NDSU Football Press Conference With Tim Polasek Week1 vs The Citadel

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, kind of a thanks to Tris Shannon and
her staff and Samford and the doctors. And why I'm
starting there is I think this is the healthiest we've
been from a perspective of starters, you.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Know, major role players.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I mean, we are We're gonna go out there and
have a good practice today. We're pretty healthy. I also
want to personally thank Trish for getting me in position
to be able to run out of the tunnel with
my shoulder issue. Ryan Nappley and Jim Kramer passed off
this football team, you know, around July thirtieth, you know.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Ready to be coached, ready to be pushed.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
We did more double repping this fall camp than I
can remember in my last four or five years being
involved with double repping, and so our players are are lean.
You know, we've got a fast football team. I really
believe that. I think we're flying around pretty good. And so,
you know, just those guys did a great job. You know,
along with the addition of Corbyn Green, you know, he's

(00:54):
brought some more sports science things to our forefront, and
that's where we have the evidence that I think we're
running pretty good. Just looking at some you know, Catapult
information want to say thanks to the supporters that provide
that that's unbelievable, you know, with the teammakers and so forth.
But we've also added some jumping things that tell me
that we're we're really functioning at a high level right now,

(01:14):
and I'm excited about that.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
You know, twenty twenty five is here.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's been a really cool five days, and we've been
focused and we've been intentional about our work with our players,
but we've also gotten them away from the building. But
you know, starting I don't know, during fan Day, you know,
we spoke to nearly seven hundred teammakers came to our
fan day you know, pre kickoff party, and to see
that support and really there's a true energy and juice

(01:42):
about our program, not only football but all athletics.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I mean, that was a lot of fun to be
able to speak at that and.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Kind of share the vision for this team, the expectations
and where they at and what they do and the
opportunity moving forward. And then secondly, you know, we had
an opportunity to a football team. You know, we went
offense defense meetings and we had two shifts for moving
day for all the student body here, and I really appreciate,
you know, President Cook giving us the opportunity or kind

(02:10):
of supporting the opportunity of us doing that. Met some
really cool parents, some unbelievable students on campus, other student athletes.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
And for our guys to do what they did.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
We moved a lot of stuff in a hurry, and
they attacked it like it was a practice.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
And so that was really neat.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
And then I think, uh, mister Larson asked me to
speak at our lunch and yesterday, you know, with all
the student athletes there, and I felt a real special connection.
You know, we challenged the group a little bit, like
for them to be supportive of each other to.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Be at athletic events.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
But I bring that up because what an unbelievable, awesome
opportunity right now for all of Bison Nation, you know,
to get behind everything that we're doing, you know, to
become supporters, you know, to support each other.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
I think it's really cool to be a Bison.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
And again, you know this day and age, there's a
lot of things made up it, but you know, to
wear the green and golden, to be part of this
community's honor and for all of our student athletes kind
of to get to hear me speak about that, I
thought it was a pretty neat cool experience.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Week one is here.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
The goal hasn't changed, so you know, I'm not going
to stand up here and say anything, you know, real
cute or fancy, but the goal is to go one
and zero, to score one more point in our opponent.
And for the next four or five weeks of work,
including this week, you know, it's to compete, improving to
be tough.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Week one is a road game.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
I think it's critical that this football team, you know,
for us to reach our full potential, we have to
understand a couple of things. Number one, we're not defending anything.
Number two, we're not on some top of some beautiful mountain.
You know, we're right there with the rest of the
country at the bottom, you know, working to be the
best you can be.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
I think it's important for.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Our team, our players to understand that last year wasn't easy.
You know, for our fans to understand last year wasn't easy,
very very difficult. The twenty twenty four team, you know,
we've had plus nineteen turnover margin.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
We were tough, played clean, made.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Our opponents line up and beat us when they did
do that, and in the middle eight right two minute drill,
coming out of the locker room for the third quarter,
ready to go.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
We were one twenty five to thirty seven.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
The twenty twenty four team had unbelievable Bison Pride had
unbelievable resilience and toughness. And we have to go do
that again, you know, starting in week one. I think,
I think finally, I just and I'm thinking about a
couple of plays that you know, people don't write about.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
They talk about the one handed.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Catch, this that and everything, But we were unbelievable in critical,
big time moments. We had some guys that are no
longer with us that made those plays, that made their
minds have to make them. And so, well, who's going
to be the guys that make those plays this year?
How will we make those plays?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
You know?

