me you won’t play. Everybody wants to play. Don’t tell me you won’t be an NFL player. Everybody wants to be NFL. Put on film and the ones that put it on film are the ones we’re gonna play Thursday and, and the same with the quarterbacks, Jacoby just been behind. He’s had some great plays but he didn’t get here for spring and, and so he’ll keep working if one of these two guys got hurt. But right now it’s a, it’s a two man race, but we do feel like that we can play either one of these guys and win. We’ve got to figure out what they’re doing. We’ve got to figure out how we’re handling it during the game and which one, which, which system within our system that one of them would run would be the one to give us the best chance to win and, and, and not to be a smart Elle, but we feel like both of them are good enough to win. We haven’t, we don’t know, Max, I mean, we haven’t seen him in a game. We’ve seen video, Connor, we know and Connor’s gotta keep coming and we know that, but Connor’s had some great places and, and so, uh, that’s what we’ll do is we’ll just, we’ll, we’ll be like you all, we’ll be sitting there watching the game and say this is working. We’ll let it go. This isn’t working. Let’s, let’s, let’s change it up, let’s try something else. And I do feel like this team, uh, we need to win Thursday. We’re going to be a lot better team this year at the end than we are at the beginning because we got so many new things we gotta fix. We got, we got new quarterbacks, we, we’ve got new offensive line, all of those things should get better as the year goes on. I feel like our kicking game is gonna be better and usually you win games at the end of the year with a running game defense and kicking game and we haven’t been good in two of those three. So I feel like all those will get better as, as the season goes and, and that’s because of depth and things that we feel like that we’re, we’re doing and I’m sorry, Ross again, I’m sorry, I missed it like saying you’re in a play. Is that trying to make Minnesota have to prep for four backs and game plan for growth knowing that you can just play too. Is that kind of, uh, yeah, but it’s facts. I mean, we, we don’t know how either quarterback is gonna play. So if one of them is in the game and not playing well, we’re going to play the other one period. I mean, it, it is, if, if it was Drake, we wouldn’t be sitting here saying this because we just don’t know how they’re gonna play. And I think that’ll be, we could ask Austin. Austin Blaskie just walked out, we ask Austin to come up here. He’d tell you everything JJ is sitting back there. They can tell you everything. So, um, but, but no, very honestly, we don’t know, we don’t know how either one’s gonna play. So we’re, we’re going to watch the game and try to put them in the best positions and then if it’s not working for one, you go with another to try to win the game, you also said that, that you’d like to play both for the whole season. Ok, listen carefully. I would like to play both based on how the season goes. If, if one of them looks like Drake May on Thursday night and he’s winning all the games and we’re gonna play one quarterback. So what you do is you figure out what gives you the best chance to win the game and that’s what you do. Chip, I was gonna say a lot just from your experience based on it. Is it, it, uh, again, they, the older guys always taught me, it’s so much like ball games, you haven’t tackled as much as you’re going to during the season. So the turnovers are a huge key in opening games, you’re not really sure, especially with two new defensive coordinators. And now with the transfer portal, you’re, you know, less about the teams than you did because you, you don’t get to see them. You have to go back and look at them, you have to look at the running back at Oklahoma and the running back at O Ohio U instead of where they played for Minnesota last year. Um, and then special teams, most people don’t do those live. So first time you, you get tomorrow, first live, special teams are gonna be Florida State and Georgia Tech at noon and you’re just really not sure chip what, what’s gonna happen. So that’s why the term came up. And a lot of people don’t like it. That usually most first games are lost more than one because you usually make too many mistakes. And then, uh, and what I’ve, I’ve really asked our coaches consistently is fix your mistakes. Now, every day of practice is a game. So if we dropped the plant, uh, Tuesday, then, uh, that was in Minnesota. To me it wasn’t a Tuesday drop punt because he wasn’t ready. We dropped the punt because it was the game. If it was a block punt, Tuesday, then that, that was it in Minnesota. So let’s don’t come back in here Sunday after Minnesota and say, God, we should have fixed this, we should have fixed this. We gotta fix it now and, and that’s partly what tonight’s about. It’ll be about organization, it’ll be about substitutions on the sideline. You haven’t done any of that