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00:00Your room's a little different than it was last spring.
00:03Kind of, what's the spring been like for you?
00:06And kind of take us through how the competition has gone.
00:09I think it's been productive.
00:12I think we've gotten a little bigger, a little faster, a little more athletic.
00:16Especially with Jamari and Nate.
00:18You can tell it's their second year in the offense.
00:22They're playing faster.
00:23I mean, the development's been impressive from Jamari.
00:28He's matured a lot.
00:29He's figured out how to practice.
00:30He understands how the effort he's got to put into it, and he takes it serious.
00:35Every day, he's showing improvement, and happy with where he's at,
00:40happy with where Nate's at.
00:41Nate's a very intelligent player, gritty.
00:45I mean, he's shown a lot, and then Isaiah and
00:47Jaleel have come in, and they've got some athleticism.
00:50That you can tell that they're still progressing and learning the offense, but
00:53there is athleticism there.
00:55They've got to progress a little more in the run game, but
00:57they can do some things in the pass game that maybe we didn't have some, or
01:00mostly last year.
01:03I would say Joey was, last year we talked a lot about Joey and
01:07what he could bring.
01:08He got to a point where he was serviceable and helped out, but
01:12he was so far behind.
01:14Are those guys, athleticism, is that kind of what you see with that?
01:18And they've been playing the position for years.
01:21Exactly, and that's the difference with them and Joey.
01:23Joey started playing the position last June, and
01:26you had to teach him the fundamentals and how to run routes, and
01:28then having one in the playbook.
01:30And so he kind of hit a stride mid-season or so.
01:34You saw him make some plays against Notre Dame and Miami, and
01:37was able to really help us toward the end of the season.
01:39But those, and Isaiah and Jaleel, I mean, those guys are coming in,
01:43having played the position for a while, and they've got that athleticism.
01:46They understand the position, they're smart guys.
01:48And so they're starting at a higher level than maybe Joey was.
01:53So yeah, you look for those two guys to kind of play that same type of role that
01:57maybe Joey did last year going into the season.
01:59Ryan, on Jaleel, what does he kind of bring to this offense in his role?
02:02It seems like in open practice, he was kind of taking reps between tight end and
02:06out wide at wide receiver sometimes, and getting regular run with the ones and
02:09twos.
02:09Yeah, well, I mean, we'll split our tight end out quite often, and
02:13that's something that he's probably better at right now than he is in a stance in
02:17line, and that's kind of the difference in the room.
02:21The beauty of it right now is you've got a lot of different types of bodies that do
02:24a lot of things well.
02:25When you incorporate the fullbacks,
02:26when you talk about DJ Martin was able to give us a lot last year.
02:29And then Jamari's a 6'5", 265-pound body that you can put in there that knocks
02:33people around, and Nate's a good, versatile guy.
02:36And then you get a guy like Jaleel that is gonna go out and runs really well.
02:40He can catch the football, he sees coverage.
02:42We're still working on some little nuances in his game.
02:45But I mean, he's provided a different dynamic than maybe some of the other guys
02:50have in there, and it's cool to see that because you're able to play
02:54a lot of different guys and get them in the right situations.
02:56And he's doing a good job for us right now.
02:59You mentioned Jamari's size.
03:00He's a guy coming through high school, I mean, just his size,
03:03he can just show up and kind of dominate.
03:05With his size, with that second year now where he's getting that experience,
03:08are you seeing him better in blocking situations and things like that?
03:11Yeah, it's coming along, because again, you're talking about a guy that was
03:15a high school quarterback up until early in his junior year.
03:19And so, and then even the offense he played in, he's playing a lot of split out,
03:23playing in the slot a lot.
03:24So, getting a three point stance and blocking was a little foreign to him
03:28at times early last year, but it's something he's really embraced this fall.
03:32And he's becoming a more physical player at the line of scrimmage.
03:35He's becoming more physical in his routes.
03:37He understands what his body type is, and what he's good at,
03:40what he needs to make up for.
03:41And you're starting to see him play like that consistently.
03:45We've still got work to do, obviously.
03:46I mean, he's gotta keep progressing and
03:48gotta keep the same energy that he's got right now.
03:50But from a technical standpoint, he has improved, but
03:53we still gotta keep going with him.
03:54With his hands, I'm sorry, with his hands, when he makes a catch downfield,
03:58I mean, what kind of reactions does he get from the defensive backs?
04:01I think now it's just kind of become a common thing.
04:04I mean, he'll make a one-handed catch and everybody's like, yep, there it is.
04:07I mean, he's got tremendous ball skills.
