A Conversation with Pete Shinnick

[mat1992]

On schedule

"Anytime you open on the road three weeks in a row. You look at that and go, ok, what do we have to get done. The good news is that two of the games are in the state of Maryland (Morgan, Md). Opening up with an opponent in Norfolk State, not knowing what they are going to do is interesting. I know a little bit about what they're going to do offensively because Brian Sheppard (former OC) is their OC and was with us the last two years. Defensively, not sure it's what they did at Florida Memorial or different places. Not having film of what they've done in the past is difficult. Excited about a Thursday matchup and there's a lot of excitement about Coach Vick being there."

On the new OC

"New system. Completely different way of doing things. Fresh new start. (will be more involved with play calling)."

On QB situation

"It's as open as there can be. You have two guys who have started eight+ games. That's re-assuring knowing that you have experience there. We've had a limited amount of time that the NCAA gives us in the summer. We've given guys opportunties. (Freshman Andrew Inrdorf) is very advanced for a high school quarterback. Wants to learn and grown. Has had a very good summer. Great arm."

On offensive issues last season

"Number one, the purpose of offense is to score more points. We've been at 24 or 25 points per game. We need to score more points and get better on third down. That would take care of a lot of our issues."

At WR

"We returned Jaceon Doss, John Dunmore, Perkins, Reynolds and Londono. We have a handful of guys who play the position well. (UConn transfer) Jarvis (Jones) gives us depth. Cleveland Charlton (redshirt) will help out as well on depth."

TE

"Tight end is a wide open spot for us. Lose an All-American is a big void. Bryce Butler from Ohio has done a good job. Jack Mahoney, a true freshman, has done well. Excited about the depth. Butler is not 6-6 but he can put his hand on the ground and play in the backfield. Carter played 60% in the wing position. It will be similar."

At RB

"Al Wooten has done a great job. Both freshmen joined us later. Look at their HS stats and what they were able to produce and it's exciting. Ike (Daniels) had a strong spring."

On OL

"Playing with that and trying to see what the best five are. (KJ Brooks) played about 18 games at right tackle. We have some nice combinations there. We returned (Volpe, Germain, Brooks), Ian Miller played a lot for us at center. Joden Nelson and Bhular. We have some really good competition to find the next best guy. Mike (Williams) has done a nice job of getting comfortable. (Cousar) did a really good job. Exciting to see how this plays out."

On defense

"I thought our defense did a great job. We chopped our points down. We got better on third down. I want to see us get better on third downs and give up less explosive plays". 

On Defensive line

"Treyvon Adams, JT Black, Wyatt Draeger were three great additions as transfers. They've come in and worked their tail off this summer to put themselves as a great spot for us. Hammond (big freshman) is a big body at 6-5, 285 and looks the part. Black has been very impressive against whomever he plays against. Probably 6-0, 280 and moves well. Aaron Clark and the guys who went through the spring (Stegall and Boyd) had a great summer. It's a position where we had pretty good depth and should be pretty good."

On linebackers

"We lost some productive guys, but I love who we brought in and love what they're doing. Feel very good about that position again and getting guys in the right spot and direction. Myler Turner (6-1, 255) is an inside linebacker. (UMass transfer). Both freshmen, Ben Kumpon and Seth Chestnut can help us. On the outside, TJ Sands will be playing some nickel and CJ McClendon played last season at nickel. We have a deep group that has experience and youth."

On secondary

"Brodie has done everything right and just has really improved. Xavier Terry has played a ton of football for us. Kaden White played a lot for us. Jasin Shiggs played a lot for us and Emiril Gant played a lot. Shiggs, White at safety, Great competition there. At corner, Emiril, Za Brown, Kavon McKinney as a true freshman. Cody Williams at safety. Meeko Lodge will be a nickel."

On third season

"We have a lot of guys in place who understand how we're doing things. Probably best run summer that we've had. Guys are dialed in. Liked the culture of the team. Excited to add the new guys. Most of them have been here this summer."

On first recruiting class

"Those guys are now apart of everything we're doing."

On CAA departures

"Every conference has had (FCS, FBS) has had change. A look at different conferences and go ok, what they thought was a bad situation and two years later, it turns out well. We're in a fluid situation and we're just going to keep plugging forward."

First preason practice is July 28

 

[Blazer49]

@mat1992 Great stuff as usual. Thank you for sharing this Q&A. For all of us on here that want as much information about our teams we take what we can get and appreciate you taking the time to do stuff like this. I know on your side you have to "play nice" a little since they are giving you this opportunity, but was there anything said that surprised you at all during your conversation?

