IRVING, Texas — Head coach Nick Saban put his No. 25 LSU Tigers through another physical practice on Saturday in preparation for the 67th SBC Cotton Bowl Classic. The Tigers face ninth-ranked Texas on New Year’s Day.
LSU worked out for over two hours in full pads under sunny, ideal conditions at Texas Stadium. The Tigers worked on facets of the game, including emphasis on special teams.
LSU’s return teams have been very special this year. The Tigers lead the SEC and rank sixth in the nation in kickoff return average at 24.4 yards per return, and rank third in the SEC and 14th nationally in punt returns with a 14.2 yard per return average. Conversely, LSU does not allow big returns to its opponents as it leads the SEC in kickoff coverage by allowing only 16.6 yards per return.
Special teams coach Michael Haywood gives the credit to his players for putting up such impressive statistics.
“The young men have bought into our schemes, and they do an outstanding job of executing those schemes and hustling down the field,” Coach Haywood said about his crew. “We were among the best in kickoff coverage last year and it has carried over to this year.”
Return specialist Domanick Davis is the key behind LSU’s return team. The senior from Breaux Bridge, La., is the Tigers’ career leader in punt returns and is closing in on the single season mark as well. He has one punt return for a touchdown this year, a 78-yarder in a win over Mississippi State.
“I think Domanick Davis is one of the best returners in the country,” Coach Haywood said about Davis. “I think he does an outstanding job for us. He understands the schemes and he does a nice job of running with his eyes and picking up his blocks. Because of him, this year we’ve turned our kickoff return team into more of a north-south team rather than an east-west team.”
Sophomore center Ben Wilkerson did not dress for practice for the second straight day due to a sore lower back. He remains questionable for Wednesday’s game. Senior defensive end Kenderick Allen practiced with a cast on his hurt right thumb and is expected to play.
Tonight LSU will attend an NBA game between the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks. Tomorrow the Tigers will practice at Texas Stadium from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Kickoff for the 67th SBC Cotton Bowl Classic is slated for 10:10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1. The game will be nationally televised by FOX Sports.
HEAD COACH NICK SABAN
Opening Statement:
“We’re really happy to be here. The Cotton Bowl people have been wonderful. It’s been great hospitality for everyone. The function we have gone to this point (and) the organization at the hotel have been outstanding for our players. I think this is a great venue to be involved in for our team. I know they are looking forward to it. To be able to play a dynasty-type program that has so much tradition like Texas that is also something that makes this opportunity special for us.
“From our team standpoint, we obviously have some things to prove. We were hoping to finish the season better than we did. And now, when it comes to competitive character, to be a team that can play for 60 minutes in a game–punch somebody in the nose and keep punching them to finish the task. It’s something I think we had accomplished with this team, and for some reason, maybe didn’t finish the season that way. So that’s something we want to get re-established. I’ve been very pleased with the upbeat attitude of our players in our practice in Baton Rouge as well as the two practices we have had here (in Dallas). The people here at Texas Stadium have been hospitable in trying to accommodate us every way they can. We have not been anywhere yet in this Cotton Bowl where everybody have not tried to be as accommodating as possible. We certainly appreciate that. It’s a first-class event and we’re very happy to be a part of it.”
On suspecting if Texas will take LSU seriously in this game:
“I think Texas has an outstanding team. They have a very good group of players. I think they are a very well coached team. I don’t know what their physiological disposition is for this game. It would be hard for me to predict that. I would think that it’s an opportunity for their players to have a good time but it’s also an opportunity for all the players involved in this game to continue to try to develop the reputation for themselves that they would like to be thought of. I would assume their players would want to do that as well as ours.”
On senior LB Bradie James:
“First of all, Bradie James is probably as fine of a person as I have had the opportunity to coach. He’s done as good of job from the leadership standpoint as anybody I have been around as a coach. He’s played outstanding football for us all season long and probably (the) most consistently.”
“Bradie James was a guy last year who was a second-round (NFL draft) pick maybe. He wanted to come back to school, wanted to make All-American, wanted to be the leader of the team, wanted to get his education, wanted to graduate from school and he’s got over a three-point grade point average. He’s a great example of what college players should be. They develop a career off the field as college student-athletes and, if they have the opportunity to develop a career as a football player, they do it when they graduate. He’s set such a tremendous example
on the field and off for our players. I think the way he played is easy to evaluate for all of us. He was an outstanding football player, leading tackler and leading production-getter for our defensive team. He was also the backbone of stability relative to his leadership.”
