I've had a chance over the last few days to accumulate a few morsels of information on the football team as it gets ready to wrap its final stretch of off-season workouts this month before taking a slight break before the season begins in earnest when the team reports in early August.
1. The team morale is very good right now. At the risk of unloading a ton of yearly hyperbole your way, there is an excitement that exists right now as you'd expect with almost every team in America, but all the right words about the attitude of this group seems to be in the right place.
Perhaps the thing that stood out the most to me in conversations with those around the program this week was the acknowledgment that the underclassmen have, as a group, embraced a leadership role that is not typical in college football.
"I know everyone will point to someone like Malik and say he's the leader, but we've got a group of young guys that believe something special is going to be created by their (recruiting classes) and they are pushing each other and thriving because of the motivation that comes with thinking they have a chance to be special."
Another source was a little more direct.
"(The players) didn't come here to play like some (*******)," the source said. "If (the young players) have to lead, then (they'll) do it. (They) didn't come here to feel like (they) did in some of those games last season and there's a commitment to make sure that doesn't ever happen again. "(They're) tired of feeling like that.
"We need to stop being humiliated. It's time to humiliate everyone else."
2. The incoming freshmen class has fit in like a glove with the rest of the players. According to those I spoke with this week, the members from the 2015 recruiting class have gone out of their way to make those players feel welcome and comfortable. Essentially, there's a feeling that exists that the 2015/2016 classes are in this together arm in arm.
3. If there's a negative piece of news to pass along, I don't get the sense that anyone feels like anyone has completely pulled away in the competition heading into camp.
"All of those guys are working hard and they take turns having the best day," one source with knowledge of workouts said.
In talking to various sourcing, everyone had an idea of who the starter would be this season, but none told me that one quarterback from the trio of Ty Swoopes, Jerrod Heard and Shane Buechele had stood out clearly from the others.
For the record, hearing that "everyone is playing well" and that there hasn't been a clear leader isn't what you'd exactly like to hear a few weeks away from the start of camp.
4. A sense of urgency definitely exists at wide receiver.
"They can count," one source said of the numbers at the position. "If you let someone get a rep over you, you might as well give him your position and your number, and just transfer."
5. Brandon Jones might be the freshman whose name is being mentioned the most.
"I love that guy," one source who has spent some time with Jones in the last few weeks. "Nobody has had to tell him to work, not once. He came here to take someone's job and I love that about him. He works as hard and competes as hard as anyone. That's my guy."
6. I can't believe I'm writing these words, but everyone I spoke with had something positive to say about Tristan Nickelson.
"You guys have been talking shit about him and he's out to prove he's not the worst lineman. That boy is hungry."
When I mentioned that I had been especially tough on Nickelson's projection in the starting line-up, my source officially put me on blast.
"Ok, you've been talking too much shit," he said with a laugh. "He knows what people say. Keep it up, though. He's been a different guy this summer because of people like you saying he can't play."
7. Patrick Hudson has quickly opened eyes. When you can kill it in the weight room, you'll quickly earn respect among your peers in the locker room and that is exactly what has happened.
"I can't wait to see that big dude in a few weeks. I told one of the guys that he was going to get body-slammed by him at some point this season and he told me, 'I ain't getting body-slammed, but he might get someone else like that if they take a play off.' Personally, I think he's going to body-slam a few guys.
8. Finally, I asked three different people who they thought was the best player on the team that no one is talking about.
Their answers?
Edwin Freeman. Breckyn Hager. Kent Perkins.
1. The team morale is very good right now. At the risk of unloading a ton of yearly hyperbole your way, there is an excitement that exists right now as you'd expect with almost every team in America, but all the right words about the attitude of this group seems to be in the right place.
Perhaps the thing that stood out the most to me in conversations with those around the program this week was the acknowledgment that the underclassmen have, as a group, embraced a leadership role that is not typical in college football.
"I know everyone will point to someone like Malik and say he's the leader, but we've got a group of young guys that believe something special is going to be created by their (recruiting classes) and they are pushing each other and thriving because of the motivation that comes with thinking they have a chance to be special."
Another source was a little more direct.
"(The players) didn't come here to play like some (*******)," the source said. "If (the young players) have to lead, then (they'll) do it. (They) didn't come here to feel like (they) did in some of those games last season and there's a commitment to make sure that doesn't ever happen again. "(They're) tired of feeling like that.
"We need to stop being humiliated. It's time to humiliate everyone else."
2. The incoming freshmen class has fit in like a glove with the rest of the players. According to those I spoke with this week, the members from the 2015 recruiting class have gone out of their way to make those players feel welcome and comfortable. Essentially, there's a feeling that exists that the 2015/2016 classes are in this together arm in arm.
3. If there's a negative piece of news to pass along, I don't get the sense that anyone feels like anyone has completely pulled away in the competition heading into camp.
"All of those guys are working hard and they take turns having the best day," one source with knowledge of workouts said.
In talking to various sourcing, everyone had an idea of who the starter would be this season, but none told me that one quarterback from the trio of Ty Swoopes, Jerrod Heard and Shane Buechele had stood out clearly from the others.
For the record, hearing that "everyone is playing well" and that there hasn't been a clear leader isn't what you'd exactly like to hear a few weeks away from the start of camp.
4. A sense of urgency definitely exists at wide receiver.
"They can count," one source said of the numbers at the position. "If you let someone get a rep over you, you might as well give him your position and your number, and just transfer."
5. Brandon Jones might be the freshman whose name is being mentioned the most.
"I love that guy," one source who has spent some time with Jones in the last few weeks. "Nobody has had to tell him to work, not once. He came here to take someone's job and I love that about him. He works as hard and competes as hard as anyone. That's my guy."
6. I can't believe I'm writing these words, but everyone I spoke with had something positive to say about Tristan Nickelson.
"You guys have been talking shit about him and he's out to prove he's not the worst lineman. That boy is hungry."
When I mentioned that I had been especially tough on Nickelson's projection in the starting line-up, my source officially put me on blast.
"Ok, you've been talking too much shit," he said with a laugh. "He knows what people say. Keep it up, though. He's been a different guy this summer because of people like you saying he can't play."
7. Patrick Hudson has quickly opened eyes. When you can kill it in the weight room, you'll quickly earn respect among your peers in the locker room and that is exactly what has happened.
"I can't wait to see that big dude in a few weeks. I told one of the guys that he was going to get body-slammed by him at some point this season and he told me, 'I ain't getting body-slammed, but he might get someone else like that if they take a play off.' Personally, I think he's going to body-slam a few guys.
8. Finally, I asked three different people who they thought was the best player on the team that no one is talking about.
Their answers?
Edwin Freeman. Breckyn Hager. Kent Perkins.
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