Sorry for delay, had a dermatologist appointment, and considering it took five months to get I figured I ought to see it through!
Here's the transcript from Riley's Zoom this morning:
We saw Ja’Kobi Lane not play as many snaps as he usually does, what was the reason for that?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t add anything to, what I said postgame.”
With early signing period getting pushed up two weeks, and the portal coming right after that, does this month feel busier than usual?
“Yeah, it’s a little different. I mean, I think the end of the year’s always been a little bit hectic, especially once we added in the early signing period. But, yeah, I think, my gut is it’s going to make the next few weeks a little bit crazy. Although, the big difference here this year looking ahead is that we’re not on the road. And so, it is. This, and these next couple weeks will be super busy, and then I’d imagine December’s not going to be quite as hectic as what it’s been just because the high school signing period’s earlier, and then we’re actually on-campus the entire time. We can’t go out recruiting. So, yeah, it’ll probably kinda push some of that up right now. Yeah, I think it’s um, more people’s game-prep is going to be, I don’t want to say affected, but you’re dealing more with actual game-prep. Like in the past, it was like, if you’re playing in a conference-championship game or something, maybe you really feel it within your game-prep. Whereas now, like, it’s – you got a lot going on for multiple games here at the end of the season, so. Something that everybody’s dealing with, we’re certainly trying to navigate it the best that we can.”
How much has change in college football changed rivalries?
“Yeah, good question. I don’t know that I have, like, a great answer. Um – obviously, there’s a lot of rivalries across college football that have been affected or eliminated. So that’s the extreme version. Man, you still feel the juice of a rivalry game. Like, I still think, there’s still a lot of the good that’s certainly a part of it. I mean, some of the unique things now of having – just, you weren’t used to like in the past, one year a player was on this team and the next year a player was on the other team of a rivalry. Like, that just didn’t happen much. So that’s just, a little bit new-age, and we all gotta get used to it. It’s part of it. It’s, at least right now, not going anywhere. I think the bigger question going forward, which I know we’ve all talked about a bunch, is like, as this new playoff system emerges, I think there’s going to be – we’re going to learn a lot here. I mean, I don’t think any of us probably can fully comprehend how different this playoff structure is going to be, and then the repercussions that are going to come out of that. Especially with how heavily-slanted two conferences are in the country compared to the rest of ‘em. There’s going to be a lot of changes, in my opinion, playoff structure. There’s going to be a lot of changes in scheduling strategy. There’s a lot that’s getting ready to happen after we go through a year of two of this, this new playoff system. And, you hope that, again, I’ll say the hope is that the rivalries can survive because they are a huge part of college football and college football history, but it’s going to continue to get tested, I think, depending on how that all works out. I still think that there’s a lot of juice behind the games, a lot of excitement behind the games, for fanbases, for players. I mean, it’s still something that I know means a lot to the schools that are involve din ‘em.”
Jayden predisposed to risk-taking, is your goal to refine that, is it a quality you don’t want to rein in because of the positives? Balance there?
“Yeah, I would rather them be aggressive by nature. Because if you’re not, you’re not going to make enough plays, probably, to win anyways. And so, I like that in his first start here, that he went out and he was decisive and he was aggressive. And that’s, I think that’s a great start. And I think, as long as you’ve got a guy that you feel like – you can, used a good word, just to refine it, understanding where are the times where we can and want to be aggressive, and having a guy that’s not hesitant at all to pull the trigger. And then, the hope is, as time goes on, obviously, that we can continue to just eliminate the couple of decisions a game here where all of a sudden, you’re putting yourself in a bad position. And the great ones find a way to do that. But you gotta be aggressive by nature. Because, the quarterback’s a position where you can, like, make the perfect decision and do everything right, but like, if you’re hesitant just by like that much” – holds up fingers close together – “it can still, like, not work out. And so, I think being decisive and aggressive and have a little bit of a fearless nature to you is, like, important. And I would rather start there and curve it the other way than push ‘em to be more aggressive. So, he’s, like I said, he did a good job in the first start, he’s gonna – we’re gonna coach him hard and push him to continue to improve, and he’s given me every reason to believe that he will.”
