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00:00 The group looks a little different than it did in the spring.
00:02 How has fall camp been in the competition?
00:05 Well, the competition for quarterback is tremendous.
00:08 A lot of different guys vying for reps and vying to get time.
00:12 It's been a little bit of a challenge to make sure we get everybody to work at the feet.
00:16 But we've been able to do that.
00:18 Competition's been good.
00:19 These guys have been kind of feeding off of each other.
00:23 I think the more competition you have, the better it's going to make your home.
00:27 Have you ever had this many guys at once?
00:30 Actually, I have.
00:31 I have.
00:32 I have.
00:33 At Purdue, a few times we carried quite a few quarterbacks.
00:35 But we've got nine quarterbacks on the roster right now.
00:41 Really getting six of them, really enough reps in practice right now.
00:47 So that's quite a few.
00:48 But trying to be able to give them all the work they need.
00:52 Young guy stuff after practice.
00:54 Coach does a good job of making sure practice.
00:56 We have a lot of reps.
00:59 So there's been good competition.
01:01 We've had a good room.
01:02 Brian, a lot of people might lack in six or nine.
01:04 You know, with that many.
01:05 But you use four or five one year.
01:08 I mean, because you have to be prepared.
01:10 Yeah, we've gotten down to third or fourth on the depth chart in years past,
01:14 just because of injuries.
01:16 And you never know.
01:17 Like, at Purdue, we have the story of a guy who started out eighth string, right?
01:23 And became a starter, and now a draft pick, and it's all forefront pick,
01:26 not playing for the leaders.
01:27 So you've got to try to develop the whole room.
01:30 Some guys mature at different paces.
01:32 Some guys get better at different times in their careers.
01:35 So we like to carry a lot of guys and let them compete, make each other better.
01:41 Jeff has talked a lot about building this team around Jack.
01:44 It seems like a lot of pressure to put on somebody's shoulders.
01:46 How has he, from your vantage point, handled that performance, leadership,
01:51 and all of that?
01:51 Yeah, it's showtime for Jack.
01:53 It's his sixth year.
01:55 He's been a starter in multiple programs, done a really good job
01:59 at both Purdue and at Cal.
02:02 But he's a veteran guy.
02:03 So I think he's earned that right, earned his time.
02:09 We're excited to have him on our side and be able to work with him
02:12 and develop him.
02:12 But he's been a tremendous leader for this team,
02:17 just coming into the spring.
02:18 Obviously, it helped that he knew us.
02:21 He knew the system.
02:23 It gave him something to really step up in front of the guys
02:27 and be able to be vocal about, try to teach them the offense,
02:30 teach them what to do, help instruct them on the field.
02:33 So we really have another coach on the field with Jack out there.
02:36 He's done a great job so far at camp.
02:38 And we're looking forward to a good year from him.
02:40 Brian, how have you seen him as much as you have?
02:43 What are his strengths?
02:44 And if there's one or two things he needs to do to take the next step,
02:47 what would they be?
02:48 Well, number one, he's really smart.
02:51 He understands football.
02:53 He understands coverages, defenses, fronts, blitzes,
02:58 to the point where he can correct us coaches sometimes,
03:00 where he sees something and we go, you know what, you're right.
03:03 We were wrong quite a bit.
03:05 So he's very smart, very intelligent.
03:09 He's got good athleticism.
03:11 He's got good size, good pocket awareness.
03:13 And he throws a good football.
03:14 So he has a lot of the traits that you're looking for in your quarterback.
03:18 We're always working on being consistently accurate.
03:21 That's one thing we're always trying to improve with him,
03:24 is just making sure every play we're top notch, we're zoned in,
03:28 and we're extremely accurate with the football.
03:30 But he's done a great job of that so far.
03:33 Brian, when you look at the rest of these guys just learning the system,
03:36 I guess what has stood out from your vantage point of them just trying to get
03:39 a base on how this offense runs and how they just are supposed to operate it?
03:43 Yeah, you know, Brock was here in the spring,
03:47 so he's done a good job of coming along and learning what to do.
03:50 And he's really starting to feel more comfortable out there.
03:53 You know, Pierce was here in the spring, but didn't get the reps.
03:56 So now he's getting the reps to go along with that.
03:59 He's done really good in the meeting rooms of knowing what to do,
04:02 answering questions.
04:04 So he's very in tune that way, not just getting on the field
04:07 and letting them go out there and execute.
04:09 I go down the list with a lot.
04:11 Harrison, obviously, just got here in the summer.
04:14 But he's played some football.
04:15 You know, he played at Tennessee, starts to be at Tennessee,
04:18 starts to be at UNLV.
04:19 So he has football experience.
04:20 He's not just making sure he knows our lingo.
04:23 You know, Evan Conley's played some ball here, and he was here with us in spring.
04:26 So he's picked it up well.
04:28 And Brady Allen was at Purdue, so he had a little step up.
04:31 And he's been through a year of the system.
04:35 But him, he's still young.
04:36 He's got to get him reps and get him feeling comfortable as we go through practice.
04:41 You know, he's seen with Brock when he's out there on the field,
04:44 it seems like nobody ever -- like last year, it was kind of like,
04:47 "Oh, he's probably going to come in and win a game."
04:49 You know, always kind of get overlooked a little bit.
04:51 You know, that's kind of what you see with him.
04:53 He's probably not the flashiest guy where you're going to make a bunch of plays
04:56 and say, "Wow, wow, wow."
04:58 But as you accumulate those plays over time,
05:01 he's just consistently doing the right thing, making accurate throws,
05:05 making the right decisions.
05:08 So, obviously, he's led the football team to wins,
05:11 and that's probably a lot of the reason why.
05:13 But you see that out on the field.
05:15 He's good at making decisions.
05:16 He's accurate with the football and good quick release.
05:18 Does a lot of things that maybe aren't necessarily the "Oh, wow" plays,
05:22 but a lot of the really good things that keep you on track with an offense.
05:26 [Inaudible]
05:28 the complexity of this offense and learning the plays.
05:30 I think in my eyes, that's like 300 plays and learning that.
05:32 You're obviously not asking for X to know,
05:34 but what makes this system, this team, this playbook so complex?
05:37 We're an NFL-style system.
05:39 When I say that, I mean we're going to be multiple.
05:42 We're going to have different formations, different personnels.
05:44 We're going to change things up from week to week.
05:47 Our guys have to learn that.
05:48 They'll have to learn why we're doing it, how we're attacking the defense.
05:52 There are some systems out there that aren't as complex.
05:56 They try to keep it simpler for the players.
05:58 Everyone has their own way of doing it.
06:00 But we like to have a lot of different ways that we can attack the defense,
06:03 so we have a lot of different stuff in.
06:06 Therefore, it makes us have to learn a lot of football.
06:09 But our guys did a good job.
06:11 Brian, how has Pierce progressed since the fall camp started?
06:14 It seems like you're in the open portion of camp.
06:15 He's made some serious developments since the start.
06:17 Yeah, he's done exactly what you wanted him to do.
06:20 Every day he's getting better and better and better, stacking a day on a day
06:25 and getting better each and every time he's out there.
06:28 Really, it's just more reps, more experience.
06:31 A lot of times, let's say there's plays out there he's running for the first time.
06:35 He's still running plays for the first time he's repped his play.
06:38 So, just getting the more experience.
06:41 But he's progressed an upward trajectory very well.
06:46 All right. Thanks, Brian.