Had quite a few of 'em this week.
Alex Grinch
Longest Q I transcribed this week... talk fumbles, Mr. Grinch?
I think some of it is just included in individual guys making individual plays. One of the things we did was we did a study on, looked at last year and said how are these balls coming out? If we’re not getting enough caused fumbles, for instance, how are other people getting them? We looked at it from the standpoint of is it technique, guys stripping at the football? Which ended up being a fairly low percentage when we looked at it. Is it just violent contact? Is it just nothing more than the offensive guy didn’t cover it up? In the end, it comes down to all those things. One of those things we felt was a glaring inconsistency or lack thereof production was in the sack caused fumble. That’s one of those things where you go in both in the NFL and college football, there are opportunities there for obvious reasons. They didn’t see it coming, necessarily. He’s trying to deliver the ball. That’s something we looked at. We have one this year, that number has to go up in the takeaway count that we expect. I think, as I evaluate us from a tackling standpoint, I think our worst tackling day was this weekend by far. I wouldn’t give enough credit to guys because they were going for the football. In some respects, I wish they would have. One of the things we talked about is we do the Thursday Takeaway Tape every week and watch the NFL takeaways from the week before. One of the reasons we started doing it is what are some of the consistent things you see when it comes to takeaways? The consistent thing is you see strain. There are some where the ball bounces your way but so much of it is your extra effort. It’s your block, but you still find a way to get a hand on the ball, on a quarterback in that way. It’s strain – is a big piece of that. The other thing, too, is not being frustrated by the ball-carrier. It’s the not the catch, immediate hit and ball comes out. Those can take place. There’s a ball caught in front of you. And one of the lines we use is you need a ball-carrier to get a ball. Unless the ball comes to you on an interception, the only other way to get a takeaway is the ball-carrier. Our frustration with ball-carriers this past weekend is the frustration we have as a coaching staff right now. That’s just a constant reminder. That number will go up and have to look for more of those opportunities. The first guy has to secure it and then from there, strip, and fight for the football. Takeaways have and will continue to be a major predicative to the outcome.
My rotation Q about driving competition, etc?
It’s something to keep in mind. Not one guy came up Saturday and said, Coach, don’t take me out of the game. Didn’t happen one time. ‘Please don’t take me out.’ There’s guys that don’t get a lot of reps and need to practice and perform better when they’re out there. That’s the 10 plus one theory. Put me in with the 10 good ones, so I can just be part of the action. We don’t have a lot of that by any stretch of the imagination. But that’s more common than the other way. But what we need to do is we gotta be more productive when we’re out there. I’ve said this before, it’s not to give you rest, it’s so you can play your best. But we’re always looking at that. It's certainly a fair evaluation, the product on the field is not good enough, you gotta evaluate why that is. Is this guy playing too much, is he playing too little? So all those things are constant conversations that have to take place.
Not a game, not a game, we talkin' about practice?
I think it’s something that we talk about all the time. We have a high standard for how we practice. What it comes down to is being better coaches; as you voice frustration, you do the mirror test. We practice something for 10 months, we are unable to perform it on Tuesday. We get the correction on Tuesday and we’re unable to do it on Saturday. Who’s fault is that? The fault rests on the coach. A lot of that frustration comes back to us as coaches and our inability to, in some cases, make it more important whether it’s specific to technique or to an individual guy or collectively in overall preparation. I think our guys want to prepare better. I think they want to play better. That comes down to give them more credit, not less credit, than we do. It’s also, from a trust standpoint, as I told them, probably our biggest issue maybe as a defensive coaching staff and specifically with me is maybe you have too much trust – trust that it we rotate you in, you are going to play at an elite level. Trust that you are going to show up on a Tuesday with Saturday in mind as opposed to just check the box and get through it. One of the things we’ve talked to the guys about – people use the word process. Process is behavior. It’s your behavior. It’s the sum total of all of our behaviors over the course of the week. Everybody has a Tuesday practice. It’s cool to say culture and it’s cool to say process, but your process is what you do – it’s your actions and your behaviors. And who drives behaviors? It’s coaches. My frustration was a frustration to myself.
