Opening statement
“Very excited for our young men to enter this phase of our program. The very first game in our history of the Sun Belt…I would say, Coach Blakeney would be the dean of the Sun Belt coaches and is a great guy. I’ve known his for years and really respect him and he’s done a wonderful job there.”
“So, for us to go on our homecoming and open up our Sun Belt schedule…we’re very excited about it. Our young men are working hard, and hopefully, we can perform on Saturday.”
Any talk of winning a conference title?
“No, we’re basically just worried about executing. I mean, we’ve talked about it. We’re in a process of continuing on what Coach Curry started here, and I’ve got nothing but great respect for Bill Curry, and we’re trying to build upon what he started. And, we’re still in the growing process.”
“So, we’re talking about still learning how to compete and learning how to win and those things, and once we conquer that, then we’ll start discussing conference championships and those things.”
“It’s one step at a time, and again this is just the fourth year in the history of football here…so we are just focused on our execution, playing the best that we can, continuing to compete at the FBS level and learning how to win a football game. That’s our goals.”
What do you and your coaches consider as improved execution?
“I wouldn’t say its anything to do with statistics. I think it has to do with watching the film, seeing guys produce, going to the right guy, making the right block, making the right reads, running the right route, filling the right gap on defense- those things. That’s execution…that’s what we focus on. We don’t focus on the stats.”
How is the team doing in execution compared to earlier games?
“We’re getting better.”
“It didn’t show up against Alabama. It did in the second half. Look at the execution of the field goal- great snap, great hold, great protection, great kick- school record. Execution.
“Throw to Albert [Wilson] that Ronnie [Bell] made- execution.”
“Protection, throw, catch- execution.”
“The run against West Virginia that Travis Evans made- we had the blocking and the outfield blocking, kid makes a run, makes a cut, touchdown- that’s execution.”
“We can say it with statistics yet, but yes it is improving vastly.”
Is going into conference games a clean slate for your team, or will any baggage of the 0-5 team carry over?
“Sure, we talked about that yesterday.”
“I don’t believe we carry that baggage, to be honest with you.”
“We show the players the film every Monday…and after we evaluate the film from Saturday, we put it to bed. So with every week we start with a clean slate. If you don’t, you keep dwelling on the past…so we don’t look behind us, we always look ahead.”
“That was preseason.”
How do you slow down Troys quarterback?
“Keep the ball on offense. Keep possession of the football. Try and keep him off the field.”
“You’re not going to slow him down if you’re not going to stop him. You can try and contain him. You’ve got to get pressure on him. You’ve got to make him get [the ball] out of his hands immediately, but they do such a good job of getting it out of their hands on their own. You’ve got to be able to control the football.”
What freshman will get playing time going into conference play?
“We’re looking at trying to play [defensive back] Trent Hill. We’re looking at [defensive back] Robert Dowling. We’re looking at [safety] Tyshaun Clemmons, and any other able body that we feel is going to be able to contribute.”
“We’re primarily looking at those guys because they can help us on special teams [and] they can help us in the secondary.”
Thoughts about playing Wisconsin in 2016?
“I don’t know that I can really comment on it because I don’t know if its finalized as far as signed contracts.”
How’s Keith Rucker and the rest of your tight-ends health this week?
“Keith [Rucker] is getting better.”
“The work that he puts in is just great to watch. I watched him on his own out there. He came over by himself on Sunday and got out there trying to work and get himself ready to go. If he’s ready to go, we’ll play him. If not, we don’t have another tight-end other than our tackle at tight-end. It is what it is.”
“I will not pull off Sebastian Willer’s redshirt.”
“And, Drew Pearson is probably out for an extended period of time with a concussion, so we have no one else.”
Significance of the sledgehammer the team carries out?
“Its just something we use to symbolize ‘Keep pounding the rock.’ It symbolized us going to work everyday, rolling our selves up and continuing at the task of pounding that rock until it breaks.”
Thoughts on offensive line?
I thought that Ulrick John played well…I thought A.J. [Kaplan] played well with the exception of a few things.”
“I was really impressed with Shawayne Lawrence holding is own. [Lawrence] is 17 years old…and he’s going against Alabama’s starting linemen. He’s not getting pushed around, he’s closing off his gaps.”
The best thing that I saw was I looked out there at [one of their] series in the first quarter, and there were four true freshman defensive linemen in the game. Three 18 year olds and a 17 year old going against Alabama.”
How did Grant King do?
“He did some things well, and he did some things that we need to work on. Probably a typical first game. Very tough to have your first game against Alabama.”
