Sept. 29, 2015
Mason | Scheu & Herring | Gameday Central | Game Notes
Head coach Derek Mason, tight end Steven Scheu and linebacker Darreon Herring met the media Tuesday to discuss Vanderbilt’s next game against Middle Tennessee. The non-conference matchup is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. CT in Murfreesboro.
Vanderbilt Coach Derek Mason
Opening Statement:
“Back to work. For us, we’re looking to go 1-0 this week with the right mentality. Had a great practice this morning. Our guys are working hard. They’ve bought in. They understand exactly where we’re at. We need to be better. We played a tough game versus Ole Miss. But these guys are right back at it, and now what we need to do is make sure we detail the work that needs to be done in order to head down to Middle and play a great football game.
“As I look at Middle Tennessee State, Coach (Rick) Stockstill has done a great job of assembling talent. He’s got a great quarterback (in Brent Stockstill). Obviously, it is his son, but let me tell you something, he is a good quarterback. Right now he is throwing about 70 percent. I like what he does in the pocket. He is poised. He can make all the throws. Ed’Marques Batties, his receiver, is unbelievable. A talented receiver, game-breaker, explosive who can make some plays. As I look at what they have around that group, it is a really good football team. Our football team is excited to play. We’ve talked about exactly what this is going to look for us, going into another hostile environment. We look to play a great game. Every week we prepare this football team and try to go play its best ball game of the year. So we look forward to the challenge.”
On playing consecutive games against high-scoring offenses (Ole Miss and Middle Tennessee State) who have scored at least 70 points twice this season:
“In this day and age of air-raid football, there are points being scored all around you. We just focus on the opponent at hand. But, I tell you what, the numbers are up there. I haven’t seen in a long time. As you look across the country, there are teams posting it every week. It is always a challenge. It is going to be a challenge for us. But we’re going to be prepared.”
Is MTSU quarterback Brent Stockstill’s release quicker than other quarterbacks and how does that affect your pressure?
“Extremely quick release. He reads defenses well. He has been well coached. He understands where it is going. He understands his read progression. Like most spread teams, he is going to get the ball out of his hands quickly. We need to make sure we get our hands up defensively. If the pressure comes, we need to make sure try to hit home. More than that, we have to confuse them with looks.”
What is the difference between quarterback Johnny McCrary in the first two games and the last two games?
“Maturity. He is working hard every day. (Offensive coordinator) Andy (Ludwig) is doing a great job of just bringing him along. The biggest thing Johnny is doing is he is settling into his personnel and playing within himself. I believe that is important. He trusts the guys around him. He doesn’t feel like he has to do it all. He is staying within the process. I think as long you can stay within a process it keeps you out of harm’s way. And he has been able to do that for us the last two weeks.”
Did the team take away a lot of positives from a close loss to Ole Miss going into playing Middle Tennessee State this week?
“There is some positive carryover. Our guys went into a hostile environment, and played tough. But, I want to make this known again — this football team is going to play to win. There are no moral victories for us. This team wants to win ball games, and we’re going to put ourselves in position to win ball games. We have to execute a little better. That is what they took out of this game: we were close but we didn’t execute well enough. A couple of missed opportunities, a couple of chances to change this game around. We missed on those. With that, these guys are right back to working extremely hard and they get it. They know they’re close. Once this group breaks through, the sky is the limit.”
After getting a couple turnovers against Ole Miss, how confident are you that more are coming this week and throughout the season?
“We actually had more in practice last week, and I believe how you practice is how you play. With that, this week has started off pretty good as well. I like what our guys are doing. They are focusing the mechanics and the techniques they need to have in order to make those things happen. We’re getting hats to the ball. Guys are really stripping ball carriers. We’re playing the ball well. We’re playing with a little more vision and you do that when you can play a little more zone than man coverage. I like where these guys are. We’re getting better at it. But it all starts in practice. How you practice is how you play.”
Inside Linebacker Darreon Herring
On playing several fast paced offenses in a row:
“We just prepare every week. It doesn’t really matter the tempo, we just practice fast no matter what.”
