I want to know what it's been like and how your role maybe has changed over the first few weeks of the season.

Oh, yeah.

Coming into this year, more of a leadership role than previous years.

Being the second oldest guy in the room in my first two years, I was the youngest guy both two years.

That's crazy though, isn't it? Yeah, my rookie year and my second year in the league, I was the youngest guy in the room.

That shift overnight was kind of crazy to me, but now I enjoy it because I get to be somebody that the younger guys come to for questions or just navigation in a way, so that's been a fun experience for me.

And then plan-wise, it's just been fun it's just been a fun experience being out there with the guys still have a great vet in the room with eric murray and just specifically in the safety room and i get to pick his brain all the time and just get to learn a lot of different things from him on and off the field um

to

That's crazy, though, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah.

Like, my rookie year and my second year in the league, I was the youngest guy in the room, so that changing, like, that shift overnight was kinda, uh, crazy to me.

But now it's like I enjoy it because I get to be somebody that the, uh, younger guys come to for, you know, questions or just navigation, in a way, so that's been a fun experience for me.

And then plan-wise, um, it's just been fun.

It's just been a fun experience being out there with the guys.

Still have a great vet in the room with Eric Murray, uh, and just specifically in the safety room, and I get to pick his brain all the time and just get to learn a lot of different things from him on and off the field.

Um, to, to, to talk about that, 'cause you said there's only certain people, like maybe the quarterbacks right now, that could actually do that job as a safety.

Well, do you guys take more pride in the turnovers and stuff like that, or the fact that you haven't given up a touchdown in the first half of a game this year, and I think it's only nine points you've allowed?

Uh, I think it go hands in hand with each other.

Um, you know, I think we had two turnovers in a, in a red zone so far, or three.

Three turnovers in a re- red zone so far.

Um, and that's just a part.

We, we guard every blade of grass, you know what I'm saying? The offense, we gonna make them, they gonna have to earn every blade and that's just our motto.

Um, and when we get into the red zone, we look at it as a advantage for the defense 'cause the field become three times wide than it is long, so now you gotta, gotta really beat us.

What is that like?

You guys are getting pushed by each other in practice and also supporting each other in practice.

I feel like our room is one of the most competitive rooms right now with just a lot of young talent coming in and, you know, having, you know, C-Saw come back off his injury.

And then we got Jalen Husky coming in, adding to the core.

And, you know, we already had Ray.

And, you know, I already have Eden, myself.

And just having, you know, all them guys come in.

We're just pushing each other just in the safety room.

Do you feel like that's where this defense is?

There were a lot of things happening on that side of the ball, but kinda give us a, a detail of what it was like.

Um, we just had a lot of inconsistency on, on both ends, on both sides of the ball.

I feel like we, I think we lost, like, 10 one-score games or something like that.

You know, like, six or something.

It was, we had lost a lot of, like, one-score games that season, and, um, I just feel like just inconsistency, um, you know, MA here, MA here, missed block here, you know, missed assignment here.

Like, it's just a whole lot of inconsistency and, you know, we was a young team as well, so we had, we expected a, a lot of our young players to come in and make a lot of big plays, which they did.

Um, but it just, we, we just had some growing to do as a team that year, and I feel like that was just one of those seasons where if we would've had a little bit more experience and, you know, buy-in as a whole, it, this, the season would've been a lot different.

They look pretty good, bro.

Do you feel that cohesiveness on the defensive side of the ball?

Most definitely.

We got a few places to just get comfortable in.

The same players came back from last year, so this is a lot of people's second year in the system.

So we're comfortable as a unit all together with the coaching staff and the play calls and all that.

So you feel that on the field because it's not like we're learning something again.

It's more so like we're adding and we're just making it our own again.

Was that a motivational factor this offseason heading into 2026, the way it ended a year ago?

Was that a motivational factor this offseason heading into 2026, the way it ended a year ago?

Yeah, it hurt how we lost last year.

We had a good team and a good season last year, and I feel like It just allowed us to go.

We're hungry now.

We tasted a little bit of what it could be like, what it's like to win, and we're chasing that.

You know what I'm saying? We want to win.

We're going to win, and that's the expectation.

How would you assess the Miller Electric Center? I know everybody here is very proud of that building.