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00:00 >> Des and MJ, you guys have been around, there's so many new guys.
00:04 The excitement of going into fall camp again, but having a lot of transfers.
00:09 What has that been like for you guys?
00:11 >> Well, for me so far it's been good, building a bond with everybody.
00:17 And so far everybody has come along, definitely came along way this summer.
00:20 We got pushed through a lot of adversity.
00:22 And definitely come together as a team.
00:24 And hopefully fall camp, put all the pieces together to have a great season.
00:28 >> Going back off what he said, coming together as a team and
00:31 having that bond is the main thing, having right now during camp.
00:33 Cuz we see each other every day and
00:35 almost every second of the day right now cuz I can't miss.
00:38 So I feel like meeting these new players, getting along very well,
00:42 knowing what our weaknesses and our strengths are.
00:45 Like knowing it together so we know how we can function together.
00:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:54 >> Steven, for you being the new guy,
00:56 what's it like and how do you feel like everybody has meshed together as far as
01:01 the new guys and the guys who have been around?
01:05 >> Honestly, wonderfully.
01:07 Coming into it all, bringing in all these different personalities.
01:09 You guys know how the portal is now.
01:10 It's kind of a, I wouldn't call it a disaster, but it's messy.
01:16 You get in, you may find a place, you may not.
01:19 Technically, there's a home for everybody.
01:21 Everybody wants to go somewhere.
01:22 So bringing in all these different guys from all power five schools,
01:25 from Oregon, from Jackson State, bringing in guys from Stanford.
01:28 It's really a different perspective and I didn't really know how it was gonna shake
01:32 out, but after spring ball, after summer conditioning, to really see these guys
01:36 come together like the bond we've already created going into campus is really special.
01:40 It's something I'm excited to see for game one.
01:41 >> Steven, just talking about, obviously you're coming in,
01:46 coming back to your hometown.
01:47 A lot of it talked about the Bronx coming back, but for you coming back,
01:50 what's that been like?
01:51 Just being back in Louisville now, getting to play for your hometown university.
01:55 >> Honestly, it's been great.
01:57 Out of high school, the one thing I didn't wanna do was stay close to home.
02:00 Honestly, I kinda wanted to go spread my wings and
02:01 just figure out about the world.
02:03 I did just that.
02:03 I graduated.
02:04 I did everything I said I was gonna do.
02:06 And to come back home and be able to experience this with people that I grew
02:09 up with, Little League coaches, parents, family.
02:12 The only two games I had even close to home were both three,
02:15 four hours apart at Vanderbilt and Notre Dame.
02:18 And those are the only two games I even got to see anybody.
02:20 And I had probably 50 people come out to both games.
02:23 So I'm kinda excited to see that support from this town that's always supported me
02:27 throughout high school, even my endeavors at Stanford.
02:29 To be able to come back home and to put on for the city is huge for me.
02:32 It's something I'm very excited for.
02:33 >> It's for all three of you guys, just fall camp starts today,
02:38 a month before the season starts.
02:39 Just what are the best parts of camp that you're looking forward to and
02:42 then some of the parts that are not so much fun?
02:44 >> Well, I'll start first.
02:48 What I look forward to is competing against my teammates and
02:51 getting each other better every day.
02:53 In order to win a championship, everybody gotta compete at a high level.
02:56 So competing with them guys, coming out every day,
02:58 showing what everybody got, be the fourth spot.
03:01 I just feel like that's really the highlight of camp for me.
03:04 >> Yeah, competing is the number one thing, because in practice,
03:07 there's a lot of unseen things that people don't get to see.
03:10 So that's where that grind and that grit comes from to see where your heart is and
03:14 how far you wanna go.
03:16 Going against each other, where it's gonna be safe, fights might break out.
03:19 But having that competition with each other and
03:22 against each other will make us better.
03:23 >> Honestly, I think for me it's the growth.
03:26 Come in day one, guys have already been through spring ball.
03:28 If you've been here, freshman are coming in or even transfers who are just now
03:32 getting finished with school, if they graduated or had a spring ball and
03:34 decided to leave.