On defensive improvements against fast paced offenses:
“I think we definitely started out slow, but we’ve picked it up a lot these past two, three games we’ve played with tempo teams. I think the defense has adjusted well to it.”
On playing teams with less experienced quarterbacks:
“We definitely want to put a lot of pressure on any quarterback we play. He’s a good quarterback that we’re going against this week, but that’s nothing we haven’t seen this year as far as young quarterbacks and the type of offense they run. It’s definitely going to be a good challenge for us to go against them.”
On building confidence after securing two turnovers against Ole Miss:
“That’s what we’ve been practicing, just ball searching every practice and it paid off this past week with the two interceptions by Jahmel McIntosh and Oren Burks. Those were two great interceptions, so we plan to roll that into this week and the weeks after that.”
On continual defensive improvement:
“Yeah most plays, but the little things hurt us like not executing and not getting to the ball fast enough. We emphasized that a lot this past week, to make sure we get lined up and know our responsibilities.”
Similarities between WKU, Ole Miss and MTSU offenses:
“It’s really similar. They run a lot of plays, trying to get you in motion and your eyes off your real keys. Those are kind of the things we’re emphasizing this week; just focusing on your keys and the smoke and mirrors teams use to get us out of our game.”
On preparing for teams who use tempo:
“I think the coaches have always prepared us for certain teams that we’re going against if they are one of those teams that uses a lot of motion. But I don’t think we’ve gotten any better or worse at that, it’s just depending on the week and who we’re playing.”
Tactics to slow down tempo offenses:
“I think we’re just out there playing fast against them, and after we make a tackle or stop, we hurry up and get right back to the ball and aligned to get ready. We’re not doing a lot of walking to the huddle, we’re getting up there and to the sidelines for the coaches’ calls. I think that’s really helped us out a lot, because back then we used to walk up and lack getting back to the ball. Now, everyone is buying into getting back to the huddle and sidelines.”
Seeing the MTSU game as just any other game:
“We have to go into this game and treat it like any other game, like we do each week. Just because it’s a non-conference team, we can’t go in there thinking that it’s going to be an easy game. Middle Tennessee is going to play us tough because were all in Tennessee and it’s going to be an exciting game. I’m pretty sure them going against an SEC opponent is great for them, but I think they’re going to play us just as hard as they play any other team in their conference as well.”
Tight End Steven Scheu
On Ralph Webb:
“I think he is doing a really good job. Defenses obviously know about him and the impact he can have on every single game, so they are really keying on him. He is a big focal point to every defense so it is not a surprise he is having to fight for everything that he’s getting. I think the big run he had last week just showed that if we keep wearing on defenses that is going to happen a lot more.”
On his performance against Ole Miss:
“I think the ball just came my way. Last week, third down was a big point of emphasis for us, so it is no surprise I had some opportunities on third down. We knew that we had to convert if we wanted to score so that is really all it was.”
On the impact of winning the time of possession battle:
“You can tell in the third and fourth quarter that defenders are starting to get tired. When you see that, you kind of know that you have them where you want them, and we are definitely improving in that aspect.”
On Johnny McCrary’s improvement:
“Really for Johnny, he has all the skills. The skill set is there; It’s just all about confidence. Each week he has gotten more confident and that’s huge for us and huge for him. I think each week you’ve seen our offense do a lot of really good things and that has a lot to do with Johnny because of his improvement every week and we are really excited about where he is headed.”
On playing well, but not coming away with a win:
“It’s definitely frustrating. We feel like we’ve put ourselves in a position to win every single game thus far and there have been a couple of things here or there that have kept us from having those three or four wins that we see ourselves having. All in all we are excited about where we are headed as a team and we have a lot of confidence in the defense, offense and special teams. We are really excited with what these next eight games hold for us.”
On looking to get payback for MTSU winning the last three games:
“Payback? I don’t really know much about that considering nobody was here in those past three meetings. We definitely want to show everybody what Vanderbilt football is all about and get that second win and start trending in the right direction. That’s all our focus is on.”
