Presser: Alex Golesh previews the SEC Opener vs Florida

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2:07Call 1-8-334-Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? Alright guys, thanks for being here. Go through Saturday night. Couple of things. One awesome, I mean awesome environment, incredible crowd. Kind of surreal running out there the first time. Really, really, really special, really cool. I think two things. One, our kids handled the delay incredibly well. You go through it for the first time. I thought poise, energy, state focus in the locker room, like literally didn't flinch. Really, really cool. And then came out with a crazy amount of energy and focus. I thought the crowd affected, affected Southern Mrs. Offense early.

3:08There was some spluttering of penalties there for them. And I thought that was absolutely huge. Really, really big. I thought we played well on defense. Stop the run. Certainly affected the quarterback early, scored twice on defense. We had a sudden change situation on defense. And then to get points in the form of a safety out of a sudden change is huge. The drive at the end of the half was the one disappointing piece. There was a handful of mistakels there to let them go drive 75 yards. It was the part that was frustrating. Certainly, the mistakels piece was more than we were supposed to have. Those things cleaned up. The tackling in space, the tackling in general, as we get into SEC play, has got to improve offensively.

4:12The penalties felt, and sometimes you go back, and it's not as bad as it seems. Sometimes it's worse than it seemed. The penalties were frustrating. One of them killed a drive. The other six didn't kill a drive, but you're in third and crazy forever. Some plays, some scrambling around covers up for the mishaps. The point there is you get into playing in this league, and that'll kill you being in third and long, especially on clock stoppage. We'll absolutely destroy you. I thought we ran the ball well. I thought Byron settled in well. I thought he did a good job of creating good job of taking care of the football. We had two fumbles. We lost one of them. I thought there were some ball security things that were super careless in the game. That was a huge point of emphasis. When I used the term sloppy, that was a huge, huge piece of it.

5:13I thought the positives, the end of the half, two minute drive with 19 seconds left to go three plays and then allow Alex to go kick it. I thought that was really, really big. I thought there were some poise in that moment across the entire offense. I thought that was a big hit. I thought Alex had a 55-year-old. I thought it was huge. I thought at the end, our two went in there. There was a mix of threes in there too. I thought it was really big for us to run it and turn the ball. I thought Tristan came in. That was really good experience for him. I thought he handled it well. I handled the situation at the end of the game well. From a time management standpoint, thought he threw it well. It had good poise, good command. I thought that was really positive to get him out there. From a team's perspective, the other part that I thought was sloppy, we didn't take advantage of the pitches to hit.

6:17You don't get many from a kickoff return standpoint. I thought we were just okay there. From a pun return standpoint, the one return gets called back because of a penalty. That's where when you say sloppy, you can't play like that against good teams and have a chance. Those are the things I was disappointed about. Overall, like I said, I thought the start was fast. I thought we played physical. I thought we ran around, played hard. The things that will cost you games against really good teams are the penalties, the turnover, and that piece is why I was frustrated after the game still am. But, turn the page. Certainly with the staff yesterday, with the team this morning, and get to go play at home again in front of our fans, which we need them to certainly be a factor. I'm sure they will be, but open up SEC play here, which will be huge. Again, ready for a good floor to team.

7:23I was coming off the back to back wins as well. These guys offensively present a bunch of challenges. I think the quarterback is playing well. I think what Buster has done with the offense. What he's always done is find creative ways, one to run the football and run it at a high clip, and then to be able to push the ball all over the place. They do a really good job. They do a good job formationally, do a good job. Motioning and shifting and creating a lot of chaos in that sense. Then you got one of the best running backs in the country, not the best running back in the country. That's going to be a huge challenge for us. Super versatile at the white out spots. Man can run on the perimeter, play physical on the perimeter. Good at tight end. I think the ol' line settled in well. I think that's a really, really good offense, really efficient, very well coached. It will be a good challenge for us. It will be a unique challenge for us just because it's different than what we've played here through these first couple of weeks.

