Provided by UT:
Head coach Tom Herman
Opening statement: Obviously not the result that any of us wanted or expected. But that's a really good football team coached by D.J. Durkin and a lot of respect for them. They're going to win a lot of games this year.
I thought the positives were evident — 9-of-18 on third down. Threw for 375 yards and held the opponent to 3-of-11 on third down conversions. But it was a really, really weird game.
Three special team scores in a game and a defensive score, and we responded well with the right kind of energy and enthusiasm.
There was no doubt. There was no ‘here-we-go-again.’ There was no bad body language, none of that, which I am proud of. But we've got to play better.
We've got to stop the run. That was — I've never — with a conventional offense, save a triple option team or something like that, I've never seen us give up so many rush yards. And then obviously we've got to do better in the red zone and on fourth down on offense.
But we're our own worst enemy right now. And I think — what I told them, I wish I hadn't prophesized as much, but we knew there would be adversity and we knew the key to the adversity would be how we responded to it.
And we responded to it in the right mental and attitudinal way. But the execution and just the self-inflicted wounds at just the most inopportune time are things that are difficult to recover from, if not impossible.
So I told our guys to never get used to this feeling, but that if we all thought that we were going to come in here and in nine months, sprinkle some fairy dust on this team and think that we've arrived, then we're wrong.
And the only way we know how to fix things is to work harder. And we have a mantra around here of 1-0 for a reason because good or bad we've got to rest, recover and Sunday get up ready to work and improve.
And the last — I'll open it up after this — I told them we all know the ‘what.’ We all know what happened. We all know that we can't get a field goal blocked. We all know that we can't hold on touchdowns. We all know that we can't give up a
long kickoff return. We all know that we've got to convert on fourth down. We all know that we've got to stop the run.
We've got to figure out the ‘why.’ We have to figure out the ‘why.’ And the only way to do that is to work and put your nose to the grindstone and get back after it, flush this game, learn from the mistakes, learn from the positives, which there were quite a few, and get ready to go next week.
On what was going through his mind when a winnable game slipped away early in the fourth quarter: Just why can't we get out of our own way? That's where the big-time introspection and self-criticism has to come on these next 24, 48 hours, is we've got to find a way to stop beating ourselves. We've got to find a way to execute the way that we've been trained to execute when live bullets are flying.
On the special teams’ performance: It's hard to get excited. I know there were some really good things -- obviously a blocked field goal for a touchdown and a
punt return for a touchdown. But to have a field goal blocked for a touchdown and have a long kickoff return that set up a touchdown, special teams, to me, it was much like the other two sides of the ball.There was really, really positive things that we can draw from and then just really, really untimely self-inflicted wounds.
On whether he’s shocked at the result in the context of his coaching career: I don't know that I’m shocked. I was telling anybody that listened how good this football team was and that we were still a work in progress. So I don't know that shocked is the right word. Very disappointed.
And I think probably the best example I have is in 2014 where I was offensive coordinator at Ohio State and second game of the year, Virginia Tech rolls in and absolutely kicks our butt and we came together as a team.
We figured out the problems. We solved the problems. We had a great group of kids and we went on to win a national championship. So I'm not saying that by any stretch is what our goal should be here or anything other than I've been a part of teams that have taken a very unexpected and ugly loss and learned from it and built on it.
On whether the game plan was to have freshman quarterback Shane
Buechele (15 carries) run as much as he: No, it was, one, I think a bunch of those were on scrambles. They were playing some two-man against us which is obviously very difficult to get up in the throw game. And when you drop back to pass and they are in two-man, we tell our quarterbacks if it's not wide open take off and run and he did.
And we saw a couple of things that we wanted to exploit as the game went on, down on the goal line, getting in 2-by-2 and running the quarterback sweep for a touchdown. And the fourth down we ran the same play and didn't execute it as well.
But I don't know that going in we said hey we're going to run Shane 15 times. I think called runs were probably only -- off the top of my head, maybe three. The rest were either scrambles or pulls on reads.
On why the offense couldn’t get points on the board in the first half: I don't have a great answer for you. I know definitely, game one, they did a bunch of things that we hadn't seen on film. So there was a bit of an adjustment period there.
I felt like we mounted a couple of drives, but we missed a field goal, had a field goal blocked, and then didn't convert in the red zone.