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Can we come close to fifty four percent conversion on
third down? And that's unbelievably exciting. That's each and every
year around here. It seems like we're replacing somebody. We're
stronger here. We got questions here, and so we have
to answer those questions. And I'm so excited and to
watch this group improve over the next three four weeks
but also to see who our next guys are that

(05:07):
we can count on and can we establish the line
of scrimmage from an offensive line standpoint? You know, are
we truly going to cover people better and phill runs
from the safety spot better? Because we're excited about that.
I think it's I think it's really neat. We're stressing
this right now. We got to be wolves versus sheep.
Sheep get fed, they sit in the pen and they

(05:28):
wait for the person to show up to feed them.
We've got to be hungry and we got to be hunting,
and we got to do that at an all time high.
And I'm so so super I'm maybe more excited than
last year. And even though last year is the first year,
I just think we have so many guys that are
ready to step into roles that they haven't been in.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
So with that, I'll open up for questions.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
And we have so many guys that have played but
haven't started. What's the anticipation like that for the season.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
It's kind of like fourteen to me, you know, I
just I just thought about this guy, but like MJ.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Stone, you know, was written off for who's this guy?

Speaker 1 (06:02):
You know, he's he ever gonna get there, and then
he goes he comes the linebacker of the year in
the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
You know, So.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Nathaniel Staling, my anticipation, my expectation while he's sitting up
there watching tape right now, is for him to play
better than any Mike linebackers that's ever played year before.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
And so that's exciting. We've done it before.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Our process, our systems, our concepts, the way we teach,
the way we practice sets those guys up. If they
trust that they've gone against good players here for two weeks,
three weeks, If they trust iron Sharpen's iron, if they're
not going to attack and dominate the butterflies, and really
trust the fact that we've coached them, well, they they've

(06:45):
gone against good players here. This is kind of good
on good football this this camp, and it's been really competitive.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
They got to trust those things, is what I would say.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
You know, as you said earlier about your players being
a part of you know, different aspects of the community.
You know, for you when you see on social media,
you know, different sporting events, you know, moving days, what's
that mean to you to see that they're buying in
not just football, but INDIASU.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
No, I don't know if it hasn't been at the
fourteen or fifteen opportunities I've had to speak. I just
feel an unbelievable connection right now on whether that's getting
to know Matt Larson, like on a personal level.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
We've been in the car a lot together and it's
just been like, gosh, this place is cool.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
But there's this connection right now that I think that
we can improve, to be honest, and I'm talking about
our guys showing up at a volleyball game or Thursday night. Okay,
we're gonna take some kids down the Shields, and I
want the whole community there. All right, they got a
surprise or something like that. But we've got sixteen players
going down there. One hundred and one hundred and two
or so other players better be at that soccer game

(07:51):
because it is important. Like there's young people go through
some tough stuff and why not support it.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's cool to be a Bison.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
I want community school spirit to be at all time high,
and maybe it only exists at NBSU, but we can
do better with that. And so each and every opportunity
our kids take to give back. I mentioned it before,
like with the with the process of Nil, whether it
was the Green and Gold Collective or our Green and
Goal Fund. Now you're gonna see and continue to see

(08:17):
community service go up from these student athletes on campus,
and obviously I'm in charge or trying to help our
football team to do the best they can do.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
That will increase again this year. New kicker, new punter.
Heading into the season, Yeah, we started hot. I really
was really excited.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
I think we hit a little bit a lot and
than this week, like they're on it. Eli Oasick has
just barely hedged out Drew Klein for the kicking job.
I'm talking like eighty eight percent makes versus eighty percent makes.
Eli has a bunch of talent and ability. I mean
he's a strong leg kid and Drew is too. They
both can kick off. I think Aaron Bickerton within our

(08:59):
system is finding his way. Aaron, there's days where we
will most certainly if he achieves anywhere near his full potential,
will be better with hang time and distance on the
punt unit.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
And I really like his operation right now.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
So but that's one of those areas that I can
come up here and I can really say I'm excited
to see how they do, how they handle it okay,
and then how do we coach them from there? You know,
are they going to need a kick in the butt,
a wake up call or is this going to be
all right?

