Weekly Press Luncheon Quotes
October 23, 2006 | Football
Oct. 23, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University head football coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media prior to this week's game against Southern Miss. The following are selected comments:
On SMU Game:
"We played well on defense. We played a lot of people and we played well on the back end from a secondary standpoint. We kept everything in front of us besides for one play at the end of the first half. It was the lowest opponent rushing performance we have had over the course of two years. We keep talking about getting better and there has been a lot of growth with our players especially on the defensive side of the ball."
On Younger Players:
"Quentin Cotton came out and Van Eskridge came in and did a really nice job. He was flying all over the field. Nick Johnson is a football player and is getting incorporated more and more on defense. We had a chance to play a lot of younger players in the secondary like Leon Best, Jerek Hewitt and J.J. Millbrook. This is the story of our team where one guy after another keeps stepping up."
On Offense:
"I was discouraged with how we ran the ball. It was hit or miss. It wasn't just the right guard or the left guard or one certain player but one player each time. It seemed like we were one block away from making it into the secondary. SMU did an awfully nice job stopping the run, loading the box and getting the safeties involved. We wanted to throw some play action and some screen passes and get the ball into our receivers hands. We looked at some of these as a toss sweep and getting four yards out of them."
On James Pinkney:
"James was extremely focused. He had a great day and played extremely well. I think he was motivated after his performance against Tulsa to show that he was better than what he had shown in the previous week. It's nice to have Aundrae Allison back. He makes a difference. You can put the ball in his hands and he can make some things happen. Aundrae and James were our erasers. Guys would make mistakes but then Aundrae would get the ball and make someone miss. Pinkney would scramble around and make something happen. Those two played a very good game and it was nice to see us being productive on offense and not turn the ball over. This was our second game this year without a turnover."
On USM:
"Southern Miss has beaten us by a combined score of 84-17 over the past two seasons. They beat us 51-10 at their place two years ago and they beat us last year here 34-7. We understand the challenge we have in front of us. Southern Miss is a very physical football team. They have been the beast of the East. They have dominated the Eastern Division and Coach Bower has done a great job of building that program. They have built it from an offensive standpoint of being able to run the ball with big offensive lineman and being physical.
"On defense they are scattered. You never know where they are going to line up. It may be seven guys standing on the line of scrimmage or guys jumping around. They make a lot of things happen on defense. It's going to be a challenge for some of younger offensive lineman where it will be the first time they have seen this type of defense."
On The Schedule:
"We've broken the season up into three stages. We have the first two road games where we knew we would be young and immature and to play some really good teams and we came out 0-2. Then we had the five games at home where we knew what we had to do and how we needed to come out of that. We finished that stretch at 3-2 and we felt like we could have come out better there. When you look at some of the opponents we played like Virginia and West Virginia I'm happy with the way we played with the exception of playing Tulsa. Now you look at four of the last five are on the road. We need to continue to develop and improve if we want to win on the road."
On Playing at Southern Miss:
"I've never been to Southern Miss but I heard it's a difficult place to play. I know the atmosphere and the type of football they play probably thrives on playing at home and the momentum. I know they draw really well as a crowd. It will be a very difficult environment for us to start our trip."
On Young Players Playing On The Road:
"One of the things I didn't like about playing on the road the first two games of the season is all the inexperience you have. You would like to give them an opportunity to play at home where all the momentum is on your side and the crowd is on your side. You're not traveling. After the five-game home-streak, Van Eskridge is an experienced player for us and the same goes for Quentin Cotton. Cotton had been in eight plays in his entire career here before he went to Navy. I think it's helped tremendously."
On Simmons and Simmons:
"Jason Simmons was a linebacker and we felt like we needed a little more punch and a bigger more physical body. I love Kort (Shankweiler) and Pat (Dosh) and what they are doing for us and the roles that they are playing. They are intelligent and we can do a lot of things with them because they are so talented. We needed some tougher yards to punch the ball into the end zone so we put our bigger fullback in there. That's part of our goal-line package with our bigger tail-back in Simmons. It just happens to be Jason Simmons and Brandon Simmons. They are both great men and are doing a great job. They were both walk-on's and they will be playing a lot of football here over the course of their careers."
On Running Game:
"James had ten rush attempts and I think three of those were called. Then we had about eight snaps on the goal-line. So if you take out ten for James and about ten for the goal-line, we only really tried to rush the ball ten times and we threw for 40. We probably called for a passing play 50 times, but with James running the ball that takes off ten. We felt like down around the five we would try to pound the ball and see if we could get it into the end zone. We were inside the ten four times and we scored four touchdowns. The stats may look terrible on our rushing yards but when you break it down we didn't go into this game looking at it like we needed to run the ball to win the game. We knew their strength was stopping the run and their talent was their defensive line and linebackers."
On USM Running Back:
"I'm not sure if he's going to play this week or not. He didn't play last week. He's been running up and down the field. He's a very difficult player to bring down. He is slippery, elusive and a good open field runner. The line is big and strong and they try to power you. Early on those three-yard gains become four yard gains and five-yard games as the game progresses."
On USM Tight End:
"He is a heck of a player. He's big, athletic and fast. He's the real deal. I don't know that anyone has an answer for him with the way they pound the ball and then go into the play-action and give it to some athletes out in the open."
