April 16, 2025 • 12 mins
Coach Jom Mora with his thoughts on spring practice, selling the program and going wild on the transfer portal
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Chrichy, you just starts off with the gym. Uh.
It was a really productive spring. We worked extremely hard,
probably the hardest we worked in the four springs I've
been here now. Uh, these guys just embraced every moment
of it. We saw a lot of progress as a
team got The new guys that came in, either as
(00:20):
as freshmen you know, high school guys, earlier rollies, or
the portal guys all just assimilated very very well. We
saw that in the in the winter training program as well.
So we stayed healthy for the most part of it.
We had you know, some mix and stuff like that,
but we didn't have any serious serious injuries at least
the guys that are in the depth right now. So
(00:40):
we feel really good coming out of this. Now, the
next phase is the portal's open, so I'm sure it's
madness out there, and these guys will work out for
a couple of weeks and they'll take some time off
and we'll get back at it right after Memorial of
the weekend, so late in May. That's the next phase.
So it's been really good, really competitive cooperative intents. We
(01:02):
got about probably over fourteen hundred team reps, which is
more than you have in a season. So that's that's
what we needed to do. We needed to work hard
and we did it. What are you approaching this portal window?
Do you feel like you have a lot of bulls
that you still need to No, No, We're we're in
decent shape. I mean, there's some spots that we have
to address, and we'll do that, but I'm hopeful that
you know, guys that are here want to stay here,
(01:24):
appreciate the environment that they've helped create, and are happy
with the progress for making. But there's always going to
be you know, surprises. We'll be actively looking for guys
that can, you know, help us get where we want
to be. And you know that starts a second we
walk off this field because I'm sure there's you know,
priority thousands of kids in this portal. It's it's a
different time now that they're going to reduce the roster limits.
(01:47):
There's gonna be a lot of really good football players
out there, so we'll be hunting. How do you balance
building on the momentum from last season to starting with
Ron you start over, you know, I mean last year
doesn't matter. You know a lot of these guys winning here,
we lost some critical pieces, uh to you know that
helped us have the success we had last year. So
(02:07):
it's it's you just start from ground zero. You know,
you talk about culture, you talk about work ethic, you
talk about attitudes, you talk about character, commitment, teamwork, team,
you know, selflessness, all those things. You just got to
rebuild it out. So they're really in this day and age,
there's no such thing as momentum coming out of one
year or not. You just I think if you assume
there's going to be, then you make a pretty big
(02:28):
mistake quotational. So we just start over, start over, and
you have a chance to see King when he played Temple,
what did you like about him and say a good figure? Well,
first and foremost, he's a playmaker. You know, he's made
a lot of tackles in his career and that's position
with that experience and a guy that's you know, been
productive is really important. Uh Like the way he played,
(02:49):
like his energy when he came on us visit just
his personality. Uh he fits here. You know, he's a
he's a good natured, tough, hard working team kind of guy.
And you know that was what we felt when we
brought him in for the weekend and through this last
since January. That's what he's proven to be. Same thing
(03:10):
in this spring ball. You know, he kind of stepped up.
And it's not easy to come in as a new
guy and gain instant credibility with your teammates and respect
for your team teammates. But he did that just in
his words and his actions. So I'm really excited about him.
So you're missaid last year's last year, but dose last
year helped sell your message when you're looking, It absolutely does.
So that's there. You know, if you're a put in
(03:33):
in a word that or in a realm wasn't necessarily
like the football part. There's more people that are willing
to listen to us than they were in the past.
Recruits transfers a little more attention on your program, and
that's a real positive obviously because we we want to
capitalize on that. But in terms of like resetting as
a team, we don't do that. But yeah, it's been
(03:53):
it's been different. You know, there's there's people that are
making unofficial visits here, people that are you know, in
con tack with us that maybe it was a little
more difficult to get get their eyes last year. Look,
especially defensive fronts. I'ven pillars are sort of the program.