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Guys? The bar's pretty high.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Let's continue to chase it. So I'm excited about those
three guys, right along with the returners lies range as what.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
I mean, we got to get out there each and
every game. They come to me, they give me a number.
You know, where's the wind at? But at home, I'm
not sure that it's not fifty six or fifty seven.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, that's big time turn.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
He's got a big time like. You know, he's got
to continue to develop a routine. One of the failures
we had last year that's been unwritten about is we
went from number one in the country and kick coverage
up until about eight week eight or nine, and I
don't know if you remember, he kind of got into
a funk and it's like his leg was tired, you know.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
So number one and me helping.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
With the management of that, but number two him being
really honest with us about where he's at. And that's
where the force plate and some of the jumping is
going to give us a real indicator on where his
strength levels are and where his fatigue level is. But
we did we failed as a program last year with
our drop off and kick cover.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
You're kick goffin.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
He taking both kickers, No, Eli, we're taking both kickers.
But Eli will assume both roles right now. He just
we got to do a better job of not kicking
so much. His routine is pretty Eli Oasek's routine is respectful, respectable,
but I think it's a little bit heavy. You know,
he's in the weight room with bands and he's doing
this and doing that. So he's got to get himself
ready to go, and we trust that he will. The

(10:46):
good news is Drew Klein is right on his heels
and I really like the demeanor of both kids. The
third out of maybe four or five years in a
row that you guys will be starting the year on
the road.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Does that mean some do would you rather?

Speaker 1 (11:00):
I like sleeping in my own bed, I love fargo.
I like home openers because they're exciting. But there's something special,
like I said before, about going on a road, especially
with what is it, guys, I don't know the numbers,
but eight or nine seven eight nine different new starters
that are in the program that are sophomores or redshirt
freshmen or juniors. In some case, Hey, let's go get

(11:22):
on a damn plane and let's get tight in a hotel.
Let's see our parents for an hour and a half.
But then it's ed M eliminate distractions now and it's
no seeing parents or girlfriends or.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
This, that or the other thing in the morning, because
we got to wake up ready to win. I like
that kind of a disciplined guy all these years. What
do you see. Do you see something in the mirror
with the citadel and the way they go about business.
They're a little bit better than us.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
You know, we were fiftieth or something in the country
in penalty and penalty yards, and part of that was
I thought we needed to play in the gray area
a little bit on defense. But very disciplined team. They
go twenty seven twenty three yards yards. They were ranked
twenty three in the country last year in twenty seventh
as far as being penalized. Now those numbers doesn't take

(12:06):
very much to move down into.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Forty or whatever. But they're very disciplined.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
They remind me of an Air Force team typically in
a lot of their games. I noticed, you know, ten
to thirteen in the middle of the third quarter. You know,
they had East Tennessee State. It was a score or
two game and a bad decision and then a pick
six went the other way and East Tennessee State kind
of separated from there. Very disciplined outfit. I really think

(12:30):
their concepts, you know, they know who they are, they
know who they want to be. Obviously, he's building the
program to get it to where he wants, but they're
well coached, very disciplined.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Verry lifestyle part of that, Well, it's gotta be.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
I don't Derek Lukens around here. You know, he's Air Force,
and man, this guy's boom boom boom, right heck yeah,
I mean I think, you know, it's funny with all
the different changes in potential spring ball being elongated, you
could do some things in June. The first guy that
Napp told me that they are going to call was
like Army or Navy, because you know that training over

(13:05):
here is one thing and then football is another thing,
and so how do they handle the calendar and the
training and the science behind it, And so I think
those guys are very regiment and I have a great
deal of respect for.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
That offensive line. How to play out throughout fall camp
to where you decided on who was going to.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Go, Well, I think it's still playing out. I mean,
I really do. Here's where I'm at now.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
I wonder how many of these guys could play seventy plays,
you know, and finish it out like the old by.
You know, can we run and finish it out on
our terms in a four minute drill? Or can they
can they play in back to back two minute drills
if we're behind, you know, so Nate tested we'll go
at left guard and then the rest of it. You
guys have written about and understand where we're at, you know,

