I was able to talk with Ian Sadler after practice today. The sophomore receiver had a good showing on Saturday against SHSU catching 5 passes for 73 yards and 2 touchdowns.
-On paper Sadler looked to have had a solid game, but Sadler wasn’t as complimentary of his play.
“I’d say average, especially as a receiving core as a whole, I’d say it was average. My blocking wasn’t very good, the receiving core as whole dropped a lot of balls, made a lot of mistakes, lot of penalties, so we have a lot to work on.”
-One of Sadler’s two touchdown catches came towards the end of the second quarter. The Y-receiver made the catch over the middle with no defender in sight and raced 53 yards to the end zone untouched.
“It was a hot route because they blitzed everyone and the middle of the field was wide open. The ref kind of helped me out a little bit; I ended up seeing that on film. I thought it was pretty crazy how wide open I was.”
-Sadler’s first touchdown catch of the game came on a spectacular play by Pat Mahomes. Mahomes escaped various would-be sacks, rolled to his left with a defender hot on his heels, and found Sadler at the front of the end zone for the 8-yard strike.
“I did not think he was going to get away from that pressure at all, but Pat is always doing something like that. I mean it’s Pat. We work scramble drills all the time, so I was just trying to work to get open and he found me for the score.”
-One of the glaring problems on Saturday was the lack of concentration from the various receivers including some of the freshmen. Looking back to last year, Sadler had some early drops of his own before he came on strong at the end of the year. The sophomore receiver thinks it was the first game jitters that got to a lot of the receivers.
“It was the first game of the year, so the jitters were there for a lot of the players, stuff is going to happen. It’s something we have to not really think about, but also put in a lot more work to improve on.”
-True freshmen receivers Jonathan Giles, KeKe Coutee, and Tony Brown all made their collegiate debuts on Saturday. Sadler has been impressed with the freshman group overall, but he really liked the play of his backup, Jonathan Giles.
“I really pay attention to Jonathan because we both play the same position, and I was very impressed with how he played. He made a lot of plays throughout the game and I thought he was very good. It was good to see him get a decent amount of reps.”
-Sadler notes that the UTEP defense plays a lot of man. They played man last year, and he expects them to do the same this year.
-Senior receiver Jakeem Grant also had an excellent day on the field this past weekend and his energy and performance had a big impact on the rest of the receiving corps.
“I thought Jakeem did really well. His performance kind of took over and it had a big influence on us with his senior leadership.”
-Sadler said Morris didn’t say much after the game other than he was excited they got the win. The coach and his players know that there is a lot of work left to do as a position group and will be putting in the work to correct those mistakes.
-On paper Sadler looked to have had a solid game, but Sadler wasn’t as complimentary of his play.
“I’d say average, especially as a receiving core as a whole, I’d say it was average. My blocking wasn’t very good, the receiving core as whole dropped a lot of balls, made a lot of mistakes, lot of penalties, so we have a lot to work on.”
-One of Sadler’s two touchdown catches came towards the end of the second quarter. The Y-receiver made the catch over the middle with no defender in sight and raced 53 yards to the end zone untouched.
“It was a hot route because they blitzed everyone and the middle of the field was wide open. The ref kind of helped me out a little bit; I ended up seeing that on film. I thought it was pretty crazy how wide open I was.”
-Sadler’s first touchdown catch of the game came on a spectacular play by Pat Mahomes. Mahomes escaped various would-be sacks, rolled to his left with a defender hot on his heels, and found Sadler at the front of the end zone for the 8-yard strike.
“I did not think he was going to get away from that pressure at all, but Pat is always doing something like that. I mean it’s Pat. We work scramble drills all the time, so I was just trying to work to get open and he found me for the score.”
-One of the glaring problems on Saturday was the lack of concentration from the various receivers including some of the freshmen. Looking back to last year, Sadler had some early drops of his own before he came on strong at the end of the year. The sophomore receiver thinks it was the first game jitters that got to a lot of the receivers.
“It was the first game of the year, so the jitters were there for a lot of the players, stuff is going to happen. It’s something we have to not really think about, but also put in a lot more work to improve on.”
-True freshmen receivers Jonathan Giles, KeKe Coutee, and Tony Brown all made their collegiate debuts on Saturday. Sadler has been impressed with the freshman group overall, but he really liked the play of his backup, Jonathan Giles.
“I really pay attention to Jonathan because we both play the same position, and I was very impressed with how he played. He made a lot of plays throughout the game and I thought he was very good. It was good to see him get a decent amount of reps.”
-Sadler notes that the UTEP defense plays a lot of man. They played man last year, and he expects them to do the same this year.
-Senior receiver Jakeem Grant also had an excellent day on the field this past weekend and his energy and performance had a big impact on the rest of the receiving corps.
“I thought Jakeem did really well. His performance kind of took over and it had a big influence on us with his senior leadership.”
-Sadler said Morris didn’t say much after the game other than he was excited they got the win. The coach and his players know that there is a lot of work left to do as a position group and will be putting in the work to correct those mistakes.
Last edited:
