Speaker 1: Coach customer, your fourth summer camp. Here thoughts tomorrow, maybe
Speaker 1: just some quit thoughts and then we'll have some questions.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 3: So's we're going into year four and I think we've
Speaker 3: made a lot of progress, but we believe that there's
Speaker 3: a lot of progress still to be made and we're
Speaker 3: looking forward to integrating some of the new additions, both
Speaker 3: on the coaching staff and on the player side, and
Speaker 3: trying to reach our potential. And we had a good
Speaker 3: meeting this morning about you know, what our objectives are,
Speaker 3: what our goals are, how we're going to attain those.
Speaker 3: And I think that this is you know, I'm like
Speaker 3: a broken record with a lot of the people that
Speaker 3: have been here before. It's it's a unique group of
Speaker 3: young men that we get to coach. The lack of entitlement,
Speaker 3: the commitment that they made in the off season.
Speaker 2: Was pretty rare.
Speaker 3: When I wasn't here, I got reports from our strength
Speaker 3: and conditioning coordinator, Tyson Brown and he, you know, he
Speaker 3: sent me a text one day and he said, we
Speaker 3: just had they called PRP player run practice, and he
Speaker 3: happened to walk by it and he said it was
Speaker 3: one of the most intense player run practice I've ever
Speaker 3: seen in my career coaching, and he's been at some
Speaker 3: pretty good stops. So, you know, if we can maintain
Speaker 3: that type of attitude and learn how to handle the
Speaker 3: success that will have and that the setbacks that will have,
Speaker 3: stay together as a team, you know, I think we
Speaker 3: have a chance to be very competitive. So it's it's
Speaker 3: an exciting time, but there's a lot of hard work
Speaker 3: in front of us, and fortunately feel like we've got
Speaker 3: a crew that's that's ready to tackle the challenge.
Speaker 4: How much does last year's success drive what happened this
Speaker 4: offseason to just when you're hungry and he tasted.
Speaker 2: You probably want more. I think that it helped us
Speaker 2: in recruiting. Certainly in the portal.
Speaker 3: We were able to get people to pay attention to
Speaker 3: us and maybe wouldn't have in the past. You know,
Speaker 3: at least get in a fight with him and win.
Speaker 2: Some of those battles.
Speaker 3: It gives you a little momentum, but you know, momentums fleeting.
Speaker 3: So we won't spend any time thinking.
Speaker 2: About last year at all.
Speaker 3: Eyes are forward all the time, and we'll try to
Speaker 3: build on what we've you know, accomplished and take steps forward.
Speaker 3: But it won't be a rallying crying like that. But
Speaker 3: I will tell you this, it did help us become
Speaker 3: more attractive to prospective players, and that was, you know,
Speaker 3: one of for us internally going forward, that was one
Speaker 3: of the most positive things, you know, externally, Hopefully it
Speaker 3: builds some excitement and you know, hopefully we can build
Speaker 3: more trust amongst our fan base. I felt like that
Speaker 3: first year we did, and then we let it go
Speaker 3: the second year and hopefully we built it back. Now
Speaker 3: we have to continue to build that trust so that
Speaker 3: you know, people believe in what we're doing and they
Speaker 3: want to come out and support us, and they want
Speaker 3: to spend their saturdays at the Rent and that's on
Speaker 3: us to do.
Speaker 1: Exciting to have so many skilled players coming back.
Speaker 2: With some talent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a different looking team, I think in the
Speaker 3: skill positions. If you want to start at quarterback, you know,
Speaker 3: I think there's four players there that are all really
Speaker 3: good football players, kind of different points in their career,
Speaker 3: but all really talented football players. I look at the
Speaker 3: running back room and it's a good looking room. You
Speaker 3: look at the receiver room, it's a good looking room.
Speaker 3: There's some depth, you know, as well as some talents.
Speaker 3: There's some talented depth. You look at the tight end
Speaker 3: room and it's big, physical, fast, you know, guys you
Speaker 3: can catch and block, and defensively you know, coach Hillary
Speaker 3: and now we're talking about today in the secondary is
Speaker 3: you know, there's a lot more depth than we've had
Speaker 3: in the past.
