Photo by: Evan Pilat/Texas A&M Athletics
Mike Elko Press Conference Quotes: Utah State
Sep 01, 2025 | Football
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION--Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko met with the media on Monday in his latest weekly press conference.
The Aggies (1-0) are set to host Utah State Saturday at Kyle Field. SEC Network will broadcast the game nationally with kickoff set for 11:45 a.m. Fans can also listen to the game along the Texas A&M Sports Network (1620 AM/94.5 FM locally) or worldwide inside the 12th Man Mobile App or at 12thman.com.
(Opening Statement) "Wrapping up the first one, it played out like a lot of openers play out. There were a lot of positives to draw from, a lot of things we did well on both sides of the ball, and then obviously some areas that we need to fix and get cleaned up. Offensively, I think we have to look at our consistency of execution and efficiency. You know, we were able to make a lot of explosive plays. That was great to see. We also stalled out on some drives that we would like to have been able to keep going. Defensively, I thought we did a good job in the passing game in the pass defense, certainly had that stretch in the second half where we really put our foot down and played the way we were supposed to. But obviously, the rushing yards were way too many and that's an area of concern that we've got to get fixed. And so I think we come out of game one, like you come out of a lot of game ones. Excited that we got the win and excited with a lot of the things that we did well, but certainly knowing that growth is going to be real important for us to go out and continue to have success.
(Players of the Week) "From a players of the week perspective, our scout team players of the week: on defense, it was Layne Gerke. On offense it was Eli Morcos. And on special teams, it was Luke Braden. And so those guys all did a really good job for us. Offensive lineman of the week was Trey Zuhn. Thought he was again, really, really consistent with what he did at tackle. Defensively, we went with Tyler Onyedim. I thought he was disruptive in a D-tackle sense. You know, sometimes those disruptions show up not necessarily on the stat sheet but in some of the things that he does make him plays and recreating the line of scrimmage, I thought he did that well. And then our Players of the Week: offensively, it was Mario Craver, eight catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns, certainly a nice introduction to Kyle Field and to our offense. Defensively, we went with Taurean York, who had 10 tackles and a TFL and really played well in the middle of our defense. And then on special teams, we went with KC Concepcion, two punt returns, averaging 47 yards, obviously based on that 80-yard touchdown. And so that was kind of the spark that got things going.
(on Utah State) "That was week one. Now it's on to the next, right? Excited to welcome Utah State in here, Aggies versus Aggies. Those matchups are always interesting. It's funny how many times I've been in a non-conference Aggies versus Aggies's matchup. It seems like we keep setting them up. You know, Bronco Mendenhall is there now as their head coach, known Bronco for a long time, just following his career, not as much personally, but just following his career. Obviously a tremendously successful head coach. Did a great job at BYU. We coached against him when he was at UVA and I was the defense coordinator at Wake Forest, and so I've always kind of followed his program from afar. This will be the first time going against him. In terms of trying to put it all together, it's a little challenging. They've played one game against the UTEP team. They won last week. They're 1-0, but hard to get a full feel for what we're kind of getting into. Defensively, they're a mix between three-down and four-down. Their coordinator, Nick Howell, has some SEC experience. Was that Vanderbilt with Clark Lee, who obviously I know very well. Was at UVA before that. But trying to figure out what they're going to be this year at Utah State, when they've only got one game against a wide-open 10-personnel spread team is a little bit of a challenge. And so trying to piece together what that will look like and we're hard at work at that.
"Offensively they're kind of more of a traditional pro-style system, and so we'll have a little bit better feel for that. They're led by quarterback Bryson Barnes, who we think is a really, really talented player, another really good group of four quarterback, had a big, big week last week throwing and running the football. Not that he's a dual threat, but he's a very athletic kid who's a very capable thrower. Two transfers at running back that really stand out. Javen Jacobs and Miles Davis, from New Mexico and from BYU. I think they're their two best skill players. Really talented tight end, Broc Lane, who has been really productive for them for the last few years. And so, again, some skill players that stand out and will present challenges. Then obviously they'll come into this environment and certainly play their best football and be excited to be here."
What was Dalton Brooks' absence and will he be available for this next game?
"Yeah, he'll be available this week."
And I know a little bit out of left field, and you weren't in the area, I know it's 20 years from Hurricane Katrina, what do you remember about that time and just being a coach when those things kind of go on?
