Weekly Press Luncheon Quotes
September 08, 2008 | Football
Sept. 8, 2008
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University Head Football Coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media prior to this week's game against Tulane. The following are selected comments:
On The West Virginia Win:
"This weekend was a lot of fun with all excitement in the air. It was a great win for the program, our players, our coaches, our fans and our alumni this week against West Virginia. It was the perfect weekend.
"The environment and atmosphere, with the fourth-largest crowd in school history, was great. We had a Top 10 ranked team coming in here playing. And you can also look at where we are and what we were up against. We were 2-17 against West Virginia and were beaten 48-7 by them last year. They put an awful lot of motivation into our players.
"We went out there and played our most complete game since I have been here. Defensively we played extremely well and there are a lot of individuals who you could point out. Offensively, I think we did a good job of managing the game. We put some points up on the board and put some long drives together, especially to start the first and third quarters, which was excellent. In the kicking game, you look at last week and we had a field goal blocked, botched a kickoff return, bubbled one deep and started our own eight. We made a million mistakes. I felt like our special teams were greatly improved this week."
On The Defense:
"I'm really proud of the progress we made from week one to week two. There are so many guys I could sit here and talk about. On the defense, you can talk about Zack Slate and C.J. Wilson and what they're doing at defensive end. Then you have Scotty Robinson coming in and giving us some key plays. The game Khalif Mitchell played, from start to finish, is the best one he has played since he has been here. Jay Ross is as steady as he can be. Linval Joseph got a chance to get in and he got a handful of plays.
"I thought our defensive front played very well and we were able to cause some disruptions and create some penetration. I think that was the difference in our defense.
"Pierre Bell, Quentin Cotton, Jeremy Chambliss and Nick Johnson at linebacker all played very solid. I can't say enough positive things about the way Van Eskridge and J.J. Milbrook are playing right now at safety. I think the secondary did a very nice job as we did not give up a pass of over 20 yards, which is a far cry from where we were a year ago in this game, and many games last year.
"When you look at the progress we're making on defense, so many guys have just stepped up and are playing so well for us right now."
On The Offense:
"I can't say enough positive things about the way the offensive line is playing. I think Doug Palmer had one of his best games since he's been here. Stanley Bryant, Sean Allen, Stephen Heis, Cory Dowless, D.J. Scott and Terence Campbell are all playing very well. We're playing a lot of guys, about eight or nine, on the offensive line and just trying to keep fresh bodies in there. I thought they opened up some great holes.
"Patrick Pinkney continues to manage the game and is doing an incredible job so far this year. He's really focused and into what we're doing. I think Todd Fitch had just done a great job with him."
On The Receivers:
"Davon Drew did not catch a pass but did a great job blocking this week. I thought West Virginia had a game plan to take him away with their three down linemen and their five linebackers. They put an inside-out package on him and took him away a little bit. But Davon was a team player, very unselfish, and blocked and did a great job.
"Jamar Bryant continues to play well. Dwayne Harris, we tried to get the ball into his hands because he's special with the ball under his arm.
"Some other guys stepped up as well. T.J. Lee is playing really well for us right now. Bryant went in right before halftime to go get an IV because he started cramping up and then our defense got the turnover. Alex Taylor jumped right in and never missed a beat. He caught three balls on the final drive, the slant, the sideline catch and then went up and made a great play on the fade.
On The Running Backs:
"At the running back position Brandon Simmons is playing very well and Jonathan Williams is starting to gain more and more confidence with the way he is playing and the things he is doing.
"I think there are so many guys who are stepping up when given the opportunity to play and they're making the most of it."
On The Talent And Thought Required To Win:
"I thought overall, as a football team, where we really challenged the team was when we said that we are to the point where we could line up and compete with Virginia Tech and West Virginia talent-wise, but are we smart enough? When you look at all the mistakes we made at Virginia Tech that was the challenge we had. Are we smart enough to win?
"I was really pleased with the way the team came out and played. I thought we played really smart, physical, fast and with an awful lot of confidence. Those are the battle cries of what we're trying to take into every game and I think the team answered the bell and did a great job.
On the Post-Game Celebration
"One of the great traditions that we have established here, that we did not get to do Saturday, is that we go celebrate with the band and sing the fight song. We then go celebrate with the student body and then come over to the crowd.
"Saturday we took the team back into the locker room and I was waiting for the field to clear so we could bring the team back out onto the field and celebrate because everybody stayed.
