Transcript of MSU Weekly Press Conference
10/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Bobcat Tuesday Press Conference – October 16, 2007
BOBCAT COACH ROB ASH
How are you preparing for Sac State?
RA: We’re preparing this week like we did every other week. Tuesday and Wednesday are still the most important days, (Sacramento State) is a quality opponent, just like every other Big Sky team, and we’re going to try to approach it as much as possible business as usual. We know it’s not quite that way because we did have a loss last week and now the stakes are higher, but it still has to be a consistent approach to the game, and that’s how we’re going to deal with it this week.
Is it stay the course and do the same things to prepare for this week, or is it do a little extra after the loss to get back on track?
RA: Where we’re at right now, on our offensive coaching staff, at least, we’re looking at ourselves and saying, How can we be better teachers? We know what we want to do, we’re getting it right, or close to right, most of the time, it just hasn’t quite clicked yet. We’ve talked a lot about the Tuesday-Wednesday practices, and we’ve worked hard, put the effort in, but sometimes it doesn’t translate over on Saturdays. So now my job as head coach and the job of the coaches is, how can we teach things a little bit better on Tuesday and Wednesday so that it sticks, so that it comes through and we get a little bit better execution on Saturday. We said today in staff meeting (that) we don’t want to have another Sunday where we say, We coulda done this, shoulda done this, just missed here, just missed there. We want to have a week where we say, This time it did come together. Our teaching has to help us get there.
Is there a temptation to scale back the playback to focus on what you’re doing well?
RA: There’s certainly that temptation, and that’s one of the angles we could approach for this game, to scale down and try to have better execution. On the other hand, if you get to Saturday and get a wrinkle you didn’t expect or you have a play or a series of plays that aren’t going well that are the ones you did focus on then it’s nice to have something to go to. It’s always that difficult decision as a coaching staff, how much to try to get ready. The other situation we’re dealing with is trying to see if there’s a different way that we can put together our practices. Maybe we construct our repetitions in practice to run the same play two or three times in a row against different looks, and then go to another play and run it two or three times in a row against different looks. So it’s the same number of repetitions overall that we’re getting in practice, but whereas before they were randomly selected like you’d get in a game, maybe we’ll come back and teach it more like a preseason (setting) to make sure we get… the answer. Maybe it will stick better. It’s partly a matter of volume, but it might partly be our approach and our teaching strategy.
So you see defenses bringing the same looks, are they defending you the same way week to week?
RA: I think what we’ve seen so far is execution of a plan similar to the plan we viewed on tape. There haven’t been a lot of surprises, and that’s to be expected because the teams in this conference are well coached, they have their schemes and their styles and that’s how they want to play. We haven’t really been surprised too much by the schemes we’ve seen so far this season. Each one’s been a little different based on the personality and the personnel of the team’s we’ve played. I think we’ve been well-prepared, we haven’t had a lot of surprises but we just haven’t executed, and that’s why we’re going back to see how we’re presenting the schemes during the week to see if there’s a better way we can do that.
What does Sac State try to do?
RA: They’re a multiple defensive team, they’ve got an excellent front seven, as Aaron Mason mentioned in his remarks earlier today. I’m very impressed with the pressure they put on the quarterback. The lead the Big Sky Conference in sacks, they have a very aggressive style up front, and they bring the game to you. The other thing that’s impressive to me with their front seven is they don’t stay blocked. Guys get on them and they’ll shed those blockers and run to the ball. I’m very, very impressed, and their overall speed defensively is very impressive, also. Scheme-wise they’re multiple, they mix man and zone and some zone blitz, which is the standard way defenses do it now. To be multiple is very important.
How are opponents trying to deal with Cyrus Mulitalo?
RA: I think Mulitalo’s an outstanding player, he’s one of the best linebackers I’ve seen on tape in a long time. He’s right in the middle of their defense, so he’s able to get to plays on both sides of the ball. They also blitz him, and he’s one of the leaders in the conference in sacks as a linebacker, so you know he blitzes a considerable amount. He’s one of the guys I was talking about because he gets off blocks extremely well. It’s very difficult to sustain a block on him and keep him out of the play. It’s one of those situations where he’s going to make his plays. We just have to minimize his impact by knowing where he is and trying to get people on him and at least make him work hard to have to get off a block every time in order to make his plays.
Do you have to know where a great defensive player is on the field all the time?
RA: Yes, that’s absolutely right. You have to know where he is, you have to know the positions he’s in when he’s going to blitz, if possible. It’s important for us, too, to make sure our schemes account for him, that guys understand where he’s at. If we’re picking him up on a blitz we’d better have the right matchup because he’s such a good player. We will be aware of where he is and what he’s doing at all times, and he’ll still make his plays from time to time in this game, he’s that good.
What is the quarterback situation?
RA: Jack is questionable for this week. If he does get cleared by Saturday it’s going to be a week where he doesn’t get a lot of practice time. We’re hoping he’s available to play. We’re going to go through the week with the plan that Cory Carpenter will be the starter, and we’ll hope that Jack is available to us in at least some kind of role on Saturday.