How hard is it to rebuild? It's hard. It's hard.
(04:16):
You know, you stand out here and you see Val
and Chase sitting over there. Of course I see him
every day. They're both living at my house, which has
been unbelievably awesome to have him there. Uh, I mean funny,
fun fun I mean, you know, Val and my wife
cook every night, the Vows cookies, zucchini bread, carrot cake,
sourdough bread. I mean I walk in the other day,
(04:38):
VAL's gotta he's got a bowl with a uh a
towel over the top of them. I started to postle, coach,
don't pull that back. That's my My dough is whatever
rising And it's just awesome. But uh, you know, Val, Dal, Chase, Jilawnie,
you know Malik two Wee Ronto. Those guys were here
(04:58):
through the fifth in the fam and so there was
just this there's this grit to them and they've been
the guy. So they understood what we were all about,
and they'd kind of kind of put some skins on
the wall. They earned it, and it's hard to replace that.
It really is and that's why one of the reasons
that this spring is so demanding on these guys. You
(05:19):
want to see who's going to emerge, you know, who's
going to show up and when you put apply pressure
to the team, you know, or things you're kind of
going off off track a little which maybe you create
on on purpose, who's going to try to get it
back on track? And so those are really important things
for us to have accomplished this spring. That's say, well,
I got like a Taekwon and he kind of emerges,
you know, and you they see things kind of going
(05:40):
whack out of whack, he just kind of has the
ability to bring it back in could on that note,
who have been some of the people who have kept
the leadership wise for those group You've us in so
many of that, says Demon Brinson. Wes Ho, you know,
I mentioned Taekwon, Donovan brand Carston and they're all in
(06:02):
their own way. Some guys never say a word, but
the way that they work and their attitude every single day, Uh,
you know, they're just there. They're big time influencers on
this team. And uh, Cam Chadwick in his own way,
Joe Figiano obviously, so uh I think there's just a
(06:24):
lot of potential. I think as important as leadership is
just a connection, you know, and the team seems to
be building a connection, and that's really important, really important
as you go forward. You talk about people listening to
maybe more and now more and more willing listening. You've
had a few players that you know, went to the
teams that you played against, right impressed them they went there.
(06:47):
It's a must be nice to have somebody now like Taekwon,
that you saw and you liked whatever you saw and
we're able to pull him here. Yeah, no, it is,
it is. It's just just uh, it's a good it's
a good feeling to at least get in the game,
you know, when there's been times in the past we
couldn't even get in the game with a guy, and
now we feel like, you know, people are willing to listen.
(07:10):
It's there's a genuine interest. And then when they come
here and they meet the people and they see the
facilities and the way these kids treat each other. Geez,
I didn't know what it was gonna be like this,
you know, So at least we're getting to that point.
And then we just got to pull a few victories
out of that and we'll keep building this thing the
right way. You know, character is so important to our team,
you know, in that connection, and so we always have
to be really careful that it's it's more than just
(07:32):
about the football player, you know, it's about the person
as well, because that's you know, that's what builds the
strength of your team, is the is the character of
your team. We kind of been Branch was a guy
that had decommitted at leave and then you guys got
it to come back and now he's in here four years. Yeah,
what what was it that you saw them that made
want him to stay? Well, he decommitted, Like I mean
(07:54):
I said, right when I got here, I didn't know him,
you know, but you watch the film and you saw trades.
