Marshall University Athletics
Doc Holliday
Quotes/Notes/Video from Doc Holliday's Sept. 24 Press Conference
9/24/2019 5:05:00 PM | Football
Kickoff is 5 p.m. Saturday
Opening statement:
Captains for this week will be Marquis Couch and Channing Hames on defense and Isaiah Green and Cain Madden on offense. We'll lean on those guys this week to provide excellent leadership to get ready for Cincinnati. We played these guys two years ago and the improvement that they have made is tremendous. They are a team that won 11 ball games a year ago, which is hard to do … and they beat Virginia Tech in the bowl game. They have a lot of momentum going right now. They have a tremendous running back in (Michael) Warren II and their quarterback (Desmond Ridder) was the Rookie of the Year in their conference. They play really great defense. It will be a great challenge for us and we're looking forward to having a great crowd out here. It's going to be another physical, tough game. Cincinnati will play that way and so will we. We're looking forward to it.
On Cincinnati's defense:
It starts with players. They've done a tremendous job recruiting. In Cincinnati, there are a lot of players in that area and Ohio, in general. They have good players at every position. He's (Coach Luke Fickell) done a great job at developing those players in the couple of years that he has been there. They're fast, physical and play hard and they're well coached. They don't get out of position and they tackle well in space. It will be a challenge for us. Regardless of what you do schematically, you want guys who play hard, tackle well and swarm to the ball. That's what we want our defense to do and I'm sure Coach Fickell wants his to do the same.
On Marshall's crowd:
Anytime you get to play at home is tremendous. I thought our crowd did such a great job for us in that game against Ohio. It's going to be bigger and better this week. I know they're going to come and be loud. It's going to be fun.
On facing Cincinnati's offense:
I know it seems like I'm a broken record here but we've been facing guys who can beat you with their feet as well as their arm. This guy is very athletic just like we faced against Ohio two weeks ago. He (Ridder) can also throw it well. When you have the ability to run the ball like they can with Warren and that offensive line, it creates problems with play-action and that type of thing. You can try to get that extra hat in the box to stop the run and that's when you're one-on-one out there at the corner position. I know our corners will be challenged at times because that's what they like to do.
On Cincinnati's offense vs. Marshall's defense:
We think we have a shot to be pretty good defensively. We'll see. This team (Cincinnati) is probably pretty similar, talent-wise, to what Boise was (offensively). It will be a good challenge for us to line up defensively and see how far we've come.
On coming off the bye:
We'll have some guys playing this week against Cincinnati, who wouldn't have played if we had a game (last Saturday). (Brenden) Knox, for example … it would've been very close as to whether or not he would've been able to play. Anytime you have a bye, you have a chance to catch your breath a little bit and get some guys healthy and move forward, which is what we've done.
On the effect of Marshall losing Jaquan Yulee and Cincinnati losing Kyriq McDonald:
Anytime you lose a kid like that, it affects the team. At that point, someone else has to step up and get the job done. For us, that has happened at the linebacker position. Omari Cobb, moving inside, has done some good things. (Tavante) Beckett is getting better. He hadn't played in a couple of years so he's getting better every week he plays. The bye week does give you an opportunity to get the Eli Neals and those guys who are young players more reps and a week of experience. At some point, we're going to need those guys.
On third down:
Defensively, one of the most critical stats you have is being able to get off the field on third down. We had three third and long situations against Ohio, where if we just keep our eyes right, we get off the field. If we had done that, we would've been really good. Number one, they don't score as many points. Number two, you get off the field and give your offense another possession. Third down is critical to both sides of the ball. You just practice it. We spend a lot of time on it. You have different situations you put your kids into in practice, whether it's score zone, red zone, coming out, going in, short yardage. You put them in those situations and you just work to get better.
On Cincinnati's linebackers:
They are long, athletic guys who can run. They make plays and are never out of position. (Fickell) is going into his third year as head coach and has had a couple of years to develop them, be it in the weight room or into their scheme and that type of thing. They do a great job of getting lined up and executing the defense the way it should be executed.
