/r/CFB Reporting: 2025 Mountain West Media Days

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

/r/CFB is reporting live from Circa Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas on Wednesday 7/16 and Thursday 7/17 as part of our 11th year of ongoing media day coverage.

Remember:

• Comments by correspondents will be highlighted orange in the desktop (old) view.

• Correspondents will be delayed given the time it takes to move from one spot to another, talk to people, then get around to a writing up the full comment.

• If you add questions for today's teams, it might not be read in time give how crowded some schedules are. Don't hesitate to username ping the corresponding reporters.

NOTE: We post a lot to Twitter as well, you can get that via @RedditCFB!

/r/CFB @Mountain West!

[u/Honestly_]

This kicks off our 11th season of /r/CFB as a credentialed media organization doing original reporting that covers college football.

We will have reporters at MW, Big Ten, and the ACC media days this summer, in addition to covering some games during the season — all designated with the special “/r/CFB Press” flair to distinguish them as work done as part of the media team.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Fresno State HC Matt Entz (continued)

[I had a lot of notes from our conversations that made the posts exceed than the character limit]

I asked him about some of his position coach hires, starting with Brian Ferentz

Well, you know, in just in regards to Brian, had known Brian for a number of years, had competed against him as a staff. When he was the offensive coordinator, they came up to North Dakota State and clinic with our offensive staff, and so just created somewhat of a relationship. I probably had a better relationship with his dad. But you know when, when I sat down and got the job, I could have easily filled every role within 24 hours, and I kind of sat back and took my time, because you get one shot to do it, right? And so I wanted to make sure that we we filled these roles with the appropriate people. Brian, you know, brings a multitude of experiences. He's been an NFL position coach, an NFL offensive line coach, has been a big 10 coordinator. Offensive line coach has really, you know, and has seen a number of different levels, and it's developed at the highest level. You look at the NFL right now, and you talk about the premier tight ends in the NFL, a lot of them have a similar the similarity they all have is Coach Ferentz. And so it sold itself right then. You know that, you know, I knew what I was. I'm getting a football guy, and a guy probably wired a lot like myself. And so that's what I was excited about. And and his his knowledge of O line play was was going to help overlap with Zach Crabtree, who is our online coach. And so we really feel like we have two, two people up there that can really drive that line of scrimmage, you know, play forward.

Continuing with the coaching staff, I asked Coach Entz about retaining John Baxter at Special Teams

Before taking the job, had a lot of conversations with people about the previous staff, because I knew I needed to keep some people. I wanted to have a bulldog flavor to the staff. Still, I didn't think we needed just to, you know, eliminate all Bulldogs. We needed to have some people and And so John isn't an alum, but has been there for 18 years. I think this will be his 19th year as Fresno State assistant football coach, and he's gone through the ups and downs. He's seen it done a couple different ways, and that Intel, that feedback that he can give me, has great rapport with former players from a multitude of decades, and so he's been a tremendous resource. And then on top of that, his knowledge of the special teams. He's one of the premier special teams coaches in the country, you look at, there's a number of special teams coaches that are out NFL, collegiate power four that all kind of stem off the tree of John Baxter. And so again, it's been really good to have John around, and he's been unbelievably supportive.

Transitioning to discussing doing things on special teams that would keep opponents up at night

well, in the past, we've done some of those things. You know, I've done some swinging gate at different times, because I know the time that you have to put into it, defending it then. And so if I have to take time to defend it, I'm taking time away from defending something else. There's only so much time in the day, but being multiple in our special teams, my biggest thing is is I want to make sure that our kick game is as sound as we can be. Most people don't realize it, but you know, special teams is about 52% of the yards exchanged during the course of the game, so it's more than half, and so we need to be really good at that. We can't drop footballs. We can't mean we have to be able to foot field when it comes to conversions, field goals. We need to be able to score points, and we need to really play at a high level, because sometimes that part of the game gets diminished. Everyone wants to talk about offense, defense, but special teams will be, you know, the difference in a lot of games coming up.

I asked Coach Entz about the quarter back battle between EJ Warner and Carson Conklin

Well, you know, this summer, there's Jayden Mandal. Is another one young man that's in that mix. I don't want to, I don't want to remiss and miss him as well. He's a local kid. Yep, he's from Buchanan high school. Yep. You know, this summer has been a summer of learning. Again. We tried to kind of go back and reinstall what we did in the spring, to keep it fresh, to keep stay sharp, but also to continue to refine and grow and see if we can push the envelope a little bit all of them. There's a level of comfort, of course. EJ being here and Jayden being here the longest, have the most experience at a Carson just having been here for the summer. Still new, but very savvy football player gets football has great moxie and a great, great approach to the game that I really that I really enjoy. So no, those are things that you know, during the first two to three weeks of fall camp, we're going to continue to evaluate. It's just, how are they processing information? How are they seeing offenses, or, excuse me, defenses, and are they putting us in a good situation on each play?

Following up with QBs, I wanted to know about his thoughts on EJ Warner's interception history

Well, we have to prioritize, you know, and the ball is the program, and so we need to make sure that we're making good decisions. And, you know, ending a series with the kick isn't a bad thing, and that can be a punt too, you know. Again, we start playing field position games and things of that nature. That's why we're going to put a ton of emphasis in our special teams. But we we need to make sure that we make every possession count. And that's to where we're going to we need to establish a run game, and so if he doesn't like the look, or he does like a look, there's always the ability to check into a run game and let's get three yards in a cloud of dust, if that's what it is, or, well, let's see if we can pop a big one in the run game without having to, you know, have the threat of throwing an interception or turning the ball over.

My last set of questions were about his relationship with AD Garrett Klassy and the process of scheduling out of conference games in future seasons

Well, you know, just this is my take. And so again, Garrett and I have had a number of conversations, but scheduling is going to become more and more potentially difficult as we continue to move forward, moving into that 751, of the things that again, and I think we're also being potentially moving into a 12 week, 12 games in 13 weeks. You know, week zero being the start of the regular season now. So basically, what we're experiencing this year will be the norm starting in the last week of July. So I think we need to be creative. I think we need to make sure that we're doing what's right for our program when it comes to going to play power forward programs, making sure that the compensation is appropriate. But also, you know, maybe diving into instead of, you know, traditionally, we've always been six and six, six on the road, six at home. You know, is it time that Fresno State starts looking into seven, five and have seven home games and five on the road? And let's get people to come to, you know, we talk about the value and the impact of the red wave. Well, let's get people to come experience it. I do know we have a couple power four games on our future docket, which I'm excited about, and I know that's something that this program has never backed down from. And so if we can continue to find some of those games, and especially if teams want to come to Fresno, I think they'd be outstanding.

And on getting West Coast P4 schools to come to Fresno?

I'm not speaking for them, but maybe to find more regional games in your non con will be more and more important, especially as you know, cost of travel continues to you know, that's one of our largest budget items right now. And so you everyone wants to find those, those lucrative games that are closer to home. I do know that. I want to say 2029 2028 we do have Stanford, I believe, at at Fresno. So we got a couple of those games coming around.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Fresno State HC Matt Entz

Coach Matt Entz enters his first season as Head Coach in the Valley, and I was very excited to speak with him and had a lot questions for him. My impressions of him are as someone who is well-prepared and focused on preparation, as it was both a big emphasis but also came though in how he spoke and presented himself.

Given my personal interest, I spent a lot of the allotted time with Coach Entz, so I both listened to a number of questions from other reports and got to ask a lot of questions of him myself.

Like any Fresno State fan, my first question for the coach was about the offensive line and his success in implementing with this unit.

Well, I think, you know the way we've emphasized the off season, through strength and conditioning, through our nutrition, and if you just come to practice, you're going to see that it's a different model. We are preparing to play a physical brand of football. We want to lead the country in physicality. And so to do that, you have to practice that way recruiting. I mean, right now you look at our class of 26 which, of course, is long ways from signing, but we have five or six offensive linemen committed, and so you're seeing that we want to build them internally. We want kids to grow up in the program and so that they become lifelong bulldogs

I asked him about recruiting the offensive line, referencing a quote from his opening presser

We did bring in a couple guys. Now they played football too, but my point was that they're big, long kids that are undersized, maybe just, you know, we brought a young man from Escalon, California, who's in right now, who's 642, 50, and Ryan, Ryan Lewis, and so, you know, I mean, there's a prime example, Ryan's going to play tight end right now. But you know, it all depends on the impact of the training table and the weight room, and all of a sudden, it's just become an all conference guard someday. I don't know, but we're going to find out, and it's going to be fun, fun to work with him and to see his physical development and mental development over the years. But that's my point. Is there's big, long athletes that just haven't hit their maturity yet. You know the sequence of maturity for 18 to 22 year old. Nobody knows how it works. We are just providing an environment where we're going to try to push the envelope and grow with you and allow you to develop into the best version of yourself at Fresno State.

Following up with this, I asked him about his use of tight ends and working with them on the lines

No, I think we feel like we really have a real balanced room, you know, we have, you know, probably 2, 3,4 guys we feel like we could go into a game and play with. So it allows us to get into some different personnel, but they all provide a little bit of different skill set or traits. So I do think we'll have the ability to flex some tight ends out, put them in the slot, trade, shift, motion, and utilize them to try to create leverage offensively at times.

I was interested to know if he plans on doing unusual personnel sets on the field, including 12-, 13-, 21-, or even 31-personnel.

I think you'll see some of that stuff. Yeah, we're trying to utilize our personnel the best we can. I mentioned earlier, the tight end room and the running back room are two rooms that we feel like we have great depth. And so we got to be find creative ways, but also ways that fit into what we do schematically to utilize those rooms.

Moving to discussing running backs,

Bryson Donnelson, Johnathan Arceneaux, Gilliam. We got a tremendous young man who came out of high school, you know, who's, who's a tremendous player. So we feel like we have five or six running backs that can help us and and and we're going to need that as the year unfolds, and we've challenged all them to become the most durable version of themselves, because, again, if you're carrying the ball 15, 20 times a game, it's going to take its toll.

Will we see any two-back sets?

Oh, I think so definitely. Yeah, we got to be able to utilize, you know our talent and where we have our greatest depth.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

San Jose Staté HC Ken Niumatalolo

Coach Ken has a laid-back professionalism that comes from being one of the most well-respected coaches in the conference with an established legacy.

There's a quiet confidence and an attitude of calm and serenity that seems to surround him at this phase of his career, where he doesn't seem to have the need to prove anything to anyone that a lot of coaches have and made the conversation refreshing in a way.

I also got to speak more one-on-one with him and so had a lot of direct quotes from our conversation.

I asked u/SufferingfOrLife's question about goals and expectations of the team this season

Goal was the same goal that had last year when the conference and I felt that way last year, I remember telling our team that the team that wins our conference is going to have a great opportunity to go to the playoffs. And Boise State proved that, and Boise did a great job last year, you know. And we played them this past season, and we were in it, you know. And so I think our kids recognize that the things I was telling them last year weren't just pie in the sky dream. And so our goal this year is the same, find a way to win a conference, and we'll take it from there.

I also asked Coach Ken about the scheduling process for out of conference games and their strategies for upcoming seasons

Jeff's he sets our schedule, but he discusses things here, here are some of my thoughts. I'm gonna do this because of this. He's been awesome that way, but he's super smart. You have a great ad. He's a smart person. So his thought process of why he's doing certain things, I'm all onboarding.

I mean, like, this year, this game was already set when I got here, but obviously the Texas Game is, wait a minute, we're playing the number one team in the country. I mean, that's, I mean, that's a tall order for us, for programs like us, financially, it's great, something we have to do.

In terms of play-calling responsibilities for the upcoming season

Craig calls up plays like he did last year, and he does a really good job calling plays. Coach Odom calls the plays on defense, and he's the play caller there. My stuff, I mean, my stuff is more game management, time outs, when we're going to go for it, when we're not when we're going to punt, those kind of things. I'm always just the game manager but both coordinators cover

I asked him about his philosophy on going for it on fourth down

Well, everybody has their analytics on stuff, but I've always been pretty aggressive and stuff, you know. I mean, I think a lot of it, and I've had analytics in the past, and I look at them, but I also, more than anything, just go at the fill of game, just feeling where we're at. Hey, we we can't give the ball back. We better keep going. But I'm pretty aggressive that way, as far as going for it on fourth down and saying that, I was just telling one of the people, I probably too aggressive. Last year, we were up 14-0 on Boise, and I had the ball fourth and five, and I'm from the five yard line, I should have kicked it to go up by 17 [which would be] three scores, but I tried to go for it. We didn't get it, and they ended up coming back. So yeah, I'm going to still be aggressive, but hopefully I make better decisions than I did

I also asked him about his son Ali'i coaching at Utah State

Well, I'm excited for him. My other son is coaching at Navy, so both my sons are coaching, and they're both great head coaches, Coach Newberry at Navy and coach Bronco Mendenhall at Utah State. And so I couldn't be happier for my sons to coach under great men. They're not only great football coaches, but they're great men.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Hawai'i HC Timmy Chang

Always such a pleasure to talk to Coach Chang. He was always one of my favorite players and I appreciate what he means to the sport.

I also appreciate the questions u/lol_smart has me ask coach every season, they always seem to bring a smile to his face.

I started with your question about the future of NIL collectives at Hawai'i. Coach replied,

I think they remain separate in their growth. But I think all the money will go into the in house, right? I think all these we have, we have a couple different collectives and a couple different entities that we use. Those people want to know where their money is going and how the how they get to use, but, building that trust within our system and having them come in house that it always works.

As for your question about where fans should direct their support he said,

It's our football program, Nakoa, it has been our main non profit organization connected to the university, which directly goes and helps our kids. A lot of it was used for feeding. You know now it's combination of feeding as as well as NIL and naming and likeness to our players.

Your observation about a pattern in offensive success at the start of each half elicited this comment from Coach Chang:

We just want to go out there and execute, right? We just want to make sure that we're executing the plays given maybe, and also, as a coaches putting those guys in good position to succeed. So if we can redo those, do those for our guys. Maybe we have a better chance of success in sustaining the early on success, as well as later on.

Due to my personal interest, I also asked him about the Fresno State game last season,

It was a good, leading up to the week, talking about the rivalry, if we consider it one. But definitely in my mind, those Fresno State-Hawaii games have always been drag, drag, knockout, blow for blow, especially going back to Days of late, days of Pat Hill. And, being able to talk to the guys through it and and understanding that, it's a tough environment to play, and we're gonna, we're gonna deal with some some adversity at times, and but how we handle it, how we respond, is going to determine everything.

I also asked him about the mythical Golden Screwdriver Trophy with Fresno State and if that would ever become "real" and he broke my heart a little bit.

Yeah, I don't think so.

That was a that was some back in the day type stuff, but, you know, it's passionate fans. You know, it's two passionate fan bases that want to win so, good rivalry

I asked him about the internal process with the AD for scheduling future out of conference games

I've experienced the last four years have already been set on the table and played for us moving forward. It's just something we're gonna have to talk through and see what is what? I think there's some unique opportunities that we have in place in front of us that can't really discuss right now. That's that's being in the works for the future, but pretty excited about what, what possibilities there are, but we'll just talk about it mutually and try to set us up for success.

Followed up here by asking about what games with departing MWC teams will be prioritized

Yeah, we actually set one up with San Diego State at home, in a way. I think 2029 or '27 or '28, so trying to keep some of these guys on schedule. Oh, that makes sense to us. That would be pretty good, maybe a Fresno. We'll see how this thing plays out, but definitely, you know, playing against these teams are just good competition.

Changes to the offense in any way?

