Quotes from Tuesday's Football News Conference
12/18/2007 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 18, 2007
Head Coach Ralph Friedgen
Opening Statement: "Happy holidays. It's good to see everyone again. Our players are finishing up exams and we had practice on Sunday. Tomorrow is the last day of exams and graduation is tomorrow night. We will have 12 of our players graduate at mid-year and then we're back to our final preparations for the bowl. We've had seven practices which have been good practices - very attentive and very spirited. I think our team is very excited about going to San Francisco. I know we have a tour of Alcatraz and some events lined up for our players and I think they're pretty excited about the whole trip. Hopefully we'll go out and play a very good game against a very fine Oregon State team."
On the importance of senior guard Andrew Crummey: "Well I'm very grateful to and indebted to Andrew. He just epitomizes our team this year. His presence alone really helped us out, and I don't think he is totally well yet. I think he's about 85 percent, but he's a lot better than where he was for the NC State game."
On the injury to starting guard Jaimie Thomas: "I know it's a long shot, but I'm hoping by Friday we will know whether we will have Jaimie Thomas back [from injury]."
On the injury to reserve defensive back Nolan Carroll: "Nolan Carroll has a pulled hamstring and is questionable for the game."
On the senior class: "This group of seniors is very special. It hardly seems that four years have gone by so fast. I think they were very instrumental in keeping this team together with their approach. This season could have been real good or real bad, and I think with all the adversity they faced they kept us in there, kept the hope up and persevered. They're really deserving of this bowl game. I'm just hoping that we can win this game and finish on a winning note. It is a positive thing for the future and a positive thing for our team. They're very deserving of it."
On facing Oregon State in the Emerald Bowl: "They're tough; they have a really good defense and their effort is phenomenal. They really do it by playing with good technique and good athletes. We're going to have to play really well to win this game."
On the Oregon State defense: "The challenge that we face offensively is that Oregon State has a really good defense. Their linebackers are exceptional and all of their defensive ends are really athletic, very much in the [mold] of Florida State. They play a lot of man-to-man coverage and they press. They play a little different type of defense."
On Oregon State running back Yvenson Bernard: "They have an excellent running back in Bernard and he'll be back for our game. He has missed the last two games and it will be his last game, so I'm sure he'll be all fired up. Bernard is kind of like Lance Ball. He's a stocky guy with good acceleration and good quickness and he's built low to the ground."
On the departure of special teams coordinator Ray Rychleski: "Ray Rychleski will be leaving us to take a job with the University of South Carolina. We will miss Ray, as he has made a tremendous contribution to our staff. It is very good opportunity for him. I wish him well and really appreciate all he has done for our program. I will always be grateful for all he has done while he has been here at Maryland. He will coach the bowl game [for us] and he's excited about that. I'm happy for him. He's one of the all-time, good football coaches and I'm just really appreciative of the work he's done here for us and I wish him the best."
On the holidays: "We will have a Christmas dinner. I think that Santa Claus is coming in from the North Pole to make a special visit. He's got his elves all tuned up and ready to go. I'm sure our players are looking forward to the holidays. I just hope they've been good boys. We don't want them getting any coal."
On the meaning of a bowl victory: "Well obviously I'd like to finish 7-6. A winning season is better than a losing season, but the fact that we got to a bowl after we faced the adversity that we have speaks for itself. There is something about winning that last game that just carries you all the way through the winter, and I already know our kids have high aspirations for next year. They want to start this next year with this game."
Senior Guard Andrew Crummey
On receiving All-ACC recognition despite his injury: "I didn't expect that after missing five games, and being out almost seven weeks, that I would get that honor. It was a tough season for me personally on the field so it's a nice honor to cap my career."
On how this upcoming game might impact his career in the NFL: "Well this is big for me because I have a lingering injury issue and I haven't played in many games. So for me to be able to come out and play and show that I'm 100 percent and that I can play again is going to be big for me personally. It's going to be a great cap-off to my senior season and my career at Maryland. I get to play with my guys one last time, my offensive line one last time, and I'm excited about that. It's going be a great way to go out."
On playing in the game, as opposed to watching from the sidelines: "Well I'll tell you what, the week leading up to the NC State game, when I got to practice the whole week and I knew I was going to actually get in the game and at least try to play, there was so much emotion and so much excitement for me to go back and play with my guys one more time. Obviously we had a great game against NC State. It was a great way to finish the regular season. Now we've got a chance at a bowl game, so I couldn't ask for a better way to come back from an injury and have the best circumstances around me."
On the sacrifices that he had to make during the five-week stretch: "It's tough because with the injury I had with the bone you just have to let it heal. Its not a soft tissue [injury] which you can rehab constantly. Now the toughest part is for five weeks there or four weeks, I really couldn't do anything. I couldn't make myself better; all I could do was just let it heal. It was frustrating because when you play, you're used to just doing what you need to do to get better or get to the place you need to be and I couldn't really do that."
On his limitations: "I don't have any limitations. Functionally I'm about 100 percent. I just get a little sore, so I just have to make sure that the strength is there to be 100 percent in the game."
Junior Wide Receiver Isaiah Williams
On playing Oregon State: "Obviously we want to win and go above .500 that way. To have the number eight ACC team come in and possibly beat the number three Pac-10 team means a lot for the ACC so that could also be big too."
On spending Christmas in San Francisco: "It's probably worse for me; I'm a big mama's boy. I love to have my mom around for Christmas. Unfortunately she's not going to make it to the bowl game, but it's good to know that we're going be in a bowl game. Hopefully next year we'll make it to one of the New Year's games so we can leave a little later and I can get home and get some of mom's cooking and get the whole Santa Claus thing going. But it's still a nice bowl game and we're anxious to get out there."
On plans to see the 49ers and any former Terps like Vernon Davis or Shaun Hill: "Actually, I talked to Vernon a couple times and he said he might be out there for a couple of nights. I'm sure the team's going to come out and chill with him and see how he's doing. That's going to be really nice."
On how exciting it was to find out what bowl they were going to: "Oh it was. We were very excited. After we got the win over NC State, Coach Friedgen asked us in the locker room what bowl you guys want to go to. Everyone said the San Francisco bowl, and once we found out we were going there, we were more ecstatic than ever. Honestly, one of our goals was to go to a bowl game this year, and we were just happy that it was the Emerald Bowl."