***
Pat Fields
Casey Thompson?
“Me and Casey are cool. I definitely tried to get him to come (to OU). I wish he would have come here. I believe we met each other (during) our sophomore year. It’s crazy because that was my first interception in high school, from him. Not to talk trash or anything, but that’s my guy. He’s extremely positive. Like I said, I really wish he would’ve came here. He’s a heck of a player, and I’m glad to see him having the success that he’s having. Like I said, in this day and age, the easier thing to do is hit the portal, but he sat behind Sam (Ehlinger) and he learned the offense. Even this year, he didn’t come out and start Day 1, but he’s always putting his head down and working. I think that’s a testament to who he is as a person and his character and who he is as a man.”
Key Lawrence Q turns into raving about Damond Harmon?
“I think he’s just a guy who’s eager to learn and eager to get better. That’s the same thing with all the guys who just came in. Not to take the attention off of Key, but a guy like Damond Harmon. He was on the scout team at the beginning of the year, but it was crazy. Every single time at the start of practice he would come over and force the coaches to come over and scout the team. And I say that because he’s always eager to learn. He’s always eager to get better. We’ll work on things and he’s trying to be there as much as he can. As soon as the scout team period ends, he’s always there with the defense. I think it’s a testament to who they are as younger guys. Damond got a little bit of snaps last week at nickel and got a couple of snaps at kickoff. I think all of those guys, they just have that type of personality and the tenacity to get better.”
We still talkin' about practice?
“I think it’s just immaturity on our part as a defense. We have such a high standard for ourselves. Coach Riley said the days of holding an opposing offense to 24 points isn’t good enough because we expect to be a top defense in the country. So, because our standard is so high, you’re going to have bad days. If you don’t have a high standard for yourself, it’s easy to not have a bad day. But because the standard is so high, the expectation is so high, those bad days come. I think the standard has been elevated and, for us as players, we have to embrace it. We have to evaluate what the standard is and everybody has to put their efforts in, put their head down and work toward it. We want to keep on ascending. Historically, we’ve always made our biggest jumps in the middle of the season and in the second half of the season because we’re so eager to get better and so eager to practice. So, that’s what we’re going to see as a defense and that’s what us leaders are pushing.”
4th down defense?
I think for us, we try to keep it to just a consistency standpoint. We don't really try to ... if it's a third down situation or a fourth down situation, we just try to be consistent in our approach with everything. The reason I say that is because to say we have a third-and-3 situation, and everybody's like, OK, we need to make a play, and then you jump offsides and that's a 5-yard penalty, automatic first down. Or if you're overaggressive in coverage and you bite on something that's not what you think it is, you may end up giving a touchdown on third-and-3 instead making a tackle for five yards and it being a first down. So I think it's very mature in our approach to it. We just try to be consistent in all that we do because we know that the consistent bottom line that we play with, we know that it's good and it's going to allow us to be successful every single down if we complete that as 11 players on the defense.
***
Drake Stoops
Do you hear the STOOPS cheers?
I don't really hear it. Actually it's kind of funny, you don't hear much down there. I don't know if it's the focus or what it is. You hear like -- you hear your own breath. You hear your thoughts. You see the play call, you know what to do. You're just real locked in. I think the first time it happened and I heard it I thought they were booing, but I figured it out that they weren't.
OU-Texas memory lane?
I mean it was cool. High school I'd play Friday night and then drive down there after my game. I liked staying in the hotel with the team and waking up early that morning to go to the fair grounds. And as a kid, shoot I used to love going around to the fair, all that. I didn't really quite understand the magnitude of the game at that age.
And then going to the stadium watching the game, celebrating on the field after. Getting to see my dad, celebrate with my family and you know the team, I always thought that was real cool as a kid. And just yeah, normal things like that.
***
DaShaun White
Asamoah?
I don't even know where to start. Man, that's my guy right there. I mean, we have fiercely competed for years. We've probably been two of the biggest critics of each other's games beside our own selves. There's nobody I've watched more film with. I can speak to just last year, during the spring, during this offseason, just how much football we watched. If there was a number for it, it'd be crazy, just sitting in our little area just watching football all day long. But yeah to see him ... I feel like in a position where he's about to take off. I really feel that way about our whole room right now. Obviously just one of those things, we've just gotta go out there and do it.