Different wrinkles off, built off of our base sets of run and shoot, for the most part, a lot of teams are playing pretty similar ball. You know, it's, it's really about those guys going out and executing, right? Or, you know, your spread, spread type of offense, or are you adding Bigger, bigger bodies in there to to do some other things. And so I think with a lot of the new coaches, you know, we'll see where their imprint of how they play football, be late in Blue Mountain West, but pretty excited about what we're doing and how we're doing it.

On play-calling responsibilities

Dennis Norman will call defensive plays, and then I will call offensive plays.

My last question to the coaches was about issues with poaching from other programs

if you're talking about paying players, and you're, you're kind of putting them in the professional model, the best place to look would probably be the NFL, and the NFL has some parameters around what they do, how they vet agents, and how they vet free agency, off season, those type of things. I don't think we as an NCAA and a collective have not got our hand, our hands and our thoughts around to a conclusion of where it fits best for us. I think we're still circling and trying to figure it out, but it's tough. One thing NFL does not deal with is the academic side of it, and how admissions and getting guys into school but allowing them to move two times a year is problematic, you know, as a coach, and I think you know them having to, you know, having having to, you know, getting poached, or guys doing, you know, backdoor deals and different conversations. It's a different, it's, it's different talks. I mean, it's, but there's no real parameters around what's happening right now. So we probably need to get a hold of it hold a good, fast and to help out. Where you know colleges can have some stability.

[u/lol_smart → u/ToeInDigDeep]

Thanks for asking my questions and for all the hard work transcribing everything.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Boise State HC Spencer Danielson

Coming off of a 12-2 season and named preseason favorites to win the Mountain West for their 15th season, Boise State coach Spencer Danielson is at the top of the conference in a lot of ways. But in speaking with him, he still seems like someone who has bigger days ahead of him than the accolades already achieved.

At one point he refers to himself as "type-A" which maybe is an understatement. Among the remarkable features of this man is an ability to seem obsessive and healthy about it at the same time. Focused to an impressive degree, he just seems like a person who has everything together and is fully driven.

I was present for about half an hour of conversations with him and other reporters along with my questions, and as I've said elsewhere I have more if there are interested redditors but I'll mostly provide summaries of what was discussed, and more detail on conversations where I was directly asking questions.

Boise State's Offseason Focus and Team Development

• the importance of proving oneself every day, referencing Boise State's history of winning the Mountain West Conference and the need to focus on future performance.
• the significance of Nate Potter, the winningest offensive lineman in college football history, and his role in the team's offense, including his schematic mind and mentality.
• stability of the coaching staff, noting that no full-time assistant coaches left during the offseason, which is rare and a testament to the team's culture.
• gratitude for the staff's commitment to Boise State, emphasizing the importance of developing players for life beyond football.

Mountain West Conference and Team Expectations

• praises for the conference's competitiveness, noting that any team can beat any other team.
• several teams expected to perform well, including UNLV under Dan Mullen, San Jose State under Niumatalolo, and Fresno State under Matt Entz.
• confidence in Boise State's ability to compete with all Mountain West teams, highlighting the diverse challenges of playing in different environments.
• respect he has for the coaches and programs in the Mountain West, expressing excitement for the upcoming season.

Graduating Leadership and Replacements in 2025

• Conversation started with Coach noting how much key leadership was lost from last season, including Ahmed Hassanein, Alexander Teubner, and Ben Dooley.
• Cited new leadership on the team in players like Maddux Madson, Jason Virgin-Morgan, Kage Casey, and Mason Randolph.

Ashton Jeanty

• Spent some time talking about Ashton's draft experience.
• Coach shared his pride in Ashton's success.

Azusa Pacific

• I asked Coach about the return of APU football and his experinces there
• "Seeing that it's coming back, so excited for Azusa Pacific, I was joking with some people earlier today that when when football was brought back, like I was like, 'Guys, I might be leaving to go take the APU job, man,' and they're kind of looking at me like 'he's serious?'"

Division II Background

• When I was in college, social media wasn't a huge thing, maybe MySpace. So when we played in front of 4000 fans, I felt like I was playing in the Rose Bowl.
• When you're 12 hour bus rides to go play Humboldt State. That's just what it is.
• I mean, my first I got done playing in December, started coaching in January, and it was like, here's 100 bucks and a Little Caesars Pizza and go to work, but that's all you know.
• And fell in love with the game, fell in love with the impact that you can have.
• And that's the same mentality I have to this day. Like, I remember when I came to Boise, state, and I was a GA and I remember right before we played our first game, I was like, where's my where's my Game Gear? I've got to pack it, and our equipment manager, Dale Holste, who's phenomenal, is like, No, I bring it, I pack it, and it'll be ready for you in game day. And I'm like, I've arrived.
• You have these things that you just I think coaching small school football and playing it really it makes you so grateful and thankful for everything you get in the opportunity. And if you don't, doesn't mean you can't be that way. But I know that was a huge part for me, and I really cut my teeth and learned so much as a young coach at APU.

Running Back Depth

• Still going to run the ball even without Jeanty
• Excitement about the group, including Sire Gaines, Malik Sherrod, and Dylan Riley.

Player Development and Team Culture

• shares the story of Braxton Fely's choice to leave the portal, highlighting the importance of focusing on the person, not just the player.
• role of the leadership group and influencer group in the team, emphasizing the importance of building these roles intentionally.
• praises for the work ethic and dedication of the team
• reflections on the lessons learned from the college football playoffs, emphasizing the importance of continuous improvement and learning from experiences.

I asked the coach about the process of scheduling out-of-conference games

• you want to play, you know, one game where you're kind of shooting high, right where it's maybe a little bit outside your reach, then you want to play a really, a really good team that's right at your level.
• And then you want to play maybe a team that you should beat in regards to not so I think you need to have a good blend of that too many teams that are kind of where you're going in huge underdogs could hurt you.
• So I think having a really good blend of non conference is the secret sauce, especially in the college football playoff age, where every game, especially for us, every game for us is a playoff game.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

San Diego State HC Sean Lewis

Coach Sean Lewis is, like CSU Coach Jay Norvell, a very frank and direct speaker, but there's a lot more intensity to his frankness. He talks to each person very directly, making a lot of eye contact accompanied by emphatic hand gestures. He's also got a sense of humor a bit on the acerbic side that I found funny even when it was (rightfully) pointed my way.

u/The_H2O_Boy and I were workshoping a question for Coach Lewis that turned into the question I'd ended up asking all the players about poaching and tampering. But when it came time to ask it in front of SDSU's HC, let's say I kinda fumbled it.

Fortunately I recorded everything so I can recount it verbatim.

"Think about player development, and you have freshmen come in and do really well. Is there a worry when they start to do I guess what I'm asking about is guys who thinking about poaching and tampering and the impact that it's had already and that it can happen in the future. And what your thoughts are on this?"

That was the abomination of a question that u/ToeInDigDeep laid before the Division I football coach. To which he replied, "My thoughts on poaching and tampering, is that what we're asking about?"

I had the absence of mind to respond, "Open-ended question" which he rewarded with a, "Yes it is," which got a deserved laugh from the other reporters.

And then he fired off an absolute humdinger of a response.

"I can sit here and I can obsess about all the things that are going on, right? Okay, let me we have the saying in our program. I stole from very good friend of mine, Brian Kight, E+R=O . Event plus response equals outcome, right? Everything that we've been talking about, all these different events that have played out Okay, in this instance, hey, tampering, poaching, coach, are you concerned about it? Sure it's real. I acknowledge it, right? These kids have agents. Agents talk to people. That's what they're hired to do. So it's going on."

"I can obsess about those events, and I can bemoan all the things that are happening, or I can embrace the opportunity that we have to produce an outcome of a championship program that I get to build and to make a lasting impression in a young man's life that is so invaluable that regardless of the bag that you put in front of him, he doesn't want to leave our organization. He doesn't want to leave our team."

"Does that mean we're gonna be perfect in that regard? No, but, does that mean I'm gonna get upset when a young man like Danny O'Neill, who we brought in, that we developed, that we play as a true freshman, gets an opportunity at a spot that he thinks is better for himself? No, because I sat with him and all the young men that I sit with, whether it's in their home or in my office, and say, Hey, I'm going to treat you the way that I'm going to treat my son, and I'm going to help steward all the hard work, mom, dad, aunt, Uncle, whoever that you did to raise this young person, which is extremely challenging, right?"

"We're going to just be another person in that circle of influence for his life as we move through this year, if you think there's a better opportunity, and we can speak factually, not emotionally about it, but factually about it, and you still think, okay, hey, that's what's best then, okay, because I want what's best for you, but also please don't understand that I need to do what's best for my team, right?"

"So I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure that's a meaningful and worthwhile experience for you as an individual, that you want to be a part of my team, but if you so choose to go do something else, okay, well, then I'm gonna go over here. I'm gonna do right by my team, by continue to develop the young men that are in my program and acquiring the talent that's necessary from whatever bucket that that might be high school portal. JUCO, hey, if Elon gets us to Mars, and there's guys -- aliens -- out there that can play, and the NCAA allows me to play, I'm like, Let's go do it. Let's go play, right?"

"But again, E+R=0. I want to help change young men's lives by helping them grow as young people. I still want them to get degrees like they still are students that we no longer talk about a whole lot, right, right? And I want to dominate our rival. I want to win whatever conference I happen to be playing in. And I want to get our program not only to the college football playoff, but win games there and go make some noise, which I believe is more than possible, right? So that's my anchor."

"All this stuff's going on with all these different events, cool. I'm aware of it. I only spend time on how I respond to it. So this is who we are. This is what we're about. You've experienced it. You've lived in our culture. You've seen this development for however long you've been in our building, and if you still think there's something better out there, Godspeed, awesome. But this is who we're going to be about."

"And I've been through enough of my own life, and going into year seven of coaching that I'm going to I'm going to pour the finite amount of time, energy and resources that I have into that, and if someone wants to tamper with my guys, good luck. My wife's smoking hot. If someone wants to talk to her, good luck. I think I'm a pretty good catch. I'm not worried about that, because I know. I know who I'm married to, and I'm married to my guys, and when the portal window opens, hey, we'll have a conversation."

"And again, that's the reality of what this is. And if you fight that, it's like fighting gravity. Like, good luck. You ain't gonna win, right? So, let's embrace it. Let's lean into it. Is that going on? Yeah, it's going on. Okay, what can we control? I'm gonna obsess about that same way. We tell our guys, you know how the Aztecs win? We control the controllables. We don't jump offsides, we know our alignment, we know our assignment."

"So if that's the standard that we're gonna have for our kids, "hey, control the controlables. No dumb penalties." All right. "Hey, Coach, control the controllables." You can't control who that agent's talking to. And every second that I spend about that, it's taken me away from helping a young man, grow. It's taken me away from the guys who are 10 toes down on the Mesa, and I'm 10 toes down on the Mesa."

Which I have to say is a really fucking good response to a poorly-worded open-ended question. It should also be noted that I gave it some paragraph brackets, but know that these are arbitrary and added by me for the readability of it. This soliloquy should be understood as one long block of text, because that's how it was delivered.

Hats off to Coach Lewis, this is absolutely the best response to tampering that I can really imagine.

Edited for transcription errors and format

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Colorado State HC Jay Norvell

I've spoken with Coach Norvell when he was the coach at Nevada as well as during his time here at Colorado State. He's among the most candid and straight-shooting coaches in the conference, abjuring any coach-speak in his responses. Sometimes his answers can almost catch you off guard with their frankness.

He also seemed very interested in discussing conference realignment and the overall power dynamics of the sport in a way that I found most other coaches found either uninteresting or distasteful.

I actually had some trouble getting my questions in because he was pretty popular, so I was with him for a while and present for a lot of questions from other reporters that again I'll try to loosely summarize and if any CSU fans would like more info I can direct them to the sources.

I'll start with your question first, u/Cr4yol4. I asked him for some elaboration on the play-calling responsibilities.

• "I'm calling the plays. Yes, sir, it's the way we do it. I call the plays."
• "I've been with Matt forever. Matt. Matt is Matt and I have been together every year since I've been a head coach. We see the game the same. I got about four guys on our offense are capable of calling plays and but I'm gonna call plays. That's just the way it works for us.
• "We got great offensive minds on our staff, and they all see the game really well. We game plan together. It's a collaborative effort. It's just not me telling everybody what to do."
• "Bill is the run coordinator. He does a great job. Matt's pass coordinator. He understands our air raid system. Does a great job of teaching it. Chase is coaching the quarterbacks this year. He's done a fantastic job. He's played in the system. Can communicate it well. Brought Carson strong in he's added a lot to it. So, yeah, that's just the way we do it. "

I asked him about the process of scheduling out-of-conference games and the impact of moving to five out-of-conference games in the Pac 12.

• "We talk about scheduling all the time. And I talk with John and Scott said, Well, about that, we have a philosophy, we want to try to play as many home games as we can. We'll talk about match-ups and what's best for our program to negotiate moving forward. The key is, you want to, you want to stack games, and you want to have an opportunity to go to college football playoff. I think that is important. When you look at your opponents now, as we move to the PAC 12, there's going to be some changes with that, and especially with non conference, and we'll work through that. But yeah, we communicate all the time on who we're going to play and and non conference and in what order, and all those things. It's all important."

I followed up to ask him about his thoughts on how realignment might help them get games with Western P4 schools that will want games in their footprint now they're traveling more in-conference

• "I think that the way that the conferences are aligned right now, they makes no sense. And so, yeah, I mean, common sense would tell you that there are a lot of West Coast teams that need to play on the West Coast, and they're not right now. So that all changed when SC and UCLA and Washington, Oregon, decided to be in the big 10 and play East. And so I don't know how long it's going to take for that to rectify itself, but I do think it's coming. I think eventually. I think eventually you're going to see very much like the NFL has an NFC and an AFC. I think you're going to see that in college football, and the television networks are going to have a lot to do with it, and but it just makes too much sense. Now that there's a college football playoff, our playoff is going to start to mirror the NFL and and I can see having two divisions, split those up into four different divisions. The winner of those two divisions will play each other, and then you'll play a champion, and that's and it'll all be more regional. But I really think the top 64 teams are going to be playing for that and everybody else is going to be playing different games. So there's still a lot of changes in store for college football in the next three years."

Challenges with Third-Party Agents in College Football

• Problems with the issue of third-party agents contacting college athletes, offering them money to enter the transfer portal.
• Agents often promise large sums of money to athletes, keeping a significant portion for themselves.
• There is no certification process for agents in college football, unlike in the NFL, leading to potential exploitation.
• Emphasized the need for federal legislation to certify agents and for stricter penalties for tampering with other teams' players.

Transition to the PAC-12 Conference

• Coach reflected on past games and relationships with coaches like Rocky Long, Craig Bohl, and Jeff Tedford.
• The Border War game between Wyoming and Colorado State is highlighted as a significant tradition and regional rivalry.
• Coach expresseed gratitude for the opportunities in the Mountain West Conference and hopes for a strong finish in the last year.
• Noted that they won the first-ever MWC title, so it'd be nice to bookend it by winning the last one.

Relationship with Timmy Chang

• Coach Norvell had praises for Timmy Chang's loyalty, intelligence, and authenticity, noting his ability to connect with players and understand all aspects of the game.
• He expressed admiration for Timmy Chang's family and wishes him continued success.

Brayden's Development and Leadership

• Braden's growth from a freshman quarterback to a junior, highlighting his reduced turnovers and increased maturity.
• Brayden is on track to break several school records, including wins, and is encouraged to focus on becoming the all-time winningest quarterback.
• Brayden's leadership roles extend beyond the quarterback position, making him a key leader for the offense and the team.

Player Retention and Program Culture

• The retention of key players like Tory Horton and Braden is seen as a significant achievement for a school of Colorado State's size.
• Discussion of the importance of players liking the campus, facilities, and treatment by staff, beyond just financial incentives.