stuff and then you’ve got Jeff Collins for the first time ever here with a new staff. So that’s new too. And then you’ve added the Q CS and the analyst. So you got a lot more bodies running around that can coach than ever before. So you’ve got to be really careful that that’s not chaos and that, that’s organized just because you got so many people and sometimes more people is not the answer. Uh It, it, you’ve still got to have, uh, a directive of who’s in charge and who says what and who goes to who and, uh, like we had a situation, um, Tuesday in special teams where, um, a receiver had a pull, he came out, nobody told the, the special teams coach on punt. So we didn’t have, we had 10 out there and that, that’s got to get fixed. I mean, so trainer has to go immediately to the special teams coach and, and if he’s on three special teams, he has to go to three coaches and say he is out. So then you have to get the next one up. Um, so all of that stuff that’s more chaotic in the first game than it is afterwards. But we decided it, it again, it, it’s, uh, I, I said it wrong. We’re not going to take a sticker off but we will not allow one to go on. If you would have lost one, we’re going to take one away before we put it back on. We didn’t think it was right to take it off, but it would cost you one of your additional ones if you had lost one and, and that came up from the players, they’re the ones that said if you have penalties, if you have this, if you have this, then you should not be able to be awarded, I believe at the beginning of this month. Did you, are you comfortable with? How much you? yes, we’ve done more special teams and we’ve done it live every time. We just haven’t tackled the returners. They’ve been th but every other phase of special teams uh has been live. So, um, I’m, I’m, I’m really excited about the preparation and where we are and now we got to do it. You know, everybody says, how are you gonna do uh Thursday? And everybody comes back and says he said the defensive line was good. They’re awful. I don’t know how they’re gonna be. I know how I see them every day and I only see them against us. So when people say offensive line can’t block anybody and you said they were better, they are better now. They got to play better. There’s not a coach in America other than maybe three or four that has all the same guys back they had last year and they were really good at Texas. We knew certain years we’re gonna be really good. Nobody else knows they’re any good or not. We’re about like most of the teams we play, so we have to do a better job playing and a better job coaching to win those even games to get where we want to go. And I have no clue what’s going to happen. Thursday night. Now stay on the offensive line. Um, just on the topic of Willie. Uh, I checked his, the second shoulder softens. I don’t tell him that we need to do that. How do you like? I remember watching Willie Lamkin on video and thought he is really good and I love the way he played. And then I remember Pat Sutter said before he walks in, you’re gonna think he’s way too short. So don’t get down on him when he walks in the door saying, oh my gosh. Uh, and, and Willie’s been a blessing for us. He’s one of our true leaders in the offensive line. He’s tough every day. He loves to play. Uh, he is, uh, he’s really aggressive. Uh, we didn’t help him any by bringing in a 66, a 68 and a 68 tackle that makes it look like this when you start looking at the, the curve in the front. But, uh, I love Willie and he’s, uh, he is, uh, a guy who breaks down all of those theories about stats. When you, you, if you measure him and you do all this, you’re not gonna take him, watch him play. Oh, look, it’s film that, that, that’s what you do, put it on film, man. And Willie does every day. Mac, let me ask you a question about his schedule if I can. Uh, last year, obviously a lot of talk about how tough it was the first four weeks and then how it ended at the end this year. I’d like, I’d like to know how the schedule came together. I know Charlotte was two years ago, was postponed, but this is so weak, schedule is really weak and you could win 12 and still not get into the playoffs because your six games in the AC C in the second. It’s the rest of the September. Yeah, the schedules were all done before I got here. I, I’ve had no input in the schedule so I can’t tell you’d have to, I think Rick Steinbacher and B did the schedule. So Central Madison were scheduled before you got here. I, I think these were 10 years out. So, so, yeah, uh, if, if you can do that and I can’t remember COVID changed a few things, Charlotte. And then I think there was a, there was some stuff, maybe something happened with UCF after the hurricane, something might have happened. I don’t know, but I, uh, I don’t have anything to do with scheduling. Um, and, and, uh, and the other thing is, I think you’re really wrong by saying, uh, it’s your opinion. Excuse me. I shouldn’t say you’re wrong. It’s your