Cam, 147 and two scores, nine yards a carry. Where does that rank for you?
It was all right.
I had a couple I left out there. There’s one in the second where I go inside and I should’ve stayed outside, that one’s bugging me more than the good ones are helping.
Ben Murawski and Nick Sharpe graded out about as well as anybody on that offense. Did it feel different than the spring?
Yeah. They was moving people.
Like it ain’t even about the hole being there, it’s about it being there a half second longer than you think it’s gonna be. That’s the whole difference. Ben had one on the 33 where he’s still on a dude ten yards down the field. I ain’t have to do nothing on that one, I just ran.
Fourth and goal, end of the half. Three straight runs and you don’t get the ball on any of them. Give me something honest.
I mean I wanted it. Every back in the country want it. That ain’t news.
Two of them was sneaks though. You don’t hand it to me on a sneak.
You weren’t sitting there steaming about it?
Nah. We scored eight times, Dave.
Now if we in a close one in November and I ain’t getting it, yeah, I might be sitting there steaming. Wasn’t that kind of day.
Last week you said your little cousins only wanted to see the tunnel. Did they get in the tunnel?
(laughs) They did. Somebody let them in. I don’t know who and I ain’t asking.
Now they think that’s just a thing that happens. My auntie called me Monday like, what time do they gotta be there this week. Ma’am.
You’ve been on teams that got beat by teams they were supposed to beat. Is there anything about this week that worries you?
Every week worry me a little bit. That’s just how I am, it ain’t about them.
They been playing games already. We played one.
Seven for 105 is the best day anybody had catching it. Are you the number one receiver in this offense now?
That’s a coach question.
KK, that’s six words and I’ve got twelve inches to fill. Try again.
My bad. Um.
It’s five of us and we all played. Braylon got the 43, Crishon got two in the end zone, Rowan got the long one. I got more balls than them because of where I lined up, that’s really all that was. Next week it’s somebody else.
I dropped one, though.
Nobody asked you about the drop.
I know. I’m telling you.
Third quarter, we up twenty-eight, it don’t matter, I know it don’t matter. It was a nothing ball. Hitch. I had already turned upfield with it in my head before it got there.
Coach Sheridan didn’t even say nothing to me about it, he just put it on the cut-up Sunday with no comment and moved on to the next clip. That’s worse.
You had 30 yards rushing too. Is that a package they’ve been building?
They just call it, I just run it.
It’s fun. I’m not gonna act like it’s not fun.
What’s Leo like out there? From your end of it.
He’s on time. That’s what I’d say about him.
Like there’s a throw on the boundary where if it’s late you’re getting hit. It wasn’t late one time Saturday. Not one.
Jordan, that first drive. From inside it, what was going on?
They hit us on a couple of misdirection plays early. We got it corrected and after that I thought we played well.
That’s the press release version. What was it like standing out there?
(laughs) All right, yeah, no, it was bad.
So the first three they run the actual option and we got it. Boom, boom, boom, nothing. And I’m feeling great, I’m like okay, we good, this is what we practiced. Then they come back with the fullback going the other way and I’m already gone. I’m two steps downhill and the ball’s behind me and I’m looking for it like where’d it go.
And then they do it again. That’s the part. They did it again and I knew it was coming and I still wasn’t there in time, because I’m starting so far up that even when I’m right I’m late.
Then they punch it in and it’s 7-7 and you can hear the whole place go ohhh. Like everybody did that at once. I ain’t gonna lie to you, that was not a good thirty seconds for me.
What did they change?
Moved us back off it. Took a guy off the line and let me play at normal depth instead of standing on top of it.
That was it. It wasn’t no big meeting, it was like four sentences on the bench and Coach Rossi drawing on one of the sideline pictures with his thumb. Then we go out there and it’s over.
Eighteen tackles for loss and no first downs after that drive. How much of that is you and how much is them?
Some of both. Once they had to throw it they was cooked, and they didn’t want to throw it.
I’m not about to sit here and tell you we the 85 Bears off a Grambling game. Ask me in three weeks.
Their quarterback used to play in this building. Noah Kim, he started here in 2023. Does that mean anything in your locker room?
Not really, no. I never played with him. I know the name, that’s about it.
A couple of the young boys asked me who he was, though. Straight up asked me. That was a weird one. Like, that was three years ago, that ain’t that long, and half our room was in high school.
He’s in his seventh year, though. That’s wild to me.
