October 22, 2025 • 12 mins
UND Head Football coach talks about the win against Southern Illinois. The coach also talkes about how some players have different numbers this season. The coach also stressed that this team is flexible so that when the team is up, they can put in other players to develop depth on the roster. The players have the right mindset and they are able to set examples. The team did a great job defensively and their 3rd quarter was better.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We will tell you as we lead into head coach
Eric Schmidt. These guys are the humble guys. And I've
talked to Liam Beacher and he's as humble as they come.
Liam Beacher has earned the Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive
Linement of the Week honors. That's awesome. What a good guy.
And I tell you what that guy he plays his role.
(00:20):
And so with that, we're just going to dive right
in to our conversation with head coach Eric Schmidt, and
let's give it up for coach Eric schmidd as a
knocked off the Southern Illinois Salukis on Saturday in Carbondale,
and they too had a time change to deal with,
basically as you were getting on the plane on Friday afternoon.
And I think you made a comment yesterday you said
(00:42):
the support staff was phenomenal in regards to handling everything
that needed to be handled. That allowed you and your
team to just kind of not miss a beat, so
to speak. And there's a lot that goes to that,
don't you.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Think Yeah's a great point.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I mean, obviously to going down to Carbondale is not
the easiest place to be able to get into. You
actually a little over an hour away from from the stadium.
So made the decision on Friday, just right before we
got on the plane to say, you know, we were
going to move it up to noon. Just didn't want
to have to sit in the locker room all afternoon
and then, you know, just looking at the weather, if
(01:15):
we didn't get it in by five thirty, there was
a good chance that we wouldn't get it in after
that it was supposed to get more severe. So just
felt like, if we're going to move it up, let's
move it up far enough to be able to make
sure we get it in.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So we moved it up two hours.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And then you know, Travis Kolabah who's our director of operations,
Jennifer Hougan who's our nutritionist, you know, Coach Stein and
our strength conditioning staff. They do a lot of things
too on the on road trips for us, so for
them to be able to get everything bumped up to
be able to make all the adjustments needed, Like, our
guys had no idea that there was anything different, So
(01:48):
we talked about all the helpers and supporters what it
takes order to be successful, to be able to you know,
make sure our guys got what they needed Saturday morning
before we went to the game, it was it was
awesome to be able to be able to make those
adjustments and make it work.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
You beat the and you beat the Suluki's thirty five nineteen,
And you talk about a little bit when you talk
about getting that start, and that's been so key in
recent games as far as getting out of the gates,
and you've really done that fairly well all season long.
And I almost feel like it's one thing about the prep,
(02:20):
but it's just another thing about the players having that
in them to be ready as soon as you go.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Something we've emphasized with our guys. You know, we talk
a lot about going one and oh, and part of
going one and o on game day it's starting fast,
it's the middle eight, and then it's finishing strong. And
we've been able to do a good job here. You
look at the start of the game. You know, defensively,
the first four possessions it was three and out, three
and out, and then we turned them over on downs
at midfield and then they did get a drive and
then we forced a fumble in the red zone, and
(02:47):
then offensively it was three out of our first five
possessions were touchdowns, and really the big piece I thought
of the game was, you know, they were driving to
try to make we're up fourteen enough and they were
driving to try to make it a one score game.
We you know, Tyler Erkman does a great job of
getting a fumble out, guys carrying it in the wrong arm,
he goes for it, you go, he punches it out
and then we go ninety five yards. You know, zee
(03:08):
Barth has the long run there to get us out
of there right away, which was huge. We were going
into the wind at that point too as well, it's
pretty windy, and then we go down and score to
make a twenty one nothing. So I thought that sequence
was really big in the first half.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, a couple of things here, and I should say
correction at thirty eight nineteen, I got to in that
field goal. We'll talk about that as well. But you
mentioned Gavin z Barth, and the news came out that
there is hope that Gavin, depending on how this season progresses,
that there is hope that he could return. But it
was one of those and I've looked at the highlight
(03:40):
when it happened, and it was one of those maybe
just fell a little awkwardly there was wasn't necessarily an
un football like play when it happened along the sideline there.
So that's kind of a tough one, don't you think.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
I mean, great kid, huge part of our team was
really playing well too, is you know, I think he
was coming into his own and one of those guys,
like I said, he's a mature football player. You understand that, Hey,
there's gonna be up, there's gonna be downs. You know,
throughout the season. It's it's a marathon, it's not a sprint.
