Hey everyone, hope y'all are enjoying your Thursday. The media got the chance to speak with cornerbacks coach Rod Chance late this afternoon. My video stopped recording about halfway through due to the heat and sun exposure (I'm working on getting my phone fixed, so hang with me for just a bit longer), but I've got a transcript of the media scrum beginning when the video cuts off.
I'll have a story posted later tonight or early tomorrow morning on Nikko Reed, so keep an eye out for that, as well.
On his position group: “At the end of the day, we're gonna do whatever they're good at. There will be times we'll be up and press. There will be times we’re playing off. That's going to be more situational. But again, in this game, if you play press covers long enough, there's a receiver on the sideline, drinking water, waiting right at during one play and they're going to run you off on the vertical. You come back and he's gonna hit you with your best release. I think there's times when you should do and times when you should not try. We’re just going to put our guys in the right situations so we can hide our coverages, hide our techniques and not just look one certain way.
On injured CB Nigel Bethel: "Nigel’s doing really well. He's progressing. He's moving around. Mentally, he's locked in in terms of the meeting times. We're not ready to pull the reins off on him just yet. We don't want to be premature in that. That was a pretty significant injury that he had and we owe it to him to do it the right way. We owe it to his future for us to do it the right way, to make sure when he comes back, not only can he optimally perform, but he's also confident in actually working and getting out there. Having had the injury myself, some of that's gonna be confidence to stick that thing in the ground and begin to make some plays, but he's locked in. He's chomping at the bit. He really wants to get out there, but sometimes as coaches we've got to save the players from themselves and make sure we get them for the long haul where you can finish the season with us and not just play a few snaps for us and then there's some nagging injury as we go.”
What stood out to him about Nikko Reed originally: "I think Nikko has just had such a humble spirit about working. He's a talented athlete. He's as good an athlete as I've coached and that says a lot. I’ve got a pretty good amount of active guys in the NFL right now. I think he's up that mold. He's just got to build and grow and put it on tape. But he's got speed, he's got lateral movement, he's got quickness and he's really, really coachable. I'll be honest with you: I thought Kaylin had the better spring coming out of this deal and I challenged him at the end of spring football, like ‘Hey, you everybody told me that you were the athlete, but I didn't see that translate to consistency and I think he took that to heart and went to work this summer. Obviously, the NCAA rules allowed us to be around our players a little bit more in the offseason, my wife and I, we went to Jamaica for a little bit, but for the most part, I stayed around and I was here at every time we were able to work out, ust really trying to really enforce my techniques and things like that. But Nikko's doing a really good job, being a leader in the room, communicating. He has such versatility to his game, but he's not the only one that's making strides. Obviously, Kaylin is continuing where he left off from spring. Jason Oliver is doing a really good job. That was a really good get. You’re talking about a kid that was sitting at home and got a scholarship offer and seven days later, he was here doing online school. That was a really good get. Don't tell me about these recruiting sites and rankings and all that stuff. This kid has done nothing but get better and gained 16 pounds since he's been here. I'm excited about him, excited about his growth and potential in terms of this season. We’ve got some young bodies and with that, it's gonna be a little bit of a learning curve. But guys like Josh Wiggins have shown the ability to run and play match coverage. He's got really good top end speed and we continue to bring him along. Keyshon Mills is a different body that we don't have in that room. When you see a six-foot guy, he's 180, 190 pounds, but when he put hands on you, it's a little bit different. There’s some talent in there that has some skill sets. We’ve just got to continue to grow that as we continue to go."
On one-on-one drills in practice with DBs and wideouts: “I think for us, we want to challenge every blade of grass. The No. 1 rule in our room is that we compete. They are going to be good players, there are going to be bad plays, right? We may lose that level one and level two, but that level three, which is the finishing skills, we'll always have an opportunity. That starts with a mindset and competitiveness. I think we're there in terms of our competitiveness. We do have some veteran receivers here that that are kind of teaching our players some of the tricks of the trade, some of the slick things that wide receivers do. That's been a fun experience, kind of teaching them some of the show by some of the shove-bys, some of the push-offs that happen right. ‘Oh, Coach, I was right there. He pushed me off.’ Yeah, we got to teach you how to do this and how to protect yourself from those moves. There's good competition out there, but Colorado's not on our schedule. We’ve got a really good bevy of wide receivers that's coming in here week one and that's what I'm preparing us for. It's really easy in my mind to cover wide receivers that you know. You know who you're faster than. You know who you’re shiftier than. In some offenses, they have certain guys that run certain routes, so you can kind of cheat a little bit in practice. I don't put too much of an emphasis on the wins and losses, really more so the technique and how we go about our work. But more than anything, I'm preparing us for the guys that are on our schedule, that's gonna, that's gonna give us challenges when we come into Folsom.”