On Cincinnati's recruiting:
(Fickell) has added some pieces to that team. They are located in a position where they have a lot of players around them and he has taken advantage of that. As I've always mentioned, it's a personnel-driven game. Sometimes guys have really good players but don't develop them or they don't play together as a team. This team, last year and so far this year … not only do they have great players but you can see they're well-coached, they're developed and they're playing as a team. Like I mentioned before, it will be a great challenge for us but I think we're pretty good too. We'll line up and see what happens.
On Cincinnati/run game/turnovers:
You have to be able to stop the run. That's where it all starts. For them, that all started when Coach Fickell was back at Ohio State with Coach (Jim) Tressel years ago. You want to establish the run. They're going to try to get that done. Anytime you can run the football, it opens up a lot of things that you can do offensively. Like I mentioned (the week of the Ohio game), when you have two really good teams facing each other, it's probably going to come down to one or two plays. The Ohio game did. You have to take care of the ball offensively. We had zero turnovers in that game and they had one, which could've been the difference in the game. I'm sure this game is not going to be any different.
On Saturday's being his 120th game as head coach, establishing a new school record:
I guess I've been here a while. After that third year, I wasn't sure I was going to make it past year three. To be in year 10, I guess that means I've accomplished something. I'm not concerned about that right now. The only thing I'm concerned about is getting this team ready to go play a really good Cincinnati team on Saturday night here … having a great crowd and finding a way to win that game. Other than that, those other things, I don't worry too much about.
More on the record:
I go back to (former Marshall president) Dr. (Stephen) Kopp. We all knew and loved that guy, and (Director of Athletics) Mike Hamrick, who gave me the opportunity to become the head coach. I owe a lot to those guys who gave me this opportunity and I really appreciate that … the opportunity to coach this great game, at a great place, where football is important. It doesn't get a lot better than that. I'm happy to be here, proud to be the head coach … trying to find a way to win another game.
On Xavier Gaines:
Any time you have a guy like Xavier Gaines that you line up at so many different positions, you force the other team to work on that all week long. They have to find out where he is because he's a talented guy. I think they'll spend a lot of time (this week) trying to find out where he's lined up and execute certain defenses to get that stopped. He's a talented guy that we like a lot and we'll continue to put him in different places because, when you find a way to get him the ball, normally, good things happen.
Captains for this week will be Marquis Couch and Channing Hames on defense and Isaiah Green and Cain Madden on offense. We'll lean on those guys this week to provide excellent leadership to get ready for Cincinnati. We played these guys two years ago and the improvement that they have made is tremendous. They are a team that won 11 ball games a year ago, which is hard to do … and they beat Virginia Tech in the bowl game. They have a lot of momentum going right now. They have a tremendous running back in (Michael) Warren II and their quarterback (Desmond Ridder) was the Rookie of the Year in their conference. They play really great defense. It will be a great challenge for us and we're looking forward to having a great crowd out here. It's going to be another physical, tough game. Cincinnati will play that way and so will we. We're looking forward to it.
On Cincinnati's defense:
It starts with players. They've done a tremendous job recruiting. In Cincinnati, there are a lot of players in that area and Ohio, in general. They have good players at every position. He's (Coach Luke Fickell) done a great job at developing those players in the couple of years that he has been there. They're fast, physical and play hard and they're well coached. They don't get out of position and they tackle well in space. It will be a challenge for us. Regardless of what you do schematically, you want guys who play hard, tackle well and swarm to the ball. That's what we want our defense to do and I'm sure Coach Fickell wants his to do the same.
On Marshall's crowd:
Anytime you get to play at home is tremendous. I thought our crowd did such a great job for us in that game against Ohio. It's going to be bigger and better this week. I know they're going to come and be loud. It's going to be fun.
On facing Cincinnati's offense:
I know it seems like I'm a broken record here but we've been facing guys who can beat you with their feet as well as their arm. This guy is very athletic just like we faced against Ohio two weeks ago. He (Ridder) can also throw it well. When you have the ability to run the ball like they can with Warren and that offensive line, it creates problems with play-action and that type of thing. You can try to get that extra hat in the box to stop the run and that's when you're one-on-one out there at the corner position. I know our corners will be challenged at times because that's what they like to do.
