Sept. 30, 2014
Mason | Azubike & Pulley | Gameday Central | Game Notes & Depth Charts
Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason, linebacker Caleb Azubike and offensive lineman Spencer Pulley met the media Tuesday to talk about the Commodores’ next game against Georgia. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. CT Saturday at Sanford Stadium. The Southeastern Conference matchup will be televised on the SEC Network.
Head Coach Derek Mason
Opening Statement:
“It’s Georgia week. As you look at our football team coming off a tough loss at Kentucky, there’s a lack of offensive production but our defense is playing a little better. Our special teams are making plays but are still needing to grow and play at a high level. This is still a football team with a lot to improve on. Heading into this Georgia week, our focus is about getting better and making sure our football team is kicking it in gear in all three phases. We talk about the execution part of it, but we have to be better in all three phases in order for us to be in any game and have a chance down there between the hedges. That’s where the focus will be. In terms of the QB situation, as of right now Patton Robinette is still day-to-day so we’ll move forward. If we hear anything between now and then, we’ll move in a different direction but as of right now, we are planning on going with Wade Freebeck as our starter.”
About Georgia:
“Georgia is a well-coached football team. Coach (Mark) Richt has done a fantastic job for a long time. They have a tremendous coach, good players, good schemes on both sides of the ball and a 3-4 defense much like us. They have 11 sacks on the season. Defensively, they do a nice job of creating turnovers, getting after the quarterback and getting teams off the field. Offensively, it all starts with running back Todd Gurley. When you look at what he’s done, he’s averaging 106 yards a game. He’s arguably the best running back in college football. Gurley does it as good as anyone. He’s a downhill runner, has great vision, is strong, and reminds me of Adrian Peterson. When you watch him on film, he’s physical, breaks tackles and faces 9-10 man boxes almost every game and is productive. It all starts and ends with him. Their quarterback Hutson Mason has done a great job of taking care of the ball. He only has two interceptions on the season with five touchdowns thrown for a 69 percent pass-completion ratio. They are asking him to take care of the ball. He’s a veteran who’s been around it, watched it and knows what to do with it. I think that’s been their formula. When Gurley runs the ball for 26 rushes or more, they win, and if they keep feeding him in the second half, they win. It starts and ends with Gurley, so that’s where we have to start defensively. We have to stay on the field offensively and stop Gurley and that run game and play well on special teams.”
On defending Georgia’s running game:
“Anytime you can stop a running back from breaking long runs and explosive runs, that’s what you want to do. Everyone has loaded the box on him and they have found ways to manufacture runs with loaded boxes. He’s done a good job with runs after contact and the biggest thing about playing backs like Gurley is that you have to have hats on the ball. One guy is not going to bring him down. You have to have great pursuit. With that being said, I thought Tennessee did a good job of really loading the box and when Georgia realized what was happening they got to spread sets and gave him the ball and that’s where you see a big run for a nice gain. They have different ways to attack you. If the box gets too heavy, they’ll go to spread sets to empty the box and make sure he can get his shoulders down hill to the first down marker. We’ll just have to be aware of what they are trying to do to us. I’m not saying we’ll give up 4-6 yard runs all night but we want to minimize those long runs as best as we can.”
On the progression of rookie quarterback Wade Freebeck:
“The improvement is just in him not really being fazed by the game. He can stand in the pocket and he takes a shot or two. What we have to do is keep him upright and give him options. If teams want to zero blitz us, we’ll make teams pay for zero blitzes. I’m tired of seeing it. With that being the case, whatever team wants to bring a zero blitz, whoever they are, they are going to pay for it. We have zero blitz answers. For him, we’ll do a better job of putting him in situations where it allows him to have rhythm throws and to get it out of his hands and into the hands of our playmakers. He’s not the first quarterback as a freshman to play college football. I just think it’s part of his maturation process. As he sees things, he picks them up quickly. We need other guys around him to pick things up, too. It’s not all on Wade, it’s on coaches and players. The accountability factor has to be high. People want to look at the quarterback position, and there’s a lot of pressure on the quarterback. He has got to get some things done but no one guy gets it done by himself. Protection needs to be better and that’s what we need to start with. We have to start by keeping him upright, then allowing him to ease into the game. He’s no different than Mason at Georgia right now. I don’t care who you are, the first year playing is your first year playing. Anytime you get your first start, you learn something and you go through it. He’s learned how to manage the game. This is Wade’s third game of really playing, and second game as a starter, so I think in the end he’ll be fine. He learns fast.”
Offensive Lineman Spencer Pulley
On Wade Freebeck’s play:
“Playing quarterback position, you get a lot of praise and a lot of heat, some of which he doesn’t deserve for sure. There’s definitely a lot of problems with the offense as a whole not just with the quarterback.”
On if Wade’s confidence wavered:
“Not at all. I don’t know if anyone in here has played quarterback before but to come in here as a freshman and he sat back there and took some licks, he took a lot of hits that he didn’t need to take and he still stepped into the game and threw some great passes, but we didn’t do enough as an offense to keep him off the ground.”
On how Freebeck showing his toughness against Kentucky:
“I know what kind of guy he is and what he can do; that’s definitely impressive. If you watch the film, you can see he takes it a couple of times and his helmet comes off, and he gets hit but he just goes back out and does the exact same thing.”
Defensive Lineman/Linebacker Caleb Azubike
On playing against Georgia RB Todd Gurley:
“It’s a great opportunity. When you face a player who’s highly regarded across the country, not only the SEC, it’s great because it gets the defense excited because you want to play a player like that. Uou want to shut him down.”
On if they have a number they can hold Todd Gurley to:
“With the numbers, numbers lie because not every team with the most yards wins the game and that’s one thing we understand. We don’t have a specific number on him, we just know we have to stop the run. The run game is very indicative of what happens during the game. If you can stop the run, that will make them more one dimensional as an offense. It gives us a great chance to win, and with the emergence of our defensive backs and how great they played against an aggressive vertical passing Kentucky team, I believe that’s our goal to make them one dimensional and stop their run game. We have some great guys up front to create some pressure.”
On his preference of standing up or putting hand in the ground:
“I see myself as a versatile player, so do a lot of guys on our defense. I’m not the only one who stands up and goes down … I like being able to be multitask on defense and play with my hands down and also move around because one thing it makes the offense have to kind of account for everybody instead of knowing exactly where you are at every stage of the game. You are able to move around and be more versatile, and like I said multifaceted, and the offense has to also always account for where individuals are in a specific play to be able to be successful.”
On possibility of preparing for tackling a guy like Gurley:
“You just have to tackle with the eyes and feet. We just have to be fundamentally sound going into the game and understand that our technique is going to be the outcome of the game. If we play with sound technique, we play great leverage; we’re going to be successful. And that’s one thing defense across the country have to do is be able to play sound. Because when you let a guy like that run in and you’re not technically sound and you go high or try to tackle him high, he’s going to make you look foolish on national TV. But when you go in there and you’re technically sound and you listen to your coaches’ technique and advice, it makes things very easy. You know I’ve always been a big believer in that. Playing with great technique and pad level is going to be a great way to look at the game and a great way for our defense to attack them. I don’t think tackling will be a problem as long as we tackle with our eyes and feet, like I said and listen to every word our coaches have said and be technically sound.”