Being a Texas kid in OU-Texas?
And to speak on the Texas game, being from Texas, it's a big deal. You try to downplay it a little bit and try to treat every game equal, but this one always feels a little bit different. Maybe it is because I'm from Texas. Maybe it's because I couldn't even really tell you for sure what that answer is, but this game feels different. The environment's different. The energy is different. Everything just feels a little different about it. Really excited to be able to go and play this one.
***
Mike Woods (feature coming Friday)
First OU-Texas?
I’m hesitant to say this, but growing up, I was a Texas fan. I’m talking about my room was painted burnt orange with Texas stuff all over it. I’m pretty familiar with the game. I used to watch the 2005-Vince Young tape and all that stuff. I’m pretty familiar with it. I’m excited to play in it for the first time. obviously, I’m not a Texas fan anymore. I’m just excited to play the next game. It’s just next game on the schedule, but obviously it’s a big one and we respect that.
Comfort level growing?
Comfort level? I’m feeling pretty good. I feel like I’m getting a lot of balls thrown my way. A lot more balls than I had in recent years. I’m happy and I’m comfortable. Touchdown vs. K-State? We work our scramble drill all the time. Spencer had a little rush to his right and got out of it and was telling me where to go. I actually didn’t go that way, went the other way, but it all worked out.
Jadon Haselwood?
“He’s definitely the biggest character in the room. He’s always making everybody laugh, just full of jokes. He’s a funny dude, fun to be around. And his play during the season, with the opportunities he’s had, I feel like he’s made the best of them. I look forward to watching him play the rest of the year, and we have a lot of fun out there together. I think our chemistry is getting better as well. We were roommates this past week (at Kansas State), so I think we’re just closer as teammates. It’s just fun to go out there and ball with the dudes you work with every day.”
***
Nik Bonitto
I'm stirring the pot w/ rotation talk? Tough to buy-in?
It's not difficult. It's really easy when you have guys behind you that you trust that can come in the game and play well and there won't be no drop off. Guys that you know can produce when they come into the game. So, me personally, it’s not difficult for me at all. I trust the guys coming in behind me, and the coaches trust them too because it's not like they're just putting them out there for no reason. They've earned their way on the field. They gain trust from coach to definitely be in there for me, so I really don't have a problem with it.
Mr. Bijan?
It makes them look a lot different. He runs the ball pretty well. He does a lot of things in the pass game that helps them out. He’s a real weapon in the pass game so it's gonna be good that we make sure we have eyes on him at all times, because he can really hurt us if he gets the ball in open space and stuff like that so… we’ve played against a lot of great backs this year, so I definitely think that has helped us prepare. We’re just gonna go out and see on Saturday.
***
Isaiah Thomas
I'm still stirring up rotation stuff. Has the rotation process worked, IT?
The rotation process, it's a different approach than what we've done in the past. But I mean it's something we expected. It's something that coach brought up. It's not to give us rest, but it's to get the best out of us when we get back in there. So I'm fine with it. I trust these coaches and I trust myself as well. So if they put a plan in front of me, I'm going to attack it the best way that I can because they got me to where I am now so I'm gonna stick to what they're giving us and we're just going to keep attacking each play.
Enough with these 15-play drives in the first half?
In a perfect world we would always try to hold a goose egg for the opposing team to score, but we know that's not realistic. But we can definitely do better in how we start the game. Instead of having to have a wake up call or a wake up drive like that just to also help out the offense. Give them that ball early, have them score and get another stop.
But we also preach about finishing. I would rather be able to finish hard in the second half, not give up those 19-, 15- to 20-play drives like that and allow touchdown and stuff or anything like that. So we've just got to hone in on our jobs and quit trying to wait to get a wake up call or wait to get a feel for the game, and have the game going for us. We've just got to attack the game and don't let it attack us.
Lil Thurm?