opinion that the schedule is really weak and we might not get in a playoff. You win your conference, you’re gonna get in the playoff. Um, and that’s what we’re trying to get. And you’re also looking at a, um, a, a team in North Carolina Central that won the Celebration bowl two years ago and who knows whether they’re good with transfer. Charlotte’s Biff’s done a great job down there. They got a tremendous amount of, of, uh, transfers. Uh JMU was number one in the country last year. So, uh, it’s easy for you to sit and say they’re not any good because you don’t have to coach against them or play against them. But again, II, I think that’s an opinion and I’m, I’m just saying that you have, I disagree with you. Six out of eight AC C teams have picked in the second division of the AC C, right Florida State. I do know I, in your position for five years and I picked them in preseason and usually the preseason picks were clueless. I mean, I was awful and, and, and when they’d asked me to pick the national champion right before the national championship game and I said, I don’t know who’s gonna transfer. I don’t know who’s hurt. I don’t know who’s coming back. They said I just pick them. So I, I don’t look at all that. Yes, sir. Sorry, Mike. Is it fair to say that Aidan Banfield Dion golf, Jordan ship in terms of the true freshman. I mean, these guys in line to play meaningful snacks, like with the offense as opposed to like getting on special things. Is there anyone else there in terms of a true freshman, you said, man, just offense. Yeah, I don’t have it in front of me. I just bullet ship. I would say, uh, Banfield would be in a rotation. Uh The others wouldn’t be in an immediate rotation. Jordan got banged up, got him behind a little bit. Um, you, but the, they’re, they’re all three really good players that are gonna play some, I was trying to think to be fair. I’m trying to think of who else? Uh, Alex Taylor, Ashton Woods. Uh, yeah. Ok. Well, who, who could terrible question I’m doing here. Who, who could you see the true freshman that could get a, in the equal with an offense or defense? I mean, there’s got to be a couple of guys. Yeah, I don’t think anybody other than Banfield, um, as of thirsty, it may change. And, and the other thing, I’m, I’m not gonna see you again until Thursday. Somebody could get hurt tomorrow. I mean, you know, those things change too, but, but I would think right now if you’re, if you’re talking about meaningful snaps, probably Aidan would be the one that would be out there more than, than anybody else in a, in a true freshman role. And that’s not to say, I think, I think one should just tell generically about the freshman class. Yeah. Um, freshman class we, we said had a, a 347 in the core. They’ve been unbelievable. The, the staff loves them. They, uh, uh, the coaches love them. It’s really a great class. So there’s so many of them that may play. Some, they’ll probably, we’ve told them, some of them hit a wall, they got really tired because they’ve, they’ve never done this much and we were throwing them out there and let them go and then they just be worn out. They’d be beaten down. So we’ve told them that it, what you need to do is keep working and improve. And by mid season, hopefully you’ll be in that rotation right now, your guy may play something. But until you put it on film every day, we don’t know whether you’re gonna show up at Minnesota or not because you’re, you’re just so young and then we had Brian Simmons stand up. Brian Simmons red shirt didn’t start his second year. So don’t, don’t you freshman be thinking about transferring leaving because you’re not playing the opening game. Uh This guy is gonna be in the hall of fame, so he’s, he’s really good. He said this is the best leadership group that you’ve had since you’ve been back coming up here where these guys like Great British said Ta is coy here. He’s a writer. You that a lot of, you know, you guys quote, quote, a step up into that back. It is. But Power Echoes has been a leader since we’ve been here. He and came and Rucker are two of the best leaders I’ve ever been around. And then those guys start teaching other guys how to lead. And then um Elijah Hussey in his second year becomes more of a leader. Uh Will Hardy can grow up, uh stick lane. Um He got here in the midsummer got hurt and didn’t even get to go through preseason and now he’s playing really well. So I, I think guys like that. Um You bring in an Austin Blaskie who’s never started at Georgia, but he’s played for four years. He’s older, he gets it. You bring in a Josh Harris that’s started at two different schools. He’s older, he gets it, he tells them grow up, quit whining. Um So a lot of those guys have come in and really stepped up and, and made a difference and, and that’s what I’m excited about. You mentioned the Virginia Tech game three years ago. Now that was if I’m remembering correctly, Freeman and Power’s first games with fans in college. So are they have, they sort