On what he saw from the blue team today

I thought overall as a team, played well. You know, a couple penalties that we got to clean up on both sides. But, you know, all in all, I just wanted to see everybody have fun, injury-free football game, and that’s what we got accomplished.

On what he saw from Bryce Underwood

Did well. You know, did well, made some really good throws and had some things that we got to clean up and get better at. But he’s a continued work in progress, and he’s more than capable to do it.

On what he’s seen from both QBs that make them special

Yeah, I mean, the competitive nature, but the relationship that they both have has been really cool to watch them in the spring compete against each other, but, you know, root for each other at the same time. So, that’s been super fun to watch. You know, both of them great kids, great character, beautiful. It’s a battle that’s going to go all the way into fall camp.

On Jalen Hoffman’s role this season

Jalen has really picked up his game, and he’s really changed his body, done different things. I think he’s about 245, 250 pounds, and a super athletic kid with really great ball skills and hands. Yeah, we definitely look forward to watching him this season.

On what he saw from the offensive line
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest piece is that they get challenged by the defensive line every day. I think our D-line is going to be really deep, and it’s always different in the spring games because everybody’s split up. There are different combinations of people. One’s playing with twos, two’s playing with ones, and three’s playing with twos. So, you don’t get really caught up in that, but I’ve seen them progress. I think Coach News has done an unbelievable job with that group. They’ve really fought every practice, and you can see them getting better and better.

On how he’s evaluating the team after spring

Yeah, just more individual battles that you’re really looking at versus a whole team because it’s just different. But it was fun to watch. You can watch guys compete, and some guys get their first action on the big stage. Thank you for you guys. Thank you for the crowd. That was an outstanding show and turnout. I don’t know what the number was, but probably as good as we’ve had in the last four years. So, that was exciting for the young guys.

On whether coming into spring that Mikey Keene would be unavailable

Right before the spring, that kind of came upon us, so handled it. He’s doing well now. He’s throwing. He’s in a good place. He just didn’t feel like pushing it to end the spring that way, so he’s in a great place. I did a study about the guys who’s played the most college snaps in football, and he’s played about 2,220 snaps in college football. So, he’s okay to miss this one.

On the excitement he has with Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall

Yeah, really excited. You saw the little flash with Justice Haynes when he bounced that one to the left. He’s a guy that’s got homerun speed and ability, but he’s been a great leader. A guy that’s obviously came from a different program in Alabama. He showed us what he’s done, and Jordan, he just worked his tail off and tried to emulate him as much as he can. So, it’s been a great combination, and they’ve pushed guys like Bryson Kuzdzal, who’s been out there. He ran really well today. We really feel highly about him, and Micah Ka’apana. So, I think we’ve got a good room, and we’ll continue to push it and drive to get the best guys in there.

On whether he will add to the QB room this offseason

We’re looking at different options on what we need to do. We’ve got Chase Herbstreit coming in this summer. We’ll have Mikey evaluate and see where Davis is, but we’ll see what that situation looks like.

On what he saw from Jadyn Davis this spring

Yeah, he got better. He progressed and did things. Every single day, he got better. Bryce made him better, and he made Bryce better. So, that was cool to watch throughout the spring. Just the temperament that he had and the relationship was really cool to watch two guys compete every day. After every throw, they’d dap each other up, high-five each other, pick each other up when one of them made a mistake, or celebrate each other’s good. So, it’s been fun to see.

On the offense throwing the deep ball

Yeah, I mean, part of the reason I brought Chip in. It’s been fun. You know, we’ve created some shots and created some different pass concepts to help us in that, and we’ll continue to do that. It’s not like the offense isn’t just put together right now. We have a whole summer to evaluate and see and do what we need to do to go win the game. But it’s been fun. It’s been a fun spring, and the receivers got better, which has helped.

On the value of having Davis Warren in the QB room

It’s huge. You know, a guy that’s done it. He did it here last year and obviously won one of the biggest games. Here, you know, going down south and winning that game. It’s huge to have him. It’s huge to have a guy like Mikey Keene, who’s done it at so many places and done it at a really high level. So, those guys have been awesome for the young guys. Supporting those guys and pushing them in a positive way. It’s been fun to watch the whole group.

