Wake Forest Athletics
Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
11/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 19, 2002
Wake Forest Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On how the two week layoff has helped:
??Certainly with injuries. We probably wouldn??t have had Quintin Williams the first Saturday after Florida State. We probably would not have had Fabian Davis, absolutely would not have had Jamie Scott. He??s still a little bit of a toss up. We would have been without some pretty key players that next week. Obviously on the injury front, we should be better by the time we play Navy. Other than that, the downside is with two straight open dates we could be rusty, be a little unsound assignment wise and taking care of the football. There??s just so many nightmares out there that the coaches have every night just worrying about getting started again, but I don??t think our players are worried about it. Our players are anxious to play again. We had good practice last night, and I think the players were back to bouncing around and excited about having someone to play on Saturday instead of just practicing all week.??
On Quintin Williams?? injured hand:
"He??s broken it in another place, that??s why he didn't play the first series in the third quarter against Florida State. I wasn??t very happy that we didn??t have him out there. Finally he came out of the locker room and started jogging down the bank just as they scored. He broke a bone somewhere on the back of his hand. He has two breaks now on his hand. They had to do surgery on him Monday after Florida State, and they had to not only put some pins in, but they had to wire it back together. He's got a couple of pretty good breaks in his hand. Right now he??s out there practicing. It looks like he??s carrying a bowling ball. He??s got his hand taped in a ball, but we??re hoping he'll be fine. We??re letting him do everything except tackle and run into people with his hand. He can??t catch a ball right now. Especially if he takes that bowling ball out there, I guarantee you he??s not going to catch [an interception] unless it sticks in his face mask.??
On Navy:
??They??re going to throw some. That??s the scary part. You have to stop the run when you play Navy, but their play action pass game is really dangerous. They really pick on the right people, they try to get you supporting the run and catch you asleep at the wheel and throw the ball behind you. They have the ability to throw the ball down the field. Our secondary has a real challenge Saturday to make sure we??re sound playing the run, but we??ve got to read keys and make sure that when it??s a throw we??ve got to be back there.??
On Jamie Scott:
??He has a sprained neck. He actually practiced some last week, and I thought he was back, but he continues to have soreness in his neck. I don??t think there??s anything structurally really wrong, it??s just that he strained his neck pretty good. I guess it??d be no different than a sprained ankle, some kids come back quicker. Of course, it??s not weight bearing unless he??s standing on his head. I don??t think he??s doing it. Maybe he??s got a big brain, and maybe that??s weighing him down right now, I don??t know what the deal is.??
On a physical game versus FSU:
??We were really beat up. That was a physical football game against Florida State. I thought they got beat up a little bit; I thought we got beat up a little bit. I think the teams went at each other pretty good in that one.??
On Wake??s chances of being upset by Navy:
??There??s no question about it. People expect us to win, and win handily. For me, I??ll be tickled to death if we win any way we can. If we come out with a one point victory, I??d be tickled to death. I just think we have a football team that can play good and win, but we just have to see how we can bounce back after two weeks off.??
On the possibilities of a bowl game:
??That??s something that our players are very aware of. Obviously, we have not talked to them about bowl stuff. I??d like to have a football team that wants to go win, just because its another game. We don??t spend a lot of time talking to them about that. I think they??re aware that we have a chance to have a good year and possibly play after the season is over, but we have to go take care of business. We weren??t able to do that last season, we need to do it now.??
On concern of players overlooking Navy to Maryland:
??I??m a little bit less concerned because we??ve worked so hard on Navy. We have not done one thing in any way to prepare for Maryland or anything that they are going to do, except we had a chance to watch them on TV last week. All we??ve done for the last two weeks is prepare for Navy. Our guys have had Navy beaten into their heads every practice, so if they??re looking ahead, I??ll be disappointed.??
Sophomore Defensive Back Eric King
On having two weeks off:
??I??m ready to get back. This has been a nice lay off, we kind of needed it in a way, but we??re ready to get back and play football. It??s definitely good to catch up on a little bit of rest, get guys healthy, and get ready to hit this two game stretch really hard. ??
What did the team do with the weekends off?
??A couple of guys went home, got a little bit of a vacation I guess you can call it. A couple of guys just stayed here and hung around and just chilled. I went home the first weekend, this past weekend I stayed here and caught up on my studies.??
How worried are you about rust -- 20 days off is a long time:
??Yes, it really is a long time. It??s something we had to get used to and it??s something nobody in our program has done before. We just have to take it one day at a time and this week get back on pace and treat this like game week. Everything is kind of coming back to the way things were when we were playing games every weekend.??
Did you watch any college football?
??Definitely, been watching college football the last two weekends. Watching the wild and wacky college football and how everything is going, who??s getting bowl eligible and who??s not. It??s pretty interesting. You can just sit at home and be a fan right now, it??s kind of amazing because I??m not used to that. The last time I was cheering for any teams was when I was back in high school, now I??m kind of like rooting for teams to win and it??s nice to sit back and watch college sports.??
On Wake Forest??s situation for a post-season bowl game:
??Yes, we know the deal. We??re definitely taking it one game at a time. We??re looking forward to playing Navy. They play really hard and that option is hard to handle. So, we??re just going to try to do the best we can and get these six wins to get bowl eligible.??
On Navy giving up a lot of points:
??Yes, they??ve been giving up a lot of points but one thing you learn in football is that you never underestimate somebody. They??re the Naval Academy and academy teams play very hard, so we??re just looking to go into a very good game and hopefully just pull out with a win.??
Does it mean anything that they??re an Academy?
??Yes, that means a lot. One thing you know right off the bat is they??re going to play very hard. They are probably a physical and aggressive team, and they just take pride in everything they do. I think that??s central to their game plan and something we??re going to have to look at when we play them. You have to have a lot of respect for those guys and what they go through and the kind of work they put in and the dedication to what they do.??
How big is this weekend??s game?
??I think every game on our schedule has been critical and it has come down to a critical situation. This is something we??re looking forward to, I think we play well under pressure. We??re just going to have to take it one step at a time and beat Navy and hopefully worry about beating Maryland.??
Sophomore Wide Receiver Jason Anderson
On the break:
??We hosted recruits one weekend, then I went home on the other. I watched some football, just a little.??
On the last two games:
??We need to get focused for the rest of the season, since the last two games are pretty big. I like having to go in and having to win the last two games. It??s too bad we aren??t in a better situation, but it gives us a challenge, something to work for.??
On the rust from not playing in two weeks:
??I worry about it a little bit. Since we haven??t been up against anyone else but ourselves, I??m anxious to see how we play in the first two series. I??m really not too sure what to expect.??
On the last home game:
??It??s pretty hard. We have a long season, and we??ve had some good home games and some good away games. I??m kind of sad to see this is our last home game and see our seniors go.??