He's a guy I just done a tremendous job of
developing himself physically and mentally, emotionally. I mean, he's just
a he's a world class person and he's grounded. He
takes it serious. He's been the same kind of since
(08:14):
he got here, and now you're really starting to see
it payoff. And the way he looks physically, his understanding
of the defense is production. So if you look at
his production. If you went off his pure stats, there's
nothing to write home about. But you know, that's kind
of those people outside that are looking the stats. Fortunately,
we get to see him every day and meetings in
the weight room, we get to see him at practice,
(08:35):
and we know what he's becoming. Jim, I hate the
thrower used to be out there, But it used to
be these springs would end with a spring game or
a scrimmage or something like that. Not anymore, it's cheaged. Well,
we decided last year when we were out there on
Maron at least, I decided that that was we weren't
gonna do that again again. Number One, the turf isn't
(08:56):
conducive to safety and opinion in football. It's okay for
lacrosse and soccer and and the field if they ever
play field hockey the things they do out there, but
for our football team, that turf is not safe. Number two, Uh,
it was cold and wet and rainy, and no one
was there, and uh, it just wasn't the energy and
(09:17):
the environment that we needed. And number three, I feel
like in a practice like this, we can get a
lot more done. You know, we can create more situations,
We can create the energy we want, we can get
the evaluations that we want, and so we just decided
last year that we're not doing anymore. Now other people
have their own reasons for us, it was really just
a function of how can we have fifteen really really
(09:39):
good practices where we can develop as a football team,
irrelevant of what anyone else is doing. I'm so curious
on your position on the state of sort of the
transfer portal and all that stuff where we're seeing at
least one player, you know, show that you can kind
of hold out. Yeah, And I mean I don't, I
don't know. I don't know. There's there's there's really no
(10:00):
rules that are being followed. Tampering is rampant. The NCAA
refuses to step in and do anything about it. I
know this. If one of our players that I don't
think is gonna leave all of a sudden leaves, I'm
calling that team out. If I have any inkling that
there's tampering, I'm naming names. I'm not gonna be one
of those coaches says, hey, we the NCAA's got to
do something about tampering. I'm gonna say no school X,
(10:22):
just like get I did in the winter school X
did this, and then the NCAAs to decide if they
want to do something about it, which so far doesn't
appear they're going to. I think it's chaos. I think
it's unfortunate. I think it's horrible for the players. I
don't think it's the player's fault at all. I mean,
these players, they see the money out there, they want
to go get it. There's no contracts, there's nothing holding
them back from them. They're young, impressionable kids. I don't
(10:45):
blame them at all. It's it's it is what it is.
You're just the I mean, I consider I'm not bitching.
I'm just telling you the facts. It's just it is
what it is. I mean, you kind of get a
little adrenaline rush out of it. At the same time,
you know, I know the positives it. It gives us
a chance to go out and you know, better our team,
and it gives players a chance to got and better
their situation. But at some point in time, at some
(11:08):
point in time, the people that govern this have to
have some parameters that they enforce and they stick to,
otherwise it's going to implode. You didn't hear anything. You
didn't hear anything. At all after anybody mentioned more. It's
like Mike Gandhi said, you know, go and look consider
my Gundy said about spring games. You know, I'm not
(11:30):
going to repeat what he said, but tell somebody's willing
to actually hold somebody accountable. People are just going to
do what they want regardless of the this what the
rules say, and that is exactly what's happening. But I'm
not going to be afraid to call it out because
I don't care. You know what I'm saying, because what
are the players on your spring roster? Is du Khan? Define?
(11:53):
Can you talk about him at all? I don't know
how it work. Is this some sort of kind of
tryout or how hard if nearly try? He impressed us
now he you know, Coach Penders talked about him a
lot to me, and Drew expressed an interest in coming
out and playing football again. And you would not have
known that it had been a while since he played.
And when he stepped right in and he was really
(12:16):
good and he understood the game, and he's competitive, and
he's tough, and he catches the ball consistently, he learns well.
I don't know what his plans are going forward. I
mean if if tomorrow he's out there, you know, hitting
clean up for our baseball team, I'm all for it.
You know. I'd love to have him back in the
in the summer, in the in the fallback. So whatever
(12:37):
he wants to do, you know, and whatever coach Penders
thinks is best for him. I like him, you know.