On Simeon Harris: “I think Simeon is a smart young man. I think he's trying to find his way right now. But he's a bright person, bright kid. He understands our defense and sometimes, as young men, you can understand what to say and sometimes in actual movements, in the actual doing of that, there may be a little bit of hesitance and uncertainty. But he's a bright young man. I think he has positional flexibility. He's done a really good job in special teams. He's still trying to carve out his way amongst the other three freshmen and the other two upperclassmen that he’s competing against. He's trying to find his way in that deal, but we're pleased where he is. My conversations with all of those freshmen is this: everybody as a freshman develops at different rates. I've had guys that come in as an early enrollee and still doesn't necessarily pick up the defense by the time we rolled in the fall. I've had guys that come in the fall and they pick it up faster than the guys that were here in January. My message to all of them is that everybody grows at a different rate. If we plant three trees here right now, they're not going to be the same height every single day. I try to bring that analogy to them in real life because the majority of these kids have been the best football players on their team. And they come here this year and this fall camp is probably some of the first taste of true failure. But without failure there's no growth. For us, we're gonna continue to build that up, continue to teach them and let them know that those learning experiences are only going to make us better. The future's bright here. We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to get some experience, but there's some young men that are really driven, really excited about that and they're really challenging themselves to be the best person they can, not prove to you guys, not to prove to the fans, but to prove to themselves just who they are.
On what Nikko’s response to him in spring says about him: “That he cares. I think in this age of college football and the publicity and the notoriety and the name, image and likeness, it’s really easy to find out who really loves football now when some of the things that was motivation may have been external factors like finances. It may have been what drove certain people to the game. Nikko is somebody who loves football. I think he'll come out here and do it for free if we allowed him to. I think that's important in today's football, that you find guys that like to play football and that the NIL and extra stuff that comes with it is extra. He's really been locked in on keeping the main thing the main thing. When you have goals and aspirations and you have a family that you want to do certain things for, it's real easy to find out who's really motivated for those things. He's been everything I've asked him to do, ever since we had that conversation in the spring. I expect him to have a good season. And will it be perfect? No, there's gonna be some learning experiences along the way. But I'm really, really excited. I think he's going to put some good stuff on tape.”
I'll have a story posted later tonight or early tomorrow morning on Nikko Reed, so keep an eye out for that, as well.
On his position group: “At the end of the day, we're gonna do whatever they're good at. There will be times we'll be up and press. There will be times we’re playing off. That's going to be more situational. But again, in this game, if you play press covers long enough, there's a receiver on the sideline, drinking water, waiting right at during one play and they're going to run you off on the vertical. You come back and he's gonna hit you with your best release. I think there's times when you should do and times when you should not try. We’re just going to put our guys in the right situations so we can hide our coverages, hide our techniques and not just look one certain way.
On injured CB Nigel Bethel: "Nigel’s doing really well. He's progressing. He's moving around. Mentally, he's locked in in terms of the meeting times. We're not ready to pull the reins off on him just yet. We don't want to be premature in that. That was a pretty significant injury that he had and we owe it to him to do it the right way. We owe it to his future for us to do it the right way, to make sure when he comes back, not only can he optimally perform, but he's also confident in actually working and getting out there. Having had the injury myself, some of that's gonna be confidence to stick that thing in the ground and begin to make some plays, but he's locked in. He's chomping at the bit. He really wants to get out there, but sometimes as coaches we've got to save the players from themselves and make sure we get them for the long haul where you can finish the season with us and not just play a few snaps for us and then there's some nagging injury as we go.”
