Tuesday News Conference Quotes
10/21/2008 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 21, 2008
Head Coach Ralph Friedgen
On Maryland's injury situation:
"The people who are out for this week are Kevin Barnes, Louis Berman, Tyler Bowen, Kevin Dorsey, Matt Furstenburg, Stephen Hargett, Dominique Herald, Paul Lariviere, Adrian Moten, Ben Pooler, Richard Taylor and Joe Vellano."
On North Carolina State's season thus far:
"We really need to prepare well for North Carolina State. They're a team that's been getting better. Their last game against Florida State was a very close game, and then against Boston College they lost 38-31, and it was 31-all with one minute to go in the game. They beat East Carolina, which was ranked at that time."
On the Wolfpack's situation at quarterback and running back:
"Offensively, they've gone to Russell Wilson at quarterback. He's very athletic, very mobile and scrambles a lot. He's thrown six touchdowns and one interception. He hasn't thrown an interception in 89 straight passes. He's really given some life to their offense. They already had two really good running backs. Andre Brown is a big back. He's had 375 yards rushing. He was injured last year, but has come back and is playing very well. Jamelle Eugene is very quick, fast and a very strong runner."
On NC State's tight ends and offensive line:
"Their tight ends are huge. George Bryan is 6-foot-6, 265 pounds. Their offensive line is young but very athletic. I think they've moved some guys from defense over to offense. They're anchored by Meares Green."
On the Wolfpack's receiving corp:
"Their wide receivers kind of remind me of Clemson's. Owen Spencer is a speedster. They have a freshman who is also a tremendous kick returner - T.J. Graham. He has world-class speed. Jarvis Williams is a sophomore, and they also have Darrell Davis, so they have really good receivers who have great speed."
On NC State's defensive line:
"Defensively, they're very young, they're very athletic and they have good speed. They have two units on their defensive front. The guy we have to watch out for is Willie Young. He's an excellent pass rusher, he has six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He's very long, lean and explosive. He reminds me of guys they had a couple of years ago when we played down there before."
On the Wolfpack's linebackers:
"Their linebackers are fairly inexperienced. Ray Michaels leads them with 52 tackles. Their Sam linebacker is Robert Leonard, who is a former defensive back. They don't put him in the box too much. He's out more as a defender, but he will blitz quite a bit. Nate Irving is supposedly hurt. He's an outstanding low linebacker, and he'll be replaced, I assume, by Dwayne Maddox, who is a freshman."
On the defensive backfield at NC State:
"Their secondary is solid. They play boundary corners and field corners, and same with the safeties. A guy to look out for is J.C. Neal. We recruited him. He's a senior."
On the Wolfpack's special teams unit:
"Their special teams unit is very, very solid. Their punter, Bradley Pierson, has punted for a 40.4 yard average and is second in the conference. They're 14 of 15 on PATs and 7 of 9 on field goals. But the guy we need to pay very close attention is T.J. Graham. He's second in the conference in all-purpose yards. He's also second in the conference in kickoff returns and punt returns, so he's very dangerous."
On the importance of Saturday's game:
"Over the years this has been a very tough game for us. I think in the seven previous years (before 2007) the differential has been 5.4 points. Last year we were fortunate to get a big win down there. I'm sure coach O'Brien and his staff will be ready to play this week. We need to be at our best. This is a very important game for us. A win makes us bowl eligible. If we want to keep pace in the ACC, we have to win this game. "
On the loss of CB Kevin Barnes and how the void will be filled in the secondary:
"Michael Carter, Trenton Hughes, and Cameron Chism have to step up. We will probably move Anthony Wiseman and Nolan Carroll to field corner, and Jamari McCollough at the boundary corner. But Nolan has to be ready to go over and play field corner also. We'll probably put Drew Robinson in Jamari McCollough's spot at safety and go to work."
On the success of the defense against Wake Forest:
"I thought our defensive staff had a very good plan but with all good plans, they have to be executed. I think our players played very well and I thought our effort was excellent. Wake Forest has a tremendously intricate scheme and you know you are not going to hold them down forever. So I think it was really an outstanding job on our defensive play."