03:36 You guys got guys coming in and you have to learn a new scheme.
03:39 Even for the guys who were here last year that had learned a new scheme,
03:41 everybody's growing.
03:42 Being able to see that over the time I've been here is being able to see growth.
03:46 And really just like a development pattern.
03:48 Sometimes you see guys and there's dips or
03:51 there's like a lapse in development or growth.
03:54 But here, everybody's on the uptrend and that's what you wanna continue to see day
03:57 in and day out through camp and that's something I'm looking forward to.
04:00 As far as some of the not fun things, I mean, it's hot.
04:04 It's humid here.
04:05 I didn't have that in sunny California, it's sunny five or eight.
04:09 So to come back home and to be able to experience that is different, but
04:12 it's something that we're all gonna have to grind through.
04:13 And we've got mandatory cold tubs and everything to take care of that and
04:16 keep us healthy.
04:17 So I mean, I think we're all looking forward in the end.
04:21 >> Steven, your journey of being from here, leaving, and
04:24 now coming back sort of parallels Coach Brown's journey.
04:27 I'm wondering if you guys have talked about that.
04:29 And was that a factor in your coming, was him coming here also?
04:33 >> Honestly, for me, I remember Coach Gasparato from the last staff came and
04:37 saw me on Friday.
04:39 I woke up Sunday morning to an ESPN message that said they were leaving.
04:43 Friday they told me they loved Louisville, they'd never leave.
04:45 >> [LAUGH] >> I called my mom, and I was like,
04:48 mom, that kind of cuts out Louisville, I guess I'm not coming home.
04:50 And then I was like, well, they got one guy, and
04:53 they're gonna go after him first, so let's just wait.
04:56 I remember I kind of played like a little life tag with Brady.
05:00 I've talked to Brady, he recruited me down here at Purdue.
05:03 He's the guy who came up and picked me up with the golf cart and everything,
05:07 took me into the games, and I kind of just liked his profile.
05:11 And I've talked to Brady over the years, I saw him at SAGS, and I said,
05:14 this portal's gonna be open for not too much longer, what's it looking like?
05:19 And he said, I can't say anything, man, just don't be in a rush.
05:23 >> [LAUGH] >> And so I took that for
05:26 what I thought, and I gave it a few days, and I got on the phone with Ron when he
05:29 announced it, and we decided we'd come back home and do it together.
05:31 >> [COUGH] >> Judge, go ahead, rest.
05:35 >> [COUGH] >> Des,
05:40 you've got a lot of competition on the front line.
05:43 I mean, obviously you have a lot of guys that are back from last year, so
05:45 new additions.
05:47 What do you kind of expect that to be like as a veteran guy with a lot of young guys
05:50 and a lot of new faces up front?
05:52 It's obviously a different scheme.
05:54 What's the competition gonna be like?
05:56 >> Being a different scheme and having going through spring ball,
06:01 just looking at the competition we have, we have definitely had a lot of depth
06:04 going in, so of course I'm a veteran, so I'm still learning the scheme and
06:09 stuff and still getting into the scheme, but I can also teach the younger guys
06:13 coming up different techniques and what I can do to get better myself.
06:17 >> Des, kind of going off of that,
06:19 I should just talk about just kind of getting out of his comfort zone and
06:22 taking more of a leadership role.
06:23 But for you, what is that like?
06:24 You just talked about learning the scheme but
06:26 also kind of helping the younger guys along.
06:28 What's that balance like for you?
06:29 >> The balance is, it's really, it's not easy, but it's not hard at all.
06:33 Cuz if you put the work in on and off the field, you can study the plays.
06:37 I study plays by myself, so really just going in depth with the plays and
06:41 really just teaching the younger guys drawing boards.
06:44 We can go have a little meeting one on one and
06:46 just really get them comfortable enough in a scheme with me as well.
06:49 And so put that on film and game.
06:52 >> All right, we'll swap out with these guys.
06:54 Again, you can get a few more with them in a second, one on one.
06:57 So we'll swap out so you guys can just hang around for a minute.