But you know, I think the thing with him that
that you really like is as the year goes along
and people, you know, get tired of tackling people, and
(04:12):
at times, you know, you saw it even with Southern,
as the game went along and our guys are playing
physical and getting a lead, you could tell just kind of, hey, man,
is it really worth tackling these guys anymore?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Like the games over type of deal. But but Z's
that type of back.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You know what I mean, when when the game keeps progressing,
those body blows start.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
To accumulate, and his smaller runs, those two and three
yard runs, throughout the last few weeks have turned into
eight and twelve and fifteen yard runs. So yeah, it's
it's really hard for everybody, obviously hard for him and
his family. But you know he'll go he'll go in
here and have surgery and we're hoping, you know, talking
to the doctors and things like that, that we you know,
things go well, we might have a chance to be
able get him back for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, that would be fantastic. Speaking of Kent Lofman, who
has handled a lot of your kickoff duties essentially for
this year, he had to be ready to come into
duty as something that happened to CJ. And and you know,
he does knock in the extra points, he does knock
in the field goal, so good on that. Yet young
guy to expand his role at spur of the notice
(05:09):
or spur of the moment, and he he handled it
really well.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
One of those things that you just you know, you
never know when your opportunity is going to present itself. CJ,
you know, hurt himself in warm ups, just one of
those things where he's just doing a dry run kickoff
and felt something pop, you know, and and just couldn't
get couldn't get back for the game. And you know,
for Kenton, obviously he's gonna be our kickoff guy and
for him to go and handle all the kicking duties
and do a good job, you know, like you said,
(05:34):
handled all the extra points was good. There made the
field goal at the end, you know, to uh to
really make it a four score game instead of a
three score game. So good for him and and and
the good part is you know we have Easton show
it too as well. Who's another kicker now that those
guys will will definitely have an opportunity to be able
to compete here until we get CJ back.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Well, and this is of course a joke, but I
I always say, you know, there's a young guy that
can handle any any moment because from week to week
he he doesn't know what number he's going to be,
but by the time he gets to the to the
locker room.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
You know when you're on special teams and we have
all the different guys that we sub it and sub out,
and uh, you know a lot of times that's hard
on a special teams quarter. I've been there when you
have all the extra jerseys and you got you know,
two ones and two twos and two threes and two four's, like,
you know, you want to make sure that you know
that doesn't happen. I remember a few years ago, usc
opening kickoff of the season turned returned it. I think
(06:26):
it was on I can't remember who it was on,
but anyways, they returned the opening kickoff the season got
a call back because they had two number twos on
the field.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And at the same time, Oh well, I mean that's when.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
You're on the sidelines and things like that. You feel like, hey,
you got the extra jersey. You can put it on
those guys, yep, but it's just easier to put it
on the kicker.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And so all right now you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And the Kenton's you know, credit, He's not a guy
that's going to bow up and be like, no, this
is my number that kind of stuff. He's like, hey,
whatever number I need to wear this week, so we
can get the right guys down covering kickoffs and and
make that happen.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We'll do.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
But we always double check game day, just double check.
That's the one of our conversations in the booth is like, Kenton,
what number is he today? We just double check to
make sure as well, so tongue in cheek joke there,
but certainly can pivot, not even bad any at sometimes
not even knowing what number he's going to be until
day of game. We talked about Liam Beecher and his
(07:14):
honor here this week, and I was just gonna say
I said this to somebody else this week, and maybe
you can. It's great that Liam earned that he should,
but it's almost kind of a group like honor when
one of the offensive linemen get it, because it's everybody
moving bodies that day.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, they feel that way too as well.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Since I've gotten here in January, I feel like, you know,
we talk a lot about our culture and about being
player led and about being a not just a good friend,
but being a good teammate and telling somebody what they
need to hear, not always what they want to hear.