I know Casey personally. I’ve seen Casey a couple times when he’s come back home. He’s from this area. I’ve seen Casey a couple times and talked to him now and then. We have a good relationship. We’re not best friends obviously, but a good relationship. It’s a challenge to us. It’s the norm now for college quarterbacks to be very mobile. He’s a different kind of mobile. He can also stay in that pocket and sling it. We’ve got to be aware of him triggering if he feels pressure. We’ve got to be disciplined, staying low, tackling, finishing. Not running by the quarterback but not getting too deep inside so he can roll out. Staying disciplined is big for us this week with a quarterback like him. He’s so versatile in that pocket.
***
Spencer Rattler
How much will 2020 experience help you Saturday?
Just knowing the type of environment, the type of emotions that go into it, handling myself in pregame, making sure I got my energy up, because you can spend a lot of your energy in the pregame working too hard because you’re ready to go. Just those little things I’d say, preparing for this game.
Tough making everybody happy when have so few possessions?
We’re pretty good at spreading the ball around and we don’t have too many selfish guys on our team. We’ve got guys that all want to make plays, which is great, but we got guys that know when this guy’s making plays and he’s hot, you throw him the ball and it’s good. They don’t get upset about that, which is easy to play with when you got guys like that. All across the board we got a lot of unselfish players, which turns out good in the long run.
Being doubted good motivation?
I guess you can say that is a form of motivation for us, for me personally and this group. You always want to prove somebody wrong and you’ve gotta prove yourself right. That’s something we’ve done a good job of, overcoming adversity, you know, staying together and just keep pushing, keep fighting. That’s something we’re gonna keep doing. We’re gonna have a good time doing it.
We’re having fun on the field, that’s the main thing. We’re winning. We’re just preparing for this game Saturday, ready to go.
Sharing emotions w/ teammates?
When we’re at our best is when we’re fully into it, having fun together, celebrating plays and playing with that swagger I said. It’s just way more fun and you just wanna score more points doing it. It’s that simple. That’s what we need to keep playing with is that confidence, no matter what, going through ups and downs and just keep playing with that.
Alex Grinch
Longest Q I transcribed this week... talk fumbles, Mr. Grinch?
I think some of it is just included in individual guys making individual plays. One of the things we did was we did a study on, looked at last year and said how are these balls coming out? If we’re not getting enough caused fumbles, for instance, how are other people getting them? We looked at it from the standpoint of is it technique, guys stripping at the football? Which ended up being a fairly low percentage when we looked at it. Is it just violent contact? Is it just nothing more than the offensive guy didn’t cover it up? In the end, it comes down to all those things. One of those things we felt was a glaring inconsistency or lack thereof production was in the sack caused fumble. That’s one of those things where you go in both in the NFL and college football, there are opportunities there for obvious reasons. They didn’t see it coming, necessarily. He’s trying to deliver the ball. That’s something we looked at. We have one this year, that number has to go up in the takeaway count that we expect. I think, as I evaluate us from a tackling standpoint, I think our worst tackling day was this weekend by far. I wouldn’t give enough credit to guys because they were going for the football. In some respects, I wish they would have. One of the things we talked about is we do the Thursday Takeaway Tape every week and watch the NFL takeaways from the week before. One of the reasons we started doing it is what are some of the consistent things you see when it comes to takeaways? The consistent thing is you see strain. There are some where the ball bounces your way but so much of it is your extra effort. It’s your block, but you still find a way to get a hand on the ball, on a quarterback in that way. It’s strain – is a big piece of that. The other thing, too, is not being frustrated by the ball-carrier. It’s the not the catch, immediate hit and ball comes out. Those can take place. There’s a ball caught in front of you. And one of the lines we use is you need a ball-carrier to get a ball. Unless the ball comes to you on an interception, the only other way to get a takeaway is the ball-carrier. Our frustration with ball-carriers this past weekend is the frustration we have as a coaching staff right now. That’s just a constant reminder. That number will go up and have to look for more of those opportunities. The first guy has to secure it and then from there, strip, and fight for the football. Takeaways have and will continue to be a major predicative to the outcome.
