Sept. 8, 2008
MONDAY PRESS CONFERENCE COVERAGE
|
Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Quotes from Weekly Press Conference
Monday, September 8, 2008
Rice Game
Opening Statement:
“With a Thursday game last week, we have had plenty of time to get over it. We had a good weekend and we started preparing for Rice. We were also able to get some recruiting done this weekend which was nice. We’re anxious to get back at it again.”
On the team returning to playing games on Saturdays:
“It will be nice, especially academically. We went to class Thursday morning and then we got the team over to the hotel to get ready for the game that night. When you play on Thursday it is tough because you get home late and you have to get up Friday morning and go to class. I am very happy to be back on the regular schedule.”
On the play of the secondary:
“Well they have played well and our coaches expected them to play well this season after they were good last year. They have made a lot of good plays for us this year. A lot of the things we do on defense are predicated on the fact that they can give us pretty good coverage on almost every play.”
On losing Darlron Spead to injury:
“Losing Darlron will certainly be a blow to the secondary because he was a specialist at the nickelback position. He did a great job at nickelback and he had a knack for rushing the passer and a knack for getting underneath pass plays over the middle. Darlron had a beautiful interception against USC and he read the route perfectly. We’ll figure out a plan on how to replace him. It will probably be several different scenarios and maybe several different players playing that position.”
On the success of team so far:
“We’ve worked hard to try to get a big win at home. We’re going to go out practice hard this week and learn what Rice does offensively and defensively and be ready to play when game time comes on Saturday. You can’t hang your hat on one or two games or one performance. Our team has beat two good football teams and we just need to keep it going. We are playing with a sense of urgency and were playing well enough to compete with everyone that we are playing against.”
On what Rice quarterback Chase Clement does well:
“He does a lot of good things for their football team. He throws the ball extremely well and he is fearless in the pocket. Not only does he have a strong arm, he makes a lot of plays with his legs. He is a lot like Chris Nickson. They do some designed runs with him and he does a good job of running their offense. I guarantee he has probably seen every possible defense that a team could possibly throw at him during his career. He has played a lot of good games for Rice in his career.”
On running back Jared Hawkins:
“I expected Jared to have a good season this year. I said earlier this year that I expected us to be better at the running back position than we were last year and we knew that Jared was going to play a big part in it. Jared runs bigger than he looks. He is a stout 195-200 lbs. tailback but he doesn’t look that way if you just look at him on the field. I think he surprises a few people with his power. He doesn’t mind running between the tackles and he can bounce off tacklers like he showed the other night. Jared is in great shape.”
On how the team responed after Chris Reinert’s injury:
“I think we responded to his gestures. We were pretty upset and that was a tough injury. When you have an injured teammate down on the field, everyone is concerned so we were glad to see him in great spirits when they took him off the field. Chris Reinert is a tough guy who has made a lot of contributions to our program on special teams. He is just one of those guys who is always running around with a lot of enthusiasm. I definitely think it motivated our players and it was evident on the next run when Jared broke three tackles and got into the endzone for the score.”
On Chris Nickson’s first two games:
“I have been really pleased with how Chris has played the first two games. He has done a good job of running the offense and has a great demeanor for a quarterback. I think his leadership ability has stepped up a tremendous amount. That is just everything you want out of a senior quarterback.”
On what has keyed Rice’s offensive production this season:
“They have stable wide receivers that are used to be playing in that system where they catch a lot of balls. Their receivers see a lot of coverages and they react well to different defensives schemes. They run the football too and that keeps defenses honest. You can’t just drop eight back there to defend the pass because they will run it. I think their offense has a tremendous amount of confidence right now in what they do. In the fourth quarter against Memphis, you saw that confidence step up and say hey were going to get it done and they did. Rice is a good program and they are an up-and-coming program. Coach (David) Bailiff has done a great job of getting his guys refocused. They had a great comeback at Memphis and that says a lot about their team and their confidence.”
On the play of the offensive line:
“I hope we got better from week one to week two. I think we did a better job of blocking the second half against South Carolina. I expect them to improve every week throughout the season. I have really been pleased with Thomas Welch’s play and I thought he has blocked extremely well. I also thought Reilly Lauer and Ryan Custer played well this past week. If we can continue to build depth and be able to have people ready in case someone gets dinged up, we should be fine.”