On senior linebacker Moise Fokou and his progression throughout his career:
"Moise is a wonderful story. He was a kid that always wanted to come to Maryland. We did not recruit him; he was not even on our radar screen. He went to Frostburg State for a semester and was able to transfer into Maryland. He came out and tried out for the team. During the fall (of 2005) I was watching practice film and I saw this guy on the scout team just running people down all over the place. I found out his background, brought him in and told him that I was impressed with his effort, athleticism and got to know the young man a little better. He struggled his first semester academically, but since then he has done extremely well. He has gotten better every year he's been here, but he's just playing outstanding football for us, not only on our defense but on our special teams as well. Every time he is on the field, he gives 110 percent, and he's that way off the field also. I think he has a chance to be very successful in life. He is just really a wonderful kid. He's appreciative of everything and has really turned into one of the leaders on our defense."
On quarterback Chris Turner and his success against ranked opponents:
"I think Chris is good against every opponent right now. I am very pleased with his consistency, and I hope it continues. I think in the past he would get up to those games and focus more. But I think Coach (James) Franklin has done a very good job with him. I think Chris is maturing as an individual, and he is realizing how important he is to the success of our offense. Last year was kind of a learning curve for him when he played well and during the times he didn't. This year he has been playing well. His consistency is helping us become better as a team."
On the team morale after Virginia loss:
"I can look back at that now, and it was still a very tough loss. Maybe it woke us up as a team. I hope we'll find out as the games go on. It's a crazy race and to me, it's down to a five-game playoff right now. The team that has the best record after these last five games is the team that plays in Tampa (for the ACC championship). We have to take it one game at a time and it is very important that we play our best against North Carolina State this week.
On secondary and the difference between field and boundary corners:
"Normally the better cover guy is to the field (side), he probably gets in less action unless he has a bulls eye on him. The boundary guy has to be a physical guy, he's going to be involved in more run support. Lat year we were right and left (corners) and this year we kind of went to field and boundary which we have done in the past. When Nolan (Carroll) is healthy, he has played that position good for us, and Anthony (Wiseman) has had good games as well."
On offensive line and staying with adjustments from last week:
"Dane (Randolph) is injured. We planned on playing him on Saturday but in warmups he was having difficulties moving so we rested him last week. He will not play this week but unless things change in practice. We will stay with (Bruce) Campbell at left tackle and (Scott) Burley at right. We will move (Paul) Pinegar over to the left behind Campbell and Dane will stay behind Burley at right, so we'll play that whole group. We did play Jack Griffin at right tackle and right guard (against Wake Forest), and he still has to be prepared to do that. Bruce came in and pass protected very well for us but still has to do some improving on his run block. But he did a pretty good job with that also."
On highs and lows of this season and if it is similar to any season before:
"When you've passed 40 years in coaching, you have seen seasons like this. What I have learned to do, that I had trouble doing when I was a young coach, is knowing that when the game is over-it is over and I start focusing on the next opponent. With Virginia it was hard because there was no next opponent, so that one got to me. The kids helped me with that one; they are resilient and will get over things probably a lot faster than coaches do. The JV helped me as well. Last week was the first time we had it and I didn't know how that was going to go but when I saw a bunch of kids having fun and enjoying themselves. A lot of these kids don't get the chance to play, and to see them have fun doing something was good."
On junior varsity game and how it started:
"A lot of schools do it. Virginia Tech plays like two or three a year, North Carolina does it. To be honest with you, most teams do it. I have not been able to do it because we haven't had the depth, especially on the offensive line. This year we have six senior offensive linemen and we redshirted about eight guys last year. So they are going to be redshirt sophomores when it's their time to play. I wanted to get a game or two in for them so they can get some experience. Jamarr Robinson gets a chance to play at quarterback, too. We have about 38 guys on the team, and not all of them got to play. The team we played last week, North Carolina Tech, had 98 players. But they had a good time and that was the main thing."
On offensive philosophy for this week:
"Without giving too much away, we want to be balanced. We don't necessarily want to throw 50 percent of the time and run 50 percent of the time, but do both equally well. Going into the (wake Forest) game we looked at some of our tendencies, and we would run out of certain personnel groups and pass out of others so we changed that. What defenses do is when they see a certain personnel group on the field, they'll play for what their tendencies are. I think Coach Franklin did a great job of being able to throw with running personnel on the field and also being able to run with passing personnel on the field. It always helps when your quarterbacks, receivers, and line are executing too. That's what they did and that's why we were successful. We will continue to take that approach but it is a matter of executing."