of taken that way and, you know, haring on that sort of environment to be under? Yes. And, and younger guys have played in front of five to maybe 20,000. They’re gonna have 60 really loud pulling against them on, on Thursday night and I’ve told them you, you don’t take it as pressure, you take it as pride, you take it as fun and, um, and we’ll just see how they respond. I go back to fresh real quickly as far as it goes. How close is he to being in a point where he can get some meaningful reps. Now, um, you start looking at, uh, um, yeah, he’s mature. He’s strong. He’s tough. What he does better than most of these people is a young freshman is, is patch protected and he’s from a really good program. So he’s, uh, he’s ahead of the game so he could play and he could go in the game if the other guys got hurt, uh, without question. So he’s, um, you, you just got a couple of older guys that are, are more ready. Um, we do, we do. So we’re, we’re Larry Porter has done a really good job of keeping his room. They’re, they’re all responsible for keeping their rooms where they’re good and, and it’s even gonna get more, um, important in the future that you start salary caps and all the things that are coming up here. Uh, you better keep your room full. It’s, it’s like it’s, we’re, we’re headed toward NFL on a fast track. The lack of end game, five stars, three year old son concern it all. I mean, that’s crazy. It only one guy started entering the way game get in. You know, I will say that I was feeling really good to Randy Clements told me that the other day and I said, we’re not gonna have excuses. So, if that was an excuse, he said no, it’s a fact. And I said, I’m ok with facts. Uh, but I really like them. Uh, uh, they, they’ve worked so hard. I like our defensive line right now better than I’ve liked them since we’ve been here and they’re, they’re playing so hard. We’ve had some real battles up front and Minnesota will be among the best defensive line that we’ll play this year. And we’re putting these guys in a position where they have no clue what the defensive coordinator is gonna do because we, we don’t know what he’s gonna do. So it’ll be, it’ll be really fun to watch him. My mom talked to him about keep your composure and they’re gonna be some good players and bad plays, but they’re also talented that I’m, I’m, I’m just excited to watch him. Have you already? Which is a little bit, um, what is kind of the process of, you know, looking at that? It does bring back a lot, but you, as you touched on, you know, has a new defensive coordinators there, a balance that you strike or looking at how last year’s game and, you know, looking at you, yes, it’s a, it’s a great question, but you go back and look at breakthrough for 404 yards. We didn’t run the ball, we couldn’t run it against him. It’s the same group except they’ve got their best linebacker back with that front. So right now people are going to anticipate that we will be, uh, run oriented because we’ve got more experience at running back than we do at quarterback in this offense. Um, so can we run the ball better than we did last year with a different offensive line that’s never played before against the same defense? I don’t know. That’s, that’ll be one of the, the really great things about Thursday night is when we walk out of there, we’ll know more about ourselves that we don’t know right now, we can say that offensive line is good or they’re talented, they messed up a bunch of stuff. Uh, they’re going to be good before the season is over, but they need to pick it up. So, so we’ve got a lot of, a lot of question marks we’ll answer Thursday night. We got time for two. Was there anything in particular that you said? Was there anything in particular that they did kind of taken away Mario, you know, uh, production, you know, PJ, uh, being raised with, uh, uh, Shiana Greg, they’re both great coaches. Um, he gonna stop the run period and make you throw it and that’s just who he is and, and that’s, that’s basic football. We haven’t done that here. Um, I’ve, I’ve tried and we haven’t and, uh, we’ve got to, so it’s gonna be two lines of scrimmage that are trying to knock the heck out of each other, uh, to see who can run the ball, to see who can get a quarterback that hadn’t been out there on these fields, uh, very much with Connor and not at all with Max and their guy had never been out in this game, uh, who can give their quarterback a chance. Ok, we got um no, and what is what stood out to you about the way he’s approached off-season training, he talk to Charlotte about how to expand his game with like a Christian, like skill set, trying to expand on that. But what stood out to you about how he’s approached it with everybody looking at, yeah, Aaron Omarian is one of the nicest, hardest working kids I’ve ever seen in my life. If, if he speaks, it’s because you spoke to him and he’s usually gonna say yes, sir. Um and he’s, uh he, he doesn’t gripe, he never changed the motion. I