Is anybody worried about people looking past Eastern?
I mean, somebody in here always is. It’s a big room.
Practice was fine Wednesday. Practice being fine on Wednesday don’t tell you a whole lot either, so.
Let’s start where everybody wants to start. Fourth and goal.
I caught it.
(to the room) I caught that ball. Y’all saw it. Two hands, feet down, I stood up with it. I stood up with it.
They said it moved. It didn’t move. Something can move a little bit, that don’t mean I didn’t have it, but they got the monitor and I don’t, so.
Have you watched it back?
Have I watched it back. My uncle sent it to me eleven times. Eleven. He’s sending it with the little zoom on it.
I’m over it, though. We won by however much we won by. I’m over it.
Two touchdowns on the day, though. Both in traffic.
That’s Leo. Both of them balls were where only I could get it. That’s him, that ain’t me.
KK got the yards, though. KK out here with a hundred and five and I got the two in the end zone, so I don’t know, y’all figure out which one’s better. (laughs) I’m playing. He was the best one out there Saturday, that’s not even a debate.
Five punt returns. Do you like doing that?
Love it. It’s the best thing in football.
Everybody on the field running at one dude and the one dude is me. What’s better than that.
Seven punts from them, though. You barely got a chance to do anything with a few of those.
Yeah, that part was boring.
Leo, 19-of-23 in the first start of your life. What did you take from it?
Guys made plays for me. That’s really what that was.
Coach Sheridan had us in great looks all day and the o-line gave me a ton of time, so I just tried to take what was there.
That’s the answer you gave on Saturday night, almost word for word. Is there anything you personally did well?
I thought I was okay.
There’s a lot we can clean up. We left some stuff on the field in the first quarter that we’ve got to have.
Six carries, 24 yards, and three of those moved the chains. Was that called or were you improvising?
Little of both. It’s in the plan.
Your backup came in and went 4-of-5 for a hundred and the sideline lost its mind. What was that like for you?
Really happy for him. He’s earned everything he gets.
That’s it?
He’s a great teammate.
Alessio. First time we’ve talked to you all year. How was Saturday?
It was great. Yeah. It was a lot of fun.
I’d been warming up on and off since like the middle of the third, so by the time it actually happened I’d been throwing into a net for forty minutes and I was more tired than I should have been. And then you get out there and it’s five plays and it’s done. It goes really fast.
Sorry, that’s not a good answer. It was great.
The Merlino touchdown. Walk me through it.
I threw it five yards.
(laughs) No, I’m serious, that’s the whole play. It’s a drag underneath, he’s coming across, I put it in his chest at about five and then he does everything else. He makes a guy miss at like the twenty and after that nobody’s catching Rowan, that’s just not happening.
I’ve thrown that exact ball maybe four hundred times. Never once has it gone 54 yards.
And the throw to Eddie Whiting?
That one was behind him and he got it anyway. Eddie made that catch, put that on him.
He was more excited than I was. He came off the field and he had my facemask and he was shaking it, and I couldn’t hear anything he was saying.
Your sideline came apart both times. Coach Mansour said somebody shoved him.
Yeah, I heard that. It wasn’t me.
I didn’t really see any of it, honestly, because I was still watching Rowan run. Then I turned around and everybody was coming at me and somebody hit me in the back of the head. Not soft, either.
That was the best part of it. It wasn’t the throw. Guys were happy for me and I could tell it was real. I don’t know how else to say it.
Alessio, straight question. Does a day like that change anything?
No. Leo’s playing really well and I’m not going to pretend I don’t want to play, everybody in that room wants to play. He’s playing well, though.
I got five series and I did all right in them.
Who was in the stands for you?
My parents and my sister. My grandmother came, which I did not expect, she doesn’t travel.
She doesn’t know anything about football. Zero. She asked me afterward if I got to do that every week and I said no, and she said, well, why not.
[laughter]
Yeah. I didn’t have a great answer for her either.
Why now? You could have come and talked to us in August.
I didn’t want to in August. I’d have been fine, I just didn’t want to.
Coach told me it was up to me and then he never brought it up again, which I appreciated. Nobody made it a thing. And then Monday I said I’d do it this week, and here we are.
This was easier than I thought it was gonna be, so, thanks.
The full availability ran thirty-eight minutes. Michigan State (1-0) hosts Eastern Michigan (1-1) on Saturday. There are no changes to the depth chart and no injuries to report.