So I wasn't — the points were irrelevant. I thought we were kind of poking and prodding to figure out what exactly Maryland's game plan was for us on defense. And I think we did a decent job of figuring it out.
On whether he ever considered putting freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger in given Buechele’s play: No, never any thought to put Sam in. And then I don't know, we'll have to see who's — when balls are not completed, there's a lot of different things that could have gone wrong.
So to pin incompletions on the quarterback all the time is not fair. So the first part of your question, we do need to watch the film to figure out what steps we need to take. But certainly throughout the game there was never a moment there where we even talked about it.
On the play calling: I thought the play calling was not good enough, obviously, but certainly not disastrous. We need to find a way to manufacture some more big plays, I know that.
I felt like we didn't — we had the double pass that we overthrew. We had a long ball to Collin that bounced off his face mask and another to Devin Duvernay that was overthrown. So didn't capitalize on our deep ball shots that were — you know, we're not good enough to go on 14-, 16-play drives now and just expect to score touchdowns at the end. We've got to manufacture some more explosive plays.
On what he meant when he said he wished he hadn’t prophesized so much: No, I was half joking. Having coached as long as I have, you try to warn your team of what you think is going to happen. And when you're playing a really good football team, you know that they're going to make plays and you know in week one every team or a lot of teams, there's some growing pains, too.
I'm not saying I wish I hadn't told them that. I just — you know it's eerie to think that — because sometimes it doesn't go that way. Sometimes you say, hey, you're going to be in a dogfight and you go out and you rout somebody or something like that. But we knew this was going to be a dogfight. We knew we were going to have adversity and we did.
On why there were open Maryland receivers in the secondary: I don't know. I'd have to — I saw what you saw. I don't know exactly what happened on some of those. But I know the quarterback threw the ball better than we thought he could. And we've got to be able to generate a pass rush a little bit better on first and second down when they do pass.
But there's a lot of max protection. Three-man routes. And they did a good job.
On why the run game struggled to get going: I don't know. I think — [Christopher Warren III and Kyle Porter] only had 14 carries combined. So it's not like we attempted a lot of runs. I think we saw the way that they were supporting the run and figured we could throw the ball on them, which we did.
So I think it was a bit of give-and-take. When we did run the ball, I don't know, I've got to see those 14 times, Chris averaged 5.2 and Kyle's average was not great.
But, yeah, I don't know. We knew that kind of after the first couple of series that the fronts and coverages they were giving us were going to be designed to kind of have an extra hat in there for the run, which is why we started throwing the ball a little bit more.
On what he and defensive coordinator Todd Orland were talking about when Maryland went up the middle through the defensive line: We're talking about how do we stop it. The hard part was we just, from my observation, when we were in base defense, we misfit a lot of our gaps. I think our guys maybe tried to do too much.
And then when we did blitz on first and second down we weren't disciplined in our assignments and allowed for some holes. So we've got to be able to play the run in base and — when we're not blitzing, and in order to do that we've got to be very gap-sound. And guys got to understand that you’ve got to do your job and don't try to do anything other than your job, because the defense is built to stop the run if we do our job.
Sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele
On if he expected Maryland to come out and play the way they did: Early on they just did some things that we didn't. We prepared I think really well for them. They did one or two things that didn't show up on film. Just some communication things with me and the offensive line too, so that made it look a lot worse than it really was.
On whether the game was a letdown after so much anticipation: It's frustrating. You always want to start out hot, but you know, we just have to learn what we did wrong this first game and learn from that and carry it over on to the next game.
On penalties and mistakes during the game: Penalties did kill our drive sometimes. We got down to the 30-, 35-yard line and have a holding or whatever they called it, a pass interference call, but that's just what hurt our drives. We were moving the ball well. That shouldn't be taken away from our offense. We just have to continue, try to get better.
On if Maryland worked to limit the run game: No, I don't think so. We have some run plays, it's just RPO stuff. If the pass option is there, I'm going to throw it out there and go get our yards.
Junior defensive back Holton Hill
On his performance today after having a down year last season: Yeah, I'm just trying to take everything day by day and put everything out on the field.
On his touchdown after the blocked Maryland field goal: I saw green ahead of me and I just went. I'm going to give a shoutout to Poona Ford. Luckily Poona got the block and it was right in front of me to take it right to the house.
On if the loss feels similar to last season: Not at all. We all work as a team and tomorrow we're going to all watch film and put the game behind us, work hard and prepare for the next outing.
