If you have coordinators coming in and out, it's going to be hard for guys relationship-wise to get to know them.

I think the linebacker group this year is high caliber. There's a lot of good inside guys and good outside guys. Everybody looks the part. They look like they're ready to go.

It's going to be hard to replace those guys. But we still have a good group coming back.

That's a tough call to make, especially on a critical call like that.

I'll tell you what, that was big. It gave them a bigger gap and when you play a team with an offense like that, you can't really give them a lot of points and expect to win.

Growing up, I think the competition at a young age with the programs here, I was able to compete with a lot of great players at a young age, and I think that carried on to middle school and high school and I think that carried on to college. Those same things, the high competition at a high level, is still in me.