My rotation Q about driving competition, etc?
It’s something to keep in mind. Not one guy came up Saturday and said, Coach, don’t take me out of the game. Didn’t happen one time. ‘Please don’t take me out.’ There’s guys that don’t get a lot of reps and need to practice and perform better when they’re out there. That’s the 10 plus one theory. Put me in with the 10 good ones, so I can just be part of the action. We don’t have a lot of that by any stretch of the imagination. But that’s more common than the other way. But what we need to do is we gotta be more productive when we’re out there. I’ve said this before, it’s not to give you rest, it’s so you can play your best. But we’re always looking at that. It's certainly a fair evaluation, the product on the field is not good enough, you gotta evaluate why that is. Is this guy playing too much, is he playing too little? So all those things are constant conversations that have to take place.
Not a game, not a game, we talkin' about practice?
I think it’s something that we talk about all the time. We have a high standard for how we practice. What it comes down to is being better coaches; as you voice frustration, you do the mirror test. We practice something for 10 months, we are unable to perform it on Tuesday. We get the correction on Tuesday and we’re unable to do it on Saturday. Who’s fault is that? The fault rests on the coach. A lot of that frustration comes back to us as coaches and our inability to, in some cases, make it more important whether it’s specific to technique or to an individual guy or collectively in overall preparation. I think our guys want to prepare better. I think they want to play better. That comes down to give them more credit, not less credit, than we do. It’s also, from a trust standpoint, as I told them, probably our biggest issue maybe as a defensive coaching staff and specifically with me is maybe you have too much trust – trust that it we rotate you in, you are going to play at an elite level. Trust that you are going to show up on a Tuesday with Saturday in mind as opposed to just check the box and get through it. One of the things we’ve talked to the guys about – people use the word process. Process is behavior. It’s your behavior. It’s the sum total of all of our behaviors over the course of the week. Everybody has a Tuesday practice. It’s cool to say culture and it’s cool to say process, but your process is what you do – it’s your actions and your behaviors. And who drives behaviors? It’s coaches. My frustration was a frustration to myself.
***
Pat Fields
Casey Thompson?
“Me and Casey are cool. I definitely tried to get him to come (to OU). I wish he would have come here. I believe we met each other (during) our sophomore year. It’s crazy because that was my first interception in high school, from him. Not to talk trash or anything, but that’s my guy. He’s extremely positive. Like I said, I really wish he would’ve came here. He’s a heck of a player, and I’m glad to see him having the success that he’s having. Like I said, in this day and age, the easier thing to do is hit the portal, but he sat behind Sam (Ehlinger) and he learned the offense. Even this year, he didn’t come out and start Day 1, but he’s always putting his head down and working. I think that’s a testament to who he is as a person and his character and who he is as a man.”
Key Lawrence Q turns into raving about Damond Harmon?
“I think he’s just a guy who’s eager to learn and eager to get better. That’s the same thing with all the guys who just came in. Not to take the attention off of Key, but a guy like Damond Harmon. He was on the scout team at the beginning of the year, but it was crazy. Every single time at the start of practice he would come over and force the coaches to come over and scout the team. And I say that because he’s always eager to learn. He’s always eager to get better. We’ll work on things and he’s trying to be there as much as he can. As soon as the scout team period ends, he’s always there with the defense. I think it’s a testament to who they are as younger guys. Damond got a little bit of snaps last week at nickel and got a couple of snaps at kickoff. I think all of those guys, they just have that type of personality and the tenacity to get better.”
We still talkin' about practice?
“I think it’s just immaturity on our part as a defense. We have such a high standard for ourselves. Coach Riley said the days of holding an opposing offense to 24 points isn’t good enough because we expect to be a top defense in the country. So, because our standard is so high, you’re going to have bad days. If you don’t have a high standard for yourself, it’s easy to not have a bad day. But because the standard is so high, the expectation is so high, those bad days come. I think the standard has been elevated and, for us as players, we have to embrace it. We have to evaluate what the standard is and everybody has to put their efforts in, put their head down and work toward it. We want to keep on ascending. Historically, we’ve always made our biggest jumps in the middle of the season and in the second half of the season because we’re so eager to get better and so eager to practice. So, that’s what we’re going to see as a defense and that’s what us leaders are pushing.”
