BYU Football Game Week — at SMU

“I’m excited about the weekend, the season starting and being 1-0. I’m looking forward to our next game. After watching the film and evaluating our performance, I see that that there’s a lot of things we can improve on. We can play better and cleaner but I’m proud of the way our guys played overall. I’m excited about this next step of going on the road and playing against SMU.”

On Defensive Coordinator Jay Hill’s health and role in week two 
“Jay’s doing great. We’re off and working, getting ready for SMU. This is his defense. I anticipate him returning to his role as defensive coordinator. I don’t know if he will be on the field or in the box.”

On the team’s health
“No season-ending injuries, so that’s good. We have some guys that are banged up. It was a physical game. Right now, everybody looks like they’re on target to play in this game this weekend. Right now, we’re anticipating everyone making the trip.”

On improvements the team can make in week two
“On defense, we need to control the quarterback run game. We’re going to see a lot of that, especially this week. Offensively, we need to finish drives and find ways to capitalize on opportunities. On special teams, I felt like we had some really good returns set up but we need to catch the ball to get those going. We know how to fix these things and we’re looking forward to getting started on that with today’s practice.”

On facing SMU
“They have an explosive team and are favored in this game, so this is an opportunity for our guys to get in there and figure out ways to improve and take-on a very impressive SMU team. They have really good athletes. They have a few quarterbacks who can play. They’re very active, very athletic and can throw the ball well too.”

On SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee
“Rhett Lashlee is a good friend of mine. He’s an amazing coach who knows how to run an offense, call a game and run a program. I think he’s one of the best coaches in college football. He’s done a great job with that program. [While at the 2022 New Mexico Bowl], we were able to sit down and share a meal together. I was really impressed with him as I got to be around him and his family. He has a brilliant mind when it comes to football.”

On the defensive line’s performance versus Southern Illinois
“I thought they got some knock-back up front against a veteran offensive line group. We challenged them to be physical and execute their assignment. They did that and I’m proud of our coaches getting them ready. That’s one game and we need to be consistent week-to-week and play-to-play.”

On the linebackers’ performance versus Southern Illinois
“There are still some plays to be made but overall, they did some good things. They feel comfortable in the system, in the scheme. It’s a lot different having those guys who know what they’re doing now. There’s a night and day difference when guys have more time in the system. I liked that we rotated and had fresh bodies. We had Choe [Bryant-Strother], Aisea Moa and Sione Moa playing, Siale Esera too. That’s a deep position group for us.”

On the growth of wide receiver Chase Roberts
“He’s maturing in the offense. He understands it a little more every year he’s in the offense. I know he’s listed as one position on the roster, but he can do more, he can play the tight end spot if we need him to.”

On his memories of BYU vs. SMU in the 1980 Holiday Bowl
“I was five years old when the game happened. I don’t remember much but I do remember watching the highlights at eight years old. I was the kind of kid that would watch replays of games all the time. It was cool to watch that SMU team with guys like Eric Dickerson. Then you watch guys like Kyle Whittingham and Jim McMahon out there for BYU. There are some cool parts of that game like Jim McMahon not wanting to punt and keeping the offense out there. I grew up as a kid hearing those stories and then, as a BYU player, got to ask LaVell [Edwards] about it.”

What is your evaluation of the defensive line from Saturday’s win over Southern Illinois?
“I think our defensive line did great. We left some production on the board like sacks, tackles for loss but I think it was a good overall start. I feel like all the work we put in during the offseason is starting to look like it’s paying off. We need to keep being more urgent and keep the ball moving.”

Is there a different feeling on this team heading into this season?
“Absolutely. I feel like the mindset and the mentality of everyone, not even just the defense, has a whole different mindset and mentality. I think that we have something to prove, and we have a chip on our shoulder. Therefore, we need to go out and there and play like and practice every day like it.”

Being more aggressive this season
“To be a good defensive line we have to have every single part of it flying on all scales. It’s not just one guy, it is all of us. You are good as your weakest link. It’s a collective effort at the end of the day. We wanted to be more urgent this season and the first game shows.”

On preparing for SMU’s RPO action
“Every rep we take we have to be detailed and lock into our keys. It comes down to being disciplined with our eye control and what we’re looking at and how we stay disciplined on the line of scrimmage.”

