Transcript
Home of the Panthers Pre-Game · Fri Sep 9, 2022
Welcome to the Home of the Panthers podcast produced by News Talk 1540 KXCL and presented by I'm On Communications.
Experience the I'm On Difference.
I'm Tim Harwood.
Stay tuned to this week's conversation with UNI Panther Spencer Covalier right after this.
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after
months of waiting for one game now it's a quick turnaround the UNI Panthers played week one against Air Force week two is here and it's a new opponent that UNI has some history with but it is in the deep past that the Panthers have played the fighting Hawks of North Dakota back when they were known
by a different nickname.
To talk about Panther football coming up, we're joined by senior linebacker Spencer Kuvalier.
Spencer, thanks for being back with us this week.
Yeah, it's a pleasure to be in.
First and foremost, tell us a little bit about the trip to Air Force last week.
We remember the final score 48-17 in favor of the Academy, but talk about the trip itself and what it was like to actually go out and see a service Academy on an athletic field.
We talked a little bit about what you might be expecting.
How did the expectations compare to the reality?
You know, obviously, like you said, the the trip didn't end in a way that we would have hoped.
However, maybe the part of
Part of that game on Saturday and kind of seeing what they go through, it's very apparent that they are a disciplined group of men.
You know, they work hard at what they do and then they're good at what they do.
And they, you know, we're doing warm-ups and they were doing live cut drills pre-game.
Like they're cutting their own players pre-game, which is, I don't know if I've ever seen that.
And it just kind of goes to show the, I mean, their toughness.
I mean, they're tough and I mean, they're fast and they're strong.
It was it was very apparent that they were that they couldn't play football and so You know they did the flyover before the game and had people parachute and land on the field Which is a which is kind of a cool experience to see but yeah, I mean the whole trip Summarize it was a little bit of a disappointment with with other game and shaped up But you know moving forward I hope we can learn from the loss and turn around and make some noise coming down the stretch
you mentioned
cutting linemen when we talked last week and the challenges that posed, you mentioned the new rules.
How did that play out?
Did it seem that much different with the different rules and talking about the cut drills?
I think that's exceptional because of the risk that you would run to injure your own players in that situation.
No, it's absolutely right.
And honestly, when we're, I think there's a lot of teams that probably go through this, but you know, when you're prepping for air force, you have to prep against the cut.
And not very often you want to cut your own players.
And like you said, your risk, you're on the risk of
getting injured and you know rolling in the knees and ankles and things like that but throughout the game you know I didn't notice a huge difference in the rules except that they couldn't cut on the perimeter so you know when they were running sweeps outside or they're running the option outside the tackle box guys weren't getting cut they're just getting you know manned up by a by a wing or whoever it was and so as a linebacker I didn't notice it you know a big difference but I think maybe the delineation probably
Saw a little bit of a difference from years past to this year
The thing that stands out about last week's game to me the big plays that the Air Force pulled off a few times to either score or create scoring situations What was it that they were able to do that made those big plays happen?
So to start the game and they had an 80 yard touchdown pass and you know, I think As through our throughout the game went they had a lot of explosive plays like you said and I think part of that had to do
due to some fatigue.
We kind of just lost a little consciousness if that makes sense.
You know, getting a little laxadaisical and when you get tired you start to kind of get lazy and you know you don't maybe take the right read step and you try to cheat an alignment or something like that and you know they capitalize on those kind of mistakes and so I think fatigue played a factor, unfortunately.
Do you think that's a product of the altitude which we also talked about in theory last week and and not knowing exactly what that experience was going to be like but That has some impact.
Yeah Well, they had a couple long long drives and so anytime you get it get some long drives going you're gonna get fatigued throughout a series But adding the altitude factor to that probably didn't help the case And turn around a plate in the second half.
It was it was a little bit of a different feeling, you know, I think you kind of feel it in your body
And maybe I'm speaking for myself.
I know some guys felt like they're getting caught in mouth and things like that.
I hate to point out to do it as an excuse because it's not an excuse, but it was probably an additional factor of us getting tired along with long sustained drives by Air Force.