"Yeah, certainly devastation, and a lot of that, the images and the heartbreak. I was not in this area or region of the country. And so it didn't personally touch me as much as some of the other things over the years have, but certainly remember those images and what it looked like. It's just sad, sad thoughts for everybody who was displaced, dislodged, and who certainly went through it and lost their life because of it."
After watching the tape how would you assess Marcel's command of the offense on Saturday?
"I thought he did a nice job. I thought he was comfortable. I thought he was poised. Obviously there's never going to be a week where there's not things he's going to wish he had back. That's just going to be the nature of playing quarterback. But I thought he delivered some really confident balls across the middle on time. We talked a lot about that last year how we never really felt like the rhythm and timing of the passing game got right. I felt like we felt that a lot better Saturday, just balls coming out of cuts in rhythm on time, catch and run opportunities. I think all that stuff was good to see."
You mentioned kind of being a little bit familiar with Bronco Mendenhall. He's coming into a new program with so many new transfers. How difficult is that preparing early in the season? And then what is it about his coaching style that you've learned and I guess expect to prepare for?
"I think these opening games are more and more challenging every year because between roster schemes, you don't have a great pulse or feel for what you're getting into. And so we've just kind of learned how to be ready to adjust and adapt. I think that's literally what it comes down to so much in these games. He's a tough, hard-minded head coach and I think his teams kind of show that. There's a blue-collar toughness about how they play. They play extremely hard. They play extremely physical. And they're very disciplined."
Going back and looking at it again, there were some issues in run defense, but how much encouragement is there at the same time? I think it was like 90% of the plays, y'all had them held to about two yards per carry, but it was just the four or five plays that made a big difference...
"What I told the guys is this. At some point we have to realize that that's really all it ever is, those four or five plays. And the urgency to be correct and right every single snap is what differentiates you from being elite and average and bad on defense. And that's just this day and age, that's how it works. Regardless of who you play, regardless of what it looks like, we're really good when we do things the way we're capable of and we're really bad when we don't. And we've got to figure out, again, how to get the really good to be more consistent."
A couple other personnel updates, Jordan Shaw and Tiger Riden?
"Yeah, so Tiger's back now, healthy. Tiger got in a car crash this summer and so he's just kind of been dealing with the ill effects of that. He was actually cleared today. He's been practicing, but today was the first day he was fully cleared. So we would anticipate him being able to dress this week and starting to work his way back into the rhythm. Shaw's dealing with a little bit of a lower body injury, and so he's kind of day to day, game to game. We'll see if we can get him out there this week. We're hopeful, but he's just continuing to progress and get better."
You've mentioned Mission 12 before. I'm curious, just the heart and intent behind that and just how you feel like that program has gone since you've implemented it?
?"One of the things that we've tried to do here is build a complete program, and part of that is the way we're able to enhance our student-athlete experience and the way we're able to enhance their lives. And I think that matters. I've said this on multiple occasions, regardless of how many rules change, how much money gets involved in this, how much NIL gets involved in this, at the end of the day we're still taking an 18-year-old away from home for the first time in his life and part of our job is to develop them into men. And that's kind of what Mission 12 is rooted in. It's our ability to help these young people grow and develop in ways outside of football. It's a program that means a lot to me. It's a program that we put together at Duke and developed. It's something that we immediately got started when we got here and got it off the ground finally this summer to the level we wanted it. I think it'll only continue to grow as we move forward."
You talked about some of the guys that were absent week one. How'd you come out of week one as far as the guys who did play moving into week two?
"Yeah, they're all fine."
Since you mentioned that Dalton Brooks would be available, what do you think having him back out there will mean?
"Obviously he's a really talented player. He's a really good run and hit safety. We really think he's gotten even a lot better this offseason. So, yeah, we're excited to get him back and get him in the fold."
Up front you guys had a couple different variations on the offensive line. Do you want to eventually get to a point where you have just five guys y'all stick to? Or is that something where y'all want to have seven or eight guys kind of rotate throughout the game?
"I think we're at our best when we have rotation and depth. I think that allows us the ability to be fresh, play our hardest, rotate guys, keep guys engaged. Inevitably injuries will set in and stop our ability to do that to the level we want. We're certainly not just going to put kids out there for the sake of putting kids out there. But we think we have a lot of depth in that group and we think we have kids that are capable of playing at a championship level. And as long as we have those guys and we have six, seven, eight guys that we feel like can do that, I think it's in our best interest to continue to play as many as we can that the level doesn't drop. And that's the biggest thing is the level can't drop. And so we think we have that right now."
