UC WR Braden Smith on Recent Success, Handling Adversity, and More
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00:00 Russ Heltman, All-Bear Cats reporter here with Braden Smith, UC wide receiver on
00:04 Talking Cats. Braden, had a nice showing over the past couple games after a few
00:09 down games there. Has anything clicked differently in terms of you
00:13 individually? Has it just been the offense flowing a little bit better in
00:16 recent games, especially against Houston? A little bit, you know, I think it's just,
00:21 you know, just trying to make the routine play, you know, as much as possible and
00:25 as common as possible. I think it's more so what it is, you know, I don't think I
00:29 necessarily done anything outstanding, you know, just trying to make a play
00:32 when the ball comes my way and do routinely what we do in practice every
00:36 day. So just trying to embrace that a little bit more and it's worked out for us. With the kind of
00:40 dual quarterback snaps going on over the past couple games, is that something where
00:44 the quarterbacks kind of have to adjust more to their, like they have to adjust
00:48 their throwing style to kind of fit you guys and you guys don't really have to
00:51 make many adjustments? Are there adjustments that you have to make as a
00:54 receiver when a different guy comes in as a passer? I don't think so, just
00:58 because we do it in practice, you know, I think when you see that in the game,
01:01 that's not the first time we've seen that, you know, they kind of do that
01:04 through our practice as well. A lot of routes on there, a lot of one-on-one, so
01:07 you know, we've developed chemistry with both quarterbacks throughout the whole
01:11 season, so you know, I wouldn't say it's much difference when they switch it in the game.
01:14 Looking at these final two games of the year, you guys kind of as a team, as a
01:19 mentality, you get that first win, but what's the kind of driving force for the
01:24 for the rest of the season that just keeps stacking wins, keeps stacking
01:27 progress and kind of going to the offseason with a good momentum? Oh yeah,
01:30 that's definitely the goal right now, is to win out and go into the
01:36 offseason with some momentum and show what we can do. I think we've, you
01:40 know, kind of had some unfortunate situations this season where we let
01:44 games get away from us, didn't finish, shot ourselves in the own foot, so I think the
01:48 biggest thing, you know, for these last couple games is just to finish strong
01:52 and show everybody what we're capable of doing so that when next season comes around,
01:56 use that momentum to start off hot. When you look at the kind of situations that
02:01 have happened this year where there's just been some rough plays here or there,
02:04 there's been some mistakes here or there that have decided a lot of one-score
02:07 games in the wrong favor for you guys, for you individually, do you kind of, do
02:12 you adjust anything? Do you change anything or do you just kind of keep
02:15 trying to stay the course, keep doing the same work you've been doing and keep
02:19 kind of hitting the grindstone every single day? I do, I think it's a
02:23 little bit of both. You know, I think for our situation, you know, it's really been
02:27 more mental, you know, more discipline type things, more, you know, execution type
02:32 things, you know, I don't think we've really been outmatched talent all year.
02:36 I don't think we've, you know, our coaches have dialed up plays for us to make
02:39 them, you know, I think it's more so just being us, you know, being disciplined and
02:43 dialed in to what we need to do, so I think that's really been a focal point
02:46 these last three weeks, just how disciplined can we be, how much can we
02:50 eliminate those mistakes, and as you saw last week, you know, when we're
02:53 disciplining, we're not making mistakes, you know, we can win ballgames, so I think
02:57 that's the biggest thing for the rest of the season.
02:58 Braden Smith, UC wide receiver, one more question for him here. So you guys got two
03:02 games left, there's obviously one more game left here at Nippert. When you look
03:06 at kind of the season as a whole and just the growth as the team as a whole
03:10 and the growth in the wide receiver room, how would you kind of assess all
03:12 that throughout this past couple weeks, this past month, and just the fact that
03:17 you guys put up your best and most efficient offensive performance on
03:20 Saturday, is that something that you guys feel like has been building in practice
03:23 and it's just been one or two mistakes here or there that have kind of derailed
03:26 the offense? Oh yeah, of course, you know, like I said, I think, you know, I think we
03:31 honestly have one of our very explosive offense, we got very talented players, you
03:35 know, like I said, it's just been those disciplined turnover mistakes that's
03:38 really plagued us all year, so I think it was very exciting to see Saturday
03:42 what we're capable of doing without making those mistakes, so you know, and
03:46 we've grown as a team, I think we have a great, you know, camaraderie in the
03:49 receiver room on the team as well, so it's been good to have that all season
03:53 and I look forward to finishing strong on that, you know, these next couple weeks.
03:57 One more quick one for you, your favorite route, what's your favorite route to run,
04:00 your favorite, just aspect of being a receiver in terms of the routery? I think
04:04 my favorite route would have to be a go-ball deep, that's kind of my, what I like,
04:10 enjoy the most, the ball in the air, just one-on-one, who wants the ball more, so
04:14 So that would definitely be my number one for me.
04:16 - Braden Smith, UC Robert C.