Oct. 13, 2009
Coach Hoke's opening statement:
"I want to talk about the bye week a little bit, just briefly. Obviously it's nicer to come off a bye week after win than a loss because you don't think about not playing well for 2 weeks. I thought we got some things accomplished. In this day and age of football, this is a 12-month-a-year undertaking for kids. I think it's important during that bye week to get them some time to get off their feet and to mentally get themselves ready for what's ahead of them in this marathon so I thought we were able to do that. I thought we had three very good practices, that we had a lot of tempo and had a lot of intensity too and it gave us chance look at what we're doing on both sides of the ball and our kicking game and where we need to improve and maybe some things we need not to do as much of. I think that important. Obviously, we've got a great challenge this week. There's a Top 25 team, as you all know, with an outstanding quarterback, outstanding offensive personnel across the board that's averaging 38 points game. They're playing very well defensively, very aggressive defense and they're a well-coached football team."
Injury update:
"(Matt) Kawulok is going to be done for the year. He's got to have surgery on his shoulder, but Brandon Sullivan will be back, and Atiyyah (Henderson)'s not quite there but he's getting closer, so we're making some progress. Romeo (Horn)'s still out but everybody else is pretty much ready to go."
On Kawulok's injury:
"It's the labrum. I don't know a whole lot about it , besides it doesn't feel real good and he needed to get it fixed."
BYU's a balanced attack, defensively how do you game plan that, especially a guy like Harvey Unga?
"There's no question that they've got ... it starts with their front, their offensive front. They've got five guys up there that are big, good, athletic, active guys. You always want to try and limit an opponent's offense, in one phase of the game, and we want to make sure we stop the run. That is a goal every week. If you can get a team one-dimensional, then you play into your hands a little bit, but it's going to be a real challenge for us up front to handle some of those big `road raiders' they have."
On setback to running game with Kawulok out for the year:
"I think it always is. It doesn't matter who you lose. We lose a guy who's on the demonstration team who gives a great look every day, that's a huge setback. Willie Watters is going to have to step up; D.J. Shields is a guy who's been playing pretty well for us and he'll have to step up. That's the nature of this game--one guy goes down, the other guy's got to step up and the expectations are for the position and not for the guy playing the position."
On how Brandon's looked the last couple of weeks:
"He practiced some last week. We got him in some contact drills and those kind of things. He's running well and so I think he mentally is where he needs to be and that always figures in when guys come off injuries. I'm really excited about the progress he's made. I'm really excited about how hard he's worked to get back to this point."
On possibility of offensive line rotation:
"I think right now we'll stay with how we started 2 weeks ago with (Nik) Embernate in there, Nik at the right guard. By Thursday that could change, to be honest with you, in how they compete and they practice. That's every position on this team. That's part of competing every day and trying to get the best out of everyone so that could always change."
On things that they need to "not do so much":
"I think there are certain things when you look at us as a team ... probably it's not as much what we don't need to do so much; if we're going to do it, we need to do it better. I think there are some things defensively when you look at some of the games we do up front, we need to do those much better, and that's on me to coach those better. I think offensively we've got to do a better job with some route running at times and breaking the routes on that right step or stemming the routes. I think there's always those timing issues and those expectations we have to have."
On fullback position, if one guy in particular:
"We're pretty multiple with what we do when you're in 12 personnel or 21, depending [on] that U-back, H-back, whatever you want to call him, or other tight end really acts like a fullback and that's kind of where D.J. can help us at times alleviate some things for Willie Watters. Brice Heers is a young freshman, that we haven't played yet but has traveled, that has shown some ability."
On using Heers in a game:
"I don't know that. We would try not to if we can get through the season without, but one thing I like about the kid is every week he prepares like he's going to start the game."
On any reaction to Mike Locksley being suspended for a game:
"Nope."
On whether Max Hall is the best quarterback they've played this season:
"I think he is. He can make all the throws, he has great timing, he's got a really good pocket presence, he feels things real well, he's got a quick delivery. I don't think there's any doubt, he's got to be one of the best two or three quarterbacks in this country I would think."
On if Max Hall is a Heisman possibility:
"Probably."
On how Rocky Long's defense at New Mexico slowed down BYU:
"I think he did a lot of different things. I think every year was a little different. We've obviously talked a lot about that but there's different things: I think you've got to change up your defense, you can't be stagnant in one thing, which we're not. You've got to do some things coverage wise. It's hard to get to Max Hall, I can tell you that. You watch Florida State and Oklahoma and those people ... he makes it difficult because the ball comes out so quick and of his pocket presence that he has."
On the big picture, evaluating team's playing right now in regard to where you want them to be at this point in the season:
"Obviously we're not playing well enough or we'd have won every game so let's start with that. I think we're making some strides. They're never going to be as fast as we want them to be but there's some guys growing up when you look at the youth of the our offensive line. I think they came off that game in the last quarter and half playing pretty cohesive as a group. I think that gained a little confidence and we've got to keep playing with that confidence. We're going to get knocked back now and then but that's the nature and you've just got to keep pounding away and keep working at it."
On confidence of not only playing with BYU but beating them:
"You play to win. It doesn't matter who you're playing, it could be the 109th team, the 119th team, or 21st team in the country, you're going to play to win. When you ask me that, that's why you do this, to compete every Saturday and game days, those are the fun days."