And I thought that offensive line group from day one,
like just the energy that they bring every single day,
every single day they add to our environment. It's it's
about you know, focus, it's about effort, and they hold
(07:53):
each other accountable. If there's a guy that's not doing
his job there, you know, to the group are are
making sure that you know, if a guy's like like
I said before, is you know, operating at seventy five
percent of capacity that day for whatever reason, it's a
job of your your teammates and your culture to bring
that guy up to one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And Liam's at the top of that.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Like the you know, the intensity that he brings every
single day, Like he's one of those guys that you know,
he understands that. You know, a lot of people will
talk about, hey, I'll do it tomorrow, study harder tomorrow,
watch more film tomorrow, I'll do this tomorrow, Like he
knows that, hey, I have to get better today, you know,
and that's how you improve is is going to work
with the right mindset every single day. And he's really
brought that, you know, and I think elevated a number
(08:32):
of guys up in our offensive line. And then those
guys see how he attacks every single day and it
makes the entire unit better.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well it you know, when you see some of the
runs that Sawyer can do, I mean, he can do
some things on his own, but when he's given an
opportunity to do it at the next level, the second level,
the third level, then defenses are really kind of scratching
their heads at that time. The most interesting thing for
me was Southern Illinois. You kind of pin them late
in the first half. Critical sequence. You talked about one
(09:00):
of the other sequences that was critical, but you know,
it's one of those where you know, if you get
a turnover there, what a grand opportunity. And but the
thing was you got one, and he really didn't have
a lot of time to work with, but you still
managed just to get in for points.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Well, you know, it's a great it's a great talk
because we're talking on the head, sat like, hey, do
we want to use timeouts here? But we only had
two timeouts, so we couldn't end the half by calling timeouts.
They could have ran out the half right if they
would have, you know, just ran the football off of it.
So we were like, hey, let's not use him because
if we use them anyways, we can't get to halftime here. Well,
they got a first down and then I think they
felt like, hey, all right, like let's try to push
(09:36):
the envelope here a little bit. And then Zach you know,
makes the pick and you know he's been a really
good player for us too as well. You saw the
you know, not only him as a dB in tackling
in space, and I think being space tacklers is something
that's you know, very very important on a defense. And
he gets guys on the ground. And then the other thing,
I think he's really good hands. I mean he caught
the ball high point of the ball, got his feet
(09:56):
in bounds to be able to make sure it was
a no brainer, like, hey, yep, he caught it, feed
in bounds and then for Sawyer to go and score
you know, the next play. I think the one thing
right now that you'll notice is if we can get
Sawyer going you know, full speed into a secondary into
a secondary, like he'll make guys miss at the.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Second level, you know, after he's really special.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And that's what we have to keep trying to be
able to do is getting him up, you know, in
the second level and being able to press into into
defenders and and you know, if he can press into
guys and give himself enough room for a two way
go or leave enough room down the sideline, like he's
got enough speed to be able to make those guys miss.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Lastly, before we take a break and get into the
week ahead here, but you did mention that you know,
the second half gave you something to teach coming back.
I mean, I know you mentioned defensively, you're just like, hey,
there there are some things that we could have tightened
up on the second half and that, but also at
the same time, it allowed you to play some guys,
to make some mistakes and learn some lessons.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's there's always going to be that, you know, when
do you bring the other guys in and and you know,
I think it's important for us to continue to build depth,
especially on the defensive side of the ball. I think
what you saw in that game was offensively, we have
some pretty good depth, especially in the offensive line. So
when those guys went in the game like we didn't
miss a beat, you know, they they have some you know,
some competitive greatness to them and they want to go
(11:06):
out there and perform. And and you know, we ran
the football just as well with Colten Bourn now in
the game, with you know what I mean, with Chuck
ln Gama in the game, and then we did you know,
when Sawyer was in the game. So they did a
good job. Now defensively, I felt like, you know, we
left the scoreboard a little bit dictate how we played,
just you know, lost a little bit. I thought of
our edge could tell and tackling guys just not taking
proper angles, you know, running to where he was going
(11:27):
instead of where he is, and doing a better job
with communication. We had more communication airs in the second half,
you know, and and then we did the entire first
half and really in the third quarter. So so yeah,
I think it's important for us to continue to build
death and get those guys out there. You saw a
number of young players out there playing. It's important, you know,
we got to be able to see when the lights
are the brightest, can those guys go out there and perform. Well.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
It's it's great for fans because you know, some of
those guys will be big parts of this future, even
if they're in a support role this year and maybe
not getting the number of reps, but you never know,
as we well know, you're just to play away from
getting a ton of preps as well. In a game
of like football, it's incredible how fast it happens. So
when we return, we're going to talk you and D's
(12:07):
next opponent, Indiana State, comes into the Layers Center coming
up on Saturday. We'll visit with head coach Eric Schmidt.
