The media schedule is going to become more concrete, but we were able to request a player and have a press conference with Albin after day one yesterday.
observations:
Not too many today, we technically aren't supposed to get any view of practice so there's not much to report from the actual practice itself.
Talking to Bangura though, there seems to be a notable difference after only talking to him for a few minutes. Mostly quiet and reserved last year, Bangura looked much more comfortable and relaxed when talking to the media. He expects big things from himself and I don't see why he can't improve off last year. Plus with all the attention given to the quarterback and receivers (deservedly so) I really think Sieh can break out again.
https://www.athensmessenger.com/sports/ohios-running-game... Tim Albin press conference:
On expectations of a crowded, yet under-discussed runningback room:
“I’m super excited about the depth in our room. I mean, Sieh [Bangura] and the year he had, freshman All-American, 1,000 yard rusher, really tremendous. And you mention O’Shaan [Allison], obviously he’s coming off a tough injury last year that happened early, I want to say in the first few days if I remember correlate, but he worked so hard to get back and for that to happen is so tough. He went through a lot, I’m really proud of him. He’s kept battling.
“But continuing with the depth there, and to your question, we are deep there. I mean, we played a lot of running backs last year if you recall… So this year, again, depth at any position is going to be vital, depending on what happens with injuries. I really like what I’m seeing in that room at this time. A wealth of experience, guys that have gotten bigger, faster and stronger. So it should be a good running back room for this season.”
What about this team excites you? How is it different from last year?
“Every team has its own niche, you know, their own journey if you will… this is just day one. Give me two weeks and after I’m around them for a little bit then maybe I can give you a little bit more in-depth answer. It’s tough because we returned so many guys that I have to see the same faces as I saw last year and I saw this morning. They look really fast and very excited to be out there. So it’s hard to compare the two. But I know that we have a lot more answers going into this fall camp than we did last year. Everybody’s not at ease, we’re just more comfortable with where we’re at.”
On handling expectations of being the hunted, rather than the hunters:
“I said this last year at MAC media day, we were picked whatever and I said, ‘It is what it is,’ and we’ve earned every bit of it. Going into this year, we’re not going to shy away from the expectations. We’re going to embrace it and accept, and accept the challenge. We’re humbled with the vote but we all know it’s preseason. You go back, I’ve been here a long time in this league, the pick, you know, who they pick to win and the percentage of that happening, you gotta go out and do it. You’ve got a valid point on the hunter versus the hunted. You know, I’ve used that with our guys before. I think I feel comfortable because of the wealth of experience, again, that we have on the football team. There’s some veteran’s veterans in there and they will not let some of those younger guys fall into those types of things.”
On the benefit of continuity from last season to this:
“I’ll put it like this, you know, the offense has got a lot of returning pieces, I think maybe one or two more than the defense. But, you know, we’re on a typical schedule in terms of day one install. Defensively, same thing. How I see it after one day of practice is we’re going to progress pretty rapidly into some really good situational football much sooner than we did a year ago. We’re going to be pressing, we’re going to be doing four minute, two minute stuff in five days. We didn’t get to that last year until two weeks in. We’re gonna be day 15 last year by day five.
“Because what I think right now, if we stay on schedule, with weather and things like that, it’s just going to move faster, and I think that is a good thing. The young guys will be swimming a little bit but we’ve got a great staff. But when those older guys, when they’re not taking reps, guess what they’re doing? They’re coaching, and that’s why they’re special. They’re coaching the right way to help bring those guys along. Because those veterans know that at some point in time, in the course of the season, that one of those young guys are going to step in and play just like last year. We had some young guys that did that. They kept believing, with what we went through injury wise, and we were able to have a really, really good year. We got a veteran bunch and we’re going to move pretty, pretty quickly and use that experience to our advantage.”
On how the team will get off to a fast start this go around:
“I think in the stadium, inside the walls here, we pride ourselves in ‘Ohio doesn’t beat Ohio,’ alright? That derives from the year before, as you said, we had some close losses, one point losses, two point losses, all that,” Albin said, referring to the 2021 season. “In those games, Ohio beat Ohio, if you understand what I’m saying there. That’s the thing we took into the offseason and carried it into the last fall. I think if we can continue to ‘Ohio doesn’t beat Ohio,’ then everybody who returned elevates their game, then it should be a whale of a season this year.”
Challenges with Week 0 game:
“To the best that I can recall in 33 years of coaching, this is my first time to really prepare for week zero… I think in Nebraska we played TCU in a kickoff classic, maybe, that’s when they only had one game and you know, that’s so long ago that I don’t even recall how we prepared for it in fall camp. I’m going to say that this is my first time to prepare for Week 0. But everything is just bumped up a week, really. The staff missed out on some vacation time, those types of things, we had to juggle some summer school things but really got through it unscathed.
“The best thing about it, I think, is you’re kind of crowded and starting early. In doing that, you’re going to get some great exposure for Bobcat Nation. That’s going to be great for us. We’re going to catch some time off on the back end of it. We’re starting earlier, I’ve talked to my guys in the profession, and they don’t start until August 1, August 3 and we’re going now. But I think during the season, we’re going to have a couple windows in there where we’re going to get off our legs and be able to get some bumps and bruises healed up and use it to our advantage. We’re super excited about it.”
I hope this is a nice little info dump for you guys. Will try to keep up with updates when we're given media opportunities.
Last Edited: 7/27/2023 5:22:37 PM by Decker