Nov. 14, 2011
Vanderbilt Press Conference & Quotes
Vanderbilt plays at Tennessee at 6 p.m. CT (ESPNU) on Saturday in Knoxville. On Monday, Tennessee Head Coach Derek Dooley met with the media for his weekly press conference to discuss the upcoming matchup.
View the quotes below and watch the press conference video here.
Opening statement
“OK, just recapping that game. Obviously a really disappointing result and it was a game of a lot of misses. Missed opportunities — we had a lot of opportunities to score some points and change some things. Missed tackles — we had more missed tackles this game then all the other games combined. Mistakes — had a lot more mental errors, especially on defense then we ever have had. A lack of critical execution on downs — I think we had about six drives on offense where we are knocking on the door and have a chance to get some points and we screw it up somehow. Just really disappointing and no real excuses other than we didn’t play very well and couldn’t take advantage of opportunities and couldn’t execute as well as we needed to. We have to move on.
“Injuries. I guess the question this week is going to be Tyler (Bray) and he has been cleared to go ahead and start practicing, which is right on schedule with what we expected. I would probably list him if I had to say a word as questionable. I really won’t know until we start practicing to see how he can take a snap, how accurately he can throw it. He’s going to have a little learning curve coming back because he has been out of ball. What has it been, five, six weeks? Which is a little bit of time. We will see. We still have to get the other guys ready to play and we will just kind of take it day by day. We’ve been knocked around a little bit. We are bleeding, there’s no question about that. We are on the ropes, but we are not out. We are not out yet. We got a good team coming in this week that is feeling good, playing good and we have to be ready to respond to the challenge. It’s so important that our team feeds their spirit with some positive thoughts. Avoid all the things that surround programs when things are not going the way they need to go or the way people expected to go and stay focused on what we all need to do organizationally to play our best on Saturday because that is what it is going to take. That is where we are.”
On practicing Bray with the starters
“Yeah, probably. I don’t know until we go out there. I’ll watch him. We’ll put him in some plays. It’s just a little premature for me to say he’s going to take all the one reps. We are just going to see what he can do in individual, see how we go, throw some seven-on-seven and then take it from there.”
On the timeline for knowing if Bray will be ready to go
“I don’t know; that is a good question. We’ve talked about it, but probably the reality is if he’s ready to go we’d be crazy not to at least give him a shot, given the inconsistency we have had at that position.”
On not reviewing the Arkansas game film
“I’ve done it a couple of times and we did it a time or two, usually once every few years. It didn’t look like us in so many respects and we’ve been coaching much of the same stuff for 10 weeks now. I just felt like it was better that we closed the door on that game, regrouped and got our thoughts right going into this week. They watched it on their own if they wanted to; I’m sure they did. They all had their grade sheets. There was no sense in going and beating on them another two hours because they got beat on pretty good.”
On the analogy of feeding the orange dog
“Who said that? Did they say that publicly or off the record to you? The whole deal is you have a choice when you wake up on what you are going to feed your mind. You really have a choice; we all do. We get so emotionally invested in results in our country that it can really just sabotage your thinking, sabotage your performance, and it has our team. I don’t think there is any question. Those teams that say, `Well, we didn’t get the breaks. We just didn’t have the breaks and, oh, we were close.’ You are missing that juice, missing that confidence and every day you wake up, you’ve got one side that wants to be negative and wants to feel sorry for yourself and make excuses and blame others. Then you’ve got another side that thinks good thoughts and has a lot of encouragement. It’s a little more solution oriented and isn’t so emotionally drawn to the results. That’s the side we need to feed ourselves. It’s hard to do. It’s hard for all of us. It starts with the coaching staff, and then everybody in the organization – I’ve told the trainers and the equipment guys. The last thing we can do is just stick our head down and get all down because it will only get worse when you do that.”
On seeing positive signs after that talk
“We will see over the course of the week how we are feeding it.”
On Bray helping the team get going again
“Well he’s got to go play well. It won’t give us much juice if he goes out there and he’s 2-for-9 with two picks. I think that’s been a little symptom of our team. We are going, going, and then we can’t score any points. Then it just starts with the wear and tear. It’s losing that hope and we’ve got to do a better job of executing. A lot of opportunities there. You watch the film and you get sick. Throw and catch.”
