Coach Becht HC UFL Orlando Storm Post Game 4 vs Birmingham Stallions. AlanAlfordSportsTalkShow.com

All right, I'm really proud of my football team. I want to give a shout out to my defensive coordinator, Donny Abraham. That's our first shutout as a team over the last four years. We've been close a couple times, but the response of our defense from last week's game, even though they played hard and they finished the overtime game, we really did challenge our players defensively and offensively because we just feel like we haven't played our best game yet. To come on in somebody's backyard, their home opener, they've got a lot of things going on, a lot of game ball ceremonies, a lot of talking and all that kind of stuff. It was good to come in and just stay focused and get the job done. It was a grind on offense for us. At times I felt like we tried to take advantage as much as we could in the run game, in the pass game. We just couldn't get it clicking. They played hard. They had a lot of guys in the box. We've got to evaluate and look at that. I think offensively we could be a lot better. But we fought the fight. It was a good job at the end of the game to finish it off in that four-minute offense under two to not give them the ball back. So ultra proud of everybody involved. To be 4-0, man, it's special. I've never been 4-0 as a head coach. We've had a lot of good seasons, obviously, over the last three. But to go out there and just stay focused, stay with the prizes in front of us and just go 1-0, good things happen. So I'll open it up to questions. Coach, you talk about that defensive performance. I mean, Birmingham, you look at their roster, a lot of talent there. You held them to 1 for 13 on third down. I mean, obviously shut them out. What did you see defensively that really led to that success? Yeah, I read all the articles you were writing and how good this offense was and how much they were loaded. And they do have a lot of talented receivers. But we've got a lot of talented defensive linemen. Pass rush was great. They leaned on the quick game. When you have two-edge guys like we do, there are problems. So you can't just go back there and just toss them down the field. And I thought our secondary respondent. Now, I'd like to see our secondary pick off one of the five I think we dropped in this game. I have to talk to Donnie a little bit about his pregame warm-up. I think they caught too many balls pregame. But, man, we got our hands on a couple balls. We've got to take advantage of that, man. This game could have been ripped wide open, and we kept them hanging around. And then from a standpoint of just offensively, we've got to finish in the red zone. You don't get a lot of touches in the first half. We've got that chance to go down deep in the red zone, and we just don't block it up right when we have our big personnel in there. And it cost us. Congrats to them for making the stop, but we have to score touchdowns in those moments. Coach, Jake had a lot of time back in the pocket. So Cole and the whole O-line, can you speak on how they held up today? Yeah, no, they've been fantastic. I mean, you know, Zory Emory stepped in for the last couple weeks at left tackle. Man, he's been awesome. They work well together. It did seem like Jack had some time, you know, which is good. And, you know, I trust Jack to see it and, you know, connect when we have to. So, you know, we'll take a good look at the tape. You know, listen, I get Birmingham credit for some of those opportunities. They made some good stops. And, listen, you know, they ran a few looks that we weren't really expecting. And you're going to get that when you're, you know, playing a team that's trying to win. You're going to play some more teams. Like, they're going to try to put some wrinkles in front of us. You know, Jack's a guy that's really intelligent at the line of scrimmage. We give him a lot of flexibility on, you know, multiple plays to call and get us into some good spots. But today, you know, they made a couple plays. So, you know, I think it's more for us just finishing our plays. If we finish a little bit better, maybe a couple more, you know, big runs, spurt, and things of that nature. So we'll take a look at it. But no turnovers, which was great. We protected the balls, the backs. I think we rushed for 124 yards. They were hard 124 yards, but that does wear on you as the game goes on. So, again, man, just protecting the football, not turning it over, and just distributing it when you can. That's Jack's job, and he's done a nice job of it. Coach Brett, with the bottom line and UFL fans, with the history with you and AJ, how sweet was this victory to come to Birmingham and 18,000 fans, packed out stadium, and just physically manhandled the Stallions? Yeah, you know, I mean, listen, it's the first year for a lot of coaches in this league, and, you know, really for all of us, like building new teams. And I just tried to be really diligent in the offseason of just finding the right mix of guys. And it's hard, man. There's a lot of players. You've got UFL guys. You've got guys in the draft. You've got quarterbacks to look at. You've got all these free agents. And you've got to recruit guys that, you know, aren't sure if they want to play or not. And then you've got to find out you don't draft a guy that doesn't want to play. So we had to do a lot of homework there so we didn't waste our draft picks. And we did a really good job of that. So it's a little bit of work, but if you get it right, you can really have yourself a good team. They have talented players. You know, we just played a little bit better today. Everything was going good, too, throughout the week. I didn't hear much talking or banter back and forth. I did see James posted a video at a party event last night. It did leak out there. And, you know, supposedly we're going to, you know, not just beat us but run the score up. So, you know, that was part of our pregame operation in the locker room today. But, you know, listen, AJ's a smart dude. He'll get it right. And, you know, they've got some talented players over there, so they just have to figure out what they want to do. But, you know, really just want to congratulate our players and really the composure they had throughout