Wake Forest Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Wake Forest 53, Presbyterian 13
9/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 2, 2010
Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe
On getting to play several players in tonight's game...
"I think we got to play a lot of people. I wish we could have played a lot of people earlier, but I have to give a lot of credit to PC. I thought they had a really good game plan. They did some things defensively, blitz-wise, that we hadn't practiced against and that gave us some problems. From an offensive perspective, the trick play was as well executed as anything I've ever seen. The receiver hit the ball and seemed so disgusted that it was incomplete. I thought that was beautiful. Overall, I thought they had a good plan offensively. At times, they kept us on our heels a little bit. First of all, I was very impressed with PC. We would have liked to have played more people earlier, but we just couldn't do it. We didn't do anything offensively in the third quarter and that score stayed right there. I thought it was nice to get Tanner Price in the game. We needed to do that. To be able to play Brendan (Cross) and Sky (Jones) was good. We have a lot to teach off of tonight. We had too many mental mistakes tonight. I think we have to look real hard as coaches and make sure we're not asking our guys to do too many things. We have smart guys, but sometimes if you ask them to do too much, it shows."
On what he learned about his team tonight...
"We know a little bit more about us right now. Honestly, we're doing some new things offensively and defensively. It was a little bit of trial by fire tonight. We had to go against somebody else to find out what would work and what wouldn't work. I think we'll have a little better thought of what our bread and butter is when we get back and look at the film. I think we needed to get those quarterbacks out there playing. I think we accomplished that by getting all four guys on the field. We just have to really do a good job this week scheme-wise because we'll have to play a lot better to beat Duke next week."
On the decision to play Tanner Price...
"I think we had a wait-and-see approach. We feel like he's earned it. That became the overriding thing. We felt like we needed to play him. We didn't want to get to the Duke game and make an ACC game his first snap. By the time we got in at halftime, we had a pretty solid lead. We thought if we're going to get the guy on the field, now is the time to do it. Let's don't wait until we're in a nail biter with Duke to throw the guy in the fire."
On the kicking game...
"We had some good punts and some good kickoffs. I was certainly disappointed that Jimmy (Newman) missed the one field goal. It was a little bit of a fiasco at the end of the game. We didn't have a wing in. We're using some defensive guys on field goals. One of our defensive guys didn't get out. What we wanted to do was take a delay of game, but somehow the ball got snapped. I feel bad because Alex (Wulfeck) looked like he took a direct hit back there with the trainers right now. I thought our cover teams and the other guys around the kicker and punter were going to be pretty good. We were probably a little weak in punt protection a couple of times. I thought we gave up too many guys getting through. I think we have to punt and kick it better. We got away with some bad kickoffs and a couple of punts that didn't go the way we wanted them to. I think we'll be better next week."
On Alex Frye...
"I thought Alex (Frye) played really well tonight. Certainly, any time you pick a ball off and run it back for a score, that's a good thing. I thought he played really aggressively. I thought he played hard. I didn't see any lazy steps out there. He played like a guy who has a lot behind him and wants to go out playing well. I thought he played really, really well tonight. I'll probably look at the film tonight and think otherwise. The best thing about it is I thought he played really hard."
Wake Forest Players
Redshirt Junior Wide Receiver Devon Brown
On Presbyterian...
"Despite the score, Presbyterian fought hard. They came out there and gave us different looks that we didn't know that they were going to do. It wasn't easy."
On starting the season with a win...
"No matter who you're playing, it's always good to start the season off with a win. It gets your confidence up and helps you carry momentum into the next game. Hopefully we can continue to win.
On Wake Forest rushing for 415 yards...
"Coach Jim Grobe loves to run the ball. We had a lot of good runs, so there was no need to pass the ball or try a lot of trick plays. The front line did a great job and the ball carriers did a great job carrying the ball."
Redshirt Junior Defensive End Kyle Wilber
On his feelings about the game...
"I thought our defense and offense both played really well, but we did have too many mental mistakes out there. Presbyterian is a good solid team, but I think that we can do better if we just stop with all of our penalties and mental mistakes"
On starting the season with a win...
"It feels good. Last year we lost to Baylor in our first game and people weren't looking too good at us. It just gives us the motivation to go play Duke and hopefully have a good game against them too."
