Head Coach Mike MacIntyre Media Day Quotes

COLORADO HEAD COACH MIKE MACINTYRE'S MEDIA DAY PRESS CONFERENCE

Opening Statement:
"We are excited about the beginning of fall camp. This was our third day and we actually got to throw on shoulder pads and play a little bit of football. On Tuesday, real football starts. We did a good job today. I am excited about this team, and how hard they've worked. It was hot out there today which I was excited about. We pushed them extremely hard and they pushed through it really, really well. I was pleased with how they pushed through that, and paid attention the entire time. We used up the whole three hours and I'm excited about how they worked."

On The Biggest Thing He Has Learned Since Being At CU:
"We used to complain about going up and down the little hill to the practice field, but now with the construction, we have to go all the way around, so I am now very thankful for the little hill from the first year, and I know the players are too. I have learned the importance of understanding our team, the university, and understanding that people come and go and how it is very fluid in a program, especially with the players. It didn't used to be that way in the NFL, and now the NFL is that way with free agency and everything that they do. Now, you truly are building a team every year. You have a program and you plan it all out but you are having to build a team every year. That is one thing I have learned, especially going into this year. Starting back in January, I felt this was very important. You are building a team with players and coaches who are new to the program, who need to understand what the team and the program is all about. The philosophy part is very important."

On How The Experiences Of The Upperclassmen Can Help The Team:
"The upperclassmen understand all of the nuances that you have to do, all of the attention to detail, and all of the little things that really matter. When you are younger your coach says those things and it seems like a cliché, but as they get older, they really realize the importance. Those guys have been doing a great job of teaching that ever since January. The seniors and the captains, since we have elected them, have been getting that across. The other thing is a sense of urgency. A lot of the kids were on the team two years ago when we were really building this program, and then last year we came up short in two games that we had won the year before. They now understand how you have to build for those games and how winning doesn't just happen, and the work ethic and understanding of how you have to handle that under pressure. We have some key players that have been under that pressure that have to make pressure kicks, make pressure throws, and have to make pressure tackles and sacks. I am excited about those guys."

On What Evan Worthington Gained From His Year Away From The Program:
"I have had to do a similar thing with a few kids. I would like to do it with no one. Most of the time when you suspend a kid he says, 'Forget you, I'm out of here and never coming back.' We had a good enough relationship and he knew that he needed to mature, and he did mature. He took it to heart, and he did everything we asked him to do while he was away. Since he has come back, he has a new lease on life, so to speak. He has always been a good student, but he has done well at school and has done well off the field. He is playing more intense on the practice field. He would be the first one to tell you that during his freshman and sophomore years, he didn't like to practice because he is such a great athlete and he can get by with that, but it hurt him some in games. Since he has come back, he has a whole new practice attitude, and workout attitude. I don't think he's been late to one thing, or even been close to late. He has been on time to class and to practice. He truly grew up. It is fun to see that as a coach. That is very, very rewarding to make an impact on somebody not only on football, but in life. That is one of the great things about coaching college football."

On Kurt Roper Working With Steven Montez:
"Kurt is really impacting Steven and our other quarterbacks. I have been very fortunate as Kurt and I worked side-by-side, while he was coaching quarterbacks and I was coaching receivers at Ole Miss, while Coach (David) Cutcliffe was coaching us. It was fun to see him work with Eli Manning. When we got to Duke, he was the offensive coordinator, and I was the defensive coordinator, and I was able to watch him work with the quarterbacks. I knew what he would be able to do once he got here. He is so detailed, and has great knowledge and understanding of quarterback play. Last night in our walk-throughs, he had the quarterbacks line up as running backs. They were working on protections so he wanted them to fit the protections to understand them. I hadn't seen that before, he must have picked that up along the way. It was a great teaching tool. It makes them pick up the blitzes and know where they are coming from. It lets them know where the free guys are, which speeds your clock up, and now you're not in a hurry and don't take a sack. You can get the throw off, you don't scramble out because you know what is going to be picked up. Those little nuances make the difference in making a big play, taking a sack, or hurrying out of the pocket. He has done a phenomenal job."

On Having Both Ashley Ambrose and ShaDon Brown Coaching In The Secondary:
"I think it is very beneficial to have two coaches in the secondary. A lot of times you are playing five DB's out there, and you are always playing at least four. The skill sets of corners and safeties are so different and what they have to work on individually, the expertise in their area, and the film study to show them is so different. Ashley played for a long time at corner and understands it and coaches it really well. ShaDon has a really great knowledge of the game. When I was interviewing them, I wanted to make sure they could mesh and they do. They have to be the same voice to the guys, even though they are two different people. I have seen them help and benefit each other. It has been really good."

On His Confidence In The Kicking Game:
"I am excited about our punter, our long-snapper, our field goal kicker, and our kickoff guy. We have Davis Price kicking off, James Stefanou kicking field goals, J.T. Bale snapping, and Alex Kinney punting. They are all really good players. They have been in the fire a little bit so they understand what to do. Those hidden yards in a game, making a big play here and there, and making a big kick all will make a huge difference for us because we will play in a lot of close games."