8:32Then defensively, we've got a staff that's familiar with what we do conceptually, what we do in general going against this crew for quite a while now. Man, depth up front. Defensively physical at linebacker, so long at corner. They do a good job in the back end in general of running and disguising things. And have a really good scheme. From a special team's perspective, they're aggressive. Man, Vernel took two back last week. We saw it a year ago, but dynamic in the return game and aggressive in the cover unit. So, like a really, really cool matchup, really got a ton of respect for this staff. Man, it's time to start SEC football, so I'm excited. Our players are excited. For us, the key is to go right back to our process. Go right back to dominating today and going one day at a time, prepare ourselves with the lead level confidence going into Saturday.

9:38Jason, are you on the line for us? Alex Jason, call well, over 2-4-7. Got a chance to go back and watch our line play and Wilson a little bit. Now, what do you think of those guys as a group and all the young guys you got a chance to play? What'd you see out of them? Yeah. Man, I thought a lot was cleaned up. Obviously, a little bit different, a little bit different up front. And unique challenge preparing for that game. Like I mentioned earlier in the week, just because you really didn't know. You really didn't know totally what you were going to get. I thought they did a good job adjusting. Being able to get Wilson inside was our attempt to see how that would work. And he's repd it for a young guy that's repd inside and outside. Like a lot of credit to him. I thought he did a solid job. I thought we were really physical up front. I thought we played. I thought we played well at tackle. I thought inside, Cole Bess answered the bell. I thought Cole Skinner answered the bell. I thought Jacob played better.

10:41We got Wilson there. Got Jack Lair in there. Rotated some guys. And kind of rotated in and out. And I thought those guys played hard. I thought they were physical. I thought they were cool. There's still some stuff to clean up as there always will be in the protection world. We saw the hold on a Joe. We had the hold on Cole. Those are technique and fundamental things that I was frustrated with. There was a handful of those. There was a handful on the perimeter. But that to me is when you get out of position, feet aren't right. And you feel like you got a lean and hold and grab. That's what I was frustrated about. But I thought for the first time really going in there, I thought we'll stay to solid job. Justin Ferguson, the overt observer, you talked about ball being one of the best running backs in the country. You guys defensively have done a really good job of limiting run games so far. Just kind of that match up there up front.

11:44How encouraged have you been by the way, especially the linebackers have played these first couple of weeks with teams that wanted to spread you out. But y'all have still been able to slow down the running game when they try to go underneath. Yeah, I think Justin, it's playing high level defense. It has to start with stopping the run. That it's got to be where the whole thing starts. And that's all three levels. That's certainly the D-line being where they're supposed to be creating knockback. And it's linebackers filling and playing off of each other. It's safety's fill. And when they have to, it's corners. You've seen things get out on the perimeter and corners making plays. Obviously a huge point of emphasis. And it's going to be as big of one here going into this one as anything. These guys create unique advantages for themselves formationally. And motioning and shifting. So your eyes got to be right. The communications got to be elite in terms of fits being right.

12:50But it's where it all starts. It's certainly a huge point of emphasis. And it's not because you're playing starting conference play or a discipline necessarily. It always is going to be. But it's been solid. These guys are different. They certainly can spread you out. But there's a million different ways that they're creating. Whether it's zone schemes or gaps schemes. They're creating matchups to be able to give room. And you got a guy in 13 that's, man, powerful has speed. Get plays behind his pads. And has the ability to make you miss in space. It's complete of a back as you're going to get. The mistackles we talked about earlier, that's got to clean up. The continue and the run of the football and gang tackling's got to clean up. Or it got to continue, I should say. But huge point of emphasis.

13:52Michael Giddens, Warport coach, can you talk about running the football a little bit more in how close and what's your confidence level in the run game headed into SEC play? And after two games, how close is this team to being the type of football team that you envisioned when you got a hold of this roster and you got an idea of who your guys were? Yeah, Michael, I think we're going to continue to evolve and grow. It's hard to say simply because you felt like week one, you were a little bit off here and there. We felt like this past week, we took a step. I think when you're, and it's not even a year one thing, it's when you are putting together a group of guys, like O'Line, Tite ends, backs, like there's no substitute for time on task and rep after rep after rep and seeing it and working it.