Is it paying off to have two capable quarterbacks?
RA: We’ve got a great situation with a senior quarterback who has played and started many games. He’s won big games here at Montana State, he knows our offense, he’s gotten a lot of reps throughout the course of the season. He’s confident, and we’re confident in him. I think Cory will do just fine.
Is there a point where Jack Rolovich is rested in order to regain his health?
RA: That’s something we’re considering. With this particular injury some progress can be made throughout the course of the week. It’s not a debilitating thing where he’s lost motion or strength, it’s more of a pain tolerance situation, it’s a 50-50 tossup. I think the best case scenario is if Jack were ready to play but didn’t have to. But by the same token I don’t know if he’ll be in that position. We really won’t know his status until we get much later into the week.
What about Kory Austin?
RA: Kory’s struggling with an ankle sprain. Ankle sprains usually take some time. He did make good progress in the last 48 hours, so that’s positive, but right now he’s not going to get a lot of practice time this week, so it will be a game-time decision for him whether he’s able to get out there and play. His situation’s way different than Jack’s in terms of preparation. If Kory can walk out there and play he knows the defensive schemes, he can return a punt, without any practice, whereas Jack has to be really mentally focused in this week because those are going to be the only reps he’s going to get, mental reps. And it’s important for the quarterback to have a grasp of the game plan and what’s different each week for the quarterback position compared to what it is for the defensive back.
What problems do Sac State’s offense present?
RA: I’m scared of their offense. I really like their speed on offense. As an offensive coach, they’re very impressive. Their running backs are strong and tough and fast, they have a couple receivers that can really fly around the field, and they do an excellent job of moving the quarterback around. He’s going to be in the pocket some, but he’ll bootleg and roll out, fake and go the other direction and make plays with his feet, and we’ll be chasing him all over the field on Saturday. He’s a great athlete, he’s made a lot of great plays for them, and it’s unpredictable where he’s going to be. Their defense does present a lot of problems and our defense will have to be at its best and most disciplined in order to keep them out of the end zone.
What’s the fix to missing tackles last Saturday?
RA: You work on fundamentals. We’ve got to get to the point where we’re wrapping up better. That’s the one major fix as far as technique goes. Some of the other mixed tackles, though, were situations where you had a good player making a good play. You’ve got a big back for Eastern Washington that literally ran through some arm tackles. Guys were in pretty good position, had pretty good form, and the guy was physically strong and ran through an arm tackle. We also had a situation where two plays in a row a back first out-ran a linebacker, then the next time he threatened to go outside then cut back. Both times the linebacker missed the tackle, and that’s just two good plays by a good running back. I think you have to give a little credit there. What we have to do, it’s a team defensive concept that restricts holes and running lanes so that the player doesn’t have as much room to operate. It’s tougher to make a tackle in the open field. We’ve got to hope we can get them boxed in, cupped in, like we talk about on defense, so we can get two people to the ball carrier instead of one.
How do you get your running game re-charged again?
RA: The running game’s tough against these good defensive fronts that we’ve been playing. There are individual matchups in the front seven against our front five and tight ends, and those matchups sometimes are challenging. We have to look for the right matchups every week, try to find the right blocking schemes, so we can get some daylight for our running backs. Most of the time right now we’re getting a hat on a hat, which means getting the right blocker on the right defensive guy, we just have to play with better technique, better leverage, in order to make the most out of those matchups up front and try to get some yards going.
Is it paying off to have two capable quarterbacks?
RA: We’ve got a great situation with a senior quarterback who has played and started many games. He’s won big games here at Montana State, he knows our offense, he’s gotten a lot of reps throughout the course of the season. He’s confident, and we’re confident in him. I think Cory will do just fine.
On Sacramento State’s game against Montana
RA: Their defensive effort against Montana was absolutely outstanding. It wasn’t just a fluke where they happened to stop a couple of big plays. From a yardage standpoint they held Montana to way under 200 yards and pretty much had a solid, consistent game all day long.
Is it paying off to have two capable quarterbacks?
RA: We’ve got a great situation with a senior quarterback who has played and started many games. He’s won big games here at Montana State, he knows our offense, he’s gotten a lot of reps throughout the course of the season. He’s confident, and we’re confident in him. I think Cory will do just fine.
How do you expect your team to respond to a league loss?
RA: I was happy with our team’s attitude on Sunday. First of all they weren’t happy with the loss, which was good. I wouldn’t want our team to be happy with a loss or to come in too cheery on Sunday. I think it’s OK to think about it and to investigate what happened and try to search for some answers. But I also like their resilience. That’s one of the words we have in our mission statement here, we talk about being a resilient football team, and I think it’s time to call on that right now. I started to see that as early as Sunday, with guys talking about it’s time to learn from this, watch tape, get better, fix some things that we didn’t do so well and try to get on a winning streak.
