Everything Rhett Lashlee said before SMU's first ACC matchup
Rhett Lashlee spoke to the media on Tuesday leading up to SMU’s first-ever ACC conference matchup against the Florida State Seminoles. Here’s everything Coach Lashlee said:
To start the press conference:
Yeah excited to be opening up conference play, and for our first ACC game and back at home this week. It’s a really good Florida State team and obviously the gold standard of this league for a long time. You look at them, you know defensively I think if you take every regular season game last year in the for this year, that’s 16 straight regular season games they have not given up over 30 points. They gave up six to Louisville in the championship game, So 17 times in the last 18 games. Other than that bowl game last year (against Georgia), they give up 29 or less. That’s that’s pretty impressive. They’re long they’re fast. They’re physical. They don’t want you to be explosive. So we got a big challenge there. They’re really really good on special teams, really solid. And then offensively, you know, I think they found their winning ways last week. I mean I’ve gone against Mike, known him for a long time. He’s one of the best coaches in college football specifically offensively, so I know they’ll have a great game plan and Adam’s been his DC since those days at Memphis. So excited to have a challenge to go.
On how to evaluate Florida State:
Yeah, I mean, sometimes the scariest teams are the ones that have so much talent and just haven’t clicked yet. I mean nobody missed on the preseason predictions projections in terms of talent you look at their defense. They have four starters that are going to play in the NFL. They got long Edge rushers. They’ve got two massive defensive tackles. Their linebackers run incredibly well. They’ve got many 6-0 to 6-1 corners and safeties that can run. This is without question the most athletic and fastest team that we will play and it’s probably the most athletic and fastest team that has come to Ford Stadium in a long long time. And then offensively I mean they got three big running backs. I know they want to run the football at times this year. They ran it really well and at times they’ve struggled, you know, I know they’ve been struggling but I mean last year DJ was excellent at Oregon State so it’s in there. And so there’s only a matter of time before it clicks. And they got the win last week. They got some momentum. So these are the scary dangerous ones to look at because you know perceptually people go. Oh, they’re struggling. There’s plenty of talent over there.
On scouting the FSU offense:
Yeah I mean, I think I think like anybody else, you know, they’re not turning the ball over. They’re playing to that defense. You know, I think they won 14-9. I mean, as I said, their defense is really solid they’re playing a lot of confidence and it’s not just like one or two games it goes all the way back to last year. And so they’ve got a good strong identity there. They’re trying to run the football and I think it’s only a matter of time before they start hitting some of those explosive places to go with that and you know, when it happens like it did for us even last weekend just explode and come and bunches. So We’re gonna have to do a good job. Like we do every week. We got to stop the run. We got to sound top and limit the explosives and we got to do a better job getting off the field on third down and that’s a challenge for this week.
On knowing about DJU in the past:
Oh, yeah, I mean, you know, I was aware of DJ back, a little bit when he was coming out of high school, never really recruited him, but obviously, he was a big-time recruit, went to Clemson, had some early success, struggled a little bit, went to Oregon State, and, I mean, had a fantastic season last year. So, you know, he’s a leader, he’s a winner. There’s a reason they’re sticking with him because they know that they can turn the corner and be the best version of themselves with him. And so we’re going to get a really good, motivated football team.
On making a full recovery from the Iron Skillet game:
Yeah, I’m not worried about the emotion part because we talked about it last week, we’re not about playing with emotion. We’re about playing passionately and intensely. No, the physicality, I mean, that was a physical game. Fortunately, we were the ones that deserved a lot of and delivered a lot of the physicality, but this one will be more physical Saturday night. Florida State is more physical. They’re bigger. They’re faster. They play defense the right way. They play defense like you would think Florida State plays defense. Offensively, they’re going to run it right at us. They’re going to try to be physical up front. I think this is the most complete special teams unit we played, too. The fun talking point’s gonna be, ‘Oh, SMU had a big emotional win and Florida State got a win so now they’re turning the corner. SMU is going to have a letdown. We can’t allow that to happen. We’re playing Florida State in our home stadium as a conference opener, so we should be ready to play.” I think the excitement for our program, our fan base, and our campus is at an all-time high, you know, we just came off a great home win. We got another home game. I mean our atmosphere at our games has been incredible. So I think everywhere but in our locker room, it’s as high as it can be. We don’t talk about it a lot. I’m sure guys are excited about it, but I mean, that’s the thing. We can’t get sucked into all that. We’ve got to do what we need to do every day to be ready to play, so we don’t play emotionally, so we don’t kind of play outside of who we are. And that’s the challenge of sports. That’s what’s fun. It’s a big mental component is can you focus on staying present, doing what you need to do in the moment. So hopefully you can get the result later. Choices lead, feelings follow. We’ve got to make the right choices, so we can try to have the feelings we want later. And it’s not easy to do, but we’re working hard to do it.
On SMU’s injury updates:
I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but Jaylan Knighton is gonna be out for the season. He wasn’t available last game. He had surgery yesterday and should make a full recovery. But so he’s out for the season. You asked me about a couple. Kobe Wilson. Kobe practiced today, he’s good. LJ. LJ’s day-to-day. Nwokobia was out at practice. Jakai Clark was at practice. Colin was just cramping. Okay, all the ones you asked about have returned to practice with the exception of LJ. He’s not ruled out. He’s day to day in protocol and he’s making good strides to have a chance to play. But other than that, I don’t think there are any new injuries from the game. So all in all we came out pretty good shape.
