Ahead of the Week 13 matchup, Wagner knew he needed to speak up to end the three-game skid his team was riding to go into the bye week on a high note. Although he prefers to lead by example, Wagner took it upon himself to address his teammates in the locker room.
“Sometimes you just got to trust your gut and trust your instincts and that’s really what that was,” Wagner said of what compelled him to speak up.
The veteran spoke of the sacrifice it takes from each one of his teammates to realize what they can be as a group when they work together. He also added that the team needed to tune out the noise and get back to having fun playing the sport they love.
“I think we just needed to have fun,” Wagner said. “I think as the expectations started to grow, we needed to get back to just having fun, that’s why we were playing so well. We weren’t worried about what the outside was saying. You know there’s going to be games where the outside appreciates us, there’s going to be games where the outside thinks we’re not playing that well. As long as we focus on the people that’s in here and just have fun everything takes care of itself.”
Wagner’s message resonated with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who spoke to the value of Wagner’s pregame speech.
“Losing is never fun,” Daniels said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t think any competitor will ever think that’s fun but you have to go out there and the talk that we had. Be able to sacrifice something for the betterment of the team and what are we willing to give up because we have something special in that locker room. We have to go out there each and every week and prove it.”