Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell met with the media on Tuesday morning as he recapped the Flames win over Bowling Green and looked ahead to this week’s game against New Mexico State. You can also watch the press conference on our YouTube channel, the video is also below. We will plan on live streaming each of Coach Chadwell’s press conferences this season.
Here is everything Coach Chadwell had to say, beginning with his opening statement.
“It was a nice win for us. A lot of positives that we did in the game, really enjoyed how we played as far as our effort and the focus we had. There was obviously some mistakes that made that game closer than it needed to be, but things we can definitely correct. Hopefully our team will have the right mindset to see that there are some good things they did but also we need to get better. That’s what our focus has been after the game as we talked about it, just working on getting better, continue to stagger days. If we can bring the same excitement and energy and focus that our guys had then we’ve got a chance to have a good team.”
WHAT ARE THE SHIRTS?
“Tuesday or our first practice of the week we call it Tombstone Day it’s just a mindset for us it’s a physical day. You’ve got to come ready to go, mentality, mindset. We’ve had it for a long time. New name this year, we called it something different at other places, but new name this year. New shirt, looks good.”
A COUPLE DAYS TO REFLECT ON SALTER’S PERFORMANCE, HOW DO YOU FEEL HE DID?
“I thought he did some really good stuff. We’ve got to clean up. He’s got to clean up some of his mechanics and some of those things got him in trouble where maybe not trusting his protection quite as he needs to be or maybe not taking the right drops, detail things, that could have given us first downs, maybe some touchdowns, some of those things. But, as far as handling and managing the game, I thought he did a nice job from that. He took care of the ball. We’ve got to clean up a little bit of the one handed stuff holding onto it there, but good opportunity to build off of that. From a confidence standpoint, he’s not shy about the confidence he has, but as we continue to put confidence in his preparation and see how good he can be. I thought there were some good things he did there. We’ve got to clean up the detail stuff because as we continue to play better teams like this week, the drop or the timing of the throw or staying in the pocket is going to be vital for us to continue to move drives.”
WHAT DO YOU FEEL WENT WRONG IN THE RUN DEFENSE?
“Most of it was execution. We had guys in the places or the calls what they needed to do, they didn’t execute it to their ability. I think the thing we noticed from the game is that we play hard, but sometimes we didn’t do the things that they are supposed to do on the play calls. What I mean by that is in the emotion of the game or in the moment of the game, just lost their coaching on those. We harped a lot on that yesterday as far as being able to use the emotion that we have but we have to be detailed. Obviously, I was disappointed in the overall rushing of our defense. When you get 5 turnovers, obviously you are excited about that, but we can’t give up the yardage we did in the run game like that. Our guys know that. It’s guys doing our job and not trying to do too much. We had too many guys trying to be the player of the week instead of just doing our job.”
DO YOU THINK YOU WERE ABLE TO ROTATE ENOUGH GUYS ON DEFENSE?
“Looking back at it, I think we probably should have done that more earlier, we didn’t do a good job of that. Trying to find our way a little bit, on the defensive side there and who can do what. Just trusting in our guys that they can go in there and play. That was the first thing that we talked about. We need to play a little more, I think you will see us do that moving forward, getting more of a rotation. We probably had some guys play a little bit too many snaps and got tired. We need to do a better job of that in getting in a rotation, and those players need to do a good job when they are in there of making the most of it.”
HOW DID YOU FEEL JACK TUCKER PLAYED ON SATURDAY?
“We were real pleased and happy for Jack. Jack’s worked hard since he got here. We knew when we brought him in that he was going to be a developmental guy, a guy that we thought once he got stronger and did some of the things that he could be good for us. It was good to see him come in when we had an injury issue. He came in, I think he played 13, 14 snaps, he graded out well, he was actually one of our mentions for the week. If he continues to improve, continues to believe in himself each week he will have a role and he will play. I think you will eventually see us have a rotation there among our tackles just to keep them guys fresh and to continue to develop them in games. I thought they did well. Pleased with him and the progress he’s made so far.”
THE GUYS THAT WERE HERE LAST YEAR, REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED AGAINST NMSU, DO YOU ADDRESS THAT AT ALL?