On the defensive unit as a whole:
“I think we played outstanding for the first six or seven games of the year. I think we got a lot of guys up front hurt. I think we lost our cornerback in the secondary in Damien James in the South Carolina game. I think that hurt our confidence and stability in the secondary a little bit. And I think we did not play as consistently down the stretch on defense as what we had earlier in the year. I thought in the Ole Miss game we played pretty well. I thought for the first 62 plays of the Arkansas game we played well but you don’t finish the game and the team when you give up 162 yards in 62 plays then give up 169 yards in nine plays-the last nine plays of the game. It obviously cost us the game (and) it cost us going to the SEC championship game.
“That’s a competitive character issue in my mind as how you finish football games. You don’t ever play to keep from getting beat but you always go play to win and keep competing on the next play, which we have talked about a lot. Our ability to do that on defense, for whatever reason, was not where it should have been I don’t think down the stretch.”
On misperceptions about himself, being “tough and stoic” since going to LSU:
“I think there is a lot. I don’t want to criticize anybody because I’m responsible for all of that. If that’s the perception people have then I obviously must do something to make it that way. I think the better people get to know me, the more they know it’s not really that way. But there is a perception out there and I have to be responsible for it. I don’t really see myself that way especially around the players. I enjoy being around the players. I enjoy coaching the players. They seem to have fun around me.
“I think it’s important to have good intangibles in a program. I think toughness-mental and physical toughness-is one of those things. The ability to push people to give effort to be as good as they can be is another thing that’s important. For guys to be responsible for their own self-determination–what their job is-to have enough self-discipline to do it (is another). These are all intangible things that don’t take ability. They are important foundation blocks in any program.”
“I feel good about what we are trying to do. I’d rather be known as a tough, stoic guy than to be soft. We don’t want to have a soft football team because we think those intangible things are important to be successful. And they are important to have a team that competes with character, which is what we always want to try to accomplish.”
On the return of LaBrandon Toefield and the play of Domanick Davis:
“I feel like, probably for the first time this year, those two guys are kind of the tandem that we started the season with. I think (LaBrandon) Toefield has gained a lot of confidence in this time off. He gained some confidence in the Arkansas game when he took the pad off his arm and made some tough runs at the end of the game when we were trying to take the air out of the ball. I think that gave him a lot of confidence. I don’t think he’s worried about the injury anymore. I think he’s playing like himself.
“I think it does affect Domanick Davis a little bit when he is overused because of his number of carries with all of the returning he does. I feel like those guys complement each other very well. I think when one is absent, it does affect the other to some degree.”
On LSU recruiting more players from Texas:
“I think it’s very important and we thought it was very important since the beginning. First of all, there are a lot of good football players all over in Texas, especially in east Texas which is relatively close to us. We feel like it’s probably as important as anything we do in recruiting-to be able to get four to six good football players from east Texas or the state of Texas. They have great programs here. The guys are usually developed. They are used to working hard. I think they bring a lot to your program beyond their ability.
“Two years ago, we got four really good football players-one from Dallas, two from Houston and Ben Wilkerson from Hemphill. Those guys are outstanding players, they really are. They helped make that class what it was. We need to get the players in our state-that’s the number one priority. But I don’t think we can be held hostage just by the kind of football players in our state to help build our program. We have to have a little broader recruiting base that we can complement the good players that we have in our state. I think east Texas, because it’s close and there are so many good players and so many good programs, is certainly one of the prime spots to do that. I think it’s really important to the future consistently of the program and that we are able to establish good relationships over here to get some good football players.”
On Texas’ Roy Williams:
“Roy Williams, I think, is the best receiver we’ll play against all year long. He’s got size and speed but he’s got body quickness to go with it. He runs timing routes extremely well. He catches the ball well; can run with the ball after the catch. He is a tremendous vertical threat. The combination of those is difficult because you need to keep him from running off the ball so he just doesn’t run by you. He’s got enough body quickness and running ability. I think he’s an outstanding player.”
On the ‘Bluegrass Miracle’-the last-second win over Kentucky:
“When I say what I said about not finishing games, Kentucky was one of those games I think we didn’t finish even though we won on the last play of the game. We were ahead 21-7 in the game, went in three or four times on offense and we three plays and out with a 21-7 lead. About the fourth time we did that, they (Kentucky) blocked the punt, got the ball on their seven-yard line and scored to get back in the game. That’s the difference in beating a team and defeating a team. There is a difference in that. We didn’t defeat that team so to me we didn’t finish that game.”
