Special teams coordinator Chris White spoke with the media on Monday about training camp.
Here’s everything that was said.
CW- They’ve done a really good job. They’ve been here three years now and they kind of know what to expect and they’re doing a good job. A lot of the transfers have really shown up too, like CJ Smith, we’re liking him as a gunner, along with Jamari Hawkins is probably one of the better gunners in the country, really. So, yeah, there’s just, you know, we have, right now we do have depth and, again, it’s a fluid depth chart right now, so we’re just kind of working our way through that.
Q- Have you had a lot of guys take pride in being on a special teams unit, even if they’re a guy that’s not playing on offense or defense? Like, do they see that as an opportunity to get on the field?
CW- Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that’s the culture that we’ve been building here. You know, with Coach Silverfield, special teams is very, very important. You know, he’s in every special, every meeting, he’s been on the field coaching, you know, positions. They know how important it is to him. We have, in the offseason, a thing called the TFL, it’s called the Teams Football League, and we have breakup guys in the teams, you know, and having a draft and all that stuff. So, they bought in, in my opinion, and I think it’s, you know, a whole culture of the program. Like I always tell them, it reveals themselves in a special team, whether it’s good or bad. If you have a good culture, you probably have a good special team. If you have a poor culture, your special team’s probably not very good.
Q- Bringing in Lachlan, our punter, what stood out about him, and also, how was that recruitment process?
CW- Well, we’ve had a, so we had Josh Lowen last year, and I’ve known the people over at Pro Kick in Australia for a long, long time. So, they’ve, you know, we’ve got a good relationship with that. And, you know, it’s always difficult with bringing in a guy that has never punted before in a game. He’s never really put a helmet on, and all of a sudden we’re throwing, you know, pressure at him in practice. And you see how he responds, and every day he’s getting a little bit better and a little bit better. And, you know, he’s a talented guy. You know, he’s got to get used to, you know, playing American college football. But we’re pleased with the direction he’s heading. You know, along with Tanner Gillis, it’s going to be probably a game-week decision on, you know, who’s going to be the starting punter.
Q- With Gianni, what stood out about him, the kicker, to want to bring him in?
CW- Well, he’s, I believe he’s one of the top field goal kickers in the country. You know, he showed it all spring. We just had a field goal session five minutes ago, and he nailed a 53-yarder with about 10 yards to spare. You know, he’s got a strong leg. He’s very consistent. And, you know, his ball elevates very quickly. So, we couldn’t be happier with him. He’s going to keep healthy. You know, we’ve got to figure out, you know, the kickoff situation between him and Oliver Castaneda. Oliver has a strong leg as well, so I think we’re in a pretty good situation.
Q- Coach, what did you get Ryan for his birthday? Today’s his birthday. Did you get him anything?
CW- No. You know, he’s very secretive about that. I don’t know, but we’ve been friends for a long time. But, you know, I sent him a text earlier this morning. But, you know, he doesn’t really appreciate, well, he appreciates, but he gets a little embarrassed when you do that stuff. So, the players sang him happy birthday and he got a little, you know, teary-eyed. I don’t know if teary-eyed is the word, but he was pleased.
Q- Another football question, not a birthday question. So, obviously, Kobe Drake gotten in at part returner. He was super sure-handed. I know there’s a lot of guys, Sutton and Greg probably are in that mix. What’s kind of that looking like?
CW- Yeah, you can ask him. Coach Smith, he’s coaching the returners. But, yeah, no, we’re, you know, obviously, if you can get the ball in Sutton’s hands or Greg’s hands, I think we’re a better football team for it. You know, they’re battling their just consistency of catching the ball. Both of them, we feel comfortable if we catch the ball in traffic and make good decisions for it. That’s the thing about, like, Kobe made such great decisions for us. There will be opportunities for us to return the football and there are opportunities for us to just play another down, you know, fair catch and those types of things. So, you know, I think we’re pretty good about that. And the guy who we feel most confident in making those decisions will be it and that we feel good about both of them.
Q- How much does the overall workload of a guy go into those decisions in terms of?
CW- Very much so, yeah. You know, you try not to overload them. You know, obviously, they’re two talented kickoff returners as well. You know, we have the GPS stuff on them and how many yards they accumulate in a day, in a week. So we’re very cognizant of that. So, you know, I would say between the two of them, you know, and Bryce Dorsey is a young up and coming player that has dynamic speed. You know, so I’d love to see him in open space as well. So we have real good about really three guys that can change a game. They can take it to the distance and we’re excited about that.
Q- Coach, there was a time period where the kicking game was automatic with the Jake Elias, the Goddies of the world. How do you kind of get the kicking game back to the consistent level this year?
CW- Well, I mean, I think Gianni’s the guy that we feel very comfortable with. You know, there’s a lot to it, obviously, the snap and the hold. You know, Colby Cox was a very consistent snapper for us, both long snaps and short snaps. We have a new guy, Jonathan’s Root. You know, we have a whole new operation. Tanner Gillis, I think, is a very, very good holder. I don’t know if you guys understand how important the hold is in the whole operation. You know, if it’s tilted just one way wrong, if it’s missed the spot by an inch, right, that’s a crucial deal. So, you know, whole operation. We’re working our tails off on that. Trust me on that. And I do believe, based on his practice, that I think he’ll like what he sees.
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