Quotes: Everything IU football’s Carter Smith, Isaiah Jones and Tyrique Tucker said after Wednesday’s practice

• Alex Bozich

• 42m ago

 

IU football offensive lineman Carter Smith, linebacker Isaiah Jones and defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker addressed the media on Wednesday following practice in Bloomington.

Here’s everything Smith, Jones and Tucker had to say in their press conferences:

Carter Smith

On how he’s feeling physically:

“I feel strong. I actually had an incident today where I broke my arm brace so I think I’m feeling extra strong from that. In terms of playing the game, it never really leaves being out for the spring ball and just being a part of the offense still having a good gauge and watching everything that’s happening really doesn’t really count me out I don’t think. So I’m feeling good and it’s good to be back in there.”

On Joe Brunner’s transition to the tackle spot:

“He’s doing a great job. I think he protects the edge very well moving from guard to tackle and we’re always bouncing ideas off of each other.

“Maybe sometimes he’ll like to handle something a different way and it kind of provides a new perspective for us and something that we could do. But in terms of his growth at the position of tackle, he’s done very well. I think he works really good with Ademola, too, and that’s a position that I think he’s going to continue to fill.”

On coaching some of the young guys back in the spring and how the young guys are developing:

“Yeah, I think my coaching role has kind of dissipated and now I’m just doing my best to try to provide the best example on the field that I can.

“Every time that they ask me something, I’m just going to be like, ‘hey, we run the same plays, make sure you get your mental reps.’ You’re in the back and you’re watching and you get all your communication done as well. Making sure that they have those aspects done in the classroom to be able to apply in the field and then have an older guy that they can lean on. Everyone has an older guy that they can lean on at their position to advance their progress. I think that’s really good for them.”

On the keys for him to take the next step as a player:

“I think it’s not much has really changed in that perspective. Coach Cig preaches that we stack days and you got to find a way to get better every single day. That’s really easy to do when you have a great defense that you get to go up against every day.

“They cause a lot of problems on the field and just being able to immerse myself in that really makes the difference for everybody’s progress, not just my own.”

On what he’s seen from the tight ends:

“Yeah, they’re getting the hang of it. I actually had a pretty good one today where we cracked a run with (Andrew) Barker right outside. I think everyone’s progressed pretty well.

“There are a couple clean up things that need to be done in that perspective, but I think the tight ends are doing a great job and Coach (Grant) Cain does a great job getting them prepared.”

On the pairing with Drew Evans and why it works so well:

“Just the continuity. We’ve been trained under the same coach for four years now, under Coach Bostad. He’s actually been with them for five since he was there at Wisconsin, so all his coaching points still apply.”

“I think the way that we apply what he teaches us onto the field and just getting to know each other a lot more. We hang out a lot outside. We’re roommates, so having that connection with the guy you’re playing next to makes all the difference.”

On the benefits of going against the defensive line every day:

“I can say a lot of things about our D-line right now. They give me a lot of problems. A lot of big guys on the edge.
Chiddi’s (Obiazor) tall, strong, fast. Tubby (Tobi Osunsanmi) is really fast. Squeak (Tyrique Tucker) and Mario (Landino) are very disruptive inside.

“It’s just one of the best groups to be able to, you know, iron sharpens iron. We go out there and we bang heads and make each other better every day. That’s all we can do.”

On the offseason and going into the season with a lot of preseason accolades:

“I’m trying to set an example for some of the young guys. For example, I’m trying to get off social media as best as I can. I think I tried to take that from Fernando (Mendoza) this year.

“It really worked well for him. And seeing all that stuff on social media gives you a little relief for a little while. But after a while, it starts to creep up on you and maybe kills your preparation or your mindset.

“So just trying to quiet all that stuff out and continue to just, like I was saying earlier, just stack days.”

On whether anything has changed with Bob Bostad in his time working with him:

“I can’t say he has. He still practices what he preaches every day. And I think he and Coach Cignetti are very complementary to each other.

“He’s always pushing guys to be the best they can be. Like we’re going to get, he might say something on the field, but above all else, he’s going to be a great teacher in the classroom. So we’re going to get back in the film room and make sure that whatever you did out there is going to be corrected.

“So he’s a great teacher. He’s a good mentor. And he’s done a great job for us these past four years.”

On Bostad liking to move guys around and have them play different spots:

“Yeah, it’s great. I mean, if a guy can play multiple positions, that’s a hot commodity anywhere you go, really. So making sure that, again, guys are on top of their assignments, that gets done in the classroom.

“And just making sure that you’re watching the guy ahead of you. Because you never know where you’re going to get put in. But all that matters is that you’re ready when the time comes.”

On where this defensive line rates against the other ones he’s gone up against:

“I would just say that there are some of the most explosive guys that I’ve gotten to go up against, you know, if I were to compare it. I mean, it’s really high up there.

“And I think they can only continue to get better, but as long as they stick to their assignments and they start to rally together with some of the new guys in the room and some of the guys that we’ve retained, then the sky’s the limit for this group.”

Isaiah Jones

On whether anything has surprised him with moving to the green dot:

“I wouldn’t say anything surprised me. I’d say the only difference is instead of looking over to the sideline and getting the signal, you just hear coach (Bryant) Haines) in your ear. So that kind of speeds up the process for me.

“I can set the front, set the field, and then it kind of takes looking over to the sideline off my plate, I now get to set the front and get into things that might be a little bit more important.”

On the strategy and the timing of when the communication gets cut off in the helmet with the sidelines:

“Yeah, I mean, it cuts off, I’m pretty sure, like 15 seconds. So, I mean, that could be an advantage for the offense, but a disadvantage for both sides. It depends on how you have a tempo offense. They might be snapping the ball before it even gets to the 15-second mark. If they’re going to be taking their time, then they might run it down to five seconds. But it cuts off for both sides, and at that point, that’s when your linebackers are starting to make the checks, just like a quarterback is going to make a check with his own line on pass protection.”

On the benefit to the returning experience they have on defense:

“I think it definitely makes, you know, it’s a benefit to have guys that have played in the system, because in our system, it’s not a normal system. There’s a lot of movement. There’s a lot of stemming.

“There’s a lot of disguises and safeties, linebackers, and then the D-line with them, their games are running. When you have guys that are veterans, and in this system, being a veteran in this system, specifically, I think that helps a lot, kind of speeds up the process, and it gives young guys someone to look up to and see the right look every time they practice.”

On hearing that this is one of the best defenses in the country and tuning out the noise:

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone really focuses on that. If anyone was at practice today, the offense gave us a little bit of a rough time. So, I’m pretty upset about that one and I think the whole defense is.

“So, we kind of, that’s last year’s team, and no one kind of thinks about that, and then we don’t really listen to the media about the whole, you know, yeah, we got Kellen (Wyatt) and Stephen (Daley) back, and those guys are great players, and they deserve to be back on the team, but, like I said, it’s just, it’s a new team. This team’s got to prove everything they want this year.”

On making suggestions to coach Haines:

“So, Coach Haynes is a very, you know, player-first coordinator. So, when he comes in with the scheme, he kind of also asks, you know, maybe me or Ro (Hardy), but he’ll ask my opinion, like, ‘hey, like, how did you see that?’

“At the end of the day, he does have an answer, and he kind of has how he sees it, but he knows that we’re the ones on the field.

“So, he comes in with 99%, 99.9% of the scheme and everything, and he might be like see how it feels at practice and we’ll talk about it. And he’s always open to those discussions. And like you said, we’re the ones on the field, and so he’s open to that.

“He trusts us. He trusts the veteran players to understand kind of what he wants to do on the defense and have those good conversations.”

On the biggest thing he worked on in the offseason:

“For me, it’s just being, you know, not only a vocal leader, but a leader by my actions. And that’s pulling young guys into the film room. It’s leading by example.

“It’s when some guys maybe want to go take a break. Maybe a break sounds nice, but I can’t. I can’t put my hands on my hips. Can’t look tired on the field. Young guys look up to you, and the guys on the field, the 11 that are on the defense look up to you. So, I would say that’s been my biggest change is with Aiden (Fisher) not there. And now that you’re the guy that people kind of look to, you have to up your standard.”

On whether he had to change his focus at all in the offseason:

“I didn’t have to change a lot. So, last year, I repped as Sam and Will in the games, but in practice, I was practicing Mike, Will, and Sam. And both those, all those positions, you have to be athletic, you have to be twitchy, you have to react fast and play fast.

“Sam, you probably blitz a little bit more, so you might be focusing on ass-thrashing more. But we still blitz our Mike and Will just enough. It’s just different run fits, but it’s all schematic. And when you know the scheme, play fast.”

On Kellan Wyatt and his potential to play some linebacker:

“Yeah, Kellen’s fast. Kellen, he’s a good pass rusher. So, if you line him up anywhere on the edge, he’s going to be a good pass rusher.

“You can line him up inside, and he’s going to be a good pass rusher. And Kellen’s the guy that wants to learn. He’s always asking roll-night questions.