You talked about special teams, the emphasis in the return game, particularly with return. Is there something you guys did over the offseason changing things schematically, whether it's how you guys block things or how you guys set up of the return? Or is it just a matter of having maybe better players with those units that has led to the early success?
"Probably in its simplest form, a lot of what special teams comes down to is getting your best players to buy in to how important it is. I think what you had on that field was some kids who are veteran players playing really, really hard in roles that aren't necessarily the limelight that they were dreaming of. Perfect example, I don't know how many people caught this, but EJ Smith blocked three people on KC's touchdown. Here's a kid back for his last year as a running back, hoping to get carries and all of those things that come along with competing to be a factor in the running back room, who goes out there on punt return and understands the urgency and the importance of it and puts together one of the greatest effort plays I've seen in my coaching career on special teams. And that's what a lot of it comes down to. Then there becomes a buy-in to technique, which allows you to execute better and play better and do those things. But it just starts with an understanding of how important and how much those things can impact the game. And I think that maybe in year two we're a little further along in that regard."
You mentioned Taurean as one of the players of the week. He seemed to be playing at a faster speed, even though he's always been fast. Has that been part of his development to read and react a little faster?
"I think you started to see it about midway through the year last year. In the beginning of the year--new system, new defense--I think he was feeling his way through a little bit and probably was a little frustrated with how he was playing in the beginning because he had wanted that big jump from freshman to sophomore year. We worked with him a lot to just kind of stay patient. This is going to come, and when it comes and it starts to click, you're going to start to feel it. And I thought he did that. For everything that didn't go great on the back half of the year on defense last year, I do think he really improved and developed and put together some of his best games as the year went on and really played well in that last game. So now he goes into year two and he isn't thinking at all. Like he's got it all down. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's taken the angles and the reads so many times. He's a kid that flourishes in those type of environments. When he's really comfortable and he can just go, he can really, really take advantage of that. That's probably what you saw a little bit, and hopefully that just continues to grow as the year goes on.
So who did play well in the secondary? (UTSA) didn't seem to do a lot like they normally do. They didn't throw a lot of deep balls it seemed.
"I thought they played well. I thought Will Lee played well. I thought Dezz Ricks played well. It was great to get Tyreek (Chappell) back out there. He had the one holding penalty where he got tangled up with the kid on the double move, but, yeah, I thought those three kids, those are the crux of our cover guys. And then Julio Humphrey got out there for a good amount. I thought he showed well as well. And Bravion Rogers got out there and showed well as well. Again, it was a really unique game because if you would say, hey, write down four things that you really want to see happen in this game, I think all of them happened, you know? If you said, hey, can you write down four things that you don't think will happen at all in this game, they probably all happened at times too. And so it was just weird like that. But I do think from a comfortability--again, we're not drawing big conclusions off of this game--but I just think from a comfortability, we looked like we had a much better pulse for what we were trying to do coverage-wise."
Kind of going off of what you said about Taurean, I noticed just him and Marcus Ratcliffe seemed like from the first snap to the last snap that they played on Saturday, their energy was through the roof. It seemed like they never took their foot off the gas. How important is it for those kind of guys to set the tone for the rest of the defense?
"I think it's really important, and I think you see kind of a joy come out of those two guys. We actually talked about that a little bit to some of our older guys, to get some of that joy back. I think that was maybe one of the things that was missing a little bit. Don't ever take advantage or take for granted the opportunities that we have playing this game. Both of those guys are high-energy guys. They play really hard. And I think that becomes very infectious on our defense."
It seemed like every play you had tight ends rotating in and out, how big you see the three biggest names in that room being for the offense this year?
"I think they're big pieces of it. And again, I think that's what we would love to be. You'd love to have a lot of kids who can be quality players that can help you do the things at the level you want to do them. And so we're really excited about what Nate (Boerkircher), Theo (Melin Öhrström) and Amari (Niblack) bring to that group. I also think Micah Riley is a kid who will continue to grow and get developed and find ways to get into that mix as well. It's a good group."
I'm just curious what you thought of the LED lights, and did you have any input on kind of how they were used or the elements that went along with them?
"Yeah, I'll tell you the same thing I told my son...I have no idea what the LED looks like because I didn't even realize that they did anything with them (laughter). I guess we did a show after the third quarter, apparently, that I found out about after the game, and I had nothing to do with them. They tried to set up all these meetings with me and I was like, yeah, I don't care about the LED lights. You guys will be fine. Just get them back on when the ball goes down and we got to play again (laughter)."
