Today was the first time in full pads an a little live tackling. Did tackling and the beginning and the end of practice. It was awesome and they started outside today and there was lightning and they came inside, that took a minute and he is thankful for the indoor.
He challenged the team the effort has been very good, they play in 20 days, the fundamentals and technique is there sometimes and sometimes they are harping so much on the effort they are getting out of position. Some positives on both sides and there have been areas for improvement. It will be interesting tomorrow with a low day and get red zone and then they will scrimmage and get the coaches off the field and just let them play football on Friday for a 110 plays or so. He thinks it will be fascinating to watch that.
He thought in the spring and he is upset about certain things from an execution standpoint and he is excited about the effort, attitude and energy and they are locked in on them growing daily and it has been a breath of fresh air.
On what he is most pleased with, on offense it has been the OL and Coach Hoodie is mixing and matching as guys get banged up. It has been awesome to see some other guys step up in terms of strain and schematically in terms of pass protection. They've done a good job. I've been pleased with the RB group and there is a ton of competition and they are pushing each other. Thre three older guys have stepped up and it has been awesome to see Alvon Isaac who feels like not a young guy anymore because he was here in the spring. Jaylen Johnson has taken steps and Yasias Young has taken steps that group is a bunch of depth. In the QB room, Bryum Brown has taken a step forward but so have Bryce Archie, Izzy Carter and Marcelis Tate, he doesn't look like a freshman anymore.
The WR group has pushed, the TE group with Payten Singletary in there has pushed the entire group to take a major step because he is an older guy who has played a ton of ball.
On the defensive side, the secondary has been flying around and they now have depth and competition across the board. The linebacker group as much as anybody on the team has a bunch of older guys with depth, Jamie Pettway stands out as a guy who literally got here this time last year at this practice and now he is comfortable with another year in the system and he is pushing for playing time. Lex Long is pushing for time, he looks like a guy who has been here for a while. Those guys and that group has done a phenomenal job.
On Mike Lofton, he makes it easy and you trust the guys who you believe in their process and he will get you in the right thing. As a play-caller you know he will get you in the right spot in terms of the run call might not be perfect for what you are getting, he will get you in the right deal and same in the protection. That is how he prepares and physically that is how he prepares. Mentally he is so locked in with the rest of the guys in that room. There was a moment he went down in camp last year, that was the first time it hit me what he means to the OL room and the whole offense, they were all looking around, Cole Best is his backup and plays guard, he prepares the same way, but the whole offense lost a ton of confidence immediately. The way he goes about his business, every morning shows up and hugs everybody and wishes them an elite morning. He is tired he will create the fakest energy you've ever seen, he brings that juice.
On Ta'Ron Keith and what he brings, when we were looking when K'Wan Powell went down, they were stressing a guy who has played a lot of football. If it was a guy from the state of Florida that was a bonus and he also happens to be Ben Knox's cousin which also helps. He is a pro in terms of how he handles himself. He got here late and he couldn't use fall camp to catch up and he knew that, his summer was incredible, he would grab lunch and spend the rest of the day in the coaches' offices every day he interrupted our staff meeting to find someone to meet with. He has been through it physically. The return thing is special with Jaden Alexis' injury and losing Matt Hill that is certainly going to help and he is pushing Kelley Joiner, Nay'quan Wright, and Naheim Simmons back there, they are working a bunch of guys back there. The way he caught the ball out of the backfield and the running between the tackles was something we were curious about since they didn't use him that way at Bowling Green and he has been impressive. In pass pro he has been impressive, he is 22-23 years old and physically impressive and he came into camp pushing. He has a great mindset, I have one year to make it and he is back home and he feels at home here and he has a cool energy about it and he knows this is his last shot.
Leo asked a stupid question, I'm skipping that.
Golesh said he has grown over the last months and he questioned his process on what he is doing to help the program on a day-to-day basis and they are locked in on going station-to-station doing program building and he can see a lot more now and he is locked in on defense and special teams more. He trusts his staff knowing where to be and now it is the second time and they can refer back to things and the structure of practice and the science from a year ago and knowing there is a better way to do it and being vulnerable enough to adjust and he has questioned everything they've done and changed it.