On The New Kickoff Rule In College Football:
"It will change a little bit this year. ... We decided to put in the fair catch rule, because we are going to end up moving eight people up and only have three people back, so we thought that would slow it down for the people that kick it really high, to about the 2-yard line where you can't really get a return going if they kick it well. Now we have a chance to eliminate a few of those. We want to turn the kickoff return into a punt return, and when we do, I think it is going to be more exciting. All I know is I sure would hate to go to a football game where everyone ran out and they just put the ball at the twenty-five-yard line to start the game. That's not college football. I believe it will turn into a punt return, because there aren't those same types of collisions on a punt return compared to a kickoff return. I think it is going to be a more exciting play, I think we will have bigger returns, and I think it will be fun. A guy will be able to cut a little more, so I am looking forward to that a year from now. We are going to look at the NFL and study a bunch of their film on what they did. We will get a really good teaching plan and video to send out to 377 colleges."

On Steven Montez Not Being Selected A Team Captain:
"Steven is a leader. It doesn't surprise me because Chidobe Awuzie wasn't a captain his senior year because he didn't really want to be. He was the year before and he wanted some other people to step up and lead. Steven is a heck of a leader, who they all look up to. I think the way we do the voting, as a team they decided that was the way to do it. The way we started to do it three years ago was to make the players feel that the coaches weren't picking the captains. It was an open voting and they all talked it out. I would imagine Steven will be one next year because of the leadership he has shown. He is a guy who has a great sense of humor, and everyone likes him because he relates to everybody."

On putting pressure on himself to succeed:
"I think all of you that do your jobs, when you write an article and prepare everything, you put pressure on yourself to be the best you can be. You look at things you could do a little better, you might talk to a colleague in the business and get a new idea. I stole a saying from Coach (David) Cutcliffe, 'You're either getting better or you're getting worse, nothing stays the same.' If you always have that attitude, I think you're able to make everybody around you better. I don't know about you, but I'm not perfect, I make a mistake every once in a while, so you have to look in the mirror and say, 'How can we change this?' Our game is always evolving. Managing the relationships within a team is always evolving, because you have different personalities. We definitely want to be better this year, and I believe we will be. We were so close last year. I said that a couple years ago and nobody believed it, then we broke through. We just need to break through in a couple of games. It's amazing how that works. You see it in college football, and you see it in pro football and they're 35-years old."

On having a lot of guys flying under the radar:
"I sure hope so. We have some really good athletes out there and our coaches are doing a great job. There's a learning curve on everything, but the young men that came in in January, I feel really good about those guys being able to step right in on day one. We have some guys that we redshirted. We have some sophomores that played a little bit last year that have taken the next step. Now we just have to do it in the games and make the plays."

On defensive line:
"We have Kwann Drake in there now (coaching), he's doing a great job with the defensive line. Mustafa Johnson came in, in January and has looked really good. He's powerful and strong, he weighs 290 and he's very athletic. Javier Edwards showed flashes last year and did some good things, but he had a bum ankle that he was nursing that not a lot of people knew about. He's looked really good out there the last few days. I pushed him really hard in the heat today and he was going at the end of practice the same way he was at the beginning. He wouldn't have done that last year, so it's exciting to see that. Terrance Lang has been getting better and better. He's a physical specimen that came in late last year and was a little underweight, now he weighs 280. I'm excited about those guys. Jacob Callier played at 250 last year, he weighs 228 now, he's ripped up and fast. He got after the passer a little bit last year, he just wasn't quite there. I believe he has that extra step now because he's gotten quicker and faster. Evan Worthington and Nick Fisher have been flying around. The young corners look good, we just have to keep the pass-rush coming."

On the secondary:
"We've recruited well (in the defensive backfield) and those young men are really athletic. The thing with DB's that we work on all the time is how they play the ball at the end of the route. The best way to explain it is: You see a great athlete playing basketball, you always ask 'How does he finish?' That's a defensive back. How can he finish at the end of the route? On a slant? On a go route? Does the guy catch the ball? As guys like Isaiah (Oliver), Chido (Awuzie) Ahkello (Witherspoon) got going, people didn't catch the ball on them. You could think they're beat, then boom, they knock it away. That's where this group has to get to. We're really working hard at that. They have the talent to run with anyone, they have the talent to flip their hips, they're strong, they're long, they're athletic, now they have to go do it. The good thing is, we have really good receivers for them to go against and quarterbacks that can really throw it accurately, so they're seeing perfect balls and different things."

On opening the season with games against Colorado State and Nebraska:
"We're opening with two rivalry games, but we're not thinking about that right now as we practice. Our kids hear about it every day. I hear about it every day. If I go to Sweet Cow to get some ice cream, I hear about it. Playing CSU is a great game and a great rivalry, and they've got a really good football team. They have a game before us which will give them an advantage. Then we go to Nebraska the next week. Everybody is talking about it, but we're taking it one practice at a time. I know that's a coach cliché, but we have to. We do have to prepare for one emotional week after the other, and how we handle that as a staff and how we (as a team) handle the emotions is going to be key to all of that. They are excited about playing in the games, I'm excited about coaching in them, and I know our fans are excited to watch them. There's no tiptoeing into anything, we have to be ready to play."