I like dual sport guys like I wouldn't mind our
guys running track, you know, I'd be great. He just
go out there and compete. That's the best thing we
can do is go compete. So all right, hey, thanks,
Hey, Chrichy, you just starts off with the gym. Uh.
It was a really productive spring. We worked extremely hard,
probably the hardest we worked in the four springs I've
been here now. Uh, these guys just embraced every moment
of it. We saw a lot of progress as a
team got The new guys that came in, either as
(00:20):
as freshmen you know, high school guys, earlier rollies, or
the portal guys all just assimilated very very well. We
saw that in the in the winter training program as well.
So we stayed healthy for the most part of it.
We had you know, some mix and stuff like that,
but we didn't have any serious serious injuries at least
the guys that are in the depth right now. So
(00:40):
we feel really good coming out of this. Now, the
next phase is the portal's open, so I'm sure it's
madness out there, and these guys will work out for
a couple of weeks and they'll take some time off
and we'll get back at it right after Memorial of
the weekend, so late in May. That's the next phase.
So it's been really good, really competitive cooperative intents. We
(01:02):
got about probably over fourteen hundred team reps, which is
more than you have in a season. So that's that's
what we needed to do. We needed to work hard
and we did it. What are you approaching this portal window?
Do you feel like you have a lot of bulls
that you still need to No, No, We're we're in
decent shape. I mean, there's some spots that we have
to address, and we'll do that, but I'm hopeful that
you know, guys that are here want to stay here,
(01:24):
appreciate the environment that they've helped create, and are happy
with the progress for making. But there's always going to
be you know, surprises. We'll be actively looking for guys
that can, you know, help us get where we want
to be. And you know that starts a second we
walk off this field because I'm sure there's you know,
priority thousands of kids in this portal. It's it's a
different time now that they're going to reduce the roster limits.
(01:47):
There's gonna be a lot of really good football players
out there, so we'll be hunting. How do you balance
building on the momentum from last season to starting with
Ron you start over, you know, I mean last year
doesn't matter. You know a lot of these guys winning here,
we lost some critical pieces, uh to you know that
helped us have the success we had last year. So
(02:07):
it's it's you just start from ground zero. You know,
you talk about culture, you talk about work ethic, you
talk about attitudes, you talk about character, commitment, teamwork, team,
you know, selflessness, all those things. You just got to
rebuild it out. So they're really in this day and age,
there's no such thing as momentum coming out of one
year or not. You just I think if you assume
there's going to be, then you make a pretty big
(02:28):
mistake quotational. So we just start over, start over, and
you have a chance to see King when he played Temple,
what did you like about him and say a good figure? Well,
first and foremost, he's a playmaker. You know, he's made
a lot of tackles in his career and that's position
with that experience and a guy that's you know, been
productive is really important. Uh Like the way he played,
(02:49):
like his energy when he came on us visit just
his personality. Uh he fits here. You know, he's a
he's a good natured, tough, hard working team kind of guy.
And you know that was what we felt when we
brought him in for the weekend and through this last
since January. That's what he's proven to be. Same thing
(03:10):
in this spring ball. You know, he kind of stepped up.
And it's not easy to come in as a new
guy and gain instant credibility with your teammates and respect
for your team teammates. But he did that just in
his words and his actions. So I'm really excited about him.
So you're missaid last year's last year, but dose last
year helped sell your message when you're looking, It absolutely does.
So that's there. You know, if you're a put in
(03:33):
in a word that or in a realm wasn't necessarily
like the football part. There's more people that are willing
to listen to us than they were in the past.
Recruits transfers a little more attention on your program, and
that's a real positive obviously because we we want to
capitalize on that. But in terms of like resetting as
a team, we don't do that. But yeah, it's been
(03:53):
it's been different. You know, there's there's people that are
making unofficial visits here, people that are you know, in
con tack with us that maybe it was a little
more difficult to get get their eyes last year. Look,
especially defensive fronts. I'ven pillars are sort of the program.
How hard is it to rebuild? It's hard. It's hard.
