Football: Player Quotes 9/6/10
September 06, 2010 08:55 PM | General
September 6, 2010
Jock Sanders
On what was done well and what needs to be improved:
Marshall’s a good team, and we have a lot to prepare for. We’ve watched them on film and their offense struggled to produce but their defense is very good. We have to exploit any mistakes they make and turn them into points on our end.
On Marshall getting beat by Ohio State:
It wasn’t a blowout, because they have a good offense but struggled to produce. The defense was doing pretty well but if they had some scores it would have been more close. Looking at the film, they made a few mistakes in the secondary. Their secondary is not their strength. Their defensive line and their linebackers are their strength. We’ll have to exploit the secondary with the things that we do with our offense.
On the play of Bradley Starks:
He’s coming along. He’s just getting up from his injury. He was out of camp pretty much the whole time so we didn’t want to rush him into it. He should be back out there ready to go. He’s another tall tree when he’s out there. He takes stress off of me, Tavon (Austin) and Noel (Devine) and the others in the skill position group.
On the play of J.D. Woods:
It wasn’t a surprise to us that he got the first touchdown. All the receivers, him, Tavon and the others have been competing at a high level. Just being on the field shows that anybody can score in our offense. It’s not a set person – anybody can score at any given time. He does it all. He’s kind of young and I’m sure everything is spinning in his head. We’re trying to loosen him up a bit.
On playing against former assistant coach Doc Holliday:
We knew it all along that we’d be playing against him. With the turnovers we had we killed ourselves. Knowing the type of caliber players that we have we can break out at any given time.
On Geno’s interception against Coastal Carolina:
He’s still upset about it. He told us he missed a couple of reads and that it was on him. He wants to step up and be the leader and take that role. Today he was fired up and making all the passes, being a lot more vocal. It helped us out a lot.
Noel Devine
On playing against Marshall:
It’s all about state pride. It means a lot to people here. We’re the 2010 version - it means a lot to us seniors. We just need to play our game, even though it’s an instate rival.
On preparing for Marshall on a short week:
It bothers us a little bit. If you’ve got bumps and bruises you’ve got to be ready to go again and try to stay healthy for the next opponent. You have to get out and start fast. The less hits you take, the better. We learned a lot from our first game. We have skills – we just need to play our game.
On being close to breaking out a few long runs:
It was the first game and everyone is still trying to get the jitters out. I think we did alright – there’s always room for improvement.
On playing a night game:
It goes back to Friday Night Lights. It’s like a high school game – you have to go out and dominate.
On the atmosphere in Huntington:
It’s loud. There’s name calling and it’s a hostile environment. It was pretty wild. We just have to go out and play our game and execute.
On playing against Coach Holliday:
Coach Holliday is a great coach. He’s a great person. We just have to go out and play our game. You have to focus on the task at hand and focus on each play.
Robert Sands
On playing against Doc Holliday:
I’m happy for him – he’s getting his first shot as a head coach. Every assistant coach wants to be a head coach someday. Doc’s been around the game for a long time, and he finally got his opportunity – he seized the moment.
On playing with the special teams:
I’ve been on the kickoff team since I got here. If you want to win, you better get out there. Last year our kickoff team was ranked close to last in the country. We have to have guys in there that are willing to go in and get after the returner.
On his health:
I’m fine. I’m ready to go.
On the play of his backup, Eain Smith:
He’s good and he’s playing well. You don’t want a backup who’s settling for second place. You need someone who wants to be a starter. I’m not just going to give him the starting spot; he knows he needs to earn it and keep playing well. You need a backup who knows what he’s doing and is able to compete when you’re not out there. Eain is a great player.
Doug Rigg
On preparing to play against Marshall:
They have a very good offense. They made some great plays against Ohio State, so we’re preparing our best for the looks they will give us. They spread the ball around well. We’re trying to figure them out a little bit more. They run good screen plays. We need to be able to cover every aspect of the field and not have any holes in our defense.
On how the linebackers will prepare for Marshall’s offense:
Everything will be the same. Their offensive linemen are huge. Our big thing will be to find the ball carrier when we’re facing up with them, but it will be difficult to see around their tall linemen.
On playing his first game last Saturday:
It felt great to be out there with 60,000 people. It felt great – I loved every second of it. The first couple of plays went by, and I was like, “Wait, what just happened?” Everything came back to me, and it felt like I was in practice again. It was good after that. The more reps you take and the more you do things right, coach will come up to you and say, “Good job,” and you start to grow confidence. All the reps I took from summer time and practice helped a lot. I just went out and played my game.