You and I, Panther senior linebacker Spencer Kuvaliere, I know you have put last week behind you.
The team has put last week behind you for Panther fans.
It's been a lot of what's been talked about because there's not been another game to talk about.
We'll get to North Dakota coming up in just a couple of minutes.
Let me ask about defensive scheme and the types of things that you did against Air Force that are going to be different the rest of the way.
There were some unique things that had to be implemented because of the style of offense that they play.
We could even put that aside and just talk about what is this defense going to look like going forward for UNI.
You know, we did get a new defensive coordinator, so there was going to be some tweaks and changes along those lines, but from years past, you know, we've continually ran a four-man and a three-man front, kind of rotated between the two, depending on basically the personnel that we're getting on the field and or, you know, the types of teams we're playing.
And so, I mean, you can go back and watch old film and see this, but if there's a pass every team, we typically run maybe a three-man front to get, you know, an extra guy, another drop lineback or drop safety.
to help in coverage and if we have a run heavy team you know we'll switch to a four man front and so we have the guys on the team and the players to kind of switch between the three and four man front as how we see fit.
When you think of the three man front do you think in a sense that it's a five man front in some ways because you've got a couple of edge rushers in passing situations and what does that mean for you as a linebacker?
Yeah well three man front means play fast you know so you only have
you have a zero tech so there's a guy head up the center and then you have the two five techniques that are you know outside shade of the tackle or whatnot and so there's a lot of space in between those two guys whereas the four man front you know there's two guys on the guard two guys on the ends and it's a little slower play defense for the linebackers but and three man front it's a fast defense you play downhill because those guys are gonna get double teams and the only way to help those guys get off double teams
is the, you know, go fit a gap so that the lineman has to come off the double team and block you.
And so, in essence, as the detackles and DNs help, the linebackers, the linebackers can kind of return the favor and try to help them as far as getting single blocked and things like that.
How much of that is implemented game to game?
When you're seeing a run heavy or pass heavy team as you alluded to, how much of that is quarter to quarter or even series to
series?
Yeah, a lot of it is series to series.
You know, we, I think we were always going to have our fallback defenses where we feel like, you know, we can always go to this defense if, if something goes wrong, whether it's a pass heavy team, run heavy team, no matter what.
And so.
Just having that ability to change between the two and kind of give offenses different looks that way they can't get settled in and you know always expect the same thing the following series and so they have to change up whether it's blocking techniques or schemes or whatever the case may be just giving them you know a different look can help us not help the offense you know getting a rhythm in that way.
So putting yourself aside when you think about the other linebackers who are playing this Panther scheme this versatile defense
Who is the most versatile player when you look at those guys who you're out there
with?
I don't have to think about that one too hard.
I think that's Corby Sander.
I mean, you can see from years past, even from he's a red shirt freshman year this year.
I mean, he's played the free safety.
He's played Rover.
He's played nickel.
He's played inside backer.
He played just about every single position that isn't cornerback.
And even last year, he played a little bit at the end.
We were in the three-man front and he rolled down as a walk-up.
Edge rusher and he and he was setting the edge and things like that.
So he's You know, it's great to have him on the defense.
He's a very versatile guy and and he's the guy that just has a motor like like no other I mean, he's he's always run of the ball trying to tackle dudes when maybe he has no business making that tackle So I'd say Corby for sure
is the versatility what is asked for from everybody or is it just in his case because he's got that unique skill set Are you and the other linebackers has to do different things relative to what he's doing?
I would say that we're we're asked to do different things within our position group So maybe like inside backers, you know, whether it be Mike or will but Corby he's he's one of the I guess I'd say Corby and then there's a few other guys to von Brecky and Edwin dearman There are a couple guys that are in that in the position where they're playing safety and they'll roll down and play like an outside backer position And then sometimes they're rushing off the edge.