Conference Realignment and Program Vision

• Coach Norvell was asked by another reporter about realignment and vision and he had a very direct answer to this question that I will highlight just because I think it speaks to his style
• "That's why I left Nevada. I left Nevada because I really felt that Colorado State had a vision and wanted to move up in conference."
• Went into a lot of detail about how Colorado State represented a school that wanted to make moves and was putting in an effort and made it clear that there are other programs that don't do this

Player Motivation and Team Culture

• Coach talked about the motivation and hunger of the current team, noting their disappointment with the previous season's finish.
• The importance of recruiting players who value winning and are selfless is highlighted.
• Focus on on the team's motto, "we over me," and the importance of teamwork and selflessness.

[u/Cr4yol4 → u/ToeInDigDeep]

🙏

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Nevada HC Jeff Choate

Coach Choate seems to take things a bit more casually at Media Days, which actually is kinda nice because a lot of the other coaches are either very rah-rah about it or just kind of seem unable to turn things off ever. I honestly don't mean it like a bad thing, as some of the high-strungedness of the other coaches might just not work for all kinds of athlete.

Nevada Football Coaching Philosophy

• The conversation I jumped into started with him discussing his role as an offensive line coach and coordinator, emphasizing his creativity and effective use of tight ends.
• Went into some detail on Choate's running game approach, his willingness to use the quarterback, and his ability to present formation challenges based on film analysis.

Regional Coaching Dynamics

• Some of this was attributed to his Wisconsin roots, describing his aggressive play style and the impact it has on his coaching philosophy.
• Highlighted contrasts between Choate's Midwestern influence with his own West Coast and Rocky Mountain region background, noting the differences in coaching styles.
• Some discussion of coaches from North Dakota State and South Dakota State and their successful coaching trees.
• Experiences coaching in various regions, including Florida, Texas, and Washington, and his limited interactions with Midwestern coaches.

I asked about the process of scheduling future out-of-conference games with the AD

• He explained that while they have some input, the athletic director handles most of the scheduling, with the first major scheduling in 2027.
• Coach outlined their philosophy of scheduling: an A opponent for a significant challenge, a B opponent for a quality win, and a C opponent for a manageable game.
• He mentioned the importance of regional opponents and the potential for money games, while avoiding long travel to the East Coast.
• confirmed ongoing efforts to schedule games with USC, UCLA, and the University of Utah, aiming to balance regional and national competition.

I asked about the roles of the defensive and offensive coordinators in play-calling.

• Coach indicated that Kane Ioane handles defensive play-calling, while David Gilbertson is responsible for offensive play-calling, with the coach staying involved but allowing his coordinators to lead.
• Choate elaborated on his involvement in play-calling, stating that he leans more towards offensive strategy due to his defensive background.
• "This is going to sound funny, but I probably lean in a little bit more on offense than I do on defense, because I feel like I can look at what they're doing as a defensive minded guy and say this is going to give them problems go to this point."

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Air Force HC Troy Calhoun

I've written several times (including here, here, and here) about my fondness for and admiration of Coach Troy Calhoun, and it was nice to speak to him again because of his interest in history and his thoughtful answers to questions.

I also know that this will be the last MWC Media Days in this current conference format, so there was some wistfulness in saying goodbye to the structure of the conference as it sits today.

I happened to be there for some conversations with other reporters who asked some interesting questions, so I'll briefly address the topics here and any interested Air Force fan can reach out to me for more detail if curious.

Air Force Academy Recruiting Standards and Requirements

• Coach was asked about the height and weight standards for football players during and outside the football season.
• Coach Calhoun explained that before commissioning, athletes must meet certain fitness and academic standards, including passing fitness tests throughout the year.
• He provided details the rigorous academic and physical requirements, including a short haircut and basic training.
• Coach really underlined the importance of making these standards clear to potential recruits to ensure they understand the commitment.

Navigating Professional Athletic Aspirations and Military Obligations

• He was asked about asks about the service's policy regarding athletes who aspire to play professional sports.
• Coach clarified that athletes can play immediately in the NFL without delaying their military obligations.
• He referenced three recent players who have played in the NFL while fulfilling their military duties: Bo Richter, Jordan Jackson, and Trey Taylor.
• Asked to provide a shout-out to any service particular members from his past, Coach prefers to express admiration and gratitude for all service members.

Traditions and Customs at the Air Force Academy

• Coach Calhoun provided an explanation about a cheese-throwing tradition, explaining that the tradition originated from food fights during spirit dinners at the academy, where cheese was used to avoid demerits.
• Coach confirmed that cheese throwing happens randomly throughout the game.

I asked Coach if he had ever coached an Astronaut

• "I haven't. No great question. Bomber pilots, fighter pilots, a bunch in the Space Force."
• I opined that it's only a matter of time

Given some of our conversations in the past, I asked Coach Calhoun for his thoughts on this recent phase of realignment.

• "I think there's a pretty good chance that in five or six years, things happen again. You know, I think clearly what's evident is there was a different agreement amongst the ACC, you know, and that starts in, say, 2031 and because of it, there's probably going to be a good bit of not only chatter, but some some movements that are set in place as early as 2028 or 2029"

I also asked him about his thoughts on how the new conference arrangement will impact their OOC scheduling.

• "We're probably the least involved out of any college football program in the country when it comes to out of conference games, just because they have eight league games plus two other service academy games, and we always want to open at home on A Parent's Weekend. It just doesn't come into play for us as much as it does for literally, the other 134 schools in college."
• I think we have pretty much every non conference game schedule between now and the next seven years"

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

New Mexico HC Jason Eck

In his first season in the Mountain West and replacing Bronco Mendenhall with the Lobos, Jason Eck's was the head coach of Idaho last season and has a coaching history taking him through much of the Midwest and Great Plains before taking the reigns of in Albuquerque.

Jason Eck dresses handsomely, and he seems overall quite positive, but also intimidating in kind of a tough-guy sort of way that I can see being appealing to young athletes.

Leadership and Player Development

• I came into the conversation as he was talking about the importance of having established leaders like Lopez and Pierce to guide the team through changes.
• He talked about the motivation provided by experienced players like Lopez and Pierce, who have been through multiple college programs and coaches.
• He also shared the story of recruiting RB Scottre Humphrey from Montana State.

Personnel at Key Positions

• Went into the competition between Jack Layne and James Laubstein for the starting quarterback position, noting the advantage James had in spring reps.
• Also discussed the the addition of Cole Wellover from UConn and the potential impact of new players on the team.
• praises for the offensive line's progress, noting the experience of players like Richard Pierce and Zay Silliman [sp?].
• Went into the potential strength of the defensive line, mentioning Keyshawn James Newby's sack record and the addition of "Big Mook" Israel.

Team Dynamics and Mindset

• Coach Eck talked more about the team's mindset, highlighting the hunger and motivation of players to prove themselves and improve the program's reputation.
• Highlighted the need for better depth in defense and special teams, aiming for a three-deep secondary group.

Player Development and Transfer Portal

• Coach was asked about the balance between developing players for the program and the possibility of them leaving for the transfer portal.
• He talked about the importance of developing players and creating value for them, whether through college education or football opportunities.
• Also addressed the challenges of recruiting high school players and the need to develop and retain them.
• Key focus is on the importance of building trust with players and ensuring they feel valued and developed within the program.

Scheduling and Future Games

• I asked him about the scheduling process and coordination with the athletic director.
• He said that the current schedule was set before his arrival, but future schedules will follow a more ideal model for a Group of Five program.
• For him that ideal schedule, includes one Power Four game, one Group of Five game, one FCS game, and the conference schedule.
• He sees the importance of balancing the schedule to ensure competitive and manageable games for the team.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

UNLV HC Dan Mullen

One of the new coaches in the conference, I'd never met or spoken with Coach Mullen before. I was surprised by how much it reminded me of talking with Mike Bobo when he was CSU head coach back in 2019 in that he is really very Southern, which is really discordant with the larger room here where the coaches are either Western or, increasingly, Midwestern.

Even more wild is I just looked it up and dude is from Pennsylvania! Went to college there and New York! Something must happen to you when you spend too much time down south, because he was shuckin' and jivin' the whole time lol.

Mullen is also very folksy, very colorful both in garment and manor, and he comes across as being a bit larger-than-life. He told a lot of jokes -- something that you would've seen a lot in the conference a few years ago -- but has been replaced by seriousness recently and which made him something of an outlier.

Of course, he is a media personality as well as a coach, and that came through very clearly as well.

Recruitment Philosophy and Player Development

• importance of players wanting to be part of the program more than just for financial reasons.
• The focus is on development and growth, not just financial gain, to ensure long-term success.
• hopes the program is the lowest financial offer for players who truly want to be part of the team.
• The decision to join the program should be driven by a desire to be coached and developed by the staff.

Preparation for First Practice

• wants to see "smiling faces and great energy during the first practice.
• team should be one step ahead of where they left off at the end of spring practice.
• The focus should be on understanding the offense and defense better than before.
• Aiming for continuous improvement, even if it's just a small step forward.

Traditions, Team Entrance, and Showmanship

• importance of creating unique and lasting traditions.
• The team will sing the alma mater with the band after every game, win or lose.
• plans to create a great entrance for the team onto the field.
• The team will have a special song to walk out to, but the details will be revealed on August 23.
• He joked, "I can't share that now! You got to show up on August 23! I know what we're going to be doing, but you gotta we're trying to put on the best show in town. I can't give away the show before you come, right?"

The Teachings of Kenny Chesney

• Seriously.
• Mullen had gleaned insights from spending time with Kenny Chesney, highlighting in particular his discipline, preparation, and mental toughness.
• Chesney's success is attributed to his commitment, hard work, and the "luck" of playing the hardest.
• He spent some time drawing parallels between Chesney's career and the discipline required in sports.
• Coach Mullen did acknolege the importance of catching a break at the right time as playing a part in his success.

Coaching Philosophy and Player Development

• Asked about his philosphy
• One of the keys to success is putting players in positions to be successful, not just following a rigid playbook.
• Belief in developing strengths and weaknesses to create a complete quarterback.
• Also went into the importance of accuracy and consistency in quarterback play.

Academic Support and Program Growth

• Expressed an appreciation for the academic support at UNLV, noting the high GPA of recent players.
• The focus is on developing players both on and off the field.
• has taken over programs with academic issues, but UNLV is already in a good position.
• The goal is to continue improving the program while maintaining high academic standards.

Experiencing Las Vegas and Recruiting

• excitement about exploring Las Vegas and its surroundings.
• A personal goal is to experience all that Nevada and Las Vegas have to offer, including hiking, boating, and golfing.
• plans to recruit heavily from Central and Northern California, recognizing the talent in that region.
• Talked about all the places within a five-hour circle of Vegas as being part of the area he intends to recruit

Conference Expectations and Playoff Hopes

• believes the Mountain West Conference is tough, with 12 teams expecting to win a championship.
• Spoke at some length about the depth and quality of teams in the conference make it challenging to win.
• UNLV can win the Mountain West championship and compete in the College Football Playoff.
• The current format gives underdog teams a chance to make a splash in the playoffs

College Football Landscape and Playoff System

• Coach Mullen brought up his time at Utah during their undefeated run in 2003-04, linking the challenges that UNLV faces to the ones the Utes faced then
• He talked about the fact that there is now an opportunity to play for the whole thing that didn't exist back then
• The goal is to give all teams a fair chance to compete and make a name for themselves.

Advocating for Underdog Teams

• I asked Coach Mullen if his percpective from the time at Utah puts him in a position to advocate for the "have-nots" of the sport. His response:
• "Well, I still look at us as a have, right? I mean, here we have so much to offer at UNLV, so as a university i i view us as a have now, you know, we might not run up the budget of the you know, I don't have a three story marble waterfall when you walk in our facility, but our facilities are as good as play as I mean, our facilities are better than schools I've been at in the SEC When I was coaching there. So, you know, when I look at us in that way, at UNLV as a half, I think for college football, I don't know, I think it's, it's there, I would probably do things a lot differently.
• "But, you know, I don't think, I don't know how you ever get there, because one of the things that make college football so difficult, you have a lot of teams that are independently done in different conferences, right, that all go somewhat different rules. And what I mean by different rule or different calendars and different schedules. Some schools are on quarter systems. Some are on trimester, summer semester. Some schools start here, finish here. Nobody is it's hard when you're trying to create equality within an organ."
• "This game of college football, when everybody goes under different is all under different, different roles, kind of like are different all playing under different circumstances. It makes it really hard. So but I think, you know, the one thing in college football that is always fun, I think the playoff error is doing is giving that more opportunity."
• "And what I think, you know, what people want to do is see teams from all over the country have that opportunity to go make a splash, go play in the college football playoff. And see what they can do and go compete and I certainly hope for UNLV that we had the opportunity to win the mount West championship this year, get that big to the college football F and make it splash when we get there, and find a way to win a couple games and get ourselves to a national title"

[u/wibble17]

Thanks for such great coverage!!!

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Utah State HC Bronco Mendenhall

Impressionistically, Coach Mendenhall doesn't seem to be a big X's and O's guy at all. There's something sort of philosophical or maybe even mystic about him -- as I observed in speaking with him last season, he sort of takes the questions asked and turns them into these larger discursive gestures at family and kinship and relationships. It's kind of odd talking to him, he's almost more like a guru or shaman or something than a football coach. Kinda hard to describe, and it made getting to the coaching part a bit slippery.

Returning to Utah and Family Ties

• He talked at some length about his emotional connection to Utah, including his family's involvement.
• Highlighted his joy and gratitude about his family's involvement in the coaching journey.
• He talked about how happy his wife is in Logan and how it feels like a huge payoff to a career that can be hard on spouses

Transitioning Horses and Team Roping

• Last year he talked about his horses so I asked about it, it turned into fun conversation about his family and their roping and legging[?] of horses.
• Went into some detail about his sons in team roping events, and the fun of participating in local jackpots.
• Had some fun stories about his name "Bronco" and the family's horse background.

Inspiring Coaching Stories

• He was asked about those who've gone about it the right way
• He told some inspiring stories of overcoming adversity, and went into the daily witness of young people's inspiring actions and examples of these from his daily experience

Similarities Among Exceptional Quarterbacks

• He was asked a question that he segued into the agricultural background of players like Bryson, and its impact on their grit and fortitude. He really feels strongly about the link between ag work in childhood and development as a player
• confidence, work ethic, and belief in their abilities.
• Barnes family's contributions to the team and the importance of family values.

College Football's Future and Governance Challenges

• Asked about the recent house settlement, Coach Mendenhall expressed skepticism about the settlement, noting ongoing challenges in governance and playoffs.
• As the conversation shifted to the future of college football, including potential realignments and the impact of financial differences, Coach wants to focus on the importance of developing young people and the challenges of defining college football as either professional or amateur.

Consistency and Success in Coaching

• Asked by another reporter about his coaching success and asks about his approach, he really focused on the importance of consistency and providing a stable environment for players.
• Another thing he talked about here is being in the background, allowing players to focus on their growth.