He challenged the team the effort has been very good, they play in 20 days, the fundamentals and technique is there sometimes and sometimes they are harping so much on the effort they are getting out of position. Some positives on both sides and there have been areas for improvement. It will be interesting tomorrow with a low day and get red zone and then they will scrimmage and get the coaches off the field and just let them play football on Friday for a 110 plays or so. He thinks it will be fascinating to watch that.
He thought in the spring and he is upset about certain things from an execution standpoint and he is excited about the effort, attitude and energy and they are locked in on them growing daily and it has been a breath of fresh air.
On what he is most pleased with, on offense it has been the OL and Coach Hoodie is mixing and matching as guys get banged up. It has been awesome to see some other guys step up in terms of strain and schematically in terms of pass protection. They've done a good job. I've been pleased with the RB group and there is a ton of competition and they are pushing each other. Thre three older guys have stepped up and it has been awesome to see Alvon Isaac who feels like not a young guy anymore because he was here in the spring. Jaylen Johnson has taken steps and Yasias Young has taken steps that group is a bunch of depth. In the QB room, Bryum Brown has taken a step forward but so have Bryce Archie, Izzy Carter and Marcelis Tate, he doesn't look like a freshman anymore.
The WR group has pushed, the TE group with Payten Singletary in there has pushed the entire group to take a major step because he is an older guy who has played a ton of ball.
On the defensive side, the secondary has been flying around and they now have depth and competition across the board. The linebacker group as much as anybody on the team has a bunch of older guys with depth, Jamie Pettway stands out as a guy who literally got here this time last year at this practice and now he is comfortable with another year in the system and he is pushing for playing time. Lex Long is pushing for time, he looks like a guy who has been here for a while. Those guys and that group has done a phenomenal job.
On Mike Lofton, he makes it easy and you trust the guys who you believe in their process and he will get you in the right thing. As a play-caller you know he will get you in the right spot in terms of the run call might not be perfect for what you are getting, he will get you in the right deal and same in the protection. That is how he prepares and physically that is how he prepares. Mentally he is so locked in with the rest of the guys in that room. There was a moment he went down in camp last year, that was the first time it hit me what he means to the OL room and the whole offense, they were all looking around, Cole Best is his backup and plays guard, he prepares the same way, but the whole offense lost a ton of confidence immediately. The way he goes about his business, every morning shows up and hugs everybody and wishes them an elite morning. He is tired he will create the fakest energy you've ever seen, he brings that juice.
On Ta'Ron Keith and what he brings, when we were looking when K'Wan Powell went down, they were stressing a guy who has played a lot of football. If it was a guy from the state of Florida that was a bonus and he also happens to be Ben Knox's cousin which also helps. He is a pro in terms of how he handles himself. He got here late and he couldn't use fall camp to catch up and he knew that, his summer was incredible, he would grab lunch and spend the rest of the day in the coaches' offices every day he interrupted our staff meeting to find someone to meet with. He has been through it physically. The return thing is special with Jaden Alexis' injury and losing Matt Hill that is certainly going to help and he is pushing Kelley Joiner, Nay'quan Wright, and Naheim Simmons back there, they are working a bunch of guys back there. The way he caught the ball out of the backfield and the running between the tackles was something we were curious about since they didn't use him that way at Bowling Green and he has been impressive. In pass pro he has been impressive, he is 22-23 years old and physically impressive and he came into camp pushing. He has a great mindset, I have one year to make it and he is back home and he feels at home here and he has a cool energy about it and he knows this is his last shot.
Leo asked a stupid question, I'm skipping that.
Golesh said he has grown over the last months and he questioned his process on what he is doing to help the program on a day-to-day basis and they are locked in on going station-to-station doing program building and he can see a lot more now and he is locked in on defense and special teams more. He trusts his staff knowing where to be and now it is the second time and they can refer back to things and the structure of practice and the science from a year ago and knowing there is a better way to do it and being vulnerable enough to adjust and he has questioned everything they've done and changed it.
