HAMILTON – Colgate head coach Dan Hunt and junior defensive lineman Nick Wheeler took part Thursday afternoon in the 2018 Patriot League Football Media Day Teleconference. If you've got a few minutes, sit back, buckle up, strap in and check out this transcript from the reigning Patriot League Coach of the Year and the 2018 selection for Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Dan Hunt
 
(Opening statement) "Obviously, we're at the point of the summer where everyone involved with any football program is dying to get going and start playing football again. We've had a really good summer, with probably over the course of the summer more than 60 players up here working out, working together, growing as a team, growing physically, growing mentally and growing emotionally.
 
"They look great. They work harder now in some aspects, than they do during the season. It's a testament to the type of players we have. We don't have summer school, so they're up here on their own finding jobs and internships – whatever we can do.
 
"Of all the groups I've seen up here over the summer, this is the most focused one we've had. They are serious about winning and they are serious about football. It's just a joy to work with a group like this."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(General expectations) "Our expectations never change. We go into each year and try to have a short focus. If you questioned all 90 members of the Colgate football team as far as what are their expectations, they would all say we want to have a good practice on Day 1. We preach process here and we look for players who love everything that comes with football.
 
"Our goal is to come in and have a great camp, have a good practice on our first day and get our install going, and then go from there. Big-picture, and I'd be shocked if you don't hear this from every coach you talk to, we want to stay healthy and we want to make sure we are at full strength Sept. 1 when it is time to play.
 
"There's good excitement. We are returning a lot of guys who played last year on a good football team. So there's good excitement and expectations. But we don't get too carried away with anything beyond our next challenge. We try to be where our feet are, and right now that's preseason.
 
Nick Wheeler
 
(General expectations) "The expectation from the players is to just get after it, like Coach Hunt said, from Day 1. We want to challenge each other in everything we do, whether it is lifting, on the practice field or doing a walkthrough. Just getting after it and making sure we come together as one, as a team, offensively, defensively and on special teams."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(Similarities between this year and 2015) "It's funny, last year's team – without knowing what the end result was going to be – was a lot like 2015 in that we were picked to finish third in the conference and had some kids step up and you end up playing some pretty good football. But there are similarities between this year and that year. We are returning a lot of players and we have another challenging schedule that should help set us up for whatever comes down the line.
 
"One of the differences in this team compared to the 2015 team and particularly the 2016 season when we ended up 5-5 and didn't really accomplish the things we wanted to is a lot of the players who were on that 2016 team are on this team. They know you can't take anything for granted just because you had a good year the year before and a lot of people are back. That doesn't mean anything; everybody we play has 90 players too.
 
"So they know what it takes to really not have that letup and take nothing for granted. And this group, from the day our season ended last year until today, they have been focused just on making sure we are the best we can be and we are not going to let up no matter the situation.
 
"It's a pretty natural comparison, but I feel good. This team probably has a little bit more experience with some of the fifth-year guys we have coming back. But we'll be a different team than 2015. Some of the strengths of Jake Melville are a little different than Grant Breneman's. They are not quite the same player and we do a few different things.
 
"Overall, in my tenure for sure as head coach, this is the most mature team we've had coming back. That's where are a little bit different than 2015 and 2016."
 
Nick Wheeler
 
(2015 team's success influencing your recruitment to Colgate) "As a recruit, I didn't really know much about Colgate until they played Sam Houston (in the NCAA quarterfinals). But I did watch reruns of the New Hampshire and James Madison games. And watching those games, it was the type of football I played in high school so it was fun to watch.
 
"Seeing them go against some FCS powers was really cool."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(Team's weaknesses) "Obviously, you want to make sure that all aspects of your game are good. If I were to get real X-and-O specific, we need to be a lot better on third down and offensively we need to get our completion percent up. Those are kind of the schematic things we want to shore up.
 
"But this is a league where you have to have one-week memory and one-week vision. Everybody has rivalry games and games you can't wait to play and you want a shot at this team or that team – you've got to guard against that. You've got to stay really focused on where you are.
 
"In a league like this where everyone is so familiar with each other, anything can happen on any given week. That's the big-picture thing I'm looking to guard against.
 
Nick Wheeler
 
(Being prepared to start last year and his progression since) "Coming in as a freshman, I was behind a lot of experienced defensive linemen. So my freshman year was spent trying to learn the most that I could. Then going into last year, I was doing everything I could to learn as much as possible from Pat (Afriyie).
 
