Trent dilfer Q&A with Steve Irvine at end of uab’s fall camp
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - August 23, 2024
Game week for the UAB football team has officially started. Trent Dilfer’s Blazers have transitioned from fall camp to preparation for the 2024 season opener against Alcorn State, which kicks off on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. at Protective Stadium. Dilfer stopped by after Wednesday’s practice to talk about impressions of fall camp and what’s ahead for his team.
With your focus now in game mode, can you step back for a minute and give us your impressions of your team’s play during the fall camp portion preseason practice?
“I go back to the very first thing, the big risk with the May portal guys. In my mind, the whole thing was team improvement. But how did those guys integrate and can they be impact players? And the answer is yes. You know, they grasped the system really well. They grasped the culture well, in fact they've added to it. They've been key in keeping us getting better during camp. I've leaned on them for some things (with) best practices. You know, I learned a couple things from them (about) the coaches they've played for, which has been great. You're always trying to steal good stuff. Don’t steal everything, but steal the good things. So that's gone really well.
I think we got better each day, which is hard to do in camp. We didn't have a single clunky day until yesterday. And really yesterday wasn't clunky. It just towards the end got clunky. I've never been around that. Honestly, I've never been around a team that got better every day, that didn't have like that one self -pity, feel sorry for yourself, who cares about football day. And so that was really encouraging.”
You didn’t have one of those days?
“None. Not one. We'd have maybe half a period and then it would get fixed. It was phenomenal. Now, I don't know how good we are. People keep asking me. I have no idea. I know we're a lot better than we have been. I can compare us to us and we're much better than we have been. And now we got to go see if that translates to wins.”
Were there any surprise areas during camp?
“We have better depth than I thought we would have. In football language, our 2Bs and 3s have developed at a rapid pace and are pushing 2As and 1s. And that's a good thing. You have veteran players that are key contributors, but not necessarily, quote-unquote, starters. I think we'll be able to play a lot of people. I've always believed in that. I think, I don't know if I'm on an island here, but I've always believed, especially in college, that the more people you can play at a high level, the better you can be, because then those players are playing fresher. There's less snaps, and you start calculating those snaps that are saving over a long season, and, you know, it's not just the games you play, it's two bye weeks, too. I mean, it's a long season.
So, let's say, hypothetically, you take 15 snaps off a game, or 20 is an easy amount (to calculate). Twenty snaps off one of your key players on defense, because you have really good depth there. Now you're taking 20 times 10, that's 200 times another two games, that's 240 plus two weeks of practice, call that 280. You're taking 280 snaps away, to freshen his body up, so you should get a better player at the end of the year. That's kind of math I use. I was really wanting to develop depth, I didn't know how realistic it would be. I think we're able to develop some really good depth.”
You had to play so many freshmen last year. This year, how many true freshmen do you anticipate playing?
“Kelvin Hill will for sure be a key contributor. I think J’Quan Mason has a chance. He's dealing with a high school injury, so we're bringing him back off that, but he flashes big time. I think Xavier Daisy will be a key contributor. I think Solomon Beebe will be a key contributor. I can see Kade Martin being a key contributor. Now we're deep at his position, but he's had a really good camp. So, yeah, I would say, let's call it five guys that could contribute at a pretty significant level.”
Before the camp started, how many true freshmen did you anticipate would earn a chance to play?
“Well, we lost two that I thought had a chance – Tyderick (Brown) and Jaden Ligon. I thought those two might. They had (season ending injuries), they’re IRs (injured reserve). That’s disappointing for them, disappointing for us. Now, the way we recruit is we're recruiting players that we expect to contribute as true freshmen, or guys that we know are going to be great players with probably a year to a year and a half in the development stage. I think we hit those numbers.”
What changes when you transition from fall camp into game week?
“Schedule changes a lot (and) what you're trying to accomplish in practice. It's a little more teaching based. You still have these live periods, you still get after, it's still physical, but you have more teaching periods because you're teaching an opponent, not just teaching a scheme on each side of the ball. They have to understand their opponent - Sun Tzu, Art of War - you gotta know your opponent. There's a lot of teaching in an opponent. You move to a scout format instead of going always, you know, O versus D, 1s, 2s. That changes because now you really need your 3s to not just practice well and give you a look, but they need to be competing to get on to not being scouts. You kind of have the disappointment (of being scout team), but also the edge of a guy that maybe thought he was going to get in the rotation. Now, he's a scout team player, where he's got to play well enough in practice, giving the look of the other team, to be noticed.
They (also) get more free time. You know, college students have a lot of free time. That can be a good thing and that can be a bad thing. I think we're really working hard on making sure that they maximize their free time. That doesn't mean it's football. Listen, I'm all about going out with your girl, studying, going to a movie, being with the guys. I encourage that stuff. But you got to make sure you don't get worse in your free time. I think that's the ‘Danger Ranger’. I gave a talk about parenting the other day. I was like, listen, let me give everybody a key to parenting, don’t give them free time. Like, the more free time you give your kids, the more trouble they're going to get into. When their structures and their lives are one thing to the next, they have less time to get in trouble. I said, well, now I can't do that with you guys, like I don't control your free time. So, you need to take a parenting approach and parent yourself. Like, are you going to have structure in your lives or are you just going to be like, ‘I got six hours. I might do my homework, I might not do my homework. I might go do this, I might do that.’ Well, you make the choices that you think are going to make you better in your free time, not make you worse.”
What did you learn from last Saturday’s scrimmage?
“I think our defense is doing a much better job, and again, we haven't stopped anybody yet. But they're running to the football, they're destroying blocks, defeating blocks. They have a soul to them. They have an identity, they know who they are, they know who they want to be. And that gives you a fighting chance. Now you have to execute at a high level, but it gives you a chance. I was around two of the greatest defenses of all time in the NFL, and their core values are very similar to our core values. Now, they did it with great players, and did it to a professional standard. We're doing it with good players, and we hope to do it to a professional standard.”
Did Isaiah Jacobs and Armoni Goodwin get a chance to play in the scrimmage?
“Yeah. That was huge for both of them to get (scrimmage work). You know, running back instinctually is a big deal. They got to see it. They can't articulate sometimes what they need. Both of them came to me and I said, ‘Hey, did you get what you need?” And both were emphatic, yes. And then Isaiah's got a lot of work this week. which has even gotten his blade a little sharper. Armoni is, you know, he's a really good player, we’re super excited to have him. But, at the same time, he's coming off a pretty significant injury. So we're treating that with delicate hands.”