Indiana Tight Ends Coach Kevin Wright Previews 2023 Season at Fall Camp
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00:00 Hey coach, how's it going?
00:02 It's great, it's great.
00:03 A little wet right now, but I'm good, I'm good.
00:06 Aiden, I'm sorry, Aaron Seifel played a little bit last year.
00:11 Yeah.
00:12 That's a playing time.
00:13 Obviously now though, he's kind of,
00:14 or at least up there is one of the main guys.
00:15 Just kind of what have you seen from him as far as, you know,
00:18 just from last year to this year,
00:19 through the spring and the development,
00:20 you know, what you like about it?
00:21 Yeah, I think, you know, and you hit it on the head in that,
00:25 you know, it's a fairly inexperienced room
00:27 with the exception of Aaron and James
00:30 who played last year in spot roles.
00:33 But I think with Aaron, you know,
00:35 he had a really good spring,
00:36 and then we challenged him a little bit
00:39 to be in the best shape of his life.
00:41 And really amazing to see at the end of the summer
00:45 how he transformed his body.
00:46 I mean, he's leaner, he runs better,
00:49 you know, he's moving better.
00:51 He's always had really good ball skills.
00:52 So, I mean, he's still, he's 25, he weighed in at 251.
00:56 And so whenever anybody can make that type of transition,
00:59 you know, it's going to make him a better football player.
01:02 So, just like the way that, you know,
01:04 he's gone about his business
01:06 and tried to take another step, quite honestly.
01:09 Kyle, anybody?
01:12 Over here, Coach. Yeah.
01:14 When you have an inexperienced room,
01:16 you know, obviously the thought is that,
01:18 you know, there's obviously a certain mountain to climb.
01:21 But does it also sort of free up things
01:24 in terms of having everybody on the same page,
01:26 sort of at the same level of development?
01:28 How does that affect the room?
01:30 Yeah, I mean, good question.
01:31 You know, I think the big thing is that
01:36 you got a lot of competition.
01:37 You know, I mean, it's very competitive.
01:39 And, you know, guys,
01:42 and there are a couple older guys in the room,
01:45 you know, that we brought Bradley Archer from Stanford,
01:48 you know, who's a grad transfer from Stanford.
01:50 Bradley's played a lot of football,
01:52 you know, against a lot of good football teams.
01:55 But, you know, he's just learned our offense.
01:57 And you got, you know, Trey Walker,
01:58 who's, you know, a graduate, or is a redshirt senior,
02:04 who's a walk-on kid, who, again, I think has played really well.
02:07 So, you know, it helps those two guys
02:10 and just their experience
02:11 and the fact that they played and practiced.
02:15 Helps push everybody else because physically
02:17 they have a little bit of an edge.
02:19 But I think that, yeah, everybody's got to compete
02:22 every day, and that's just not on the field.
02:25 You know, that's in the classroom learning,
02:27 you know, because there's a lot of things
02:29 that they have to know.
02:30 I mean, that's being, you know,
02:32 that are being thrown at them right now,
02:33 not just from a pass game standpoint,
02:35 but from a run scheme standpoint,
02:37 where we're a lot more multiple.
02:39 And then also from a pass protection standpoint.
02:41 So, you know, you're -- and I always explain to them,
02:44 you know, we just got to get a little bit better
02:46 every day as a room.
02:47 So I think that the one thing
02:49 that really helps with that type of scenario
02:51 is if you can get them to buy in to help each other,
02:53 then they're going to get better as a whole,
02:55 which is what we're trying to do.
02:57 Sam, we have a top question.
02:59 Coach, Anthony Miller's a freshman.
03:01 Yeah.
03:02 He would have gone either offense or defense,
03:03 but he ended up in your room.
03:04 Yeah.
03:06 What does he bring to the position that excites you?
03:09 Oh, he is a very large human.
03:13 You know, I mean, he is a very large human.
03:15 You know, he -- you know, Anthony is a little bit
03:19 over 6'5" and a half,
03:20 and I think he's got like an 84-inch wingspan.
03:24 And right now he weighs 263.
03:26 You know, and he's a twitchy young freshman kid.
03:28 And, you know, everything's going pretty fast for him
03:30 because, you know, he got here.
03:32 He wasn't a mid-year guy. He got here in the summer.
03:34 But, you know, I think just from a developmental standpoint,
03:36 you know, one of the hardest things to do,
03:38 you know, in college football is when a tight end
03:40 has to block the backside A gap because that's a mismatch.
03:43 You know, and, you know, the fact that he does have size
03:46 and strength and he's a smart kid,
03:48 you know, I think that that bodes well for him,
03:50 you know, down the future.
03:51 So, you know, that -- this kid in that body type,
03:54 you know, at that age, so it's not like he's trying to develop,
03:57 you know, into a 255, 260-pound guy.
04:00 You know, he's going to reshape his body
04:01 like we're talking about Aaron.
04:03 But, you know, definitely has a high ceiling.
04:04 But, you know, things are moving awful fast,
04:07 you know, for him right now in camp.
04:08 But had a good day today. Had a good day today.
04:11 One up top. Hi, Coach.
04:13 As you enter your fourth season with the team
04:16 and look back at the production of players you've coached,
04:18 could you share some keys to your coaching
04:20 that you believe are instrumental?