So it's it's really the inside backers don't have as much
Required versatility to do that kind of thing where as the safeties can play they're kind of interchangeable The safeties and come down and play nickel go back up and play safety or come and rush off the edge
Give us a name We don't know yet who you've seen in practice a linebacker who's a freshman or new to the program in one way or another Who we're going to know as time passes whether that's special teams this season Whether that's getting the chance to play this season or whether that's even further off in the future.
I would say Ben Belkin
He's an inside linebacker, and he's a guy who works incredibly hard.
I mean, he loves to get after in the weight room.
He's a smart kid, and he's got a really great work ethic.
And I think moving forward, whether it be this season or the next, I think you guys are going to hear a lot more about Ben Belkin.
We're talking with UNI Panther senior linebacker Spencer Covalier and now we're going to flip to today's matchup against the fighting Hawks.
I mentioned that the last time the Panthers saw the University of North Dakota, they were the fighting Sioux.
That was back in 2006 and we could go back all the way into the 1930s for some of the serious history.
Won't get into that today.
I'm sure that's something that's going to be brought to you throughout the day, but it seems like a rare situation where you have a conference game.
against an opponent that you've never seen in your time playing for UNI.
It'll happen a little bit more with some changes to the conference makeup here over the next couple of seasons, but this seems like it's somewhat unique.
How do you go into this game?
It's exciting.
Ultimately, it's another football game, and that within itself is exciting.
But starting off week two with a conference game, they're coming off a loss just like us, and so they're going to be hungry for victory as well.
We're going to go in there and try to perform the way that we know that we can.
And playing North Dakota, they got introduced to the Missouri Valley last year.
And so we were able to watch them against some opponents that we're familiar with and playing against.
So yeah, it's exciting.
We talked about the differences in what
UNI would do against Air Force because of the circumstances of that game, the special things that they do.
So what North Dakota sees on tape from last week won't necessarily be representative of anything that the Panthers want to do.
Is it the same situation against the North Dakota team that played Nebraska, a big 10 opponent, a big 10 opponent that already had played a game the week before against Northwestern?
How much can you rely on that recent game tape to have any idea what to expect
today?
No one, basically, what their players can do.
And I thought they played well.
Obviously, they looked at the box score.
They played pretty well against Nebraska.
They fought hard there up until the third quarter or so.
Nebraska kind of ran away with it.
But they're going to have some guys that are going to have some fighting them.
And we can always watch a film from last year.
And there's always carryover as far as schemes and playing and things like that goes.
You also alluded to this being Missouri Valley football conference game in week two and there are other non-conference games that are on the schedule still ahead of the Panthers, so Talk to me about this one conference game sort of dropped in on its own on an island and then the Panthers having to get back to conference play later on this month
Yeah, it's gonna be a little bit of a wake-up call, you know, it's the time is now, you know the goal every year
besides, you know, making the playoffs and things like that would be one of the Missouri Valley Conference.
And you don't do that by not starting off 1-0.
And so, you know, playing this first game is going to be big for us, making sure we get our defensive calls back down and, you know, go in there with an attitude that we can do what we can do.
Based on the early analysis of this opponent, is there a name that you have?
branded into your mind for the fighting Hawks that if you hear his name over the speakers in Grand Forks too many times, you know, it's going to be a long day.
You've got to stop this player.
Well, the only reason why I know this player is because he's on the team last year at UNI and that would be Tyler Hoosman.
And so he transferred to North Dakota.
I think he had a touchdown last week and then ran brand.
He runs hard.
And, you know, now he's like I said, he played for us last few years.
know him personally and he transferred to North Dakota this last off season and now he's going to be a part of their team and so you know it's going to be interesting seeing him in a different color uniform on the other side of the ball.
Spencer, thanks for being back with us, and we hope that it's a good trip up to Grand Forks, but most importantly, a good trip back from Grand Forks.
I
appreciate that very much.
Thank you.
Thanks for listening to the Home of the Panthers podcast with UNI Panther Spencer Cuvillier, presented by Imon Communications.
Experience the Imon Difference.
Join us again before next week's UNI football game for the Home of the Panthers podcast and listen to the game live on the Home of the Panthers.
news talk 1540 KXEL.
I'm Tim Harwood.
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