and playing four quarters. You know, they never really gave them a chance. They got going. And I think, you know, that's a frustrating thing. That's happened to us a couple times, but we're able to kind of push through. And just kudos to our guys. Coach, one of the guys offensively that stepped up today, Cam Camper, you know, with KJ Hamler not being active, four catches, 44 yards, a touchdown, also had that deep pass that was taken back. Just talk about what you saw from him today. Yeah, everybody's talking about all the depth at receiver and other teams. Like I got guys that are begging to dress that are really good players. Cam's one of them. Like we didn't flinch. Not only didn't we flinch, he was dressing this week regardless of KJ coming up or not. So, you know, this wasn't a he's up because KJ's down. He was going to play this game regardless. And we were going to dress one less defensive lineman. So, listen, man, he's been diligent. He's worked hard. It's very hard when you get told you have to stay back. And he had a really good camp, you know. He's young. And he's like, hey, Coach, what do I got to do to get on – listen, man, just stay the course. Like I got Sam Wigless, man, a guy that got cut and came back, and now he's got an important part of this team and he's making catches and plays. I got Cap that's really good at special teams. You know, and we got those young guys. We got Chris Rowland and KJ. And we got Badger, who's a young player. So it's hard to get on the field. But, man, we got talent at receiver now. We got a guy that can get the ball to those receivers, which is huge. And we really haven't even started using our tight ends. We're dressing all three. I know they've been great in the run game, but they can catch the ball too. So they're going to find ways to be part of our offense as well. But it's hard to, you know, when you can't dress everybody, to really acknowledge how good your depth is. But we always feel good. I've always said that. I preach that. Our depth has always been good every year I've coached. And, you know, I think just people don't understand. I got a receiver in Aaron Cruickshank who hasn't even dressed a game yet. He's pretty good. He's a pretty good player. I drafted him first in the free agent draft from a standpoint of receivers and skill positions. So, you know, but he's still hungry and he's going to wait his turn. So we'll hope to get KJ back this week, be a full force, and we'll just kind of reevaluate what we're doing and see who's going to be up and down to get the best 42, 43 guys on the field. Yeah, we have a question from Zoom. From Terry Spain in the Storm Report, Coach, this is the first time any UFL team has shut out in the regular season. How does that make you feel? It's awesome. You know, I don't think – you know, my defensive coordinator, Donny Abraham, is a man of not a lot of words. And, you know, we spend a lot of time talking about everybody else's defense, and Donny's stood the test of time. You know, Donny's got four years of film on him, on the defensive scheme and what we're doing, man. So the fact that we even got a whole new crop of guys and he was able to pitch a shutout on the road versus a team that, you know, has a lot of weapons, a very dangerous offense, and some of the things they do, man, kudos to them. And just really proud of him and the guys. They really did respond. You know, we weren't really happy with last week's performance, especially the secondary. We really wanted them to rise up. And, man, they were dialed in and focused. Like I said, we get our hands and squeeze that football a couple times. We're going to be in good shape. But either way, they got their hands on it, and that's a plus. So they're in the right spots, and they didn't let any big plays down the field, and they tackled the back. McFarland's a good back, and he's a guy that can break some tackles. And we were on it, and we hit them, and we brought them down. So, again, just a tremendous effort from our defense across the board. I think, what, one for 13 on third down. I mean, that's ridiculous. So that's a hell of a job for all those guys. One more from online. Coach, your offense had great success utilizing the dagger concept, taking a receiver deep to clear out the zone and bringing another right underneath. What did you see on film from the stallion secondary that made you confident this formation would be the daggers today? Well, you know, that's kind of up every week. I think what you want is you've got to have guys, receivers, that understand, like, sometimes your role is to clear things out and to help other guys. Now, we didn't hit a lot of them today, and we had some things there we want to get back to. But, you know, I think it's just really the effort of everybody and being selfless. I think early on, you know, you've got a young player like Badger, had a good start to the season, he wants the ball. But, you know, when you really understand and get down to it, if we have selfless play across the board and we win games and we're 4-0 and we are now the bright spot of what's going on, people will watch that, people will see that. And I think, you know, from that standpoint, I feel like, you know, you get more in return when you're winning and you play hard and you help others. And that's what we're doing right now. So whatever guy's up and whatever guy has their chance, it's because somebody else is doing their job like that and clearing out and doing things of that nature. So it's a game bigger than the individual, and these guys have bought into that. It's hard in this league because this is a get-it-get-mine league, and that's just what it is. Your opportunities, you're trying to get your plays, you're trying to get your tape. But we found a way, man, to be relevant, stay relevant, play hard, and get everybody to buy in and get everybody their chance. And a perfect example is Cam Camper today. He got his chance to play. Trey Stewart a couple weeks now with Dotson down. He's got his chance. So these guys are getting film, which is great. So I don't know how many games you're going to address. I don't know how many times you'll be up. But when your opportunity happens, you've got to take advantage of it. We're good? Thanks, guys. Go Storm!