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MOUNTAIN WEST FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP BOISE STATE VS HAWAIIDecember 6, 2019Bryan HarsinCurtis WeaverJaylon HendersonTHE MODERATOR: Coach, seems like old hat and this has become a routine here in December in Boise, a Championship Game held on the Blue. I know it's an opportunity you guys cherish and certainly don't take for granted. HEAD COACH BRYAN HARSIN: No, we don't. Every year is a new year, and last year was last year and all the previous seasons. This is a completely different football and a new mindset, and we started in January of, you know what do we want to accomplish this season; how do we want it to go; what kind of work are we willing to do to put ourselves in the position that we are in right now. Really for our coaches, our players, this thing started a long time ago, and this week we're excited to be in this game. This is where we wanted to be. Certainly hosting it is a great opportunity for us. As far as every single year being a new year, every single year having its own opportunity; that's really been our message this entire season. And I've been very proud of our team and our coaches just to stay focused on that. Just focussed on the task and hand and what we have to do every single week and this week it's about Hawai'i, and it's about playing at home and it's about an opportunity to play for a championship, and a chance to win one; and we're excited about that and our players have done a tremendous job of getting themselves ready to do that. THE MODERATOR: Curtis, Mountain West Player of the Year, what was the secret to your season? Why have you had so much success this year? CURTIS WEAVER: I just felt like Coach Manning and Coach D did a great job putting me in the right places to make plays and then the other front in the linebackers and the DBs is a team game. They did everything to take part in the accomplishments I've had. Q. Jaylon, wondering in the last three weeks what has been the most enjoyable part, the most surreal part or anything like that? I'm not sure even a month ago you would probably imagine you would be sitting here in this press conference. What has most interesting thing been for you in these last couple starts? JAYLON HENDERSON: It's just been a surreal almost, just to see the team come together and be able to really get closer as a team. I know towards the end of the season, your best game is to be played towards the end of the season. To see us get better every single week, can't say enough about that. Q. This week, you were promoted to the top of the depth chart, what was that moment like for you everyone talks about your energy and passion on the sideline. Where does that come from? Why does that make you a part of who you are? JAYLON HENDERSON: Yeah, I mean, for me, it was no different. Same preparation. Same daily habits that I take in every single day. And then the guys around me just continuing to instill confidence as a team and just help us get better every single day. I mean, that goes a long way. The little things that you do every single day, just really piles up. That was great. Then as far as the energy, that's just something I've had my entire life, just going out there and just trying to make it contagious around the team, because I also know that goes a long way and keeps us very prepared for everything that's to come our way. Q. When you look at Hawai'i what do you think the greatest challenges are in facing their respect offenses and defenses, and what did you take from playing in the first game? CURTIS WEAVER: On their offensive side of the ball, we know they have a bunch of athletes. We know they can score in less than a minute and it's just going to be flying all around, so we just got to stop them and get off the field and that's the biggest thing for us. JAYLON HENDERSON: Offensively, their defense, they have got a very fast defensive line, very explosive off the ball. We just have to go out there and execute our plays and play Boise State football. Q. You guys worked a full year to get to this point. To be 24 hours away from a game and a moment you were working for all year, what's this feeling like for you guys? JAYLON HENDERSON: It's definitely something that doesn't start at the beginning of the season. It starts back in January when we set all of our goals as a team. So every single day from the start of the year to the end of the season, you really just do everything that you can to pursue those goals, whether that's going one percent better every single day. Everything that you could do just to get to that one little goal at the end of the season, and that's what it's all about for us. CURTIS WEAVER: Yeah, it kind of started after the game right after we lost. We talked about it, and set a bunch of goals and we're accomplishing some of them. Right now we're going to keep going. We just want to be a better us at the end of the day, just keep going. Q. One of the sentiments that the UH team has expressed over the course of the week is how much they feel like they have grown as a team since the game here in October, and I wondered how you felt about how your team has grown and evolved since that contest. HEAD COACH BRYAN HARSIN: Yeah, I say the same thing. That was a while ago. I think what we've learned from the last time we played, I mean, that was, I don't know how many games ago exactly, but every week is different. Every challenge is different. Every opportunity that we had in front us was a new challenge for us every week. So your preparation, your team changes, obviously, along the way, things happen. There might be injuries, substitutions, things like that that go on. But as far as the mindset of the team, I think we have tried to continue to improve. I think we've done that. I think there has been signs of that throughout the season, and that's no different this week. This is a continuation of what we started a long time ago in trying to just find ways