On if he imagined he would score the first two touchdowns of the season: No I didn't imagine that, but something told me. I just had a chip on my shoulder. You may know that I'm from Houston, and looking at the tragedy these past few weeks, I wasn't able to be down there with my family and stuff, so I just had a chip on my shoulder from that.
Senior linebacker Naashon Hughes
On if he was surprised at the game result: I really don't know what to say about the result right now, but I know the only way to fix it is to go back to work. We'll start tomorrow, coming in early, looking back at the film. We'll probably watch film a thousand times just to see what we could have done, what I could have done, what anybody could've done to stop it from happening.
On whether he's concerned with the team's mindset after loss as a team leader: So far I'm seeing the right kind of attitudes because everybody's prepared to come back and go back to work, because nobody wants to go the same routes we've been going. So I see the guys, and I see the mentality that they have is, ‘Okay, let's go back to the drawing board, let's get this thing corrected.’
On Herman's message to the team after game: You can just see a guy that genuinely cares about each and every one of his players. And like I said, he preaches the same message — we're going back to the drawing board, we're going back to work, we're going back to get everything corrected so this never happens again.
On whether he's sure that this year is different than previous years: I wholeheartedly am. I see the guys and how they respond, how they react and how we're practicing. Things didn't go our way today, but I think we all understand that going back to work and going back to working hard is the only way to get this thing corrected.
Junior linebacker Malik Jefferson
On moving forward after the loss: We have to get ready for next week. We understand that we have 11 more games to play. That one was important because it was the opener, but we have to get ready for next week against San Jose State.
On whether this game felt like the previous year: It doesn’t feel like last year. I think it was a lot of self-inflicted wounds and missed assignments. I think it was just key stuff that we did on our own that really hurt ourselves. We can’t point any fingers because it was all over the field.
On if there was a change in the postgame locker room with the players:
Definitely. We all took accountability. We all know it starts with our preparation so this week we’re going to stay on top of that. We know every week is important.
On giving up 51 points after high expectations for the defense: It was a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We’re going to get those things fixed because those are game changers.
On the difficulty of stomaching a game like this: We didn’t expect it and it’s very tough. But we’ve got to suck it in today, move forward tomorrow, and get ready for the next game.
On how much he hates losing this game: It just turns my stomach. I lost my freshman year at Notre Dame and it’s the same feeling after you lose. You just hate it because you know you work so hard through the offseason and camp and to come out short is very frustrating.
On how the Maryland offense was so successful up the middle: I can’t explain it. That’s something we have to look back on film and find exactly what happened.
Sophomore wide receiver Collin Johnson
On the loss to Maryland: Maryland is a good team, so nothing against
Maryland, it’s just back to the self-inflicting errors. We beat ourselves. That’s both a good and a bad thing because that’s something that we can fix. So we’re just going to come back next week and work at that in correcting those mistakes.
On if the game plan centered around passing: Yes, it was. The coaches figured that that was a great option for this game. Swing passes were a big part of our game plan. It was open. I think we had, like, average nine yards? We averaged a long run every screen pass.
On Coach Tom Herman’s message to the team after the game: Coach said
that all of our goals are still there, so don’t get down on ourselves. There are two decisions: we can fold up or step up and rise to the plate, and this is just something that we can learn from. As a team, we’re trying to think positively, and I know, as a receiver, in my receiver unit, I told them that after the game.
On the result dampening team enthusiasm: We try to not let last year get to our head. Coach Herman is huge on being 1-0, so even though this didn’t go as planned, the plan is to come back next week and be 1-0. Every day in practice, start there and then hopefully get the right outcome next weekend against San Jose State.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps
On having a breakout game: It was just exciting because it’s been like two years since I’ve played competitive football. I was redshirted last year, so now I get to compete against another team instead of my teammates.
On how the team will be tested this week: Coach says all the time, we train for chaos. We expect adversity to happen and it’s just about how we respond, so we just have to respond.
On how the team is different this year: This team is very different because everybody loves each other. We’re more of a team now. We’ve gotten closer over these last nine months; since January, everyone’s gotten closer.
On who ‘rallies the troops’ out on the field: Everybody. We just have to keep a good attitude. Everybody is like, ‘Come on, let’s go, we got this.’ It’s a family now — those are my brothers out there
Head coach Tom Herman
Opening statement: Obviously not the result that any of us wanted or expected. But that's a really good football team coached by D.J. Durkin and a lot of respect for them. They're going to win a lot of games this year.