“He wants to understand the defense maybe more as a linebacker, whereas the D-line, they kind of understand their things, their drops. And a linebacker kind of understands the full schematics, and he’s trying to like pick that up.

“So he’s eager to learn, and he does add versatility out there, whatever he’s at Sam or Will. And he (indiscernible) blitzing, but he also can cover well. That’s what makes him special.”

On the depth this season:

“Yeah, we have a lot of depth across the board. And like I said, it’s really, you can judge your freshmen based on, who are they looking up to? Who are the guys that they can take mental reps from?

“And the biggest thing that I try to preach, and kind of where I got my most reps was mental reps. You know, you might not be in the ones taking every walk-through rep. Are you locked in getting the signal?

“Are you watching the play? If the starter comes off the field, whether it’s the starting safety, starting Mike, are you able to be like, hey, did you do that right? Did you make that mistake?

“And when you start to pick up on those little things, you’re getting so many more reps than just sitting back there in the back drinking water. And I think our freshmen and our young guys, I think they do that well. And I think, you know, that’s coach.”

On where the defense has made the biggest strides in camp:

“We do have some new players understanding, you know, schematics. You might be a flat dropper as a stud, and it’s first and 10.

“Flat drop is going to be a whole lot different if it’s third and 15. You know, I think that’s where we’re starting to gain the wisdom of the defense through coach Haines, sprinkle down through the different coaches, understanding, you know, why is coach Haines calling this play on third and 15? And how is it going to be different than if it’s first and 10, if it’s second and five?

“And understanding, okay, well, if it’s third and 15, give them the five yard check down, don’t give them the 15 yard dig. So kind of understanding those, understanding the folds in the scheme, and understanding how one call on first and 10 can be completely different than the same call on third and 15. And I think that’s kind of where guys are taking the next step.”

On IU’s running back group:

“Yeah, all the running backs are special guys, you got Lee, Khobie, and Turbo obviously, they’re all explosive. They’re quick, and they’re decisive, and they can find the hole, their visions really well. So I mean, they’re explosive backs, like you can’t second guess yourself, you have to go you have to fit and, and they’re all big, strong guys. So you better bring it if you’re gonna tackle.”

Tyrique Tucker

On the offensive line:

“That group is coming together pretty well. Every day they get better and they challenge us to keep being better, keep raising our standard. And then in time, we raise our standard, it wakes them to raise their standard. So it’s kind of like iron sharpening iron.”

On what makes him and Mario Landino so effective together:

“Me and Mario talk about it all the time, but I think it’s more so how much we gel together, how much chemistry we have on the field. Being that this is our third year playing together as well, we kind of just work together and we have good chemistry and natural ability to just play off of each other and kind of understand what’s going on around us, both of us. And it helps us when we know everyone involved is doing. And we kind of understand that well, and we can play off of that.”

On if he uses AI for football purposes:

“Oh, like AI? I don’t really use AI that much, to be honest. ChatGPT? Yeah, I mean, I don’t really use that that much. Like in terms of like football, I don’t really use it. Personally, me personally.”

On Blake Smythe:

“He’s a fast learner. He kind of gets it right off the rip. So he’s a great, great addition. And yeah, he’s definitely making a case to get some playing time this year, for sure. He’s definitely going to get it. He just does things so well.

“He gets it so fast. It doesn’t take him too long to understand things fully and understand what people, again, are doing around him.”

On the chemistry with the defensive line:

“It’s a lot of, you know, cohesion, you know. We played together last season, you know, Daley. We still got that.
Kellen as well, Chiddi, you know, we played all spring. And Tobi as well, and Duke (Daniel Ndukwe) as well, you know, kind of all just merging together and more so just building that natural chemistry, you know, through practices and, you know, through camp. And every day, it’s getting better.”

On what clicked for him last year:

“I feel like more playing time, of course. And understanding what team and looks are gonna throw at us and being able to understand that stuff pre-snap to be able to play fast on the ball to snap. And more so just getting that experience under my belt.”

On what makes this year’s defensive line different than last year’s:

“We got depth. You know, we’re pretty deep and I feel like we can throw waves of D-lines at teams that’s gonna be a challenge for them to handle.”

On the challenge of playing in coach Haines’ system:

“Probably one of the most challenging stuff is ultimately the amount of stuff we do. We’re gonna throw a lot of looks at you, a lot of different schemes at you to ultimately confuse you. But I’d say that’s one of the most challenging things playing for Coach Haines.

“But once you get in and you understand it, it kind of clicks.”

On Joe Hjelle:

“He puts his head down and goes to work and he really gets after it, man. You know, he’s a worker and he always gets better and he’s always looking to improve.”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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