San Diego State Football Press Conference
April 27, 2021
SDSU Head Football Coach Brady Hoke
Opening statement:
"First off I want to congratulate Kathy Van Wyk and our softball team (for) 800 wins, especially at one place, is pretty significant. My first time (at San Diego State) in 2009 and 2010 I got to know Kathy. And also when I was at Michigan as an assistant and then as a head coach, I got to know (Michigan softball head coach) Carol Hutchins, who is one of the great head coaches. Her and Kathy are good friends. I want to congratulate Kathy and her (players). That's a great deal for them and for her.
"Football wise, we are in our last week of spring. I like what we've done so far for phase 2. To this point we've been very aggressive. I like our effort on the field. We've been able to install things on both sides of the ball. Obviously having more time has helped the process and I look forward to our draft today for the spring game (on Friday). Our upperclassmen will be broken up into Team Aztec and Team Warrior, and they will draft the teams for Friday."
On the rewards for winning the spring game:
"We're playing for steaks and hot dogs. The steaks will have all the trimmings that you would think, nice silverware and all that. If you are a hot dog you are a paper plates and plastic spoons. It's something to play for and we'll have that banquet on Monday."
On the improvement of the offense in the spring season:
"I would agree from where we were 4-to-6 months ago. Being able to have a full winter from the weight rooms to the meetings to the walk-thru's. Then what we've had with spring football has made a bit difference. I think we are ahead (of where we were last year) and are making progress. We're still a long way of being the kind of football team we have to be."
On the competitiveness of the quarterbacks:
"We've got great competitions at the position. Obviously Lucas (Johnson) and Jordon (Brookshire) are a little bit ahead of Jalen (Mayden) just because of being here for the fall season. They're a little bit of ahead, but they all qualities that you like. They all have a work ethic that we're really proud of from the learning and the knowledge to playing in their skillsets. I think they're all doing a good job with the offense. We're not perfect. We threw some balls (at Friday's scrimmage) that we can't throw. We have to do a better job of not trying to force it and do a better job with our progression and our reads, but I think they've lifted each other because of the competition.
"A credit to the quarterbacks (the competition) will probably go through what we are doing in the summer. There the ones who have created this competition. There are good days and bad days for all of them, but I like how they all have handled the competition piece to it and how they've continued to grow."
On if he is excited for the potential of the three quarterbacks:
"Oh yeah. (I'm excited for) all three of them. They're all a little different, maybe in arm strength, in seeing the field, in foot speed and all those things, but they all fit very well into the system and we're going to make sure the system itself puts them in an area to be productive."
On the schedule between the end of spring practice and the start of fall camp:
"They'll finish school. They have finals coming up. They'll have some time off away from us. When we get back into the first summer session most of them will be back, but a lot of those weeks because of NCAA rules, what we have to do some of those weeks will be senior-driven weeks as far as what they are going to do from the weight room to the running. They're discretionary. Then really June 1 starts with (strength and conditioning) Coach (Adam) Hall with the summer program."
On the development of the Aztec wide receivers:
"Elijah Kothe is a guy who really can run. He's a lot faster than I ever thought he was. He's got the ability to get behind a guy. Once he gets off the line of scrimmage, he's tough to deal with. I think Jesse (Matthews) has had a really good spring. Kobe (Smith) has had a much better spring than he did in the fall. I think there's a group of them in there that are playing pretty good football. In our slot position, you look at Ethan (Dedeaux) and (BJ) Busbee, they've done a nice job. I think (the receivers) have progressed. Do we have a guy like (Romeo) Doubs? We don't have a guy like that but I think we've got some guys that are pretty close."
On determining playing time for Friday's spring game:
"You think about it a lot and you hold your breath a lot, but at the same time football's football. We'll limit some guys as far as how many snaps they'll get. I'm sure as commissioner of the draft I'll get some critical looks from the players when I pull the guy out of the game that they drafted. It will be interesting. I'll have to have tough skin. You think about those things, but I've been doing this a long time. I've had some guys get hurt bad in spring games and had spring games where everybody came out of it healthy."
On if it's typical or atypical to have a draft for a spring game:
"When I was a player at Ball State we had steak and hot dogs. In my first year as being the head coach at Ball State we did it. I don't think I did it my two springs here at San Diego State. We did it once at Michigan. I think you look at your roster, you look at your numbers. Usually it always seemed like your numbers were short, particularly in the offensive line. I don't feel that way right now. And we have a lot of guys we need to keep getting reps for. They've all gotten better but they need more reps. We'll monitor the scrimmage as it goes."
On how this spring game will be different compared to other spring games:
"This is going to be a game. We're going to do all the punts and punt returns. We've done all these things for the other scrimmages but they've been a separate part. This will be in-game as far as it's fourth down and you'll have to punt the ball or go for a field goal. We'll have a full complement of officials. We're going to play it as game-like as we can. It never quite works out because something happens or depending on where we are at with the play count, that's important. We'll just take it one step at a time and play it like a game."
On what you can learn from playing it more like a game than just a scrimmage:
"There's not going to be a whole lot of people here, let's be real honest about that. Hopefully our guys who are having parents coming in from the state of California - we've given every kid two tickets to be a part of it - we can muster up enough enthusiasm that way. You'll still have to bring your own energy but it will be as close to game-like as we can in all facets."
On how much the veteran guys will play:
"It will depend. If it's a series and it's a three-and-out we'll go a little longer with them. It could be a quarter, could be 12 minutes, somewhere in that realm."