I thought the positives were evident — 9-of-18 on third down. Threw for 375 yards and held the opponent to 3-of-11 on third down conversions. But it was a really, really weird game.
Three special team scores in a game and a defensive score, and we responded well with the right kind of energy and enthusiasm.
There was no doubt. There was no ‘here-we-go-again.’ There was no bad body language, none of that, which I am proud of. But we've got to play better.
We've got to stop the run. That was — I've never — with a conventional offense, save a triple option team or something like that, I've never seen us give up so many rush yards. And then obviously we've got to do better in the red zone and on fourth down on offense.
But we're our own worst enemy right now. And I think — what I told them, I wish I hadn't prophesized as much, but we knew there would be adversity and we knew the key to the adversity would be how we responded to it.
And we responded to it in the right mental and attitudinal way. But the execution and just the self-inflicted wounds at just the most inopportune time are things that are difficult to recover from, if not impossible.
So I told our guys to never get used to this feeling, but that if we all thought that we were going to come in here and in nine months, sprinkle some fairy dust on this team and think that we've arrived, then we're wrong.
And the only way we know how to fix things is to work harder. And we have a mantra around here of 1-0 for a reason because good or bad we've got to rest, recover and Sunday get up ready to work and improve.
And the last — I'll open it up after this — I told them we all know the ‘what.’ We all know what happened. We all know that we can't get a field goal blocked. We all know that we can't hold on touchdowns. We all know that we can't give up a
long kickoff return. We all know that we've got to convert on fourth down. We all know that we've got to stop the run.
We've got to figure out the ‘why.’ We have to figure out the ‘why.’ And the only way to do that is to work and put your nose to the grindstone and get back after it, flush this game, learn from the mistakes, learn from the positives, which there were quite a few, and get ready to go next week.
On what was going through his mind when a winnable game slipped away early in the fourth quarter: Just why can't we get out of our own way? That's where the big-time introspection and self-criticism has to come on these next 24, 48 hours, is we've got to find a way to stop beating ourselves. We've got to find a way to execute the way that we've been trained to execute when live bullets are flying.
On the special teams’ performance: It's hard to get excited. I know there were some really good things -- obviously a blocked field goal for a touchdown and a
punt return for a touchdown. But to have a field goal blocked for a touchdown and have a long kickoff return that set up a touchdown, special teams, to me, it was much like the other two sides of the ball.There was really, really positive things that we can draw from and then just really, really untimely self-inflicted wounds.
On whether he’s shocked at the result in the context of his coaching career: I don't know that I’m shocked. I was telling anybody that listened how good this football team was and that we were still a work in progress. So I don't know that shocked is the right word. Very disappointed.
And I think probably the best example I have is in 2014 where I was offensive coordinator at Ohio State and second game of the year, Virginia Tech rolls in and absolutely kicks our butt and we came together as a team.
We figured out the problems. We solved the problems. We had a great group of kids and we went on to win a national championship. So I'm not saying that by any stretch is what our goal should be here or anything other than I've been a part of teams that have taken a very unexpected and ugly loss and learned from it and built on it.
On whether the game plan was to have freshman quarterback Shane
Buechele (15 carries) run as much as he: No, it was, one, I think a bunch of those were on scrambles. They were playing some two-man against us which is obviously very difficult to get up in the throw game. And when you drop back to pass and they are in two-man, we tell our quarterbacks if it's not wide open take off and run and he did.
And we saw a couple of things that we wanted to exploit as the game went on, down on the goal line, getting in 2-by-2 and running the quarterback sweep for a touchdown. And the fourth down we ran the same play and didn't execute it as well.
But I don't know that going in we said hey we're going to run Shane 15 times. I think called runs were probably only -- off the top of my head, maybe three. The rest were either scrambles or pulls on reads.
On why the offense couldn’t get points on the board in the first half: I don't have a great answer for you. I know definitely, game one, they did a bunch of things that we hadn't seen on film. So there was a bit of an adjustment period there.
I felt like we mounted a couple of drives, but we missed a field goal, had a field goal blocked, and then didn't convert in the red zone.
So I wasn't — the points were irrelevant. I thought we were kind of poking and prodding to figure out what exactly Maryland's game plan was for us on defense. And I think we did a decent job of figuring it out.