Speaker 2: So I think there's a couple of things.
Speaker 3: Number One, you're able to, you know, when you have
Speaker 3: some success, like I said, draw more attention, get better players.
Speaker 3: But it's also a testament to the way they've been
Speaker 3: coached and the way they've especially taken the coaching, you know,
Speaker 3: on the field and then in the weight room, the
Speaker 3: strength and conditioning stuff. So we're a better looking team
Speaker 3: than we've ever been since I've been in here.
Speaker 1: Jimmy, I know that the goalpost is always moving around
Speaker 1: on these things now, But what was the process? How
Speaker 1: did to play out for Joe to get a seventh
Speaker 1: year and come back again?
Speaker 3: I don't even have a clue, all right, and I'm
Speaker 3: not going to question it. Somebody told me it was
Speaker 3: I think it was right before the Bowl game and
Speaker 3: somebody said, you know, Joe has another year and I
Speaker 3: was like, okay, great.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to know what it was because I
Speaker 2: didn't want to jinx it.
Speaker 3: So, you know, I think with the COVID situation that
Speaker 3: happened a few years back, there was just a lot
Speaker 3: more fluidity and eligibility requirements. And I doubt he'll get
Speaker 3: an eighth, but we'll take his seventh, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: So I mean for somebody like him, you know, it's
Speaker 1: an opportunity to make some money playing football he's probably
Speaker 1: not going to have when he's done here, so it's
Speaker 1: very much worth yeah while to come back and play
Speaker 1: a seventh year.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a chance for him to make some
Speaker 3: money now and put himself in a position where he
Speaker 3: can make some.
Speaker 2: Money after here.
Speaker 3: You know, I would not write Joe off as a
Speaker 3: guy that will finish his career at Yukon. I think
Speaker 3: that Joe is pretty special. I think there's some real
Speaker 3: qualities and certainly, you know, he's going to be a
Speaker 3: mature player when he gets done playing here, And you know,
Speaker 3: I think that he has a lot of value not
Speaker 3: just at this level, but at the next level, whether
Speaker 3: it's the NFL or the USFL or candidate. I think
Speaker 3: he can continue to play. So I hope that you're right,
Speaker 3: that he has a great year earning money here, and
Speaker 3: I hope that he has a chance to go earn
Speaker 3: money somewhere else.
Speaker 2: When you lose.
Speaker 5: So many guys on the front seven defense, is.
Speaker 6: It easier Maybe not easier, but to get guys out
Speaker 6: of the portal saying you know, we have spots opening.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, players in the portal a lot of times
Speaker 3: are looking for opportunity, and whether that's someone coming from
Speaker 3: a power for a conference team that wants more reps,
Speaker 3: or it's a guy that's coming from a smaller school
Speaker 3: that wants more exposure and maybe a higher level of competition.
Speaker 3: When you have opportunities that are present and they see them,
Speaker 3: it does make it easier to you know, to convince them.
Speaker 2: To come to Yukon. And there's a lot of things
Speaker 2: that convince them to come here, you.
Speaker 3: Know, you know, kind of building up and try to
Speaker 3: become successful. Obviously, our facilities in the fields they look
Speaker 3: great that you know, the academics here, and the environment
Speaker 3: of this campus is this city, it's there's a lot
Speaker 3: of things that are going for us right now. So,
Speaker 3: but opportunity is a thing that seems to drive most
Speaker 3: of the decisions that the players make when they come here.
Speaker 2: How would you describe what it's like to recruit in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. Everything you have to consider from nil
Speaker 2: to portal to rep share.
Speaker 3: It's chaos. Yeah, it's chaotic, but it's also fun. It's invigorating,
Speaker 3: it's challenging. It takes a lot of work, a lot
Speaker 3: of time. You have to stay on it, you know.
Speaker 3: I think high school recruiting hasn't changed a lot, although
Speaker 3: you might recruit fewer players and it's a longer process.
Speaker 3: You're developing relationships with these young men and their families.
Speaker 3: I think a portal is more like speed dating, you know,
Speaker 3: along with you know, how much can we pay you
Speaker 3: and what.
Speaker 2: Are your opportunities?
