Marshall University Athletics
Quotes/Notes/Video from Doc Holliday's Nov. 20 Press Conference
11/21/2018 6:30:00 PM | Football
Information below
Opening statement:
We will have five captains this week, which is a little bit of a change. It will be Malik Gant, Ryan Bee, and Chase Hancock on defense as well as Jordan Dowrey and Marcel Williams on offense. As we have said all along, whenever you go on the road and play a game, you have to make sure you take your leadership with you. It will be critical that these guys, along with our other guys, do that. We have to continue to be a tough football team and have a great week of preparation. Butch Davis has done a great job down there with that team. I have said all along … the FIU and FAU teams whenever they got guys in there who will develop that talent and coach them hard are going to have good football teams. There is no question that he (Butch Davis) has done that. It will be a great challenge for us. I know our players are looking forward to it. I am anxious to have a great week this week before we head down that way.
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On game week without school:
They all want to be professional athletes, and this week will give them the opportunity. All they have to focus on is football and going out there to play this week. Get treatment, take care of themselves, and get ready to go play an excellent team.
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On FIU:
They are winning. The quarterback, if you look at his numbers compared to everyone else in our league, he may be at the top. He takes care of the football. He is very efficient with what he does. They are doing a great job at managing that offense and taking care of the ball. They have good players. They have four tailbacks that are really good in our league. They have receivers that make plays and are really good on third down conversions. If you just look at them from an offensive standpoint, they are very effective with everything they do and it starts with the quarterback.
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On FIU's ability to protect the quarterback:
I think that is with any offense. They don't have just one guy making plays, they have all of their guys making plays. That being said, they are very efficient at their receiver positions as well as the tailback positions.
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On FIU's defense at Charlotte:
They did what they had to do to win. I see a defense, with being based in Miami, that has good team speed that makes a lot of plays in space. Charlotte had a couple big runs against them. If you go back and look at that tape, Charlotte may have caught them a little off guard because they went to a different quarterback. They brought in their running quarterback who played against them a year ago and I'm not sure that they were fully prepared for what they were getting. Not to get off topic here, but I thought Brad (Lambert) did a tremendous job with that team. That team showed tremendous improvement, both offensively and defensively. I hate that for Brad, what happened to him there, but Charlotte got after it offensively.
Â
On Marshall's defense:
I am not sure we have had a stretch like this before, as far as the production we've gotten out of it. They are playing at a really high level right now and it is going to be critical that we go down and play at the same level that we played the last three games. Again, Adam has done a tremendous job with them and it is going to take the same kind of effort on Saturday.
Â
On getting pressure on the opposition's quarterback:
The thing that we have been able to do a little bit this year is get pressure (rushing) just four. We are getting good pressure with our defensive ends and some young players who are stepping up and contributing. (Darius) Hodge is a guy who has a lot of talent, who makes a lot of plays. I think, defensively up front, we are going to have to keep playing the same way. Seeing Omari Cobb go in and take Artis (Johnson's) place and earn a Conference USA player of the week was good to see. Anytime you go into your 11th game of the year, which we are in right now, … you lose a running back and (Brenden) Knox steps up. You lose a linebacker and Omari steps up. People have to continue to step up and fill those positions like we have so we can continue to be successful.
Â
On special teams:
We have a stat that I thought was just unbelievable. We went back this morning and looked at our special teams stuff. We've had 18 sky punts, 17 of those we have pinned them inside their 10-yard line. That means we have had 17 of those 18 called done successfully, four of those were quarterbacks punting the ball down there. It has been very efficient for us. Anytime you can play defense the way we have been and punt it down to give them a long field, you can flip that field pretty quick. If they have to go (90-plus) yards or whatever, that's a task against any defense. Special teams and field position is something that we've won quite a bit with our kickoff coverage, kickoff returns, and with our punt game. That has to continue and continue to give these guys long fields.
Â
On what Doc is thankful for:
If you have your health, you have anything. I am thankful for that. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to be a head football coach at a really good school where football is important. We get the opportunity to go out and play this great game every week. I am thankful for being around these kids that we have. To see 17 of them walk out there (on senior day) and all of them getting their college degrees is huge. It can change their families and their lives by getting that done. We have a lot to be thankful for, that's for sure. At times, I don't sit back and appreciate what we do have but it is important that we take time to do that.
Â
On Tyre Brady:
We talked about it coming full circle for him. He gets the opportunity to go down and play in Miami again. We have a lot of Florida kids who get the chance to go down and play in front of their friends and families. They are always excited for that opportunity. We have to have a great week though, starting with last night's practice. We have to have great preparation going into this game.
Â
On Butch Davis:
Back in the early 80's he was an assistant at Miami and I was an assistant elsewhere and we crossed paths recruiting all the time. We go way back. He has always been an excellent recruiter. He has been very successful wherever he has been. A great guy who works extremely hard at what he does.