On whether he ever considered putting freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger in given Buechele’s play: No, never any thought to put Sam in. And then I don't know, we'll have to see who's — when balls are not completed, there's a lot of different things that could have gone wrong.
So to pin incompletions on the quarterback all the time is not fair. So the first part of your question, we do need to watch the film to figure out what steps we need to take. But certainly throughout the game there was never a moment there where we even talked about it.
On the play calling: I thought the play calling was not good enough, obviously, but certainly not disastrous. We need to find a way to manufacture some more big plays, I know that.
I felt like we didn't — we had the double pass that we overthrew. We had a long ball to Collin that bounced off his face mask and another to Devin Duvernay that was overthrown. So didn't capitalize on our deep ball shots that were — you know, we're not good enough to go on 14-, 16-play drives now and just expect to score touchdowns at the end. We've got to manufacture some more explosive plays.
On what he meant when he said he wished he hadn’t prophesized so much: No, I was half joking. Having coached as long as I have, you try to warn your team of what you think is going to happen. And when you're playing a really good football team, you know that they're going to make plays and you know in week one every team or a lot of teams, there's some growing pains, too.
I'm not saying I wish I hadn't told them that. I just — you know it's eerie to think that — because sometimes it doesn't go that way. Sometimes you say, hey, you're going to be in a dogfight and you go out and you rout somebody or something like that. But we knew this was going to be a dogfight. We knew we were going to have adversity and we did.
On why there were open Maryland receivers in the secondary: I don't know. I'd have to — I saw what you saw. I don't know exactly what happened on some of those. But I know the quarterback threw the ball better than we thought he could. And we've got to be able to generate a pass rush a little bit better on first and second down when they do pass.
But there's a lot of max protection. Three-man routes. And they did a good job.
On why the run game struggled to get going: I don't know. I think — [Christopher Warren III and Kyle Porter] only had 14 carries combined. So it's not like we attempted a lot of runs. I think we saw the way that they were supporting the run and figured we could throw the ball on them, which we did.
So I think it was a bit of give-and-take. When we did run the ball, I don't know, I've got to see those 14 times, Chris averaged 5.2 and Kyle's average was not great.
But, yeah, I don't know. We knew that kind of after the first couple of series that the fronts and coverages they were giving us were going to be designed to kind of have an extra hat in there for the run, which is why we started throwing the ball a little bit more.
On what he and defensive coordinator Todd Orland were talking about when Maryland went up the middle through the defensive line: We're talking about how do we stop it. The hard part was we just, from my observation, when we were in base defense, we misfit a lot of our gaps. I think our guys maybe tried to do too much.
And then when we did blitz on first and second down we weren't disciplined in our assignments and allowed for some holes. So we've got to be able to play the run in base and — when we're not blitzing, and in order to do that we've got to be very gap-sound. And guys got to understand that you’ve got to do your job and don't try to do anything other than your job, because the defense is built to stop the run if we do our job.
Sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele
On if he expected Maryland to come out and play the way they did: Early on they just did some things that we didn't. We prepared I think really well for them. They did one or two things that didn't show up on film. Just some communication things with me and the offensive line too, so that made it look a lot worse than it really was.
On whether the game was a letdown after so much anticipation: It's frustrating. You always want to start out hot, but you know, we just have to learn what we did wrong this first game and learn from that and carry it over on to the next game.
On penalties and mistakes during the game: Penalties did kill our drive sometimes. We got down to the 30-, 35-yard line and have a holding or whatever they called it, a pass interference call, but that's just what hurt our drives. We were moving the ball well. That shouldn't be taken away from our offense. We just have to continue, try to get better.
On if Maryland worked to limit the run game: No, I don't think so. We have some run plays, it's just RPO stuff. If the pass option is there, I'm going to throw it out there and go get our yards.
Junior defensive back Holton Hill
On his performance today after having a down year last season: Yeah, I'm just trying to take everything day by day and put everything out on the field.
On his touchdown after the blocked Maryland field goal: I saw green ahead of me and I just went. I'm going to give a shoutout to Poona Ford. Luckily Poona got the block and it was right in front of me to take it right to the house.
On if the loss feels similar to last season: Not at all. We all work as a team and tomorrow we're going to all watch film and put the game behind us, work hard and prepare for the next outing.
