Joel Gordon addresses the media ahead of the Baylor game

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Joel Gordon** (0:14)
Unbelievable.

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**Jason Caldwell** (0:30)
Joel, Jason Caldwell, Auburn 247 You've been through it before, but how did you see this team respond to last week and kind of that mock game week and then the game itself Saturday? How do you think that helps you guys heading into the actual game week?

**Joel Gordon** (0:45)
Yeah, I think it's huge, you know, because it's a, you go through fall camp and it's, there's not much time to breathe, you know, during camp and a lot of those days are the same as it was the day before and repetitive in that fashion and then all of a sudden you get to the mock week and it's different, you know, and those things, even for coaches, we have a new staff here, you know, this is the, I guess the fourth year that I've been through kind of the same deal, but I remember the first time I was going through it, I'm like, man, that's a difference here and a difference there and before long, you know, if you have players that are just adjusting to a schedule and as little as that seems, like it can cause hiccups and execution and man, what am I supposed to do on this player, that play, but it was, man, I think it's a great, it's a great deal that we do just to expose the players to what this week is gonna be and now hopefully we get to today and it's smooth and you kind of get all those bumps out of the way, but it was very beneficial.

**Justin Ferguson** (1:54)
Justin Ferguson, Auburn Observer. What can you really expect from this new defensive coordinator, Baylor?
He was at Kansas State and had a really successful year. I think you crossed paths with him a couple of times there. What are you expecting from him stylistically on the defensive?

**Joel Gordon** (2:09)
Yeah, that's a great question.
I'm expecting him to be able to, you know, they changed their scheme going into last year. So they had been odd stack for four years, five years, I think, and before that they were all four down, and then they changed, you know, going into last year. So I would expect he's been really good at doing both, you know, that they have the ability to kind of hop in and out of, you know, what they did last year, a more traditional mixing up four down, three down fronts, and then what they did the four years before that, they were also successful at K-State playing hot stack. So I think any, and he's really good at what he does. He's a really good coach, keeps you on your heels all the time. But I would assume, you know, his history in being a good coordinator in both of those schemes, that they're going to have the ability to do both. How much of each? I don't really know. But he's been successful at kind of both of those deals, and they're a lot different from each other, which makes it a challenge, you know, for any offense. So you've got to be prepared for both of them.
Nathan, Bill, Peter.

**Justin Ferguson** (3:27)
Nathan King, Auburn 247 You mentioned that this is a few years now for you and AG getting an offense ready to start a season. For week one in particular, what are the most important boxes that need to be checked for y'all system and y'all scheme to be successful right off the bat?

**Joel Gordon** (3:42)
You know, it's about the players, you know. It's about getting them to a point, going through again, installing the offense again. There's some players that were with us at the previous stop. There's not a whole lot of players that are on our two and three deep that have ever played for Auburn. There's a small handful, but, and the most important thing is going to be, you know, the guys that we have right here with us, you know, getting them comfortable, you know, in what this game plan is going to be and letting them be able to go out there and play fast and to not overthink any things. There's obviously, you know, there's always jitters, and this is game one, and there's a lot of new, you know, on our side of the ball with our players. But most important thing is just getting our guys to calm down and be able to execute. Like at the end of the day, that's what it's about, you know, being able to take the momentum. We feel like we had a really good fall camp, continue the momentum that was created, you know, through fall camp, and just now you're going to go play somebody else, and, you know, for the players, not making too much of a deal of that, we got to go, you know, take care of us first.