(04:16):
You know, you stand out here and you see Val
and Chase sitting over there. Of course I see him
every day. They're both living at my house, which has
been unbelievably awesome to have him there. Uh, I mean funny,
fun fun I mean, you know, Val and my wife
cook every night, the Vows cookies, zucchini bread, carrot cake,
sourdough bread. I mean I walk in the other day,
(04:38):
VAL's gotta he's got a bowl with a uh a
towel over the top of them. I started to postle, coach,
don't pull that back. That's my My dough is whatever
rising And it's just awesome. But uh, you know, Val, Dal, Chase, Jilawnie,
you know Malik two Wee Ronto. Those guys were here
(04:58):
through the fifth in the fam and so there was
just this there's this grit to them and they've been
the guy. So they understood what we were all about,
and they'd kind of kind of put some skins on
the wall. They earned it, and it's hard to replace that.
It really is and that's why one of the reasons
that this spring is so demanding on these guys. You
(05:19):
want to see who's going to emerge, you know, who's
going to show up and when you put apply pressure
to the team, you know, or things you're kind of
going off off track a little which maybe you create
on on purpose, who's going to try to get it
back on track? And so those are really important things
for us to have accomplished this spring. That's say, well,
I got like a Taekwon and he kind of emerges,
you know, and you they see things kind of going
(05:40):
whack out of whack, he just kind of has the
ability to bring it back in could on that note,
who have been some of the people who have kept
the leadership wise for those group You've us in so
many of that, says Demon Brinson. Wes Ho, you know,
I mentioned Taekwon, Donovan brand Carston and they're all in
(06:02):
their own way. Some guys never say a word, but
the way that they work and their attitude every single day, Uh,
you know, they're just there. They're big time influencers on
this team. And uh, Cam Chadwick in his own way,
Joe Figiano obviously, so uh I think there's just a
(06:24):
lot of potential. I think as important as leadership is
just a connection, you know, and the team seems to
be building a connection, and that's really important, really important
as you go forward. You talk about people listening to
maybe more and now more and more willing listening. You've
had a few players that you know, went to the
teams that you played against, right impressed them they went there.
(06:47):
It's a must be nice to have somebody now like Taekwon,
that you saw and you liked whatever you saw and
we're able to pull him here. Yeah, no, it is,
it is. It's just just uh, it's a good it's
a good feeling to at least get in the game,
you know, when there's been times in the past we
couldn't even get in the game with a guy, and
now we feel like, you know, people are willing to listen.
(07:10):
It's there's a genuine interest. And then when they come
here and they meet the people and they see the
facilities and the way these kids treat each other. Geez,
I didn't know what it was gonna be like this,
you know, So at least we're getting to that point.
And then we just got to pull a few victories
out of that and we'll keep building this thing the
right way. You know, character is so important to our team,
you know, in that connection, and so we always have
to be really careful that it's it's more than just
(07:32):
about the football player, you know, it's about the person
as well, because that's you know, that's what builds the
strength of your team, is the is the character of
your team. We kind of been Branch was a guy
that had decommitted at leave and then you guys got
it to come back and now he's in here four years. Yeah,
what what was it that you saw them that made
want him to stay? Well, he decommitted, Like I mean
(07:54):
I said, right when I got here, I didn't know him,
you know, but you watch the film and you saw trades.
