On what Malachi Toney needs to grow from this upcoming season: Well, the best part about him, that guy's like so internally driven, so motivated. Like the consummate team player. I've never seen a wide receiver come, I mean, I've seen wide receivers do, you know, early and late stuff, but this guy gets here early, and he pops in and sits down with the offensive line coach, blocking, `and technique, and hand placement. And then he really is, he really is out on the jugs at 5:30. Like, just relentless, every angle, every position. Like, that guy is, and he texted me at 5:30, 10:30, GABOS. He just had a camp. I mean, it looked like the movie Braveheart, the amount of human beings that were just rushing him. And he is more humble, more hungry, more driven than ever before.
On his first takeaway when he heard the name 'Baby Jesus': Yeah, I'm like, who the heck is this guy? I don't hear this, this bullish. And then, we watched him play. Oh, the quarterback got hurt in high school down the stretch. So they put him in at quarterback. He propels him into the playoffs. They win the state title. I think they took him out during the state title game because he was 15 of 15 for like 250 yards and four touchdowns. They said, all right, that's enough. And then he reclassified. He came a year early. And the rest is, but you could tell in spring, man, just different. I mean, what he does on a daily. And then on the field, he's an auto-correct guy like before. He's never made the same mistake twice, and so, but driven to be better. He allows himself to be pushed and challenged. And he always seeks out the best DB. He always seeks out contact in the run game. He doesn't allow himself to be taken out or pampered or catered to. And that has had a tremendous impact in our locker room.
On if he moves on quickly after losses: But for the players and for the staff, it is my, as you know, coach, it's my responsibility to show nothing but gratitude and support, and, let them, and reality. Nothing, no BS, just be genuine about where it's at, why, and at the same time, proud of that team for what they accomplished and what they did, and acknowledge, you know what? It's always gonna be us. The one team that could beat us is us. But with the staff and everybody else, pushing to move on, and then really study, dive deeper into where are the misses, where are the margins that we could have go in our favor, where are the margins in the games that we won that we can improve upon? So, always grinding at it, always gut-wrench, especially at alma mater, man. Every win means that much more, and any loss hurts that much.
On if the transfer portal is the new key to title runs: If there's a hole, it's an answer for, it's a potential answer. I don't think there's like a staple, hey, every year you take this position in the portal. I think if you feel you're not ready to contend for a, you know, for a title at the conference level first, and of course at the national level, I think you'd be crazy not to access what you have access to. I just, and it just worked out that way for us the last three years. In certain positions like a tackle, have not had to touch it, you know? Right. At safety, we did. Now we feel great about where we're at from a high school standpoint. So, I think every year is different, but you're always like coach knows, you're projecting two and three years out, and then you're also now projecting contracts two and three years out. Right. Make sure you're locked in where you want to be locked in so you can have a better flying going into postseason.
On How he approaches high school recruiting: Oh, no, we signed 38, 31 last year. We'll sign 25. We'll fire. This year a smaller class because we're younger. Yeah. But it'll be in the low to mid-20s as well. And it's still the foundation. Yes. Really, yeah. It's the backbone of your program. And I think now that you can work some things contract, so you can have players committed to you for more than one year at a time if you do things a certain way. So yeah, that's always going to be the belief system for us, is making sure we build this thing, you know, at the grassroots level.
On his first takeaway when he heard the name 'Baby Jesus': Yeah, I'm like, who the heck is this guy? I don't hear this, this bullish. And then, we watched him play. Oh, the quarterback got hurt in high school down the stretch. So they put him in at quarterback. He propels him into the playoffs. They win the state title. I think they took him out during the state title game because he was 15 of 15 for like 250 yards and four touchdowns. They said, all right, that's enough. And then he reclassified. He came a year early. And the rest is, but you could tell in spring, man, just different. I mean, what he does on a daily. And then on the field, he's an auto-correct guy like before. He's never made the same mistake twice, and so, but driven to be better. He allows himself to be pushed and challenged. And he always seeks out the best DB. He always seeks out contact in the run game. He doesn't allow himself to be taken out or pampered or catered to. And that has had a tremendous impact in our locker room.
On if he moves on quickly after losses: But for the players and for the staff, it is my, as you know, coach, it's my responsibility to show nothing but gratitude and support, and, let them, and reality. Nothing, no BS, just be genuine about where it's at, why, and at the same time, proud of that team for what they accomplished and what they did, and acknowledge, you know what? It's always gonna be us. The one team that could beat us is us. But with the staff and everybody else, pushing to move on, and then really study, dive deeper into where are the misses, where are the margins that we could have go in our favor, where are the margins in the games that we won that we can improve upon? So, always grinding at it, always gut-wrench, especially at alma mater, man. Every win means that much more, and any loss hurts that much.
On if the transfer portal is the new key to title runs: If there's a hole, it's an answer for, it's a potential answer. I don't think there's like a staple, hey, every year you take this position in the portal. I think if you feel you're not ready to contend for a, you know, for a title at the conference level first, and of course at the national level, I think you'd be crazy not to access what you have access to. I just, and it just worked out that way for us the last three years. In certain positions like a tackle, have not had to touch it, you know? Right. At safety, we did. Now we feel great about where we're at from a high school standpoint. So, I think every year is different, but you're always like coach knows, you're projecting two and three years out, and then you're also now projecting contracts two and three years out. Right. Make sure you're locked in where you want to be locked in so you can have a better flying going into postseason.
On How he approaches high school recruiting: Oh, no, we signed 38, 31 last year. We'll sign 25. We'll fire. This year a smaller class because we're younger. Yeah. But it'll be in the low to mid-20s as well. And it's still the foundation. Yes. Really, yeah. It's the backbone of your program. And I think now that you can work some things contract, so you can have players committed to you for more than one year at a time if you do things a certain way. So yeah, that's always going to be the belief system for us, is making sure we build this thing, you know, at the grassroots level.
