Head Coach Todd Monken (4.23.26)

Coach, what was it that you guys really saw in Spencer that stood out and made him the guy you wanted there?

“Character, athleticism, toughness.”

 

Todd, where does he play on the line?

“Left tackle.”

 

Are you concerned that he hasn’t played that in a couple years at all?

“No.”

 

Why not?

“Uh, ended up as he moved over to right tackle they put Caleb over on that side. Now he is going to play left tackle for us.”

 

What is it like, your first draft as a head coach? What is your experience like?

“Well, we were jacked, to be able to move back 3 spots, pick up a third and a fifth. What a great job by Andrew and get the player we targeted the whole time. I mean, we couldn’t be more excited and still have another pick later on tonight.”

 

Jordyn Tyson was still on the board when you guys made the trade down, so obviously then Spencer must have been your guys number one

“No, we targeted Spencer.”

 

With Spencer being the first tackle off the board, what was it about him that you thought separated him from the rest of this pretty deep tackle class?

“As I said, his character was first, I mean, the way he’s wired. I think the expectations that we will have for him won’t even match that he has for himself. His athleticism, his toughness, I mean, when you want to start off the first year of your regime, you talk about what you want: character, toughness, athleticism, he has it all.”

 

As there was a lot of speculation throughout the draft process that Spencer might move inside to guard or center just because of the arm length. What did you see on film that alleviates the concern about arm length at that tackle position?

“Well, I think his athleticism and his toughness, I just think all of the above. Do I think that’s a part of it, reach? Of course that is. Arm length? Of course it is. But there’s other things that are involved with it, other characteristics that go in to that. I think he’d be an elite guard as well, I think he’d be an elite center. I don’t care where you put him, I think he’s going to be an elite player.”

 

Do you know what George Warhop wants in his lineman? Does Spencer Fano fit better than the others?

“I won’t speak to where we had the other guys at, I will just say that we were excited as heck to be able to get Spencer.”

 

Andrew said a tackle is a tackle, but the fact that Spencer played left early on at Utah was that important for you guys to see?

“It’s part of the equation, yes.”

 

Their physicality has always been sort of their calling card, how much does that proven DNA do you see in Spencer and how much was that an attractive part of it?

“A big piece of it. You go all the way back to Urban Meyer and then Coach Whittingham, when you get a player from Utah, I mean you get a player that’s physical. They are going to practice physical; they’re going to play physical, their style, their expectations of their O-Lineman. So again, we’re fired up.”

 

Would you still like to get a receiver pretty high in this draft if you can?

“Sure, we would like to add. There are number of areas we would like to add to our team, that being one of them.”

 

Are you a bit surprised how the board fell, previous to your guys’ pick?

“I wouldn’t say that. I think it fell pretty close within reason. As far as I can tell, being in there with Andrew and his group, it fell off the board the way it appeared to me it was going to go.”

 

Did you get Spencer in for a 30 visit?  

“We did, we did.”

 

 What stood out during that visit?

“Everything that I already said. I mean, it’s pretty easy that, you know…”

 

Now that you have Spencer Fano as your left tackle, does it affect the movement of any other positions on your line that we saw the other day?

“What we saw the other day was really who we had. You know without them being out, Tytus being a little bit limited and trying to put all the pieces together, ultimately once the Draft is over and free agency and we go to camp, then we will work on exactly where everybody is going to fit that was here the other day.”

 

You came in and talked a lot about how it all starts in the offensive line, you mentioned that at the combine. With the resources you guys spent in free agency to sort of bolster that group, now your first pick is a tackle. Was this kind of, when you came in and took this job, what you envisioned as you thought about kind of rebuilding this offense that it would start with figuring out that group. 

“100%.”

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