Sept. 22, 2008
Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening Statement…
“An injury update, GarryWilliams practiced yesterday and he will move into the starting lineup at lefttackle this week. RandallCobb is still definitely out. MicahJohnson and RickyLumpkin are doubtful for this week and basically everybody else is ready to go.This game is obviously important for us. We go on the road a week from now to openSEC play. We are going to play a team that plays a very similar offense to the onethat we saw in Middle Tennessee. It is an in-state game against a team that is tryingto make a statement moving up from 1-AA to the Division 1 level. They have playedsome good football this year and have had a great tradition in the past. This isan opportunity for them to come in and make a statement for their program. We needto make sure that it is just a statement that they are playing here for the firsttime and that’s the end of it. Let’s hope that we can take care of business thisweek because this is a game that we need to continue to get our offense on track.Without a couple of key performers on defense, we need to show that we have the depthto handle a couple of losses if in fact they don’t play.”
On how the bye week went…
“I thought our tempo in practice was much better. We obviously need to get betterand narrow down some of the rotation at receiver, which I think we have done. Wewill see if that pays dividends or not this week. Defensively and in the kickinggame we need to clean up the mistakes that we have been making. We just needed somefundamental work and I think it was a good opportunity for us to get it. I thinkit is amazing how fresh their legs were yesterday after having Friday and Saturdayoff. That was probably a good break, if you will.”
On Cobb’s, Lumpkin’s and Johnson’s injuries…
“They (Lumpkin and Johnson) are out of the boot right now, they can get up on theirtoes and bounce on it but they still have a lot of pain. Cobb is not that far along.I am saying doubtful this week because if they get remarkably better in the next48 hours I will look like an idiot if I said they were out, so they are doubtfulon the side of possibly being out.”
On when he thinks Cobb will be back…
“I said last week sometime that he is clearly more of the 4-6 week variety and thatMicah and Ricky were hopefully in the 2-4 week variety.”
On the movement in the wide receiver depth cart…
“Don’t go to print with that depth chart yet because it is a day-to-day fluctuation.That is based on what happened last week and what has happened in the last threegames. The thing that I like about the people that moved up is that they are competingand trying to do the right thing and just working their fannies off.”
On Western Kentucky ‘s offense…
“They do a good job of throwing the football and moving the football to score points.Their offensive line is probably a little stouter than Middle Tennessee’s was. MiddleTennessee ‘s was a little inexperienced but they still gave us some problems. Thething that this offense does is create problems for us to get pressure on the quarterbackbecause of the play-action phase. You are trying to make sure that you’re stoppingthe read option and then all of a sudden they are running the fake off of that andrunning the bootleg. We haven’t done a good job of defending that and keeping pressureon the quarterback. I hope we do a better job of that.”
On if the place-kicking position will be a game-day decision…
“I don’t think so. I would think that after Thursday’s practice we will probablyhave a decision on who will start out kicking. At this point J.J.Housley is accurate from short distances and not a factor from long range. Itis very close between (Ryan) Tydlacka and Lones (Seiber) at this point based on lastweek’s competition.”
On what he has seen out of linebackers Michael Schwindel and Danny Trevathan…
“Michael has done some very good things. He has improved dramatically from a yearago, is very good in pass coverage and good at his reads. Trevathan is a big-time,yet inexperienced player and I think he is going to have a great future here.”
On if the team learned its lesson that you have to practice hard every day…
“The lesson I would not consider learned until they continue to practice hard andcontinue to improve where we are doing what we need to do in practice and games.We are fortunate that we didn’t learn after losing a game but after we won (vs. MiddleTennessee).”
On if this is something that a lot of teams have to go through, learning the hard way…
“I think that a lot of teams do it. Even though our team was pretty good at thosethings a year ago you would think that it would all carry over and it is that simpleand easy. But each team has a new hierarchy and a new mix of players coming intothe program every year so they have to learn. Do they do it the same way every time?No, they don’t. Sometimes it is like trying to pound sand in a rat hole. It is hard.”
On the continued improvement of the SEC…
“I think that the bottom half of the league has come up to the top half of the league.It has been witnessed by some of the upsets that have happened in the last coupleof years by, quote, the `bottom of the league teams’ like Mississippi State , Vanderbiltand Kentucky . It’s changing.”
On cutting down the receiving rotation…
“We are still working all eight of them, but some of them aren’t working as muchand the order in which they are working has changed. There will not be as many ofthem going into the game, particularly in the first half, unless we get in a situationwhere we can continue to evaluate some of them.”
Senior Wide Receiver Dicky
Lyons Jr.
On the bye week…
“It was great. It gives us a chance to rest and get healed up, so we got fresh legs. We came out Sunday and you could tell everyone was ready to run and had a little bit more pep in their step, hopefully we’ll come out a lot faster against Western Kentucky.”
Is there any kind of pressure thinking the receivers need to stretch the field in the passing game? …
“We haven’t really thrown the ball downfield that much. Coach Joker does a great job taking what they give you. I think Mike (quarterback Mike Hartline) has got a lot more confidence, so maybe he will check some deeper plays. As long as we can move the ball consistently and just convert on third downs well be okay.”
Senior Linebacker Braxton Kelley
On the time off…
“The time off was good. We’re just ready to go back to work and try to get a winin this week.”
On practices during the by week…
“Basically, coach tried to get everybody fresh during the bye week. We did a littlemore conditioning towards the end of the week. We really tried to get rest and makesure everyone was in good health, and to get ready for the game.”
On playing without Micah Johnson…
“It will affect us a little bit, but I think that we will still have players to comein and contribute. Micah has really been playing well, but we have guys that willstep in and play.”
On teammate Danny Trevathan…
“He’s one of those guys that if he makes a mistake, he can still recover with hisspeed and make a big play. If I’m on the field with him at the same time I make surehe knows his assignments. As long as we communicate on defense we should be ableto stop the rush and defend the pass as well as we’ve done so far this year.”
On hoping to improve in practice…
“We just took steps. Coach had mentioned leadership that week (of the Middle Tennesseegame), and how we weren’t practicing as well. I think during the whole bye week,we had good practices every day. Coach pointed out that he thought we had realizedthe way we practiced last week really affected our play. I think it did to an extent,and I also believe that as long as we continue to practice well, we’ll be able toplay well. The weeks leading up to the Louisville game we had good practices andit showed. I think we will need good practices leading up to the Western Kentuckygame, because it’s something like a big rivalry game, since we’ve never played thembefore. They’re a winning team, a winning program. They’ll come in and try to makethis a tough challenge for us, so we’ll have to go out there and really play if we’regoing to compete with them.”
Senior Defensive Lineman Ventrell Jenkins
On how practice was during the open week…
“It’s been a whole lot better the last week. Coach Brooks got on us and it has really motivated us, especially after we saw the film and how close we were to losing the (Middle Tennessee) game. It has really motivated us for practice this week.”