On whether he will ban the color red in the Champions Center with the renewal of the Nebraska rivalry:
"We haven't really done that, but our players kind of know. I haven't really had to say a word. It was built into the walls at Dal Ward and since they're connected, I think it passed over."

On replacing Phillip Lindsay's production and leadership:
"Phillip is phenomenal. I've been texting with him a lot lately and I've heard he's been doing well down there (at Broncos training camp). He's just one of those special guys, and everyone on the team knew he was special, not just the coaches. He was a great leader. I've noticed that our guys that were around and watched him every day have stepped up and have led this year, not just the captains. I think that's because last year, Phillip was a phenomenal leader. You could rely on him to get everybody going. Now that he's not there, more and more guys are stepping up and I know Phillip would be really proud of that. He left a legacy for guys to have the voice and understanding of what it takes to be successful. He taught our running backs a lot, those kids are stepping up and they're really excited about what Phillip Lindsay is doing. Sometimes when you get all the hype and pub, guys on the team kind of resent you, I think that's true of life. Nobody resented Phillip Lindsay. I think they saw his humility and understand what it takes to be a humble leader."

On whether this group of wide receivers is as good as last years:
"They haven't played a bunch yet so the jury is still out. They have talent but there's a difference between saying it and doing it. They have to keep working hard. I texted back and forth with (Bryce) Bobo earlier this morning, (Social Media Coordinator) Maggie Still told me yesterday that the Broncos picked him up and I was really excited for him. Those three young men (Shay Fields, Devin Ross, Bryce Bobo) could really play, and they played a lot of snaps. The young men coming up have some talent. We still have some older guys that have taken different paths and they're ready to seize the opportunity. They're coming into their senior years with a chip on their shoulder, which sometimes seniors don't walk in with a chip on their shoulder. I hope that added intensity makes a difference."

On differences in the offense from a season ago:
"We'll be a little different without 23 (Phillip Lindsay). Coach Darrin Chiaverini and Coach Klayton Adams have done a great job working together, and I'm excited about what we're doing on offense. Steven Montez and Sam Noyer are older, and Tyler Lytle is a year older. They all have a better understanding of defenses. It helps you be a little bit better offensively when your quarterback sees things and can make a few changes on the field. I'm excited about that."

On decision to make Alex Kinney a captain (first time a punter has been a captain since 1989):
"The team told me who the captains were. I was glad that he was picked as a captain. He's from the state of Colorado, went to Rocky Mountain High School, and has worked really hard here. He's started for four years now. He's not a prima donna, I'm not saying that all kickers are, but he does all the running, he does all the weights, he shows up to everything, he's tough, he has a great sense of humor, they respect him, he's a leader, he'll get on you if you're doing something wrong, so I think they saw all the qualities of a leader in him. They know how he can punt and saw him do great things last year, sacrificing his average to pin them inside the 20. Some guys don't do that, they'll pretend they mishit it. He's going to hit it and make sure he puts our defense in the best position. That's a big deal. He had a really good average, but he also pinned some inside the 20 and inside the 10. We're going to need him to do that again this year."

On pride in his son Jay MacIntyre being named a captain:
"I'm extremely proud of all the guys that have been named captains. With Jay, I never pushed him to be a captain. His mom did a great job raising him. If you watch the games or watch practice, he's one of the guys that's always in there working hard, making plays, and he's always pushing and fighting. I think he gained their respect last year playing the whole season on a broken foot. They knew he was hurt and that he was still going to play. I think that made a huge impression."

On making Colorado a priority on the recruiting trail again:
"There's a lot of excellent players in the state of Colorado. Sometimes we don't get them all, and sometimes we can't offer them all depending on what our positions of need are. The young men in the state of Colorado are playing really well. We have some really good players from the state of Colorado making a big impact, and we have some younger guys in the freshman class that I'm really excited about."

On Nate Landman's development:
"Nate Landman is an excellent player. He's long, he's big, he has phenomenal instincts, he has a burst to the ball and when he gets there, he arrives there in a bad mood. He's a really good football player. I enjoy watching him. We have two more excellent inside linebackers in Rick Gamboa and Drew Lewis, but we're going to rotate Nate in there."

Players Mentioned

Chidobe Awuzie

J.T. Bale

Bryce Bobo

Jacob Callier

Javier Edwards

Shay Fields

Nick Fisher

Rick Gamboa

Mustafa Johnson

Alex Kinney

Nate Landman

Terrance Lang

Drew Lewis

Phillip Lindsay

Tyler Lytle

Jay MacIntyre

Steven Montez

Sam Noyer

Davis Price

Devin Ross

James Stefanou

Evan Worthington

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