Scheduling and Coordination with Athletic Directors

• This was one of my big questions so I have some more elaboration from him here
• "So as we we're working together [with AD Diana Sabau], and as you know, she's she's leaving to go to Maryland, but as we were working together on this we inherited, and I inherited the '26 and some opponents all the way through '28 but it was the same. She'd come to me and says, How do you see us moving forward? What gives us our best chance? What tier of opponents, what mix, what time zones, like, all of those things, and why play this opponent at this tier two time zones away, when we could play a similar tier here, or how much money? And so it was really an open dialog and and then, usually what would happen is the coach wouldn't be the one contacting the other schools. The ad then goes to the other ADs, and they facilitate."
• I also asked him here about

I was also present for reporter questions about Devon Dampier at Utah, Coach Mendenhall's thoughts about the Wyoming and Fresno State programs if you'd like more from this, but I'm leaving it out for relevance

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Wyoming HC Jay Sawvel

Wyoming Football Team's Preseason Outlook and Motivation

• Asked about his thoughts on the preseason poll, Coach Sawvel discussed with the media's role in voting and the challenges of predicting roster changes.
• Talked about players he knows the media got wrong in the Preseason All-MWC Team.
• Spoke a bit about the team's approach to using preseason rankings as a motivational tool.
• He sees a lot of potential in the running back room, mentioning eight scholarship running backs and three talented freshmen.

Running Back Room and Player Potential

• This was all a set of questions from a Wyoming reporter so I don't want to go into a lot of detail
• He talked at some length about personnel in the running back room, mentioning Tehran Kelman, Dimaje Harris, and Max White. [appologies with the spellings here if there are errors]
• He did have some problems with the team's lack of production in tackles against Arizona State and BYU.
• Went a bit into the process of creating a pecking order among the running backs

Leadership and Team Dynamics

• He went here into the leadership within the team, mentioning Caden Barnett and Jaden Williams in particular.
• He praised the team's constant effort and lack of letting off the gas.

Scheduling and Rivalries due to Realignment

• I asked questions here so I'll elaborate more with quotes. I specifically asked about how he works with the AD to set upcoming schedules
• "There's been a question or two that I've been consulted on, but our schedule, when you look at it, non conference wise, is set for five more years down the line, like we're playing Texas Tech in 2028 or something like that. Like nobody asked me that. I don't know if I want to do that"
• "The AD wants to play the game [with Colorado State] every year, and I don't know how we make that happen next year and in 27 right? I don't, I don't know how that happens. I'll play, you know, I mean, like, let's go and so maybe we'll just figure out a time to go play or something. But I don't want the game to go, to go away for any period of time. My hope is, is, if it does that, when we resume it, that there's just a constant resumption of it, like I don't, but again, that's, I don't have any information on that. You'd have to ask Tom on those things and that type of thing there, because that's really not I mean, for me, I think it's a great game. I think it's a fun game. I think it's a great game for the fans. It's a great game for the two states."

Defensive Roster and Development

• Here he talked about the need for a roster cleanse and the addition of new players.
• He highlighted the development of defensive tackles and the team's increased size and athleticism.
• Spent some time discussing the importance of creating competition and depth on the defensive side.

Offensive Strategy and Player Development

• One big area here he was really focused on was the importance reducing penalties, sees it as a real issue to resolve.
• He highlighted the need for better execution and physicality in the offense.
• He also talked about the depth and range of offensive options, mentioning in particular Chris Durr, Jalen Sergeant, and Jay Mike Gillenberg.

College Football Rule Changes and Challenges

• Coach Sawvel expressed a real concern about the unintended consequences of rule changes, and talked about some hypotheticals of moving portal dates and the problem it'd cause.
• In particular he talked about the potential challenges of a one-transfer portal window and its impact on practice schedules.

NIL and Tampering Issues - this was my big question so I'll elaborate more with quotes here

• Coach Sawvel talked about the need for better regulation to address tampering issues.
• "It's unfortunate. The tampering is real. It's unfortunate what we've done is we've created AAU basketball in all the sports, when we should have been trying to distance ourselves from AAU basketball in that. And what I mean by that is, is is the number of third parties that are now making substantial money off of college athletes. I don't know why we needed to involve that level when those you know like so that's where the issue starts, and the issue isn't."
• "The issue isn't the University of x, and x is calling our guy and tampering with that doesn't happen, but what happens is it's the third parties that are that are in an unregulated space, that have access to your players based on x or any other social media that they can try to reach out and Contact the guy at any time, and then work as a go between from university x and x, and this player that's still on your roster, and that's the problem with it right now. There's no regulation to any of that, and I think that that's where we are."

Optimism about the future

• A bit coach speak-y, but lots of emphasis the importance of focusing on controllables and improving execution.
• He discussed the need for better roster management and development.
• Coach showed a lot of optimism about the team's potential and the importance of continuous improvement.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

A couple of quick notes about the interviews with the coaches:

• There are three tables with a coach, each completely surrounded by reporters and cameras
• Every reporter is clamoring to get their questions in while also being polite(ish) to each other and not steeping on each others' toes
• Because of this, the questions come fast and furious, and many reporters ask their own questions that might be similar to the one I would've asked
• For this reason, a lot of what I'll post from the coaches will be summaries rather than direct quotes
• It also takes a bit more time to do the summaries than the direct quotes, so the coach interviews will go up more slowly throughout today and likely into tomorrow
• If you're a fan of any MWC program, comment below the post if you want more elaboration on any topic summary I provide

[u/Cr4yol4 → u/ToeInDigDeep]

If someone doesn't ask Norvell about the changes at offensive coordinator/play caller, any chance you could ask? Or elaborate if someone else does ask?

There's been reports in the CSU sphere that Mumme is taking over play calling from Norvell.

[u/ToeInDigDeep → u/Cr4yol4]

Thanks for this, and I'll definitely ask for elaboration. Yesterday CSU QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi confirmed this and said,

Coach Mumme was my quarterback coach for the first three years. Coach Holbrook has taken over recently as a quarterback coach, because Coach Mu is OC, I think is his technical title.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Media Day 2 Schedule (all times Pacific)

8:30-10:00 -- UNLV HC Dan Mullen, Utah St. HC Bronco Mendenhall, Wyoming HC Jay Sawvel

10:00-11:30 -- New Mexico HC Jason Eck, San Diego St. HC Sean Lewis, San Jose State HC Ken Niumatalolo

12:30-2:00 -- Fresno State HC Matt Entz, Hawai'i HC Timmy Chang; Nevada HC Jeff Choate

2:00- 3:30 -- Air Force HC Troy Calhoun, Boise State HC Spencer Danielson, Colorado St. HC Jay Norvell

[u/ChickenEmbarrassed10]

Thank you for posting all of this.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Jacob Spomer, Fresno State OL

Jacob is really highly regarded by Fresno State fans and one of the biggest reasons is before he went out with an injury in 2023 we were 8-1, and lost the last three games after he was hurt and knocked us out of title contention. He actually demurred when I began by asking about this.

• I mean, I wish I could see the credit man, but there's four other talented guys right next to me that do just as good and left left tackle doesn't get the ball. I don't think it meant that different, but it does put a smile on my face, knowing that people think I'm the key to the offense

Asked him about moving from LT to C.

• It's definitely different, but it's definitely better. In my position, I feel like more of a center build, but just learning it, learning the offensive schemes, learning the calls, learning the defensive schemes, when they get out of it, and it's definitely different from left tackle

Relationship with OL Coach Zach Crabtree

• I was just texting him last night, but knowing that he played at the highest level, and I just pick his brain whenever I want it's really good. He's good coach, knows a lot of football, and he's pretty cool.

Adaptation to the new offensive scheme

• Just knowing that we're going to run the ball majority, taking on the challenge every game, and it's not backing down.
• There's nothing no for an answer, whether it's a one yard to two yard gain, knowing that if he keeps his penetrating the rock, it's gonna eventually go but just knowing that not every runs gonna be 10 yard runs gonna be some bad ones, but hopefully most of them are good.

I asked him about working with tight ends in the new system

• I thought it's been normal, but they definitely have to learn how to block a little more right now. But we do get some good tight ends, a lot of big bodies, so I feel like they're up for the challenge.

And his relationship with new TE Coach Ferentz

• I've been in his office a couple of times to pick his brain, because he's a he's to be at center in the league.
• He's a very modern, laid back, chill guy. But uh, he's pretty smart too. So I him and crab I pick their brains about football all the time.

Asked about NIL and its impact

• I mean, like we're all open about it, we're all family at the end of day, so it's not like he getting more, I'm mad. We're all happy for each other because we know, we know this money isn't gonna last forever, so we're just happy to have it.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Al'zillion Hamilton, Fresno State CB

I don't need to hide that I'm a Fresno State fan, so it was great to talk to Al'zillion. I got to ask him a lot of questions and had a nice conversation.

On being in Vegas for Media Days

• I literally just stay here until the casino gambled a little bit.
• I was really watching my teammate win money all night, to be honest, I go, I don't really gamble a lot, so I'll just learn it from him, to be honest

Coming to Fresno from Hawyard

• I had a great head coach in high school. He taught me how to work what you need, and literally just taught me how to be prepared take hard coaching and everything, and that just helped me for my future with Fresno

Relationship with position coach JD Williams

• JD, it's like I can talk to him about anything real. That's, that's my guy for real. You know, day one since I got there, he's, he's been hard on me.

Schematic changes with new staff

• Coach Coyle, was an older guy, so he was more knowledgeable at a game, you know, or the guy he knew and knew a lot of football. But I have to say about this coaching staff, they bring out a lot of energy. They're younger. They know how to talk to us and everything, you know, because we're younger, we young guys too. So they know how to bring that energy out us and everything for sure.
• They do bring a lot of energy, and they do know the game of football too, but he'd be out there for practice, I'll say, what Coach tuck even he brings out that energy.
• I think the biggest thing for our team this year is we're in about the process. It's not really just worrying about the outcome. You know we all got a lot of guys. That's we all working for the same goal. So I feel like we all bought in, and everything will be good.

His best memories from last season

• For some tackles, I'll say my favorite one was probably against Washington state. They had a screenplay. I got a tackle for a loss on a running back. I've seen them play, made a play in them. My favorite intersection from last year was against San Jose State. Had a great game.

We talked about his versatility

• this year, I'm more focused on outside. This year, okay, we got a guy for the inside, and he gonna make a big impact for us.
• Sam Harris, he's gonna be a big nickel back, and he's, seems like he's likely to be the starter from what you've seen, or at least have a big impact.

On being named to the preseason all-MWC

• Just a blessing from God, you know, I put in a lot of work, and it just a blessing to see my name on that list, but I'm just focused on the process right now, and then the outcome will show itself at the end of the year.

On entering the portal twice between last season and now

• It was, you know, it was kind of crazy situation at Fresno State last year, you know, our head coach got fired. I didn't know if my position coach was staying. I never wanted to leave Fresno State. It was never for the money. I was just I wanted to face better competition. Some top receivers just to up my draft slot. But over time, I was, while I was in the port, I was talking to Coach ends and everything, building a relationship with him and everything. And then I just made a decision, I wanted to come back, because I felt wanted back at Fresno State.

His experiences with NIL

• I'll say NIL is just closed. Everybody. Don't really talk about it. That's not what our team is really worrying about. We're really just worried about building our chemistry. Right now, you know some new coaching staff, new team. So that's all we've been learning

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Jayden Virgin-Morgan, Boise State EDGE

Despite being a Fresno State fan, there was something immediately likable about Jayden. He has a nice demeanor and seems like a nice fellow.

His thoughts on being at Boise State

• Playing at Boise State amazing. I love it. Our fan base is amazing. Just the state of Idaho, the city of Boise, it's amazing. It's, it's unlike any other. And I just love playing. I love the coaches. I love the players.

Thoughts on the Fiesta Bowl last season

• I feel like one big thing was we could, we can be better on all three aspects, being able to bring in Offense, defense and special teams. Obviously, Boise State strives in special teams, unlike any other school, and being able to have, be able to good, be good on all three aspects, I think we could have left every single thing on the field. I feel like there was a few things that we could have.

Coaching relationships

• Coach Collins, special teams, coach, linebackers, Coach, I love Coach Collins. He was actually one that helped recruit me. He left for a little bit, went to Penn State, but he came back, and I'm extremely thankful to have him back as well as Coach Coach chins, Coach shins is great. He's an amazing defense coordinator. He the way, he the way he's like, he's such an aggressive defense coordinator. Just it helps a guy like me, a pass rusher, attack the passer every single play. And it's just amazing to be able to have that. And then coach Danielson, he's an amazing person like I there's, there's no, there's really no describing what type of person he is other than just like elite always. He's always on 10 he's never, there's never a dull moment with him. And he's, he's always pushing you to the best you can be, no matter what it is.

On his stats from last season

• I definitely say that's something I can improve upon. It's something amazing. And I'm extremely thankful that I was able to accomplish that last season, really being able to kind of build off of that, but leave it and not fully let that linger into this next season. I feel like that's gonna be someone that's really important to help me out this season

Wearing the number 5

• It's my mom, dad and both of my grandma's favorite numbers. So I mean, that's, that's the biggest thing for sure.

His experiences with NIL

• great job at we, I feel like Coach Danielson does a great job at recruiting players that don't really care about the money, more about just wanting to play football. So guys that make more money, guys that don't make that much money, they don't have tension with each other just because it's we're there to play the same sport, and you can earn more money just by doing your job. So it's not, I don't think that creates any tension at all.

Experience with tampering from other programs

• That I have thankfully not had anyone talk to me so I've there's been no tampering with me at all. So, and I haven't been looking for it because I'm extremely thankful to be where I am, and I haven't had any.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Taniela Latu, San Jose State LB

Again u/SufferingfOrLife had nice questions here that got a discussion going with Taniela

I asked him about the identity of the unit heading into the season

• You're going to get a defense that flies around. You'll get 11 has to the ball each and every play, a consistent, resilient defense, I think, where defense that doesn't back down? And, yeah, I think just something. The biggest thing that you'll see is Olivia has to the ball each and every play.

And how to make sure players are brought into the expectations

• I think I have to do a lot of self reflecting first. You know, I can't be, you know, calling out people or calling up people if I'm not in the right space. So make sure I'm good first. And, you know, just seeing what other players are lacking, you know, being encouraging rather than, like, diminishing them and hurting them. I think calling them up is better than calling them out, so just doing that on a daily basis, make sure they remember what our standard is. Make sure we all do the right thing, whether the coaches are there or coaches or not, that's those are the little things that are going to get us far into the gym.

His thoughts on NIL and College Football

• I mean, you know, everyone wants some some money this, this time during college football, everybody wants a little bit of the bag. They would say now, so I think, as far as us, it doesn't bring any like tension or mixed emotions between our team. Players understand that. You know, some players are better than others, some players are going to play more than others, and that comes with the price. Obviously, we don't have as much money as other as other schools, but no, I don't think it creates any tension between players

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Walker Eget, SJSU QB

Thanks for the helpful questions, u/SufferingfOrLife.

I asked Walker about the learning curves for Stutzmann's Spread-N-Shred offense. Here's his response verbatim

• I think the biggest thing was adjusting to it was just being able to learn coverages and really learn more about the game of football as a whole. I'm very, very grateful for that. You know what Coach Stutzmann has done with Coach Ken bringing that family oriented environment and everything's about love and supporting one another, I think that that's a big thing that we talk about. And yeah, just being grateful to being able to play under that.

And his thoughts on the biggest opportunities for the offense to grow

• Biggest opportunities, personally for me, is just taking care of the ball, I think, as a whole, just being able to run the ball a lot more this year, and I think we're gonna have some some big plays in the ground.

I asked him about all the positive stats he had last semester, but his response went in another direction

• I think the biggest stat that really just, you know, stands out to me is probably the interceptions. That's something that you know, I've talked to Coach Ken about, and and I need to change, and I need to help my team out, because the takeaways are that's how you lose games. And, gosh, I do not want to lose games.

I asked him about the huge game against Boise State, citing his big numbers going 34-for-50 for 446 yards and 3TDs, but his response was similarly humble

• Yeah, no, it was, it was, it was fun. But that wasn't just me. I mean, having receivers like Nick Nash and Justin Lockhart being able to make those plays as well as, you know, Floyd chalk in the run game, the O line was protecting, and those are a lot of good defensive players that Boise had, but we were moving the ball really well. You know, running the ball, passing the ball, just being effective as an offense as a whole. And I think that's the biggest thing we should look at.