Speaker 3: So, you know, in the portal, you have to learn
Speaker 3: about someone's character and their motivations very very quickly. And
Speaker 3: we've been able to do that and I think be
Speaker 3: pretty successful, because the.
Speaker 2: Portal can be dangerous.
Speaker 3: You know, you don't necessarily know what you're getting, you know,
Speaker 3: because you don't have that chance to develop a relationship
Speaker 3: like you're with a high school player, and when you're
Speaker 3: trying to develop an environment or a culture, or an
Speaker 3: attitude or you know, a system, you've got to make
Speaker 3: sure that you're bringing the right people in and keeping
Speaker 3: the right people out, and that can be challenging the portal.
Speaker 3: But I think that from all indications, you know, at
Speaker 3: least the last two years we've done, we've done a
Speaker 3: pretty good job of that from the personality standpoint, the
Speaker 3: character standpoint, and how they fit in the systems that
Speaker 3: we run.
Speaker 2: I don't know exactly how many new players you have.
Speaker 2: I don't either. I haven't. I haven't counted. It's in order.
Speaker 4: It's so fluid, well, like everything, it's probably it's a lot.
Speaker 2: It's a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Did you have a general idea for how many players
Speaker 4: you'd be bringing into the program coming off of last year?
Speaker 2: And does that fluctuate as.
Speaker 1: You have a moment?
Speaker 3: It fluctuates daily because you're not always sure who's going
Speaker 3: to enter the portal from your team that you're going
Speaker 3: to need to replace. You know, they don't necessarily tell you.
Speaker 3: Some guys will tell you early. Some guys wait till
Speaker 3: the end. Some guys are kind of back and forth.
Speaker 2: You've seen that. We've had some guys that have gone
Speaker 2: in the portal and then come back.
Speaker 3: I think I've tried to be really flexible with the
Speaker 3: players on our team. If they want to, you know,
Speaker 3: go into the portal for a legitimate reason and maybe
Speaker 3: extend what their value is or get closer to home
Speaker 3: or things like that, and they're guys that we value,
Speaker 3: then we're going to try to We're going to try
Speaker 3: to recruit them back to our program. But yeah, it's
Speaker 3: it's very very fluid. I guess you'd probably say it's
Speaker 3: pretty locked in right now. And so we're excited about
Speaker 3: the team that we've been able to put together and
Speaker 3: really excited about the work that they've done. They've done
Speaker 3: the offseason, it's been it's been different.
Speaker 2: Guy like Skyler haven't been back.
Speaker 4: I feel a lot of people are fishing and trying
Speaker 4: to hook him. But what does it say for him
Speaker 4: to come back about your program? About the loyalty he
Speaker 4: is way to come back here?
Speaker 3: It says I think a lot about our program, and
Speaker 3: says even more about him and what motivates him. You know,
Speaker 3: he's he understands that he has a chance to be
Speaker 3: part of something special, you know, kind of building a
Speaker 3: program back.
Speaker 2: I think that the loyalty he's shown to the.
Speaker 3: School and and and to his teammates, is it speaks volumes,
Speaker 3: you know, because he is a prominent player. He had
Speaker 3: to remember during the Bowl practices, you know, he missed
Speaker 3: a couple of practices because he had a chance to
Speaker 3: go to Michigan and they offered him a lot of money,
Speaker 3: and he decided to stay here.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know that this number is exactly accurate,
Speaker 2: but it's pretty close.
Speaker 3: Just in the spring portal alone, we had players that
Speaker 3: were approached legally or illegally and offered three point three
Speaker 3: million dollars that they left on the table to come
Speaker 3: back to Connecticut. And I think that says a lot
Speaker 3: about the program, the school, the community, you know, their team,
Speaker 3: their teammates, and certainly about their characters.
Speaker 2: So that's something we're excited about.
