Football: Player Quotes 9.11.08
September 11, 2008 08:01 PM | General
September 11, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia Univeristy football player quotes following Thursday afternoon's practice.
Brandon Hogan
On Practice
It’s been a faster tempo and we have had more tackling drills, more hitting. We have been doing a lot of open field tackling and angle tackling drills. We have been in full pads more than we regularly are as well.
On the Thursday night game schedule
The extra time helps. You have more time to watch film and they give us DVDs to take home.
On CU’s power offense
They have a big back just like East Carolina so we just prepare for the run. They have a little bit of a spread offense so they throw the ball down field too, but we’re preparing.
On Colorado’s atmosphere
I’m not worried about it too much. Coach Stew told us not to worry about it and he was out there for many years. He said it was mental, so we’re not worrying about it. We have business to do.
Pat McAfee
On his punt game
I think anywhere on the field, unless we’re punting out of the end zone, I think we should get the ball inside the 20-yard line. That’s the way I look at it.
On last week’s performance
We’re doing alright. On paper, all the punts last week looked great but if you actually watch them, then they look terrible-I really got lucky last week. It was a windy day so I’m happy I got through the elements. Everything is looking good on paper and I have a lot of confidence going, so I think that is helping me out a lot this year.
His thoughts on the NFL
It depends what day you ask me. Sometimes I punt the ball and I think, wow-I could probably punt in the NFL. But then, there are days where I think I can kick the ball well too. I’m trying to get better at both right now so we can finish out the season well, but as a senior, you have to look ahead and I really do think I have the tools to do both. I have confidence in that.
Mortty Ivy
On what the team has to do to get better
We need to work a lot on the fundamentals. We had to go back and work on fundamentals because last week, we had a lack of that. We’re preparing hard this week. We are making things simpler and we are working a lot more on tackling. That’s what we needed to do (against ECU). We got better and we’re working extra hard this week.
On the young defense
As long as you study your playbook and watch film, it’s not that hard. It’s not that difficult- it’s just that a lot of the young guys haven’t been in an atmosphere like this before so then they think on the run and then they’re two steps slow. They have to go with the flow and know their assignment and know what they are supposed to do. They just need to fly around and make a play.
Greg Isdaner
On what they need to do
We will do our best to perform and we’re working on it. I think the coaches have confidence in us and our ability to get going. I hope that we can have our best performance yet this year, especially running-that’s our forte and we need to get it working.
We have to get the defense off the field. We need to keep them off the field. They are doing a heck of a job and are going through 15 play drives and we’re going three and out, or we’re scoring a touchdown in one play-it really puts the pressure on them. We’re going to do our best to give them a rest during the game so they can perform to the best of their abilities.
On Colorado
I think they come from a great conference and everyone knows Colorado. It should be interesting to go out there and play them. A couple of my friends who I grew up with are out there and they said the environment gets pretty crazy. I’m excited to see how it compares to here, because we have a great environment. Hopefully we can match their intensity.
On playing top teams in the nonconference schedule.
I don’t want to say we had a let down last week because I don’t think that’s what it was. I think they played a better game then we did. Always having these highly regarded teams on our schedule definitely gets us up and going.
