by EMAW Online
COLLIN KLEIN, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On what needs improvement on offense from the first game…
“Just had a lot of little things. I don’t know if there’s one big thing I could put my finger on. There were a lot of little things you know. I thought overall it was it was a clean effort for sure, but there’s a lot of little things. There were a lot of great teachable moments at every position that I think guys are taking the heart and are excited about just continuing to get better and gel together as the offense of 2023.”
On the pass blocking of DJ Giddens…
“DJ has been tremendous in pass protection. He does a great job of taking away that space, closing that distance and getting his face on him. He’s a physical player, and those are the little things that make those big plays happen. He did a heck of a job on that one for sure.
On what he see from the Troy defense…
“They’re extremely well coached. They’ve shown to can tackle well. You don’t see a lot of missed tackles that turn into bleeding yardage and big plays. They got a good scheme. They got, obviously, a lot of experience and have a championship pedigree. So, I think it’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
On the Troy secondary…
“I think they’re really aggressive. I think they have the ability to be aggressive. I’ve been really impressed with a lot of those DBs and their hips and changing direction and their quickness. So, we have to make sure that we have great technique, fundamentals and win and be on time with the football, because they’ll make you pay if you’re not.”
On the distribution of playing time at running back…
“A little bit of it is game-to-game and a little bit of it, sometimes, will be with the flow. Sometimes we’ll be talking about it, and to Coach Anderson, I joke, I’m like, ‘You’re going to have to read my mind a little bit because sometimes I don’t know where I’m going next or where we’re going to end up going next with different personnel groupings or turbos or whatever.’ So, a little bit of that is just going to be flow and who’s in there, but that’s the beauty of both of those guys. We believe in both of them. It’s not like, ‘Hey, Treshaun can only do these plays and DJ can only do these plays.’ We believe in both of them and know they’re going to do a heck of a job when they’re in there.”
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On what he was pleased with in the first game…
“I was pleased with a lot of guys. I was pleased with Colby McCalister. He ended up getting the start for us, and I felt really confident with him, but I thought he played really well. I was more than comfortable after seeing Will Lee II. I think Will played exceptionally well. Damian Ilalio was another one. There were a lot of guys seeing their first action that answered the bell. So, I was pleased with a number of guys.”
On trying to replace Jake Clifton as the backup at linebacker…
“He’s just kind of Johnny-Do-It-All, isn’t he. We have guys that are capable. Tobi Osunsanmi is phenomenal, and he may be as gifted of an athlete as we have in the program. Asa Newsom is not that much different than Tobi. He’s just really, really green. Austin Romaine I think is more than ready. So, guys are just going to have to go when they get their opportunity. It’s nice to have Jake because he had some snaps under his belt, but he’ll be back later on in the year and we’ll get him back in the rotation. He is very valuable, no question about it, but I think we’ve got guys that are ready to answer the bell and get their chance to shine.”
On Troy running back Kimani Vidal…
“Yeah, I mean, he’s one of the best in the country as far as I’m concerned. He just has incredible vision, incredible balance. I think he really understands their scheme well. He understands where to hit things and how things are going to wash and move. He’s just played a lot of football there for those guys, and from what I hear from the special teams guys, he’s on the punt team. He’s just a really good football player. I just have a lot of respect for him. So, we’ve obviously seen good backs before, but he’s a special one. I don’t know if we’ll see too many better than him this year.”
On the progression of Uso Seumalo…
“He’s just a much more comfortable, much more confident player. Not even in what he’s doing, just comfortable and confident in his own abilities that he could play at this level. It was a guy that was playing running back in 8-man football not that long ago and was just really green and the wet behind the ears. I think he’s been so much more impactful as a leader, not only in the defensive line room, but in the defense in general. I’m excited for him to get fully healthy and show people what he can do.”
On the Troy offense…
“Well, they’re tremendously athletic on the perimeter. I think that’s something that is going to present some challenges and some problems. Obviously, we mentioned the tailback. When you put those two things together, that can give you some real issues because it’s going to be hard to load a bunch of people in there to stop the run because then you’re going to leave some one-on-one opportunities on the outside and vice versa. You start doing some things coverage-wise, you’re going to have some trouble, in the box. So, they have a good little mixture there of what they can do, and you couple that with a quarterback that’s played as many snaps as he has and a guy that manages their offense so well, and I think they’re a good o-line. They’re a physical group up front. I know they lost a couple of pretty good players from a year ago, but I have a lot of respect for that program. I know they’ve got good players at all the positions. So, it’s just the experience that some of those guys have that concerns me a little bit.”