mean, if he scores a touchdown, he looks at you the same way. If he does, if he went the wrong way, he’s gonna do what he’s supposed to do. He, he does everything perfect. He never misses a class. He’s, he’s always the first one to see. Uh and he works so hard. He gets mad when we take him out. If we’re, if we’re having a, a third group and then all of a sudden we go to scrimmage, he’s gonna be mad that we don’t let him scrimmage. Um, so he’s just an absolute dream. He wanted to catch the ball better out of the backfield. He wanted to pass, protect better. So I would say those are the two things that, that he’s really, really worked on. He was a great receiver last year. So, I don’t know, I, I think it’s route running. He’s really worked hard on, on uh being uh uh more distinct in his routes and, and running away from man and sitting in zones and doing those type things. Uh, but he’s, uh, he, he’s really good and he’s a dream. And the other thing in modern day football, our, our fans talk about loyalty. Um He got offered four times as much money to leave as he would make to stay here and never even considered it. So the thing about loyalty, I mean, how, how much does that happen? Modern day? Um So I, I just, uh I’m so proud of him. I’m pulling for him and I, I want him to have the year that he deserves to have because he’s done everything right since he’s been here. Yeah, we got a staff meeting, but I’ll get a couple more. I’ll be quick. Ok? Um The, the couple of times this preseason when you mentioned Bobby B and Joe Turner in regard to people asking him why the heck do you keep doing this? Um I mean, have those that have their situation really stuck in your mind in terms of you felt like those guys lost their sense of purpose when they stopped coaching. Is that what jumps out about their situations and, and why you mentioned it? No, p um I remember when coach Paterno got fired and he died right afterwards. So he coached until as long as he could. Coach Bowden got fired. Both of them got fired weirdly enough when you think about it. And I hated that for both of them. In fact, I told coach Bowden and his family, there’s no way they’ll ever fire you. Your name’s on the stadium and they did. Um, so, uh, it didn’t, they didn’t quit ever and I don’t know that they would have in, in talking to both of them. What I wanna do is, is as long as I feel like I’m doing a good job and I know more about that than anybody else. Uh, and I’m really hard on myself. As long as the kids are listening, we’ve got good coaches here and, and we’re putting a productive product on the field that has a chance to keep getting better and elevating us at, at the, uh, most difficult time, most challenging time in college football history because of all the changes to do this. Uh, and especially the school like ours, um, then I’m healthy. I’m excited. I can’t wait till, till next week. I’m, I’m sitting here thinking this is really Friday for tomorrow would be Saturday on game day because this is my Friday routine usually. Um, and I’m thinking about, but this is game day. So I gotta get out there tonight. Uh, how many people get to do that in their lives? How many people get up every morning, go to bed every night with a purpose and get up every morning excited about what they’re gonna do all day. And I get to do that and I, and it’s not about me because II, I think I said some interview that, well, it’s my purpose. If I quit, I won’t have a purpose. Well, that, that’s not the reason to keep doing it. It’s not about me. Uh, but if I’m the best person we can have at this time to do this job and I know all of them. So I know who the others would be. Uh, if I’m the best one and I’m healthy and I like doing it and I know what we’re doing and we’re making progress, I’m gonna do it till somebody tells me they’d rather me not. And, and, or until I decide that there’s somebody better than me and, and that’s it. Somebody said the other day, you’re just doing this for money. I said, no, really not. They said, well, you just, you’re just doing it for your ego. I said I’m really not. I don’t, I don’t need any of that anymore. I’m doing it because I love these kids. I love football. I, I love this. I love you. I love sitting and talking to you about the game. It’s a, it’s a wonderful game and, and this stuff really challenges my mind. When you ask me questions. I have to sit here and think about it and then I, I’m leaving here to go up to a staff meeting with 30 people and talk to them about this afternoon and tomorrow. What do we have to do? Tuesday or Sunday? Which is Tuesday. What, what can we do between now and Thursday night to prepare for all the things you’ve asked me. So we’ve done everything we can do to prepare. Not many people get to do that. Most people are looking at their watch, they hate the five o’clock till they get to go home and I hate it when people say, thank goodness, it’s Friday. I don’t have to work anymore this weekend. I, I’m thinking, I don’t even