On the satisfaction with taking the redshirt off Worley
“I don’t know if I am still satisfied. Do I think it was the right thing to do? I do. I don’t know what would have happened in those other games had we not. I’m not going to sit here and say absolutely. I mean, none of us know what would have happened. I did what I thought was right. I do know this, no matter what happens this year; I do believe the experience he gained so far and the experience he might gain will make him a better quarterback next year. It will help him understand the amount of focus and consistency that it takes to play well. That will help him in the offseason and it will help him next year. I think that goes for all of our young guys. I’ve felt like you go out there and go, `Man, you shouldn’t have played the guy because he rat-trapped all the time.’ We had a lot of them do that the other night. But what happens is because they are getting the experience, they make better sophomores. I do think it will help him next year.”
On deciding reps between Worley and Bray
“The first thing I’ve got to do is watch him when you guys are out there. We are going to watch him (Bray); he is probably going to throw a little bit today. We just have to see where he is and then we will figure it out from then on. A lot of it is just going to be probably, (a) What he can tolerate? and (b) What can he execute? That is what it’s going to come down to.”
On if Bray still has pain in his hand
“Yeah. It’s not like it never happened. He’s still on his way back.”
On what the defense need to do this week against Vanderbilt
“They made the quarterback switch and they do everything. You can’t cheat against them, meaning every time they do this, they are going to do that. You got to go play. And what’s interesting is they really find a way to generate big plays, as good as anybody. I think Arkansas is the only team with more big plays than they’ve had. So they get you with a lot of misdirection. They do quarterback runs, the quarterback throws it, the quarterback scrambles and he’s really fast. He’s changed what they’ve looked like on offense, and it’s showed by their points. Big plays and points, that’s the name of the game today.”
On Vanderbilt defensively
“Defensively, a real veteran group – real veteran group. Tough, extremely disciplined, never out of position, great tackling football team. They just play really sound football. Because of their experience, they know when to take chances and they can read intentions. They are a lot more aware than young players on what the other side is doing. Because of that they have created a lot of turnovers, and they’ve kept them in the games. I mean, they have kept them fighting in the games. Nobody can ever pull away from them. You’ve had some teams that jump on them. Florida jumps on them 17-0 and they go out there and play great defense and they kind of inch their way back in it. That is always your starting point in this league.”
On having any background on Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin
“No. I knew he was with Ralph (Friedgen) for a while, and he’s about as good of a trainer of a coach as you can have – Friedgen.”
On Austin Johnson’s season and the fact he’s leading the team in interceptions with three
“That about sums it up for us, doesn’t it? – our Mike linebacker. He’s made three really great plays. That was an incredible play he made the other night, and we’re lucky he made it. If he didn’t, we busted the coverage and the safety who needed to be covering the guy was all the way over there on the sideline. But Austin wheeled back, he made a great play.
“Senior. I think back to what Austin looked like four years ago. He was probably banging around as a backup fullback, I’m sure people thought, `What is he?’ And even last year, he didn’t do much for us. He had no real role. But it’s a guy who stays invested in the program, he keeps working, he’s got a tremendous level of commitment to being as good as he can be, and then, eventually, he blossoms. He’s a great example of that.”
On what not making a bowl game would mean for the program
“We need to stay on Vandy, and that’s it. We’ll get through the Vandy game and see how we perform, and then we can worry about the next one, and at the end of the year we’ll do a little state of the union. I don’t know what else to say other than that. I don’t think the outcome (against Vanderbilt) is going to change how I’m thinking in the next year or two. It’s certainly going to change how we feel this year. And I’m sure it will change how a lot of people feel externally, about me and where we’re headed, and that’s OK. But this one game is not going to impact our entire program the next three years. I’m not approaching it that way. It’s a big game for this season, because if we lose we don’t go to a bowl. That’s a big thing.”
On Willie Bohannon earning more playing time
“Yeah, he’s just been a little more consistent. He’s not as productive as we’d like him to be, but he’s been more consistent and hasn’t made as many mistakes. That’s allowed him to play a little bit more.”
On the team showing less fight in the second half at Arkansas than in previous games
“I don’t think so. In the fourth quarter, we didn’t look very good – that’s fair to say. But we came out in the third quarter and had a couple of drives where we penetrate down there. I think our first three times we touched the ball, we went about 5 or 6 plays, getting first downs, going about 30 or 40 yards. One time we got way down there, we can’t convert on fourth-and-2 a couple of times, we get a holding penalty one time, and then they hit some big plays coming back. I was really disappointed in their last score. I was.”
