"It makes me feel great," he said in July about the welcome he's received from the community. "I'm a former alum. I'm a former football alum as well. I'm one of the guys, so to speak, in a lot of ways. ... I think what everybody understands is that it takes everybody — it takes our administration, it takes our athletic department, it takes our former players, it takes our current players, it takes recruiting, it takes our coaches, it takes ... our fan base. When everybody works together, we've got a chance to be great, and I think people see that."