"We're so grateful and so appreciative of the way everybody has supported this program. The way fans have come out and really been a `12th Man' for us has been great. It has really been a breath of fresh air with all the crowd noise, emotion and enthusiasm. That really keeps momentum always swinging your way in a game like Saturday was. We really fed off that the other day and we really wanted the opportunity to say Thank You.
"Unfortunately that didn't happen when some people ran out on the field and it got a little crazy out there at times. I hate that it all happened. We love the energy, excitement and enthusiasm in the stadium. It was as good of atmosphere as anywhere in the country on Saturday. It was a big-time college football atmosphere. It was awesome. I hate that is being marred at this point by some fans who decided to rush the field.
"I know their intentions were not malicious or negative. They were excited and enthusiastic and they wanted to come out and join in the joy and jubilation. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of positive things that can come out of rushing the field. It took away from our opportunity to celebrate with the entire stadium.
"But again, the tradition is something that we've really started to cherish. I think singing the fight song, going over to the student body and then working the whole stadium and telling everybody thank you is something our players really enjoy."
On Injuries:
"We're bumped and bruised and have sprains and strains. At this point I do not know the significance of some of their injuries. Jeremy Chambliss and Khalif Mitchell have ankle injuries and J.J. Milbrook has a shoulder injury.
"Where they are right now I think they're probably going to play, but we'll find out a little bit more with treatment. They all finished the game and then went home and experienced swelling. You didn't even know they were hurt until they came back Sunday. It's encouraging that they finished the game and that they are not season-ending injuries. It's just a matter of how fast we can get the swelling and soreness out. We have a lot of sore bodies with the two very physical games we have played."
On Being Nationally-Ranked:
"It an honor to be ranked. We are greatly appreciative that people are taking notice of what we're trying to do here in Greenville and the way we're trying to build this program. They're taking notice of the level of play we're making on the field right now, being led by many of our seniors.
"In the big picture of things, as I told the team, we didn't become bowl eligible because we're ranked. We don't have a conference win to this point. So many of the goals we're trying to accomplish, we have not accomplished at this point. We're two games into a 12-game season. We're trying to go one game at a time. All those rankings, bowl predictions, speculation and everything else that people are doing on the outside are great because it creates a buzz, stir and excitement in the program. From a player standpoint in the locker room, though, we don't get seven points spotted to us because we're ranked and they're not. The last two teams we played both had a ranking next to their name and we did not, and here we are 2-0. It doesn't mean anything at this point. You still have to line up and go play the game. We just have to make sure that we don't let the circus atmosphere around a winning program interrupt what we're trying to build right now in between the lines.
"It's an honor and we're excited about where we are and what people are thinking about us. But we can't let it go to our heads and we can't take that as a sign that we've arrived. We still have a real long way to go.
"We keep talking to the players about controlling what we can control. I'm not a voter in the polls so I can't influence that at all. The only thing we can control is how we go out there and play."
On Tulane;
"This week we play a very good Tulane football team. I know people are going to look at it and say that last year they only won four games and that this is a team which has been on the lower side of the conference when you look at it over the last five to 10 years. But I think Coach Toledo has done a great job with this football team.
On Tulane's Defense:
"Last year they were one of the top three ranked defensive teams in our league. They're playing great defense this year. They return a great nucleus and six starters on defense. This is a football team that on Saturday walked into Alabama, a team which absolutely dismantled Clemson on national television a week ago, and only gave up 172 yards, which is less than we have held either of our two opponents to. They also held them to less than seven points. The reason Alabama won that game is because they blocked a punt for a touchdown and had a great individual effort by Javier Arenas, who returned a punt for a touchdown. Defensively, I have been extremely impressed and I think their defense is just as good as the last two defenses we lined up and played.
"You look at them, they have a defensive end, a defensive lineman, middle linebacker and a cornerback that they line up and play all over the place. They have four seniors, they're playing extremely well and they're the heart and soul of that defense right now.
On Tulane's Offense:
"When you look at their offense, their strength is their offensive line. All five offensive linemen playing right now have started for them in the past. They have very good receivers who are all back. Jeremy Williams is their playmaker right now. Justin Kessler, their tight end, is an upperclassman and is doing an awful lot of good things for them. Their experience is at the tight end, receiver and offensive line positions.
"Where they're new is in the backfield at tailback and quarterback, but both of those guys are talented and are doing a nice job right now of managing the game. I think their quarterback is really going in there and making sure that he's solid and steady. He's giving them a chance to win right now. It's going to be a phenomenal challenge for our football team, not just on the field with it being Tulane's home opening game and with their talented football team, but maybe the biggest challenge we have is being able to go play with a little bit more of a target on our chest.
