Marshall University Athletics
Quotes from Doc Holliday's Sept. 2 Press Conference
9/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
On playing Rhode Island
The captains for this week are four guys who have never been captains before, so this is a good thing. Devon Johnson and Eric Frohnapfel on offense. Both of them have played extremely well and have done a great job as far as leadership concerns. We have two new ones on defense also, A.J. Leggett and Arnold Blackmon. They both played extremely well in that game and had the most production points. They played their best games since they have been here. So four new guys, and when you look at this Rhode Island football team, it's very similar as far as preparation goes as this last game we played over the weekend. Their offensive coordinator is the ex-offensive line coach at Iowa State. Their defensive coordinator who was at FAU a year ago, they were together at Akron, along with Coach Fleming, who was the defensive coordinator at UCF. We are going back and watching from Iowa State and FAU to UCF to Akron film from years ago to try to determine on what we are going to get on both offense and defense. Also there are some similarities from last week's game. They have a quarterback who has transferred from Boston College. He was a highly recruited kid. So, there are some similarities with last week's game. I think it's important that we go out and get better as a football team this week. We need to correct some of the mistakes we made a week ago and get better as a team. We need to make sure we are a better football team this Saturday than we were last Saturday and to get better every week, which is our goal.
On Arnold Blackman's performance last Saturday
He played extremely well. He had the highest production points of anybody on the defense and he was all over the place. He had a couple sacks. Right now he is playing at an extremely high level. That whole defensive line played well. There was about eight or nine guys who played but hopefully, we will play more this week. He is playing really well.
On depth during last week's game
Defensively we played too many plays, for a couple reasons. There was, I think, 85 plays that defense had to play. If you have a lack of depth, a defensive line who has 85 plays is not going to be playing at the level that they played at the end of the game. I think that the most plays that anybody on defense played was between 45 and 50, which is good. But, we rolled eight or nine guys in there and we need to continue to do that. We need to get Tomell One in there and we need to get a couple more of the young players in there to play a little more. I was happy with the way all of those guys played. The depth helped us but it also hurt us a little bit. We had to come up with a couple corners because Darryl Roberts had a little bit of an issue with 85 snaps and playing that corner position. So, we need to try and find a couple guys in that secondary that we can roll a little bit. We aren't there yet in the secondary, but I think the linebackers had no issue, as far as depth is concerned.
On evaluating Antavis Rowe and defense
Rowe went in there and played 43 snaps. What was really positive was that Rowe played 43 plays and did some good things as a true freshman. At times, he looked like he was all over the place, but that typical of a freshman. He needs coached. A.J. Addison went in and played 40 plus plays at left tackle and played really well. So, that was two really positive things that came out of that game. It will help down the road. We are going to take Rodney Allen and move him to corner, we did that yesterday. He is a big, tall, long guy that we think we can play. You will see him out there today lined up as a corner. Hopefully, Rodney can help us with some depth there and make that move on Saturday.
On Rowe
Kind of like we did with Tindal a year ago, we don't want to put too much on his plate. We want to just let him handle that one area right there, and see if he can get to where he can handle that. Tindal we didn't move to corner a year ago, we kept at nickel the entire time. We got into a little more sub package in that game than we thought we would. We were a little more nickel and joker, which puts Rowe in the game a little more than we thought we would at that point. To be honest, I didn't expect him to go in and play 43 snaps, but that's the way the game played out. He did some really good things and once he figures out where he's going, he's a really talented kid that Chuck will get ready to go.
On being tested by Miami
I don't think there's any question. We knew going into that game, they were a much improved football team. They made four or five plays in that game that were just tremendous plays that they hadn't made all of last year. That quarterback and a few of those receivers had four or five catches in that game that our guys had them covered well, and they made great plays. They are a much better football team and they played extremely hard. I look for those guys to win some games this year. But, I thought it was a good thing that we had some adversity. We were able to find out how we reacted to it. I thought our kids responded well and that will help us down the road.
On playing four quarters
Anytime you go into a football game, regardless of who it is, if you don't show up and play, you're going to get beat. It happens every week. There's no doubt we did not play well. That turnover was a critical deal. If we don't turn the ball over, the game probably didn't get as tight as it did. But we did, and we had to overcome it in the fourth quarter. The offense took it down and scored twice. They stuck it in and put the game away, and then the defense got them stopped, which was what we needed to do. It was a good learning experience for us. I wish it wouldn't have happened, but it did, and I think in the long run we'll be better because of it. I thought our kids all hung together. They just did what they had to do, and that was good. The leadership on this team kind of held everything together and it wasn't a panic. We knew we were going to win this football game. It was just a matter of getting a couple of things corrected and find a way to win it there, and we did.
On Rodney Allen
In high school, he played some corner. We had him out there Sunday in practice and he's a long guy that's extremely fast and tough. We'll see how it goes, but we're going to try. Corner is a position that guys can play pretty early. It's kind of like, `you've got that guy, go cover him.' You teach technique and fundamentals but there's not a lot of thinking out there, which is good. He should be fine.
On Devon Johnson at Running Back
I'm happy for that kid. You guys know that kid, he's special. He's just as good of a kid as he is a player. He's a talented guy. You all knew it, because you've seen it, but a lot of people think because he's 235-240 pounds that he can't run. He can. I just think what he brings to that room, he's going to make Butler and Remi better. Actually, he already has because if they don't play extremely hard and block that A and B gap on blitzes, they're going to sit over by me and watch, because he does it. Remi did a nice job with that on Saturday. Stew will be in there, and I want to get Byrd in the game too. Byrd is talented. He may be just as talented, or more talented, than all of them. I want to get him in the game at some point, when we feel we can trust him and that he's ready. I like where that running back position is. We just have to continue to work and get better.
You turn that film on, if you guys have watched that tape, a couple of the safeties probably wish they hadn't have done what they did. You just love watching him play. That's just him. He's a really physical guy. He brings an attitude to that position that we haven't had in the last 3-4 years. He's just a tremendous kid. I'm glad he's back there. Cato feels good with him back there too, which is important.