On his practice schedule for bowl games:
“I think we used to practice too much for bowl. When I was the head coach at Michigan State, we played very poorly in the bowl games. We tried to practice a little bit here and there from the time the season was over until we started practice for the bowl game. I think by the time we ended up playing, the players were sick and tired of it.
“We’ve kind of approached it at LSU like it’s a one-game season. We practiced seven or eight times in six days, even though it included a couple of two-a-days, give them three or four days off for Christmas, do a regular week’s work and then go play. They like it better. It’s not boring for them. They seem to take the attitude that we are going to work when we have to and it’s not going to be that much time. And we’re being fair with them on how much fun they can have. That’s what bowl games should be for players. The players have had a really good attitude about playing in bowl games. It’s not been ‘let’s just go have a good time.’ They want to do both. Because the fun of it is having the opportunity to win, compete at a high level and being in a nice place like we’re in here at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and enjoy some of what this city offers.”
On promoting Will Muschamp to defensive coordinator this year:
“Will’s done a fantastic job. I think the choice with Will Muschamp was made way back when I decided never to bring somebody outside in and make them run our system. If I was going to bring somebody from outside, then I should allow them to run that system and teach that system to us. Will is a bright young guy who had been a coordinator before, had a great understanding of our system and we worked well together. He’s developed better than I thought he ever would in terms of his ability to handle situations, make good game-time decisions and good halftime adjustments. He’s really well liked by the players. His personality to motivate the players is also a tremendous asset. I’m very pleased with the job he has done this year.”
On evaluating Texas’ Chris Simms’ future success as an NFL quarterback:
“I don’t think there is any question about the fact he has the ability. He’s got an excellent arm. He’s got a quick release. He shows touch. Even though I wouldn’t classify him as a guy you actually fear as a runner, he does have enough mobility to avoid the rush and move around to make plays. I think he has all of the ingredients necessary to be successful quarterback in the National Football League.”
On rumors of moving to coach in the NFL:
“I think we have a great job where we’re at right now. We love Louisiana. We love LSU. I like the direction that’s been created by our administration to build a consistent top 25-type program that can compete at the highest level in our conference. You have to play games wherever you go and you have to win games wherever you go. We’re just as happy to do it where we are right now as we would be anyplace else. We’re always flattered that somebody is considering you to coach at another level. But I think it’s only natural that guys who have coached in the National Football League, go back and be head coached in college and have any degree of success will always be guys that get talked about as possible head coaches in that league because there not another league to grab them from. The pool is very limited. But we’re very, very happy to be where we are right now. I don’t know of any job that are open in that league right now so I don’t think it’s fair to speculate about anybody’s job.”
OG STEPHEN PETERMAN
On LSU’s ability to finish the game:
“There are two games where we had trouble finishing the game. The first one was the Kentucky game, but we were still able to come out with a win so we really didn’t learn our lesson there. Against Arkansas we really didn’t finish the game and wound up losing and lost our chance to go to the SEC Championship game. I think it’s a lesson our team has learned. You wish you didn’t have to learn it that way. I think our mindset know is not to just to beat a team but to go ahead and finish a team off so they don’t have a chance at the end to come back.”
On if LSU is playing as well now as it did earlier this year:
“Considering all of our injuries in the second half of the year, I think we’re doing great. This team has overcome a lot of adversity this year. We’ve lost se key players for the whole year and we keep coming back. Here we are in a New Year’s Day bowl game and we’re playing against one of the top 10 teams in the nation. I think we’re getting the ball back rolling again.”
On facing Texas:
“They’re a good team. I think they’re the top team not in a BCS bowl game. Traditionally they always have a good team. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
DT CHAD LAVALAIS
On playing in the SBC Cotton Bowl:
“When I first got here, we had just had two losing seasons. Now we’ve been to three straight bowls. Just being in a bowl game is good for the university and for me personally.”
On the Arkansas game:
“For the first 60 plays we held them to about 150 yards of total offense, and the last nine plays they had 160 or so. There were some blown coverages and they just wanted it more. We had a game like that against Kentucky and beat them in the closing seconds. We used to have this mindset to play for 60 minutes, and in that game against Arkansas we didn’t do that. We played for maybe 55 minutes. Hopefully we can use that as a motivation to get us going. We need to play for 60 minutes and whatever happens, happens.”