Okay, all the ones you asked about have returned to practice with the exception of LJ. He’s not ruled out. He’s day to day in protocol and he’s making good strides to have a chance to play. But other than that, I don’t think there are any new injuries from the game. So all in all we came out pretty good shape.
On what goes into preventing injuries and how SMU has been successful so far:
Yeah. No, I think you know, it’s a couple of things sometimes it’s just good luck. You know, we’ve “We’ve played what four games now and you know other than running back we’ve stayed out of a lot of critical ones. We still have eight big games ahead. So who knows what will happen, but I think you do credit our players, you know an older group they know how to take care of themselves. So I think you credit coach Grizz and his team, Steve and our training staff. Yes, the new facilities definitely have a lot of extra added benefits for us. I’d like to thank the way our staff takes care of the players in the positions and the way we practice I think we practice really physically but I don’t think we’re crazy about it. We don’t run them in the ground like maybe some old school mentalities, you know, we kind of have an NFL practice schedule in terms of like, you know in the NFL they play on Sunday. Teams don’t practice until Wednesday now Monday and Tuesday’s mental and recovery and maybe a light dip but the same thing in high school. They play on Friday, and they don’t practice until Monday. They get that 48-hour physical break. A lot of colleges practice and play on Saturday and practice on Sunday night play on Saturday in practice on Monday. And we don’t do that. We play Saturday. Sundays are off day Monday, we get lift and meetings and walk through we don’t actually physically until Tuesday and we go Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we walk through Thursday and run through Friday. So we do everything we can to do in season to get the physicality we need to play but you know, we’re trying to take care of them for the long haul.
On Jaylan Knighton’s injury:
Yeah, it was a knee injury. I believe his was MCL. I think Camar’s was his meniscus. They both should be able to make a full recovery and be free for spring ball, in best case scenario. And both of them had a red shirt year, even though they were seniors, and neither one played in four games. So they have the ability to have another year. So they weren’t, it wasn’t ACL.
On losing depth at RB:
Yeah, I mean, we had a deep running back room coming in the year. It’s not as deep now. Thankfully, we started deep. You know, we were hoping to get more than four games in. You know, it’s week to week. Rashard, obviously, has been great. I know you know Roderick Daniels can play running back. I think that’s having a guy like Derek McFaul get those carries in game two, he’s super smart and has good hands. He’s actually stylistically like Brashard. So that helps.
You know LJ’s kind of been snake bit by the injury bug ever since he’s been here. He hasn’t had a critical one, but he’s always had something. You know, an ankle ahead or what so hopefully he can get back and we saw four which would be great. But yeah, I mean we need to stay healthy in that room.
On the atmosphere at recent home games:
You know a little bit I know right before we came out the students. Were noticeably different, you know, it was just you could tell they’ve been great. But like it was a large student crowd, but they were loud when the team was running out our players noticed it, and Crossley and juniors touchdowns early, you could hear and feel the stadium it was different. and that was really cool and our players fed off that and I think that’s a lesson to all of us. We know that but our fan base is we’ve expanded and closed in our Stadium. We’re going to the ACC, like home field environments in college football are huge and everyone’s human, and when we get the momentum rolling in our favor and our crowd goes like that, that’s a big boost to us. It’s also deflating to the opponent. Right? And but also what we really need them the most is maybe when we’re not doing well and late in the game. We’re trying to come back or somewhat that’s where they can help us too, so I think our fans have been great atmospheres have been awesome. We expect another great atmosphere Saturday night and you know, I know the game kind of got out of control last week. We’d love them to stay to celebrate with us in the fourth quarter, too.
On how recruits reacted to the big win:
Yeah, it’s good. I mean look, the number one thing you can do for recruiting is always win. And you know, to win a rivalry game in our Stadium the way we did it’s a big boost. You know, I think I think recruits already felt it, but it just kind of further validates (their beliefs). You know, we’re Dallas’ college football team, which is big for recruiting. For us, and you know, nobody within 34-35 miles of here, and if we’re playing well, that really helps us try to keep those guys home and playing in Dallas. Only in Dallas can you have Troy Aikman flipping the coin and the mayor here and all the things that happen and so it’s a big boost. But you know fortunately yesterday morning about 9:00 after we had our team meeting and we’ve been full speed ahead on Florida State because you’re only as good as your last game.
On Rhett’s relationship with Mike Norvell:
Like I said Mike and I have known each other. I mean we go all the way back to 2006-07 when met you know, he played at Central Arkansas, I played at Arkansas and we connected through him and Gus. So you know, he’s a good friend, a really good ball coach, being great everywhere. And you know people like me and Eli Drinkwitz, we try to give him a hard time every now and then and get him to lighten up a little you know, because he’s such a good ball coach.
On playing Coach Norvell on NCAA 25:
I tried to get him to play that game. I think it would have been a fun game. Maybe we could have got ACC Network or digital to televise it, and just maybe even the league would have allowed that to be the coin toss. But I guess that will have to go to the next offseason.