What stood out to him about Nikko Reed originally: "I think Nikko has just had such a humble spirit about working. He's a talented athlete. He's as good an athlete as I've coached and that says a lot. I’ve got a pretty good amount of active guys in the NFL right now. I think he's up that mold. He's just got to build and grow and put it on tape. But he's got speed, he's got lateral movement, he's got quickness and he's really, really coachable. I'll be honest with you: I thought Kaylin had the better spring coming out of this deal and I challenged him at the end of spring football, like ‘Hey, you everybody told me that you were the athlete, but I didn't see that translate to consistency and I think he took that to heart and went to work this summer. Obviously, the NCAA rules allowed us to be around our players a little bit more in the offseason, my wife and I, we went to Jamaica for a little bit, but for the most part, I stayed around and I was here at every time we were able to work out, ust really trying to really enforce my techniques and things like that. But Nikko's doing a really good job, being a leader in the room, communicating. He has such versatility to his game, but he's not the only one that's making strides. Obviously, Kaylin is continuing where he left off from spring. Jason Oliver is doing a really good job. That was a really good get. You’re talking about a kid that was sitting at home and got a scholarship offer and seven days later, he was here doing online school. That was a really good get. Don't tell me about these recruiting sites and rankings and all that stuff. This kid has done nothing but get better and gained 16 pounds since he's been here. I'm excited about him, excited about his growth and potential in terms of this season. We’ve got some young bodies and with that, it's gonna be a little bit of a learning curve. But guys like Josh Wiggins have shown the ability to run and play match coverage. He's got really good top end speed and we continue to bring him along. Keyshon Mills is a different body that we don't have in that room. When you see a six-foot guy, he's 180, 190 pounds, but when he put hands on you, it's a little bit different. There’s some talent in there that has some skill sets. We’ve just got to continue to grow that as we continue to go."
On one-on-one drills in practice with DBs and wideouts: “I think for us, we want to challenge every blade of grass. The No. 1 rule in our room is that we compete. They are going to be good players, there are going to be bad plays, right? We may lose that level one and level two, but that level three, which is the finishing skills, we'll always have an opportunity. That starts with a mindset and competitiveness. I think we're there in terms of our competitiveness. We do have some veteran receivers here that that are kind of teaching our players some of the tricks of the trade, some of the slick things that wide receivers do. That's been a fun experience, kind of teaching them some of the show by some of the shove-bys, some of the push-offs that happen right. ‘Oh, Coach, I was right there. He pushed me off.’ Yeah, we got to teach you how to do this and how to protect yourself from those moves. There's good competition out there, but Colorado's not on our schedule. We’ve got a really good bevy of wide receivers that's coming in here week one and that's what I'm preparing us for. It's really easy in my mind to cover wide receivers that you know. You know who you're faster than. You know who you’re shiftier than. In some offenses, they have certain guys that run certain routes, so you can kind of cheat a little bit in practice. I don't put too much of an emphasis on the wins and losses, really more so the technique and how we go about our work. But more than anything, I'm preparing us for the guys that are on our schedule, that's gonna, that's gonna give us challenges when we come into Folsom.”
On Simeon Harris: “I think Simeon is a smart young man. I think he's trying to find his way right now. But he's a bright person, bright kid. He understands our defense and sometimes, as young men, you can understand what to say and sometimes in actual movements, in the actual doing of that, there may be a little bit of hesitance and uncertainty. But he's a bright young man. I think he has positional flexibility. He's done a really good job in special teams. He's still trying to carve out his way amongst the other three freshmen and the other two upperclassmen that he’s competing against. He's trying to find his way in that deal, but we're pleased where he is. My conversations with all of those freshmen is this: everybody as a freshman develops at different rates. I've had guys that come in as an early enrollee and still doesn't necessarily pick up the defense by the time we rolled in the fall. I've had guys that come in the fall and they pick it up faster than the guys that were here in January. My message to all of them is that everybody grows at a different rate. If we plant three trees here right now, they're not going to be the same height every single day. I try to bring that analogy to them in real life because the majority of these kids have been the best football players on their team. And they come here this year and this fall camp is probably some of the first taste of true failure. But without failure there's no growth. For us, we're gonna continue to build that up, continue to teach them and let them know that those learning experiences are only going to make us better. The future's bright here. We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to get some experience, but there's some young men that are really driven, really excited about that and they're really challenging themselves to be the best person they can, not prove to you guys, not to prove to the fans, but to prove to themselves just who they are.
On what Nikko’s response to him in spring says about him: “That he cares. I think in this age of college football and the publicity and the notoriety and the name, image and likeness, it’s really easy to find out who really loves football now when some of the things that was motivation may have been external factors like finances. It may have been what drove certain people to the game. Nikko is somebody who loves football. I think he'll come out here and do it for free if we allowed him to. I think that's important in today's football, that you find guys that like to play football and that the NIL and extra stuff that comes with it is extra. He's really been locked in on keeping the main thing the main thing. When you have goals and aspirations and you have a family that you want to do certain things for, it's real easy to find out who's really motivated for those things. He's been everything I've asked him to do, ever since we had that conversation in the spring. I expect him to have a good season. And will it be perfect? No, there's gonna be some learning experiences along the way. But I'm really, really excited. I think he's going to put some good stuff on tape.”
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