Kiffin said you had maybe your best week
of practice last week leading up to Liberty.
Did you kind of feel that, feel like maybe you're going
to finally have that game on Saturday that you had?
Yeah, you know.
You feel like you prepare really well every week
whether or not you're in the game plan
or outside of the game plan
because you kind of have a feel of who's going to be targeted
and all that good stuff, you know?
But I felt like
I did have a good week of practice, you know.
It was reassuring to know that, hey, I'm in the game plan,
like, going to be targeted some,
and that always helps your mindset a little bit.
But yeah, I think I had a pretty good week of practice.
For you this season, how has it been
just kind of having those games
where maybe you didn't get to produce as much as you'd hoped?
I mean, how has that,
kind of just been battling that this year?
Yeah, you know, you kind of expect one thing,
and then you get the other.
And I've learned to trust the Lord through it all.
In Proverbs 3:5 and 6, it says, "Trust in the Lord
with all your heart. Lean not on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him and He will guide your path."
And so whether or not I'm in it or out of it,
I still realize that I'm truly blessed to be
at an SEC school, at a D1 school,
playing football doing the thing that I love.
But after the Liberty game or leading up
to the Liberty game, you get really excited
because it almost seems like all your hard work is like,
"Hey, it's starting to pay off a little bit,"
and so really cool to have a cool game like that.
You mentioned hard work.
That kind of leads into what I was going to ask you.
There's this assumption that you can just
move quarterback to receiver
and it's "Here, go run a post or a flag,"
like you did as kids or whatever.
How difficult has the transition to learning, you know,
hand placement, feet and routes and all that stuff --
How much more difficult has that been
than maybe you anticipated it being,
or maybe the general public thinks it should be?
Yeah, so as a quarterback, I've told people --
This is how I kind of explain it.
Like, I know where I'm supposed to be,
know exactly where I'm supposed to be,
know what everybody's routes are, where everybody is aligned.
I know the scheme. I know the scheme really well.
It's about getting to the places that you need to be in
in a timely manner while creating space, you know.
And so last year in the bowl game,
you kind of got a little taste of it.
It was like, "Oh, this isn't just like running
in a straight line and going to that spot right there."
You kind of have to get yourself open a little bit,
and this year has kind of been like a learning curve, you know.
Like, I try to get better every week at something
whether it's watching the ball all the way into my hands
because at first had a tendency to not track it all the way in,
trying to make a guy miss that's ten yards down the field.
You've got to watch it all the way in,
or if it's man coverage,
you've got to get their hands off of you.
It's just little things that, like you said,
that not everybody knows about that
I myself didn't even really expect to have to learn,
but learning something new every week, for sure.
I know you're probably not going to tell us who's practicing
and who's not, but do you get the sense
that that receiver room is getting healthier,
that there's a chance that some guys could contribute?
Yeah, so, really, you hate to see your guys down, you know?
Like, you hate to see Bray and Drum and Mingo,
your really go-to guys, get hurt like that.
But, like, it kind of opens up opportunities
for everybody, you know?
Now, if they're coming back or not this week,
I have no idea.
But I know those guys and know their work ethic,
and I know they're working hard in the training room
to do all they can to get back, for sure.
You've been here a while.
This is obviously one of the biggest games
that's happened on this campus since you've been here.
Is there a different vibe among the team,
that kind of thing, with two top-12 teams
and probably some New Year's Six
Bowl ramifications at game day and all that stuff?
I would say, like, there's nothing that just, like --
We came on yesterday and we started preparing,
and we came today, and we had a pretty good day of practice,
and it's not that, there, you don't get excited,
but I think we've done a really good job this year of saying,
"This is the biggest game we have on our schedule
because it's the next game," whatever game that would be,
whether it's the Liberty Game, whether it was the Arkansas game
that had a lot of hype around it, you know.
I think this team has done a really,
really good job of not making something bigger than it is
or maybe something that wasn't as big,
not treating it like it is something big, you know?
And I think we've prepared every week really well,
and so I think we'll kind of do the same thing.
I don't think it's going to be something that this team --
Like, game day is coming.
I don't think anybody is going to get huge eyes
or get butterflies in their stomach.
You know, I think not to downplay it,
it's really exciting, but I don't think
it's going to kind of put big lights on this team
or give anybody stage fright or anything like that.
John Rhys, there was a video that went viral of you tying
Lane Kiffin's bow tie.
Are you the designated tie-tier on the team?
So I guess so.
I was at breakfast.
I myself was wearing a bow tie, and
Thad, one of our guys here, he came up to me and said,
Hey, did you tie that bow tie?
Do you know how to tie a bow tie?"
I said, "Yeah," and I go to try to tell him
a story of, like, "Yeah, my mom back in the day,
we had a baby convention and, like, had to learn."
He was like, "All right. Cool, sounds good."
And he just headed -- He didn't really care about the story,
but he just wanted to know I could tie the tie.
And so, it's like, I don't know why he wanted to know that,
but walking to the bus or whatever
and see Coach Kiffin sitting right there,
and he's like, "Hey, will you come tie this tie?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. I can do it for you,"
and of course tied it and the video went viral.
But it was a pretty cool bow tie, too.
It was powder blue.
Kind of back to the receivers' room and injuries,
how are you seeing those younger guys
who have had to have their number called sooner
than maybe they thought they would?
I know Jahcour has got experience
but some of those younger guys.
How have you seen them kind of during the
in the weeks of practice?
You know, like, as a young guy, like, coming out of high school,
I think a lot of guys like myself included, like,
you're the best player at your school.
You're getting recruited by an SEC team.
Like, you're kind of a big deal where you're from, you know.
Like, people know your name and everything.
And then you come into here where it's like,
everybody was recruited by an SEC school and everything.
It's not like that you're not a big deal.
Like, we obviously wanted you here.
But it's -- and you kind of see some kids,
like come to a realization like,
"Okay, I got to get to work, like,
because everybody is good here," you know?
And so you see a lot of those guys looking at Jerome
and looking at Bray and looking at Mingo,
seeing how hard they work, and they're like, "All right.
If the best guys on this team work that hard,
then I sure got to work hard too."
And so you see JJ Henry and Brandon Buckhaulter
and Bralon Brown, all those guys, even Dannis.
He's been here a while but hasn't really got to play
as much as he wanted, and he's really gotten better
this year of really getting down
to the playbook, all the little things, you know.
And you see all those guys work really hard,
and it's not that they don't expect them to pay off,
but it's kind of happening more earlier than they thought,
and it's a cool thing to watch, for sure.