The Aggies (1-0) are set to host Utah State Saturday at Kyle Field. SEC Network will broadcast the game nationally with kickoff set for 11:45 a.m. Fans can also listen to the game along the Texas A&M Sports Network (1620 AM/94.5 FM locally) or worldwide inside the 12th Man Mobile App or at 12thman.com.
(Opening Statement) "Wrapping up the first one, it played out like a lot of openers play out. There were a lot of positives to draw from, a lot of things we did well on both sides of the ball, and then obviously some areas that we need to fix and get cleaned up. Offensively, I think we have to look at our consistency of execution and efficiency. You know, we were able to make a lot of explosive plays. That was great to see. We also stalled out on some drives that we would like to have been able to keep going. Defensively, I thought we did a good job in the passing game in the pass defense, certainly had that stretch in the second half where we really put our foot down and played the way we were supposed to. But obviously, the rushing yards were way too many and that's an area of concern that we've got to get fixed. And so I think we come out of game one, like you come out of a lot of game ones. Excited that we got the win and excited with a lot of the things that we did well, but certainly knowing that growth is going to be real important for us to go out and continue to have success.
(Players of the Week) "From a players of the week perspective, our scout team players of the week: on defense, it was Layne Gerke. On offense it was Eli Morcos. And on special teams, it was Luke Braden. And so those guys all did a really good job for us. Offensive lineman of the week was Trey Zuhn. Thought he was again, really, really consistent with what he did at tackle. Defensively, we went with Tyler Onyedim. I thought he was disruptive in a D-tackle sense. You know, sometimes those disruptions show up not necessarily on the stat sheet but in some of the things that he does make him plays and recreating the line of scrimmage, I thought he did that well. And then our Players of the Week: offensively, it was Mario Craver, eight catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns, certainly a nice introduction to Kyle Field and to our offense. Defensively, we went with Taurean York, who had 10 tackles and a TFL and really played well in the middle of our defense. And then on special teams, we went with KC Concepcion, two punt returns, averaging 47 yards, obviously based on that 80-yard touchdown. And so that was kind of the spark that got things going.
(on Utah State) "That was week one. Now it's on to the next, right? Excited to welcome Utah State in here, Aggies versus Aggies. Those matchups are always interesting. It's funny how many times I've been in a non-conference Aggies versus Aggies's matchup. It seems like we keep setting them up. You know, Bronco Mendenhall is there now as their head coach, known Bronco for a long time, just following his career, not as much personally, but just following his career. Obviously a tremendously successful head coach. Did a great job at BYU. We coached against him when he was at UVA and I was the defense coordinator at Wake Forest, and so I've always kind of followed his program from afar. This will be the first time going against him. In terms of trying to put it all together, it's a little challenging. They've played one game against the UTEP team. They won last week. They're 1-0, but hard to get a full feel for what we're kind of getting into. Defensively, they're a mix between three-down and four-down. Their coordinator, Nick Howell, has some SEC experience. Was that Vanderbilt with Clark Lee, who obviously I know very well. Was at UVA before that. But trying to figure out what they're going to be this year at Utah State, when they've only got one game against a wide-open 10-personnel spread team is a little bit of a challenge. And so trying to piece together what that will look like and we're hard at work at that.
"Offensively they're kind of more of a traditional pro-style system, and so we'll have a little bit better feel for that. They're led by quarterback Bryson Barnes, who we think is a really, really talented player, another really good group of four quarterback, had a big, big week last week throwing and running the football. Not that he's a dual threat, but he's a very athletic kid who's a very capable thrower. Two transfers at running back that really stand out. Javen Jacobs and Miles Davis, from New Mexico and from BYU. I think they're their two best skill players. Really talented tight end, Broc Lane, who has been really productive for them for the last few years. And so, again, some skill players that stand out and will present challenges. Then obviously they'll come into this environment and certainly play their best football and be excited to be here."
What was Dalton Brooks' absence and will he be available for this next game?
"Yeah, he'll be available this week."
And I know a little bit out of left field, and you weren't in the area, I know it's 20 years from Hurricane Katrina, what do you remember about that time and just being a coach when those things kind of go on?
"Yeah, certainly devastation, and a lot of that, the images and the heartbreak. I was not in this area or region of the country. And so it didn't personally touch me as much as some of the other things over the years have, but certainly remember those images and what it looked like. It's just sad, sad thoughts for everybody who was displaced, dislodged, and who certainly went through it and lost their life because of it."
After watching the tape how would you assess Marcel's command of the offense on Saturday?