On preparing for SMU’s two quarterbacks
“You don’t really know exactly what you’re going to get, especially when it comes to the scouting report and how you prepare. When we deal with something like that, you have to be more intentional and purposeful with your own prep and doing what you do best as a defensive whole. We have to know our identity and how we come to play the game. At the start of last game we talked about not wanting to be a thermometer, but to be a thermostat. We want to come in and set the tone regardless of who we’re playing.”

Evaluate your performance after win over Southern Illinois
“Pretty good. We executed pretty well. No turnovers is always a huge plus. That’s a big emphasis always. There are a few throws that I want back, a couple decisions that I can make better but that’s for next week.”

On what the next step for the offense heading into SMU
“Just clean up the little things, the little mistakes that aren’t amplified against a team like that and that will be amplified against a ACC opponent. I know every position has their things that they need to improve on, communication and stuff like that. In the game everything is a little faster so getting use to that is a big deal and something that will be better in Week 2 for us.”

How much of difference does the communication in helmet and tablets make?
“It’s great. I love it. It makes things easier for me to hear it just in the headset right before the play. I can tell the offensive line quicker and they get their calls off quicker. The play clock was not much of a factor at all in the game on Saturday. That’s the benefit of it on my part. I think our team has done a really good job of adapting to the new way we are handling technology. It is nice to talk to the coaches about it off the field. It makes Sunday film study actually a little different now because you have watched the game already. You watched on the sidelines, so you can get through it kind of quicker and move on and get to the next team a little quicker.”

Are you an avid film guy?
“Yeah but at the same time but there’s a good balance. Last week, we got to be ahead of the game, being able to prepare earlier. Not having a game before made it easy to prepare earlier and even in the summer a little bit. I definitely get into especially early in the week I hit it really hard. Late in the week I trust my preparation. There is a point where it’s like ‘let’s go play football’ and not be dialed into what they showed and what percentage of what came up. We have to be able to read and react on the field.”

How did the quarterback battle make you better?
“The competition makes everybody better. Everyone’s attention to detail and intensity was a little higher. I believe that for sure because of the competition in all of fall camp and all of the off season. The preparation is for sure there because it pushed me to be more prepared than ever in order to win the job because I was going up against a really good quarterback on the other side of the competition. We are all ready to go. I think we did a really good job not having those first game mistakes, the formation penalties or play clock stuff or substitution stuff. We did a really good job.”

On his dad’s critique of his performance
“My dad actually sent me a little post on Instagram that said ‘If you’re a son and you outperform your dad whether as through sports or life, that’s a good thing. That means your dad did a good job’. My dad played football at UC Santa Barbara so he doesn’t have much critique from me playing Power 4 football here at BYU. He was super supportive and super happy for me, super excited for all of it.”

Relationship with Gerry Bohanon
“100 percent seamless, I would say. That’s just a testament to Gerry, his character, his maturity level and he’s just an incredible guy on-and-off the field. I got so much respect for him in all aspects of life. He’s an incredible father, leader and our relationship has not changed very much at all. We are still just as supportive of each other as we were all fall camp. He has done a great job supporting me and being super positive for all the guys around me.

On the implementation of tablets on the sideline 
“From my point of view, the tablets were the biggest difference-maker from last season. We were able to re-watch the play if you had a question on what routes were run or what the offensive line’s run-pass block looked like or where your drop was in relation to where it should’ve been. It was nice to have that instant feedback. We watch film all the time so being able to do that in-game was great. I’m super grateful for that technology.”

On year two in Jay Hill’s defense
“Coach Hill has the defense he loves and then, obviously, there’s tweaks being made week-by-week for the opponent. We do that to fine-tune the game plan for certain teams and what they like to do. The second year under Coach Hill is a lot better now that we have a better understanding of what’s going on, why he’s calling what he’s calling. Our exactness in executing the plays has been our biggest improvement. That helped us get better pressure on the quarterback and better coverage on Saturday night. We were able to create more chaos than we did last year.”

On SMU’s offense
“From the quick film study, I’ve done so far, they like running run-pass-option. They’re good athletes. It’s a really good team that’s well-coached. We’re excited to prepare quickly and go down there to play against that style. I was part of the team in 2022 that played against them in the New Mexico Bowl. That was a fun game. They’re a challenge but we’ve been coached well, and we’re excited to execute.”

On Jay Hill’s health scare and having him at the game on Saturday
“It was pretty heavy to have our team meeting and learn what happened to him. It was a strong testament to his love for this team that he had two surgeries and was still at the game. He didn’t want it to be about him. He’s very player-oriented. He wants us to be the focus.”