(13:45):
I do think one thing that's occurred. Mangan was battling
some stomach things a couple of days, and so we
were like, okay, you could practice for one third of
the practice. Well, heck, just let's put our best guy
out there. And we moved empty out there one day
on the right side. And so he's a real format,
old tackle option and I don't care how tall he is.
And so that kind of came about. Nate Schneckehoff, Jack Lewinsky.

(14:09):
You know, my hat goes off to those two because
it's kind of been an up and down road, but
they have really had their best ten days the last
ten and so all of a sudden there's seven or
eight guys you'd be curious about, you know, how could
this how can this thing shake out? My goal is
to get with Dylan and Dan and I really want
to see seven guys play seven guys, maybe some different

(14:29):
combinations in this first game. And then Ryan Babbitt's It's interesting,
we've had a couple of our freshmen get hurt here
and so like we've really struggled, you know, with the
look team balancing that a little bit, and so Ryan
hasn't quite got as many reps as I'd like to
see him get, but he most certainly is physically ready.

(14:51):
And if he gets into a double team, things move.
If he gets on a guy and his hands are
on him in pass port, things move.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
And so I'm really hopeful we can.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
I had some opportunity early in the year for Ryan
to play, so then that we know we have a
for middle guy to go beyond four games playing love that.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Do you have any other idea of guys beyond four
for freshmen.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
That are going to play this year.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
I'm beyond four. No, Elijah Wayne's gonna play. Okay, he's
gonna be on the plane. He's not gonna get dressed
up for nothing. This guy has a chance to be
a pretty good player for us. And I think where
we're at with you know, the number four, the number
five guy, that mix of d lineman and how many
you need as you travel through the season. Elijah Wayne's

(15:33):
gonna play some and I'm excited about I saw him.
I had to go pick something up or drop something
off with the administration site whatever.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
I was making my way and he's going.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
To class and he promised the president he was going
to be one of the top scholars on campus.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
And he had a smile. I say, you good do
I gotta call it coach, I'm good. Me and Dad.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's what we've been talking about. I can't wait. And
so that's exciting. Elijah Ford will be a guy I
would think we're play in four games. Beyond that, I
keep forgetting about Miles Mitchell and he'll play on special
teams and we'll see how the carry shakeout.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
With three and four for us.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
But outside of that we have a chance to maybe
hold on a few of those red shirts depending on
our health.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
What he has talked about in suit balls that this
is going to be the best wide receiver room in
dsu's ever had. For you, what are you seeing out
of this group that has him? You know that confident
and feeling special about this group.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
There's a lot of experience, theres a lot of games played.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Raja and Bryce made countless big plays last year. Chris
Harris voted captain by his team teammates. I mean, that's unbelievable.
Makai Collins keeps getting better. Jackson Williams didn't just splash
on the seam last year.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
He was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
And then I think you got a guy like Isaiah
Saint Romain. But I got news for you. You know,
we showed a ten minute clip of everybody telling these
kids how good they are. Okay, and then I let
it play again and again, you know, with some of
the predictions and things out there, which I think is fun.
It's part of why we have such great coverage here.
But we got to go do it again, and we
got to go prove that. And then on top of it,

(17:11):
the online needs to provide opportunities for the quarterback to
throw it properly. And the quarterback yet has to do
it in a game in big moments. He has to
put the ball on them to give them the opportunity,
and then we got to look it in, catch it
and go do unbelievable things with it afterwards. But I
like the fact that we're big, strong and physical. They
like the block, whether it's run or screens, and so

(17:34):
it's an exciting group. What have they done. They've competed
really hard against a good secondary that's been back and
forth all fall camp, and I know those guys are
chomping at the bit to get three, four or five
touches each. So we got to provide opportunities to get
the ball. Oh to those guys, you know, ice, ice
cold or ice, you know, whatever you want to call them.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
I'm excited for those guys. How communication technology, what's have
been like? Fully adding that wrinkle?