[TSU88]

1 hour ago, mat1992 said:

On schedule

"Anytime you open on the road three weeks in a row. You look at that and go, ok, what do we have to get done. The good news is that two of the games are in the state of Maryland (Morgan, Md). Opening up with an opponent in Norfolk State, not knowing what they are going to do is interesting. I know a little bit about what they're going to do offensively because Brian Sheppard (former OC) is their OC and was with us the last two years. Defensively, not sure it's what they did at Florida Memorial or different places. Not having film of what they've done in the past is difficult. Excited about a Thursday matchup and there's a lot of excitement about Coach Vick being there."

On the new OC

"New system. Completely different way of doing things. Fresh new start. (will be more involved with play calling)."

On QB situation

"It's as open as there can be. You have two guys who have started eight+ games. That's re-assuring knowing that you have experience there. We've had a limited amount of time that the NCAA gives us in the summer. We've given guys opportunties. (Freshman Andrew Inrdorf) is very advanced for a high school quarterback. Wants to learn and grown. Has had a very good summer. Great arm."

On offensive issues last season

"Number one, the purpose of offense is to score more points. We've been at 24 or 25 points per game. We need to score more points and get better on third down. That would take care of a lot of our issues."

At WR

"We returned Jaceon Doss, John Dunmore, Perkins, Reynolds and Londono. We have a handful of guys who play the position well. (UConn transfer) Jarvis (Jones) gives us depth. Cleveland Charlton (redshirt) will help out as well on depth."

TE

"Tight end is a wide open spot for us. Lose an All-American is a big void. Bryce Butler from Ohio has done a good job. Jack Mahoney, a true freshman, has done well. Excited about the depth. Butler is not 6-6 but he can put his hand on the ground and play in the backfield. Carter played 60% in the wing position. It will be similar."

At RB

"Al Wooten has done a great job. Both freshmen joined us later. Look at their HS stats and what they were able to produce and it's exciting. Ike (Daniels) had a strong spring."

On OL

"Playing with that and trying to see what the best five are. (KJ Brooks) played about 18 games at right tackle. We have some nice combinations there. We returned (Volpe, Germain, Brooks), Ian Miller played a lot for us at center. Joden Nelson and Bhular. We have some really good competition to find the next best guy. Mike (Williams) has done a nice job of getting comfortable. (Cousar) did a really good job. Exciting to see how this plays out."

On defense

"I thought our defense did a great job. We chopped our points down. We got better on third down. I want to see us get better on third downs and give up less explosive plays". 

On Defensive line

"Treyvon Adams, JT Black, Wyatt Draeger were three great additions as transfers. They've come in and worked their tail off this summer to put themselves as a great spot for us. Hammond (big freshman) is a big body at 6-5, 285 and looks the part. Black has been very impressive against whomever he plays against. Probably 6-0, 280 and moves well. Aaron Clark and the guys who went through the spring (Stegall and Boyd) had a great summer. It's a position where we had pretty good depth and should be pretty good."

On linebackers

"We lost some productive guys, but I love who we brought in and love what they're doing. Feel very good about that position again and getting guys in the right spot and direction. Myler Turner (6-1, 255) is an inside linebacker. (UMass transfer). Both freshmen, Ben Kumpon and Seth Chestnut can help us. On the outside, TJ Sands will be playing some nickel and CJ McClendon played last season at nickel. We have a deep group that has experience and youth."

On secondary

"Brodie has done everything right and just has really improved. Xavier Terry has played a ton of football for us. Kaden White played a lot for us. Jasin Shiggs played a lot for us and Emiril Gant played a lot. Shiggs, White at safety, Great competition there. At corner, Emiril, Za Brown, Kavon McKinney as a true freshman. Cody Williams at safety. Meeko Lodge will be a nickel."

On third season

"We have a lot of guys in place who understand how we're doing things. Probably best run summer that we've had. Guys are dialed in. Liked the culture of the team. Excited to add the new guys. Most of them have been here this summer."

On first recruiting class

"Those guys are now apart of everything we're doing."

On CAA departures

"Every conference has had (FCS, FBS) has had change. A look at different conferences and go ok, what they thought was a bad situation and two years later, it turns out well. We're in a fluid situation and we're just going to keep plugging forward."

First preason practice is July 28

 

Well, so much for bringing in an FBS QB. Interesting that he threw bouquets at the incoming freshman QB from Miami, Indorf, but nothing in Mat’s article about him mentioning Watkins, the RS freshman QB.

Well, unless he turns the keys over to a true freshman (which I find hard to believe) it’s Brown and/or Kent. Not very inspiring, but hope springs eternal I suppose.

Also, did I read correctly that our OC from last season is now the OC at Norfolk State, our opening game opponent? A grudge match in addition to Vick’s debut as a HC 

[mat1992]

2 hours ago, Blazer49 said:

@mat1992 Great stuff as usual. Thank you for sharing this Q&A. For all of us on here that want as much information about our teams we take what we can get and appreciate you taking the time to do stuff like this. I know on your side you have to "play nice" a little since they are giving you this opportunity, but was there anything said that surprised you at all during your conversation?