04:09And he's made some plays in camp so far that they're kind of wild plays, and
04:14he gets everybody going.
04:15But I mean, he does it so nonchalantly sometimes that you just kind of,
04:19you lose sight of how good it is.
04:21But he's gotta consistently be able to make those.
04:24And sometimes he wants to make a one-hander just to show off a little bit
04:27when he needs to get two hands up for the ball and ends up dropping it.
04:30But we're trying to get him out of those habits a little bit, but
04:33he does have tremendous ball skills.
04:35Just following up on that, what do you, we talked a little bit about it,
04:38but what do you need to see from him taking that next step in that progression?
04:42I think he's started to take the next step.
04:44I know last year we talked a lot about with him his consistency,
04:47his practice habits, physicality and effort.
04:51He was, I mean, talking about a guy, he turned 18 July 30th, July 31st.
04:55Mom's gonna kill me if I get his birthday wrong, but I mean he's matured a lot.
05:02He's a guy that came in last spring that maybe didn't understand quite the effort
05:06you had to put in in practice, and that's something that we've harped on.
05:09He's managed his weight better this semester than he ever has.
05:13And I think that he's finally, you're starting to see him mature
05:17off the field in terms of his eating habits, his workout habits,
05:21his practice habits, and you're seeing those things progress.
05:25Now they're all going the right direction that you wanted to see, but
05:27now he needs to continue to take that next step.
05:30And continue to improve his fundamentals, improve his technique and
05:33a lot of things, and it's important to him.
05:35And that's the big thing is he wants to get better, he's eager to get better,
05:38he needs extra, he doesn't, I mean, it's important to me.
05:42He's asking the right questions on the field.
05:44If something comes up and he doesn't quite see it, he'll come to the sideline.
05:48I'll ask him what he sees, and he'll paint the picture, and he's clear.
05:51And you go watch film the next day, you'll be like, he was right,
05:54he had this dead on.
05:55And so you're starting to see those things with him,
05:57we just gotta keep progressing.
05:59Is it because you've had to do so much with him, and
06:03he's got that body type and all that.
06:05Is it difficult to then throw in some gadget stuff with him?
06:09I mean, he is a guy that obviously could at some point or another.
06:13He was a quarterback, he can be receiving and do a lot of different things.
06:16Is that something that he maybe bugs you guys about a little bit?
06:22He didn't bug us, he makes sure we know he played quarterback.
06:26And we've got some stuff in our back pocket.
06:29We had some stuff in for him last year that we may have practiced a lot that we
06:33never ran.
06:34And so we kind of keep some of that stuff in our back pocket, but
06:37he doesn't let us forget that he can throw it.
06:39He can put it out there pretty good, he's got a strong arm.
06:43So with Nate, he progressed, it seemed like a lot last spring.
06:50And then made that jump last year.
06:52Have you seen more of a jump?
06:54Yeah, I think with Nate, he's such an intelligent football player that
06:58you can tell it's his second year.
07:00I mean, I forget he's a redshirt sophomore sometimes.
07:03I mean, I think he's a gritty player.
07:06He's tough, he plays his butt off.
07:07I mean, he's a high effort guy, and he has to be.
07:10Because, I mean, he doesn't have the size and
07:12athleticism that some of the other guys in the room do.
07:14But he gets by from a mental aspect of the game, he fights.
07:18I mean, the trust factor with him is a really high level.
07:22And I think that's what allowed him last year to kind of take over and
07:25get maybe the majority of the reps at the position last year.
07:29And it's always great to have a guy like that,
07:31that he's gonna set the tone for the room from an effort standpoint.
07:35And he's gonna provide some leadership.
07:37And you can use him in a multitude of different ways.
07:40I mean, especially right now with DJ being out in the spring,
07:42Nate's had to play some fullback.
07:44And so that's gonna benefit us going into the season,
07:46now having a guy that can play really all three spots that we have in the room.
07:51As they come in, Jeff's often talked about guys who want to transfer to show
07:54they have something else to prove.
07:55And he's a local product transfer cuz he wants to see the ball more a little bit.
08:00Now, what have you seen from him, I guess, from not only just a mature effort, but
08:04also his performance on the field this spring?
08:07Isaiah's a great person, first and foremost.
08:10I mean, he wants to win, he wants to play well, he wants to be a good teammate.
08:14He's got athleticism.
08:15He showed he can make some plays in the past game.
08:17He's gotta continue.
08:18In the past, he was more of a receiving tight end.
08:21So he's gotta continue to get better in the run game,
08:23get better blocking the perimeter.
08:25And he has made strides this spring in that.