He's a guy I just done a tremendous job of
developing himself physically and mentally, emotionally. I mean, he's just
a he's a world class person and he's grounded. He
takes it serious. He's been the same kind of since
(08:14):
he got here, and now you're really starting to see
it payoff. And the way he looks physically, his understanding
of the defense is production. So if you look at
his production. If you went off his pure stats, there's
nothing to write home about. But you know, that's kind
of those people outside that are looking the stats. Fortunately,
we get to see him every day and meetings in
the weight room, we get to see him at practice,
(08:35):
and we know what he's becoming. Jim, I hate the
thrower used to be out there, But it used to
be these springs would end with a spring game or
a scrimmage or something like that. Not anymore, it's cheaged. Well,
we decided last year when we were out there on
Maron at least, I decided that that was we weren't
gonna do that again again. Number One, the turf isn't
(08:56):
conducive to safety and opinion in football. It's okay for
lacrosse and soccer and and the field if they ever
play field hockey the things they do out there, but
for our football team, that turf is not safe. Number two, Uh,
it was cold and wet and rainy, and no one
was there, and uh, it just wasn't the energy and
(09:17):
the environment that we needed. And number three, I feel
like in a practice like this, we can get a
lot more done. You know, we can create more situations,
We can create the energy we want, we can get
the evaluations that we want, and so we just decided
last year that we're not doing anymore. Now other people
have their own reasons for us, it was really just
a function of how can we have fifteen really really
(09:39):
good practices where we can develop as a football team,
irrelevant of what anyone else is doing. I'm so curious
on your position on the state of sort of the
transfer portal and all that stuff where we're seeing at
least one player, you know, show that you can kind
of hold out. Yeah, And I mean I don't, I
don't know. I don't know. There's there's there's really no
(10:00):
rules that are being followed. Tampering is rampant. The NCAA
refuses to step in and do anything about it. I
know this. If one of our players that I don't
think is gonna leave all of a sudden leaves, I'm
calling that team out. If I have any inkling that
there's tampering, I'm naming names. I'm not gonna be one
of those coaches says, hey, we the NCAA's got to
do something about tampering. I'm gonna say no school X,
(10:22):
just like get I did in the winter school X
did this, and then the NCAAs to decide if they
want to do something about it, which so far doesn't
appear they're going to. I think it's chaos. I think
it's unfortunate. I think it's horrible for the players. I
don't think it's the player's fault at all. I mean,
these players, they see the money out there, they want
to go get it. There's no contracts, there's nothing holding
them back from them. They're young, impressionable kids. I don't
(10:45):
blame them at all. It's it's it is what it is.
You're just the I mean, I consider I'm not bitching.
I'm just telling you the facts. It's just it is
what it is. I mean, you kind of get a
little adrenaline rush out of it. At the same time,
you know, I know the positives it. It gives us
a chance to go out and you know, better our team,
and it gives players a chance to got and better
their situation. But at some point in time, at some
(11:08):
point in time, the people that govern this have to
have some parameters that they enforce and they stick to,
otherwise it's going to implode. You didn't hear anything. You
didn't hear anything. At all after anybody mentioned more. It's
like Mike Gandhi said, you know, go and look consider
my Gundy said about spring games. You know, I'm not
(11:30):
going to repeat what he said, but tell somebody's willing
to actually hold somebody accountable. People are just going to
do what they want regardless of the this what the
rules say, and that is exactly what's happening. But I'm
not going to be afraid to call it out because
I don't care. You know what I'm saying, because what
are the players on your spring roster? Is du Khan? Define?
(11:53):
Can you talk about him at all? I don't know
how it work. Is this some sort of kind of
tryout or how hard if nearly try? He impressed us
now he you know, Coach Penders talked about him a
lot to me, and Drew expressed an interest in coming
out and playing football again. And you would not have
known that it had been a while since he played.
And when he stepped right in and he was really
(12:16):
good and he understood the game, and he's competitive, and
he's tough, and he catches the ball consistently, he learns well.
I don't know what his plans are going forward. I
mean if if tomorrow he's out there, you know, hitting
clean up for our baseball team, I'm all for it.
You know. I'd love to have him back in the
in the summer, in the in the fallback. So whatever
(12:37):
he wants to do, you know, and whatever coach Penders
thinks is best for him. I like him, you know.
I like dual sport guys like I wouldn't mind our
guys running track, you know, I'd be great. He just
go out there and compete. That's the best thing we
can do is go compete. So all right, hey, thanks,
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