On what Coach Saban has meant to LSU:
“He’s meant a lot to this program. He’s a great coach. Personally, I love playing for him. He’s done a lot for the school. He’s taken us to where we are now. We want to be like a Texas, or a Florida or a Florida State. We want to be one of those schools that people are talking about year in and year out and contending for a national championship. That’s what he’s done for this program.”
On how this season has gone for LSU:
“Last year we had some great players like Josh Reed and Rohan Davey. This year we have a lot of young players that have had to step up. It’s hard to replace the guys we lost from last year’s team, and for guys to come in a play at that level. I thought for the most part we’ve done pretty well. We were on a roll early this year and then went into a slump. We didn’t finish as strong as we hoped to finish, but we’re in a New Year’s Day bowl game and that was one of our goals.
TE ERIC EDWARDS
On this game:
“We’ve played through a lot of adversity this year and we’re been able to step it up. We don’t have anything to lose. We have to do what we have to to win it.”
On comparing this year’s bowl practice to last year’s going into the Sugar Bowl:
“We play the best when we go out there and just have fun. It seems like everybody is joining the practices.”
On Texas:
“They’re a good team. I think they are the best that didn’t make a BCS bowl. I think they have a really good defense, good running game and all around good team. I don’t think they are taking us lightly. They want to win just like we do.”
WR JEREL MYERS
On going to LSU rather than staying in-state to a Texas school:
“It was just my preference. I know I wanted to go to a school in Louisiana and LSU was my choice.”
On getting through adversity:
“Just like last year, we went through a little adversity (this year). That’s one of the words we talk about on the field during the game: adversity. We got through most of it and some we didn’t so that’s why our record ended up as it was.”
On playing his first college game in his home state of Texas:
“It’s real special for me knowing you get to play some of your old friends.”
On the LSU defense:
“First part of the season, we were supposed to be number one (defense) in the nation. Then we went to some stuff, on and off the field. Now we’re getting back into our groove. We came here to prove a point this time.”
On defensive keys for LSU vs. Texas:
“It’s going to be the same as we do all the time in the SEC. We play quarterback like (Chris Simms) all the time. So things we’re going to have to do are put pressure on the quarterback and stop the run”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR JIMBO FISHER
On Texas’ speed on defense:
“I don’t know if you can beat it, but you’ve got to learn to maybe trick it. They’re a very athletic team. They have great speed not only in the secondary but the linebackers and the front guys. (Corey) Redding comes off the edge; he can bring it. The linebackers can run. They’re a man coverage team. (Texas defensive coordinator) Carl (Reese) knows they have great athletes. He’s maximizing their athletic ability by playing the man coverage. It’s going to be a huge challenge. We’re having to work hard to beat the man coverage. The bad part about it is when you beat the man coverage sometimes it takes time. But the way they rush the passer, you can’t hold the ball very long. It’s like a double-edge sword. Their front complements their secondary very well.”
On comparing the style of Texas’ defense to the SEC schools:
“They do a lot of the things that Florida does. They will be in some different fronts, some three-down stuff and a lot of blitzing. I say a lot of crazy looks or unorthodox looks that cause you a lot of protection problems. You think it’s unorthodox, but when you look at it, it’s very, very sound. (Florida defensive coordinator) John Thompson does some things like that; had some athletes at Florida. Tennessee has got the same type of guys it seems the past. I would say Alabama but Alabama didn’t do the looks; their looks are a little bit different. But athletically and scheme-wise, (Texas) is a lot like Florida and Tennessee that I’ve seen in the past in the SEC.”
On Texas’ Carl Reese as a defensive coordinator:
“I think Carl is at the top. To say someone is the best, I don’t know if you can. He’s in the top five percent of the guys in the country. He does a great job. He not only beats you with schemes and does a great job scheming you and using his athletes, they are very tough. He does a great job with toughness (and) coaches toughness. And the kids play hard. I’ve known Carl for a while. I think he’s one of the top guys in the country.”