How is Jamelle Banks developing?
RA: Jamelle’s doing extremely well. He’s a good, elusive player. He has good release moves at the line of scrimmage, where he can get away from man-to-man coverage. We’re using him a lot because we’re seeing a lot more man-to-man defenses against us in the secondary. He’s the guy that I think has the ability to take a reception and then make somebody miss and get yards after the catch. He’s an old running back, so he’s got that in him. I think he’s probably a player that to help our offense we need to get him the ball a few more times.
Was he a pleasant surprise?
RA: Well, I didn’t know anything about anybody coming in myself, so everybody’s been a surprise one way or another. (laughs) Actually, Jamelle has made great progress. The guys were kidding him early on in the season about how different receiver is than running back, and how he plays receiver like a running back. He had a lot to learn about the finesse of being a receiver. I’ve seen him make great strides throughout the course of the season on his route-running, on his spatial awareness out there. He’s always been able to catch the ball because he’s a very skilled athlete, just in general, but he’s becoming a receiver now, and he’s getting better every week.
WR JAMELLE BANKS
How close do you feel you guys are to clicking on all aspects?
JB: Oh, we’re pretty close, I mean it all starts out in practice. We had a good practice last week, you know, it’s just good chemistry. It just starts with practice, every week we just take one step at a time, you know, slowly but surely we’re getting it, so we’ll get it sooner or later.
How do you rebound from a tough loss against a defense that looks pretty good?
JB: Well, okay, the loss, I know it hit a lot of us pretty hard, so today we we just go out (at practice) and give it all we’ve got. We’ve just got to make sure we have an even better practice than we did last week. And considering a set, I mean, I don’t really like, as far as like the next week, we take it just one step at a time so I mean like I said, it just, we’ve just all got to come together and forget about the loss, I mean, that was last week, now the loss is over out here. We just look forward to the next game or whatever. And as far as them giving up this amount of touchdowns, I mean, to me it really doesn’t matter. It’s just like our team, we come together and we just take it from there, I mean I feel like when we all come together and play as one we can’t be beat, so.
Coach always talks about Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s being important for practice, coming off a loss this week are those days more important?
JB: Every week of practice is important, (we) just get better every week and then just keep going from there. So, I think if we have a good practice this week we’ll be ready for Saturday.
How do you feel you’ve progressed this year so far?
JB: In the beginning it was kind of hard because (in) high school I didn’t play receiver too much. I played running back and corner, so it was like, coming into college then, especially being a redshirt freshman it was hard for me to run routes. And then in college you get a big playbook, so I mean it’s kind of hard, but I just take it one step at a time and then I pray on it and then just keep working on it until I get it.
After you make a big play, you have a little sign, is that to remind you about something?
JB: Oh yeah, it’s like back home, my God-brother Marshawn Lynch, he plays for the Buffalo Bills, so … it’s just like a little sign that we just keep our family first and so every time we score, make first downs, you know … it’s just a little signal, there’s nothing too big about it.
I didn’t know you had such strong ties to someone in the pro leagues, has that been a guide for you?
JB: Yeah, he’s been a big brother that I never had, because I’m the oldest. I have three (younger) brothers and three (younger) sisters and so, I guess you could say he kind of adopted me, like I was always coming up and like playing Pop Warner football and I didn’t even know who he was at first and then like, (in) high school and he used to always tell me because I started off playing basketball and he used to always tell me, no, you need to come play football. You can get a scholarship in football and I just never wanted to listen to him at first, but then after the lectures and he just kept talking to me and then I just took it over to the football field and I try to like follow his footsteps because I see the hard work he put in and where it’s got him now. So, hopefully I’ll be able to get there one day.
DE DANE FLETCHER
How did you feel coming back last week after the injury?
DF: It feels a lot better. I definitely needed that week. Rehab, all I did for the last couple of weeks was rehab every day, (now) I’m coming back fresh, I’ll be ready for every game hopefully, here on out.
How did you get injured in the first place?
DF: That’s the question, I don’t know. I watched a little film on it and I still really can’t figure it out. It happened about halfway through the game against Southern Utah and it just kept on bothering me throughout the game so I don’t really remember specifically what play it was just because every play pretty much it just bothered me and bothered me more and more until finally my coach realized it and I finally had to tell him.
Was the game on Saturday humbling when something like that happens?
DF: It’s depressing at the time, but when Monday hits it’s a new week, it’s a new time. We practice just as hard, if not harder, because we realize what we’re against now. I’m not saying it’s a good thing that it happened, but it definitely put us back to level again. Um, now we know exactly what we need to get done and we need to win out, we know that for sure.
Was the game a reminder to play together as eleven again?
DF: I still feel like we were very tight out there as a team, we held it together as far as defense and defensive line. We stuck together. It’s just, when it rains it pours sometimes and that definitely affected us out there. It was just one thing after another, some balls didn’t come our way, some calls went their way and it hurt us a little bit, but what can you do?