On depth on defense that has stood out to him

Yeah, I mean, I could be here for a while talking about that. I mean, you just talk about the whole defensive line. I feel like there’s ten guys that can play. The guy that stood out today was Dom Nichols. You know, every day it’s trying to figure out ways to block him and TJ and Derrick and Cam Brandt. You know, up front, it’s Trey. It’s Rayshaun Benny. It’s Ike. It’s Trey Pierce. It’s Eno Etta. So, it’s a group of guys that have been really fun to watch and watch them evaluate and push each other. So, that’s been really good too. And in the back end, it’s a slew of guys as well. But to watch a guy like Mason Curtis fly around, you know, 6’5″, safety, that can run, that can move and flip his hips, it’s been cool. Brandyn Hillman has really taken the next step to be one of those dynamic players in college football. I’m excited for him.

On whether anything has surprised him about Bryce Underwood

No, nothing’s really surprised me. I kind of had a good beat on how it would be. The work ethic, you know, he told me he’s a night owl. That’s true. I try to get him to sleep more because he’s in the building a lot. And he’s doing a lot to get better. So, but he’s, you know, nothing’s surprised me in the way he carries himself and what he does. Just knowing his family, his mom and dad, Jay and Beverly, just an outstanding job raising a young man. And it’s been awesome to have him around.

On what he’s looking to add via the portal

Yeah, I mean, we’ll see. You know, we’ll evaluate this film and see where we need to go. So, there’s always pieces that we’ll look at. But they’re always going to be right fit. You know, so the exact place and the exact people, not really, you know, we have a number on that. But we’ll see where that goes after we look through, after the tape.

On his spring game MVP

Oh, I don’t know. Probably Jalen Hoffman, you know, probably Jalen Hoffman. But blue team will go to Texas de Brazil on Monday.

On what ways Underwood has grown since he’s been on campus

I mean, probably the biggest piece is just the knowledge of knowing where he’s going, what’s going on. His teammates and watching the other teammates grow towards him. Because you come in with a guy that’s such highly ranked and highly touted, so easily for a lot of guys to deflect and not want him to be part of the team. And they just embrace him like they embrace everybody else. And he’s embraced the team and is very humble, very selfless, you know. So that’s been probably the biggest thing to watch. And then from the football standpoint, there’s a countless number of things that you’ve watched and seen. The knowledge of playbook and things like that. So it’ll be a continuous process as we go into the summer.

On facing a good offense in practice does for the offense

I mean, I think mentally at some point in practice, you get a little tired of those guys coming off the edge. Jaishawn Barham and Ernie and all those different angles and the way they can attack you. So for sure. But I think ultimately, they know it’s going to make them better. And it has made them better already. So it’s been fun to watch the competitive nature of both sides. And it’s really made the offense, you know, take it up to the next level. And usually the defense is usually ahead of the offense, just in general. But they’ve really taken the steps necessary, I think, to be an explosive offense. I look forward to it.

On what the starting five offensive line would be right now

I don’t know. I’d be honest, because we’ve been circulating guys through. So on purpose to know that we’re going to go into fall camp and have a starting five at some point. So there’s not really a solid starting five. I know that Gio El-Hadi would be a starter. Crip would probably be a starter. Andrew Sprague. And then there’d be a rotation. There could be Brady Norton. It could be Andrew Babalola. It could be Nathan Efobi. It could be Evan Link in different spots. So it’s going to be fun to watch these guys in the summertime and watch them through fall camp and see who the starting five are.

On whether Mikey Keene has grasped the playbook

I mean, I go in those quarterback meetings, and he’s like a coach. You know, he’s run a lot of the stuff that Chip’s done before. So that’s been cool to watch him teach those young guys and his thought process. But he’s just played football for so much and taught football. He’s got a pretty good grasp on how to execute a playbook.