October 16, 2024 • 10 mins
Hear the rest of Steve Sarkisian's comments from his Monday press conference as he discusses Tre Wisner's rise and the depth at RB room, the defense not allowing points off turnovers, and what him and Kirby Smart have in common.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now I wanted to get to some comments from log
Worn's head coach Steve Sarkisian. Now, we didn't get a
chance to play all of the ones from the Monday
press conference, but there's some important things that you need
to hear out. First of all, one about his defense
(00:22):
and how they've had what we know in the industry
to be sudden change defense. If you give up the
ball on an offensive turnover, how the defense could clamp down.
And that's what they did against Oklahoma last week with
the early interception throne by Quinn e Weers on the
third play of the game, and they held Oklahoma without
a point as Sooners went up missing a field go.
(00:43):
So sark was asked about the prowess his defense has
displayed in not allowing scores following turnovers.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'll say, first of all, we're turning the ball over
too much and that has to be rectified, and so
we continuing to work on it, always looking for things
and our team where we can improve and where we
need to get better. Clearly, that's one of them. We
can't We cannot keep doing that to our defense and
putting them, putting them in those positions. But a credit
(01:12):
to our defense, and I touched on it Saturday. We
practice those scenarios. We practice that mentality of sudden change
and what that feels like to take the field and
a lot of teams take the field with the poor means,
oh man, why do we have to go and they
get the ball in the fifteen yard line going in
or whatever it is. We take the field as it's
an opportunity to seize momentum, and I think our players
(01:34):
really respond to it and have done a fantastic job.
I'm lucky that that's the way we do approach it,
but I don't like it, you know, because that means,
you know, eight turnovers is way too many through six games,
and that that's got to improve the second half the
season for us.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay, all right, so there's that. He was also asked
about his running back depth. You know, Jaydon Blue of
course had the couple of fumbles and then came back
and he's bounced back and he's had the end had
to go through that jerk Gibson runs top between the tackles,
but of course he is a true freshman. You have
Trey Wisner now and Wisder of course had the fumble
that went into the end zone that Silas Bolden fell
(02:11):
on for a touchdown was a huge moment, and then
the defense was able to get the ball right back
on the fumble, and one play after that, Wiser went
forty three yards for a touchdowns. So who was asked
about Trey Weisner and the depth at the running back position.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I want to say yes, And you guys might not
believe me, but you know, he had a heck of
a freshman year of just developing as a running back.
But at the same time, we found out a lot
about his speed and his toughness because of what he
did on special teams last year, and he had a
tremendous spring ball and the growth that what we saw
(02:46):
during spring practice and then the growth we saw in
training camp, you know, as he continued to get more opportunities,
and so I'm not surprised, you know. The I guess
what I'm learning more and more about him is he
has a real natural running ability. He kind of reminds
me of Jonathan Brooks at times that you don't get
(03:06):
wowed by the size. I don't know if you get
wowed by the outright speed, but there's just a natural
feel that he finds his way through holes. He's tough
to get on the ground, he's physical when he has
to be physical, and so I just think that he's
got a natural running ability about him. But he also
has speed and he has real toughness, which are kind
(03:29):
of prerequisites at the position.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
A couple other questions, and this is something I definitely
wanted you to hear in cause you did not hear
it when we brought to the news conference live on Monday,
Sark was asked about how well he knows Kirby Spartan.
He talked about that, and Kirby, by the way, talked
(03:51):
about it in his press conference. He said that the
same thing Sarks said. They're both good friends. They're part
of I guess a sponsor trip every year. Afterwards, and
then Sark had mentioned something about there's, you know, there's
certain things both of them being Nick Saban disciples and
former assistance and all that kind of stuff. So he's
asked if there's a specific characteristic that both he uh
(04:15):
and Kirby spart have displayed being Nick Saban disciples.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I'd say the first characteristics is everybody recruits really good players.
You know, when you're at Alabama, with coach Saban. I
think you come to learn and value that you get
to coach great players, and when you've got great players,
we all become better coaches. I'm smarter, I call better
plays because those guys make me look better, right, And
so I think we, you know, all of us that
(04:40):
have been with Coach Saban recruit really good players, you know,
and whether that's laying at old Miss Kirby myself, you know,
they're allys trying to find really good players. I think Two,
I think all of us believe in the value of
a complete team, you know, whether that's offense, defense, and
special teams. You know, because when you when you play
games like this at a really high level against really
(05:02):
good people, and the goal is to try to win
that last game, it's hard to win that last game.
It's hard to be a national champion if if you're
not a complete team, if you're not a versatile team,
and so you got to have depth of quality players.