On if he imagined he would score the first two touchdowns of the season: No I didn't imagine that, but something told me. I just had a chip on my shoulder. You may know that I'm from Houston, and looking at the tragedy these past few weeks, I wasn't able to be down there with my family and stuff, so I just had a chip on my shoulder from that.
Senior linebacker Naashon Hughes
On if he was surprised at the game result: I really don't know what to say about the result right now, but I know the only way to fix it is to go back to work. We'll start tomorrow, coming in early, looking back at the film. We'll probably watch film a thousand times just to see what we could have done, what I could have done, what anybody could've done to stop it from happening.
On whether he's concerned with the team's mindset after loss as a team leader: So far I'm seeing the right kind of attitudes because everybody's prepared to come back and go back to work, because nobody wants to go the same routes we've been going. So I see the guys, and I see the mentality that they have is, ‘Okay, let's go back to the drawing board, let's get this thing corrected.’
On Herman's message to the team after game: You can just see a guy that genuinely cares about each and every one of his players. And like I said, he preaches the same message — we're going back to the drawing board, we're going back to work, we're going back to get everything corrected so this never happens again.
On whether he's sure that this year is different than previous years: I wholeheartedly am. I see the guys and how they respond, how they react and how we're practicing. Things didn't go our way today, but I think we all understand that going back to work and going back to working hard is the only way to get this thing corrected.
Junior linebacker Malik Jefferson
On moving forward after the loss: We have to get ready for next week. We understand that we have 11 more games to play. That one was important because it was the opener, but we have to get ready for next week against San Jose State.
On whether this game felt like the previous year: It doesn’t feel like last year. I think it was a lot of self-inflicted wounds and missed assignments. I think it was just key stuff that we did on our own that really hurt ourselves. We can’t point any fingers because it was all over the field.
On if there was a change in the postgame locker room with the players:
Definitely. We all took accountability. We all know it starts with our preparation so this week we’re going to stay on top of that. We know every week is important.
On giving up 51 points after high expectations for the defense: It was a lot of self-inflicted wounds. We’re going to get those things fixed because those are game changers.
On the difficulty of stomaching a game like this: We didn’t expect it and it’s very tough. But we’ve got to suck it in today, move forward tomorrow, and get ready for the next game.
On how much he hates losing this game: It just turns my stomach. I lost my freshman year at Notre Dame and it’s the same feeling after you lose. You just hate it because you know you work so hard through the offseason and camp and to come out short is very frustrating.
On how the Maryland offense was so successful up the middle: I can’t explain it. That’s something we have to look back on film and find exactly what happened.
Sophomore wide receiver Collin Johnson
On the loss to Maryland: Maryland is a good team, so nothing against
Maryland, it’s just back to the self-inflicting errors. We beat ourselves. That’s both a good and a bad thing because that’s something that we can fix. So we’re just going to come back next week and work at that in correcting those mistakes.
On if the game plan centered around passing: Yes, it was. The coaches figured that that was a great option for this game. Swing passes were a big part of our game plan. It was open. I think we had, like, average nine yards? We averaged a long run every screen pass.
On Coach Tom Herman’s message to the team after the game: Coach said
that all of our goals are still there, so don’t get down on ourselves. There are two decisions: we can fold up or step up and rise to the plate, and this is just something that we can learn from. As a team, we’re trying to think positively, and I know, as a receiver, in my receiver unit, I told them that after the game.
On the result dampening team enthusiasm: We try to not let last year get to our head. Coach Herman is huge on being 1-0, so even though this didn’t go as planned, the plan is to come back next week and be 1-0. Every day in practice, start there and then hopefully get the right outcome next weekend against San Jose State.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Reggie Hemphill-Mapps
On having a breakout game: It was just exciting because it’s been like two years since I’ve played competitive football. I was redshirted last year, so now I get to compete against another team instead of my teammates.
On how the team will be tested this week: Coach says all the time, we train for chaos. We expect adversity to happen and it’s just about how we respond, so we just have to respond.
On how the team is different this year: This team is very different because everybody loves each other. We’re more of a team now. We’ve gotten closer over these last nine months; since January, everyone’s gotten closer.
On who ‘rallies the troops’ out on the field: Everybody. We just have to keep a good attitude. Everybody is like, ‘Come on, let’s go, we got this.’ It’s a family now — those are my brothers out there