14:52The hope is you continue to get better as the year goes as guys are playing together and guys are seeing pictures over and over again. And obviously schematically you're changing week to week based on what you're going to dictate in the run game. I think we're going to continue to get better where we are. It's hard to say just simply because this will be a different challenge, size wise speed wise. It's different than what we saw a week ago. So we're going to continue to work. We've got a really good bar set in terms of what we see from our own defense daily. But I feel like we took a step. We got to continue to take steps in terms of your question on how close are we to what I thought. I don't know if I really had an expectation. I think the thing that I'm most confident in is what our kids are competing like. What our kids are acting like. Like what the locker room is like. And I also understand that that's all super fragile.

15:56And as you go, there's going to be adverse situations that we are preparing them to handle on the field off the field and up until this point they've handled them extremely well. I do think the guys genuinely care about each other. I think they genuinely care for each other's success. I think what I told our guys this morning, like it's a contagious atmosphere in that locker room. It's a contagious atmosphere on the sideline where dudes are legitimately playing for each other. Again, when things are going well, that's easy to do and it's magnified in a positive way. When things don't go well, which the point of reference I have is week one. Can you consistently stay together and continue to play for each other? We talk about running for each other. Can that continue? That's where my confidence comes from. Obviously we have to have an elite week of practice and we have to have an elite rest of the day Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. But my confidence comes from the fact that these dudes care about each other. These dudes are competing for each other.

17:01And that may be, I hate to say it, for a year one, and this is my six times seven times being a part of a year one, where that's the hardest thing to do. Right now these dudes are bought into each other, which is really positive. To continue to stay that way and we continue to play really hard and continue to improve, then you'd be happy. But that's fragile. Peter Radiker, sayo.com, going back to the offensive line. We saw Wilson and Jack Lair get some reps early. And what competitive are those two guard spots still going into SEC play? Yeah, Peter. I would tell you every spot is super competitive and that's across the team. We're competing at every single spot every single day. I think Hoodie's done a good job in that room of creating an urgency daily, an urgency through every part of what these guys are doing.

18:06If it ain't what it's supposed to be, then another guy is going to get an opportunity. At the same time, for another guy deserves an opportunity, he's going to get an opportunity. I know I said that in camp. We're going to keep competing and that's on the old line. That's at every spot that we're going to compete and continue to find the best combination of guys that are doing it at a high, high level. Bill Cameron with ESPN 1067, you were banged up a little bit at defensive end and but this past week with CK and Deshauna. How are they doing and how did Darian do slide now? Yeah, on a positive, we got Jack Quesan there, got to play his first snaps. You saw DeMarcus Ridic fill in there, I think 16 plays on the edge for us, which was huge. I thought he played well. I thought Wilkes played well for his first time out there and I think he's got a really bright future here with us and in a lot of ways this year.

19:12To answer your question, I thought Darian did some really good things. Not Uber productive, just the one limited rep count and two just didn't come his way at time. But I thought he's solid and he's played a bunch on the edge for us. He's got position flexibility, which is big. Those guys both practiced this morning and we anticipate having them both. It was a push to get them both back last week and they both, I don't know if you saw, I had to get one back out of my way about 20 times on the sideline. He kept telling everybody he was coach-wo on the sideline and he did. He brought a really cool energy. So did CK, which I was proud of both those kids for. But they both, like I said, went today, anticipated a full roll through this week and it'll be good to have some depth back in there. Alex, you mentioned the staff's familiarity. They're defensive staff with what you guys want to accomplish and you only went against Tulane one time at the previous location.

20:18But what is your familiarity with coach Summerall and what they want to do on defense and what he brings us to coach? Yeah. You bring up that the Tulane game two years ago. So if you wanted to have a really, really rough morning, you could have sat with me and watched that yesterday again for maybe the 200th time and wanted to throw up. In terms of that staff, you know, with coach White coming from Kentucky and my last time in this league, that's where a lot of the familiarity comes from. Defense corner, Tulane is sitting in that room. A large chunk of that staff is sitting in that room, obviously John sitting in that room. So there's been some good. There's that Tulane game two years ago. Man, it's been some good, some bad. And so the plan is to have the good on Saturday. College football is back. So Hilton called in me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality.