4th down defense?
I think for us, we try to keep it to just a consistency standpoint. We don't really try to ... if it's a third down situation or a fourth down situation, we just try to be consistent in our approach with everything. The reason I say that is because to say we have a third-and-3 situation, and everybody's like, OK, we need to make a play, and then you jump offsides and that's a 5-yard penalty, automatic first down. Or if you're overaggressive in coverage and you bite on something that's not what you think it is, you may end up giving a touchdown on third-and-3 instead making a tackle for five yards and it being a first down. So I think it's very mature in our approach to it. We just try to be consistent in all that we do because we know that the consistent bottom line that we play with, we know that it's good and it's going to allow us to be successful every single down if we complete that as 11 players on the defense.
***
Drake Stoops
Do you hear the STOOPS cheers?
I don't really hear it. Actually it's kind of funny, you don't hear much down there. I don't know if it's the focus or what it is. You hear like -- you hear your own breath. You hear your thoughts. You see the play call, you know what to do. You're just real locked in. I think the first time it happened and I heard it I thought they were booing, but I figured it out that they weren't.
OU-Texas memory lane?
I mean it was cool. High school I'd play Friday night and then drive down there after my game. I liked staying in the hotel with the team and waking up early that morning to go to the fair grounds. And as a kid, shoot I used to love going around to the fair, all that. I didn't really quite understand the magnitude of the game at that age.
And then going to the stadium watching the game, celebrating on the field after. Getting to see my dad, celebrate with my family and you know the team, I always thought that was real cool as a kid. And just yeah, normal things like that.
***
DaShaun White
Asamoah?
I don't even know where to start. Man, that's my guy right there. I mean, we have fiercely competed for years. We've probably been two of the biggest critics of each other's games beside our own selves. There's nobody I've watched more film with. I can speak to just last year, during the spring, during this offseason, just how much football we watched. If there was a number for it, it'd be crazy, just sitting in our little area just watching football all day long. But yeah to see him ... I feel like in a position where he's about to take off. I really feel that way about our whole room right now. Obviously just one of those things, we've just gotta go out there and do it.
Being a Texas kid in OU-Texas?
And to speak on the Texas game, being from Texas, it's a big deal. You try to downplay it a little bit and try to treat every game equal, but this one always feels a little bit different. Maybe it is because I'm from Texas. Maybe it's because I couldn't even really tell you for sure what that answer is, but this game feels different. The environment's different. The energy is different. Everything just feels a little different about it. Really excited to be able to go and play this one.
***
Mike Woods (feature coming Friday)
First OU-Texas?
I’m hesitant to say this, but growing up, I was a Texas fan. I’m talking about my room was painted burnt orange with Texas stuff all over it. I’m pretty familiar with the game. I used to watch the 2005-Vince Young tape and all that stuff. I’m pretty familiar with it. I’m excited to play in it for the first time. obviously, I’m not a Texas fan anymore. I’m just excited to play the next game. It’s just next game on the schedule, but obviously it’s a big one and we respect that.
Comfort level growing?
Comfort level? I’m feeling pretty good. I feel like I’m getting a lot of balls thrown my way. A lot more balls than I had in recent years. I’m happy and I’m comfortable. Touchdown vs. K-State? We work our scramble drill all the time. Spencer had a little rush to his right and got out of it and was telling me where to go. I actually didn’t go that way, went the other way, but it all worked out.
Jadon Haselwood?
“He’s definitely the biggest character in the room. He’s always making everybody laugh, just full of jokes. He’s a funny dude, fun to be around. And his play during the season, with the opportunities he’s had, I feel like he’s made the best of them. I look forward to watching him play the rest of the year, and we have a lot of fun out there together. I think our chemistry is getting better as well. We were roommates this past week (at Kansas State), so I think we’re just closer as teammates. It’s just fun to go out there and ball with the dudes you work with every day.”
***
Nik Bonitto
I'm stirring the pot w/ rotation talk? Tough to buy-in?