Have you watched any of the Montana vs. Sacramento State game yet?
DF: I watched a little bit.
Did you have any impressions? Did anything stand out of what they do offensively?
DF: They do a little bit of everything. So, it’s kind of tough right now from what I’ve watched. We definitely all have to get in there and watch extra film this week just to get an understanding of every aspect of what they do. It looks like they pass half the time and run half the time and do everything with that run, but the great thing about this league is that there’s no real, true underdogs, everybody’s good. It’s always going to be a good game. So, I mean, we’re going to approach this game as though it’s the Grizzlies or any other team.
Forecast calls for bad weather conditions; are you ready for the weather as opposed to clear skies in Washington?
DF: (Laughs) What’s new? I mean, we can’t luck out when we get the good weather here I guess, but hopefully it might help us out again, I don’t know. I feel bad for our fans, but we as players, we love it. I mean, just anything, any kind of weather out there just bring it on. We like that kind of stuff.
After that mud bowl, it was probably like playing street ball with your friends. Do you rally around that kind of stuff?
DF: As far as defense, I know that I as a player love it. I really missed out not being ready for that game and able to play. That’s the kind of game that I love to play in, and live for. But hopefully we get another one. I mean, I like it.
Is the fact that you have one loss the best motivating factor?
DF: That should be it, I mean that does it. If you know that you’re coming in every game from here on out knowing that you have to win, I mean you’re going to approach it as though you need to win. I mean, we have everything to lose as this point.
RB AARON MASON
How close do you guys think you are to pulling this thing together offensively?
AM: I feel we’re real close actually, it’s just that on game days there’s just these little mistakes that we continue to make that we need to clean up in different areas of the game, like if it’s not with motions (it’s) people lining up in the wrong way. It’s just different things that can easily be corrected. So, it’s not a big problem, it’s just minor things.
Bozeman High’s coach said ten guys on positive, one guys on negative plays, which leads to negative plays. Does that correlate out here too?
AM: Yeah, because like, on offense if one guy’s out of place that can mess up the whole play, everyone has to be on the same page. If not, then the play’s not going to go right, but on defense one guy can be out of place, but then those other guys can make up for it, but on offense you have those set plays that you’re actually running, so if one guy is out of place it’s just all bad. It’s not going to work.
Do you feel like (the offense is) ready to explode, like a ticking time bomb?
AM: Oh yeah, when we explode, we explode. When (MSU’s) offense is clicking and we’re all on the same page it’s something nasty for the defense because we have so many weapons on our offense. We have Josh Lewis, we have Deon Toliver, and we have Jamelle Banks, we have so much depth on offense that it’s insane and especially at the running back spot we have a lot of depth as you guys have seen in the few weeks especially with my roommate (Demetrius Crawford), he’s been doing very well and I’m happy for him, seeing him progress coming from the JC level. It’s been good watching these guys.
How much have you seen your roommate improve over this year?
AM: Oh yeah, it’s crazy because I remember during summer scrimmages he wasn’t doing that well at first and it didn’t seem that he was doing that well and that he wasn’t really picking it up and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, bam, (he) hit everyone with just putting up numbers, so it’s really been good to see that because he’s all of a sudden clicking with the offense, doing everything that’s good and whatever, that’s going to help this team get where we want to get and so to have that, that’s perfect.
Do you like the three back rotation?
AM: Oh yeah, it’s keeping all of us healthy because early on I got a few nicks or whatever, and then some other guys came in and it didn’t really matter because we have a three-headed monster here so whoever comes in we’re going to succeed with that, and it’s going to help our team out a whole lot keeping all three of us fresh to help us win these games.
What do you see in the Sacramento State defense that you’re going to have to pay attention to this weekend?
AM: They have a good front seven especially their D-line and their linebackers, they play very well, they play fast, and they’re very physical. After playing against them last year they returned most of those guys and I know those guys are very good players, so they’re not something you can just say, oh, I can do this, I can do that, no, you really have to study the tape and watch them because they are quality players. Their record may not show it, but these guys can play.
Do you think they might be flying under the radar in the conference?
AM: That can always happen. Due to you your record you can fly under the radar and think about, oh, this team is not good, oh this is an automatic win, but it’s any given Saturday, anybody can win on any given day and this team, they have a good defense, and they play hard … They have a pretty good defense and they’re doing what they can, but we’re going to be prepared for these guys.
After a loss, how much more motivated are you to get after it in practice?
AM: Oh, this is a hunger, I think this is going to make everybody a lot more hungry to keep winning because a loss like this opens your eyes and by the margin we lost it didn’t show how good our team actually is, and I think this is going to make everyone else hungry and I think at practice this is going to show, people are going to be flying around and we’re going to make, we’re going to need to make all the plays that we need to in order to, this is coming down to the end of the stretch. These teams are not walkover teams, these are teams that are going to play very well and so we’re going to have to do the best we can to keep playing hard and winning these games.