"Once I got my opportunity, it was all about executing and showing I could play."
 
(Seeing Colgate against JMU as a recruit) "Watching ESPN, you see a lot of JMU and Richmond. So seeing a school like Colgate play JMU and actually get the win was pretty exciting."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(Breneman's maturity at quarterback) "A lot of that maturity was on us coaches trying to figure out what within our system we should tilt his way.
 
"I'm going to sum up how mature he was with a quick story. The week of the Richmond game, we were standing together watching our field goal kicker practice. And he said to me, 'Coach, how far do you think he can make it from?' So I said that with a game on the line, I would definitely let him go with a 50-yarder. That was on a Wednesday and that was the extent of our conversation."
 
"So he gets into the game for the first time against Richmond, they score late to go up by three, and we get it back to start a two-minute drive. He's taking the field and he looks me in the eye and says, '33, Coach.' I'll be honest and tell you I didn't know what he was talking about. So he says, 'A 50-yarder; I'll get us to the 33.' He remembered that conversation and knew exactly what he had to do.
 
"Obviously, we didn't win the game but that's the type of kid he is. He's a football junkie. He's always learning, which is really one of the things that separates him. He wants to know the next step and what he can do better.
 
"As you watched him develop during the season, there was more of a comfort level. We threw him out there – his first three games were against Richmond, Buffalo and Furman, so he got thrown to the wolves a little bit and came out better for it.
 
"I knew he was going to be a good player; I didn't know he was going to take off quite so quickly. From a mental standpoint, the sky's really the limit with that kid."
 
(Comparing this year returning starters to other years) "It happened in 2002 going to 2003 a little bit, and obviously we played for the national title that year, but it also happened in 2004 we had quite a bit back. We won only seven games and we didn't achieve what we wanted to do.
 
"Where we got really lucky this year is we have four players who have a fifth year of eligibility because of a medical redshirt. They all chose to come back and they're all starters. Yeah, we're bringing back a lot of guys who were juniors last year but we're also bringing back four who were seniors.
 
"It's kind of an unprecedented level of experience but just like anyone in this league, you still have to guard against injury. You have to practice smart and you have to play smart because depth will always be an issue. There have been very few years when I could say there's this much experience coming back onto the field."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(Roster size) "That's the ol' Patriot League question right there. I appreciate that. We will have 87 dressed, fully healthy players, so we're not quite at the 90 limit. If we were to have this conversation in November, it would be a lot less than that for sure."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(James Holland Jr.'s return) "Huge, and huge for him too. I just want to see him have a year where hopefully he gets a healthy year and can show what he can do. He's one of the best backs in the country and I'm just happy for him. He's made use of the internship to get him to his fifth year, so when you look big-picture he will end up in a better place in his business career.
 
"He's had a lot of big carries for us, he's done a lot for us and he's a great leader to the rest of that running back crew. We are blessed at that position – we've got three of the top running backs in the conference on this team, so it's going to be a matter of keeping them healthy and making sure they are happy with their carries. I'm fortunate that they are not big ego guys, so they appreciate what we have.
 
"To have James back, it's a great way to settle down. If things aren't going your way in the pass game or whatever, to have a back you can hand it to and you can pretty much count on him getting you the four yards, that's comforting and we are lucky to have that."
 
Dan Hunt
 
(2003 and 2004 team experiences related to this year) "It's funny because 2003 was the last time we opened our season with a league game, which we do this year – we'll take any comparison like that we can get. But we opened down at Georgetown that year and we should have lost to be honest with you. They were in the take-a-knee period and fumbled, and we ran our two-point conversion play to score from the 3-yard line and win the game.
 
"If you would have said after Week 1 that we were about to go undefeated and play for a national title, I would have said you're crazy. And then we go out and beat Buffalo in Week 2.
 
"Just those two games shows how close winning and losing is and not to take that for granted. 2003 was something special; I'll never forget that season. But in 2004, we just didn't have the same spark, and that's something you have to guard against.
 
"We played 16 games in a row in 2003; our bye week was Week 1. Maybe we were a little too aggressive in the following spring and fall; I don't know. We just didn't have the energy in the following season. So you take the lessons of trying to prepare and make sure your kids don't lose that joy of taking the field, no matter how many games they've played.
 
"And then the whole thin line between winning and losing. In 2015, most of our games came down to one or two plays that season. We won a lot of close ones to even win the conference and get to the playoffs. You can't take anything for granted. I know that sounds like Coach-Speak 101 but we've lived it and we really believe that."