It's not difficult. It's really easy when you have guys behind you that you trust that can come in the game and play well and there won't be no drop off. Guys that you know can produce when they come into the game. So, me personally, it’s not difficult for me at all. I trust the guys coming in behind me, and the coaches trust them too because it's not like they're just putting them out there for no reason. They've earned their way on the field. They gain trust from coach to definitely be in there for me, so I really don't have a problem with it.
Mr. Bijan?
It makes them look a lot different. He runs the ball pretty well. He does a lot of things in the pass game that helps them out. He’s a real weapon in the pass game so it's gonna be good that we make sure we have eyes on him at all times, because he can really hurt us if he gets the ball in open space and stuff like that so… we’ve played against a lot of great backs this year, so I definitely think that has helped us prepare. We’re just gonna go out and see on Saturday.
***
Isaiah Thomas
I'm still stirring up rotation stuff. Has the rotation process worked, IT?
The rotation process, it's a different approach than what we've done in the past. But I mean it's something we expected. It's something that coach brought up. It's not to give us rest, but it's to get the best out of us when we get back in there. So I'm fine with it. I trust these coaches and I trust myself as well. So if they put a plan in front of me, I'm going to attack it the best way that I can because they got me to where I am now so I'm gonna stick to what they're giving us and we're just going to keep attacking each play.
Enough with these 15-play drives in the first half?
In a perfect world we would always try to hold a goose egg for the opposing team to score, but we know that's not realistic. But we can definitely do better in how we start the game. Instead of having to have a wake up call or a wake up drive like that just to also help out the offense. Give them that ball early, have them score and get another stop.
But we also preach about finishing. I would rather be able to finish hard in the second half, not give up those 19-, 15- to 20-play drives like that and allow touchdown and stuff or anything like that. So we've just got to hone in on our jobs and quit trying to wait to get a wake up call or wait to get a feel for the game, and have the game going for us. We've just got to attack the game and don't let it attack us.
Lil Thurm?
I know Casey personally. I’ve seen Casey a couple times when he’s come back home. He’s from this area. I’ve seen Casey a couple times and talked to him now and then. We have a good relationship. We’re not best friends obviously, but a good relationship. It’s a challenge to us. It’s the norm now for college quarterbacks to be very mobile. He’s a different kind of mobile. He can also stay in that pocket and sling it. We’ve got to be aware of him triggering if he feels pressure. We’ve got to be disciplined, staying low, tackling, finishing. Not running by the quarterback but not getting too deep inside so he can roll out. Staying disciplined is big for us this week with a quarterback like him. He’s so versatile in that pocket.
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Spencer Rattler
How much will 2020 experience help you Saturday?
Just knowing the type of environment, the type of emotions that go into it, handling myself in pregame, making sure I got my energy up, because you can spend a lot of your energy in the pregame working too hard because you’re ready to go. Just those little things I’d say, preparing for this game.
Tough making everybody happy when have so few possessions?
We’re pretty good at spreading the ball around and we don’t have too many selfish guys on our team. We’ve got guys that all want to make plays, which is great, but we got guys that know when this guy’s making plays and he’s hot, you throw him the ball and it’s good. They don’t get upset about that, which is easy to play with when you got guys like that. All across the board we got a lot of unselfish players, which turns out good in the long run.
Being doubted good motivation?
I guess you can say that is a form of motivation for us, for me personally and this group. You always want to prove somebody wrong and you’ve gotta prove yourself right. That’s something we’ve done a good job of, overcoming adversity, you know, staying together and just keep pushing, keep fighting. That’s something we’re gonna keep doing. We’re gonna have a good time doing it.
We’re having fun on the field, that’s the main thing. We’re winning. We’re just preparing for this game Saturday, ready to go.
Sharing emotions w/ teammates?
When we’re at our best is when we’re fully into it, having fun together, celebrating plays and playing with that swagger I said. It’s just way more fun and you just wanna score more points doing it. It’s that simple. That’s what we need to keep playing with is that confidence, no matter what, going through ups and downs and just keep playing with that.