Speaker 1 (18:01):
I don't know this, but we just put out a
fire prior to getting to this season. So gran Olsen
Rush is in the office, coach. You know what, if
there's a game, if I ever went down, who's gonna
call it?

Speaker 2 (18:11):
I said, well, it ain't gonna be me go figure
it out, right.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
So we come to this conclusion and then I get
to think, and I'm like, what if Dan Larson went down,
I don't have the communication to the quarterback. You know,
Joe's not wearing it. So I had to run down
here and make sure we always have a backup helmet,
communication headset for the coaches.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
And so it's awesome.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
I mean the two minute, the two minute information that
you can get to a group of guys. Or yes,
three days ago we were running two minutes, believe it
or not. We had to transition back to grind, get
down okay, because all we needed was two points to win.
But there was a minute left, so we had to
communicate to the running backs that now we're not scoring
a touchdo them because the only way they can they

(18:54):
could possibly come back is by getting the ball back.
We want to finish that possession kick in the field
goal or scoring third down. And we were able to
do all that we're before you know that would have
took hands signals and so forth and so on, and
so the transitions in and out of you know, two
minute drill, the four minute drill, the information that you
can give to the court. Hey, we're alert time out here,

(19:15):
alert the receivers. We're down down on the yard line
to gain. And now we can practice that stuff and
we've been working hard at it.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Defensively, that's gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
Stanley will have the green dot.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Defensively, it's not as big a deal. Guys.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
They still got a signal, so the DBS can get
it depending on loud environments.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
We're a signal outfit.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
But some of this situational stuff, I think we'll be
able to yell light, green light or red light some situations. Hey,
a red light interception, We're going down right, so they
can yell red light, red light, red light or however
we're choosing to use those words. Pretty cool, getting your
extra enthusiastic toe in front of your jack dot.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yes, so started the season, all this stuff.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Just think some of the question marks, and I believe
we're gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
I believe that we're gonna go down there and play well.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
But like you guys are right, like this quarterback being
the name, Okay, it's one thing to go out there
and carry the ball on some zone raid and score
fifty eight points. To be responsible for sixteen minutes to
be responsible as one of the guys to go in
and say, and he doesn't have to do it himself,
but to be part of the outcome. Are we singing
the song or are we crying? There's so many of

(20:26):
those storylines. I'm excited for the old line man. We
graduated some unbelievable kids last year, and that's where I
kind of you guys kept asking about the I'm like,
they're gonna be fine.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
They all these years of practice, right.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Like, is Bull Johnson able to play to some sort
of all conference level because we kind of need it,
you know, freely and empty are proven? Okay, over on
the right side, that guy was playing d tackle not
but eighteen months ago and he missed ten practices in
the spring.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
We have some question marks, but I'm so very excited not.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Only to see how they do this week, but then
how much better do they get week two? How much
better do they get week three? Because I know this,
the fur is gonna fly when we hit conference play,
and then how good are you and how connected are
you in November is what really matters.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
I mean, hej Scott getting on set.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
I have no idea. It's crazy talk.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
If the run game's going, well, he could get twenty
and Breacon could get twenty eight. And you know, we
do our thing if it's a deal where we got
to win, you know, with the ball and the perimeter
a little bit like we did last year.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
This, that and the earth.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
He might get five Brika is going and we got
to get this guy's legs in position to carry the
football team from a run game standpoint. And then the
rest of those guys it's their job to add as
much as they can write value and make us put
them out there and support him.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Just seeing three quarterbacks Saturday.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
You know that's I got to know it somewhere. It
just doesn't matter. We need to dictate the terms whoever
they send out there. And what I'm talking about that
is disguise is in the back end on third and
you know seven plus, I think it's really critic called
run fit wise, option, football, misdirection, counters inside zone, RPO,
and screens primarily right. So when we get these opportunities

(22:08):
on third and six seven, we got to be humming
up front, dictating the terms that he's gonna have to
grind to get himself off the ground. Pre snap's gonna
be a grind. That's what I'm excited about. That there's
some comfort because Preston Brown does an unbelievable job on
the scout team with his ability to run around. Cole
provides that right, like we've had to talk about spying

(22:29):
a quarterback. I think Grant's been faced with Nick Nathan.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Right, big armed guy. I don't know what they got.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
You know, Trey is a little bit different look, and
so at least we've got some different quarterbacks that provide
some different things where Grant's been forced to talk.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Okay, when Preston or Cole.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Are in there, and Nathan because he's a pretty good athlete,
we better be really aware of rush lanes, We better
be really aware that we might go to a spy situation.
And so that's kind of comforting. It just doesn't matter
in first games. We don't We don't know as much
about our opponents as they know about us. We have
eighty eight percent returning Bison. That's something to support if

(23:06):
you're a fan. But eighty eight percent of our guys
were recruited to come here to play, and so at
least you know there's expectation of the systems and so forth,
and I just I wish I had a better answer
for you. I didn't research all of them, and I
didn't go look at their high school tape, and I'm
just not going.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
To do that leving and kickoff you like that. Get
I just we.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Got to wake up. We got to wake up ready
to win, and so we got to get the better.
I think we got to take care of our regardless
first games, our hydration, the excitement level, but we got
to be on point. I don't know what the weather
is going to be outlook at that tomorrow, but I
think we got to be on point. Like who's who's
not hydrated on Friday? You know, who's got to take
care of some things that night so we can head

(23:48):
off any potential injuries or issues there.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
And then Saturday morning. Yeah, Dom, you're exactly right.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
We need to wake up with our hair done, our
shirt tucked in, looking like a ball club, looking like,
you know, a team that means this, and wake up
ready to win. That's really important. But that's kind of
been one of the things that I've echoed for a
long time, and I think that's fun. I'd take a
couple more eleven o'clock kicks.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Thought Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift in the page today.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
They got engaged. Yes, I'm so bad at current events.
My wife fills me in. It's like this happened, and
that happened. Probably means he's going to retire next year,
would be my guess.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
Any any other injuries out of fall camp, how'd you
guys you have trading?

Speaker 2 (24:35):
How did you come out? You would have.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
To be you'd have to be really specific. There's some
younger guys dealing with some things, you know. Jalen Archibald,
that was disappointing that. You know, he's gonna miss three
or four more weeks, maybe maybe up to five with
a finger thing.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
You know.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Drake Slausser from Stanley has been unbelievable. He was fighting
through a broken finger and then that broken finger actually
that bone was leaving itself vertical and so he's gonna
have to get shut down. But he showed some unbelievable toughness.
Taylor and Edie looks really good right now. Alex Elliott,
you know, I feel terrible for the kid. I mean,
he really was carving out a role. But Ray James

(25:15):
has done a really nice job stepping in as Donovan
Willens back up, and then it's guys like, uh, you know,
Austin Schultz.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Just your heart breaks a little bit.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
I don't know if he's gonna get into too deep,
but man, he was trending as a good player Morehead
Morehead guy and uh uh Brett test that got good
news on his knee as of right now, you know,
and so we should get him back at some point.
James Nillis's back all practicing and he's a good player
from Grafton. We recruited a good player that can play

(25:44):
center or guard. Gotly it's pretty good right there. No,
I don't want to slight anybody, but Alex Elliott was
the one guy that was kind of in competition, and
then Taylor Edie, but Taylor and Edy's been back, and
then Archibald was going to be a mainstay, I think
on special teams. And he's technically a freshman and so,

(26:06):
you know, hopefully we get him back. There's a little
bit of a competition to see who can get on scholarship.
That's interesting. We're gonna make a couple announcements tonight to
the team. You know, we did put some guys on.
I don't want to comment on that. Now, we're not
going to show a movie or something, but we'll let
the team know and then I will take advantage of
you know, talking about adversity and challenge.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
You know, my my heart and h taught.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
Some prayers are still with Jake, Landry.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
And Emily. They had just an unbelievable, unfortunate death in
the family.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
And and Nick is Nick, Jake's other brother included. You know,
he's down at Horse and he plays golf at ox Bow,
and I just wanted to take advantage of the time
to say, you know, I'm thinking about Jake and you
know wants a bison, always a bison.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Appreciate you guys. See you next week.