Wake Forest Athletics
Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
11/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 6, 2007
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On how the team practiced yesterday...
"Really pretty good. Kids usually bounce back a little quicker than the coaches do. We had good meetings yesterday, went over some of the mistakes that we made and had a good practice last night."
On getting the loss out of the system quickly...
"Coaches can't. You go back and look at all the calls that you made over the game, the opportunities that you had and maybe if you'd made a different call there or had a different thought there, maybe it would have turned out differently. So you're really not only real, real critical of yourself, but you typically beat yourself up a little bit."
On if the message board offensive coordinators bother him...
"People have good points. You look back, it's always easy to do in hindsight, but when you're on the sideline making decisions, you have to try to make decisions that give your kids a chance to win, and that's what we try to do. We try to never make decisions that might please anybody but our players. We want to give our kids a chance to win, and every decision we make is with that in mind."
On why Wake usually plays Clemson well...
"I hope we continue to play them well. We just haven't won our share. We've beaten them. We just tend to play pretty well against Clemson. Maybe they scored 82 on us one time. I don't know. Maybe something like that's still lingering. We're just a pretty competitive football team with everyone. It's not just Clemson. Our kids compete really hard and never take anyone for granted. And for whatever reason, we've had really good efforts against Clemson, and I hope we continue that on Saturday."
On Florida State knocking off Boston College...
"It kind of keeps the door open a little bit, but it's also very discouraging because we had a great opportunity up at Virginia. We'd be in a great position right now if we'd won up in Charlottesville. It's a tough league. Every Saturday, it's really tough. We're not playing anybody that isn't capable of beating us, and we're capable of beating them. It's a real gut-check."
On Clemson's offense...
"Their quarterback is playing better than last year. He's doing a good job. He's completing a high percentage of his passes, a good quarterback rating. But the running game's the thing that really concerns you. The thing defensively that you don't want to have happen is for people to be balanced and have them run and throw on you. The throwing game scares you to death. But the thing that scares you in a hurry is the running game. As a defense, you have to start with the running game and then hope you can react to the throws. But they've had games this year where they've thrown the ball 60 times so they're not afraid to throw it."
On not scoring that many points against Virginia...
"It's a concern because we play a lot of good defenses. Clemson's a really good defense. The problem that most people have, when you lose a football game, you don't really respect the football team. And Virginia's a really good football team. I don't think we'll play a better defensive player than Chris Long. Their whole front was very athletic, a really good football team. And Clemson's the same way. They're very athletic, got some big guys up front. They play pretty good defense against everybody this year. And that's what you tend to forget sometimes. You have to look at your offensive production, but you also have to realize who you're playing against."
On how far the program has come when people are upset about being 6-3...
"We had a great chance to win. There's no one more ticked off than the coaches and the players. I know our fans expect to win. That's a good thing. It's good when you have expectations from the fans. And no one feels worse than we do, and we especially feel worse for our players. If our fans feel bad about a loss and they're upset for our players, we're ten times most upset for our players. We've got good kids. We want to give them a chance to win. And so when we don't get it done, we don't just blame the players. We look at our coaching staff probably harder than we do the players."
On playing at Clemson...
"It's a great atmosphere. I don't know that it gets any better. I thought Virginia's atmosphere was dynamite on Saturday. I think our kids enjoyed playing at Virginia; we just didn't like the outcome. And Clemson's going to be very similar. It's very fun to play there, but it's not a lot of fun if you come off the field without a win. We have to go enjoy that environment. It's really tough, really loud, all those things. It's an exciting place to play, it's just a tough place to win."
Sophomore cornerback Brandon Ghee
On where the team is right now...
"Right now we're coming off a tough loss at Virginia but trying to prepare for Clemson. Of course we're going to Death Valley, and they're a good team so it's going to be a tough game. So we need to prepare and go down there and get a win."
On what he saw last Saturday vs. Virginia...
"A team effort. Everybody made mistakes out there. We could have done better. Everybody: special teams, defense, offense. It's a team effort. We lost as a team and hopefully next week we'll win as a team."
On overcoming last weekend's loss...
"I think it's difficult. But like coach said, you gotta be a man and take the next step. Our goal is to be the ACC Champs and we just need to win the last three games."
On Clemson...
"I see a very talented team. Two of the best running backs in the ACC or even the nation. We're going to prepare like we prepare for any team and try our best."
On the attitude in practice this week...
"I think we're picking it up. I think people realize we have a tough schedule. People aren't down like you think they might be, because last year we went through the same thing. We lost to Clemson. I think everybody's taking it to the next step, the next level."
On his personal development this season...
"I came along kind of slow. Game speed got me a little bit. But the coaches helped me out a lot. My parents, my brother. He's been through it. I listened to his advice and just tried to slow down and take it step by step."