know it’s Friday. I mean, I’m, I’m so excited. I just, I’m, I’m, I’m just really, really blessed. So I don’t want to be in the way. I don’t want to stay too long. But as long as I’m doing a better job than who I think we would bring in to do it. Then, then I’m, I’m good, Mac. Do you when you first came here, you talked about winning the national championship across the head division and so forth with everything that’s happened in the game the last five years. Do you still think this program could win the national championship? Absolutely. TCU was a play away, uh, a game away two years ago. Oh, absolutely. Do we have some things we need to fix? Yes. Uh, are we better than we were when we got here? Absolutely. Are we better than a lot of our fans think we are? Absolutely. Are we closer than a lot of people think? Absolutely. We’re just, we live in a negative world and a lot of people just get up every morning looking for something to gripe about and when you lose at the end of the year, that’s easy. That’s an easy gripe. And I got it. Um, I’m griping about it too. Anything else? Yeah. No, I, I got way down and then I got a little bit back, uh, during recruiting and I’m getting it back down. So I’m headed back down. But I, I, uh, uh, the, the story that Cl Shepard told when he came about the guy in the desert that, uh, he was walking, all he had was his cell phone of a knife and, um, his cell phone went dead and some boulders fell in it, pinned his arm and he couldn’t get out and nobody came and he was gonna die. So he had to cut off his arm to live. So it’s a true story and he took the knife out, cut off his arm to live. And he turned to the players and the coaches and said, what would you cut off to save your life? What would you cut off to help your life? What would you cut off to have a better team? Uh, and I thought I’m too heavy. I sit here every day and talk to kids about diet and effort and discipline and I’m not, I’m, I’m saying that I’m not showing it, put it on film. So, so I’ve worked really, really hard to, to try to get myself in better shape to be a better role model for them. Have you decided which quarterback will go out first yet? Like, you know, tell us you, you know, right now, uh I’ve, I’ve got what I think will happen again. You’re, you’re five days away. Uh, as soon as I say yes or tell the staff or tell the team that one of them sprains an ankle tomorrow, it all changes. So, so, yeah, yes, we’re just gonna ask all the questions, you know, again. But, um, you spoke earlier this summer about your grandfather’s in and how much does that still come? Yeah, my, my granddad was the love of my life still is to this day. I mean, we lost him many years ago. Um, and he was, um, he was a gentleman. Uh, he was uh, he always had a smile on his face. Um, I used to ride his, his bus to the games with a little leather jacket when I was five and six years old. Um, he would get up and go fishing and hunting every morning of a ball game, which I didn’t know at that time. But when he died, it was amazing the number of stories that people told about his character and his attitude and his smile and I, I never saw him get mad at anybody. Uh I mean, it was just amazing to me, but he won all the games and the stadium is named after him and, and, uh, he told me a few things. He said, uh, um, make sure you put yourself in a position to never get fired, which is what I hated when it didn’t work out at Texas. I, I thought I let him down. Um, he said, uh, you’ve got enough about you to be in the hall of fame if you’ll keep doing this. And, and, um, that worked out. So I was very proud of that night. I was most proud for him that that happened. And then he said, uh, um, always do what, you know, is the right thing to do. And I’ve always done that. And he said, if there’s any question about whether it’s right or not, don’t do it. And he said, but if you’ll do what’s right, people get mad at you and, and people will be frustrated but you’ll sleep good at night and you’ll know that the people that are looking to you for leadership are gonna know that you’re gonna do. What’s right? And that’s what I tell our staff, we’re gonna do what’s right. We’re, we’re gonna do what’s best for these kids every day. And I tell everybody in our staff room, all of our coaches have Children and I said, you treat these players like you would want your son to be treated. And if you’re not, then you’re not doing your job and, and I didn’t bring the right person in here because that’s very, very important. So, while you’re doing all of that in a world, that, that’s not all perfect right now in our business and some people are cutting corners. I told the staff yesterday, I don’t care. We’re gonna do everything right. We’re gonna do everything within the rules and we’re gonna do everything that’s best for North Carolina, best for these kids. Um And, and that’s who we’re going to be moving forward and we’re still gonna win all the games. We’re gonna do it by