The Mountain West held its annual football media days last week in Las Vegas with Nevada football head coach Jeff Choate, quarterback Chubba Purdy and defensive tackle Thomas Witte speaking to the media. Here’s seven takeaways from the players’ conversation with the media. You can see our takeaways from Choate’s conversation with the media here.

Closing the gap

Nevada was 2-6 in one-possession games last season, a big contributor to the Wolf Pack’s third straight 10-loss campaign. Purdy and Witte emphasized the importance of sticking together instead of splintering late in games, crediting team-building and player-led offseason workouts as big offseason focuses.

Witte: “We put a big emphasis and invested a lot into team bonding and camaraderie, and I think when it hits the fourth quarter and the team has to come together, I think our camaraderie will pull us together instead of splitting us into two. That’s a huge thing. Last year, we lost a lot of close games, and I think the team separated more than it came together. That’s why I think we put a lot of emphasis this year on camaraderie and building relationships with our teammates. We have to play cleaner football. Penalties lose games, and we saw it last year. We have to be better at our fundamentals, and we have be a smarter football team.”

Purdy: “We’ve had a key word — finish. Fourth quarter comes around, keep your foot on the gas and you’ve just got to be able to finish. It’s four quarters, not one quarter, two or three, so you’ve got to finish all four. This year, I feel like we’re so tight as a team. We all hang out with each other outside of football, which is huge, building that brotherhood. We all have the same goal. This summer, we’ve all been putting work in, and we’re putting in extra work even after our lifts and runs. We’re still going out throwing, so I just feel like we’re on a mission, and we’ve all got the same goals. I feel like when you have a whole team that’s all bought in like that, it makes it a lot easier for everyone and it makes it fun and enjoyable rather than butting heads with people.”

Preseason poll

Nevada was picked to finish last in the MW preseason poll for the second straight season. The Wolf Pack is a combined 2-21 in Mountain West games the last three years, with its last conference win against New Mexico on Oct. 28, 2023. The players aren’t putting much stock into the poll or recent history.

Witte: “I don’t pay attention to that. We haven’t played a single game yet, and so these guys are just throwing their opinions out at this point. I don’t agree with their opinion, if you want me to be honest, so I think that gives us a nice little chip on our shoulder to think about.”

Purdy: “We got picked last, so, I mean, we definitely have a chip on our shoulder. We want to show people what we can do. But ultimately, just focusing on Nevada, focusing on our locker room and just taking it one day at a time, one practice at a time. Just got to keep putting in the work and go from there.”

Fall camp

Nevada begins fall camp next week with more than 50 new faces on the 2025 roster. The Wolf Pack returns three starters on offense and one on defense in WR/PR Marcus Bellon, OL Josh Grawbowski, OL Andrew Madrigal and Witte. Here’s what Witte and Purdy are looking forward to with this new group during fall camp.

Witte: “You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You have to understand the plays. You have to know the plays and then you have to be able to execute them. You have understand the defense, and I think we’re doing a good job of that, and I think we’re working towards that. For fall camp, it’s going to be hard. Fall camps are hard, but that’s what makes teams good.”

Purdy: “Really just clicking on offense, defense, special teams, Just seeing everything click and everyone really just mastering their own position. I’m excited to compete against those guys. It’s going to be fun. Iron sharpens iron. So, it’s going to be super fun going against those guys every day in fall camp, I feel like that’s what everyone’s really looking forward to.”

Best golfer on Nevada’s roster

Witte: “Marcus Bellon’s a stud on the golf course. Me, him, Chubba and AJ (Bianco) golf a couple times a week with each other, and it’s all pretty competitive against each other, so it’s a lot of fun.”

Purdy:”Marcus Bellon, for sure. He shoots, like, 78, 79, and then he’ll be in the 80s most of the time, so he’s legit.”

Chubba on his brother, Brock

Chubba’s brother, Brock, signed a five-year, $265 million contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason after helping guide San Francisco to Super Bowl LVII in 2024. Chubba says he’s always been close with Brock, as the two played on the same team together in high school while Chubba was a sophomore and Brock a senior.

“I’ve always looked up to him at a young age, and I like to pick his brain, ask him questions and we’ll talk after his football game what he saw on the field, go over stuff and just talk football with him, talk shop, talk life with him,” Purdy said. “He’s only a year and eight months older than me, which is actually kind of crazy. You would think he’s three or four years older. But he’s super mature. I’m super proud of all the success he’s had, and I am super excited for him and his future. He deserves it. He’s been through a lot of adversity. He had surgery on his elbow, took his team to the Super Bowl the next year and he’s just such a hard worker. He loves football, so just seeing him and his success throughout these couple of years in the NFL is awesome.”

Building the perfect quarterback

“I would do Josh Allen’s arm, Lamar Jackson’s running and then I would probably do Tom Brady’s brain,” Purdy said. “I think that’s the perfect quarterback right there. Besides my brother, I love watching Lamar Jackson. I’ve always been a Lamar Jackson fan. Just watching him at Louisville doing the things he did and then obviously in the NFL his success, it’s been awesome to watch.”

EA Sports College Football 26

EA Sports released its latest college football video game earlier this month. We asked Witte what he thinks of the game recreating head coach Jeff Choate.

“I don’t know a whole lot about that, but if you kind of look through the landscape of college football, I don’t know if they got exactly everybody’s face looking like they all look, so I don’t know if it’s a real big surprise that he doesn’t look the same,” Witte said with a chuckle.