08:27But I mean, he does give us some athleticism at the position that,
08:30kind of like we talked about, that we have with Joey some of last season.
08:34That he can kind of continue to get better, and I think he's gonna do that.
08:38Given the additions that you guys have made to the position and
08:40the progress of the returners,
08:42with how important the tight end room is to a Jeff Brom offense,
08:45do you think the various, the progress of the room overall is gonna help that
08:49offense get closer to what Brom and the whole staff wants it to truly look like?
08:53I think so, because if you can, you got five skill spots on offense.
08:57You've got guys that can make plays at all five skill spots.
09:00That's a lot of field to cover.
09:01It's not just you can roll your coverage one way to a really good receiver.
09:05And now, if you've got good guys on the outside and good guys in the middle,
09:08you force a team to play you a little bit different, play you a little bit softer.
09:12And then you get more guys in space.
09:13So I think that's, it's really gonna allow us,
09:15I hope, to excel more once we kind of get going this fall, so.
09:20I guess a bigger picture question.
09:22You mentioned Jamari obviously being a mid-year enrollee.
09:24Seems like that's more popular for high school kids than coming in during the summer.
09:29When they come in and acclimate, is there, I guess, an adjustment process,
09:33some kind of balance of grace in still getting on them, knowing that they're 16,
09:3717 years old, as opposed to 18 year olds,
09:40even though it doesn't seem like a lot that semester.
09:42But I guess, how do you kind of handle that now?
09:45I mean, absolutely.
09:46I mean, it's a young man leaving home for the first time.
09:48And he's from Rochester, New York, played his last year in Inglewood, California.
09:52I mean, he's a long way from his family.
09:54And so you've gotta be there for him.
09:55You've gotta provide support for him.
09:58And when it comes to the football aspect, it's a hard offense to learn.
10:02And so you've gotta have patience, even with the two, with Isaiah and
10:05Jaleel right now, it's a hard offense to learn.
10:08So the patience factor's gotta be there in the spring.
10:10You're more of a teacher than you are trying to grind them.
10:14And I think especially with Jamari last year, there had to be an understanding for
10:18myself and the rest of our staff that, hey, he needs time to develop.
10:23He needs time to get this stuff down.
10:25He's gonna make mistakes.
10:26But what you wanna see from him is how does he learn from those mistakes?
10:30Whether it's in the classroom, whether it's in the weight room,
10:32whether it's on the field.
10:34You make a mistake, you gotta learn from it.
10:35Do you improve the next time?
10:37And that's something you've constantly seen with him.
10:39And he's fought, and he's stayed in, and he's never given up.
10:43And his mental outlook and everything's at a really high spot right now.
10:47You guys have another highly-rated transfer set to come in later in the year.
10:50I mean, when you look at the deck, you got playmakers all over the place.
10:54How do you work that rotation and
10:56to lack of a better phrase to keep them all happy?
11:00Well, I can't speak on that.
11:02Yeah.
11:03But I think that when you, kind of like I alluded to earlier,
11:06you get a lot of different types of bodies that do different things well in that room.
11:10It allows you to have a lot more playmakers.
11:13You've got guys that are bigger bodies that can play in the line of scrimmage.
11:16You've got guys that can play off the ball that you can flex out.
11:19And you're throwing a lot more bullets at the defense.
11:24And I think it'll be good to get, I mean, we got a freshman coming in,
11:28Dylan Messman will be here in the summer, and it'll be good to get him going.
11:31And we're never gonna say no to adding good players.
11:36But I think that the more players you got, the more you'll be able to do.
11:41Whether it's one person or the room as a whole,
11:43what do you think is the biggest thing that's either surprised or
11:47stood out to you in spring ball?
11:49I think that just everybody's mental mindset right now.
11:53And I think it starts with Tyler Shuck, a quarterback.
11:55I mean, you're talking about a guy when the threes may be up, and
11:58he's out there standing right behind him, locked in, taking mental reps.
12:02Everybody's got a competitive mindset right now.
12:05They wanna play, but it's a tight-knit group.
12:08If Jamari makes a play, Isaiah, Julia Louisville, they're celebrating.
12:11If Isaiah makes a play, Jamari and Nate are celebrating.
12:14I mean, there's no distrust, there's no animosity in the room right now.
12:19And I think that that's a characteristic of a great team.
12:23And everybody wants to win.
12:25Everybody wants to take this thing further than we took it last year,
12:27cuz we feel like we left food on the table last year.
12:30And I think everybody's kind of pulling the right direction right now.
12:33And I'm excited to see where this goes.
12:36Good?
12:37Thank you.
12:39Let's go.