Everything From Virginia Tech DC Sam Siefkes After Tuesday's Practice Ahead of Cal

Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Sam Siefkes spoke to the media following Tuesday's practice; here's the entirety of what Siefkes had to say:

On the bye week:

"Good. Much needed. Obviously, going to get a couple of guys back, which will be helpful. But I think players and coaches need a little time to reset, do some self scout, understand what we need to get better at, obviously go forward from there."

On how practice was today:

"Good. I thought they came out with some pretty good energy. You know, for us, it was a third-down day. The rain typically can make things not great energy-wise, but I thought they pushed through that and we moved some things inside. I thought they did a good job handling the adversity with that."

On if he crossed paths with Cal HC Justin Wilcox:

"Yeah, [at Wisconsin]. Very brief stint. So, at that time, Dave Aranda had left to go to LSU. And then Justin Wilcox was hired. I was in transition between becoming the coordinator at UW-Platteville. And so, I kind of helped Wilcox get started for a couple of months and I was in between doing two jobs at once."

Q: What was that like? You still keep up with him at all or is that brief interaction?

"Not much. It was pretty brief. But learned a lot in the short amount of time I was with him. Obviously, he's done a great job at Cal and a couple of the other places prior to Wisconsin. He was at, I think, USC, Washington, a couple other places. And obviously, has a great track record with defense."

On freshman LB Noah Chambers:

"No, that's [not being afraid to hit guys] probably his best quality. Noah has very good instincts as a linebacker. I think it's a quality that you're kind of born with, honestly. I think a lot of linebackers that have that quality, those make the best guys. He has that instinct about him. He understands where the ball's going to fit. He knows where the crease is. They talk about a back understanding, where the hole is going to be. It's the same thing as a linebacker. He understands those qualities. And every game, I think he just takes a step forward, which is the biggest thing."

On whether Siefkes sensed early on that Chambers could contribute this year:

"Yeah, I think the hard part for him was [that] he came in during the summertime and so, he was behind a little bit to start with just because of not being here in the spring like some of the other guys were. But as we got going through in camp, we saw the flashes. It was just kind of piecing it together."

On his growth:

"He's demanding, I think. Early on, he's learning it. He's figuring out where he fits in in the mold. He's starting to become demanding, which is what you want from a linebacker. He's asking really good questions. He understands what we're trying to accomplish on defense. And he's starting to put together where people need to be, which is a really good quality of a leader and obviously what you want your will and your mike linebackers to be."

On safety Sheldon Robinson:

"Yeah, I mean, [for] Sheldon the same thing. Obviously, he got a little bit of jump start compared to Noah, but the thing you notice about Sheldon is [that] he plays things 100 miles an hour, right? For him, his growth has been like in spurts. I think that's what you see when you've watched him throughout the course of games. He had a couple injuries at that position, so he got thrown into it. And then, it seems like each drive, he takes another step and another step and another step. And so, I think, for him and Noah for that matter, the sky's is the limit."

Q: He doesn't look like a freshman physically. How much does that help?

"Yeah, I mean, that's a big part of it. Neither one of those guys look like that. When you watch Sheldon's specific speed and acceleration, I mean, he can go when he sees the ball. And I think what he's trying to work on is understanding the transition of where I need to be and when I need to be so that when I do pull the pin, he'll go and and track the ball down. It's just understanding where that ball's going to be. But yeah, his his speed is different. That's what helps him a ton."

On CB Jordan "Jojo" Crim:

"For him, the corner position's the hardest, right? Because you're put on an island a lot. His personality is he wants that. Like he wants mistakes to happen, so he can learn from them. I think his growth comes from playing against older guys every single day in practice. And then, when he goes in a game, he wants to be put out there against the best guys. And I think that's what you see from him is [that] he's not afraid to make a mistake, because he knows he'll learn from it and he'll come back and be stronger because of it."

On if he'll play a lot moving forward:

"Yeah, I mean, a little bit of necessity, right? Especially with the corner spot. But he's put himself in a position because of those snaps that he's accumulated to to play a lot for us."

On assessing Brennan Johnson at safety:

"When we took Brennan, we didn't really know where he would fit. He did some things that were similar to what our strong safety position is currently. So, I thought that was a pretty seamless fit for him. I think the the best quality about him is [that] he's really intelligent. He knows where all the pieces are. Sometimes you need to tell him to not think about it so much and just react and play. But that's his best quality. He knows the playbook, top forward, all that and I think that's that's a really good quality as a freshman to have."

