Miles on playing West Virginia on the road:
“We’re very excited to go to Morgantown [W. Va.] and play where it is one of the best college experiences for a football game. They’ve got great support. It will be a great crowd and they’ll very rambunctious and probably having a really good time, a lot of energy in the stadium. Very good football team.
“Anytime you can play on a big stage you’ve got to welcome it, be excited about it. I’m real excited about it because I feel like I’m getting back into an environment that I was used to for so long and its going to be a great experience for our young men. We welcome the crowd that they’re going to bring and the competition level their going to bring and the excitement that’s going to be around the game and the energy the crowd brings.
The team’s level of competition vs. West Virginia:
“Actually we’re a mid-major team stepping up to the BCS level and competing at that level, we’re looking forward to it. Its going to be exciting and we’re excited and we’re pretty fired up.
“Can’t wait. Can’t get here fast enough to be honest with you.”
After all the events that took place Monday, what is the feeling around the team?
“Our team’s in great spirits. The events that we had yesterday was a really good special teams practice and followed by an exchange period where we got a good jump start on West Virginia. There weren’t a lot of big events to me.”
What do you expect to learn about your team as they go on the road for the first time?
“I want to see how they react, how we approach it as a business trip — we’re not going there for fun. We’re not going there to take pictures or be wowed by a crowd. We put enough pressure on them in practice that hopefully they’re not wowed by any crowd we go to or play at that level. We’re going there to try to compete and win a football game, and that’s our mindset.”
Will Kyler Neal be getting more reps?
“Yes. He’ll play some as running back and he’s been playing on special teams.
“We want to look at him. We want to see him play. We’ve used his redshirt now so let him go out there and let him play and see what he can do.”
Will there be a rotation in the running backs, or someone get majority of plays?
“It will be a rotation. We’re going to use all of them. We’re going to use all three, and maybe more.”
How do you feel about the offense’s tempo?
“We’ve had one delay of game and that was a mistake because the young man misread the wristband. I don’t feel our tempo been bad what so ever. I thought the last game the whole team’s tempo didn’t seem quite right, but those are things we’re fixing.
“But from an offensive stand point, I don’t feel our tempo has been bad one bit. We have one penalty in two games in delay of game, it was just a misread…our coaches do a great job of getting [the plays] in in-time.”
With Michael Davis and Harrison Clottey leaving the team, what’s your plan for filling the open spaces on the offensive line?
“We’ll shuffle around, put some guys out there. We’re really close to getting [center] Mark Ruskell back so that’s a positive.”
How long will it take Ruskell to be ready to be back?
“He’ll work in some today. We’re not going to just throw him out there and let him go a whole practice and beat him up. We’ll work him in to situations today.”
Are you looking at Ruskell for center or guard?
“Both.”
Will Brock remain running back coach the entire season?
“Yes.”
What are you expecting from West Virginia’s defense?
“Very physical defense. They’ve got an excellent linebacker number 35 [Nick Kwiatkoski], excellent nose-guard [Shaq Rowell], excellent safety number 25 [Darwin Good]. They have a three-four defense that can go into an over-look or an under-look, or just an odd look…they played really well against Oklahoma and they’re going to go in here trying to get a victory. They’re gonna pin their ears back and come. They’re a very good defense…I didn’t expect anything less.”
What components of your team do you feel are going up?
“It’s hard to say that anything was pointing up after last game, but I don’t think you’ll see that ever again. After the first game I thought our arrow was pointing up on defense, I thought offensively we threw the ball extremely well. I thought we protected very well the very first game. I thought the discipline, as far as lack of penalties, was an arrow pointing up.
“But last game there wasn’t very much pointing up. There will be this game.”
Feeling on special teams from week one to week two?
“Matt Hubbard played better. I don’t know if you noticed but Hubbard did all the kicking. He kicked off, he kicked the extra points, he’d kick field goals if we need him to. I thought he directionally kicked much better.
“Pretty tough day when you say the best thing that happened was you saw your punter kick better.”
Thoughts on Ben McLane’s play?
“I thought Ben did a good job. I’m very happy for Ben. I thought Ben went in and executed. He only had one throw he wished he had back — the last throw, but he made some good throws, did some good things and that’s what we expect of him and that’s what he expects of himself. ”
Which true freshman are expected to start Saturday?
“Jalen Lawrence is going to play a lot…you’ll see more of Kyler Neal…Jameel Spencer will start for us at middle linebacker due to an Athletics Department team policy suspension of [Joseph] Peterson.
“We’ll have two players that will not be able to attend this game: Avery Sweeting and Joe Peterson.
“So you’ll see Jameel Spencer and you’ll see [linebacker] Kight Dallas…you’ll probably see [offensive lineman] Brandon Pertile. You’ll have a chance to see [offensive lineman] Davis Moore, maybe. We’ll see how the week goes. That has a lot to do with Ruskell’s return, if he can return.”
Will Nerman Delic play this week?
“Nerman Delic will play this weekend, yes. He is back. As long as he’s going to take care of his responsibilities academically, which I can guarantee you he is.”
How do you feel your team is doing taking care of their academics?
“I think we’re doing wonderful. Every school in the nation has guys that miss class, not every school in the nation will sit them out. That’s the difference. Some will, some won’t. We stand by what we say. Its very important to us you do things the right way.”
