{"id":71639,"date":"2024-10-02T20:21:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T01:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/rhett-lashlee-previews-smu-louisville-addresses-jahari-rogers-transfer\/"},"modified":"2024-10-02T20:21:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T01:21:44","slug":"rhett-lashlee-previews-smu-louisville-addresses-jahari-rogers-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/rhett-lashlee-previews-smu-louisville-addresses-jahari-rogers-transfer\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhett Lashlee previews SMU-Louisville, addresses Jahari Rogers transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"

SMU<\/a> head coach Rhett Lashlee spoke with the media on Tuesday<\/a> to preview the matchup against Louisville as the Mustangs look to move to 5-1 overall. <\/p>\n

Opening Statement:<\/strong> \u201cWell, excited for another game week. We get a chance to go on our first true road game in the ACC, second road game of the year. It\u2019s a great environment there, and it\u2019s a Top 25 team, really well-coached. Offensively, they\u2019re explosive. The quarterback\u2019s playing at a high level, they\u2019ve got three receivers that can really play, and they\u2019ve got good balance on offense. Defensively and statistically, they\u2019re impressive. I think 16 points a game, 23 percent conversion rate on third down, stopping the run at a good rate, not allowing a lot of explosives. It should be a great challenge for us, and we had a good Tuesday getting ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: After being at home for a month, do you think the team can find motivation to fire themselves up as they go into a difficult environment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, I mean, they\u2019re gonna have to, right? I mean, everything\u2019s a series of tests. This is a great opportunity for us. Louisville does have one of the better road environments in our conference, and obviously, they\u2019re a Top 25 team. So, rowdy crowd, everyone\u2019s against you\u2014it\u2019s more like 100 of us versus 50, 60, 70,000. But if you\u2019re a competitor, that\u2019s what you love. It\u2019s loud, all the momentum and emotions usually swing against you, and you\u2019ve got to see what kind of focus you can have. When the play happens, none of that stuff matters. It\u2019s about focusing in and blocking everything out. All football games go back and forth, and on the road, it can swing against you quickly. We need to handle that and not play emotional\u2014just be intense, passionate, and focused. So, we\u2019re excited for that challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Is there anything you or your staff do differently now, going into this stretch of games where you\u2019ll be going coast to coast, changing time zones?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cNot really. The move to the ACC hasn\u2019t changed our travel for football much because the American was largely an East Coast conference. We\u2019ll go out west once, which we already did earlier this year. When we go from Stanford to Duke in one week, there might be minor adjustments, but overall, it\u2019s business as usual. The game plan and the game week are the same. On Friday after our run-through, we shower up, get on a plane, and fly to Louisville instead of staying here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: What are your thoughts on Louisville\u2019s quarterback Tyler Shuck?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cHe\u2019s playing with a lot of confidence\u201411 touchdowns to 1 interception. He\u2019s got great weapons, including Ja\u2019Corey Brooks, who we recruited when I was at Miami. He went to Alabama and then transferred to Louisville, and he\u2019s a super talented guy. They\u2019ve got a couple of guys playing at a high level, and Coach Brohm is known for developing quarterbacks and having explosive, balanced offenses. We\u2019ve played really good passing teams like TCU, and we\u2019ve played teams that run the ball well, like Florida State or Nevada. BYU tried to be balanced. But this is probably the most balanced attack we\u2019ll face. We\u2019ll be stressed and strained defensively, so it\u2019ll take everything we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Louisville has struggled a bit against dual-threat quarterbacks. Do you see an opportunity there for your team?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cA lot of people struggle with dual-threat quarterbacks. Kevin [SMU\u2019s quarterback] has shown the last two weeks that he doesn\u2019t need to run for 100 yards to be a threat. Whether it\u2019s extending plays and throwing on the run or pulling the ball down and running when needed, that\u2019s part of who we are. Kevin gives us a little extra pressure on the defense and forces them to defend the whole field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: How\u2019s Roderick Daniels adjusting to his role this season?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cRoderick is kind of a renaissance man for us. He\u2019s done everything except play left tackle, and I hope we don\u2019t have to get to that point. He\u2019s a great returner, he plays slot receiver, outside receiver, and running back. Last week, with only two practices, he went out and played running back the whole game and did really well\u201415 carries. He\u2019s a really smart football player, so we\u2019re not limited with him back there. Between him, Rashard, and McFaul, plus getting LJ back this week, we should be in good shape depth-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Will LJ Johnson be ready for Saturday?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cYes, he\u2019s been cleared. He practiced today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Any updates on Rashard and Tank?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lashlee:<\/strong> \u201cBrashard practiced fully today, wasn\u2019t limited in any way. Tank\u2019s x-rays were negative, and he was out there in pads today. Our training staff is doing everything they can to get him ready for Saturday. There\u2019s a chance he could play, and we\u2019re optimistic. Worst case, we have a bye week coming up, but we don\u2019t expect him to be out for a long time. Ramello is probably a game-time decision\u2014he practiced today, but it\u2019s still up in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: How will Roderick be used if LJ is ready?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhett Lashlee:<\/strong>
Roderick will still play both running back and receiver. LJ has a history of getting banged up, so Roderick\u2019s versatility will still be key for us.<\/p>\n

Q: Jahari Rogers announced he\u2019s leaving the team. Can you comment on that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhett Lashlee:<\/strong>
Jahari handled it perfectly. He came to us last week and made the decision by Wednesday. He loves SMU, and he\u2019ll graduate in December. He\u2019s been here five years, but he wants to take advantage of the redshirt rule and try to start somewhere else next year. He was in our rotation and helping us on special teams, but he wants one more year to be the guy somewhere. We understand that, and we\u2019ll help him however we can.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you anticipate more players opting out like Jahari?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhett Lashlee:<\/strong>
I don\u2019t think so. We\u2019re past the fourth game, and most of the guys have played five games. The culture here is good, and I think the players are bought into being here. They\u2019re having fun, and they believe in this team. No one\u2019s immune to it, but I don\u2019t expect many more guys in that situation.<\/p>\n

Q: Will Speedy Nettles see more opportunities now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhett Lashlee:<\/strong>
Yes, that moves Speedy up. Crossley and Smoke have been doing well, and Deuce had a good game last week. AJ Davis has been playing, and Speedy\u2019s right there with them. We\u2019ll be smart and not burn a year of eligibility if we don\u2019t have to, but he\u2019s taken a lot of reps with the ones and twos. We have a lot of confidence in him, and he\u2019s got the size to be a great player for us.<\/p>\n

The post Rhett Lashlee previews SMU-Louisville, addresses Jahari Rogers transfer<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee spoke with the media on Tuesday to preview the matchup…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}