And two, you better be good in all three areas
because it's tough to get to that game and it's
tough to win that game if you're just a one
(05:24):
dimensional team.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay, So there was that, and then he was also
asked a question about things that the players have said
about this big week and and and and the program
overall and get ready to take on Georgia, of what
what kinds of things does he hear from his players
in a week like this, and coming off the winn
of Oklahoma, there was.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
A there was a few things that got said coming
out of the game from those guys. You know, I talked,
I did hear that from Jake, And I think that
that that just kind of speaks volumes to the mindset
of where our team is at right now. I heard
John A. Baron talking about getting healthy as quickly as
everybody could so that we can come back Monday. You know,
how you do anything is how you do everything, as
(06:06):
it kind of a mantra we live by. And so
all those little things that our guys say, even today
when you guys visit with them, the how easy it
comes out of them, how easy it flows out of them,
has been ingrained in them now for three and four years.
Some of these guys that they don't have to think
about it, I think they truly believe it. And then
(06:28):
that to me is what permeates through our locker room.
And so I don't think Jake Majors is the only
guy that feels that way. I think he was able
to say it was such ease because I think that's
what our guys are talking about, you know, and I
think that that's a topic of discussion rather than just
a personal thought that he has.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
That was in response to a question Roger Wallace asked
him about Jake Major sitting down there in the general
media session, big old band aid across the bridge of
his nose. You were there, cam, you saw it, and
he said, what wins like this? They're like they're celebrated
more by good teams than great teams because great teams
want to be.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Better, he said. I think he said good teams celebrate wins.
Great teams don't because they still want to get better.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah. Yeah, and it's a good thing. And I will
tell you this. You were down in the locker room,
so you saw this. Were they happy? Of course they
were happy, and they tried on the golden hat. Did
you get the trial the golden hat? Did you put
the golden hat on?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I wouldn't feel comfortable puting the golden hat on.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Oh, tons of people put the golden hat on right
down there, my son put the Golden aut I never
put the golden hat on, but Jason was down there
assisting with the locker room coverage it there and then
there was I was sitting there for all any and
all the trial if they wanted to, and he put
it on, so he had that. No, but you did
take a good Instagram photo when he went out to
midfield wearing your cowboy hat. And when I first pulled
(07:51):
it up, Linda looked at it and said, is he
wearing the golden hat? But no, no, he's just wearing his
regular cowboy hat standing at midfield on that. My point
was going to be that the player, yes, they celebrated it,
and they should. A win in this rivalry is big.
You put so much of yourself into this, the strategy,
the hard work and the emotion, all this they did.
They did all of that. Then they released it and
(08:15):
went back to work Sunday and Monday and you know,
and started working toward getting ready for this game. Because
that's how this They've been told this the last couple
of years camp, that it's an every week grind in
the SEC, and we saw this on the schedule in
advance Scott Howard when he was on with US mentioned that,
you know, hey, Georgia has to play Alabama on the road,
(08:37):
Texas on the road, and Ole Miss on the road.
Everybody's got, as my dad used to say, every man
has his own sack of rocks to tote. Texas plays
all three of its rivalry games away from Austin the
OU game in Dallas, at Arkansas, at Texas A and M.
Everybody's got challenges on their schedule. And by the way,
(08:58):
for those who you know were tracked the schedule earlier,
they still have to go to Vanderbilt, which is proving
to be certainly no picnic. With Vanderbilt having beaten Alabama Nashville,
they have to go to Kentucky. Kentucky a very good
team that played Georgia to within a point. They have
to do that. And we mentioned the A and M game.
Even Florida's been improved, they're gonna have to play them
(09:19):
at home, and of course going to Arkansas, and Arkansas
beat Tennessee at home. So everybody's got to deal with
that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Sark had a really good comment postgame presser on Saturday
when he said, after Texas beat Oklahoma forty nine to nothing.
They celebrated it like it was a Super Bowl. What
happened was they barely got by Iowa State the next
week and then ended up losing the Oklahoma State and
still and there's other factors to that, but he said
that this season, after that game, it's Oklahoma. They just
(09:49):
celebrated like it was a win and then moved on.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Now that shows you the difference in the mindset and
the difference in the culture in this year's team versus
two years ago.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
The culture of the growth, maturity, all of that stuff,
it rolls in and they know what they are dealing
with now in the SEC and they've been told what
they're going to be dealing with, you know about this
every week grind. They've been told that for the past
two years, so they're living it right now. All right
up next latest power rankings and the probabilities and things
(10:21):
like that for reaching the college football Playoff. We get
to that when we continue on sports Radio AM thirteen
under the Zone and the iHeartRadio app
Now I wanted to get to some comments from log
Worn's head coach Steve Sarkisian. Now, we didn't get a
chance to play all of the ones from the Monday
press conference, but there's some important things that you need
to hear out. First of all, one about his defense
(00:22):
and how they've had what we know in the industry
to be sudden change defense. If you give up the
ball on an offensive turnover, how the defense could clamp down.
