Watch: Qwuantrezz Knight, Mitchell Agude on handling dual-threat passer, having fans in stands

QWUANTREZZ KNIGHT

Lead the huddle with The Den? Excited to have fans back in the Rose Bowl?

Yeah, thanks for asking. Once I called them up, I pretty much just told them it's game week, let's make this a great day. Tuesdays, Wednesdays are our big work days, so this day can't be wasted. And pretty much just told them let's get to work. And as far as the Rose Bowl goes and students being there, this is about to be amazing for us. As you know, last season we didn't have any fans, so this season, we're really looking forward to really playing hard for our Bruins.

Feed off crowd noise and energy?

It can go both ways. Definitely I'm a player that would love hearing that crowd noise out there. Like I said before, just to hear the fans when you're making plays, it makes you want to go make the next play even more. It makes you want to go do more things just because the sounds and woos and wows that the fans make. But on the other note, without the fans, I feel like I'm the energizer, I set the tone so I can pretty much get myself going and get my team going as well.

Challenges posed by Hawai'i?

Yeah, Hawai'i's actually a pretty good team. They have some pretty nice skill guys there – the quarterback and a couple of receivers that they have, running back as well. So they bring a rushing – I feel like they bring a huge rushing attack and as far as being able to run that QB option with that quarterback. And as well, they have a downfield game, quarterback is really talented, but it all comes down to us and my defense. I feel like we go out there and we do exactly what we're supposed to do, do what we've been practicing, the gameplan that the coaches gave us, we'll be alright.

How much has defense improved since this team last year?

Man, it's a night and day difference. Everything about this defense is next level now to me. We have guys stepping up all across the board, all phases, all positions – D-linemen, linebackers, DBs. Everybody's just upped their game. I say the biggest cause for that is the competition that we have throughout each room. We have many guys that can play, that's ready to play, whether that's first team, second team or third team. So just knowing that you have competition behind you and a better understanding of the playbooks as well, better understanding of what our job is within the scheme and just pure growth within the whole defense, everybody's took the next step to being better.

Still singing?

Oh yeah definitely, I sing every morning going through the locker room. That's really how I wake everybody up. In the morning time, they have the sleepy faces on, so make sure I'm yelling, screaming a song as loud as I can to keep everybody, wake everybody up. It's time to go, man, it's game week.

Coach Norwood talk about Hawai'i at all considering he's a grad?

Yeah, I really wasn't aware of much about that, but just playing for coach Norwood, it's amazing. This guy really cares for his players, he'll see you down, he'll come to you on the personal level, "Q, is everything alright? Do you need anything?" So just knowing you have a coach like that on your side, it makes you want to go all out for him. Because there's many coaches that are not like this, so I feel like every player on the team feels this way about coach Norwood.

See mobile QBs in practice to prepare you for Cordeiro?

Yeah, I really do see that every day in practice with DTR, Ethan Garbers, Chase Griffin. All three of those are, to me, next level quarterbacks. We get a great look at pretty much being prepared for anything because of how well they are and how many things they can do with the ball, so get a great look every day.

Any NIL deals in the works?

Yeah, that's a good question. Actually, I haven't really been deep into it. I have a couple things going here and there that I'm actually trying to get up and running, but I feel like if I go out there and just play football, make plays, they'll be knocking at the door. So that's really my first thing to do, just go make plays and be the best I can be for my team.

How much have you missed being able to tackle someone at 100%?

Man, that's what I miss most, honestly. Just being in practice right here, we have to practice being safe all the time so we don't want to take our guys to the ground a lot of times. But knowing that I get the chance to do that this Saturday, it feels amazing. I'm feeling really excited about that, ready to just go out there and put the pads on someone and take him to the ground, make him feel me.

MITCHELL AGUDE

How do you prevent late-game tailoffs like USC and Stanford?

I think the problem we had last year, our depth was a little less because of injuries and stuff like that, but right now we’re looking great—we have probably like four players in the depth chart that can run to the ball and play right now, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue this year because everyone’s ready to play.

Defense can take another leap?

Definitely. I think our defense can do whatever we put our mind to because right now we’re flying to the ball, we’re very disciplined and I think that it’s in our hands and if we can think about it, if we can imagine it, we can do it.

Playing an up-tempo team a challenge or motivation?

I think it’s motivation because if we’re practicing high-tempo, that means we’re ready for that game-like looks because those game-like looks are going to happen, so with our offense, we’re always going, we’re always taking snap after snap after snap and that’s going to just translate to the field on game day.

Bo Calvert moving to raider?

I think he’s just a dude that knows the defense, a really smart guy, able to set the edge and just bring a good lead role on that side of the field.

Right hand/wrist wrapped up?

I’m good. I just want to keep it for protection.

Outside of depth, what makes this defense better?

Outside of depth, I think it’s overall mindset that anyone can make plays, it’s not just the starters that are going to be out there on the field that can make plays. I think everyone knows that they have the tools to make plays, so I think everyone’s a little more confident and it’s not just the ones that have to save the day or anything like that – it’s all ones, twos, threes and fours, everyone’s ready.

Challenges posed by Hawai'i?

Personally, I don’t see no challenges because what they do is similar to what we practice at our practice like with their quarterback running, Dorian’s a really good scrambler, really good with his feet. We practice against that every day, so that’s really nothing new to us and I personally think with us flying to the ball, with us having great eye discipline and just discipline, that’s it’s really not something that we can’t overcome.

Fans in stands?

It’s going to be crazy because I come from the JuCo side that never had like a lot of fans in a stadium, but it’s going to be a blessing see all those fans coming out to play.

Feeling seeing them walking onto field?

Electric. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Having students at practice and now the Rose Bowl?

Very excited. They came out just to say they support us and that obviously gives us very much hope to see our students still supporting, our students are still Bruins for life and we love to see that our here because we’re not just playing for ourselves, we’re playing for all of LA, so that’s how we’ve got to put it or go towards it.