When we return about that upcoming game, as HAWKTA continues
downtown Grand Forks, all across the Fighting Hawks radio network
We will tell you as we lead into head coach
Eric Schmidt. These guys are the humble guys. And I've
talked to Liam Beacher and he's as humble as they come.
Liam Beacher has earned the Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive
Linement of the Week honors. That's awesome. What a good guy.
And I tell you what that guy he plays his role.
(00:20):
And so with that, we're just going to dive right
in to our conversation with head coach Eric Schmidt, and
let's give it up for coach Eric schmidd as a
knocked off the Southern Illinois Salukis on Saturday in Carbondale,
and they too had a time change to deal with,
basically as you were getting on the plane on Friday afternoon.
And I think you made a comment yesterday you said
(00:42):
the support staff was phenomenal in regards to handling everything
that needed to be handled. That allowed you and your
team to just kind of not miss a beat, so
to speak. And there's a lot that goes to that,
don't you.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Think Yeah's a great point.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I mean, obviously to going down to Carbondale is not
the easiest place to be able to get into. You
actually a little over an hour away from from the stadium.
So made the decision on Friday, just right before we
got on the plane to say, you know, we were
going to move it up to noon. Just didn't want
to have to sit in the locker room all afternoon
and then, you know, just looking at the weather, if
(01:15):
we didn't get it in by five thirty, there was
a good chance that we wouldn't get it in after
that it was supposed to get more severe. So just
felt like, if we're going to move it up, let's
move it up far enough to be able to make
sure we get it in.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So we moved it up two hours.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
And then you know, Travis Kolabah who's our director of operations,
Jennifer Hougan who's our nutritionist, you know, Coach Stein and
our strength conditioning staff. They do a lot of things
too on the on road trips for us, so for
them to be able to get everything bumped up to
be able to make all the adjustments needed, Like, our
guys had no idea that there was anything different, So
(01:48):
we talked about all the helpers and supporters what it
takes order to be successful, to be able to you know,
make sure our guys got what they needed Saturday morning
before we went to the game, it was it was
awesome to be able to be able to make those
adjustments and make it work.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
You beat the and you beat the Suluki's thirty five nineteen,
And you talk about a little bit when you talk
about getting that start, and that's been so key in
recent games as far as getting out of the gates,
and you've really done that fairly well all season long.
And I almost feel like it's one thing about the prep,
(02:20):
but it's just another thing about the players having that
in them to be ready as soon as you go.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Something we've emphasized with our guys. You know, we talk
a lot about going one and oh, and part of
going one and o on game day it's starting fast,
it's the middle eight, and then it's finishing strong. And
we've been able to do a good job here. You
look at the start of the game. You know, defensively,
the first four possessions it was three and out, three
and out, and then we turned them over on downs
at midfield and then they did get a drive and
then we forced a fumble in the red zone, and
(02:47):
then offensively it was three out of our first five
possessions were touchdowns, and really the big piece I thought
of the game was, you know, they were driving to
try to make we're up fourteen enough and they were
driving to try to make it a one score game.
We you know, Tyler Erkman does a great job of
getting a fumble out, guys carrying it in the wrong arm,
he goes for it, you go, he punches it out
and then we go ninety five yards. You know, zee
(03:08):
Barth has the long run there to get us out
of there right away, which was huge. We were going
into the wind at that point too as well, it's
pretty windy, and then we go down and score to
make a twenty one nothing. So I thought that sequence
was really big in the first half.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, a couple of things here, and I should say
correction at thirty eight nineteen, I got to in that
field goal. We'll talk about that as well. But you
mentioned Gavin z Barth, and the news came out that
there is hope that Gavin, depending on how this season progresses,
that there is hope that he could return. But it
was one of those and I've looked at the highlight
(03:40):
when it happened, and it was one of those maybe
just fell a little awkwardly there was wasn't necessarily an
un football like play when it happened along the sideline there.
So that's kind of a tough one, don't you think.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
I mean, great kid, huge part of our team was
really playing well too, is you know, I think he
was coming into his own and one of those guys,
like I said, he's a mature football player. You understand that, Hey,
there's gonna be up, there's gonna be downs. You know,
throughout the season. It's it's a marathon, it's not a sprint.