BOBCAT COACH ROB ASH
How are you preparing for Sac State?
RA: We’re preparing this week like we did every other week. Tuesday and Wednesday are still the most important days, (Sacramento State) is a quality opponent, just like every other Big Sky team, and we’re going to try to approach it as much as possible business as usual. We know it’s not quite that way because we did have a loss last week and now the stakes are higher, but it still has to be a consistent approach to the game, and that’s how we’re going to deal with it this week.
Is it stay the course and do the same things to prepare for this week, or is it do a little extra after the loss to get back on track?
RA: Where we’re at right now, on our offensive coaching staff, at least, we’re looking at ourselves and saying, How can we be better teachers? We know what we want to do, we’re getting it right, or close to right, most of the time, it just hasn’t quite clicked yet. We’ve talked a lot about the Tuesday-Wednesday practices, and we’ve worked hard, put the effort in, but sometimes it doesn’t translate over on Saturdays. So now my job as head coach and the job of the coaches is, how can we teach things a little bit better on Tuesday and Wednesday so that it sticks, so that it comes through and we get a little bit better execution on Saturday. We said today in staff meeting (that) we don’t want to have another Sunday where we say, We coulda done this, shoulda done this, just missed here, just missed there. We want to have a week where we say, This time it did come together. Our teaching has to help us get there.
Is there a temptation to scale back the playback to focus on what you’re doing well?
RA: There’s certainly that temptation, and that’s one of the angles we could approach for this game, to scale down and try to have better execution. On the other hand, if you get to Saturday and get a wrinkle you didn’t expect or you have a play or a series of plays that aren’t going well that are the ones you did focus on then it’s nice to have something to go to. It’s always that difficult decision as a coaching staff, how much to try to get ready. The other situation we’re dealing with is trying to see if there’s a different way that we can put together our practices. Maybe we construct our repetitions in practice to run the same play two or three times in a row against different looks, and then go to another play and run it two or three times in a row against different looks. So it’s the same number of repetitions overall that we’re getting in practice, but whereas before they were randomly selected like you’d get in a game, maybe we’ll come back and teach it more like a preseason (setting) to make sure we get… the answer. Maybe it will stick better. It’s partly a matter of volume, but it might partly be our approach and our teaching strategy.
So you see defenses bringing the same looks, are they defending you the same way week to week?
RA: I think what we’ve seen so far is execution of a plan similar to the plan we viewed on tape. There haven’t been a lot of surprises, and that’s to be expected because the teams in this conference are well coached, they have their schemes and their styles and that’s how they want to play. We haven’t really been surprised too much by the schemes we’ve seen so far this season. Each one’s been a little different based on the personality and the personnel of the team’s we’ve played. I think we’ve been well-prepared, we haven’t had a lot of surprises but we just haven’t executed, and that’s why we’re going back to see how we’re presenting the schemes during the week to see if there’s a better way we can do that.
What does Sac State try to do?
RA: They’re a multiple defensive team, they’ve got an excellent front seven, as Aaron Mason mentioned in his remarks earlier today. I’m very impressed with the pressure they put on the quarterback. The lead the Big Sky Conference in sacks, they have a very aggressive style up front, and they bring the game to you. The other thing that’s impressive to me with their front seven is they don’t stay blocked. Guys get on them and they’ll shed those blockers and run to the ball. I’m very, very impressed, and their overall speed defensively is very impressive, also. Scheme-wise they’re multiple, they mix man and zone and some zone blitz, which is the standard way defenses do it now. To be multiple is very important.
How are opponents trying to deal with Cyrus Mulitalo?
RA: I think Mulitalo’s an outstanding player, he’s one of the best linebackers I’ve seen on tape in a long time. He’s right in the middle of their defense, so he’s able to get to plays on both sides of the ball. They also blitz him, and he’s one of the leaders in the conference in sacks as a linebacker, so you know he blitzes a considerable amount. He’s one of the guys I was talking about because he gets off blocks extremely well. It’s very difficult to sustain a block on him and keep him out of the play. It’s one of those situations where he’s going to make his plays. We just have to minimize his impact by knowing where he is and trying to get people on him and at least make him work hard to have to get off a block every time in order to make his plays.
Do you have to know where a great defensive player is on the field all the time?
RA: Yes, that’s absolutely right. You have to know where he is, you have to know the positions he’s in when he’s going to blitz, if possible. It’s important for us, too, to make sure our schemes account for him, that guys understand where he’s at. If we’re picking him up on a blitz we’d better have the right matchup because he’s such a good player. We will be aware of where he is and what he’s doing at all times, and he’ll still make his plays from time to time in this game, he’s that good.
What is the quarterback situation?
RA: Jack is questionable for this week. If he does get cleared by Saturday it’s going to be a week where he doesn’t get a lot of practice time. We’re hoping he’s available to play. We’re going to go through the week with the plan that Cory Carpenter will be the starter, and we’ll hope that Jack is available to us in at least some kind of role on Saturday.