Speaker 4: You talk about the port of them, How shady can
Speaker 4: that place be? You talk about it them like speed
Speaker 4: Danny when you're trying to get in there. But how
Speaker 4: there's some dark, weird stuff going on there too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, campering is rampant, and I've made my
Speaker 3: statements pretty clear about how I feel about tampering. We
Speaker 3: won't tamper, And if people do want to tamper with
Speaker 3: our players, and we have a legitimate reason to believe
Speaker 3: that it's that it's happening, and we're going to call
Speaker 3: them out, you know, until the NCAA decides if they
Speaker 3: want to do something about it, and we're going to
Speaker 3: try to do something about it. It's just I think
Speaker 3: it's you're teaching bad lessons. You're teaching the wrong lessons
Speaker 3: to the players. You know, Hey, cheating is okay. Well,
Speaker 3: cheating is not okay, and they're not going to get
Speaker 3: far in life if they depend on cheating after the
Speaker 3: leave college. So we want to teach the correct lessons,
Speaker 3: you know. And we're not perfect in the stakes. We
Speaker 3: make mistakes, but we try at least we try to
Speaker 3: do it right all the time. And these teams that
Speaker 3: flagrantly break the rules, it's it's difficult to respect those
Speaker 3: programs for me, at least kind.
Speaker 4: Of market and then to maintain the essence of what
Speaker 4: you want to teach these guys when you're up against that.
Speaker 2: Well, we just worry about what we do when we're
Speaker 2: in this building.
Speaker 3: You know, the things that we say, the way we act,
Speaker 3: but we're not afraid to defend ourselves. Certainly, you know,
Speaker 3: but not for us. It's just trying to be true
Speaker 3: to what we are all about, you know, what we
Speaker 3: value and and like I said, getting the right types
Speaker 3: of young men in this program.
Speaker 2: And we've been I believe fortunate to do that. But
Speaker 2: you know the proofs in the putting.
Speaker 3: This is all Every coach in America is standing here
Speaker 3: today full of enthusiasm and optimism.
Speaker 2: So we've got to make it happen. Kind But when
Speaker 2: guys go too, you're always open them up on Twitter
Speaker 2: and do other coaches you communicated with? I do when
Speaker 2: I'm recruiting them. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Now, I think what's happened now is that coaches are
Speaker 3: more likely to communicate with each other about what players
Speaker 3: are actually being offered. You're seeing sometimes, and it's not
Speaker 3: real prominent, but you'll see people that are acting as
Speaker 3: agents for players, and they're not always truthful about what
Speaker 3: other teams are offering. So I simply, you know, pick
Speaker 3: up the phone and if we're in competition with somebody,
Speaker 3: call them and say, hey.
Speaker 2: This is what we're offering them, what do you offer them?
Speaker 2: And that comes from my NFL background. You know, there
Speaker 2: was disclosure of information.
Speaker 3: Agents had to be certified so everybody knew what they
Speaker 3: were competing against. I mean, college. I don't want to
Speaker 3: compete against ghosts. I want to compete against the truth.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna call people and ask them what it is.
Speaker 3: And then with regards to our players that want to leave,
Speaker 3: you know, listen, I have to I have to live
Speaker 3: what I preach to these guys, and so it's not
Speaker 3: all about ball.
Speaker 2: It's about their future.
Speaker 3: So if they, you know, are adamant that they want
Speaker 3: to leave, or maybe we've asked them maybe hey, there's
Speaker 3: a better place for you, then I think it's my
Speaker 3: responsible responsibility to help them get somewhere where they can
Speaker 3: have that success that they're after.
Speaker 5: Is there an area that you're really excited about the
Speaker 5: jump maybe from spring to now that you're getting peked
Speaker 5: up to see and actually when you're getting ready for
Speaker 5: the season. I know you don't usually like to mention individuals,
Speaker 5: but is there is it taking big jumps?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's guys that appear to have taken big jumps,
Speaker 3: but we'll see when we get out here on the grass.
Speaker 3: I'm really excited about, you know, the potential of the
Speaker 3: wide receiver room. You know, I think it's it's it's deep,
Speaker 3: and it's talented. At least that's my perception at this
Speaker 3: point in time. You know, we're going to find out
Speaker 3: and see how they hold up out here. But I
Speaker 3: think that that's a group that that could excite people.
Speaker 3: And I think there's playmakers. You know, we lost some guys,
Speaker 3: but we added some real talented players.
