Heading into his fourth year in Buies Creek, GoCamels.com sat down with Campbell head football coach Mike Minter to preview the 2016 Camels.
Question: What do you lose when you have to replace more than 30 seniors on a team?
Minter: You lose the heart of that team. The heart of a team is its seniors. Now that they're gone, it leaves a void, and leadership has to come from somewhere else. You have to see who is going to have to create the identity of a football team. We have to have guys step up and do that now. The other thing is you have to fill a big hole in talent. Two of those seniors we lost are now in the National Football League. I've never had to worry about our long snapping because Danny Dillon was here. Now he's in Arizona. That position is a big part of a football team that a lot of people don't think about. You don't think about your pinkie until you don't have it anymore, right? That's how it is with a great long snapper. Then you have Greg Milhouse, Ugonna Awuruonye, Brandon Mobley and Nick Drew, among others that we lost. How do you replace that? Ben Bolling on the offensive side, who set nearly all of our receiving records in his career; now he's a coach, and he won't be on the field. So those are roles we have to replace, and you address that in the spring and in training camp. These are just things you have to do when you lose over 30 seniors.
Last year's team lost six games by a combined 28 points, including five games by just 18 points in PFL play. How does that affect the 2016 team?
I think coming that close showed a lot of our returners that they can do it. We were so close in all of those games, and they know what they're working for now. Last year's team didn't truly know what they were working for because they didn't know what it was like to be in those situations. These guys have that experience, and they don't want to feel that pain again. That's what ignites people. Sometimes the motivating factor in life is pain. When you don't want to feel that anymore, then you're going to do whatever you have to do to not experience that again.
You coached a top-five defense in the country in 2015. What's the mentality of the 2016 version of this defense?
I think this defense wants to prove something. It's something about after great players leave, the guys that remain want to prove that it wasn't all about them. You look at the San Francisco 49ers when Bill Walsh left. They were bound and determined to win the Super Bowl again just to prove that it wasn't all about him. Or when you had Shaq and Kobe with the Lakers. When Shaq left, Kobe wanted to win another championship to prove that he could do it on his own. I think that's what our defense is feeling right now, and we're going to be a great defense without our Shaq and Bill Walsh.
Despite some vital losses on the defensive side, Campbell still returns some key contributors, like PFL Defensive Freshman of the Year Jack Ryan.
Jack is a great football player. When you think of a football player, he's that. His style reminds you a lot of Luke Kuechly, a rangy, fast guy that can get to the ball. He can diagnose plays and has great instincts. Jack will be a big piece in what we do. We also have a healthy Daniel Bostick, which we haven't had in a while. When he's healthy, he can thud you up, and he solidifies the linebacking corps. We talk a lot about Greg Milhouse, Ugonna Awuruonye and Brandon Mobley, but Jake Barr was a man that made a lot of plays for us in a lot of different situations, so that's a major role that we have to fill. Leading the way in the secondary is Carlos Merritt. He's a bigtime talent that can play at the next level. He's one year into it, so he'll be more comfortable in the system where he can use his talent even more. This defense is faster than the 2015 version. Last year's was bigger, but this one is fast.
You return most of your offense, especially on the line and at running back. What are the team's goals on the offensive side?
Last year our defense was No. 5 in the country, and our offense wants to join those ranks as well. We have a lot of talent and experience returning, and a lot of that will rest on the quarterback, which will be new. We have the best running back and the best offensive line in the conference. We also have Aaron Blockmon and Austin Fleming on the outside. Those guys can hurt you if you go man to man, and we'll have to take advantage of those matchups and situations.
How do special teams shape up?
Coach Duncan McLaurin has done a great job getting our special teams ready for the season after taking over that role. I'm excited about my kickers. Both of them return, so we have experience at those positions. No one is going to be afraid when the kicker goes out there. They know what is going to happen. The long snapper is where we don't have experience, but those guys are working and getting better every day.
How will incoming transfers impact the 2016 team?
Each one of these guys is going to play. All of them are big parts of what we're trying to do offensively and defensively. What I ask from transfers when they come in is to give me all that they have because they don't have a lot of time. To me, it's about the mental part of the game. These guys can play physically, but where are you at mentally? You don't transfer because you just want to transfer. Something happened to you to make you feel like you need to go somewhere else, so your confidence probably isn't as high as it should be. My job is to rebuild that. Once I get them to believe in themselves again, then the talent will take care of itself. Our players make everyone feel like they've been a part of this team for four years, and I make sure mentally they start to have confidence and belief in themselves again. Then, they just have to attack it.
What are some new names we can look for to have breakout seasons?
Dante Simmons has really developed at his position. I always thought he would be a corner, since I coached him in high school, but we had him on offense early. He's really learned how to play corner at a high level. Scott Miller and Brandon Jones could make a big impact too. Brandon has been a receiver for us, but moved to linebacker this season and has been making a lot of plays. Those guys are football players, and Coach Freddie Aughtry-Lindsay has done a great job developing them at their position. Tony McWhite is another guy that you'll hear about this year.
Campbell already had the best game day experience in the PFL. What does this new video board add to that experience?
People get excited about this place. Our new video board is fantastic, the house is always packed, and teams love to play in this environment. Teams in our league don't get to play in this unless they come here. What Bob Roller and the athletic department have done has been truly amazing. Campbell is the experience that you want to have when you talk about FCS football. We have people from all over the region bring their families to Buies Creek to watch football. We have a great atmosphere and a great facility.
Preview the 2016 schedule for us.
This is a hard schedule, particularly in conference. We're playing all the top teams, plus dangerous teams like Stetson, who has a lot of talent, and Davidson, who is an in-state rival. Records don't matter at that point because they want to beat us and we want to beat them. Every week is a tough matchup in this league. Everyone is well-coached and no one is going to beat themselves. You have to execute at a high level to win these games. Our conference is tough, and we have to play tough every game to be successful.
Our nonconference schedule really prepares us for when we get into PFL play. We go from Bluefield in our opener to our first road game at Chowan, then step up to play Presbyterian, a Big South opponent, so you get a real test to see where you are with our nonconference schedule. If you're going to win a championship then you have to pay the price, so if we win the league with this schedule, then we deserve it.
What are you most looking forward to with this team?
How they handle adversity when it strikes. We talk about it all the time and they understand that it is going to come. They understand our definition of mental toughness too. How fast can we get back to center when you get knocked off of it? We've discussed that it's going to happen. Can you recognize the moment and get back? I'm looking forward to seeing that.
You're big on the mental aspect of this game. If you are around this team, you hear them say, "I will thrive in pressure situations," and "one team, one heartbeat." What do those words mean to this team?
It's like Paul said to the Philippians; he said to think on these things. Whatever is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely. That means don't think on these negative things, think about the good. That's what God tells us to do. Focus on the positives. That's what everything is about. You do thrive in pressure situations and you have to tell yourself that. You will thrive in every situation. That doesn't mean you're going to win every time, but if you tell yourself who you are long enough, you're going to believe it, and you will act the way you say you are. This is why we do it. It's not about anything else. We're going to tell ourselves who we are. We thrive in pressure situations. We are one team with one heartbeat. We will be mentally tough. We will have team discipline. We will do our job. You can ask any member of this team what we're about and they will be able to tell you. In the fourth quarter when tensions are high they believe because this is what we do. If you look at all the great teams, they believed they were great first, and then acted on it.