Is it paying off to have two capable quarterbacks?
RA: We’ve got a great situation with a senior quarterback who has played and started many games. He’s won big games here at Montana State, he knows our offense, he’s gotten a lot of reps throughout the course of the season. He’s confident, and we’re confident in him. I think Cory will do just fine.
Is there a point where Jack Rolovich is rested in order to regain his health?
RA: That’s something we’re considering. With this particular injury some progress can be made throughout the course of the week. It’s not a debilitating thing where he’s lost motion or strength, it’s more of a pain tolerance situation, it’s a 50-50 tossup. I think the best case scenario is if Jack were ready to play but didn’t have to. But by the same token I don’t know if he’ll be in that position. We really won’t know his status until we get much later into the week.
What about Kory Austin?
RA: Kory’s struggling with an ankle sprain. Ankle sprains usually take some time. He did make good progress in the last 48 hours, so that’s positive, but right now he’s not going to get a lot of practice time this week, so it will be a game-time decision for him whether he’s able to get out there and play. His situation’s way different than Jack’s in terms of preparation. If Kory can walk out there and play he knows the defensive schemes, he can return a punt, without any practice, whereas Jack has to be really mentally focused in this week because those are going to be the only reps he’s going to get, mental reps. And it’s important for the quarterback to have a grasp of the game plan and what’s different each week for the quarterback position compared to what it is for the defensive back.
What problems do Sac State’s offense present?
RA: I’m scared of their offense. I really like their speed on offense. As an offensive coach, they’re very impressive. Their running backs are strong and tough and fast, they have a couple receivers that can really fly around the field, and they do an excellent job of moving the quarterback around. He’s going to be in the pocket some, but he’ll bootleg and roll out, fake and go the other direction and make plays with his feet, and we’ll be chasing him all over the field on Saturday. He’s a great athlete, he’s made a lot of great plays for them, and it’s unpredictable where he’s going to be. Their defense does present a lot of problems and our defense will have to be at its best and most disciplined in order to keep them out of the end zone.
What’s the fix to missing tackles last Saturday?
RA: You work on fundamentals. We’ve got to get to the point where we’re wrapping up better. That’s the one major fix as far as technique goes. Some of the other mixed tackles, though, were situations where you had a good player making a good play. You’ve got a big back for Eastern Washington that literally ran through some arm tackles. Guys were in pretty good position, had pretty good form, and the guy was physically strong and ran through an arm tackle. We also had a situation where two plays in a row a back first out-ran a linebacker, then the next time he threatened to go outside then cut back. Both times the linebacker missed the tackle, and that’s just two good plays by a good running back. I think you have to give a little credit there. What we have to do, it’s a team defensive concept that restricts holes and running lanes so that the player doesn’t have as much room to operate. It’s tougher to make a tackle in the open field. We’ve got to hope we can get them boxed in, cupped in, like we talk about on defense, so we can get two people to the ball carrier instead of one.
How do you get your running game re-charged again?
RA: The running game’s tough against these good defensive fronts that we’ve been playing. There are individual matchups in the front seven against our front five and tight ends, and those matchups sometimes are challenging. We have to look for the right matchups every week, try to find the right blocking schemes, so we can get some daylight for our running backs. Most of the time right now we’re getting a hat on a hat, which means getting the right blocker on the right defensive guy, we just have to play with better technique, better leverage, in order to make the most out of those matchups up front and try to get some yards going.
Is it paying off to have two capable quarterbacks?
RA: We’ve got a great situation with a senior quarterback who has played and started many games. He’s won big games here at Montana State, he knows our offense, he’s gotten a lot of reps throughout the course of the season. He’s confident, and we’re confident in him. I think Cory will do just fine.
On Sacramento State’s game against Montana
RA: Their defensive effort against Montana was absolutely outstanding. It wasn’t just a fluke where they happened to stop a couple of big plays. From a yardage standpoint they held Montana to way under 200 yards and pretty much had a solid, consistent game all day long.
Is it paying off to have two capable quarterbacks?
RA: We’ve got a great situation with a senior quarterback who has played and started many games. He’s won big games here at Montana State, he knows our offense, he’s gotten a lot of reps throughout the course of the season. He’s confident, and we’re confident in him. I think Cory will do just fine.
How do you expect your team to respond to a league loss?
RA: I was happy with our team’s attitude on Sunday. First of all they weren’t happy with the loss, which was good. I wouldn’t want our team to be happy with a loss or to come in too cheery on Sunday. I think it’s OK to think about it and to investigate what happened and try to search for some answers. But I also like their resilience. That’s one of the words we have in our mission statement here, we talk about being a resilient football team, and I think it’s time to call on that right now. I started to see that as early as Sunday, with guys talking about it’s time to learn from this, watch tape, get better, fix some things that we didn’t do so well and try to get on a winning streak.
How is Jamelle Banks developing?