On this week’s punting situation
“We’ll probably punt Matt (Darr) but then see how the game’s going. Our plan was that Matt was going to be our punter. We were relying on his hang time, which has been extremely consistent. I think the one return he hits a 3.3, which is rare for him. He’s usually 4.5 – that’s a whole second. Now, we should have tackled the guy. I’ve never seen a play like that. We had about seven guys who could have made the tackle – a couple of them twice. I don’t have an explanation for that, other than it was as disappointing a play as I’ve ever been a part of.
“But then the way the wind was going, and I didn’t want to take any more chances – and Mike’s (Palardy) been fine punting the ball and he’s really good at directional. Who was it that’s really good? It was Alabama. He had a great game pinning them in the corner. (Marquis) Maze didn’t have anything. So we were going on that. And he shanked them, he shanked two punts. I thought we shouldn’t have let him go back out there after the first one. It was bad.”
On if nerves or switching back and forth is causing the punting problems
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. That’s kind of what they do. They stand there and they have to be ready and stay warm. Everybody says, `He needs to be in rhythm.’ I say, `That’s your job.’ They’ve got a net over there to stay loose. But clearly, there was some mental clutter that affected what he was doing.”
On Darr’s punting distance to go with hang time
“When he’s at his best and is really top-notch, he hits that thing about 45-50 yards and is around 4.5-4.7 hang. I’m happy with anything beyond 38-40 yards with a big hang – 4.5 hang. If he can hang it 4.5 seconds at 40 yards, it’s a net-40 – take it every time. And he’s getting better. I was surprised because Matt probably had his best week of practice last week as far as his mechanics. He started settling in to what he was doing. But it just takes some time.”
On the senior class and how they’ve handled the last two years
“These guys have been through a lot. We have one on offense, that’s Tauren (Poole). Anthony Anderson, he’s kind of on special teams. We have two every down guys on defense – Malik (Jackson) and Austin, and then Ben Martin, who’s kind of a 20-play guy. And we have Nick Guess, who’s our long snapper. And then we have some other guys who’ve just been good team guys – Cory Eichholtz, Art Evans, Shane Reveiz, Chip Rhome, Matt Simms, Jack Storey, C.J. Fleming, (Daryl) Vereen. They’ve been through a lot. They’ve been through three (head) coaches, probably four position coaches, five strength coaches and kind of stuck with it. I know this year isn’t going the way they had hoped, but it would be good to send them out of Neyland Stadium with a win. All these freshmen don’t understand how they’re going to feel when they’re a senior. I didn’t really realize how special it was until last year. It kind of caught me off guard when those guys were running through for the last time.”
On the importance of a senior class of 15-20 who contribute
“Well, you want more than four that play. That’s important, and it will come. We’ll get there. But in the meantime these are our guys, and we need to go out there and play as well as we can for them.”
On Bray staying mentally sharp during his time off the field
“He’s really been engaged but I don’t know how much it’s helped him. We’ll find out when he comes back. We had a little quarterback school with him, he’s been engaged with the game plan, he’s watched film. I’m sitting on the plane the other night watching the game and he’s right there next to me taking in every play.
“Tyler likes ball. He loves ball. He wants to play. I think he’s learning more about the schematic part of it and he’s enjoying it. I hope it will pay off but we’ll see.”
On Marlin Lane’s passing ability
“He’s pretty good. We called two passes the other night and his decision-making actually was better than some of our other guys. Both time, the guy was covered and he didn’t throw a pick. A lot of times you run those trick plays and they’re serving it up no matter what. But we had a throw-back called and we threw a little halfback pass out of the wildcat. Our trick plays aren’t looking too good. Our fake field goal – we’re throwing it all out there hoping one of them will stick one time. He (Lane) throws it well, though.”
On the emotion of Senior Day
“It’s hard to explain. Last year, I didn’t have much time with those guys. I didn’t know them very well, it was a little edgy when I got here, it was edgy early in the year with them. But despite all that, I got chocked up a little bit that last game just watching them. Seeing how emotional they got, it hit me how much they loved their experience here – as bad as it was as far as the record and what happened and all that. That’s when it really hits you how much college means to somebody and playing college football. I wasn’t prepared for it, but I did (get emotional). I’ll be better prepared this time.
“We were a mess the first quarter of the Kentucky game last year. All our seniors, there was so much emotion that they couldn’t perform.”
On players of the week
“We didn’t have any. We closed the book on it. No coaches of the week, no player of the week, no managers of the week. The whole organization got no positive feedback from that game.
“All right.”