On keeping the players working hard this week:
"I'm going to be very positive with them. I'm going to be very energetic with them. I'm going to encourage them and just make practice as enjoyable as possible. But ultimately, they've got to decide to keep the same work ethic they've had the last two weeks and the same attitude as far as working to get better instead of working to put in the time. It's like anything in life, if you're enjoying what you're doing, you don't seem to mind how hard you're working."
On senior wide receiver Danny Oquendo:
"Danny, since he's been here, has been Mr. Clutch. He's always there when you need him. People come up to me and say there are better players at punt returner, but he's going to catch the ball every time. He's not a guy who says a whole lot. He's a tough guy. He'll take a hit over the middle to catch the tough ball. He'll block. He's a good student. He's never on a list. He's just a very, very dependable individual that you can always count on. That's what he means to our program. Right now, he's doing a great job making plays, especially in third-down situations. Some of the biggest catches we've had this year, he's made the play. He's had a great career. I'm going to miss him. He's a senior who has played four straight seasons here and he's played very well for us."
On true freshman cornerback Cameron Chism:
"He was a little more tentative in camp. But now that he's been in a few practices, he's become very aggressive, which is a good thing. The problem is that he's inexperienced and doesn't know when to use that aggressiveness, so sometimes it hurts him. I would really like to see him develop to the point where we could depend on him to be consistent for us. With his aggressiveness and physical play, I think he's going to be an excellent football player. He has to learn that when he's got deep third (of the field) he can't come up and challenge a guy who'll run right by him. In certain coverages we do different things by formation. These are all new things to him that he has to experience. That's where he gets in trouble. When you make a mistake back there, it can cost you a football game."
Senior Defensive Back Kevin Barnes
On preparing for NC State:
"We're really taking this one game at a time. We have to put all of our efforts out there against NC State, get the game plan down and put it in early. We have to enter the game confident so that we can make as few mistakes as possible."
"They do a lot of movements inside. Their inside guys and their outside guys do a lot of slants and veers, its going to be kind of difficult for us to pick up. So, hopefully our zone schemes can help pick those blitzes up so that we can pass the ball."
On NC State's winless record in the ACC:
"If it wasn't for a few plays, they would be undefeated in the ACC. Most of their games have come down to the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. They're a very good team with very good players on defense. We really have to bring our A game, we probably have to play better than we did last week to beat them."
Senior Wide Receiver Danny Oquendo
On the offense outburst against Wake Forest:
"We threw the ball about 40 times, so I think we are going to try to do that again, come out passing like we did, try and get the ball into our playmakers hands."
On maybe only having five games left in his college career:
"You can't take things for granted, this being our last real shot to make some noise in the ACC, and maybe finish our careers with an ACC Championship, that's a big thing for a lot of us, especially a senior heavy team. We are going to do everything we can to make sure we do that."
On quarterback Chris Turner's improvement:
"I think his precision on his passes is really his biggest improvement. His practices have been a lot better as well from previous years."
On how it feels that Coach Ralph Friedgen feels he is a dependable player:
"It feels good that I am being respected on that kind of a level that I will always be there for the team. It makes me feel good about the work I have put in for the team."
Senior Linebacker Moise Fokou
On figuring out who the Terps are:
"I think we are getting closer to it. You know the season is the season, but we are getting closer to it. We're clicking together as a whole team, a whole unit. We are starting to trust each other, starting to play full games. I think before we were sometimes just playing quarters or halves, and I think coming out after that loss at UVa and showing what we can do against a ranked opponent in Wake Forest and putting a complete game together. That showed we have something special here."
On wide receiver Danny Oquendo:
"Mr. Consistent, he's always there, he will catch every punt. In practice he doesn't say a word to you, he expects to do it, I don't think I have ever seen him drop a ball, he's very consistent, and we need that out of him every game."
On the ACC being a wide open race:
"Very true, very true, in a sense it's good for us because we are back in the mix of things. I am very excited about that, and as long as we continue to play good football we are going to have a chance."
On his progression since walking on to the team in 2005:
"Surprised and happy, it's been a good long journey, it's been a successful journey, playing as a Terp has been a lot of fun, and I am glad of the progress I have made since I have been here. It has been a dream come true."