RA: Jamelle’s doing extremely well. He’s a good, elusive player. He has good release moves at the line of scrimmage, where he can get away from man-to-man coverage. We’re using him a lot because we’re seeing a lot more man-to-man defenses against us in the secondary. He’s the guy that I think has the ability to take a reception and then make somebody miss and get yards after the catch. He’s an old running back, so he’s got that in him. I think he’s probably a player that to help our offense we need to get him the ball a few more times.
Was he a pleasant surprise?
RA: Well, I didn’t know anything about anybody coming in myself, so everybody’s been a surprise one way or another. (laughs) Actually, Jamelle has made great progress. The guys were kidding him early on in the season about how different receiver is than running back, and how he plays receiver like a running back. He had a lot to learn about the finesse of being a receiver. I’ve seen him make great strides throughout the course of the season on his route-running, on his spatial awareness out there. He’s always been able to catch the ball because he’s a very skilled athlete, just in general, but he’s becoming a receiver now, and he’s getting better every week.
WR JAMELLE BANKS
How close do you feel you guys are to clicking on all aspects?
JB: Oh, we’re pretty close, I mean it all starts out in practice. We had a good practice last week, you know, it’s just good chemistry. It just starts with practice, every week we just take one step at a time, you know, slowly but surely we’re getting it, so we’ll get it sooner or later.
How do you rebound from a tough loss against a defense that looks pretty good?
JB: Well, okay, the loss, I know it hit a lot of us pretty hard, so today we we just go out (at practice) and give it all we’ve got. We’ve just got to make sure we have an even better practice than we did last week. And considering a set, I mean, I don’t really like, as far as like the next week, we take it just one step at a time so I mean like I said, it just, we’ve just all got to come together and forget about the loss, I mean, that was last week, now the loss is over out here. We just look forward to the next game or whatever. And as far as them giving up this amount of touchdowns, I mean, to me it really doesn’t matter. It’s just like our team, we come together and we just take it from there, I mean I feel like when we all come together and play as one we can’t be beat, so.
Coach always talks about Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s being important for practice, coming off a loss this week are those days more important?
JB: Every week of practice is important, (we) just get better every week and then just keep going from there. So, I think if we have a good practice this week we’ll be ready for Saturday.
How do you feel you’ve progressed this year so far?
JB: In the beginning it was kind of hard because (in) high school I didn’t play receiver too much. I played running back and corner, so it was like, coming into college then, especially being a redshirt freshman it was hard for me to run routes. And then in college you get a big playbook, so I mean it’s kind of hard, but I just take it one step at a time and then I pray on it and then just keep working on it until I get it.
After you make a big play, you have a little sign, is that to remind you about something?
JB: Oh yeah, it’s like back home, my God-brother Marshawn Lynch, he plays for the Buffalo Bills, so … it’s just like a little sign that we just keep our family first and so every time we score, make first downs, you know … it’s just a little signal, there’s nothing too big about it.
I didn’t know you had such strong ties to someone in the pro leagues, has that been a guide for you?
JB: Yeah, he’s been a big brother that I never had, because I’m the oldest. I have three (younger) brothers and three (younger) sisters and so, I guess you could say he kind of adopted me, like I was always coming up and like playing Pop Warner football and I didn’t even know who he was at first and then like, (in) high school and he used to always tell me because I started off playing basketball and he used to always tell me, no, you need to come play football. You can get a scholarship in football and I just never wanted to listen to him at first, but then after the lectures and he just kept talking to me and then I just took it over to the football field and I try to like follow his footsteps because I see the hard work he put in and where it’s got him now. So, hopefully I’ll be able to get there one day.
DE DANE FLETCHER
How did you feel coming back last week after the injury?
DF: It feels a lot better. I definitely needed that week. Rehab, all I did for the last couple of weeks was rehab every day, (now) I’m coming back fresh, I’ll be ready for every game hopefully, here on out.
How did you get injured in the first place?
DF: That’s the question, I don’t know. I watched a little film on it and I still really can’t figure it out. It happened about halfway through the game against Southern Utah and it just kept on bothering me throughout the game so I don’t really remember specifically what play it was just because every play pretty much it just bothered me and bothered me more and more until finally my coach realized it and I finally had to tell him.
Was the game on Saturday humbling when something like that happens?
DF: It’s depressing at the time, but when Monday hits it’s a new week, it’s a new time. We practice just as hard, if not harder, because we realize what we’re against now. I’m not saying it’s a good thing that it happened, but it definitely put us back to level again. Um, now we know exactly what we need to get done and we need to win out, we know that for sure.
Was the game a reminder to play together as eleven again?
DF: I still feel like we were very tight out there as a team, we held it together as far as defense and defensive line. We stuck together. It’s just, when it rains it pours sometimes and that definitely affected us out there. It was just one thing after another, some balls didn’t come our way, some calls went their way and it hurt us a little bit, but what can you do?
Have you watched any of the Montana vs. Sacramento State game yet?