And that's what they did against Oklahoma last week with
the early interception throne by Quinn e Weers on the
third play of the game, and they held Oklahoma without
a point as Sooners went up missing a field go.
(00:43):
So sark was asked about the prowess his defense has
displayed in not allowing scores following turnovers.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'll say, first of all, we're turning the ball over
too much and that has to be rectified, and so
we continuing to work on it, always looking for things
and our team where we can improve and where we
need to get better. Clearly, that's one of them. We
can't We cannot keep doing that to our defense and
putting them, putting them in those positions. But a credit
(01:12):
to our defense, and I touched on it Saturday. We
practice those scenarios. We practice that mentality of sudden change
and what that feels like to take the field and
a lot of teams take the field with the poor means,
oh man, why do we have to go and they
get the ball in the fifteen yard line going in
or whatever it is. We take the field as it's
an opportunity to seize momentum, and I think our players
(01:34):
really respond to it and have done a fantastic job.
I'm lucky that that's the way we do approach it,
but I don't like it, you know, because that means,
you know, eight turnovers is way too many through six games,
and that that's got to improve the second half the
season for us.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay, all right, so there's that. He was also asked
about his running back depth. You know, Jaydon Blue of
course had the couple of fumbles and then came back
and he's bounced back and he's had the end had
to go through that jerk Gibson runs top between the tackles,
but of course he is a true freshman. You have
Trey Wisner now and Wisder of course had the fumble
that went into the end zone that Silas Bolden fell
(02:11):
on for a touchdown was a huge moment, and then
the defense was able to get the ball right back
on the fumble, and one play after that, Wiser went
forty three yards for a touchdowns. So who was asked
about Trey Weisner and the depth at the running back position.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I want to say yes, And you guys might not
believe me, but you know, he had a heck of
a freshman year of just developing as a running back.
But at the same time, we found out a lot
about his speed and his toughness because of what he
did on special teams last year, and he had a
tremendous spring ball and the growth that what we saw
(02:46):
during spring practice and then the growth we saw in
training camp, you know, as he continued to get more opportunities,
and so I'm not surprised, you know. The I guess
what I'm learning more and more about him is he
has a real natural running ability. He kind of reminds
me of Jonathan Brooks at times that you don't get
(03:06):
wowed by the size. I don't know if you get
wowed by the outright speed, but there's just a natural
feel that he finds his way through holes. He's tough
to get on the ground, he's physical when he has
to be physical, and so I just think that he's
got a natural running ability about him. But he also
has speed and he has real toughness, which are kind
(03:29):
of prerequisites at the position.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
A couple other questions, and this is something I definitely
wanted you to hear in cause you did not hear
it when we brought to the news conference live on Monday,
Sark was asked about how well he knows Kirby Spartan.
He talked about that, and Kirby, by the way, talked
(03:51):
about it in his press conference. He said that the
same thing Sarks said. They're both good friends. They're part
of I guess a sponsor trip every year. Afterwards, and
then Sark had mentioned something about there's, you know, there's
certain things both of them being Nick Saban disciples and
former assistance and all that kind of stuff. So he's
asked if there's a specific characteristic that both he uh
(04:15):
and Kirby spart have displayed being Nick Saban disciples.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I'd say the first characteristics is everybody recruits really good players.
You know, when you're at Alabama, with coach Saban. I
think you come to learn and value that you get
to coach great players, and when you've got great players,
we all become better coaches. I'm smarter, I call better
plays because those guys make me look better, right, And
so I think we, you know, all of us that
(04:40):
have been with Coach Saban recruit really good players, you know,
and whether that's laying at old Miss Kirby myself, you know,
they're allys trying to find really good players. I think Two,
I think all of us believe in the value of
a complete team, you know, whether that's offense, defense, and
special teams. You know, because when you when you play
games like this at a really high level against really
(05:02):
good people, and the goal is to try to win
that last game, it's hard to win that last game.
It's hard to be a national champion if if you're
not a complete team, if you're not a versatile team,
and so you got to have depth of quality players.