On his brother, former Wake Forest safety Patrick Ghee...
"I talk to him every day, every Sunday. He critiques me on all plays and all aspects of the game. He's doing good. He's looking for another call trying to get to another NFL team. He's patiently waiting."
On his expectations...
"My expectations for the team are kind of the same as I thought they would be. I wish we were undefeated right now, of course, but everybody thinks that."
Senior fullback De'Angelo Bryant
On putting the loss behind us...
"Last night, I think a lot of guys came in and really bounced back very well. We realized a lot of the mistakes that we made throughout the game, we realized we didn't finish the game which was the most important part. So we just have to continue what we've done on offense the last couple of days which is take care of the football. On defense, we have to make some more turnovers. On special teams, we just gotta play hard."
On the feeling after the game...
"Saturday night was just a bitter taste all the way around. At the same time, BC gave us hope too. Now it's anybody's run. With a win against Clemson, it would put us back in the driver's seat once again. It was a bitter taste in our mouths on Saturday, but now we know we need to get a win."
On what the team did well on Saturday...
"We had a great surge on the line. I think a lot of people didn't give us a chance with the front that they had. They had a lot of good, big guys up front, especially with Chris Long. Defensively, seeing a lot of those guys fly around out there was good. Special teams-wise, we really had some guys who were gunning down the field and making plays."
On Wake playing Clemson tough every year...
"I think, really and truly, it boils down to determination and heart. A lot of guys believing. When I was on the team back in 2003, they came up hear and no one really gave us a chance at all. I was really young, didn't really understand, but what I figured was when they came we would play really hard. No one really gave us a chance but the guys on the field believed we could win. I think that's the real focal point of it, just believing.
On competing in the ACC...
"Everybody's bringing in great players. Everybody's bringing in guys who want to win When you can assemble a group of guys who want to win, that's just as dangerous as if you're recruiting 25 blue chip All-Americans who are just blessed with talent and don't know what it takes to win. We're a team that believes in ourselves, believes in the coaches, and I think that's what everyone is starting to find out now."
Junior defensive end Anthony Davis
On getting over the Virginia loss...
"We definitely bounced back from Saturday's loss. We watched ourselves on film, see what we did wrong, corrected our mistakes, and we just have to get ready for Saturday."
On the Clemson running backs...
"It definitely gets our attention. It definitely will be a challenge for us on Saturday. C.J. Spiller and James Davis are great athletes and it's going to be an awesome experience for us on Saturday."
On whether there's a rivalry with Clemson...
"I guess you could say there's a little rivalry with them. We try to play everyone tough, week-in and week-out. I guess Clemson stands out to everyone. The talent on both teams brings out a great challenge every year."
On where Wake currently stands...
"We're in a good position. Even though we lost yesterday we can still finish the season with [nine] wins. We just need to win this week and go from there."
On seeing BC lose on Saturday...
"I saw that and I was like, ok they lost. But we can't control what other teams do. We can only control what we do on Saturday and take care of ourselves, go out and do what we have to do to win."
On the Wake defense...
"We're playing hard. We're running to the ball. Everyone's giving 100%. People like Jeremy Thompson are having an awesome year. AC [Aaron Curry] and Alphonso [Smith] are doing great things week-in and week-out. So we're doing a lot of good things on defense."
Freshman wide receiver Jordan Williams
On being the only true freshman playing...
"It's kind of crazy. I had kind of gotten into the whole redshirt idea. I had kind of gotten used to the system. And then, to be the first true freshman to play since 2005, it's been amazing. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to go out show what I can do."
On getting on the field for the first time...
"I was a little nervous. I was more excited than nervous, though. I was just happy to be playing. I have just missed playing so much."
On how the game is different from high school...
"The game's a little bit faster and it's a little more challenging now because I'm not the biggest guy on the field, but it's just football. It's the same."
On making an impact as a true freshman...
"I just have to get open and wait my turn. We have a good quarterback, and if you're open he'll get you the ball."
On being at Wake Forest...
"It's an amazing place to be. It's such a great atmosphere, like a family."
On losing the game last Saturday...
"I've never lost a game by a field goal or close margin like that. But you have to give Virginia a lot of credit. They played really well, and we just didn't capitalize on our opportunities. It was a tough loss, but we have to bounce back this week.
On playing at Clemson...
"Growing up, I watched a lot of Clemson games. I know it's going to be an experience. Talking to a bunch of the older guys, they say it's going to be unlike anything you've ever seen. Virginia was a pretty big stadium, and they told me to just add 40,000 to that."
On what Wake has to do next week...
"We just have to go out there and do what we have to do. Clemson's a really talented team. They're really fast and athletic. We just have to go out there and play to the best of our abilities."