DF: I watched a little bit.
Did you have any impressions? Did anything stand out of what they do offensively?
DF: They do a little bit of everything. So, it’s kind of tough right now from what I’ve watched. We definitely all have to get in there and watch extra film this week just to get an understanding of every aspect of what they do. It looks like they pass half the time and run half the time and do everything with that run, but the great thing about this league is that there’s no real, true underdogs, everybody’s good. It’s always going to be a good game. So, I mean, we’re going to approach this game as though it’s the Grizzlies or any other team.
Forecast calls for bad weather conditions; are you ready for the weather as opposed to clear skies in Washington?
DF: (Laughs) What’s new? I mean, we can’t luck out when we get the good weather here I guess, but hopefully it might help us out again, I don’t know. I feel bad for our fans, but we as players, we love it. I mean, just anything, any kind of weather out there just bring it on. We like that kind of stuff.
After that mud bowl, it was probably like playing street ball with your friends. Do you rally around that kind of stuff?
DF: As far as defense, I know that I as a player love it. I really missed out not being ready for that game and able to play. That’s the kind of game that I love to play in, and live for. But hopefully we get another one. I mean, I like it.
Is the fact that you have one loss the best motivating factor?
DF: That should be it, I mean that does it. If you know that you’re coming in every game from here on out knowing that you have to win, I mean you’re going to approach it as though you need to win. I mean, we have everything to lose as this point.
RB AARON MASON
How close do you guys think you are to pulling this thing together offensively?
AM: I feel we’re real close actually, it’s just that on game days there’s just these little mistakes that we continue to make that we need to clean up in different areas of the game, like if it’s not with motions (it’s) people lining up in the wrong way. It’s just different things that can easily be corrected. So, it’s not a big problem, it’s just minor things.
Bozeman High’s coach said ten guys on positive, one guys on negative plays, which leads to negative plays. Does that correlate out here too?
AM: Yeah, because like, on offense if one guy’s out of place that can mess up the whole play, everyone has to be on the same page. If not, then the play’s not going to go right, but on defense one guy can be out of place, but then those other guys can make up for it, but on offense you have those set plays that you’re actually running, so if one guy is out of place it’s just all bad. It’s not going to work.
Do you feel like (the offense is) ready to explode, like a ticking time bomb?
AM: Oh yeah, when we explode, we explode. When (MSU’s) offense is clicking and we’re all on the same page it’s something nasty for the defense because we have so many weapons on our offense. We have Josh Lewis, we have Deon Toliver, and we have Jamelle Banks, we have so much depth on offense that it’s insane and especially at the running back spot we have a lot of depth as you guys have seen in the few weeks especially with my roommate (Demetrius Crawford), he’s been doing very well and I’m happy for him, seeing him progress coming from the JC level. It’s been good watching these guys.
How much have you seen your roommate improve over this year?
AM: Oh yeah, it’s crazy because I remember during summer scrimmages he wasn’t doing that well at first and it didn’t seem that he was doing that well and that he wasn’t really picking it up and then all of a sudden out of nowhere, bam, (he) hit everyone with just putting up numbers, so it’s really been good to see that because he’s all of a sudden clicking with the offense, doing everything that’s good and whatever, that’s going to help this team get where we want to get and so to have that, that’s perfect.
Do you like the three back rotation?
AM: Oh yeah, it’s keeping all of us healthy because early on I got a few nicks or whatever, and then some other guys came in and it didn’t really matter because we have a three-headed monster here so whoever comes in we’re going to succeed with that, and it’s going to help our team out a whole lot keeping all three of us fresh to help us win these games.
What do you see in the Sacramento State defense that you’re going to have to pay attention to this weekend?
AM: They have a good front seven especially their D-line and their linebackers, they play very well, they play fast, and they’re very physical. After playing against them last year they returned most of those guys and I know those guys are very good players, so they’re not something you can just say, oh, I can do this, I can do that, no, you really have to study the tape and watch them because they are quality players. Their record may not show it, but these guys can play.
Do you think they might be flying under the radar in the conference?
AM: That can always happen. Due to you your record you can fly under the radar and think about, oh, this team is not good, oh this is an automatic win, but it’s any given Saturday, anybody can win on any given day and this team, they have a good defense, and they play hard … They have a pretty good defense and they’re doing what they can, but we’re going to be prepared for these guys.
After a loss, how much more motivated are you to get after it in practice?
AM: Oh, this is a hunger, I think this is going to make everybody a lot more hungry to keep winning because a loss like this opens your eyes and by the margin we lost it didn’t show how good our team actually is, and I think this is going to make everyone else hungry and I think at practice this is going to show, people are going to be flying around and we’re going to make, we’re going to need to make all the plays that we need to in order to, this is coming down to the end of the stretch. These teams are not walkover teams, these are teams that are going to play very well and so we’re going to have to do the best we can to keep playing hard and winning these games.
Wednesday, August 19
Wednesday, June 10
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