“The guys that know, know, I told them, I said the majority of the guys that were here weren’t here. They know we got embarrassed obviously last year, as you watch the video and for whatever reason it happened. There’s no need for us to bring it up. Our focus is on this group and this team and what we have to control. We know they are really good. You know, based off last year, they’re not coming in here intimidated. They are not going to care. They came in here and smacked us. I think the only think you take from it is that you know you’re playing a team that came in here and beat us, beat us handily. That’s basically all I said about it. The focus is more on our group and our guys. Then, the first conference, this is the first conference game for a lot of our guys that have never been a part of that conference. We’ve obviously got guys that have been a part of a conference at other places but maybe haven’t played much. That’s more of our focus is just a conference opener. Trying to get 1-0 and the importance of climbing the ladder in your conference. Your 8 conference games and the importance of those and what those mean and how each step is vitally important. You can’t get to the top without taking that first one, that’s been our message.”
THOUGHTS ON DIEGO PAVIA?
“One, he is really good. He’s very good at handling the ball, handling the things they do. He throws and makes plays. He can get them out of trouble with his legs. They’ve got some skill guys that can go. I think what they do a good job of in their run game, they do some similar stuff to what we do. They get you outnumbered and then they get the ball in some speed guys hands and go. He’s the catalyst. He’s really good. He takes care of it. He’s like a magician, he gets out of some things that are amazing. We are going to have to be really detailed with this one in our assignments, and then we have to get him down because that’s where he really hurts you.”
WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM THEIR DEFENSE THAT YOU THINK POSES A CHALLENGE TO YOUR GROUP?
“We will get a lot of different looks. They blitz a lot, they bring a lot of pressure. It’s hard to lock in on what they want to try to do all the time. Certain times on certain defenses, you think they are going to line up like this. They do a lot of different things and bring a lot of different blitzes from everywhere. To make sure you are in a good play or a play that’s not going to put you at a lot of risk against them. That’s where they’ve done a good job and they’ve been able to play pretty good defense.”
HAVING 2 GAMES FROM NMSU ON FILM, DOES THAT LOWER YOUR ANXIETY LEVELS A LITTLE BIT?
“It helps you knowing that you’ve seen them play twice. Obviously their last game they ended up winning quite a bit, it was decently close there through the third quarter. I think it gives you a good idea who they are and what they’re trying to be. We are no secret in what we are trying to be either. I don’t know how much an advantage here or there that they’ve played two or one. They’ve had more opportunity to get game like experience and also what game days feel like as far as conditioning.”
IS THERE A WEIRD SENSE OF RELIEF IN GETTING PAST THE FIRST GAME?
“No, there’s always joy in winning. I’ve never took for granted how hard it is to win. We are thankful for that and we will obviously celebrate wins no matter how unfamiliar how good or whatever. Personally, yeah, I mean the first one is always challenging especially at a new place and you are trying to establish what you believe and your culture. It is good to get that one, I don’t want to say out of the way, but to get a good foundation. First one? Yeah, a little bit.”
ON SPECIAL TEAMS WHAT IS YOUR POINT OF EMPHASIS IN PRACTICE THIS WEEK?
“I loved our effort in special teams, but obviously the special teams also could have changed the game there. From a kicking standpoint, we have to do a way better job of kicking. I thought our coverage was really good. I thought our effort was great. If you look at our heart team, or our kickoff team, they flew down the field and looked tremendous, but our kicking piece, now we made the field goals what Teagen was happy with, but the block, we had the second one blocked but it went in, then Max’s kick that went out of bounds, those are momentum changers. Everyone just trying to do our job and not trying to do more, just doing some base things. I thought we were trying to do too much in some of that instead of just letting the game come to us, that’s the focus this week.”
LAST WEEK YOU USED 3 RUNNING BACKS, IS THAT GOING TO BE YOUR PLAN GOING FORWARD?
“I think you will see us continue. We will probably use a little more. Victor Venn is somebody we need to get more opportunities we are going to get him as he continues to learn and we continue to gain trust in him. James Jointer somebody that is potentially as well. We will be a committee. We will obviously be smart on who we want to get the majority of the touches, but I think it’s important to keep those guys fresh but also they all have different skills.”