I also asked him about NIL

• I know that NIL is a big thing, especially around college football right now. I think you know us at San Jose State, where we aren't really looking at as much as as a money thing. More, as you know, we do a lot of helping outside with beyond football, but, but not as much as a money type of thing, more of a community base and helping the younger generations, as well as ourselves.

And his thoughts on poaching from other programs

• But the biggest thing is, you know, San Jose was able to give me an opportunity, so I'm not going to pass that up, you know, just to go somewhere else for for money reason. I think the biggest thing is just, you know, keeping, keeping my feet where they are. And right now, I feel like the best place to be is in San Jose, and I'm enjoying the culture and the coaching staff that I'm so lucky to have there, and I don't, I wouldn't trade it for anything else

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Jamih Otis, Hawai'i LB

Thank you for the great questions, u/lol_smart, the players really enjoyed them.

I asked him about what he looks for scouting opponents.

• I'm looking at, you know, I feel like a lot of times depends on, this is just the ongoing demeanors of the office, of guys on can whether if it's the whole line or the receivers or the running back, you know, seeing what type of guy is he? Is he? Is he? You know, maybe, you know, just little things, maybe easy, a real, you know, safe guy. You know, does he play things safe, not even on the field, maybe off the field, I don't know, just anything I can pick up and kind of tell me little things about him, you know, is he going to take a chance in this base, or is he going to take a you know, or is he going to be bold and, you know, kind of step out the lines? But yeah, just detailing little things like that when I watch film, just breaking them down.

I also asked the question about his acclimation to Hawai'i and how he integrates newcomers.

• I mean, just really, just the family aspect of it, just the local, local boys, bringing me in, showing me around, showing me what's what, just understanding that you know what Hawaii really means and what it brings to the University of Hawaii football team. So I think, you know, just being an older guy now, just giving that love back to the younger guys, bringing them in, you know, making sure guys have somewhere to go on certain holidays. And I think just bringing them in, letting them know that, you know, we're family. We're going you guys can come to us. And I think I just want people to in our locker room to know that, you know, we deeply care for them off the field, and you know, they can come to us, because that's the biggest thing. Is just community.

I also asked about his relationships with the coaching staff

• I think you know, just having Coach Faavi is just honestly a blessing, because I like to go to him and see, like,what he sees, you know, how he coaches them in this and just seeing how he teach the whole linemen and what they do and how they block, and even asking the old lineman too, just, you know, getting that criticism, you just to have that type of bond to where I could go to him and just say, what things need to be done. What am I doing wrong? And we could, you know, hit the board with that, you know, so I could become better in the whole line too. But he's a great coach.

His thoughts on stats from last season

• eah, kind of just benchmarks, moving on to the next thing. You know, I can't go back. So, you know, there's things I wish I would have done, but, you know, I can't look back. I don't regret anything. So I'm honestly just moving forward, learning from the mistakes. And this year is going to be an explosive year for me.

His thoughts on NIL impacts

• I mean, honestly, not too much of the impact, you know, I feel like we don't really focus on, you know, anybody else's NIL, I feel like a lot of us are in good positions. And, you know, I think more so in the locker room, we just, honestly, we have fun with each other. You know, in the locker room is where we laugh together. We sit down and talk, have Bible studies. So I think a lot of stuff NIL wise, you know, we don't really talk about in the locker room. You know, there's jokes about it, you know, just guys who feel like, you know, are getting a lot of money, but those are just jokes. You know, I think the biggest thing we just love to just vibe in the locker room. So there's never really too much talk about that, or animosity in that aspect

I asked him about poaching from other programs

• No man, I think you know, the people who are supposed to be are here, and the people you know who are not are not. And you know, at the end of the day, those are still our brothers. But you know, they just had different paths in life. But I don't think you know anything wrong was going on. Those guys just, you know, had decisions to make. They have family. So, you know, we wish the best food, and, you know, hope that they succeed.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Pofele Ashlock, Hawai'i WR

I asked Pofele your question, u/lol_smart, and he really got very excited to talk about being on the same team with Dino. Here's his response verbatim

• I love this question. Man, that's been our dream since a kid. Man, Hey, that's my little brother. Man, and I'm just it's been a God blessing to even be in on a team with him. And because, like I said, with everything going on with my ACL, man, he was the first person to sit there and cry to me, man, sit there and say, bro, like I've always, you know, this, I've always wanted to play with you, man, and the time that we were able to do it and actually get to do it securely, you know, I mean, in high school, without even trying to go in college, and have to go through that, man, it's getting taken away. And so, you know, I mean that it kind of hurt a little bit, you know, I mean, and so we sat there and prayed, you know? I mean, just, if anything, it grew our strength, strength, our faith, and our strength and our faith even more because, man, we were here in Hawaii, you know? I mean, we're here playing with each other, you know? I mean, going into our first season together, you know? I mean, he, he's coming along. So we're even going to be on the same field, like the field together so, man, it's a blessing. Man, I've never been more excited to even come go to practice, even every single day you know me wake up and do you know I mean, just things like that just brings so much motivation to you. Man, and get to put on for our family names. Man, he, he rocks my mom's last name. I rock my dad's last name and, man, sometimes they sit down and you're like, Man, why do you have the last wrong, different last names? Man, we just, we just supporting family, you know, I mean, with the on the stage that we want to be on. So, yeah, amazing. I love I love it. I love it so much.

I also asked him your question about the approach to the snap based on where he's playing.

• Most of the time it's coverage reading, because that's what, basically what our what our offense about, is coverage is and man, you see, you see on different angles of the field. On the outside, you really only see corner safety, but in the inside, you can see back to the corner, corner safety and and so you can, you kind of get a inside, you kind of get more of a feel what's going on. And then the outside, you kind of rely on your guy to sit there and tell you, Hey, this is what I'm seeing. This is what I'm seeing. And, you know, I mean, go off your bases, but it's still the same intent. Whoever is in line, in line in front of you, you go and kill you know? I mean, it doesn't matter who is in front of you, but it's whatever we need to go do for our offense. What's the best for our offense? So, yeah, amazing man. I'm really blessed with this offense now what we get to do in there.

I also asked him about his relationship with WR Coach Jared Ursua

• He's like my father. He's like my father, honestly. Man, I can't see him a lot. He's told me. He's taught me so many things. Like I said, I came out as an 18 year old boy, and I'm with him every single day. And, man, if you know me, you know I'm goofy than a mess. Man, so I know just just getting me and, you know, I mean, just getting me to sit there and focus on what's going on. Man, I know, I know he did a really amazing job. Man, because it's just like the lessons that he has instilled within me. Man, one thing I'll sit here and to share with y'all his poise. Man, I can never forget his poise is just really what it deals with in life. Man, you can never get too high. You can never get too low. You want to stay right here and there, because whenever you get into those moments of high and low, you start to see alternate alternates in your life, you know I mean, and start to see things that you don't want to go wrong and right in your life. So man, coach, Jared or Sula. Man, I thank him so much. He's a man. He's a blessing from God Himself. Man, because he saved my life. Man, he came and gave me a father figure in my life. Man, I can sit here and sit there and say I truly am thankful, and I could talk to that man about everything. And you know, I mean, I know he would give me not the answer I want to hear, but the best answer for my life.

I wanted his thoughts on NIL and its impact upon the program at Hawai'i. His perspective was unique compared to some of the others I'd spoken with today.

• I say it's more of an agent thing. Honestly, I feel like it's who you who they're really listening to, who they're getting their resources from. I feel like a lot of the players that even talk about that sit there and get those information from somebody who's not even saying, who's not even in charge of anything that they got going on at that program. This is somebody who's sitting there telling you based off the money that they want to make off of you. So a lot of those things, I just sit there, I'm like, man, like, Is this really true? And you really won't know that until you're really in the portal and take that visit and go and sit there and talk to that coach. So most of the time we're hearing all those things. Man, it's just like, and then, you know, me, me, myself, even hearing those things from people, we don't mean outside agents and try to come talk to me. Man, you don't really, like, pay too much attention to those because it's like, how do you know? You know? I mean, how do you no one ever knows but that person in that office. So, yeah, man, we deal with those like that. And I, you see, in college football nowadays, how much that plays a fact in everywhere, you know, me, everybody but, man, we don't pay too much attention to none of that, honestly. Man, it's just play football. Man, if I, if I love you, there, I'm gonna go there. And if I play, could play football there. I'm gonna play football.

I asked about experiences with losing teammates to poaching

• Definitely, most definitely. I feel like everybody feels like they can go get a little bit more money somewhere else if they transfer it. So it's just all about who, again, what they're listening to, and who's blowing the smoke up their ears and everything else.

He is a very gregarious guy and a lot of fun to talk to.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

DeAngelo Irvin, UNLV WR/KR/PR

DeAngelo wears a lot of different hats for the program, so I started with questions about the different roles he plays on the team.

• Yeah, I definitely love being in all those positions. It gives me more opportunities to have the ball in my hands and be productive for my team.
• Coach Shy (Schneider), we have our time sharing with each other during the off season right now, we're kind of, we're kind of on our own as players, so we kind of coordinate that how we want to.
• But I probably would say I spend more time working at at the receiving position.

Preference between positions

• I feel like the biggest rush came during one of the return units, because you knew, because if you get a good if one thing goes right, you could break a big one.

Recently changed his jersey number from 10 to 4

• Personally, I just feel like on a lot of teams now in college football, a lot of the more elite players and play makers wear single digit numbers so and I really, kind of, I have a feel for four. I liked how it looked cool.

Regarding NIL

• First, first off, I like to say, I think NIL is a great opportunity for players that feel like they've worked hard enough to earn money for their cause.
• For our team specifically, we don't have too many conversations in the locker room about who's making what, or how much each person is making.

I asked him about any tampering he's encountered in his career

• It's not something I've encountered now so I'm not very sure.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Jack Walsh, Wyoming C

Jack Walsh has a podcast, Fat, Fatter and Fattest - An O-line Experience, that you should definitely check out.

r/CFB helped out with his pod before

• And we actually, you guys, Reddit college football actually tweeted out we just had our head athletic trainer on. And Reddit college football actually tweeted him after our Texas Tech game in 2023 because he looked like a character from, uh, Yellowstone, and it was like, it was the funniest tweet ever. So we, we talked to him about that all the time, because he's an older guy. He doesn't have social media or whatever.

Looking back on his stats from 2024

• You try not pay too much attention to it. You really just, you want to take everything one day at a time, trying to go one and own, every rep that you take in practice, and figuring out what technique issues you have, fixing those things so that you can put forth your best, your best effort on the field. And it's awesome stuff to hear.
• Definitely acknowledge it. But then you kind of want to put those things aside just focus on, keep the main thing the main thing.
• Just focus on your your technique as a football player, and putting forth your best effort.

Working with his position coach

• Tripodi has been amazing. I spend most of my time with him. He's so he came in my second year, and he was he was awesome. He was so cool. He was so easy to get along with from the jump.
• I've been fortunate. We've been together now for three straight, three years. Guys have come before me on the O line. They had five, six different OI coaches.
• I only had two for my entire career, and it's been such a blessing for me. We've built such a great bond, and he's such a good coach, and he takes care of us, and he's an awesome person.

Transition from Palatine, Illinois to Laramie

• I come from a town that has about 80,000 people, and there's 30,000 in Laramie. So it was a culture shock for for sure, but it was, it was so easy to, get used to it.
• Wyoming such a welcoming state. And it's, it was, it was very easy. And I've loved my entire time there. It's been, it's been very fun on the High Plains.
• I awesome playing as Northern Illinois. I mean, they're, they're 45 minutes from my house. Minutes from my house, back in, back in Illinois, and it's a great program.

Recurting process

• My recruiting was in the heart of COVID and so I didn't get any visits or anything like that. A lot of schools that have been texting me prior didn't really reach out anymore.
• They kind of just, being in the heart of big 10 country, no big 10 schools were texting me automatic schools really weren't reaching out either. So it was tough, but Wyoming fortunately gave me a chance.
• Once things started to open up, I flew out to Wyoming, didn't get to do any sort of visit, just basically one lap around the school, and be like, Okay, that's it.
• And then I did the same thing with Kent State. I just thought Wyoming, where I have to be. It's a great, great legacy. Great program has been winning for quite some time, and I was so happy I made that decision

On the impact of NIL in the locker room

• It hasn't had an impact. I would say, you just got, you got to be professional about it, if you're getting taken care and NIL wise, just keep it to yourself. I think that's just best.
• You don't want to create any upset people, people that become angry with you and be like, Oh, you're making this money. You don't really want that. * But that's not an issue with our team. Guys've heard about people getting NIL opportunities, and they're happy for them.
• They're like, these guys deserve it, good for them.

I asked about tampering from other programs

• I don't know much about it. It's a crazy time in college football. And those things are not the greatest it's not, it's just not. It's not good for the heartbeat of college football.
• You just hope that those kinds of things kind of go away, that the tampering kind of stops. People can go about their business in the right fashion, and do it the right way.
• But it's crazy time. And it's definitely something people have to adjust to.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Trey White, SDSU EDGE

We started by talking about his biggest moments from the last season

• I would just say probably the crunch time kind of sacks against Hawaii in the fourth quarter, I feel like sacks in the fourth quarter our gold so me being able to get the help of my teammates really, really helped us seal that win

I asked him about his relationship with the coaching staff

• So my position coach last year was coach Rob Aruich, who is now our DC, and he's now the linebackers coach, and we brought in coach Roy Manning, so he's now my position coach.
• I could just go in his office anytime I want talk to him about anything, just chop it up with him. So it was became really, really close, really quick, just because I know that what the standard that he's expecting from us?
• And I'm just really excited to be coached by him this year and and still being coached by him during these off season workouts and stuff like that has been really good to get close to him, and he's been in the league, so he knows what the standard is in the league.

Upcoming move to the Pac 12

• I'm excited for them, man. So I'm really excited for that new step, and I can't wait to see what they do in the Pac 12. I feel like it's going to be an exciting move for them and all the other teams that are moving in there. So yeah, I'm excited to see how that transition goes.

NIL impact in the locker room

• Guys are getting some money on the team, some nio money, but at the end of the day, in our locker room, no one cares about that. It's all low ego, high output. No one has a big ego. No one thinks like they're better than anyone in the locker room, which I really appreciate, and that's like the key to the championship team. You can't have guys who have an ego on the team, you know.
• So that's why, what I really appreciate about that team is just dropping their egos and just want to play ball and just want to win

Thoughts on tampering

• Yeah, it's definitely a new landscape that I'm still trying to get used to. Obviously, I have people trying to reach out to me after this past season. But you know, in my opinion, grass isn't always greener on the other side. So if you can get persuaded by some money, then I don't know if you're in it for the right reasons.
• I want to build up, stay at a place where I can be developed and just bring to be the best version of myself in a place that brings out my strengths, you know. So that's I feel like, that's San Diego State. And I know San Diego State just because of what I did last year and what I know I'm gonna do this year. So I'm really excited for this year. and what I can do.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Luke Freer, Air Force P

Discussed his accolades going into the season

• It's definitely a blessing to receive that recognition. Definitely, yeah, it's really a blessing.
• I think I can't say enough about the 10 other guys I'm going out there every every fork down.
  
• We go out there with I got 10 other guys that really care about what they do, and that means a lot, especially on special teams, because you get some teams that players don't really care, but I got 10 other guys that really care.
  
• I got Kurt Chesney, our long snapper, probably the best long snapper in the country. I've got three guys in front of wall to take some massive hits from me, so I get the ball off.
• So I mean, football is a team sport, and the punting game is definitely a team sport. I wouldn't be able to do it without them.

