How many receivers you think you'll play in a game?
It's a great question.
We're sitting here, I guess it's about nine, 10 days out,
still working through that.
Obviously, in terms of returning guys,
you got guys Braylon and Elijah that's played in games.
Myles played four last year.
Still gon' be, yet to be determined.
Figure out the next week, but hoping anywhere
from seven to nine, at some point,
depend upon injuries, depend upon how people play.
This sounds like a crazy question,
but how do you go about deciding who's ready to go?
Scrimmages and practice, I mean we're always evaluating,
always grading guys based on, not just one play,
but, how they've done all of fall camp
and how they've impressed out there, in live-action plays.
And we'll just kind of figure it out come Memphis,
and we'll throw the first group out there
and see how well they perform and we'll go from there.
Can you talk specifically
about those true freshman, receivers Mingo and Jacksons?
Yeah, absolutely, all of them have flashed at some point.
They've all had moments, Mingo came in,
physically, was already ready, was 218 pounds,
plays strong, plays fast for a big guy.
Some people question the speed aspect,
I mean, the dude can move.
Both the Jackson kids, I just call them the Jackson brothers
but [laughs], but the Jackson kids,
they both can run, can take the top off.
Obviously, Jadon was 100-meter state champion,
Dennis is electric with the ball in his hands,
and Jernigan has done really well, himself.
Had a little bit of an ankle injury, was out for a few days,
but, has really responded well.
So, excited about that young group.
The whole group for that whole is young
but, excited about that freshman group.
With the pocket moving
a lot this year, how does that change things for your guys?
Not so much for us, I do think, obviously, it helps
the O-line, helps the quarterback
not always being a stationary target.
Always movin' the pocket, it's hard for D-linemen
in this league to know where the pocket's gonna be.
Matt has done a tremendous job of putting the ball,
obviously, it takes a talent to throw the ball on the move.
It's not as easy as being a stationary quarterback,
sittin' back in a pocket on a three-step, five-step drop
so, it allows him to use a little bit
of his athleticism, get outside the pocket.
But, doesn't change too much for us
just, within the concept, our landmarks change a little.
You mentioned seven and nines there.
There's guys in that, maybe, six to eight range,
is there anything in particular you'd like
to see them do better to be more comfortable
with putting them in the game?
Obviously, catch the ball, make plays [laughs].
But, no, obviously, we have things within our group,
within our offense, a standard that we want to meet.
And, I think, the season's a long season.
You saw last year, we kinda limped across the finish-line.
AJ, I think, was playin' 90 plus snaps a game,
and that's not what you want.
Lodge had the ankle injury, he battled ever since Arkansas.
You saw Vanderbilt, man, he was limping on plays out there,
but, that's all we had, I think we had four receivers
in that game, and that's not really
what you want to go in with.
You wanna be able to finish strong
and, so hopefully, some of these young guys
continue to develop and allow us
to really build that depth as the season progresses.
The lock guys this year,
how much of their role is going to be
being the motion guys, spending time in the backfield?
Is that something that's kind of expanded this year?
Yeah, I mean, I think you see guys like Tylan,
he played running back in the past.
Elijah, obviously really good with the ball in his hands.
Dannis, really good with the ball in his hands.
So, there's obviously some things we can do.
We can get in four receiver sets, five receiver sets,
if we need to, based on the skill sets
and what's needed in that particular play.
But, I do think that as the season progresses,
you'll see guys develop.
Obviously Ealy, you'll see a guy, he can go
from backfield to slide, as well,
and as he gets more and more comfortable, too.
So, we got some options there,
kinda those little jitterbug guys
that you can get the ball to 'em bunch of different ways
and let 'em do what they do best.
In this system, how much more, Jake,
is your guys' possibility of blockin'?
Definitely, a lot more, that's somethin' we've tried
to emphasize, still gotta get better at it.
But, obviously, I tell the receivers all the time,
the best friend for a receiver's a run game
because, all of a sudden, safeties start to creep up,
you get one-on-one coverage, so, obviously we're gon' have
to be really good in that area, if we wanna be successful.
Your guys pretty physical right now?
We're still gettin' there, I don't think you'll,
we'll always wanna improve on that area
but, just because it's not somethin' that comes natural
to most of 'em, you know, they wanna be pass catchers.
So, it's a mentality.
Coach Rod talks about, all the time, hard edge,
and that's what we're gonna be.
We gotta have that kinda mentality every time
that we're asked to do that.