"I thought he did a nice job. I thought he was comfortable. I thought he was poised. Obviously there's never going to be a week where there's not things he's going to wish he had back. That's just going to be the nature of playing quarterback. But I thought he delivered some really confident balls across the middle on time. We talked a lot about that last year how we never really felt like the rhythm and timing of the passing game got right. I felt like we felt that a lot better Saturday, just balls coming out of cuts in rhythm on time, catch and run opportunities. I think all that stuff was good to see."
You mentioned kind of being a little bit familiar with Bronco Mendenhall. He's coming into a new program with so many new transfers. How difficult is that preparing early in the season? And then what is it about his coaching style that you've learned and I guess expect to prepare for?
"I think these opening games are more and more challenging every year because between roster schemes, you don't have a great pulse or feel for what you're getting into. And so we've just kind of learned how to be ready to adjust and adapt. I think that's literally what it comes down to so much in these games. He's a tough, hard-minded head coach and I think his teams kind of show that. There's a blue-collar toughness about how they play. They play extremely hard. They play extremely physical. And they're very disciplined."
Going back and looking at it again, there were some issues in run defense, but how much encouragement is there at the same time? I think it was like 90% of the plays, y'all had them held to about two yards per carry, but it was just the four or five plays that made a big difference...
"What I told the guys is this. At some point we have to realize that that's really all it ever is, those four or five plays. And the urgency to be correct and right every single snap is what differentiates you from being elite and average and bad on defense. And that's just this day and age, that's how it works. Regardless of who you play, regardless of what it looks like, we're really good when we do things the way we're capable of and we're really bad when we don't. And we've got to figure out, again, how to get the really good to be more consistent."
A couple other personnel updates, Jordan Shaw and Tiger Riden?
"Yeah, so Tiger's back now, healthy. Tiger got in a car crash this summer and so he's just kind of been dealing with the ill effects of that. He was actually cleared today. He's been practicing, but today was the first day he was fully cleared. So we would anticipate him being able to dress this week and starting to work his way back into the rhythm. Shaw's dealing with a little bit of a lower body injury, and so he's kind of day to day, game to game. We'll see if we can get him out there this week. We're hopeful, but he's just continuing to progress and get better."
You've mentioned Mission 12 before. I'm curious, just the heart and intent behind that and just how you feel like that program has gone since you've implemented it?
?"One of the things that we've tried to do here is build a complete program, and part of that is the way we're able to enhance our student-athlete experience and the way we're able to enhance their lives. And I think that matters. I've said this on multiple occasions, regardless of how many rules change, how much money gets involved in this, how much NIL gets involved in this, at the end of the day we're still taking an 18-year-old away from home for the first time in his life and part of our job is to develop them into men. And that's kind of what Mission 12 is rooted in. It's our ability to help these young people grow and develop in ways outside of football. It's a program that means a lot to me. It's a program that we put together at Duke and developed. It's something that we immediately got started when we got here and got it off the ground finally this summer to the level we wanted it. I think it'll only continue to grow as we move forward."
You talked about some of the guys that were absent week one. How'd you come out of week one as far as the guys who did play moving into week two?
"Yeah, they're all fine."
Since you mentioned that Dalton Brooks would be available, what do you think having him back out there will mean?
"Obviously he's a really talented player. He's a really good run and hit safety. We really think he's gotten even a lot better this offseason. So, yeah, we're excited to get him back and get him in the fold."
Up front you guys had a couple different variations on the offensive line. Do you want to eventually get to a point where you have just five guys y'all stick to? Or is that something where y'all want to have seven or eight guys kind of rotate throughout the game?
"I think we're at our best when we have rotation and depth. I think that allows us the ability to be fresh, play our hardest, rotate guys, keep guys engaged. Inevitably injuries will set in and stop our ability to do that to the level we want. We're certainly not just going to put kids out there for the sake of putting kids out there. But we think we have a lot of depth in that group and we think we have kids that are capable of playing at a championship level. And as long as we have those guys and we have six, seven, eight guys that we feel like can do that, I think it's in our best interest to continue to play as many as we can that the level doesn't drop. And that's the biggest thing is the level can't drop. And so we think we have that right now."
You talked about special teams, the emphasis in the return game, particularly with return. Is there something you guys did over the offseason changing things schematically, whether it's how you guys block things or how you guys set up of the return? Or is it just a matter of having maybe better players with those units that has led to the early success?