We will have five captains this week, which is a little bit of a change. It will be Malik Gant, Ryan Bee, and Chase Hancock on defense as well as Jordan Dowrey and Marcel Williams on offense. As we have said all along, whenever you go on the road and play a game, you have to make sure you take your leadership with you. It will be critical that these guys, along with our other guys, do that. We have to continue to be a tough football team and have a great week of preparation. Butch Davis has done a great job down there with that team. I have said all along … the FIU and FAU teams whenever they got guys in there who will develop that talent and coach them hard are going to have good football teams. There is no question that he (Butch Davis) has done that. It will be a great challenge for us. I know our players are looking forward to it. I am anxious to have a great week this week before we head down that way.
Â
On game week without school:
They all want to be professional athletes, and this week will give them the opportunity. All they have to focus on is football and going out there to play this week. Get treatment, take care of themselves, and get ready to go play an excellent team.
Â
On FIU:
They are winning. The quarterback, if you look at his numbers compared to everyone else in our league, he may be at the top. He takes care of the football. He is very efficient with what he does. They are doing a great job at managing that offense and taking care of the ball. They have good players. They have four tailbacks that are really good in our league. They have receivers that make plays and are really good on third down conversions. If you just look at them from an offensive standpoint, they are very effective with everything they do and it starts with the quarterback.
Â
On FIU's ability to protect the quarterback:
I think that is with any offense. They don't have just one guy making plays, they have all of their guys making plays. That being said, they are very efficient at their receiver positions as well as the tailback positions.
Â
On FIU's defense at Charlotte:
They did what they had to do to win. I see a defense, with being based in Miami, that has good team speed that makes a lot of plays in space. Charlotte had a couple big runs against them. If you go back and look at that tape, Charlotte may have caught them a little off guard because they went to a different quarterback. They brought in their running quarterback who played against them a year ago and I'm not sure that they were fully prepared for what they were getting. Not to get off topic here, but I thought Brad (Lambert) did a tremendous job with that team. That team showed tremendous improvement, both offensively and defensively. I hate that for Brad, what happened to him there, but Charlotte got after it offensively.
Â
On Marshall's defense:
I am not sure we have had a stretch like this before, as far as the production we've gotten out of it. They are playing at a really high level right now and it is going to be critical that we go down and play at the same level that we played the last three games. Again, Adam has done a tremendous job with them and it is going to take the same kind of effort on Saturday.
Â
On getting pressure on the opposition's quarterback:
The thing that we have been able to do a little bit this year is get pressure (rushing) just four. We are getting good pressure with our defensive ends and some young players who are stepping up and contributing. (Darius) Hodge is a guy who has a lot of talent, who makes a lot of plays. I think, defensively up front, we are going to have to keep playing the same way. Seeing Omari Cobb go in and take Artis (Johnson's) place and earn a Conference USA player of the week was good to see. Anytime you go into your 11th game of the year, which we are in right now, … you lose a running back and (Brenden) Knox steps up. You lose a linebacker and Omari steps up. People have to continue to step up and fill those positions like we have so we can continue to be successful.
Â
On special teams:
We have a stat that I thought was just unbelievable. We went back this morning and looked at our special teams stuff. We've had 18 sky punts, 17 of those we have pinned them inside their 10-yard line. That means we have had 17 of those 18 called done successfully, four of those were quarterbacks punting the ball down there. It has been very efficient for us. Anytime you can play defense the way we have been and punt it down to give them a long field, you can flip that field pretty quick. If they have to go (90-plus) yards or whatever, that's a task against any defense. Special teams and field position is something that we've won quite a bit with our kickoff coverage, kickoff returns, and with our punt game. That has to continue and continue to give these guys long fields.
Â
On what Doc is thankful for:
If you have your health, you have anything. I am thankful for that. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to be a head football coach at a really good school where football is important. We get the opportunity to go out and play this great game every week. I am thankful for being around these kids that we have. To see 17 of them walk out there (on senior day) and all of them getting their college degrees is huge. It can change their families and their lives by getting that done. We have a lot to be thankful for, that's for sure. At times, I don't sit back and appreciate what we do have but it is important that we take time to do that.
Â
On Tyre Brady:
We talked about it coming full circle for him. He gets the opportunity to go down and play in Miami again. We have a lot of Florida kids who get the chance to go down and play in front of their friends and families. They are always excited for that opportunity. We have to have a great week though, starting with last night's practice. We have to have great preparation going into this game.
Â
On Butch Davis:
Back in the early 80's he was an assistant at Miami and I was an assistant elsewhere and we crossed paths recruiting all the time. We go way back. He has always been an excellent recruiter. He has been very successful wherever he has been. A great guy who works extremely hard at what he does.
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