Head Coach Rich Brooks
?A quick injury update. E.J. (Adams) is obviously out, we?re going to get an MRI on that wrist before surgery is undertaken and determine the extent of the injury. Justin Jefferies will be held from contact for the first several days of this week. Dicky Lyons Jr. has patella tendonitis and probably will not practice tomorrow, and may not practice on Wednesday. We?re hoping that it will settle down later on in the week. Ricky Lumpkin came out of the game with a bad back. He will be limited, if he does practice tomorrow, but he should be okay by Wednesday. Mikhail Mabry is still questionable for this week. He may play this week with a cast on, but we?ll determine that later on in the week. Myron Pryor returns to the team this week.?
On Kent State?s offense?
?They have a very active quarterback (Julian Edelman), both runner and thrower. He?s a good runner and a very good thrower. They have a huge offensive line to help the quarterback run the option, the quarterback draw and the quarterback run game as well as the perimeter, and the play-action and drop-back passing game. They are pretty similar to our passing game, as they give a lot of sets with three receivers and one tight end. They spread the field. Their running back (Eugene Jarvis) just looks like a water bug in there. He?s 5?5?, 170 pounds and he?s just scary. He may not go where the play is designed, so the whole defense has to be aware that if the play doesn?t go their way, it may come back to them at any moment. So offensively they?re a challenge for us. Their receivers are good blockers on the perimeters as well as being good receivers.?
On Kent State defensively?
?They?re very sound and they play extremely hard. They tackle very well.?
On Kent State?s option run?
?They run the down-the-line option from under center more than they do the spread option from the shotgun, but they do run some of it. It?s like having two running backs in the backfield, only one?s a quarterback who?s an excellent runner, much like some of the teams we played last season.?
On reading the run-blocking?
?We do want to read the run-blocking, we?ve always wanted to, but we?re putting more emphasis on it this year. There will be times when we read it and than others when we?ll just stunt to a gap with a linebacker. They run a play that was very popular 10 to 15 years ago where they?ll pull both the guard and tackle from the backside and run the counter play. They run the naked bootlegs off of that, so it?s difficult at times. They are very efficient with what they do.?
On players? reactions after the win over Eastern Kentucky?
?We have a lot of things to work on and I hope they realize we still do. We can be happy that we got a good win, but we need to understand that the competition will continue to get better as we move forward here through the season and we need to continue to get better on the things that we?re not doing well.?
On 28 missed offensive assignments in the first game?
?I think that the 28 missed assignments in that game are a little high, but when you look at the amount of people that played, and the inexperience, than there?s a reason for it being high. I think we played 72 players in the game, which is very high for any game.?
On building off the first win?
?It?s a heck of a lot easier building off of a win than off of a loss. I don?t think it makes much difference who the win is against. You see the things you?re doing well, the things you?re doing okay and the things that you still need to correct. So I don?t think it makes any difference on what game we?re coming off of.?
On the challenge of this game ?
?What makes it a challenge is that Kent State is a good football team. That?s the only thing that makes it a bigger challenge. We have a team coming in here that went on the road and won a game against a BCS Conference and they?re a physical team, they have skill and they?re well coached, so that makes it a challenge.?
On the success of the running game vs. EKU?
?Well, we?d like to continue to have it go the same way it did the other night, but again, the competition is going to get more difficult, so therefore you aren?t going to be able to see it be as successful. Let?s hope that we don?t have the door slammed in our face this week on our running game. Let?s see if we can put some games back-to-back and than back-to-back-to-back, which will really determine if we?re improving on something. A spurt on something doesn?t mean that you?ve solved the problem.?
On the kick return game?
?We need to block better. Obviously when you turn the ball over on a return play, you?re not happy. I think that?s one of those things that we?ve done so well, that at some point guys maybe started taking it for granted that we could just show up out there on the special teams unit and we could just make some good plays, but it doesn?t work that way, you have to work your fanny off to get it done.?
On the team?s cornerback situation?
?Interestingly, it came up in our staff meeting this morning. We?ve talked about maybe bringing up (freshman) Randall Burden. We still have five healthy ones out there, which is better than years past that I?ve been here. So it?s not like its fallen off the face of the earth. We will get David (Jones) back at some point. We will get E.J. (Adams) back at one point. Hopefully nobody else gets hurt before one of those gets back. Overall we?re still in decent shape at corner, not as good as a couple weeks ago, but it?s still in pretty decent shape.?
