Fun practice under the lights. Our best players were making plays, put people in the stands under the lights and see what they do and where we're at.
On Kyler Baugh (DT transfer from Houston Baptist): play on his highlight tape where he ran 90 yards down the field and tackled the running back at the four yard line. I was sold then. He has it (the HOW); not the biggest, longest but incredibly strong and selfless. Plays his tail end off. You can see that on tape.
On Ryan Stapp: He's so versatile. It's all new and it is tough to master, but we have him at corner and nickel and he's been able to handle all of it. At the end of practice we ask the coaches who had the best day, and he had it two days in a row. There's that a-ha moment where he has it. It's starting to click and he's playing a lot faster. He's a really good football player.
Daniel Jackson, Logan Purcell, Cameron James medical staff held them all out.
On Coleman Bryson: When the offensive coordinator looks up during practice and comes over to you and says "he's going to be a hell of a player" that's when you know that kid is opening a lot of eyes. To do what he's done is super impressive. Especially because he's not physically mature yet, but with how fast he plays and how fast he's been able to pick up the defense, he's going to play for us this year. You talk about the four game (redshirt rule), I think he's going to play play for us.
I think Cole Kramer is getting a lot better. He's looking so much more natural, so much more fluid. Having Kirk back has been great for him. He looks way more relaxed and comfortable. Athan (Kaliakmanis) has taken huge strides, but with him it's not the talent it is the small things. It's the snap count, the volume, the leadership, the play clock, the leadership, the other areas that are important that aren't talent. He has taken huge strides there.
The right tackle position: it's getting clearer, but I don't know if the dust will just settle. I think we'll have a little bit more of a rotation than last year, but I think that can help us.
T-Time (Terell Smith) has made plays all camp. Last year he made plays at the start, then didn't then got hurt. This year he has poured it on all camp. Our best players were making plays all night. Today was as balanced as it could've gotten for this time at training camp.
Michael Dixon is a great looking football player. He could be a WILL linebacker but he moves like a safety. We've been playing him at nickel, and with that you get base personnel but with nickel athleticism. He can play safety, he can play nickel, and he's been incredibly physical all camp. We've had to back him and Tyler Nubin off all camp because they've been so physical.
Everyone talks about the 181 starts we don't have (on the offensive line), but we talk about what we do have. John Michael has brought the whole offensive line with him. He's brought them to NIL stuff, he brings them out to dinner all the time.
The team has bought into everything we've thrown at them since January. They're incredibly connected and genuinely love each other. It's our job to do something different every day in the offseason to keep it fresh. It was a hard offseason, but we have to continue to raise the bar.
There is a team scrimmage on Saturday, tomorrow will be more of the young guys practicing and reviewing what we've installed. Saturday we're going to hit every situation. You can push this team differently. We have to be very situationally aware, we'll get the 1's a ton of reps at the beginning but then we have to build that depth. There's a lot of competitions to be had and we have to figure that out.