On Cincinnati's offense vs. Marshall's defense:
We think we have a shot to be pretty good defensively. We'll see. This team (Cincinnati) is probably pretty similar, talent-wise, to what Boise was (offensively). It will be a good challenge for us to line up defensively and see how far we've come.
On coming off the bye:
We'll have some guys playing this week against Cincinnati, who wouldn't have played if we had a game (last Saturday). (Brenden) Knox, for example … it would've been very close as to whether or not he would've been able to play. Anytime you have a bye, you have a chance to catch your breath a little bit and get some guys healthy and move forward, which is what we've done.
On the effect of Marshall losing Jaquan Yulee and Cincinnati losing Kyriq McDonald:
Anytime you lose a kid like that, it affects the team. At that point, someone else has to step up and get the job done. For us, that has happened at the linebacker position. Omari Cobb, moving inside, has done some good things. (Tavante) Beckett is getting better. He hadn't played in a couple of years so he's getting better every week he plays. The bye week does give you an opportunity to get the Eli Neals and those guys who are young players more reps and a week of experience. At some point, we're going to need those guys.
On third down:
Defensively, one of the most critical stats you have is being able to get off the field on third down. We had three third and long situations against Ohio, where if we just keep our eyes right, we get off the field. If we had done that, we would've been really good. Number one, they don't score as many points. Number two, you get off the field and give your offense another possession. Third down is critical to both sides of the ball. You just practice it. We spend a lot of time on it. You have different situations you put your kids into in practice, whether it's score zone, red zone, coming out, going in, short yardage. You put them in those situations and you just work to get better.
On Cincinnati's linebackers:
They are long, athletic guys who can run. They make plays and are never out of position. (Fickell) is going into his third year as head coach and has had a couple of years to develop them, be it in the weight room or into their scheme and that type of thing. They do a great job of getting lined up and executing the defense the way it should be executed.
On Cincinnati's recruiting:
(Fickell) has added some pieces to that team. They are located in a position where they have a lot of players around them and he has taken advantage of that. As I've always mentioned, it's a personnel-driven game. Sometimes guys have really good players but don't develop them or they don't play together as a team. This team, last year and so far this year … not only do they have great players but you can see they're well-coached, they're developed and they're playing as a team. Like I mentioned before, it will be a great challenge for us but I think we're pretty good too. We'll line up and see what happens.
On Cincinnati/run game/turnovers:
You have to be able to stop the run. That's where it all starts. For them, that all started when Coach Fickell was back at Ohio State with Coach (Jim) Tressel years ago. You want to establish the run. They're going to try to get that done. Anytime you can run the football, it opens up a lot of things that you can do offensively. Like I mentioned (the week of the Ohio game), when you have two really good teams facing each other, it's probably going to come down to one or two plays. The Ohio game did. You have to take care of the ball offensively. We had zero turnovers in that game and they had one, which could've been the difference in the game. I'm sure this game is not going to be any different.
On Saturday's being his 120th game as head coach, establishing a new school record:
I guess I've been here a while. After that third year, I wasn't sure I was going to make it past year three. To be in year 10, I guess that means I've accomplished something. I'm not concerned about that right now. The only thing I'm concerned about is getting this team ready to go play a really good Cincinnati team on Saturday night here … having a great crowd and finding a way to win that game. Other than that, those other things, I don't worry too much about.
More on the record:
I go back to (former Marshall president) Dr. (Stephen) Kopp. We all knew and loved that guy, and (Director of Athletics) Mike Hamrick, who gave me the opportunity to become the head coach. I owe a lot to those guys who gave me this opportunity and I really appreciate that … the opportunity to coach this great game, at a great place, where football is important. It doesn't get a lot better than that. I'm happy to be here, proud to be the head coach … trying to find a way to win another game.
On Xavier Gaines:
Any time you have a guy like Xavier Gaines that you line up at so many different positions, you force the other team to work on that all week long. They have to find out where he is because he's a talented guy. I think they'll spend a lot of time (this week) trying to find out where he's lined up and execute certain defenses to get that stopped. He's a talented guy that we like a lot and we'll continue to put him in different places because, when you find a way to get him the ball, normally, good things happen.
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