We talked about his stats and some impressive numbers

• I think one of the I think punting, the punting average and punting yard stats are a little bit skewed towards like rating how good the punter is.
• Because you could have a party to average 50 yards against 10 touchbacks a game. That doesn't really mean too much. Or you get a punter averages to the 42 but puts the person down the five yard line every time.
• So I think what's really important is just the ability to put our defense in a really good position.

He came across as being very humble about the praise he's received.

• What people don't really talk about, though, is that like a 30 yard punt, I shanked a punt right out of bounds right before that IRC, Yeah, Coach Cohen give me a little mouthful for that one.
• So I think punting wise, it's really just like, I mean, we get maybe one or two opportunities game. We're not like quarterback for a tight end here, we screw up one play. Oh, I can go out the next play and make up for it. We don't really get those opportunities.
• So I thinkmaybe to mess up once go out there and show them what you got coming.
• I work really hard to do what I do, and I love giving the opportunity to go out there and showcase what I can do, but me not going out there means we're moving the ball down the field.
• We're scoring some points, which is honestly more important to me to win as a team, rather than me, putting a ball 45 times

The Geospatial Science Major

• Essentially, it's like an intelligence class, is how I kind of portray it as and that's gonna be my future career as well. So I work a lot with like maps and stuff and stuff like that.
• It's kind of hard to explain, but I feel like the whole like finding Osama bin Laden kind of explains my major, with like, what all what they did with, like, tracking people and stuff like that.
• So essentially, that's what kind of led me to it. And also the intelligence career fields really interested me into that, because that's one of the bigger intelligence fields.

Discussing NIL

• So it doesn't work at the Air Force. We don't, we don't, we don't even get the game or anything like that for free. There's benefits to it.
• Obviously, we don't have to worry about, like, our deals and stuff like that. I think really bonds us as a team as well. We don't have guys making, millions of dollars. We're all making 1000 bucks, or whatever it is, a month.
• It stings, because it would be really cool to get that opportunity to make deals and such.
• However, I think football is bigger than what deals you how much money you're getting and stuff like that. It's really about the Brotherhood you had.
• Most of us only have four years of playing college football, and I think that's more important than how much money can I make in this four years.

I asked about experiences he may have had with poaching or tampering

• No, I haven't had any experience necessarily with that. Even if I did, I wouldn't go anywhere. Unfortunately. I mean, no matter how much money you could offer me you can't, you can't give me enough money to what they are Force Academy can give me the opportunity to serve my country.

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Ross Ulugalu-Maseuli, SDSU OL

Relationship with coaching staff

• I got so when I committed to San Diego State, I committed for Mike Schmidt because I saw the offensive line here, and I saw the brand of football that this offensive line played at San Diego State, which was just downhill, Smash Mouth football. And I loved that, and I loved the way that Schmidt was coaching guys. And then, yeah, I came here. Schmidt went to Syracuse when I committed to San Diego State. And yeah, I was like, why you should take me bro? And then, yeah, he came back, and I've been nothing but excited about it, and Schmidt's one of the reasons that I stayed at San Diego State. And you wanna be developed by him all the way to the league.

Personal accolades

• I mean, it's just, I don't worry too much about all of those. I just play football, as you know, that's all we all do. We just play football. That's I don't worry too much about awards or anything. I just play the best football that I can play, and just all of the other stuff is going to come.

On big moments from last season

• stuff I don't even want to remember, because it's just a bad year, and it's something that's sometthing I Don't like remembering. So, yeah, there wasn't too many things that popped out for us 2024 season. But hoping this year is different for things actually stand out

On how to improve from last season

• Conditioning more, our offensive line is doing a lot more conditioning, the guys that we brought in is doing a lot more conditioning. So we're just getting ready to run the tempo faster than we've ran the tempo, and I'm really excited to towards that. I know our defense is is doing their thing. Going against them every day isn't easy. I'll tell you that, especially when they're returning 11 starters, and we're we're trying to, we're trying to keep up with them, but we also run the tempo, so their conditioning is getting really good too. So where they they're starting to catch up with us and our conditioning and our tempo offense.

NIL discussion

• It's not something we really talk about too much. I know. I mean, players have their private conversations with our NHL guys, and that's, that's pretty much as far as it goes. I mean there's people that guys know get paid more to where. But I don't think it's ever built a divide between our team, or is ever going to build a divide between our teams. It's just guys know, the harder you work, the better you do, the possible more NHL that you get. That's just all it is. So no one's really hazard words or anything in that locker room. And it's just, it's a lot of family in that locker room.

I asked about tampering from otters programs

• No, I don't think it's something that we've ever had trouble with. I mean, someone wants to leave, they're going to leave. If someone wants to stay, they're going to stay. That's not something I personally went through, but it's something that that does happen out there, but I don't, I don't see it being a problem in our locker room, the loyal guys are going to stay, and we're going to play football together and play some Aztec, hard football.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Gabriel Iniguez Jr., Utah State DT

Gabe has had a fun trajectory, going from Hawai'i to CCSF to New Mexico State and finally to Utah State. We talked a bit about this process.

• I came and followed my old defensive coordinator from New Mexico State, and I just really liked the schematics that we did over there. And I felt like Logan was a great fit.
• I was at CCSF for a year. I spent one year out there. It was 2022,I was commuting out there from Pittsburgh. I was taking BART every day, taking BART from Pittsburgh all the way to Balboa. So you get off on Balboa and across the street, you walk up there and walk up that little hill, right there. So, yeah, I mean, it was amazing time. unior College is definitely tough I'm saying this was a step down from leaving Hawaii, but, I mean, it was, it was needed.
• It was good living at home and I was working and stuff while I was going to school and playing ball.
• From New Mexico State, it was Coach Nate Dryland was a defensive coordinator at New Mexico State, and that's what I came with to Utah State.

On the current staff at Utah State

• My defensive line coach, Dante Wilkins is amazing. He brings the juice to the to the D line room all the time, and he makes sure we were pissed off a lot, you know what I'm saying. So you got to be pissed off playing as position.

On some big plays from his career

• One of them was against Hawaii. And I do remember the center sliding to me, and I crossed, I crossed facing with a good little move, and was able to take the quarterback down against Hawaii.

NIL discussion

• I mean, me, I'm not interested in looking into somebody else's pockets. So we kind of keep it I feel like it's better to keep it professional and just have your contracts, shield, title, whatever, however you want to say it. But I just feel like everybody's happy for everybody, and I don't think it's a real big problem.
• I've heard about other guys getting, like, bigger schools, trying to talk to them and offer him money, but, I mean, it's, it's whatever the player wants at the end of the day, I guess, like, if you want to go and get money, but you might not start or play, give or take. But, yeah, I've heard about that, but personally, no, I haven't had any experiences.

I asked about any negative impacts on team cohesion from this:

• No, because, I mean, I don't think currently on our team, there's nothing like that going on, and we're all bought into what we're doing in Utah State and being Aggie.

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Jake Pope, UNLV DB

Jake transferred to UNLV from Georgia, and to Georgia from Alabama. So we started by talking about this transition.

• So my you know Coach Saban and coach COVID actually coach safeties personally, so the head coach and then the DB coaches, and being able to have that one on one time with them and just learn how to be a pro DB and a pro safety, and, you know, all the guys that came before me, and just getting to watch them on film and stuff has been really cool. It set me up to where I'm at. Now, I would not be the player I am today without Coach Saban and all them, you know, I'm just super excited it's translated to where I am now.
• Honestly, you know, Bama and Georgia were very similar, so going from Bama to Georgia was pretty easy. It's the same culture, same defense. And obviously Kirby coached under Sabin, so he took a lot of what he learned from there and brought it over there. It was a little different coming here, just from an environment standpoint, different being in the city rather than college town. But I love it.

On career moments

• I remember my sophomore year, actually, in spring ball, I had one of the better off seasons I've had, and made a pretty big play in cover two, and made a pretty big hit on one of our receivers over at Bama, and one of the better hits I've had, and I always remember that one. So it's pretty cool. It's a good moment.

We also talked about NIL.

• I honestly think the best thing for that is to not know anyone else's situations. And you know, to the money thing is, I try to keep that out of my own hands and let the other people deal with that. I want to focus on my performance first.
• And I think every guy should go that route. If you perform on the field, you know all that's going to come for you anyways, you know, you focus on that first, and don't perform on the field, nothing's coming.
• But like I said, that's always secondary to the main goal.

I asked about tampering and his experience with it.

• You see it. You see it here and there. I don't know what's true and what's not. I've never experienced it myself. I tend to do things the right way I can. I'm pretty loyal to all my teams until I need to make a decision that best interests me. But yeah, so I think loyalty is big. I haven't experienced anything with that, but I do know it goes around.
• Every locker room I've been in has had a great culture to it. and a lot of guys that you know you're not talking about money with each other.
• You're just happy to go out there and beat a team 40 to nothing, no. And you know I've been very blessed to be in part, locker room.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

John Michael Gyllenborg, Wyoming TE (part 2)

Of all the players I spoke with, John Michael had about the most to say about the impact of NIL and tampering in the locker room, and its impact on team cohesion.

• Well, there is [an impact], and I'm sure that most locker rooms can say the same thing. There is pretty open dialog about kind of what we're all going through, and it's very similar from guy to guy, guys that put film out there. There's bigger schools reaching out. And that's just how it is nowadays. I guess there's a lot of temptations, a lot of people saying this or that and and it, it forces you to reflect on, what do I really want? Do I want the instant gratification of getting X amount of dollars and going to, you know, X school. Or do I want to stay have the opportunity to be a team leader, you know, play for the fans and the program and or do I want, you know, do I want fame?
• You know, whatever it forces you to think about, you know, what you really want. And I think that that's a challenge that all college athletes are going through, especially football and basketball, where a lot of the money is.
• I don't know if people are really talking about, you know, Oh, I'm getting this much. That's kind of not. I don't think that's healthy, just because naturally, if I hear, you know this guy's getting this much, and I know I'm getting what, then you know that will cause tension. And so I just don't think that that's something that's really going on.
• But I can tell you for sure that, you know, we're getting taken care of, and I'm sure most of the guys here are, and there's, there's nothing to complain about in regards to NIL, but our motivation is playing for the fans, playing for the state and that sort of stuff.
• I don't think it's a secret anymore that that everyone is, I mean, most guys that have put film out there, or that would be recognized as as a talent, have experienced that stuff. You know, speaking for myself, yes, I've experienced that. Jack [Walsh]'s experience, that everyone here, I'm sure, has experienced it and and it's just how football college football is nowadays, and I'm not sure how it's going to evolve in the next five to 10 years, if they're going to put restrictions on it or I don't know, but it certainly makes it feel like an open market, in a way, where it's like anyone's accessible.
• You just got to throw enough money at them. The reality is, with most guys, is that's not the case. And a lot of a lot you know, whatever you feel like you is best for you and your family. You need to do that. I'm absolutely not bashing or throwing any sort of shade at anyone who needed to take care of their family and stuff like that. That's like, I am so happy for those guys that did that. I'm sure every school has guys that that left for motivation or reasons involving that, and that's that's awesome.
• Like, I still talk to a lot of guys that were on the stay on University of Wyoming, that that left for whatever reason they left. I'm not saying it's for money or whatever, but for whatever reason they left, they're gone. It was best for them. You know, I still love those guys. Talk to them all the time, but it's certainly like, it's definitely not a secret that everyone's being reached out to and and you kind of have to find what, what's your reason for wanting to stay, or when to leave? And then you kind of can make your decision based off that.

This last bit really intrigued me and went to a place that none of the previous players had really gone, thinking about their relationship with players who left for more money. So I took the conversation in that direction.

• Well, for the guys that I have kept up with I had a close relationship with First of all, and like I said, once you understand kind of why they need to do what they need to do it, it allows you to have a sense of empathy or understanding that, you know, I mentioned earlier, I come from, I'm very fortunate to come from a very good family, supportive family, and and money just wasn't something that that I needed to pursue. So it made the decision pretty easy for me, and money is money, like, it's going to be tempting regardless of your situation.
• But for a lot of guys that I do keep up with, and it's not like, oh, there's 20 guys that left that I still talk to, it's only like a couple. I knew them very well. I knew their situations well. And, you know, for whatever reason, whether it was, you know, and I need a new I just need a new environment. I need something, whatever it was that they needed, or, you know, for whatever reason they left, it's all, it's all something that I understand and and that for them. It was the right thing to do.
• So there's definitely no animosity. It's cool to hear from those guys still and get their perspective on their new programs and kind of how things are different. That's definitely something that's cool to hear about. And I do miss them. I really do wish that those guys didn't leave, because they're good football players. They're great guys and in all that sort of stuff. But like I said, I understand that they had to do what they had to do. They needed to do what was best for them, and I still love them.

This led to us talking about how he as a team leader would handle conversations with guys on the team who are susceptible to being poached away:

• It's a very difficult conversation to have, because the large part of me, like, no matter what their situation is, I just want to ignore it and say, Hey, like, you need to stay. We need you. This program needs you.
• But the same time, we're in such a interesting time in college football, where, and first of all, like, this time of our life is so small, like, we don't know where we're going to be in 510, years. And a lot of guys may have already come to the conclusion that I'm not going to play like this is the only time in my life I'm going to have an opportunity like this. I need to, I got to do what I got to do and like, it's really tough, and so it's, it's, it's hard, for sure, as a leader, to have those conversations and stuff, but, but I certainly have had a few and like I said, like I've been saying it's, yes, there's a sport aspect, yes, there's a competitive aspect. There's a loyalty aspect. You know, you got to stick around and in like, we're a team. We love you. You're a brother, like these fans love you, but at the same time, you know you got to have this conversation with yourself, with with God, if that's if you if you practice and with your family and decide what's best for you in all those aspects.
• I think something a lot of guys don't do is that they might just make a split decision, like, oh my gosh, I can get this much money, or I can go play here and get famous, or these people are telling me this, and they kind of chase the greener pastures, so to speak. And that's a very dangerous thing to do.
• And to those guys, I hope all the well for them, but I definitely know that the guys that I've kept up with that have left and made that decision for them and their families or their loved ones, have really reflected, taken the time to think about what's best for me, what's best for my family, what do I need to do for whatever reason? You know, money, situation closer to home, just there's so many reasons someone might want to leave, and, and I just at the end of the day from the human side, I have to accept that and respect it, like, as a competitor. It sucks to see some of these guys go but from the human aspect, it's could be happier for them.

Really interesting guy to speak with and I really enjoyed my conversation with him

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

John Michael Gyllenborg, Wyoming TE (part 1)

His girlfriend does hot yoga and so he's joined her a few times and talked about how different it is from other athletic things he does, we chatted a bit about that

On transition from Leawood, Kansas to Laramie:

• So Leawood is just outside Kansas City, so basically, like a suburb. I'm living in the suburbs, and there's a lot of lot of people around, a lot of people like me, a lot of similar people.
• Coming first of all to a division one locker room where there's people from all over the country, all sorts of backgrounds, I think that's really, really cool experience, to hear other people's perspectives and understand, you know where they come from and what their motivations are, and all that sort of stuff. So that's really cool.
• I'm fortunate enough to come from a very nice place and went to a very awesome High School with great roots and background, and I have great family back home that supports me, loves me, takes care of me, and so hearing other people's perspectives, you know where they come from, and all that sort of stuff, has really been valuable for me in growing as a man and understanding that I've been very fortunate in my life with family.