doing it right. We’re not gonna take shortcuts, anything else I did, which is really, and I tell the players that I was the guy that, that stayed hurt all the time. So I said, if you, you put it on film, you gotta get trust for your coach to put you out there because it’s really important to us. And if he doesn’t trust you, then he’s not gonna put you out there during the game and people are gonna get mad at him. He didn’t trust you because you didn’t do what you’re supposed to do off the field or in practice and you gotta stay healthy. And I said I was a guy who couldn’t stay healthy. I, I ruined my knee in a fraternity football game and then I tried to play and I mean, it just, it got worse and worse and we doctors weren’t doing as well then as they are now and medicine was different. But, uh, that’s what I’ve told them. You, you’ve, the, the other thing we, we told them recently is last night, what was your 24 hours, uh, in preparation of tonight? I could pro if you would tell me the truth and tell me what your 24 hours were, I’d probably know whether you’re gonna be ready to play or not. So, when we’ve lost the lesser teams, what was your 24 hours? Why weren’t you as prepared for that game as you were the one before that we won? And the only way this works, we, we all wanna win all the games. That, that’s our deal. So the only way it works is you gotta get ready every day to be that same guy that’s ready for every game. Not many people do that. Most of our world’s average and it’s ok, it’s ok to be average. But if you’re gonna be average in football, you, you’re gonna get beat and, and that’s what I’ve told these kids don’t be average, run from average, run from average to be great and get up every day with a purpose to go do something that’s important in your life. And, and I told him that, uh, you can go out tonight, it’s Friday night. You don’t have anything to do tomorrow, you’re off and you can lose, uh, your reputation in 15 minutes that you’ve built for 22 years. That’s a choice you have. I can’t be with you. You can also ruin all the conditioning you’ve put in between now and Sunday and then have an awful practice Sunday morning or go out there and not ready to practice Sunday morning and get hurt and lose everything that you’ve put in for the last six months, or you can have a 24 hour preparation for what’s important in your life. And if playing good and winning is the most important thing, then you’ll prepare for that 24 hours. And that, that’s this, this stuff is, the game is very simple. It’s played and coached by very complicated people. I felt it, it’s a great question. I feel really guilty now that I didn’t pay my way to my coaches and I didn’t, then I thought how sorry for me, that I was hurt. I felt sorry for me, but I didn’t lift like I was supposed to, I was out playing fraternity football instead of doing what I was supposed to do. So now I realize when these kids get hurt, they don’t, they don’t worry about me. I want, and I tell the kids that do what you’re supposed to do to prepare you, you’ve got less chance to get hurt. But if you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, there’s consequences. And that’s just a huge part of it. I remember sitting in the hospital and, and there was a guy next to me at that time, they didn’t have rooms that there little curtains you pull back and forth. And the guy next to me was screaming that his feet were killed. And at that time he had cast and I had a full leg cast on the right side and he had it on for like six weeks or something. It was awful, maybe six months. I couldn’t, you had to take that, uh, coat hanger and scratch your leg because it was awful. I mean, it’s just awful. You didn’t have anything like you had today. And I, I finally got so tired of hearing the guy scream. I asked the nurse, I said, would you tell him to shut up? I’ve had it. I can’t do this. She pulled the curtain back. He’d been run over by a train. He’d lost his legs, uh, above his knees. He had no feet and he was delirious and he was screaming that his feet were hurting. Uh, and I said, all right, God, I got it. I need to keep my mouth shut. Get my knee. Well, and then that’s when I started coaching, I, I couldn’t get back. So I did not pay for my scholarship. And, and that’s something that I hate. Uh, all my coaches are, most of them are gone. but it’s something I hate every day that I didn’t give back what they gave me. And that’s what I’m trying to help these young guys realize don’t be me. Don’t be like I was, you’d be tougher than me. You’d be better than me. You, you, you prepare yourself better for me because one of the things we can all do in our lives and especially coaches is we can help them not make the same mistakes we made. And that’s one thing I try to do with them. Do you hope that Governor Walls is at the game? I’m sorry. You hope that Governor Walls is at the game? Love yard. I, I never heard the train.

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