"The last two weeks we've had an opportunity to go play a team with a ranking next to their name. That has been motivation for our players and it has gotten them geared up and riled up. They focus, work and strain a little bit more during the week.
"The last two environments we've walked into have been playing the Big East Conference Champion and the ACC Conference Champion and those have been huge motivating factors for us. Now we're walking into a game where we not only have to play with a ranking next to our name, but we've got to go play steady football and put forth one of our better efforts if we want to be victorious.
"This is a huge game for us in many respects, but the main one is because it's the next one on the schedule and our main goal is to just go 1-0."
On Hurricane Ike:
"In controlling what we can control, there's a lot of talk about the hurricane and what's going to happen with it and if it's going to move up into the gulf area this week. I know there's been a lot of speculation and talk about what's going to happen with the game and if it's going to be moved here, at a neutral site, played there or anything like that.
"At this point, Tulane has made a decision that the game will not come here. They have other options if the game is not going to be played there, but at this point, I don't know what they are. As I told the team, we're going to approach it as if we're going to go to Tulane. That's the only way we can handle it at this point. Everything else is speculation until they tell us for sure that something has happened and the game has had to be moved to another location."
On the Different Atmosphere Expected This Weekend:
"Playing two ranked teams in the environments we have and playing at the emotional level we have the last two games are all differences. We played a nearly perfect game Saturday, in all phases. I go back to what we ran into last year when West Virginia played a nearly perfect game against us and then went out the next week and lost to South Florida.
"I think it's very hard to play, not only one week at that peak level, but multiple weeks. This is somewhat of a trap that we're falling into right now that we have to be leery of. This is the third game, after two highly emotional, highly attended, huge crowds, unbelievable atmospheres, ranked teams, conference champions from a year ago, that we have just seen. Those were unbelievable motivators for our players. Now you're walking into an environment where you have to play an excellent Tulane football team. They do a great job. We're going to have to play at the same level if we want to have the same results we did the first two weeks. But it is very difficult to play three, four, five weeks a row at a very high, peak level. That's the challenge we have as a team and as a staff for this week."
On The Team's Senior Leaders:
"We are very fortunate to have such a great group of seniors and juniors. The last couple years we have lost our focus with the circus going on outside the lines. It will play to our advantage this year to have the leadership that we have. I keep talking about that leadership, and I cannot say enough positive things about that leadership.
"As a coaching staff we can only lead this team to a certain point. Once we get to that point, the players have to turn and take that to the next level. We are not always in the locker room, on campus, in the dorm room, or in the apartment. The players then have to help and get us to that next level. These players and seniors are very focused and they play a lot of football and they understand how close we've been, but the goal was not to get ranked. The goals are still on the board and we have not accomplished one of them yet."
On The Team's Attitude Friday:
"This team was very loose on Friday night and I am one who likes a very quiet locker room. When we have that meeting four hours before kickoff with the pregame meal, at that point, I don't like a lot of horseplay or smiles. To me, a quiet locker room is a focused locker room. We have been like that the last two weeks and we have gone out and played extremely well. On Friday they were very loud, lose and playing around. It scared me. But when I walked into that meeting on Saturday, there was not a peep.
"I think it's a great thing because sometimes when you're too focused you get too uptight. This team can be as loose as they want to be as long as four hours before the game they're very quiet. I was worried Friday night, though.
"I think having the senior leadership that we do, we'll be able to handle and adjust to whatever we have to step into."
On Turning Points For The Program:
"When you go way back to it, probably the loss at Tulsa in our first year went a long way to helping us win our final two games. We won those two games, finished with five wins and ended on a positive note going into the next season.
"Those seniors got competitive and the next group decided they wanted to go to a bowl game. As they went through that season and earned their way to a bowl game, there were some big wins in that year as well. Beating NC State was one of those wins and it helped us to gain some confidence.
"Then the next group of seniors came in and said that just going to a bowl game wasn't enough. It was great to experience the Papa John's Bowl, but they wanted to go win one. We had lofty standards of what we're trying to accomplish. Which is why, when we went out to Hawaii, they had a great time, but they also realized it was about the game. When we went to the Papa John's game it was more about the gifts and the experience of a going to a bowl. Last year was more about winning the game. I think that win at Boise State helped these seniors say, `What's next?'
"When we got into the offseason and talk about what you want to build and how you're going to get there, we have the same goals today we had four years ago. But four years ago, even I said to myself, we're probably not achieving that one, that one or that one, but maybe we can get this one. We knew we wanted to set the standard for this program four years ago and that's what we've been striving to build for.
"There have been bits and pieces that helped us get over the next hump but all-in-all we have been building for four years to get to this point."