Speaker 6: Can you look at the coaches room and you see
Speaker 6: at Jackson Mitchell and Johnnie Stafford. Does that give you
Speaker 6: an extra sense of pride to know that they want
Speaker 6: to get into coaching after being under you and they
Speaker 6: want to start here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I want them here. You know, you look
Speaker 3: at Deronte's here. You know he's in scouting, but he
Speaker 3: helps him coaching. And you mentioned Jelani and Jackson Mitchell,
Speaker 3: who's you know, living at my house with me. And
Speaker 3: then Caleb Anthony is on our staff, My son's on
Speaker 3: our staff.
Speaker 2: Now Johnny Pagano's son's on our staff.
Speaker 3: Now you know, people that have a football background, but
Speaker 3: primarily Yukon players that want to get started in this
Speaker 3: business and need a jump start. We're going to do
Speaker 3: all we can to help them, you know, because in
Speaker 3: college football that is so important. You know in the
Speaker 3: recruiting rooms, you know, with the parents being able to
Speaker 3: sit there as an next player and tell them exactly
Speaker 3: what it's like here from their mouth is really important.
Speaker 3: The pride that they take in doing a great job
Speaker 3: because they're representing the school that they played for, that's
Speaker 3: really important. You know, you look around the country and
Speaker 3: a lot of the successful head coaches are guys that
Speaker 3: have gone back to their alma mater. You know, it
Speaker 3: would be really cool one day for me. I know
Speaker 3: from a personal base standpoint, if one of our ex
Speaker 3: players that I was able to coach became the head
Speaker 3: coach at University Connecticut. You know, that'd be really really neat,
Speaker 3: And so you want to give those guys opportunities.
Speaker 1: With so many new new faces.
Speaker 2: It excites me.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm looking behind me and I see them
Speaker 3: on there and and uh, you know, I know that
Speaker 3: Donovan Branch, you know, those guys returners, they know what
Speaker 3: to expect, they know what expect of them. And then
Speaker 3: I have great confidence in the defensive coaching staff.
Speaker 2: You know, they're tremendous coaches and they have a group
Speaker 2: of players that just soak up everything that they say
Speaker 2: and apply it to the best of their ability. So
Speaker 2: I'm excited about it. Yeah, I'm not nervous about it.
Speaker 3: I mean, I got great faith in Coach Brocking those
Speaker 3: guys and the players.
Speaker 1: And do you see any value or anything positive in
Speaker 1: any of the legislation that's been proposed or the executive
Speaker 1: order that was issued regarding college sports? College football?
Speaker 3: I don't pay a lot of attention to it. I
Speaker 3: just don't have the bandwidth to do it. And it's
Speaker 3: it's so fluid, it changes so often. I kind of
Speaker 3: feel like I don't want to get in that emotional
Speaker 3: game of going back and forth. I don't think there's
Speaker 3: much that I can do to control it right now.
Speaker 3: So I think the best thing for me to do
Speaker 3: is just concentrate on Connecticut football and these players, and
Speaker 3: there's much smarter people out there that understand it better
Speaker 3: than me, and let them do their job, you know.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, ask one more.
Speaker 5: You had to plug in three new guys up front
Speaker 5: in the middle on the offensive line. Now this year
Speaker 5: it's the two guys on the outside. Yeah, it seems
Speaker 5: like you got a lot of depth able to do that.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: We lost some really good men up front and have
Speaker 3: gone on and you know, you got Val who's in Phoenix,
Speaker 3: And you got Chase who's in Buffalo, and you got
Speaker 3: we got Noel.
Speaker 2: Who's who in camp?
Speaker 3: Chris Chris Forton was the fifth pick of the Canadian
Speaker 3: League Draft for fifth or eighth, So those are big
Speaker 3: shoes to fill. But you know, Ben Morosse, he's coming
Speaker 3: back healthy and he's a good player. And we brought
Speaker 3: in some guys that can help. And you know, one
Speaker 3: of us walking by us right there, Ty Chan on
Speaker 3: the inside, allows us to move guys outside. I think
Speaker 3: we've got a lot of flexibility and versatility upfront. It's
Speaker 3: just a matter of gelling. But you know they're coach
Speaker 3: by Gordy and and Uh and coach Pace and those
Speaker 3: are a pretty couple of pretty good coaches that will
Speaker 3: get it right all right.