"Probably in its simplest form, a lot of what special teams comes down to is getting your best players to buy in to how important it is. I think what you had on that field was some kids who are veteran players playing really, really hard in roles that aren't necessarily the limelight that they were dreaming of. Perfect example, I don't know how many people caught this, but EJ Smith blocked three people on KC's touchdown. Here's a kid back for his last year as a running back, hoping to get carries and all of those things that come along with competing to be a factor in the running back room, who goes out there on punt return and understands the urgency and the importance of it and puts together one of the greatest effort plays I've seen in my coaching career on special teams. And that's what a lot of it comes down to. Then there becomes a buy-in to technique, which allows you to execute better and play better and do those things. But it just starts with an understanding of how important and how much those things can impact the game. And I think that maybe in year two we're a little further along in that regard."
You mentioned Taurean as one of the players of the week. He seemed to be playing at a faster speed, even though he's always been fast. Has that been part of his development to read and react a little faster?
"I think you started to see it about midway through the year last year. In the beginning of the year--new system, new defense--I think he was feeling his way through a little bit and probably was a little frustrated with how he was playing in the beginning because he had wanted that big jump from freshman to sophomore year. We worked with him a lot to just kind of stay patient. This is going to come, and when it comes and it starts to click, you're going to start to feel it. And I thought he did that. For everything that didn't go great on the back half of the year on defense last year, I do think he really improved and developed and put together some of his best games as the year went on and really played well in that last game. So now he goes into year two and he isn't thinking at all. Like he's got it all down. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's taken the angles and the reads so many times. He's a kid that flourishes in those type of environments. When he's really comfortable and he can just go, he can really, really take advantage of that. That's probably what you saw a little bit, and hopefully that just continues to grow as the year goes on.
So who did play well in the secondary? (UTSA) didn't seem to do a lot like they normally do. They didn't throw a lot of deep balls it seemed.
"I thought they played well. I thought Will Lee played well. I thought Dezz Ricks played well. It was great to get Tyreek (Chappell) back out there. He had the one holding penalty where he got tangled up with the kid on the double move, but, yeah, I thought those three kids, those are the crux of our cover guys. And then Julio Humphrey got out there for a good amount. I thought he showed well as well. And Bravion Rogers got out there and showed well as well. Again, it was a really unique game because if you would say, hey, write down four things that you really want to see happen in this game, I think all of them happened, you know? If you said, hey, can you write down four things that you don't think will happen at all in this game, they probably all happened at times too. And so it was just weird like that. But I do think from a comfortability--again, we're not drawing big conclusions off of this game--but I just think from a comfortability, we looked like we had a much better pulse for what we were trying to do coverage-wise."
Kind of going off of what you said about Taurean, I noticed just him and Marcus Ratcliffe seemed like from the first snap to the last snap that they played on Saturday, their energy was through the roof. It seemed like they never took their foot off the gas. How important is it for those kind of guys to set the tone for the rest of the defense?
"I think it's really important, and I think you see kind of a joy come out of those two guys. We actually talked about that a little bit to some of our older guys, to get some of that joy back. I think that was maybe one of the things that was missing a little bit. Don't ever take advantage or take for granted the opportunities that we have playing this game. Both of those guys are high-energy guys. They play really hard. And I think that becomes very infectious on our defense."
It seemed like every play you had tight ends rotating in and out, how big you see the three biggest names in that room being for the offense this year?
"I think they're big pieces of it. And again, I think that's what we would love to be. You'd love to have a lot of kids who can be quality players that can help you do the things at the level you want to do them. And so we're really excited about what Nate (Boerkircher), Theo (Melin Öhrström) and Amari (Niblack) bring to that group. I also think Micah Riley is a kid who will continue to grow and get developed and find ways to get into that mix as well. It's a good group."
I'm just curious what you thought of the LED lights, and did you have any input on kind of how they were used or the elements that went along with them?
"Yeah, I'll tell you the same thing I told my son...I have no idea what the LED looks like because I didn't even realize that they did anything with them (laughter). I guess we did a show after the third quarter, apparently, that I found out about after the game, and I had nothing to do with them. They tried to set up all these meetings with me and I was like, yeah, I don't care about the LED lights. You guys will be fine. Just get them back on when the ball goes down and we got to play again (laughter)."
Players Mentioned
TE
/ Football
S
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
S
/ Football
CB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DT
/ Football
S
/ Football
CB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
CB
/ Football
CB
/ Football
LB
/ FootballConversations: Cashius Howell
Tuesday, September 16
The Drive
Monday, September 15
Notre Dame Postgame: Mike Elko
Sunday, September 14
Notre Dame Postgame: Marcel Reed
Sunday, September 14