Appreciate it, but I don't interview people to grill them or I might not get privileges like watching practice. I do that after the games. Nothing really surprised me. I've heard that they really like Andrew Indorf at QB, but I wasn't sure he was going to be that positive about him. Usually, coaches are very hesitant about talking about how good freshmen are. At least he was honest about how the offense and defense both struggled on third downs and that has to be corrected. 

He's a tough interview because he talks mainly in generalities. Doesn't even get into the OL situation and which players are fighting for which jobs. He knows he has to win this season. That's no secret and if he doesn't make the playoffs, the heat will really be on. Then we can say, "why didn't he bring in a transfer QB or two?"

I should have asked him about why he didn't get a transfer QB, but I think it's more about this kid and possibly Watkins. I could be wrong, but I think he believed in Kent more than Brown, which is part of the reason why Sheppard is at Norfolk State. I also think he wanted to call plays again as he did at West Florida. He made an issue about the offense not scoring enough points last season and Brown was the QB most of the way. I don't think it was an OL issue because we were top 4 in the league in yards per carry. I do wonder if we rely more on the running game this season with the addition of Al Wooten II and some talented freshmen. 

Didn't really get too much into the CAA departures. I didn't expect he'd go off and elaborate on record. 

Gordy and Rob were much different in terms of these interviews, but they knew me. I'm not sure Pete even knows my name. Maybe he'd be a little more forthright if he knew me for years as the other two.

[Tiger93]

On 7/16/2025 at 5:59 PM, mat1992 said:

Appreciate it, but I don't interview people to grill them or I might not get privileges like watching practice. I do that after the games. Nothing really surprised me. I've heard that they really like Andrew Indorf at QB, but I wasn't sure he was going to be that positive about him. Usually, coaches are very hesitant about talking about how good freshmen are. At least he was honest about how the offense and defense both struggled on third downs and that has to be corrected. 

He's a tough interview because he talks mainly in generalities. Doesn't even get into the OL situation and which players are fighting for which jobs. He knows he has to win this season. That's no secret and if he doesn't make the playoffs, the heat will really be on. Then we can say, "why didn't he bring in a transfer QB or two?"

I should have asked him about why he didn't get a transfer QB, but I think it's more about this kid and possibly Watkins. I could be wrong, but I think he believed in Kent more than Brown, which is part of the reason why Sheppard is at Norfolk State. I also think he wanted to call plays again as he did at West Florida. He made an issue about the offense not scoring enough points last season and Brown was the QB most of the way. I don't think it was an OL issue because we were top 4 in the league in yards per carry. I do wonder if we rely more on the running game this season with the addition of Al Wooten II and some talented freshmen. 

Didn't really get too much into the CAA departures. I didn't expect he'd go off and elaborate on record. 

Gordy and Rob were much different in terms of these interviews, but they knew me. I'm not sure Pete even knows my name. Maybe he'd be a little more forthright if he knew me for years as the other two.

Hard to know, but seems like he feels comfortable enough with Brown and Kent, and likes the upside of Inrdorf enough to not feel a need to get a transfer FBS QB. As we know from the past, it seems to be about a 10-20% hit rate in terms of getting a really good QB here. I wish were better at it, but if we can develop a good QB I am all for that too. I don't care how it gets done, as long as we can start getting better QB play from year-to-year moving forward. That also has a lot to do with the quality of the O-line too. I am cautiously optimistic for year three. It was Shinnick's breakout season at UNC-Pembroke, the ramp-up year for the big breakout at West Florida, and was also the year Rob Ambrose started our great three-year run from 2011-13. This is his program now, and it is a big year for Towson football (as we have talked about quite a bit) in general with the shifting landscape. We have to start working our way out of this cycle of mediocrity that has mostly existed since 2014.

[sr16]

Feels like we have the pieces on offense, aside from the most important spot solidified 

[TheGoldCrotchPiece]

On 7/18/2025 at 9:05 AM, sr16 said:

Feels like we have the pieces on offense, aside from the most important spot solidified 

we did go to the natty with a game manager in athens, so we know it's possible with super senior QBs. yeah it required a great running game, solid d, and some wildcat magic but it's a safer play then putting the ball in a freshman or transfer's hands right now who don't know the system. 

Edited July 21, 2025 by TheGoldCrotchPiece

[mat1992]

36 minutes ago, TheGoldCrotchPiece said:

we did go to the natty with a game manager in athens, so we know it's possible with super senior QBs. yeah it required a great running game, solid d, and some wildcat magic but it's a safer play then putting the ball in a freshman or transfer's hands right now who don't know the system. 

If we had another T-West, I would agree, but we don’t. Pete wants to score more points so you do it with a more effective QB or you just try and run the ball 40 times a game and have Kent manage the game. Last season, our offense was mediocre and Brown was the QB most of the season. I assume he’s going in another direction or back to Year One.