But you know, I think the thing with him that
that you really like is as the year goes along
and people, you know, get tired of tackling people, and
(04:12):
at times, you know, you saw it even with Southern,
as the game went along and our guys are playing
physical and getting a lead, you could tell just kind of, hey, man,
is it really worth tackling these guys anymore?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Like the games over type of deal. But but Z's
that type of back.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You know what I mean, when when the game keeps progressing,
those body blows start.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
To accumulate, and his smaller runs, those two and three
yard runs, throughout the last few weeks have turned into
eight and twelve and fifteen yard runs. So yeah, it's
it's really hard for everybody, obviously hard for him and
his family. But you know he'll go he'll go in
here and have surgery and we're hoping, you know, talking
to the doctors and things like that, that we you know,
things go well, we might have a chance to be
able get him back for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, that would be fantastic. Speaking of Kent Lofman, who
has handled a lot of your kickoff duties essentially for
this year, he had to be ready to come into
duty as something that happened to CJ. And and you know,
he does knock in the extra points, he does knock
in the field goal, so good on that. Yet young
guy to expand his role at spur of the notice
(05:09):
or spur of the moment, and he he handled it
really well.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
One of those things that you just you know, you
never know when your opportunity is going to present itself. CJ,
you know, hurt himself in warm ups, just one of
those things where he's just doing a dry run kickoff
and felt something pop, you know, and and just couldn't
get couldn't get back for the game. And you know,
for Kenton, obviously he's gonna be our kickoff guy and
for him to go and handle all the kicking duties
and do a good job, you know, like you said,
(05:34):
handled all the extra points was good. There made the
field goal at the end, you know, to uh to
really make it a four score game instead of a
three score game. So good for him and and and
the good part is you know we have Easton show
it too as well. Who's another kicker now that those
guys will will definitely have an opportunity to be able
to compete here until we get CJ back.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Well, and this is of course a joke, but I
I always say, you know, there's a young guy that
can handle any any moment because from week to week
he he doesn't know what number he's going to be,
but by the time he gets to the to the
locker room.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
You know when you're on special teams and we have
all the different guys that we sub it and sub out,
and uh, you know a lot of times that's hard
on a special teams quarter. I've been there when you
have all the extra jerseys and you got you know,
two ones and two twos and two threes and two four's, like,
you know, you want to make sure that you know
that doesn't happen. I remember a few years ago, usc
opening kickoff of the season turned returned it. I think
(06:26):
it was on I can't remember who it was on,
but anyways, they returned the opening kickoff the season got
a call back because they had two number twos on
the field.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
And at the same time, Oh well, I mean that's when.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
You're on the sidelines and things like that. You feel like, hey,
you got the extra jersey. You can put it on
those guys, yep, but it's just easier to put it
on the kicker.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
And so all right now you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
And the Kenton's you know, credit, He's not a guy
that's going to bow up and be like, no, this
is my number that kind of stuff. He's like, hey,
whatever number I need to wear this week, so we
can get the right guys down covering kickoffs and and
make that happen.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We'll do.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
But we always double check game day, just double check.
That's the one of our conversations in the booth is like, Kenton,
what number is he today? We just double check to
make sure as well, so tongue in cheek joke there,
but certainly can pivot, not even bad any at sometimes
not even knowing what number he's going to be until
day of game. We talked about Liam Beecher and his
(07:14):
honor here this week, and I was just gonna say
I said this to somebody else this week, and maybe
you can. It's great that Liam earned that he should,
but it's almost kind of a group like honor when
one of the offensive linemen get it, because it's everybody
moving bodies that day.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, they feel that way too as well.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Since I've gotten here in January, I feel like, you know,
we talk a lot about our culture and about being
player led and about being a not just a good friend,
but being a good teammate and telling somebody what they
need to hear, not always what they want to hear.