On LSU having a balanced run and pass offensive attack against Texas:
“When you play great people, you can’t be one dimensional. Defenses today are taking the attack mode. It used be everybody sat back, you played your certain two or three things and you reacted to the offense. What defenses have done, I think the last six to eight years, especially in college and it’s been happening in the pros (are) they attack offenses. The one-dimensional teams have a very hard time moving the football. You look across the country and they do. We have to keep them off balance (on offense). When they think we are going to pass, we’ve got to run and when they have want us to run, we have to keep on passing. Down and distance will dictate that. It’s going to be a huge challenge to keep that balance because they (Texas) create so many negative plays with their big-play people (on defense). They get you behind the eight ball down-and-distance-wise and then when you become one dimensional, they lay their ears back and it’s tough. They’ve done a great job with that all year.
On Marcus Randall using preparing for the Florida game to help him play against Texas:
“He didn’t play in the (Florida) game but he prepared for the game. Coach (Nick) Saban does some things that are different and unorthodox (on defense) that creates a lot of protection problems. So it’s similar to some things we have seen in practice. It’s no secret what we do all year. I think he will have seen it but it’s just going to be recognizing it in a game situation. The thing you don’t know and can’t judge until you play somebody is how fast, how strong they’re doing it. It’s how quick you can adjust to what they are doing. They will have two or three wrinkles we haven’t seen and hopefully Marcus will seem, adjust to them or won’t make a bad play when it happens. We’ll make the adjustments from the sidelines and go from there. It will be a great challenge because Carl (Reese) is a great football coach.”
On the play of Marcus Randall:
“He did the things he had to do for us to win (in the Arkansas game). At quarterback, what he has to do with his job is put your team in a position to win the game. If he can win it, win it; if he can’t, don’t loose it. And I think that’s what he did in the Arkansas game. He gave us an opportunity to win the game. He played well, played within himself and didn’t make crazy mistakes. We had a chance to win the game but they made a few plays at the end. But if he does that, I’m hoping he can put us in the position to win. That will mean we’re hanging in there and one play can dictate it.”
“I think the last two ballgames, I saw him make strides. He played very well in the Ole Miss game coming off the bench and played a very solid Arkansas game. He did the things he had to do. I think he realized when he didn’t start the (Ole Miss) game; it took some pressure off him. He got back there and said ‘you know this can be fun.’ It doesn’t have to always be a lot of pressure. It was a very good situation for him to come off the bench and have success. Then when he started again against Arkansas, you really didn’t see the real tensed-up type guy. He was very relaxed and had fun with it. That’s the way hopefully he will continue to play that way in this game.”
On the LSU offense:
“We’re such a quarterback-oriented offense. It’s like a computer. When your computer disk overloads and it’s full and you keep trying to put things in it, it blows the fuse. Nothing on the computer works and it forgets everything else it had on the computer. And that can kind of happen with a player or a quarterback especially when you’re in an offense like ours that’s quarterback-oriented. You want to keep feeding him and you want to keep making steps. All of a sudden as soon you start to see it overload, then you start to see little things that happen everyday start to drift away. Then you have to cut it back.”
“He’s (Marcus Randall’s) gotten a ton better. That’s why you’ve start to see us do a little more because he’s more comfortable with those things and just the game management part of it.”
On getting off to a good early start vs. Texas:
“When you get behind a team who is great on both sides of the ball, then you have to start taking chances and doing things you don’t want to do. Playing from ahead hopefully, we need to do that. If we get behind, we’re going to have to be smart on how we do it. You can’t say you’re going to let it all out because you don’t want to create mistakes and let them blow you out. You’d just have to be smart about it on not only defense but offense because when you don’t move it, they have enough skill guys on offense to knock it in.”
On the SEC being “down” as a conference this year:
“I don’t know if you say down. It’s like everybody was equal. I don’t know if that’s down or not. I think what you had is you had some coaching changes. I think you had some quarterback changes. It seems like the guys that had some quarterbacks, had some injuries or had some coaching changes so that took some time and chemistry. And the ones that had the coaches had the quarterback changes so that took more time and chemistry. (In) today’s football you’ve got to run it and the quarterback plays such a huge role, especially with the kind of offenses in our league. It takes time to build that. I think that’s why you might have seen the inconsistency in certain teams. In that league, everybody is so close to each other, as soon as you dip down, they’re going to bite you.”
On having LaBrandon Toefield back in the offensive backfield:
“It’s going to be huge to run the football. You can slow the front down a little bit. It least makes them respect the run so your play-action stuff can get it off and get down the field. He brings toughness to us and always has with our team. Our team has always fed off him. When he was healthy, he’d always make a couple of runs in the game-break two tackles, break three tackles-and our team fed off that. You always have guys you fed off (because) of their energy. He’s always been a guy like that. Domanick (Davis), we play off his playing space; Toefield, we fed off his toughness. I think it’s going to be critical to get him off and get him going in the football game.”
