Entering year two, UCF defensive coordinator Travis Williams has a couple important items on the agenda.
Linebacker is the biggest one, given just one experienced player returns in Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste. He does have a few transfers that should be ready to contribute, including Terrence Lewis, Branden Jennings and Jason Johnson.
And up front, the Knights need to replace Big Kat Bryant's production. Tre'Mon Morris-Brash, who was second on the team last year with five sacks and 10 tackles for loss, could be that guy.
Here's everything T-Will had to say following the second day of camp.
What is your excitement level heading into practice?
"Every year it's a different element of your excitement and what you're excited about. I'm excited to see year two and the guys picking up the defense. I'm excited about the linebacker room, coaching those guys. Seeing who can do what and putting all the pieces together. Even with the entire defense, putting the pieces together. Just excited about the new faces, the freshmen and transfers. Really trying to see what they can do and how they can help us. Very excited."
How was practice today? What was the energy like?
"Great energy. Day one was great energy and obviously it was going to be great energy the first day of practice. Second day was the same exact energy as far as guys coming out and ready to practice. I was very pleased. That's what you can control. You can control your energy. You may mess up on a play, but control your energy and you go about your business. Your other teammates will feed off that. Very pleased with the energy today."
I know linebackers are a big question mark, Jeremiah being the only experienced player returning, but you guys were able to do some more things this summer, be on the field with the guys. How beneficial was that being able to work with these incoming transfers?
"It was awesome for us to be able to work with those guys during the summer. Really when you look at it, we brought in a few transfers at the linebacker position that didn't go through spring ball. It was like we didn't have spring ball. We had to use the summer to install the defense. Now we're going about how we practice. They see now. I'm right behind them like a shark about running to the ball. If you don't run to the ball, you'll find T-Will chasing you. The summer was really good because we used like a spring ball for the guys who weren't here."
What kind of development are you seeing from Josh Celiscar?
"Josh is an awesome human being. He is our leader. Team captain. He was voted team captain. It's important to him. His leadership is important. His play is important. He takes pride in his performance. I'm happy to be his coach. I'm happy he's here. Just a super human being."
How has the d-line looked?
"We haven't had pads on, that's real football. Seeing the guys move around, we're very pleased with the athletic ability we have on the defensive line. Starting with our guys on the edge and in the interior. We'll know more tomorrow. Like I told the defense out there, the first two days was great, the energy was great, but we're putting the pads on and doing real football tomorrow. For a lot of guys, it will be like a separation, the third day, seeing who can do what. It starts up front. We don't shy away from that. It starts up front with us. We really lean on our defensive line to be a successful defense."
A few new names at linebacker. What does Branden Jennings provide to the linebacker room?
"He provides experience. He started seven games at his last school. He's a physical linebacker. He looks like a defensive end. He walks through the door and that's exactly what it should look like getting off the bus. He asks a lot of questions. Ball is important to him. I'm happy to have him."
Jason Johnson, another transfer, a lot of experience too. What have you seen early from him?
"You wouldn't know he's in the room. Quiet. He's a silent assassin. Ball is important to him. He will ask questions. When he's in the room, he's kind of there. On the field, you can see the athletic ability. You see what you saw on film recruiting him. I'm very eager to see all those guys put pads on. I'm a pads guy. I like to see who can hit and tear off blocks and things like that."
In what ways do you think this defense can be better this year?
"The second year in the system, understanding what we're doing. You can see the tail end of the second half of the season, we were trending in the right direction understanding what we're trying to do as a staff. Understand why we're calling plays. Understanding, we called this play and they gave up this weakness in the defense, we can call a different play to stop what they're doing. So the guys are learning football. Being in the right position. Doing your job. The second year of the defense, growing the knowledge, the football IQ of it."
You have two award watch list players in Divaad Wilson and Davonte Brown. What is their leadership style?
"You have one that you'll know he's in the room. You have one you wouldn't know is in the room. Brown, it's going to be his play. That's his leadership. Newt will be his play and his vocal ability. Having both those guys in the second year of the defense, guys understanding it. Really having the whole secondary back is awesome. And Quadric Bullard is a heck of a football player as well. He's not on those lists, but he's a heck of a football player. You've got Justin Hodges who was playing the nickel. We call it the Knight position. You got Corey Thornton on the edge. Got B.J. (Brandon Adams) on the edge. We've got the nucleus of guys. We've got to put it all together."
Linebacker Terrence Lewis was limited in the spring. How is he coming along?
"We've let him go free. He couldn't go through the spring because of the injury, but now he's cleared to go 100 percent. You can tell he's chopping at the bit to hit people and be in the right position. You hear him talking. You can see his athletic ability. You can see exactly why he was recruited highly."
You have true freshmen too. How are those guys doing?
"All those guys, we talked as a defensive staff, we don't think we missed on any freshman. You can name one of those freshmen defensively. We're very pleased with their athletic ability. Tomorrow, we're going to really see with the pads on. Don't want to get too high or get too low. We'll know more tomorrow. Very pleased. We had an interception by a freshman yesterday. It was a screen and one of the freshmen (Ja'Cari Henderson) broke on it. You can see the athletic ability in space that's going to help us out. We play a lot of teams that put us in space."
Besides the linebacker position, what other questions are you looking to answer?
"Trying to figure you who's going to be that guy to generate pass rush without us blitzing. We're looking at Drop, looking at Josh. We've got some young freshmen in KT (Thompson) and Jamaal Johnson. We've got some guys. KD McDaniel. Trying to see who can get to the quarterback without us sending more than four. Who can generate that pass rush for us? That will be another thing we're looking at as a staff."
I noticed Landon Woodson and Quade Mosier weren't practicing yesterday. What's their status?
"We're waiting on the training room to give us time on when they'll be back, but right now they're not practicing."
Tell us more about your hat.
"I'm a bass fisher. This is my bass fishing hat. I'm like if I can fish with it, I should be able to coach with it. Keep the sun off. I don't like putting all that sun screen on me. It's big enough for two people, so it should block out the sun."
A lot of recruiting excitement prior to camp, a lot of Hometown Heroes, defensive players committing. How excited are you for the future of this program and the players you're able to attract?
"It's exciting. Just following the lead of our head coach. Coach Malzahn said we're going to recruit like our hair is on fire and recruit locally. That's what we're doing. It's not going to stop. You're going to see guys go through fall camp and go through the season and they're going to be so focused on football. We're going to be able to do both. We're going to be able to coach and recruit. Our lifeblood is recruiting. The x's and o's is great, but if my player is better than yours, it's a big difference. That's the code, have really good players."
What do you need to see from Tre'Mon Morris-Brash this camp?
"We're sending him off the edge. We want that juice off the edge. But he needs to watch the ball. Yesterday, he jumped offsides. I said, hey if you jump offside you better get about three sacks a game. He gives us so much juice off the edge. He really does. He has a different gear. I expect him to be a household name coming off the edge this year. He has a natural ability of rushing the quarterback. I'm looking for him to be that guy to put pressure on the quarterback."
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