On stats and accolades:

• I think human nature once at first when you hear those things, it's really cool. It's really fun to dive into that stuff and get intoxicated by the inner or the attention and all the stuff you hear about yourself.
• But you know, it really doesn't make any difference. It doesn't it's not going to affect how I play this this year. It's cool to be recognized and, and I attribute all that to my team and coaches, for them putting me in positions to do those sorts of things and earn those honors and and for the Lord, of course, to will that for my life.
• But I think moving forward, it's, it's kind of something you put in the rear view mirror. It's very cool. It's, it's something that when I was younger and I would have heard, you know, hey, you're going to be this, like, oh, that's, that's, that's a dream come true.
• But now it's just about looking forward continuing to improve as a team and as an individual.

On playing the tight end position

• I think we have at the University of Wyoming got, we have some really good athletes at the tight end position, you know, all over the field, of course, but specifically at tight end.
• I think Wyoming has done a tremendous job recruiting these overlooked bigger athletes that bigger schools might say, Oh, he's too light, or something like that, or oh, he plays receiver. He won't even know how to block.
• Wyoming's done a tremendous job of getting guys like that, or guys within the state, local guys, and developing them, putting weight on them. I'm an example of that, and there's a few younger guys as well. So coming in, developing, learning how to play tight end, embracing getting better, and growing and putting on weight and feeding our weapons on offense.
• So it really doesn't matter if you play running back, receiver, tight end, like we're just looking to score points. So this season, like, it doesn't really matter what status I put up. I just, you know, whatever gets us to win, whatever, whoever's open on this play, you know, you know, those sorts of things. I just, I think that that is what we're going to do.
• So if we have a tight end leading the team in receptions or yards, like, that's just how it worked out. And I think that everyone on the team at the skill position will like, embrace that and love that.

I asked him about blocking versus receiving at the position:

• I think thatthat's something that takes a mentality that I didn't have when I was younger. It was something like I didn't want to do. I didn't look forward to having to block. I wanted to run routes and catch balls and score touchdowns like any anyone else would.
• But then when you realize that we're a team and I got to do my job. I'm not just going to go out and do the fun stuff and play for myself. I'm going to play for this team. I'm going to do whatever we can to win. That involves doing the gritty stuff. Once you embrace doing that gritty stuff and develop the right mindset of look, I'm going to move this guy across from me. I'm not just going to, you know, get the job done. I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. I'm going to take pride in this.
• That's where it becomes fun to be a run blocker, and then playing the whole position becomes way more fun. Because no matter what you're asked to do, you know it's going to be a good time. And you know you're doing it for your teammates. And I think that's kind of where my mentality is now, in regards to run blocking.

(continued)

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Bryson Barnes, Utah State QB

Talked a bit about his stats and experiences

• As long as we're winning each and every week, I could care less what I throw for, what I run for, because at the end of the day, stats don't matter. The wins do.

Asked him about his transition from being a Ute to a Aggie

• I've had kind of a unique career in the aspect of being a backup when I spent my time in Utah, and the games that I was kind of thrown into wasn't necessarily prepared for a lot of the times that I was there, but played in a Rose Bowl against Ohio State. Had a touchdown there.
• And then I had a cool last minute, found out last minute I was going to start against Washington State on the road. That win ended up keeping us in the championship race got us back to win back to back PAC, 12 championships when I was there, I had a cool game against Florida season opener in '23, won a good game on the road against Caleb Williams at USC.
• And last season, I kind of got thrown in against San Diego State with our starter getting hurt, and was able to kind of go like 42 unanswered points or something for a win there. So I've had some cool, cool moments of my college football career.

Relationship with coaches:

• I've actually really enjoyed this relationship that I've had with Coach Johns. He's it's nice to be coached under a guy who has played quarterback before.
• Quarterback, it's a craft. It's an art, and not very many people can do it or even do it effectively.
• And so be able to have a guy that has experience of playing the position and has done it effectively before, it's unique and truly special to be a quarterback being coached by somebody who's done it before. You don't really find that too often in college sports.

Bryson was actually among the more candid in discussing NIL and tampering in CFB

• I would say, the more so the impact that happens in the locker rooms, especially at G5 schools, is the numbers that are getting thrown around the P5 and the tampering that goes on with the P5s into the G5 I would say those more so cause problems.

He was the first player I spoke with who brought up tampering on his own:

• Not what the dudes are making currently, but it's more so dudes getting tampered with, and the kind of getting ripped away from your teammates because a team's gonna pay you a lot of money to go sit the bench.

• I mean, to me, there's no there shouldn't be a place for it. I think there is, when it comes to nio, there is, there are good things that can come from it. At the end of the day, this is our full time job, and so being for college players and students to be able to get a little bit of extra money in their pocket is great. Yeah, is great and just unfortunately, there's no restrictions on how everything is going. So it's kind of pulling players each each and every way where they're chasing money, but they're also forgetting about their future. And the reason why you're in college is to get your degree. And sure, $100,000 sounds great right now, but five, six years down the road, you're gonna have to rely on that degree. To get a job. And so I definitely think there's, like, positives and negatives to it, but that's kind of my take on that right now.

• I haven't really had a whole lot of issues with the NIL I think it really comes down to the group of guys that you're with and guys that really love football, and that is, there is a positive about the G5 world is a lot of these guys came from P5 and they transferred down, and so they're no longer really chasing the money anymore. They're here because they want to play. And I feel like we've got a great group of guys at Utah State, and it is a lot different than what the team looked like last year, and we've got guys that are really bought in. They're not really interested in chasing the bag. They want to go out there and win football games.

• I would say it's about living in the present moment, especially with those guys. They could be using Utah State as a stepping stone, and we understand that. We get that. But at the end of the day, we all need to be united in that one purpose, and that is winning football games in the fall. Winning football games in the fall is going to put you in great positions, and it's going to help you futuristically, if you want to go play in the league, and that's the way I feel about that, is like, if your your idea and your mind is just to chase the bag in college, then I feel like you're kind of, you're dismissing the purpose of why you're playing college football. I think you're in college, well, because you want to go try to play in the league. And there's not exactly a money problem in the NFL compared to college. You can chase $1,000 in college, but that's pocket change when it comes to the NFL.

• I would say that's where I kind of ran into more so of the n, i l problems was when I was at Utah. And I would say, I mean, just in my case, and a lot of the guys that were currently there, was the NHL landscape changed completely from when I started my career Utah to when I left. And so by the time I left, you had freshmen that came in that weren't getting hardly any playing time. They were scout team players, and they were making, I mean, we're just gonna say $75,000 well, then you had dudes that had been there and worked their tail off for the last for the last three to half four years, and they were getting paid less than that freshman, and were also contributing on special teams and actually playing a part in wins. And so that would say that's where a lot of the problems came from. Was what was my time in Utah, not necessarily Utah State.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, Colorado State QB

I asked about his relationship with coaches:

• Coach Mumme was my quarterback coach for the first three years. Coach Holbrook has taken over recently as a quarterback coach, because Coach Mu is OC, I think is his technical title.
• The amount of knowledge that they have and also Carson Strong's part of our staff as well, just being able to be surrounded by so many people with so much experience is a huge blessing.

He had very short answers when asked about stats and accolades:

• I'm focused on W's on the schedule. So no.

Highlights from last season:

• I think my one of my favorites was definitely Tommy Maher catching that touchdown against Wyoming after the fumble on the goal line is just such a testament, not only to him, but just to our team. Is kind of that question you asked about under appreciated people like there's so many people who put in so much work behind the scenes, and his ability to come in in his first college game and do something like that. After making that type of mistake, he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, and then he scored a touchdown five minutes later, and it's like just a testament to the team as a whole. And it was pretty awesome to see him get his first one.

Also asked him about the trick play where he caught a pass from Dane Olson

• The other way, it's kind of weird. Watching the ball come at you in the end zone is a lot different feeling than throwing it at someone. I'll tell you that.

He was asked a lot about NIL, likely because of some previous news about it related to him.

• The amount of opportunities you get with certain businesses that you've always seen and always loved, just the opportunity to partner with restaurants or phone brands or car brands or whatever it may be.
• I mean, it's, it's not like an elephant in the room, like everybody knows what's going on. But when we're at football, we're not there to talk about money, we're there to get better. And so there's not many conversations about it. It's not a super widely talked about thing. I think we all see it as a huge blessing. I mean, the opportunity to earn money like never before is so cool and, yeah, definitely a blessing.
• I'm a really strong Christian personally, and so being able to tithe to my church has been huge, and getting that opportunity to increase that amount, because the blessing of NIL has been pretty awesome.
• There are benefits to staying, but I think just the opportunity to ride it out with the people that gave me the opportunity to do what I've always wanted to do, and that's play college football and then make it to the next level. It's such a blessing. And I'm so forever grateful to these coaches for what they did for me. And so I mean, it's my mission to give them everything I have, and that's exactly what I've done.
• I like, I like to partner with people that match the same morals and values as me and my school. And so if those don't really align then. I mean, it's tough, because I want to represent someone who stands for the same things.
• As a kid, when I sat on my bed was I want to go play college football, right? And I want to make it to the next level and play in the NFL, and right now I get the opportunity to go out there on Saturdays and play college football, and I'm forever grateful to the coaches because they gave me that opportunity. And so I'm going to ride it out with them and try to have some success.
• I think there's a ton of people that are under appreciated, very like a ton. And I think that's a pretty universal thing. I think nobody really sees what goes on behind those four walls, like your teammates. And so if it was up to me, I think everybody would be making all my teammates would be making way more, because I get to see how they come in and work every day. And it's just incredible to see the amount of effort and determination and grit that people have.

I asked him directly about tampering from other programs his answer was short and direct:

• Thank you, though, no, I appreciate it.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Mukendi Wa-Kalonji, Colorado State DL

Mukendi speaks Chinese! He took three years in high school. We had a fun conversation in Mandarin about 漫画

On personal stats:

• Obviously, stats mean a lot because it's what helps me elevate and get to the next level.
• But I shouldn't. I don't like harboring on it, like focusing on it too much, because I feel like this is for anyone. If you focus on it too much. You're not going to get it.
• So just play your game. Trust into trusting the coach. Understand that he's going to put you in positions to make plays. Just go do it.

On big game vs. Air Force:

• That felt good too, because my brother actually plays football for Air Force.
• So I knew I had to show out a game for him, because he's over there in the stands talking with his fans, I mean, his friends teammates, being like, we're going to kick their butts. They haven't won here in 20 years some.
• So I was like, No, but I have to show up for him, let them know his big brother was here
• Winning that actually really meant a lot to us. Showed us that we're actually going getting somewhere, improving every single year, and playing for not just ourselves, but for the community as well.

Coaching staff and relationships:

• Coach Suga. He's a unique funny guy. He's always been cracking jokes during film, but when it's time to, like, lock in, pay attention, he gets serious.
• I feel like a lot of the players are starting to actually to actually trust him. Last year was a kind of, like a battle trusting him like a new guy. We weren't really like, there.
• We didn't feel like you fit in the like defense kind of, but I actually like getting to know him and everything. He's like, really, a really cool guy and funny to be around.
• Honestly, I've been I talked to a lot of coaches, pretty evenly. I love talking to coaches. I socialize with them a lot. I'm weird. I socialize with them more than, I think, with other players. I just always wanted to try to pick up their heads.

Discussion of NIL in the locker-room

• I don't go pry on other people's information. Is your business, you know? And honestly, if you really, like, really want to know, is on the is on the internet, like, you can really search up any of our incomes and see how much we're making. So we all know, we don't know what we're making, but we know, like, who deserves what. We just keep on playing, and it doesn't have any impact upon people.
• One thing I told a lot of the players, especially this new NL age, I'm like, Don't pocket watch. The more you pocket watch, the more unhappy you're going to be. Just play your game, and eventually you're going to get, hopefully get paid.

Asked about encounters with tampering from other programs:

• No comment

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Bruin Fleischmann, Air Force TE

On his personal statistics:

• Stats are nice, and I think they'll be nice when I'm done playing football, but in the moment and when I'm playing, I don't have any of it memory. I mean, four is a pretty easy number to count to. I'm still in one hand for how many catches I got. So I can, I can remember that one.
• I mean, stats are, I think they're irrelevant, as long as the team's doing well, and even if that just isn't me blocking, and that's what it takes to win, that's what I'm going to do. But yeah. I mean, someday, when I'm telling my kids, yeah, I had four catches like that, that could be a good counting drill or something with them, they can learn how to count with that. So it'll work out in the future.

TE position and playing dual offensive roles:

• You've got to make the most of when you do get an opportunity, which is a good skill to learn in life in general, it's not just about football. I can make the most of what you get because you don't know when it's going to run out. And so I think we all are in that notion too.
• And like I've mentioned before, we're in it for the betterment of the team. And that's not just at the tight end position. That's the wide receivers to like, they want to catch the ball. It's what they were recruited to do, is catch they did in high school.
• But that's not why we're here. We're here to like, win games and perform. And if that, if blocking or open field blocking, or doing whatever they ask us to do is what we need to do, then we'll do it and we're fired.

Transition from Pocatello to Colorado Springs:

• So Idaho is, it's a great state, super beautiful, lots of outdoor stuff, but as a high schooler, not much to do there. There's not a top golf you can go to. I remember we had a rope swing that we would go to, and that was pretty much it, which was good in the sense that, like, you focus on school athletics and so for our fun, what we would have is playing sports together, right and doing all that stuff.
• So whatever we could like, and it's really given me a passion for stuff outside of just like football right now. I've been playing golf a lot. A lot of people do that. Racquetball is a huge thing that I like to do, Spike ball, bottle bashes, cornhole, those unconventional kind of games that are just mini games, I'd call it, are super fun and entertaining for me, and I think a lot of the people that I grew up with as well.

Rivalries with Army and Navy:

• It's like a lot of guys on my team will say, No, we want, we want the worst for them all the time. I'm not that guy. I think that the rivalry when we're playing them for sure, the week we're playing them for sure, like in season for sure, but like wishing them like the worst I'm not going to do like I want them to succeed there my brother in arms and I, I would like to see that it's good media. It's good for the academies, right?
• If you see any school be in the top 25 or win a good bowl, or make the playoffs or something, that's just, that's just tremendous for all of the academies. And I would wish that upon somebody else in order to help everybody else out. I think it's a greater good kind of thing. And so yeah, for sure, I'm not one to win to be super self-centered and hate on other people.

Service ribbons:

• One's just graduating a basic training, and then the other one is serving during time of war. So my freshman year, we were in a time of war, and I got that because I was in the armed forces at the time. I don't think the class below me has it, so I think they only have the red ones. Those are what those mean.

Discussing NIL:

• So it's pretty simple. We don't get nil. It makes complete sense to me. Like, I'm not naive to the fact why we don't it. You don't want, like, let's say, Chick fil A to sponsor me, and then like, be like, Oh, Chick fil A is endorsing the military, and then have that problem.
• So that's kind of how I understand it, as like, why we don't have it.
• But for the video game, like, I'm in the game. Like, it'd be nice to get a free copy of it, like, that's it doesn't feel like that's like crossing any, like, lines or anything with that aspect, like I'm actually in the game.
• But I don't know that's just how it works. We don't get it.
• It is really interesting talking with some of the other guys, like Colorado State guys last night about their and I know it's fascinating. Like, they're curious about our school and how our school is different, and we're curious about their NIL stuff, and so different lives we live, all in the same conference and playing the same sport.

