Marshall University Athletics
Quotes from Doc Holliday's Oct. 14 Press Conference
10/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
On Saturday's game against FIU:
This week's captains will be Tommy Shuler and (Rakeem) Cato on offense and Neville Hewitt and Darryl Roberts on defense. All four of those guys played extremely well. Anytime you go on the road, it is critical that you have great leadership. It is going to be critical for those guys. It is going to be important. It is obvious that Coach (Ron) Turner has done a tremendous job with that football team, if you look at how far they have come. It is amazing what that staff has done. They are number one in our conference in total defense. They lead the country in creating turnovers. It is amazing what they have done in that category. They have had 21 sacks. They get after it. They play extremely fast. He has done a tremendous job with that team. They are a fumble away from being 3-0 in our league. They were on the one yard line at UTSA and a kid puts the ball on the ground and they end up winning the game. They do a great job. You get that many kids from Florida heading home, like it was a year ago, you have to be able to handle the distractions and eliminate the noise. They have to understand that when we go down there, it is a business trip and we have to make sure we do a great job preparing. So, that's where we are.
On FIU and Coach Turner:
They done a tremendous job. I will say this, it was a 13-3 game going into the third quarter, I think, but it was a pretty tight game going into the fourth quarter. We separated at that point. They have athletes now. I have said it many times when you are talking FIU and FAU just draw a circle about an hour and a half radius around those campuses and do a good job at getting the right guys and you can compete with anyone in the country. They have good players. Richard Leonard is back. He is a punt returner, kick returner, and corner that is as good as any player in the country. When you look at his stats and he has returned a fumble for touchdowns and interceptions. Both of those corners are very athletic and that defensive line can go. He has done in a short amount of time a tremendous job, him and his staff. They are personnel-driven. They are very aggressive. They change a little bit what they are doing defensively. The kind of defense goes in phases like anything else. They have been copying a little bit what Michigan State did a year ago because they were so good on defense. They are doing some of the same things that we are doing. They are playing some man-press and corner coverage. They are getting after it with some six-man blitzes and things. They are extremely physical with creating turnovers. When you take those kind of guys who can run like that and transfer them to your special teams you end up being pretty good and they are.
On the emphasis on Cato's record:
There has to be. The good thing is we have a good group of kids with leadership on this team. They were talking about it yesterday without me having the opportunity of reminding them about it and they understand what is at stake and they understand if you don't go in prepared, if you're not extremely tough, and you don't have great leadership then you are not going to win on the road. Number one, we went through it twice last year with FAU and FIU. We have had a run at it with distractions and everything that goes along with it. It is great they have a chance to go home and see their families and play in front of them and all that, but they have a better understanding this year that we have to go down there focused and ready to play.
On how important it is on the team being focused offensively:
We have to. We have to take care of the football. Normally, it is a game of turnovers. In that UTSA game, UTSA had five turnovers. FIU had turnovers. They turned it over two or three times. That was why that game was so close. Especially, against a defense that creates turnovers like they do and creates plays like they do and plays like they play you can't turn the ball over. So, it is always critical.
On turnovers:
It is critical. When you look at it, they are scoring points off turnovers defensively. They had a couple interceptions for touchdowns. I know for sure against UAB and others, not only are they creating turnovers but they are creating points defensively. It is going to be critical that we do a good job taking care of the ball when we throw it around and also with the running backs and receivers.
On defense:
The thing I like about our team this year is that we have been a total team in all three phases. The offense plays off the defense and the defense off the offense and special teams, etc. They have been a football team. It is just critical that every time we go out there you have to be the best team on that particular Saturday in all three phases. We have done that for six straight weeks and we are going to have to do that again on Saturday to have a chance to win.
On Richard Leonard at FIU:
He plays corner and also goes into the slot when they play nickel. He returns punts and returns kicks. I remember him when he was at Killian High School. I recruited him out of high school. He is a tremendous, tremendous player. He had Georgia and a lot of people who wanted him at that particular time. He is a really talented guy. Not only can he play man coverage extremely well, but he is great with a ball in his hands. He is a guy who is going to play on Sundays someday. He is a really, really good player.
On Jonnu Smith at FIU:
He is a tremendous player and you have to find out where he is. He will line up on the line of scrimmage. You mentioned Gator (Hoskins), he is very similar to what we did with Gator a year ago. He would be an on-the-line tight end. He would flex out. Against UAB it was an 80 yard touchdown; he took it on a bubble screen. So he has the ability to catch it and run with it. He will also line up at the backfield. You have to find out where he is and you have to be able to locate him. He is going to be a great challenge because he is not only a big athletic guy who can run but he is physical tough guy too. We flex our guys out and they will be on the line of scrimmage too. So, they have to be able to locate us, too. Plus, we had the opportunity to play against him a year ago. They are very similar to what they did a year ago offensively. But they are doing a lot of the same things. There are a lot of two tight ends and two wide outs but there are going to be multiple formations out of that particular personnel grouping. We spent time on it a year ago against them but a lot of those guys are back. We see a lot of those match ups with the guy flex in practice like you were talking about.
On importance of offensive line knowing assignments in blitz pickup:
That's always important. Coach Mirabal and Chris (Barclay) and all of them done a tremendous job on blitz pickup. They are a little similar as what we do at times with the fire zones and some things that they give us. Our guys have seen a lot of what they do against our defense and they will see that again throughout the week. There is no doubt that you have to be able to identify those blitzes because when they come they come. They will have athletic guys running at you. Our guys have done a good job of blitz pickup this year. Cato has done a good job at seeing it and getting (Chris) Jasperse and protection turned the right way. That is always critical. You don't want to get him hit, when you have guys running free. We have to work hard at that this week. They bring a lot of blitzes. They are an extremely aggressive defense. Their stats show it and they are good.
On Cato and Jasperse combo:
I'm not sure I have ever had a center/quarterback combination that were as good as these guys are. Of course, Jasperse has started a bunch and played a lot of football games around here and may be setting some records down the road. Cato is the same way. You have two four-year starters. Number one, they are not only good players but really smart kids. They are intelligent guys that have football savvy and understand the game. They work extremely hard at being really good at what they do because they love football. There is no doubt that helps. Those guys have been together for a long time and communicate extremely well.
