Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson
“It was good to get out and play. Some guys came out and gave us a great effort and played a tremendous game. I know we have to get better. Richmond did well running the ball against us and controlling the game in the first half and we did well adjusting.”
On Earl Bennett’s Performance:
“Earl was impressive. He’s a special player. He returned some punts tonight because we wanted to give him an extra touch or two and it paid off. He’s pretty good at it.”
On Chris Nickson’s Performance:
“Chris managed a good game tonight. He ended up doing quite a bit. He ran some option plays, he threw the ball, and he ran the ball. He had a good bit to think through and manage. I thought he did a good job. He had four touchdown passes, that’s pretty good. He was 19-26, which is efficient.”
On the Chemistry Between Earl Bennett and Chris Nickson:
“I was impressed. Earl’s a good player. Teams are going to try and take him away from us on offense. We’ve got some people who will step into that role and take some pressure off of him. We also had a good offensive scheme to get Earl the ball tonight.”
On Changing the Kickoff to the 30 Yard Line Possibly Leading to a Richmond Return TD:
“I really don’t think it had much to do with all the long kickoff returns tonight. I think it was just poor coverage and poor tackling. I’ll look at the film and maybe I’ll see that the runner had better momentum, but it’s hard to tell from the sidelines.”
On D.J. Moore’s Performance:
“He had an interception and a long punt return. He’s an athlete and makes things happen. He scooted through on a kickoff return and made a big play for us.”
On Jonathan Goff’s Performance:
“He’s steady as a rock. He doesn’t talk much and tries to lead by example. If you walked up to anyone in our locker room and asked who works the hardest or who our leader is, they’ll say Jonathan Goff.”
On Jeff Jennings’ Return:
“He’s really upset he fumbled in the fourth quarter tonight. He had some good runs for us and made a big catch in the corner of the end zone. He’s a good runner, a good pass protector, and a good receiver. It’s great to have him back.”
Vanderbilt Tailback Jeff Jennings
On how it felt to get back on the field…
“It felt good to finally get back out there and play a real game. It had been a while. It felt good to get back out there with my teammates.”
On the play of Earl Bennett…
“It’s great to have Earl on our team. He’s a great guy and a great football player. He plays a full game. He goes hard every play.”
On Alabama…
“It’s going to be fun. We went down to Alabama last year. It’s going to be fun to have them here at our field. We know they’re going to go out there and play hard and we’re going to play hard too.”
Vanderbilt Wide Receiver Earl Bennett
On returning kicks this season…
“I like that role. I returned kicks my freshman year. It’s pretty cool. Anything I can do to help the team win, I’ll do it whether it’s return punts or kickoffs.”
On his pursuit of the All-Time SEC Receiving Record…
“I’m really not thinking about that. I’m more concerned about our wins. As long as we continue to win, I’m okay. It doesn’t matter who gets the record.”
Vanderbilt Cornerback D.J. Moore
On if the team was trying to make a statement in this game…”It was important. We wanted to have momentum going into next week’s game.”
On how much better the defense must play against Alabama…
“I think we have to play a lot better defensively in all phases. Some plays we had breakdowns so we need to have less mental mistakes next week.”
Vanderbilt Quarterback Chris Nickson
On Earl Bennett’s record-breaking performance…
“It was just a great job. He always puts on a show. He just did his thing tonight. He’s a tremendous player for us.”
On his comfort level compared to last year…
“I feel very comfortable in what I’m doing. The coaches design the gameplan to fit my strengths. They keep me being able to do things that I want to do and that I like to do.”
