[Upchurch/MGoBlog]
Wilton Speight and Chris Wormley
Wilton, if you could talk about what you had to do early in kind of a quick-strike offense. They were stacking up and you took it to the air and had a lot of success.
“Yeah, we went into the game knowing that we’d be able to take some shots, especially in the [?] and I was really excited about that. And the defense came out and it was a look we were expecting, so we were able to air it out a little bit.”
Wilton, how much of the struggles to run the football do you think were attributable to how much they were crowding the line and trying to stop that?
“Yeah, they were teeing off and bringing a lot of people, and that was a result of the success in the play action game, so when we would hand the ball off they were coming hot. That was just the defense, and we knew we were going to rely on the play action and deep shots a lot more this week than we were the run game, so it’s really nothing to worry about.”
Chris, a lot of yards rushing against you guys today, a lot of those on scrambles. How much of that is contain and what was the issue?
“Yeah, they had those four big plays which led to almost 300 yards rushing, which is not what you want as a defense, especially as a defensive line. But yeah, it was those rush lanes on the scrambles. Not keeping contain and not staying in rush lanes were the big parts.”
Wilton, you talked about how they were coming hot and thwarted the rushing game, but as far as the passing game, what have you done to develop chemistry with your receivers to have this kind of game today?
“Um, what have we done to develop chemistry? Just throwing routes and working our tails off back since January after the Florida game. No real special recipe or secret, just working hard.”
[After THE JUMP: Rashan Gary jumps in]
Can you talk about Chesson? It seemed like early on he was a big target. Was that by design or was he just open?
“He’s really fast, so when he runs deep he typically gets separation. So, I like throwing to open guys and he was getting open so I took a couple shots to him.”
[SID asks us to raise our hands to ask a question, look at the people with the mic, and retain their attention] Wormley: [laughs] “He’s feisty.”
Chris, obviously it was a big day on special teams for you and the team as a whole. Was that preparation, a little bit of luck, or both?
“I think, you know, we watched the film. Blocking those field goals was something we all thought we could do. The kicker kicked pretty low. We got good push, got our hands up, got big hands, long arms, [and] made some plays.”
Wilton, I know it’s your second start but comfort level, that sort of thing, getting settled in. You talked about being able to take some deep shots a little bit, but is it a continuation of last week or do you feel like you’ve progressed to another level?
“Yeah, there’s definitely progression, and that’s the idea behind every player on our team is to progress every day. Coach Fisch was dialing up some unbelievable plays all week and I was a big fan of the gameplan. Just went out and executed.”
Chris, after two games, what impresses you most about Rashan Gary?
“I mean, look at him over there. [Gary has coincidentally just walked through the doors and into the press room.] He’s a freshman, he’s, what, 18 years old, 6’5, 295 [or] 290. Unbelievable pass rusher, quick off the ball, learns the defense very well, he’s a fast learner. You put all those together as a freshman, it’s something special that’s brewing. He’s a good kid. He plays hard, he plays fast, and he just wants to win.”
[Upchurch]
Rashan, your first sack; you celebrated pretty intensely. Can you talk about that moment?
“It was a great moment. I was itching for a sack this week because I didn’t get one last week and I felt like I owed the D-line, because I missed one in Hawaii and I’m like I’m not going to miss any opportunity I get from now on. So when I got that sack it was basically for the D-line.”
Rashan and Chris, in the backfield a lot today, not only yourself but the defense as a whole. Minus the big plays, the big run plays, how would you assess your ability to get in the backfield and stay back there?
Gary: “We’re capable of doing it, but like I said, for me personally, I’ve just got to cut down on certain mistakes and once I do that I’m going to be able to play my key, especially in the defense.”
Wormley: “Yeah, playing as a defensive front, those front seven, we play together with different blitzes, different plays. We’re all making plays and it’s fun to see. That was always one of our goals. Those tackles for losses, the sacks, the hurries, the pressures is always one of our goals. I think we accomplished that today. Like I said, we’ve got to clean up on those four big runs and I think we’ll be just fine.”
Rashan, how comfortable are you after two full games and do you feel like you’re still sort of learning on the fly and figuring things out after a couple weeks?
“I’m way more comfortable than what I felt in week one, and that’s just because of Wormley and Taco and all the senior defensive linemen just staying on my back and helping me with the plays. Week by week I’m getting better and better and that’s because of all the leadership we have on that D-line.”
How big is Jake Butt in the passing game for you guys?
“Yeah, he’s huge. Obviously we think and a lot of people think he’s the best tight end in the country. He makes our job easy as quarterbacks, and on wide receivers. The threat isn’t only Jehu and Darboh and Drake and all those guys, Grant; it’s Jake Butt and Ian Bunting. Jake’s doing a good job of getting that tight end corps and bringing them along with Jake. It’s not just Jake and the rest. He’s making sure they’re right there with him, so it’s special.”
Chris, I think a lot of people expect you guys not to give up plays to teams like this. It’s not realistic, right? And would you assess overall the defensive performance today?
“Yeah, I think we put more pressure on us than anyone else. Each week we have a gameplan and we want to execute it to the most of our abilities and the best of our abilities. When you give up those plays, to us it’s unacceptable. We’ve got to look at the film and clean up the mistakes.”
Wilton, last week I think Hawaii maybe grazed you once. This week you did take a couple hits, were sacked. Just curious going from week one to week two, pocket presence or anything change or was it just a more aggressive or better team?
“Yeah, they were a more aggressive, better team but I was kind of hoping for that. To be able to get hit like that on the first series, they were coming hot and rocked me pretty good. So as a quarterback you kind of want that. You want to be able to settle in because last week, like you said, I think I maybe got brushed up on my leg or something. To be able to get some hits and move on to the next series, that’s what you want.”
So it is something—you obviously want that contact and it’s something that--
“Yeah. I mean, you don’t want to get rocked every series but when you open up a game and the first series you take a hit and you pop up you’re like, ‘Okay, there’s the hit. I’m good now.’”