Offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll, defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen and defensive lineman Kyon Barrs spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon about Saturday's win over San Diego State and an early look at this weekend's home opener against Mississippi State.
Here are five takeaways from what they had to say:
How the emergence of Jacob Cowing can benefit the rest of the offense
The expectations were high for Cowing heading into this year after posting a 1,354-yard campaign last year with UTEP, but I don't believe anyone expected him to do the damage he did this past weekend in the first real game he ever played with Jayden de Laura.
It is possible with the performance he displayed this past weekend that opposing defenses begin to key in on him more moving forward, which Carroll believes will only benefit the rest of the offense.
"You can try to cover that if you want with a defender over the top," Carroll said. "Once you get a defense to do that, you got a lot of options on offense so if they want to take a guy away, we've got a lot of other options player wise, scheme wise."
Tetairoa McMillan and Dorian Singer both made some big plays themselves against the Aztecs and can take advantage of any extra attention drawn by Cowing. There are also the tight ends who can take advantage of the middle of the field if Cowing starts to draw more attention down the field on the outside.
