Wake Forest Athletics
Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
10/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 25, 2005
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On Chris Barclay's attempt at the all-time rushing record at Wake Forest:
"The thing that's the real concern for me is our offensive line right now is beat up pretty bad. We've lost two real, real good players in Brodie Overstreet and Louis Frazier for the season, and then Saturday against NC State we lose Steve Vallos and Arby Jones. We end up basically one deep across the front line. The other linemen have the normal bumps and bruises you get during the course of the year. It's really hard to even think about any records. We're just looking to put hats on people and block them. Obviously Chris has the ability to run the football, but if we can't block for him, it doesn't to a lot of good to think about records."
On Vallos and Jones:
"Neither practiced last night. I think we expect them both to be ready to roll on Saturday, but we have to be very careful on how we work them this week. Steve (Vallos) can not have a relapse or be contacted very much in the helmet, at least for the next couple of days. We'll try to work him without getting dinged. Arby is the same way except his is a knee problem where he doesn't have any ligament (damage). It's a bruise that's been filling up with fluid and is really sore and tender. He was making a block on Saturday and he collapsed to the ground, his knee gave out on him. It is something structurally that is fine, but there's a lot of pain and he'll have to show some toughness this Saturday."
On the lack of depth on the offensive line:
"We're pretty much one deep plus one. With Eric Gaskins is a kid that is still developing. He's had some good practices, but he's just not quite there yet. We'd love to let him have another spring before we throw him into the mix, but we may not have a choice right now. If Vallos and Arby aren't in there, we're basically one deep."
On Cory Randolph's high ankle sprain:
"He dressed last night. The good news is he's out of the boot. That's a plus. I think he's close. I think the key for us is if we can get him enough full speed reps to be our quarterback Saturday. My guess right now is no. But kids are funny. Some heal pretty quickly. We've had kids before where we've said no way and almost overnight they're ready to go. We'll see how it goes. No decisions have been made yet. The guy that plays Saturday will have had the lion's share of reps (during the week), and they have to be the full speed, quality reps, not half-speed."
On Randolph starting:
"My feeling is when Cory Randolph is full speed and has a full speed week of practice, he'll be our quarterback. That's the bottom line. He has to have a great week of practice and it can't be a great week of half-speed practice. It's got to be running our football team at full speed. I think it's based on what he did in the three previous games. He played really, really well for us and gave us a chance to win. Typically, I think those kids don't go backwards with an injury. I was really pleased with what Ben Mauk did Saturday. He did some really good things. I thought he was just a different kid. I thought for four quarters, I was looking at a different kid on Saturday. I think he's matured quite a bit, and I think we can win with Ben and we can win with Cory. I think if we had a full speed Cory and were pleased with his practices, he'd be the guy. But I don't know that's going to happen by Saturday."
On finding a replacement for Jeremy Thompson:
"We're going to move Antonio Wilson to defensive end, and he's been doing that some in pass rush situations, bringing him off the end at linebacker. Antonio is one of those guys that we've penciled in at defensive end but haven't totally made the move yet because we had four pretty good defensive ends. We didn't want to give him up as a linebacker but I think we're going to move him to the defensive end position."
On what he sees from Bryan Andrews:
"Good play, steady play. That's the thing that's impressed me with Bryan so far. He's more physical. He's playing pretty good most of the time. There aren't a lot of highs and lows, it's pretty consistent. That's the thing that pleases me about Bryan. Number one, he's more physical, number two we're not getting the bumps in the road. It's pretty steady improvement each week."
On playing in the ACC:
"This league is so hard that no one sneaks up on anybody. You better play every Saturday or you're not going to win. That's against anybody in this league. You better be ready to play because everybody has good players. There is not anybody in this league that doesn't have real good players."
On Duke:
"They are a physical team that is playing better each week. They have a good veteran group as their starters. They play a lot of juniors and seniors. They have 29 seniors that will be out for senior day on Saturday. They have a good, solid group of older players that they've mixed in some real talented young guys. They've had some really good recruiting classes recently and they've mixed in some young guys and added some speed and depth to their team. Against Florida State last week they were very impressive. They went well into the third quarter with a chance and had a couple of big plays against Florida State. They have good speed, had a couple long runs. We know how good Florida State is so that got our attention that Duke has a lot of talent."
Junior safety Patrick Ghee
On the team discussing its bowl chances:
"We shouldn't even talk about it now because we have a lot of work to do. We have to win every one of our games from now to the end of the season, which is a lot easier said than done. So we're taking each opponent one at a time. We can't worry about next week's opponent. We have to worry about the opponent we have this week which is Duke."
On still being bowl eligible:
"It would be a great thing. We haven't been in a bowl game for a couple of years so it would be great just to have the opportunity. I went to the Seattle Bowl in my freshman year, but I was a redshirt so I didn't participate. I'd love to participate in a bowl game."
On getting pumped up for the game against Duke:
"Any given Saturday, anyone can win. I think we can't look at what the record shows. If we go in there and be slack, then we're going to lose the game. Because this is ACC ball and everybody has great athletes."
Senior running back Chris Barclay
On the NC State victory:
"It does a lot for this program. It builds our confidence. We kind of went on a skid there, with two tough games on the road, at Florida State and Boston College, just losing those in the fourth quarter. Being able to capitalize this past week against State was a big thing for us. We talked all week about closing games out, and I think we really did that on Saturday. We've got to realize that we have three tough tests ahead of us and we have to capitalize on these last three."
On Duke being a dangerous team to play:
"It really is a dangerous game. They'll come in and play hard and we have to make sure that we are on top of our responsibilities. We need to play efficient football and just make sure that we get the job done."
On the rushing record coming closer:
"I'm just trying to stay focused. But it is in my mind. It will be exciting to get that record. Not necessarily focusing on that this Saturday, but if that's what it takes to get the win, then of course than that's great. I'm trying to get my teammates and myself to stay focus on the task at hand and not on the extracurricular stuff."
Junior fullback Damon McWhite
On beating NC State:
"It's great to get a win. Anytime you get a win your spirits are up. Practice is not as hard and you want to keep it going. If we want to keep playing in December, we have to keep winning."
On getting to a bowl game:
"Everybody wants to play in a bowl game, that's why you play college football."
On the importance of winning this week:
"I think this team looks at every football game knowing that we need to get a win. We prepare for Duke like we would anybody in the world."
On playing Duke:
"I think it's going to be a physical football game, they play a lot of young guys, and what their young guys lack in experience, they make up for in ability to make the big hit."
Freshman linebacker Aaron Curry
On beating NC State:
"It felt real good to be victorious against NC State. It's a confidence booster, and makes us all feel better."
On the team's motivation:
"In the preseason, we were talking about the ACC Championship and a bowl game, everything we can accomplish we try to do. Now we got to take it all one game at a time, and we still have our eyes on the bowl game."
On playing Duke:
"It's going to be a hard fought physical game because both teams are hungry and ready to get after each other."