And two, you better be good in all three areas
because it's tough to get to that game and it's
tough to win that game if you're just a one
(05:24):
dimensional team.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Okay, So there was that, and then he was also
asked a question about things that the players have said
about this big week and and and and the program
overall and get ready to take on Georgia, of what
what kinds of things does he hear from his players
in a week like this, and coming off the winn
of Oklahoma, there was.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
A there was a few things that got said coming
out of the game from those guys. You know, I talked,
I did hear that from Jake, And I think that
that that just kind of speaks volumes to the mindset
of where our team is at right now. I heard
John A. Baron talking about getting healthy as quickly as
everybody could so that we can come back Monday. You know,
how you do anything is how you do everything, as
(06:06):
it kind of a mantra we live by. And so
all those little things that our guys say, even today
when you guys visit with them, the how easy it
comes out of them, how easy it flows out of them,
has been ingrained in them now for three and four years.
Some of these guys that they don't have to think
about it, I think they truly believe it. And then
(06:28):
that to me is what permeates through our locker room.
And so I don't think Jake Majors is the only
guy that feels that way. I think he was able
to say it was such ease because I think that's
what our guys are talking about, you know, and I
think that that's a topic of discussion rather than just
a personal thought that he has.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
That was in response to a question Roger Wallace asked
him about Jake Major sitting down there in the general
media session, big old band aid across the bridge of
his nose. You were there, cam, you saw it, and
he said, what wins like this? They're like they're celebrated
more by good teams than great teams because great teams
want to be.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Better, he said. I think he said good teams celebrate wins.
Great teams don't because they still want to get better.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Yeah. Yeah, and it's a good thing. And I will
tell you this. You were down in the locker room,
so you saw this. Were they happy? Of course they
were happy, and they tried on the golden hat. Did
you get the trial the golden hat? Did you put
the golden hat on?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I did not.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I wouldn't feel comfortable puting the golden hat on.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Oh, tons of people put the golden hat on right
down there, my son put the Golden aut I never
put the golden hat on, but Jason was down there
assisting with the locker room coverage it there and then
there was I was sitting there for all any and
all the trial if they wanted to, and he put
it on, so he had that. No, but you did
take a good Instagram photo when he went out to
midfield wearing your cowboy hat. And when I first pulled
(07:51):
it up, Linda looked at it and said, is he
wearing the golden hat? But no, no, he's just wearing his
regular cowboy hat standing at midfield on that. My point
was going to be that the player, yes, they celebrated it,
and they should. A win in this rivalry is big.
You put so much of yourself into this, the strategy,
the hard work and the emotion, all this they did.
They did all of that. Then they released it and
(08:15):
went back to work Sunday and Monday and you know,
and started working toward getting ready for this game. Because
that's how this They've been told this the last couple
of years camp, that it's an every week grind in
the SEC, and we saw this on the schedule in
advance Scott Howard when he was on with US mentioned that,
you know, hey, Georgia has to play Alabama on the road,
(08:37):
Texas on the road, and Ole Miss on the road.
Everybody's got, as my dad used to say, every man
has his own sack of rocks to tote. Texas plays
all three of its rivalry games away from Austin the
OU game in Dallas, at Arkansas, at Texas A and M.
Everybody's got challenges on their schedule. And by the way,
(08:58):
for those who you know were tracked the schedule earlier,
they still have to go to Vanderbilt, which is proving
to be certainly no picnic. With Vanderbilt having beaten Alabama Nashville,
they have to go to Kentucky. Kentucky a very good
team that played Georgia to within a point. They have
to do that. And we mentioned the A and M game.
Even Florida's been improved, they're gonna have to play them
(09:19):
at home, and of course going to Arkansas, and Arkansas
beat Tennessee at home. So everybody's got to deal with
that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Sark had a really good comment postgame presser on Saturday
when he said, after Texas beat Oklahoma forty nine to nothing.
They celebrated it like it was a Super Bowl. What
happened was they barely got by Iowa State the next
week and then ended up losing the Oklahoma State and
still and there's other factors to that, but he said
that this season, after that game, it's Oklahoma. They just
(09:49):
celebrated like it was a win and then moved on.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Now that shows you the difference in the mindset and
the difference in the culture in this year's team versus
two years ago.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
The culture of the growth, maturity, all of that stuff,
it rolls in and they know what they are dealing
with now in the SEC and they've been told what
they're going to be dealing with, you know about this
every week grind. They've been told that for the past
two years, so they're living it right now. All right
up next latest power rankings and the probabilities and things
(10:21):
like that for reaching the college football Playoff. We get
to that when we continue on sports Radio AM thirteen
under the Zone and the iHeartRadio app
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