On Marcus McClinton?s status for this week?s game?
?It?s doubtful unless we see significant improvement in the next couple of days. He?s lined up back there for a long time and was having his best camp. His experience has shown as he?s gotten stronger, faster, just better overall. I will say that Calvin Harrison did a good job coming in, and Ashton Cobb did a good job playing as well. Giving those guys experience last year as freshmen, even though it was limited, it pays off in a situation like that when in the first game of the year, you lose an experienced player who you depend on to give you very significant minutes.?
On the linebacker battle between Micah Johnson and Braxton Kelley?
?Yeah, we do have a fight there. We?ll see this week who does a better job in practice, because I think Braxton is healthy now, since he didn?t have any setbacks. We?ll let both of them rotate with the first- and second-team units to see who has the better practices and see who will get the start this week. Having said that, they will both probably get a lot of action anyway and we should have a very fresh player at that position.?
On working with new defensive coordinator Steve Brown?
?With him up in the box, I think you get a calmer environment to call defenses. You?re able to see more and have things in front of you to refer to in-between series. Overall I think it?s a better situation if you have experienced coaches at other positions. I think it went pretty well. I think the defense played well, but again I want to see it over and over before we say the defense has arrived. But first time out of the blocks, I think it was a pretty significant game for a defense, especially on third down, that was huge.?
Kentucky Players
#16 Wesley Woodyard, LB
On being satisfied with the defensive performance last week?
?Obviously, being the first game, some of the players reacted slowly. It took awhile for a lot of guys to get back into it in the first game but we played faster as the game wore on. We did some good things but there are still some things we can do to become a better defense. We came up with a few big plays. I think what made the coaches happy is that we got off the field on third down and that was something big.?
On allowing Eastern Kentucky only two third-down conversions Saturday?
?That felt really good. A lot of the guys on the sideline were saying how they hadn?t been in for a lot of (defensive) plays, but that?s what happens when you get off the field quickly.?
On playing a Mid-American Conference team for the second straight year ?
?Well (Central Michigan) was last year, and this is this year. Kent State has a good quarterback and running back. We have to be focused on game day after a good week of preparation. They have a lot of guys that go out and make plays and we have to cut back their play-making abilities.?
On run defense preparation against Kent State and their running quarterback ?
?I think this year we have a lot more guys with game experience. (Kent State?s) running quarterback is a pretty shifty guy but we have to focus on our open-field tackling. When the option comes you have to remember your assignments and make sure you are staying at home. It will be a challenge to get better. We will play a lot of running quarterbacks this season.?
On if Appalachian State?s upset of Michigan earlier in the day affected the team going into game?
?Without a doubt, a couple of guys brought it to our attention and so did Coach Brooks. Any time that happens before a game it gives other teams in their division, like EKU, more power to come in and to get an upset.?
#72 Zipp Duncan OT
On the overall play of the offensive line in the season opener?
?We still have room to grow. On film we saw where we messed up a couple of times on pass protection. We still need to improve our running game as well.?
On position change from tight end to offensive lineman?
?It was a different feeling, but I embraced it with open arms. It?s definitely a dogfight every day. It?s nice to see someone catch a touchdown pass or run for a big play and know that I had a big hand in it.?
On being able to get away from the line of scrimmage and run outside?
?Being a former tight end it was nice. I was using my athleticism and getting out to make the block and spring the runner.?
#12 Dicky Lyons WR
On his 51-yard pass from Andre Woodson on the 1st play?
?On film we saw that they like to read the three-step (drop) and they hit me on the hitch because they read that. They bit on the pump fake so I went deep. It was just something we saw on film.?
On the performance of the offense as a whole?
?We had a lot of missed assignments. As play moves on and competition gets better we can?t keep doing that.?
On the game plan as an offensive unit?
?Our job is to get the two safeties in (the box) by running the ball. If we get those eight men in the box then it?s time to start throwing the ball.?
On Coach Phillips? assessment of the offense?
?He always says he?s never going to get fat and happy. He?s not fat and happy so we need to keep on working.?