And I thought that offensive line group from day one,
like just the energy that they bring every single day,
every single day they add to our environment. It's it's
about you know, focus, it's about effort, and they hold
(07:53):
each other accountable. If there's a guy that's not doing
his job there, you know, to the group are are
making sure that you know, if a guy's like like
I said before, is you know, operating at seventy five
percent of capacity that day for whatever reason, it's a
job of your your teammates and your culture to bring
that guy up to one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And Liam's at the top of that.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Like the you know, the intensity that he brings every
single day, Like he's one of those guys that you know,
he understands that. You know, a lot of people will
talk about, hey, I'll do it tomorrow, study harder tomorrow,
watch more film tomorrow, I'll do this tomorrow, Like he
knows that, hey, I have to get better today, you know,
and that's how you improve is is going to work
with the right mindset every single day. And he's really
brought that, you know, and I think elevated a number
(08:32):
of guys up in our offensive line. And then those
guys see how he attacks every single day and it
makes the entire unit better.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Well it you know, when you see some of the
runs that Sawyer can do, I mean, he can do
some things on his own, but when he's given an
opportunity to do it at the next level, the second level,
the third level, then defenses are really kind of scratching
their heads at that time. The most interesting thing for
me was Southern Illinois. You kind of pin them late
in the first half. Critical sequence. You talked about one
(09:00):
of the other sequences that was critical, but you know,
it's one of those where you know, if you get
a turnover there, what a grand opportunity. And but the
thing was you got one, and he really didn't have
a lot of time to work with, but you still
managed just to get in for points.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Well, you know, it's a great it's a great talk
because we're talking on the head, sat like, hey, do
we want to use timeouts here? But we only had
two timeouts, so we couldn't end the half by calling timeouts.
They could have ran out the half right if they
would have, you know, just ran the football off of it.
So we were like, hey, let's not use him because
if we use them anyways, we can't get to halftime here. Well,
they got a first down and then I think they
felt like, hey, all right, like let's try to push
(09:36):
the envelope here a little bit. And then Zach you know,
makes the pick and you know he's been a really
good player for us too as well. You saw the
you know, not only him as a dB in tackling
in space, and I think being space tacklers is something
that's you know, very very important on a defense. And
he gets guys on the ground. And then the other thing,
I think he's really good hands. I mean he caught
the ball high point of the ball, got his feet
(09:56):
in bounds to be able to make sure it was
a no brainer, like, hey, yep, he caught it, feed
in bounds and then for Sawyer to go and score
you know, the next play. I think the one thing
right now that you'll notice is if we can get
Sawyer going you know, full speed into a secondary into
a secondary, like he'll make guys miss at the.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Second level, you know, after he's really special.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And that's what we have to keep trying to be
able to do is getting him up, you know, in
the second level and being able to press into into
defenders and and you know, if he can press into
guys and give himself enough room for a two way
go or leave enough room down the sideline, like he's
got enough speed to be able to make those guys miss.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Lastly, before we take a break and get into the
week ahead here, but you did mention that you know,
the second half gave you something to teach coming back.
I mean, I know you mentioned defensively, you're just like, hey,
there there are some things that we could have tightened
up on the second half and that, but also at
the same time, it allowed you to play some guys,
to make some mistakes and learn some lessons.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's there's always going to be that, you know, when
do you bring the other guys in and and you know,
I think it's important for us to continue to build depth,
especially on the defensive side of the ball. I think
what you saw in that game was offensively, we have
some pretty good depth, especially in the offensive line. So
when those guys went in the game like we didn't
miss a beat, you know, they they have some you know,
some competitive greatness to them and they want to go
(11:06):
out there and perform. And and you know, we ran
the football just as well with Colten Bourn now in
the game, with you know what I mean, with Chuck
ln Gama in the game, and then we did you know,
when Sawyer was in the game. So they did a
good job. Now defensively, I felt like, you know, we
left the scoreboard a little bit dictate how we played,
just you know, lost a little bit. I thought of
our edge could tell and tackling guys just not taking
proper angles, you know, running to where he was going
(11:27):
instead of where he is, and doing a better job
with communication. We had more communication airs in the second half,
you know, and and then we did the entire first
half and really in the third quarter. So so yeah,
I think it's important for us to continue to build
death and get those guys out there. You saw a
number of young players out there playing. It's important, you know,
we got to be able to see when the lights
are the brightest, can those guys go out there and perform. Well.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
It's it's great for fans because you know, some of
those guys will be big parts of this future, even
if they're in a support role this year and maybe
not getting the number of reps, but you never know,
as we well know, you're just to play away from
getting a ton of preps as well. In a game
of like football, it's incredible how fast it happens. So
when we return, we're going to talk you and D's
(12:07):
next opponent, Indiana State, comes into the Layers Center coming
up on Saturday. We'll visit with head coach Eric Schmidt.
When we return about that upcoming game, as HAWKTA continues
downtown Grand Forks, all across the Fighting Hawks radio network
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