to improve each day, find ways to improve in our game and every player. Football is a developmental game, and every week, you have a new challenge and new opportunities in front of you. That really hasn't changed. But I've seen our guys attack that. I've seen our guys take on the challenges. I've seen our guys in the ups and downs of the season or in games and find ways to still come out on top. To me, that's what you're trying to accomplish, because you think about it at the beginning of the year, you don't know what's going to happen. What you have in front of you is the guaranteed schedule. You don't know if you're going to play in a Bowl game. You don't know if you're going to play in a championship. All you have are those games that are right in front of you and you start with the first one and then you go on to the next one and you learn from each one as the season goes on. Then every week, it's a lot of things that you hear a lot of players talk about, but is it actually happening, are you actually doing it. To me, I would say the majority of our team, those things have actually happened and that's why we're sitting here today. Now, like I said, you know, tomorrow is another opportunity and we're playing a really good team and I've got a chance to go back and watch those games because after we played Hawai'i, you don't watch what they are doing until you know who you're going to play. Now we've had a chance to do that. Certainly seeing their growth and their team improve -- as the season goes on, that's why you have two teams that are playing in this game because they have gotten better and that's why we have the opportunity that we have, along with Hawai'i. Q. I know we've asked you about Jaylon, so I'll ask you about the other guy. Curtis came in, preseason Defensive Player of the Year, and everyone knew he was going to get a lot of attention from other teams and still has had his best season. What's impressed you most about what he's done this season? HEAD COACH BRYAN HARSIN: Let me just say this: I know it was mentioned about Leighton Vander Esch and having a Defensive Player of the Year. That's outstanding. Curtis didn't come into this season unknown. He's a guy that people knew about and his game -- his ability to go out there and make plays and when you play against somebody like that, there's going to be things that teams try to do and he's still out there making plays. He's still out there getting better. He's still out there improving. These awards, where they come from and who votes on them and all those things like that, we're certainly excited about our guys and the attention they have gotten from it. But you don't see all the work that goes in on Sunday, and all the work these guys put in and what Curtis has put in from a Sunday practice to a Monday preparation to Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, and all the things that he has to do and our guys do every single week to get themselves ready to go. So I'm more about that and the growth of guys on this football team and watching them and the maturity and their development happened throughout the season and certainly come game day, it's exciting to watch guys go out there and make plays and make plays significantly like Curtis has done. That's the part to me that's enjoyable about being a coach and being around players like that that are driven and motivated, and it's not just, you know, Curtis. It's guys around him like you mentioned and the elevation of that group on the defensive side and the guys playing together and all 11 guys out there doing their job. So somewhere along the way, somebody on that side of the ball can make a play, and I'm excited about how Coach Schmedding and our defensive staff have done this year, too, under the circumstances that we started with last year and how they have worked together with the guys on that side of the ball. Those things to me have been enjoyable to be around and the type of people we have on this football team and the defensive mentality we have. I've enjoyed that. I'm looking forward to watching these guys go out and play again tomorrow. Q. This is the fourth time you've hosted this since you've been here. How is this different from maybe a normal home game? Do you build it up as this is the Championship Game? How is it different, maybe more purple out there? HEAD COACH BRYAN HARSIN: Certainly some different banners and things like that, which is exciting. This is what you want to have at the end of the year. You'd like to have it at your home field. So the previous years, those have all been unique by themselves, and certainly this season and what our guys have been able to accomplish to get us to where we are right now, proud of that and proud of our guys for the work they have put in to get us here. The number of times we've been in this, it really matters right now and to me that's really the focus is right now, right here, and what we have in front of us and what we've been trying to accomplish this entire year to get into this game, and certainly want to go out there and finish strong like we talked about a long time ago. But it's not just another game. This is the opportunity you've been working for to go play in this game as well and then to have it back on the blue. That was something we talked about after the New Mexico game. We really hoped that we would have an opportunity to have another chance to play on the blue. We finished our season, one of the toughest schedules, to fin our season on the road against a really good Utah State team and tough Colorado State team on a really short week. That in itself, these two games, just the focus and preparation it took to do that back-to-back, to get us here certainly was a challenge in itself, and now the opportunity to be back at home and on the blue and playing for a championship, those are the opportunities you work for. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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