21:23Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwick up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Alex, Brian Matthews, Alburnsports.com. Jonathan Nichols, I think 12 catches, five touchdowns. Where does it say about his ability once you get into the red zone? Yeah, I think really that whole tight end group took a big step this past week. I thought they played really well. It was good for us to get some other guys in there with new someone and Hunter out there. Those guys, as they continue to grow and evolve, we can continue to grow, evolve offensively around them.

22:27So we played in a lot more 12 last weekend, just simply with wanting to get some different packages out there and get those guys out there. I think John, he took a step certainly. This camp, he's continued to put weight on. He's got really good knowledge of this offense. He can and will and should be a huge weapon force in the past game. Alex, the receivers, how pleased have you been with them? These first couple of weeks that connection with Barberman. It feels like, especially on the scramble drills, they do, they have a really good connection to just get an open form and stay open. You're able to hit some big plays with that on Saturday. Yeah. I think operationally we've done a good job there. That's been the biggest piece that's helped having familiarity there. I actually talked about the scramble drill has not been as consistent or as good as it needs to be. It's a huge part of what we do. It's a huge part of offensive football in general.

23:28I think there's actually a lot to be desired there that's got to improve. That's simply an effort deal and a spatial awareness deal combined at the right time. I think we've been hitting this there. Cogers have been on the receiving end of a couple of those in a positive way. Keishan got a big third down in that way. I think that group has continued to play hard. I thought we took a big step on a perimeter blocking side this past weekend. They got challenged in a big way. We've got to be the best version of us here going into this week in terms of consistency. We're both in the blocking piece in the downfield passing game and the intermediate passing game. I think we've taken a week to week. We've got to take one more step here this week and continue to improve there. I thought it was really good to get guys like Brian in there and letting them go play pedagru.

24:32Keishan Spencer continues to take steps and I think building a lot of confidence in that room as well. I think we need to take another step in a lot of ways in the sense of urgency and the scramble piece. These guys will present a really big challenge in the back end this week. We've got to be more physical as well. Trevor down with ABC 3340. You mentioned competing against him at 2 lane but he also said he's just gotten to know you well as a coach and a friend over the years from competing against each other. What's your relationship like with Johnson? He said we were friends. Not this week or not. I got a ton of respect for John. We were both assistants in the league at the same time and he did a great job at Troy.

25:36I did a high end job at 2 lane. I got a ton of respect for how he works. I got a ton of respect for who he is. I think he does it the right way. I got a lot of respect for him this week. Don't care. Michael Giddens, Warp or coach. Can you talk about the receivers just a second ago but can you talk about Jeremiah Coker and his ability to make big plays in the chemistry between him and Byron Brown? It seems like he's really emerging as a guy in that wide receiver room. It seems to be in the right spot for you when you need to be quick. Jeremiah, you know, he kind of finished the year off a year ago that way the last six games. Jeremiah is competitive. Jeremiah is intelligent. Jeremiah has got a good skill set obviously long. He's got really good ball skills. He's continuing to learn the positions, continuing to grow, continuing to get stronger.

26:40I think he's playing fast right now which is big for him. He wants the goal ball down the left side line back. You got to go finish that play. We went to him down in the other end zone where he kind of tripped up. He wants that ball back. There's some inconsistency there in that regard. But Jeremiah is a young guy that competes. I think part of that is just how he's wired. Part of that is the program he comes from high school wise. Part of that is because of the way he was raised that he's got dog in him. He competes at a high level. The challenge for him has been consistency and doing it play and play out doing it on play 7, 8, 9, 10 of a drive. That's where he's been challenged in a big way both by Cody and myself. But he is growing. He's still young. And the challenge for him has been nobody cares how old you are.

27:42And you got to go play like a big dog every time and every play consistently. And that's literally the word of the day for him every day is consistency. Thank you, War Eagle. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike. And the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gifts to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.