On playing healthy after missing time in 2009 with a broken leg...
"I feel great now. With my leg problem last year, it wasn't the best year of my life. Now I don't even think about the leg anymore. I feel like I'm the healthiest, strongest and fastest that I could be right now."
Freshman Quarterback Tanner Price
On how he felt about his first collegiate game...
"I felt alright. I think that I have a lot of room to improve. I need to get in the film room and work on a lot of things, but overall it felt great to get in the game and get some experience."
On his relationship with the other quarterbacks on the team...
"It's a really great group of guys. Everybody is really supportive and it's a great team.
On how he felt when he first entered the game
"I felt good. I just had to get those first-play jitters out of the way, and after that I felt pretty comfortable."
Presbyterian Head Coach Harold Nichols
Opening Statement...
"I think that this was a great night for PC. Our fans and alumni were very excited to be at BB&T field playing against Coach Grobe's football team. They're an outstanding football team, well coached, and he has done a great job over the past ten years building this football program. It's something I aspire to do at PC. Being a transitional team, being in the Big South Conference and being in the third or fourth year of our transition, I think going and having the opportunity to come and play in this kind of arena and atmosphere is a great experience for our young football team. Out of the 65 kids we brought up here, 37 of them were freshmen, redshirt-freshmen or sophomores. I looked out there at times on defense and we had two freshmen at the back end playing. We have some good players who are really going to be good football players for us at PC. I'm very excited about the future. What I don't want to do is be disappointed anytime we lose a football game like this. I think when we're in development of our program you have to be positive, and find things you can accentuate with the players, things to build on. There were a lot of positives, I'm very proud of our kids. You know when the score gets lopsided like it did, kids' body language will become poor, and the effort level goes down a little bit. But that's the great thing about our kids, I saw towards the end of last year, even though the record that we had wasn't what we wanted it to be, I saw an effort level that was what it should be to be a good college football team. That's what we're building here. We have a great amount of character here, and what a great stage for us to be on. We haven't played Wake Forest since 1945, and I appreciate Ron Wellman, the athletic director and Jim Grobe, giving the Blue Hose a chance to play on this field. They have a great thing going here, and it's what I aspire to be at PC. "
On adjustments made in game...
"I think we weren't ready in those first couple of series. I talked to my football team about the speed of the game, how that was something that we had to get adjusted to pretty quickly, in order to try and settle in. Sure enough, on opening kickoff, there were some pretty fast athletes running around out there, and we couldn't catch them. And then things were kind of crumbling a little bit on us, and then we got a couple first downs, defense got some stops, and we kind of settled in a little bit. The kids kind of settled in and I think they gained some confidence. For me, that is something that we can gain from this entire night, is trying to build our confidence. Everyone was afraid of us coming up here and getting hurt, and playing an ACC school like Wake Forest, and I think that we do have some talented players who can play at this level. Once they figure everything out and gain some experience, I think playing in this arena and this kind of situation will help us tremendously down the road when we have to go to Coastal Carolina and those people down the road. We're going to build off this, and I'm very proud to be their head coach."
On trick play...
"We've been kind of working on it a couple of weeks. That's something that Doug [Malone], our offensive coordinator, tries to do to carry a couple of free tricks every game. Doug and I are saying if we're going to practice a trick play, we're going to call it in the game. Sometimes it's just trying to find the right time in the course of the game, and Doug picked a good play. We got midfield there, and our backup receiver threw the ball pretty well. He did a good job acting, and Wake Forest's defense relaxed a little bit, and then we just kind of rose up and hit them off guard. And it worked just like we practiced. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. That was one that worked, and it really kind of flipped the game a little bit. It served its purpose."
On future challenging games
"I think this experience playing here tonight will help us next week. Clemson is an awfully talented football team, they have a lot of really great players, and the head coach there has really got them cranked up. It'll be all we want and more. Again, that's one of those things, making this transition, we've set these kinds of challenges, and we'll play the Clemson Tigers for the first time since 1957, and what a great opportunity for our young players to be part of that atmosphere, like tonight. I'm glad to be the kid's head coach; they're not satisfied with moral victories, so we're going into future games trying to have fun and playing hard, and to represent our institution in the right manner. These first two ball games are a great opportunity for our players."
