Friday practice quotes

alexvanabbema

New member
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Friday Practice Quotes:
Quotes from Tracy Claeys, Matt Limegrover, Jerry Kill, Donnell Kirkwood, and Brien Boddy-Calhoun after today's practice.

Tracy Claeys

Missouri running game:
Their guys are really good at finding seams. Their backs are very patient, and they got a burst through the whole. So we’re gonna have to make sure we stay gap conscious, and can stay in our gap. They have tremendous vision when they run their zone scheme the way that they run it.

Mental approach, expecting to win every game?
I think our kids have had that all year long. You know if anything, we had a let down because we expected to win too much. SO I think our kids have expected to win the whole time. But we’re still to the point where our kids expect to win, but we have to play extremely well fundamentally and tackling in order to win. This is our third practice specifically for Missouri, and kids have moved around, we’ve had great practices.

Kirkwood

Freshmen year compared to now:
It’s different, definitely different. The competitiveness, how close we are as brothers, just how people believe in each other. WE look out for each other more than just football. We care about each other like we’ve known each other for years and years. Some guys come in the program and ask for help, or just knowledge outside of football. That means a lot on and off the field.

Playing in Florida:
It’s good. Kind of a bittersweet moment though. I get to play there for my last game, but it’s my last game with some of these guys. I’ve been trying to just savor the moment with my brothers. I’m not coming back after the game, I’m going to be staying in Florida. It’s the last time I’m going to be in the locker room. Coming up, coaches always talk about “You’re never going to remember the scoreboard, you’re never going to remember you’re stats.” That’s the truth. I can’t tell you what happened two years ago, but I can tell you how many memories I’ve had in the locker room.

BBC

Difference between January 1 bowl and other bowls:
Growing up, no one does anything on New Years day other than watch college football. Where I’m from, that’s exactly what my friends and family have done. So I just think it’s tremendous to go from watching all the bowl games that happen January 1 to be able to compete in one.

How tough was it to sit out last year?
Extremely tough. Especially with the team having some success. I think it was very difficult. But it just gave me motivation to come back and be as strong as I was this year.

BBC’s favorite play of year:
Nebraska, that Nebraska strip, which gives our team a chance to go to Wisconsin and compete for a big ten championship. I would say that was my favorite.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Limegrover:

Last game for David Cobb:
I think it’s pretty well documented with what he’s done with the time that he’s got here to where he is now, not as a football player but as a young man, and leader on this football team. Those are victories as a coach. You talk about the wins and losses, and obviously that’s important. But watching guys go from an immature 18 year old to a grown man who faces responsibility and understands it at 22 or 23, that’s pretty rewarding for a coach.

Citrus Bowl biggest challenge for offensive line this year?
Well yeah, those guys are big time. I think the interesting thing is when you talk about SEC defenses, is that you talk about LSU, you talk about Alabama. No one really talks about Missouri. But there’s a reason why they played for the championship in the SEC, and a lot of it has to do with their defense, particularly their front four. And not even those two edge guys, but their deep tackles. And they’ve done a phenomenal job of recruiting those types of players and then putting them into a scheme that allows them to be successful. We’re very respectful of what they bring to the table defensively.

Steps offense took this year:
I think that if you go back, one of the big things was that we felt like we were a year behind our defense. And I think that’s true, I think our defense took yet another step up this year. I feel like we were kind of where they were last year, not quite where we need to be to really be elite week in and week out in the big ten. But I think we’re on our way there. There’s still obviously a ton of room for improvement.

Focus on Shane Ray:
We try not to necessarily focus on a single player, but we’re definitely very aware of who number 56 is, and you wanna show due respect and you don’t allow yourselves to get beat or not give your players the best chance to get success by simply saying “we’re just gonna do what we do”. And if you have a player like that you need to be respectful of what he can do. He’s the kind of guy who can change a game, not in your favor if you let him. We’re going to make sure that we don’t allow him to go around unfettered running around the field and having a chance to beat us.

Jerry Kill:
Appreciation for senior class to stick to it, set bar for where program needs to be?
Absolutely. I think that when you turn a program over, you’ve got to make your point on what it’s going to be. It’s a mixture group of the kids that were here, the Botticellis, Eppings, the few that we brought in. And then there’s a few transfers in that group. And so it’s a mixed group, but those guys that were here at the very beginning, they’ve been through a ton. And they’ve had to handle the grind of those first two years. They’ve been through it, they really have.

Most proud of?
I think that I’m probably most proud of the players, and how the ones that came in, and the ones that were here, how they blended in and went through those times. They’re all a very close group, and they get along. We work hard, we get after it, we push them, but at the end of it, we’re all human beings… We have to be that way everywhere I’ve been to change the work culture, learning how to work. That’s one thing these kids have done all year long. They’ve had five turnovers against TCU, and we did not play very well… Other than that we’ve been in every football game, and had an opportunity to win. And it’s because they played well. We still have work to do in recruiting and so forth, but these kids have played hard the whole year.
 




Top Bottom