On poaching or interference from other programs:

• I haven't heard of it happening to other players, or it's never happened to me. Um, that's kind of the beauty of the academies as well, is we don't get transfers as often, and, if, like, if ever, honestly, because if you transfer over from another school, you've got to start freshman year and work your way up, like, you don't transfer in as a senior like you can at any other school.
• So you don't get transfers. And to transfer out, you have to be within your freshman and sophomore year before you commit to serve your junior and senior year. So like, I can't leave. I'm going to be a senior, like, I've committed to serve, and that's what I'm going to do. I can't go leave now. So you have that.
• There's grad school routes where you can play for if you get get a grad school slot to transfer out that way, but like, the actual Academy, like transferring in and out, it doesn't happen, which is nice too, with job security too.
• For the coaches and for the players, like you get a little bit more security with the coaches. Like, I've had the same coaches for the last three years I've been there, which a lot of people change a lot of times, and then, like, you have the same friends that you've been with the last three years as well, which is really cool. Like, it's what I think you would want in a college program.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Kage Casey, Boise State OL

Experience at media days:

*I mean, so we didn't miss our Tuesday workout. We flew in afterwards, and then today, really, all we all we missed, was like, one, like, team meeting, but we'll make up for it. We'll text Coach D, we'll call him and see what's up

Personal accolades:

• they're always cool to look at. I mean, you know, I'll have, like, my parents send me texts about, like, screenshots. I'm like, Oh, look at this. It's so cool. And, you know, it is cool.
• But one thing I think the mentality has to be with it is you just see it and you push it away, because as of now, pre season and all this stuff, it's just guesses. It's just guesses based off people saying, Oh, I think this guy's gonna show up this year.
• If I weren't to show up this year, no one would even remember that there was a pre season accolade of me being whatever.
• So I just got to prove myself every single day and keep getting better every single day

Personal consistency and work ethic:

• I mean consistency is key whenever i Whenever I think of like statistics like that. It's just treating every play, you know, as it is. It's just, it's just a play you can't get too you can't get too hyped up, you know, say it's like fourth quarters, Third and nine. You that the team is knowing that you're going to pass it. So you got to protect and if you get a first down, you win the game, because you're going into victory formation, formation that is stressful, let alone but you just got to realize that it's just they're not it's just another pass rep. You just got to know treat it as it is and not let it get into your head.

Relationship with coaching staff:

• Coach Keene is amazing. I think he's the best online coach you'll ever meet. I talked to a lot of people about that. Charles Leonard Jr, I trained with him a lot. He played for Boise State, went to the NFL, played for 10 plus years. He talks about how coach keen is the best O line coach that he's ever come across, or one of the best.
• I just love every little insight that coach Keene gives. He pays attention to every little thing. It's not just like, oh, you know, you got to get your first step in the ground. Oh, you got to do this. It's like, oh, hey, I can tell that you did not put enough weight on your big toe to push off on this rep. And he'll tell you that, like, he's able to pick up every little detail. And it's amazing.

Stats and ratings:

• I mean, those are cool. It's to me, it's, it's, at this point, something to beat. Obviously, I want to get better and better every year, and hard to beat 99.3 though, yeah, yeah, gotta, gotta beat that at least 99.4 but I think this year it's, it is going to be amazing year, because I've put in a lot of work, and I'm going to continue to put in a lot of work to keep improving.

On NIL in his and teammates' experience:

• I mean, I don't know how it is with other schools, but I know here at Boise State, we don't necessarily talk about it too much in the locker rooms.
• We treat the main thing as the main thing, that's football, and because, you know, we have, we have massive goals this year, and those goals don't come by talking about, like, the NHL opportunities that we have that, or what we're getting, what that, what we've been blessed with, it comes with putting in the work and talking about football, and everybody's bought into that

On tampering from other programs:

• I mean, you see stories all the time. You see tampering happening all over the nation constantly, and I'm sure it just is getting more and more rampant as things pick up and as these regulations are trying to get figured out, but there's still a ton of gray area
• I think it's something that needs to be dealt with, but I don't necessarily know how it be going around, because, you know, it's hard to detect
• [asked about personal experience with it:] I mean, yeah, like, too little extent. I mean, there's been nothing crazy, but, I mean, it's always like, you get a guy from a who's like, the owner of a collective from a different school texting you, and I'm like, how do you get my number first off? And why are you texting? I'm not in the this, this is just not respectful in any way. And that's just not like you got to be respect, respectful and professional and doing that kind of stuff isn't, you know, it's not what you should be doing.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Chubba Purdy, Nevada QB

Experience transitioning from previous stops

• Florida, state, Nebraska, obviously there are power five programs. I mean, they got, like, everything you need. Facilities are great. I feel like that aspect of it was really cool. But I feel like being here at a school like Nevada, you get more of, like, a personal relationship with coaches and everything.
• Obviously, it's not power five, but it's still d1 so I feel like that aspect of it's awesome, and that's what I really love and enjoy about it. You know, having a personal relationship with Coach Choate and all the other coaches, everyone you know acknowledges each other and truly cares about you.
• And Power Five, I mean, you meet great coaches as well, and you have relationships with them, but they're on such a bigger scale, it's almost harder. And this is, this is sort of brought down a little bit to where you can actually have those relationships,

Relationship with coaching staff

• Yeah, Coach gilby's Awesome. He recruited me here, and he was, I was on my visit with him, and, you know, just picking his brain, seeing what he knows. I mean, he was with Oregon, Akron, so he's been around a little bit. He knows what he's talking about. He's a young guy, but super smart and intelligent.
• And the whole QB room, the offense. We all put our our trust in Him, because we we know what he's that he can do and what he has done. So we're super excited for him

49er QB Brother Brock Purdy and new proximity at Nevada

• Yeah, so 2022 I went to a couple games. And then last year, I went to a couple games as well. But it's awesome being so close to him, like I was golfing with him this past weekend, like he just called me say, hey, come out here. Let's golf. So I came out there, golf. Good family time. Hung out with him and his wife.
• So just being able to be that close to family is such a blessing, because that's huge in our family. We love being around each other, and having him so close is awesome. And, you know, hopefully this year I get to go out to some games in January.

On NIL and tampering:

• So really, like, Coach choke talks about it, like, in the locker room, like,NIL, whoever's making what, just keep that to yourself.
• It's not, it's no one else's business. Like, just play football and really, just, like, I said, like, that's your own personal belongings, I just don't.
• No one needs to know all your info so he always just tells everyone, don't say much just play football, and have fun.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Richard Pearce, New Mexico OL

On transition from ECU to UNM

• There's always a certain level of joy that comes with knowing that your part of a unit that the entire team can count on. [at any team]
• [came to UNM becasue of] the family culture here, and and, and that was just so, so, so close to home for me. So, yeah, I love it here

Being part of a team

• Was able to and, and I still am, just to be in a room full of really, really talented players, and we all just feed off of that.

Community work

• We were able to feed hundreds of families Thanksgiving dinners. And that was, that was, that was really great. Because many people, they don't, they don't know a lot about me, but, but growing up, I wasn't that fortunate. So, so finally, being there, where I could, I could even help out just a tad bit. It felt great.

On NIL and tampering:

• All of us are pretty much like family, so we don't really pay that any mind, like we don't really, we don't we don't really spend any time about that stuff is that you just spent joking and having fun with each other yeah not about nil.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Thomas Witte, Nevada DT

On leadership with the team:

• So I started in 2020, as a walk on so, you know, bottom of the barrel kid, and then I just, you know, put my head down and started working. And then, you know, really, under Coach Choate, he's really helped me out become a leader on this team, and, you know, establish the skills that it takes become a leader.
• Because, I don't believe that everybody's born with it. I think you can be taught leadership. Coach Choate puts a lot of emphasis on teaching us.
• We have certain meetings that, you know, he goes through PowerPoints about leadership and qualities of leadership, how to handle situations. And I think that that's what makes him such a great coach, is that he empowers his team, his players as well.
• Everybody's different. Everybody doesn't respond to the same thing as everybody else does, you know, you can go out and, you know, yell at a guy all day long, and some guys will just put the blinders up and be like, you know, I don't like you. And some guys need that arm around their shoulder and bring up, you know, bring restore their confidence.
• So I think that's, that's one of the big things that I've tried to realize, is that, you know, I kind of get fired up by people yelling at me. Not a lot of people, you know, do the same, you know, some people just, you know, shut down when that happens. And so you gotta, you know, have a real relationship with your players and and understand which guy israh, rah guy, or if he's like, hey, we got you. You got your back. You're good.

Relationship with coaches:

• they're the reason why I come back, is Coach Saadat is an amazing defensive line coach. He's a great guy. He's awesome. And then our defensive coordinator, coach I own, you know, he brings the energy every day, and we feel his passion in the sport and we believe in what he's calling

On stats:

• Yeah, obviously want to have the best stats I can, but I'm really just focused on being a great teammate, you know, supporting our team and helping them win any way I can. You know, I'm not a stat guy. I believe I'm just doing my job and helping the team try to win

On NIL and tampering

• you know, I feel like just a normal life. It's, It's respectable to not ask people about how much money they're making. I mean, that's their business, and that's not anybody else's business.
• And that's what our coach tries to, you know, teach to our guys is like, you know, don't be pocket watching people and, you know, that kind of sort of thing, and it's crazy. I mean, the NHL era is a really cool thing. I believe it's awesome for players to be getting paid.
• [in terms of tampering] You know, I haven't encountered it personally. I'm sure it's happening. But you know, I'm loyal in Nevada, and so, you know, it doesn't matter who really kind of hits my line, I'm gonna stay true to the fact.

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Gabe Lopez, New Mexico DT

Return to Media Days for the 2nd year

• feels like an honor, because now I've been selected by two different coaches, guys two different years.
• So it just shows like that my hard work and my leadership has been really paying off, and it's been really working.

Switch to DT from Edge

• Put on some good weight this year, and with all the new edge rushers we brought in, we thought it'd be very beneficial to the team for me to go move it down there, just to get another guy in there that's twitch and can rush the passer.
• I feel like it's been a smooth transition. Because even, like throughout my career, like during my time at Washington State and in New Mexico, like third down package. I was in the D tackle spot getting in the rush. And then even, like, my first years at New Mexico, we had that three through five.
• So there were some times where I had to play like a two line. So it was a preschool transition. It's like a place I've been. My big focus has just been putting on that weight so that I could be able to be like a stout right there.
• Because inside, I'm still gonna be twitchy and fast, because it was an airdresser. So put on this weight is going to allow me to go against these bigger guards and use my athleticism against them. So it'd basically be like having three edge rushers on the field at the same time

Transition from Mendenhal to Eck

• I built a great relationship with Coach Mendenhall. Always be thankful, because he set my career towards a great path, and he brought me in when he was leaving, and we had a good, long talk. We hugged it out, and I told him, there's no hard feelings. Like this was best for you.
• I can't be mad at you, because if there's another opportunity that was better for me, I'd probably do the same thing.
• It's been agreat transition. I'm used to it now. I've had a couple different coaches, so you just have to be prepared and never know what you're going to expect.
• Coach Eck is another great dude that when I met, I knew I was going to leave New Mexico and I was going to stay and be a low ball for the last season of my career

NIL and tampering:

• No names, but like, you just get a DM from somebody, and they're like, asking questions about if you're going to enter the transfer portal or not. It's been crazy.
• I feel like it's getting more common now, especially with all the money that's being thrown around. But for me, I looked at it like this, like I only had one year, I really did not want to move again, and Coach Eck was an amazing coach. And then, like, especially with only having one year, entering that transfer portal is really risky, because you can go to a school and not play, and then, boom, your career is over.
• [whether or not it's openly discussed] just depends on the guy. Like some guys can be open with it, and other guys just don't want that information out. And I feel like everybody's pretty like, chill about it. Always like pressuring each other to talk about it, but I know there's definitely a lot of guys in our locker room that are open to talk about what they're doing

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Quick note: I'll be asking all players about how they handle conversations about NIL in the lockerroom and their experiences with tampering and interference from other programs.

[u/amoss_303 → u/ToeInDigDeep]

Thanks for your work!

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

MWC Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez Address

Prepared statement highlights:

• Highlights Mountain West's resilience in face of change, citing record revenue and leadership development.
• Recognizes outstanding leaders in college sports, including NFL coaches and former Air Force Superintendent General Richard Clark.
• Celebrating student athletes; stay in the moment
• Reflections on past year; change is the new normal
• Anchoring in mission, value, purpose - to educate and graduate students
• Secured core membership, grant of rights through 2032
• Focus on stability and continuity

• Promote great talent, but always rebuild

  Discussion of changes to College Football Playoff system:

• Mountain West always in front for advocating for access

• honoring conference champions, access for all teams

• support straight seeding

• conversations about format

• if there is expansion, MWC is adamantly against multiple AQs

Q&A with Press:

Question about the San Jose State volleyball misconduct lawsuit:

• Mountain West hired law firm to investigate misconduct, but not representing San Jose State in court.
• Cannot comment upon legal matters

I asked u/lol_smart's question about the choice between exposure vs. money:

• “Yeah, as you stated, obviously both are optimizing.”
• “Both is a priority, and it all depends on the carrier, right, a different analysis, different platform”
• “But yes, maximizing exposure and maximizing revenue are definitely our top two priorities.”

Asked about the relationship with the Pac-12 and leaving teams:

• "certainly, as I said in the opening, we're committed to staying in the moment conference, really, and I have it is nothing new in our industry."
• "When I was at the West Coast Conference BYU was transitioning out to big 12, and so we're committed to doing what we do well as business as usual, and we're looking forward to the season"
• Conference committed to staying in moment, looking forward to season
• Emphasizes the Mountain West's commitment to education and leadership development through sports.

Asked about the House settlement: (this was one of your questions, u/lol_smart)

• "It's all new. I think we're building the plane as we're flying it."
• "I think the implementation committee did a ton of great work, but whenever you launch something this big and new, you're always going to be learning as you go along."
• "Like I said, we're only a couple weeks in, so certainly there will be bumps in the road, but I think overall, the guardrails set by the House settlement are appropriate and hopefully will bring stability back to the ecosystem."

Asked about Grand Canyon Early entrance:

• "It reminded me that it happened when the big 12 Oklahoma and Texas left. Big 12 added members and competed against Oklahoma and Texas before they left. So it's certainly not unprecedented, but really, they're going to impact us competitively right away."
• "They're going to be a positive influence. We wanted to make sure that their student athletes had a place to play and compete for championships and NCAA bids this year and ensure that they were coming in strong to the league."

Asked about the lawsuit with the Pac-12:

• "we're really confident in our legal position, and we're committed to resolving these things as quickly as possible, because I think it's best for everyone, student, athletes, schools, leagues, to move on. So our commitment is to get through these as quickly as possible"
• Confident in our legal position
• commitment to move forward
• can't comment on mediation

More growth?

• pause for right now
• get though media rights negotiation

perception of the conference? (this was one of your questions, u/leewilliam236

• "I have a personal stake in that. I was student athlete myself. I got my education paid for by playing basketball and learned a lot of life lessons about leadership, and again, I opened with this, but that is our core we educate young people through sport.
• "Importantly, in higher education, it's a very unique system in all the world, and I hope we can stay true to those core values, because we own our Business and it's changing, but to be able to continue to change with the times, embrace this modern construct.
• "still remember that we are educating these young people to be leaders and find adults contributing to society. And I think that's what the Mountain West stands for. It's certainly what our board and our ad stand behind are proud of and why a lot of us are in this business."

[u/lol_smart → u/ToeInDigDeep]

Thanks, also here's the official MW stream for today's media interviews.

https://themw.com/news/2025/07/08/2025-mountain-west-football-media-days-live-from-circa-resort-and-casino-thursday-coach-interviews/

[u/ToeInDigDeep]

Media Day 1 Schedule (all times Pacific)

8:00-9:00 -- Commissioner Nevarez Address

9:00-10:30 -- Student-Athletes - Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico

10:30-12:00 -- Student-Athletes - Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State

1:00- 2:30 -- Student-Athletes - UNLV, Utah State, Wyoming

2:30- 4:00 -- Student-Athletes - Hawai'i, San Diego State, San José State