04:22 Yeah. I think the big thing is, you know,
04:26 I always stress that we're going to develop the room,
04:29 you know, the whole room, you know,
04:31 and maybe that's my high school background
04:34 where, you know, you got what you got
04:35 and you got to develop everybody.
04:37 But I always try and make a point of emphasis
04:41 that, you know, whether you're number one on the depth chart
04:44 or number eight on the depth chart,
04:46 that we're going to try and develop everybody, you know.
04:48 And I think the buy-in has been really good
04:50 just in regards to, you know,
04:52 incrementally like we talked about,
04:53 get better each day, help the guy to your left,
04:55 help the guy to your right, and then push each other.
04:58 You know, because ultimately, you know,
05:00 and again, going back my first couple years,
05:03 we played a lot of two tight end sets, you know.
05:05 And so you got every Saturday,
05:08 Kingswood County Special Teams,
05:09 you got five guys that are probably going to play,
05:12 you know, so I think that that type of mindset
05:14 in developing the whole room
05:16 and trying to get as much as you can out of guys,
05:19 you know, has helped us.
05:21 And, you know, there's always been a guy
05:23 that's emerged by the time you get to the season
05:25 as the guy that sets the standard in practice,
05:27 you know, and, you know, I think that, you know,
05:30 when those younger guys see the older guys work,
05:33 you know, that helps create a tradition
05:36 and set a standard that you want.
05:38 Pete, on your left, we'll wrap it up.
05:41 Coach, over here. Yes.
05:42 Just your thoughts on Bamba, the way he's improved,
05:45 and what do you need to see from him this year?
05:47 Yeah. You know, James, same deal as Aaron, you know,
05:52 and, you know, you look at the room,
05:56 and you got James and Aaron, who are redshirt sophomores.
06:00 You got Brody Foley, who we haven't even mentioned,
06:02 is a redshirt freshman, Sam West, freshman,
06:06 and then you got Bradley and Walker as the older guys.
06:12 But I think with James, same thing.
06:14 He went and said about he didn't get to go
06:16 through spring practice.
06:17 He had some things cleaned up with his shoulder.
06:18 You know, he's all good now, and so the challenge to him
06:21 was being in the best shape you can be, and same thing.
06:24 You know, just totally, I think, you know, reset his body,
06:27 you know, and similar to Aaron, you know, he's a physical guy.
06:32 You know, I think the thing that he has to do
06:33 is just be a great technician right now
06:35 because he is, and he played a lot last year
06:38 as the second tight end, as the in-line guy,
06:41 you know, and he's a physical guy,
06:42 but just continue to be a great technician,
06:44 you know, and, you know,
06:47 catch the balls when they're thrown to you, you know,
06:49 and I think that's what he's done.
06:51 You know, and James is one of those guys
06:52 that's a natural leader.
06:54 You know, he's one of those guys that, you know,
06:56 that leads the room,
06:57 not just by how he carries himself,
07:00 but also by his words, and I think that means a lot.
07:03 So, really need him to continue to grow
07:06 and be that guy in the room,
07:08 and, you know, between Aaron,
07:10 whose first start was against Michigan
07:11 because we had injuries last year,
07:13 and James, whose first start was against Ohio State,
07:15 we have those guys that at least know
07:17 what it's like to be there on a Saturday.
07:19 So.
07:21 Yeah, going back to Anthony Miller,
07:22 I guess, what was the process of kind of deciding
07:24 that tight end was the best position?
07:28 Tight end coach is selfish.
07:31 No, you know what?
07:33 The world of recruiting has changed so much, you know,
07:37 and, you know, so, you know, what we said was,
07:41 you know, when you get to December,
07:42 you know, there's some guys that get missed and don't sign.
07:46 I mean, like, he was committed to USF,
07:48 I think, at one point, and, you know, he didn't sign,
07:53 and most coaches are, you know, at that point,
07:55 when the season ends, you're not concentrating
07:58 on high school kids that are available out there.
08:00 You're concentrating on portal kids, you know,
08:02 so as we went around and tried to identify big athletes,
08:08 you know, I was the first guy to go to Duluth
08:10 and, you know, meet Anthony and get a feel
08:14 for who he was as a person and what he could be,
08:17 and then I called Coach Allen
08:19 because really we're trying to figure out,
08:21 you know, where he's going to play,
08:22 and Coach said, hey, let's send Coach Randolph
08:25 over, our defensive line coach,
08:27 so we sent Coach Randolph over,
08:28 and said, well, let's send Coach Wilt,
08:30 so we sent Coach -- so between the three of us,
08:32 you know, at the end of the day, we said, hey,
08:33 let's start him at tight end
08:35 because that's where he's most familiar at,
08:36 you know, and let's go from there,
08:39 you know, because, again, he's 263, he's 264 right now,
08:42 you know, he's gained 12 --
08:43 he got here in June, he gained 12 pounds,
08:46 so who knows how big he's going to be,
08:48 but, you know, like I said, we'll definitely find a place
08:51 for him in the tight end room as he develops,
08:53 but, you know, one of those young guys,
08:54 you're just looking for those body types,
08:56 you know, and those body types are hard to find.
08:58 >> All right, thanks, Kevin.
08:59 >> Okay, thank you guys.
09:00 >> Big pleasure.