On whether having the freshman ready-to-play is energizing:

"Yeah, absolutely. And they're hungry. That's the best quality about those guys, they want to get coached and they want to be coached hard. And any little tidbit of information you're going to give any of those three guys and four or five, there's a couple of corners obviously. They want that information because they know it's going to help them immensely going forward."

On Cal's QB, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele being left-handed:

"Yeah, this guy, he's got a quick trigger. He can put the ball where he wants to. I think his arm strength is incredibly impressive. I think when you give him a lot of time to operate, that's when he can really dice you up good. But I think he understands windows. He understands where the zones are going to be. He knows how to find his receivers in space. Like that's what's made their offense go. I think he's done a a really good job for a freshman. I mean, that's a guy that's done an impressive job for them."

On if anything changes with Sagapolutele:

"Not necessarily. I think it may be the eyes, you know, we have a lefty in Goov [Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, the associate safeties coach], that helps there. So, yeah, completely different. But we try to use him as much as we could for individual and stuff like that to train their eyes. But I don't know if it's much different, but it is different."

On if Cal WR Jacob De Jesus has been the team's "gadget guy":

"Yeah, not necessarily gadget. I mean, the guy can do everything. I don't know exactly what his stat line was, but I want to say he had like 121 yards receiving last week [Editor's note: It was 105.] and probably could have had some more. But he does a little bit of everything for 'em. They'll line him up in the back field. They'll give him the ball. They'll jet sweep him. They like running him out in space and slot options and things like that. But he can take the top off. And so, that's one guy that we know where he's at at all times. And we're going to be mindful of where his location is because he can beat you in a lot of ways and obviously special teams, as well."

Q: What was the biggest thing that you harped on during the week?

"I think the biggest thing we try to tell our guys was resetting. They needed the time. I think that was pretty clear to be able to, No. 1, get their bodies healthy, but also get their minds healthy. They've had a lot of time and a lot of things that have changed and turned over. And that's emotionally and physically for them. And so, I think the best thing we could do for them was give them time because they've deserved it. The guys that have have really hunkered in and done what we've asked them to do, they deserve that time."

Arizona Cardinals linebackers coach Sam Siefkes talks to his players during training camp at State Farm Stadium in July 25, 2024. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

On how crucial it is to generate pressure on Sagapolutele:

"Yeah, it's incredibly crucial. It's everything, you know. I think when you're not able to get pressure on them and specifically with your guys up front, it makes for a long day. And all the wins that they've had. That's what he's done, is he's diced people up in quick game. When he gets to drop back in action shots, uh if there's time available, he's going to find the crease. and whether it's with 21 [De Jesus] or whether it's with seven [Trond Grizzell], 15 [Mark Hamper], 85 [Mason Mini]. They got a lot of weapons and he'll find them. So, that's the biggest thing is, we have to be able to apply pressure on this guy with our front."

On the advantages it brings to have a bye week when Cal didn't:

"I think it gives us some time to be able to work on some things that that we needed to schematically. And then we also started to to do a couple things last week with their A-runs and A-passes are. Kind of their bread and butters, to be able to kind of work those and work through some things that we thought were good and maybe test it out. Now, we're into refining and being able to kind of go through it one more time, which is crucial and I think will help us."

Q: Came from the NFL, you were at Arizona, obviously have to travel a ton. What kind of disadvantage do you think that might put Cal at?

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard and people try to put science behind it and what the best way is to do it. Some people want to go just the day before, some people want to take a couple days before. Everybody has their own theory on what works. I think at the end of the day, it's on the players and it's on the coaches to do what's right for them individually to be able to get prepared and be ready to execute, not only physically, but mentally."

Q: You mentioned the reset. How has that helped for you specifically to kind of have that week off even if you still have to do practice?

"Yeah, I don't really have an off button, so I was watching Cal and trying to get prepared and looking at our self scout stuff. So, I took some time with my girls to be able to reset and then when my little one went to bed, it was back to Cal."

On if Siefkes feels that the players have adequately reset ahead of the game:

"Yeah, I do. They had a a couple of days to be able to do that and they felt pretty good on Monday and then into today. They had a lot of good energy."