“Toefield has always been a great inside runner without making big plays. He is a tackle-to-tackle bruiser. Two-yard gains become four-yard gains; four-yard gains become six-yard gains because the pile is always getting pushed. It gives you a lot different play calling. It gives you a toughness like I said–a more physical, dominating player back there.”
On the keys to be successful against Texas’ defense:
“Basically, just coming out and be able to see the blitzes; then being able to pick up the blitzes and find the hot routes.”
On Texas DE Corey Redding:
“He had a great season this year. He’s a great player and a great rusher, something like a Jevon Kearse. But I have a great (offensive) line also. I’m going to peep at him a few times when I come up (to the line), just to keep my eyes on him.”
On the “Bluegrass Miracle”:
“We threw a pass right before that pass to Michael Clayton. He made a great catch. Then we called a timeout. When I threw it, I thought the game was over. They shot their fireworks and their fans rushed the field. Then I peeped down again, I saw all of our players running out on the field. I said he (Devery Henderson) must have caught it but I really didn’t see him catch it until he was running out of the back of the end zone. That was one the greatest plays I ever saw a part of.”
On dealing with being injured in the fifth game of a season with a broken bone in his left arm:
“There’s nothing you can really do to prevent an injury. You just have to go and play. If it happens, it happens. It’s how you come back from it. I try not to worry about it.”
“It wasn’t disappointing (to suffer the injury). I would have been disappointed if I wouldn’t have come back. I did a lot of things to come back and to be with this team right now. I’m pretty happy.”
On LSU’s season:
“We’ve got another goal we can accomplish. One of our goals was to make it back to the SEC championship game and win. But it didn’t happen so we just have to move on to the next goal: go to a bowl game and win. It’s been an up and down season. But the attitude from everybody is still good and everybody still have their heads up. And they want to go out and win. “
On the SBC Cotton Bowl experience for LSU:
“It’s been great. We’ve eaten really well. We’ve experienced practicing in the Cowboys’ stadium, which has been a good experience. It’s been a fun time for us. We’ve had a lot of free time to check out the city. We’ve had early morning practices and we’ve worked hard to get that out of the way. We’ve basically had a lot of free time to explore and it’s been really fun.”
On playing against Texas:
“Everybody is excited that we are in this game. We get to play a championship ballclub, a dynasty ballclub (like Texas). We want to make our fans proud of us. We want to play the best we can in this game and try to win the ballgame.”
On the offensive keys for LSU:
“I think establishing the running game first (will be key); then off that, being able to complete plays down field. I think we’re going to have to have a lot of big plays to win the ballgame. That’s been the case for us all season.”
OT RODNEY REED
On establishing the running game against Texas:
“The games we’ve been successful in and won this year have been the games we have run the ball early. Coming to Texas and kind of playing in their backyard with a probably home crowd for them, it’s going to be crucial for us to start running the ball early. It will also open up the pass for us.”
On the speed of the Texas defense:
“That’s really their biggest asset with all of their talent and speed. The main thing we’re going to have to do is make it a 60-minute war and keep coming at them. We need to turn it into a real physical game and just stay after them the whole game. Speed doesn’t always help you the ball downhill. They’re talented but we’re going to show our toughness.”
“You can throw the football and still be tough. We’re going to throw everything at them. It’s a one-game season. We’re going to throw our whole playbook at them.”
On getting tired when LaBrandon Toefield was out, handing running back and returning duties:
“I did it all through high school going both ways (on offense and defense).”
On the key to have a special teams unit:
“It’s all on the other guys, especially on punt returns. If they block the right way they supposed to block with no penalties, I can get a chance to do exactly what the play is designed to do. You have to take care of the gunners on punt returns. If you block the gunners, you have a chance to go for six.”
On what he looks for on a punt return:
“The first thing I look for is the gunners. If they are blocked and I hit it straight up the middle, that’s my first key. That’s my main thing.”
On having him and LaBrandon Toefield both in the backfield:
“LaBrandon is the type to come in there and run clean over somebody. I’m the type if I have to run over somebody I will but I prefer to run around them and shake them. I can come from the backfield and catch passes. It’s just a great thing with me and LaBrandon-great combination.”