On BYU's offensive line "road raiders," size advantage:
"I think so. There's a lot of things that go to playing defensive line and playing a defensive scheme. It's not always ... we all would like big guys who are athletic and fast. Well, there's only so many of those in this country and so with what we do defensively, it enables us to do some things with guys who aren't quite as stout or as big as you'd like them but they're guys who I think have a lot of heart to them, a lot of toughness, and a lot of effort to them. If we can keep improving on fundamentals and keep improving on technique, I think that's as plus."
On what was learned from watching Florida State [play BYU]:
"Florida State has really good football players. I learned that. They're really fast. BYU hurt themselves a little bit in that football game. You always look at what other teams have done and Florida State, like I said, they're pretty athletic as a football team and they were able to run the football. We play great defense when we're watching our offense. That's the best defense we can play."
On Ikaika being starting right guard first few games, then Embernate earning the spot, was that a "shot across bow" to the rest of the team:
"I think they've known that since Day 1 in the first meeting that we had with them. I wouldn't consider any `shot across the bow' but you've got to play the guys who are playing the best, who are competing the best. I think Ikaika (Aken-Moleta) responded in the way you want him to. We're going to play the best guys, the best guys no matter if you're a freshman or a fifth-year senior. If we don't then we're going to cheat the program, and we're not here about cheating the program."
Players Ryan Lindley, Trask Iosefa, & Luke Laolagi
On how bye week helped mentally, physically:
LAOLAGI: "We've got a couple guys back healthy. It's good to get this time off. I think at this time, we've usually had it in the beginning or the end of the season, so it was good to have it in the middle and get some of the bumps and bruises out and get some more film study on BYU."
On losing Matt Kawulok and effect on running game:
LINDLEY: "I think it's rough for Matty as a senior to go down like that. You've really got to feel for him in that aspect. As far as the running game goes, he was real stout in there, such as coming out of the backfield catching passes too. I think we've got some depth. I think Willie came in last week and did a pretty good job. I think we're going to keep on cheering for Matt hoping he gets better for the future but I think at the same time he's going to be cheering for Willie too, knowing that he'll come in and get the job done."
IOSEFA: "I agree with Ryan said about Willie Watters coming in, just having depth fullback. With Willie coming in and giving us that depth, it will be good for Willie to get that chance to really show his talent."
On whether it changes the approach of the offensive line:
IOSEFA: "No, not at all. Us five up front, we trust everybody in the backfield to do their job as well as they trust us to do our job."
On spending extra time working on offense during the bye week or anything you are doing well you are trying perfect:
LINDLEY: "I think there's different things every week but I think we've found some things over the first five games that we're good at as an offense and that our personnel can really work with in this west Coast scheme and I think we're kind of trying to perfect that right now."
On how physical the bye week is:
LAOLAGI: "The one day we were in full pads, we got after it a little bit, we went live a couple of times, but it's more mainly about ... we got a little bit of BYU in, some of the stuff we're doing there and not too much physical stuff."
On confidence of offensive line with way Walter Kazee ran the ball in the second half of NMSU game:
IOSEFA: "A ton of confidence. I think up front, just the five of us, we knew our running backs had it in them and I think they put their trust in us to open up holes that weekend. I think right now it's just a great foundation for us running wise to trust Walter."
On what was seen on film that made it different:
IOSEFA: "I think up front it just looked ... the five of us just looked more confident and I think basically we just came out more aggressive that the week previous from that."
On previous focus on left side of line, addition of Nik [Embernate], "injecting blood" into the offensive line:
IOSEFA: "Definitely, Nik being true freshman, him coming out ... I know every snap he was coming out with a lot of intensity so it was kind of just a fresh new look for us."
On rating BYU defensive line's physicalness and age:
IOSEFA: "Them being `old men,' I compare them probably closest to TCU, if anything, just the intensity level that they play at. Being that they're a Top 25 team doesn't really matter. I think the five of us up front are ready to get after them a little bit this weekend."
On Brandon coming off injury:
LINDLEY: "He's doing good job of coming back. I think he's really putting the work in and getting down in the training room and doing his rehab, which is good to see. You can tell he's determined to come back and he's really been working hard and he's pushing to get back out there and it's good, it's encouraging for all us to see it."
On being relieved to have another running game option:
LINDLEY: "I think we were obviously running out. I think we've got a lot of young guys that are stepping up with what Preston King's been doing and Walter and Anthony (Miller). I think that's just going to be another guy back there to make some plays."
On if Devon will throw anymore touchdown passes this week?
LINDLEY: "You never know."
On BYU scoring 59 points against UNLV:
LAOLAGI: "That's a big challenge. They're a great team. They're huge up front. They've got two really big backs, good backs. Their quarterback, can't say too much, he's done a great job. We know we have a big challenge ahead of us but we're going in and we're going to give it our all."
On looking ahead in conference play, seeing "big boys" Utah, TCU, & BYU, thoughts on where team is into the strength of the schedule:
LAOLAGI: "I don't think we are where we want to be. We obviously would love to be 5 and 0 right now but I think we've taken strides and we're coming together more as a team and we're playing a little bit tougher. It's just exciting to play a team like BYU in the Top 25 and a couple other teams like that."